Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 259 Everyone uses their own methods
Lin Ge declined Zhang Yong's invitation to visit his home.

He had a strange feeling that Xie Lili shouldn't be in this neighborhood.

As for why...

The reason for Lin Ge's suspicion was the astonishing number of middle-aged women dressed in uniform who were watching from afar, preparing to go to square dancing.

This old neighborhood has an unusually large number of elderly residents. Add to that the fact that those who could afford such large apartments twenty years ago were generally not ordinary families without pensions. In other words, this neighborhood has a terrifying number of middle-aged women. They have plenty of time and leisure, gossiping about all the neighbors and enjoying all sorts of random gossip. If a stranger moves in, they could probably find out everything about his family history in a single day.

Such an environment is undoubtedly unsuitable for people with criminal intent to live in.

The "Chaoyang Masses" meme isn't a joke, and these kinds of enthusiastic elderly women reporting crimes aren't unique to the capital. Generally speaking, if a suspect intends to persecute Xie Lili, they would undoubtedly want to find a quiet and safe place.

Nie Guoqiang and Zhang Yong were not unaware of this.

However, no one dares to rule out even the slightest possibility: what if the other party was simply overcome with lust and didn't think much of it? After all, if the suspect met Xie Lili at a bar, there's no doubt that the other party was also very likely to have been drinking.

Therefore, all Nie Guoqiang could do was to investigate every possible direction thoroughly, leaving absolutely no gaps for future regrets.

To some extent, this is also the unified approach of the police in solving cases now. It's better to do more than less, better to do nothing than to be lazy. As long as you keep a close eye on all possibilities and investigate them all, no criminal will eventually have nowhere to escape.

"Wang!"

Lin Ge was slacking off, so Bei Bei was called upon. Nie Guoqiang led Sun Chang straight to the first building in the community, while Zhang Yong greeted the eager aunties who wanted to ask about the situation.

"This is so...noisy!"

A woman's complaints could be heard from inside the Lexus; clearly, the atmosphere outside did not arouse her sexual interest.

The older woman released the young man and started the car to leave. Zhao Zhigang, who was guarding the entrance of the residential area, checked the ID cards of the woman and the young man, questioned and registered them with a distorted expression, and then checked the car before letting them go.

"A thirty-one-year age difference!"

Zhao Zhigang winked at Feng Yi beside him.

For the first time ever, Feng Yi showed a look of utter shock, which made Zhao Zhigang, who had always been unhappy that this guy looked down on him, smile with satisfaction.

Nie Guoqiang was not interested in such matters and calmly continued to arrange the search.

"Ow!"

Lin Ge suddenly roared loudly, startling the old women who were pestering Zhang Yong, and also stopping Nie Guoqiang, who was about to go upstairs.

Lingo stood in the parking space where the Lexus had left, staring intently at a string of shiny beads left behind. It was a string of Buddhist prayer beads that had been handled for a long time; even the sandalwood had been worn down, revealing the yellow wood grain underneath.

What excited Lingo was that he had finally found the source of Sherily's scent!

On this string of beads, there remained a faint trace of Xie Lili's scent. It was very faint, and the scent was very well hidden under the car, which is why Lin Ge couldn't find it accurately for a long time amidst the stench of alcohol.

Who would have thought that what Lin Ge smelled wasn't Xie Lili's own scent, but a string of beads hidden under a car tire that she had touched?

"Xie Lili, have you had any contact with this?"

Nie Guoqiang, who hurried over, instantly understood the reason for Lin Ge's excitement. However, when he put on gloves and picked up the beaded string, he couldn't help but frown. The beaded string was very loose, unlike what a normal person would wear on their wrist.

"This is... the thing you hang on the car gear shift, right?"

Qian Wei curiously leaned closer and quickly guessed the purpose of the thing. Some drivers like to hang this on the gear shift so they can play with it anytime without looking down when their left hand is on the steering wheel and their right hand is free.

Young people generally don't like to keep this in their cars; it's mostly middle-aged people who have this hobby of playing with beads.

“Even if young people hang beads in their cars, they usually choose jade or glass beads, and the brighter the color, the higher the quality they look.”

Zhang Yong made the same judgment.

"In other words, Xie Lili was very likely indeed taken away by a car. She even struggled during the journey and, whether by chance or on purpose, she pulled things off the other car and threw them outside."

His tone became agitated.

Finally, a crucial clue emerged: even if the community lacked surveillance cameras, the parking gates must have recorded every departing vehicle, significantly narrowing down the scope of the investigation. At this point, saving time was more important than anything else.

"Xie Lili must have done this on purpose; this is a clue she left for us! This thing definitely has the suspect's DNA on it! I'm taking it to the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division right now so the lab can get the results as soon as possible!"

Zhang Yong looked at Nie Guoqiang.

"Let me go! I came by bike, it'll be faster."

Zhu Jun also excitedly raised his hand.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Guoqiang called out Zhu Jun's name.

Seeing Zhu Jun quickly leave amidst the roar of the motorcycle, Zhang Yong's excited mood finally calmed down a bit, and he couldn't help but grin and say, "Well done! Xie Lili! Well done, you're not completely hopeless after all!"

Of all the people present, Zhang Yong was undoubtedly the one who cared most about Xie Lili.

After all, during the college entrance examination that year, he had a face-to-face conversation with Xie Lili, even offering encouragement, while harboring anxiety about concealing the truth. He even personally attended Xie Lili's father's funeral after the exam, placing a bouquet of white flowers on the urn.

"Chief, shall I go and urge Li Yiduo? It's just a few license plates, why would it take so long?"

He was getting impatient. "Get lost!"

Nie Guoqiang glared at Zhang Yong.

Hu Zhengping had only just received the copied data and passed it on to Li Yiduo. How could he have found out all the vehicle information so quickly? Not to mention the bar patrons, there are quite a few cars in the residential area alone. Which one of them can be directly ruled out?

Urging Li Yiduo at this time would only cause him trouble.

Zhang Yong retreated dejectedly, only to see Lin Ge still squatting in the parking space, deep in thought. The cat had even stopped wagging its tail, lying directly on the ground like a long snake, the tip of its tail twitching slightly.

Zhang Yong was suddenly filled with hope. Could it be that Mimi had discovered something again?
Lingo did have some doubts.

The scent on the beads, besides Xie Lili's, could only be identified as male, and someone who liked to smoke. These clues were important, but finding Xie Lili as soon as possible still presented some challenges.

But here on the ground...

It tastes very strong like draft beer!

Lin Ge had a feeling that it was as if there used to be a beer delivery truck that would park in this spot every day, and over time, with occasional spills, that's why there was such a strong beer smell on the ground.

The smell isn't particularly special, but it's quite noticeable.

Lin Ge smelled it as soon as he arrived, but there were many different kinds of alcohol smells at the scene, so he didn't connect it with Xie Lili.

But... now they've found beads with the scent of Shirley in the same spot. Even playing with beads is something that many truck drivers rarely do to enhance their work enjoyment on busy and repetitive delivery routes.

So is it possible that Xie Lili was taken away by this liquor delivery truck? Generally, suspects usually place their targets in the back seat of the vehicle to avoid affecting their driving and to avoid being detected by surveillance cameras. Only a small light truck without a second row of seats would have the only option to place Xie Lili in the front passenger seat, giving her the opportunity to steal the beaded necklace? As for road surveillance... it's difficult to automatically locate a 'sleeping' woman; it can only be identified manually, one by one.

"Wine stains?"

Zhang Yong didn't smell beer; after all, a human's sense of smell can't compare to that of a cat or dog. But similar to Lin Ge's discovery, Zhang Yong saw sticky beer stains, something very familiar to people who drink frequently.

Of course, it's also very easy to clean; any detergent can quickly remove it. It's just that... this wine stain was outdoors, and it hasn't rained recently, which is why it remained intact.

Perhaps, like the beaded necklace, it was a clue that Xie Lili deliberately left for the police after she scattered it during her struggle.

Zhang Yong immediately called over a bar staff member and asked about the identity of the person who supplied the beer.

I originally thought that draft beer and canned beer were delivered by different distributors, but I didn't expect that all the beers in this bar were from the same brand, just with different prefixes such as premium, gold beer, and 0 degrees, so as to fool consumers and sell them at different prices.

Zhang Yong immediately thought of the bottled foreign liquor in the warehouse over there. Sure enough, the rumors that bars only sell counterfeit goods were not just a joke or slander.

"List Song as the prime suspect! Request assistance from the traffic police detachment to conduct a full-scale surveillance search of the Foton light truck Song was traveling in, including its license plate number ￥#%, its direction of movement, and the locations where it stopped! Furthermore, Zhang Yong, take some men to Song's home."

After obtaining the identity of the person delivering the beer, Nie Guoqiang decisively issued the order.

"Does Ms. Song have any other addresses? The records show that Ms. Song is married and even has a child. But I vaguely remember that the community once told me that Ms. Song and her husband have been separated for more than a year and are rapidly moving towards the goal of a forced divorce within two years."

Hu Lijun arrived relatively late, but he still accurately demonstrated his abilities. As a police officer who frequently works in the community, he usually already has the special needs families in the community memorized.

"Separated for two years, then filing for divorce?"

Nie Guoqiang realized that he might have found the reason why Song was targeting Xie Lili. Although he didn't know if Song had a way to solve his physiological problems, there was no doubt that he had the ability to spy on Xie Lili.

All the evidence at the scene points to Song. Now, as long as we find him, we will definitely be able to find Xie Lili!
Of course, one question remains: how did Xie Lili end up being taken away from the bar by Song? But what's more important now is finding Song himself! Fortunately, Song's identity and vehicle information have been fully obtained, leaving him with very few places to hide.

"Director Nie, Chu Ting's phone is busy."

Zhao Zhigang hurriedly ran over, holding his phone.

Nie Guoqiang casually hung up the call with Yu Zhengwei and then took Zhao Zhigang's phone. Although he was surprised that Chu Ting would call Zhao Zhigang, he still said in a deep voice, "This is Nie Guoqiang. What situation have you discovered on your end?"

"Director Nie! We found Song in the bar's security footage! He was delivering beer to the bar with a small cart, and Xie Lili was hidden inside the cart, covered with a cloth, and just walked out like that!"

"Heh...that's really...unexpectedly bold! And that idiot Xie Lili, she couldn't even wake up after being put in a basket?"

Nie Guoqiang laughed in anger.

"Was she drugged?"

Zhao Zhigang cautiously offered his opinion.

Nie Guoqiang ignored him, simply keeping the possibility to himself.

"Look, this is Mr. Song and his wife. To be honest, it's no wonder Mr. Song wants a divorce; it's really a bit difficult to say. I heard that Mr. Song's wife treats him like a cash cow, and does nothing but ask for money."

Hu Lijun obtained photos of Song and his wife from a community grid worker.

Lin Ge leaned closer to take a look and was stunned.

Why does Mr. Song's wife look so familiar?
Or perhaps the plump woman who just left the bar and slept with that gigolo was actually Song's wife? Shouldn't this couple be punished by heaven?
So everyone's doing their own thing, right?

One seeks a gigolo, while the other, lacking women, resorts to date rape drugs?

Lingo paused for a moment, then quickly turned around and sped out of the neighborhood following the still-lingering exhaust fumes from the Lexus.

(End of this chapter)