Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 8: The Elopement Murder Case
Tan Jia realized something was wrong when Tan Ming called Xiao Chen to find Shi Tou and mentioned that "the body will be disposed of the next day."

She had considered the timing of when the murderer disposed of the body before this.

If the murder occurred on the night of the crime, and the killer killed Mi Junfang in a dream and ran away in fear, but then likely returned to cover it up, perhaps by throwing the body into the pool to conceal the primary crime scene, then there's nothing wrong with that.

If it happened on the second day, why wait until the next night to dispose of the body? Going out for two consecutive days would make it easy for someone to see the body.

And there's something very important. Tan Jia glanced at the Luo family members sitting outside the ward and whispered his doubts at the top of the stairs.

"The first crime scene seemed like a better place to hide the body, right? I went to see it. The place was deserted, with grass half a person's height, and no surveillance cameras. It's unlikely that anyone would pass by there for ten days or half a month. It was obviously a better place to dump the body. So why did he dump the body in a village with permanent residents the next day?"

Zheng Yan glanced at her a couple more times: "Do you think he deliberately exposed the corpse?"

Tan Jia still didn't give a direct answer: "On the day we went to Luo Mei's house to mediate, no one except me thought that Mi Junfang had disappeared. Everyone thought that she had run away with someone. At this time, it was best not to move the body or alert the culprit, unless the murderer felt that he had no choice but to move the body."

Under what circumstances would a murderer think this way?
"Either people start moving around the first crime scene and it will be discovered soon, or the murderer has a perfect scapegoat, and even if the body is exposed, they won't be able to pin it on him. Instead, the investigation into that scapegoat will bring this matter to an early end."

"Even if there is a scapegoat, why does he think that this matter can be ended sooner simply by throwing out the body?" Tan Ming thought and analyzed.

Zheng Yan frowned and continued, "Because Liu Guanhua is definitely dead, maybe even completely dead and his body can't be found, that's why he's so fearless."

But this point has already been analyzed. The question Tan Jia raised was why the murderer chose to dispose of the body on the second day instead of waiting a few more days?
Tan Jia pulled and stretched the dough in his hands, then kneaded it into a ball, then stretched it out again; his thoughts seemed to be stretched out in the same way.

She speculated, "Luo Zhiyong wasn't there the day I went to Luo Mei's house to mediate, but I inquired about Mi Junfang's affairs and someone connected to him overheard it. That person then told Luo Zhiyong that they thought someone was going to start investigating Mi Junfang, so they had to dispose of the body as soon as possible."

She knew her hairstyle was very eye-catching in Jiujiang, and wherever she went, people would stare at her like she was a non-mainstream person. It wasn't surprising that some people noticed her because of it.

Tan Ming questioned: "If we're going to investigate, we can still find Liu Guanhua even without finding the body. Mi Junfang ran away with someone, so we can't open a case for investigation. Luo Zhiyong has a greater chance of getting away with it."

"That means that disposing of the body would have some other benefit for the murderer or someone else." As Zheng Yan thought of something, an even bigger, vague mystery loomed over his head, but he couldn't see the whole picture yet.

He took out a cigarette, followed the tip to the mouthpiece, and tried to light it with a lighter, but it wouldn't ignite.

"The person who could tip off Luo Zhiyong and get involved in the murder of Mi Junfang is either Wang Yong or Luo Mei, with Wang Yong being more suspicious. Liu Guanhua is not shorter than Mi Junfang; he is a man in his prime. To kill him and leave no trace of his body, it would take Luo Zhiyong alone, probably two people."

Therefore, Wang Yong, or Luo Mei, is also a murderer.

Tan Ming immediately said, "If you're not going out, you'll definitely leave traces of communication if you're informing Luo Zhiyong. I'll go ask him how the investigation of Luo Zhiyong's phone is going."

Zheng Yan turned the corner, looked at the Luo family, and whispered, "Wang Yong said that Luo Mei confiscated his new phone on the day of the mediation. Focus on checking the two phones Luo Mei has. If it really is one of them, they might have said something to Luo Zhiyong in the ward just now. I'll go check the hospital's surveillance room."

"it is good."

The people dispersed again. Tan Jia made her retreat, pretending not to see the two men's hesitant gazes on her. She slipped out of the corner and watched Luo Xiaomin and her brother, cousin, and sister hug and cry together.

When something happened at home, all the children, big and small, were terrified and sat there, their minds blank.

She originally intended to just take a look and leave, but Zheng Yan grabbed her and made her an unofficial staff member, ordering her to take Luo Xiaomin back to the police station to find Mi Junfang's parents.

Her mother died, her father was going to be sentenced, her eldest son was in vocational school, and Luo Xiaomin was only eleven years old. She didn't know how she would live in the future.

Back at the police station, technicians found a call record on Luo Zhiyong's phone from Luo Mei's number, and the timing matched perfectly. However, Luo Mei refused to admit to any conspiracy to commit murder. She said that after mediation, she was still angry that her brother's family had ruined her family, so she called to scold Luo Zhiyong.

She was stout and had a loud voice; her face would turn bright red when she shouted.

"Don't bring up motives or timing. No matter how much I hate someone, I would never kill them! I have children!"

Zheng Yan: "Your older brother also has children. You used to think he was too cowardly to hit anyone, but he dared to kill someone."

Luo Mei's face drained of color, and she fell silent, but still insisted, "I didn't do it. I wouldn't kill anyone."

Zheng Yan showed her the surveillance video from the ward and asked, "What did you and Wang Yong say to Luo Zhiyong when you visited him?"

“Say…” Luo Mei stared blankly at the family in the video and said, “No matter what, I will take good care of the two children.”

"Why are you saying this? Are you trying to get Luo Zhiyong to take the blame and conceal your role in it?"

Luo Mei seemed insulted, struggling to breathe, but Zheng Yan remained unmoved and immediately asked another question.

"Did you bring up the topic of childcare first, or did Wang Yong? The day before the mediation, you smashed Wang Yong's phone. Was that an unconscious act of anger, or did he do something to provoke your anger?"

This statement was somewhat suggestive; Luo Mei's lips trembled slightly, as if she had fallen into deep thought.

The interrogation was temporarily concluded, and the second team gathered in the office to sort out the current clues.

"Getting their confessions will be a bit difficult. Without concrete evidence, the hidden killer won't talk the truth," Zheng Yan leaned back heavily in his chair, which creaked open. "Any new discoveries?"

Technical analysis: "Luo Zhiyong's phone doesn't have many text messages. He mainly communicates with people by phone or video. However, there were a few text messages in his chat history with Wang Yong, saying 'She went out' and 'Is it really useful?'"

"After Wang Yong's call records were recovered, it was found that during the period between his relationship with Mi Junfang and the appearance of Liu Guanhua, he contacted Luo Zhiyong more frequently by phone and chat than he contacted Mi Junfang. Luo Mei's phone contained many complaints, but no suspicious information has been found so far."

It's suspicious that Wang Yong frequently contacted Luo Zhiyong, rather than being obsessed with Mi Junfang as the Luo family claimed.

When it was Xiao Chen's turn to speak, he said, "We conducted a large-scale search of the first crime scene, but still did not find the body. However, we found a drag mark and some silver PVC fragments in the grass. This material is usually used for car covers. I went to Luo Mei and Luo Zhiyong's houses to check. Luo Mei's family has a small electric scooter that has been used for more than three years. It is said that it used to have a car cover."

Therefore, the second murderer was indeed between Luo Mei and Wang Yong. They used an electric scooter cover to wrap Liu Guanhua's body and transported it somewhere.

Zheng Yan: "Hand the electric vehicle over to the forensic experts for a thorough examination, but finding Liu Guanhua's body is of paramount importance. Tan Ming?"

“I discovered something unusual about the route Mi Junfang and Liu Guanhua took after they left,” Tan Ming unfolded the map. “They were originally heading towards the bus station, and the surveillance footage shows that they went as far as Qingjiang North Road, where the body was dumped. But the first crime scene was in the middle of that road, which means they turned back.”

"They probably weren't dragged back by Luo Zhiyong, or knocked unconscious and transported back, right?"

"That's probably not the case; doing that during the day would be too conspicuous. So I suspect that Liu Guanhua and Mi Junfang deliberately turned back and ran into Luo Zhiyong."

why?

Zheng Yan pondered for a few seconds, then suddenly said, "Did Liu Guanhua really meet Mi Junfang by chance online? He's a robber. Even if he changed his methods, he would have to know beforehand that Mi Junfang had money to steal before he approached her. But Mi Junfang has never revealed whether she has money or not online. How did Liu Guanhua get his eye on her? Or... does he know Luo Zhiyong, and maybe even Wang Yong?"

(End of this chapter)