Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 95 The Case of Burning the Corpse 13
The self-service car wash was something Zheng Yan arranged to keep an eye on after they confirmed that Wan Anliang must have been put in a car and transported to Guilingpo by the murderer.

If the murderer really did cause Wan Anliang serious injury during the fight, then the car transporting him would definitely have bloodstains. If there are bloodstains, they need to be washed, but they can't take it to a professional car wash; they have to do it themselves. Therefore, there is a certain probability that the murderer would choose a self-service car wash.

This approach proved very useful, providing directional evidence faster than they could find traffic surveillance footage of people entering and leaving the vicinity of Guilingpo.

Soon, Xiao Chen brought Wu Jinyou back.

At first glance, Wu Jinyou looked like a successful businessman, wearing a well-fitting white shirt and black trousers, with long black socks tucked into his leather shoes—a detail often overlooked by men, showcasing his impeccable style and sophisticated demeanor.

His complexion wasn't very good, and he seemed a little anxious.

However, once he entered the interrogation room, his face was filled with only grief and surprise.

“I never expected Anliang to die. We met this afternoon and he told me that we would have dinner together when he came back from his business trip.”

The somber expression and tone sounded so fake to Zheng Yan that he could file a complaint with the consumer hotline 12315.

Do you know why we brought you back?

Wu Jinyou paused for a moment, then hesitated and said, "Cooperate with the investigation? The comrade who took my statement asked me a lot of questions about Brother Anliang, and I told him everything I could."

Zheng Yan sneered: "I think you haven't finished yet. What were you talking about when you met with Wan Anliang on the afternoon of the incident?"

"It's just about having tea and reminiscing about the past. I've talked about this with the police officers I spoke with before."

Seeing that Zheng Yan didn't respond, Wu Jinyou clenched his jaw and had to repeat himself: "I wanted to ask him for advice and find out if there were any new policies recently. Brother Anliang also complained to me about how he had been complained about by several stores recently, and said that he didn't know if he would be punished after returning from this business trip. After we finished talking, we went home."

"Really? But your home is in the East District, so why did you pass by Ghost Ridge Slope twice on the night of the incident?"

“I didn’t go through Guilingpo,” Wu Jinyou denied. “I just passed by the area around the entrance to that section of the mountain road, but I didn’t go in.”

Zheng Yan looked at him and said, "You answered so confidently because you know there are no surveillance cameras at Guilingpo, only at the fork in the road a few kilometers away. We can't use that to confirm that you are the murderer, right?"

Before he could refute, Zheng Yan continued, "Actually, you weren't careful enough. If you really wanted to find that place, you could have found other paths to pass through without being caught on camera. It's just that you were so arrogant at the time that you thought the body wouldn't be discovered for a long time, and by then the time of death wouldn't be determined to a specific day. Even if there was surveillance footage, you wouldn't be suspected. So you didn't bother to hide and just walked right under the surveillance cameras, right?"

Wu Jinyou frowned, a little impatient: "What do you mean? Are you interrogating me like a murderer? Anliang and I are very good classmates, how could I possibly kill him? Isn't the murderer the driver who caused the accident? Haven't you already caught him?"

"Oh? When we first investigated the driver who caused the accident, we identified the deceased as someone else. Wan Anliang was the murderer. Why are you so sure that Wan Anliang is the one who died? Did our people say that the deceased was Wan Anliang when they first questioned you?" Zheng Yan's smile concealed a sharp edge.

Wu Jinyou paused, looked away, and said, "Maybe I remembered wrong. I already knew that it was Brother Anliang who died, so I subconsciously considered all the issues as if Brother Anliang was the deceased."

"You really have a bad memory and are out of touch with the news. You don't even know that we've already identified the second murderer."

"There's a second murderer? Could it be someone who conspired with the driver who caused the accident?" Even at this point, he still pretended to be innocent.

"You were there at the time, didn't you see the driver come back and burn the body? You should know very well." "What do you mean, 'at the scene'? I wasn't there, I was..."

"Don't rush to deny it. You know very well that the driver who returned to the scene to burn the body wasn't Wan Anliang, right? Since you've realized that, haven't you considered that besides the driver, you, and Wan Anliang, there was actually a fourth person at the scene?"

After saying that, Zheng Yan said meaningfully, "The person who was actually hit and knocked down the hillside was an eyewitness. He was lying conscious next to Wan Anliang's body and saw you and your car. Oh, by the way, speaking of cars, you went to a self-service car wash a couple of days ago? You usually go to a dedicated car wash, why did you go to a self-service car wash this time?"

Wu Jinyou's expression was tense.

"Not going to talk? Then you can wait until we do a trace analysis on your car. Even though you've washed it, blood isn't so easy to wash off. There are often things that are hard to find hidden in places like the trunk or back seat."

After those words, the interrogation room was silent for a long time. Wu Jinyou took a few deep breaths and leaned back in his chair.

"OK, I admit it. I had an argument with Brother Anliang that afternoon, and something unexpected happened. I hit him."

"Just a hit?"

“I hit him pretty hard, and he passed out on the spot. I thought I had killed someone, so I hurriedly shoved him into the car and planned to find a place to dump the body. But it turned out he was faking it. I drove to Guilingpo and stopped. As soon as I opened the car door, he rammed past me and ran out.”

“I didn’t really mean to kill him, it was all an accident, so I was relieved to see he was still alive and was about to leave. Who knew that he hadn’t run far before he collapsed by the roadside, and then a car came along. Without saying a word, the driver set him on fire and pushed him down the mountain. I didn’t have time to stop him. I wanted to save him but was afraid he would kill me too, so I could only wait. I went over to check on him after the driver left and found that he was burned to death.”

Zheng Yan asked, "What caused your argument?"

"I wanted him to do me a favor, but he refused outright. We've been classmates for years, and he'd rather help others than me. It's not like I'm not willing to pay him. He even said that public officials can't use back channels, which is ridiculous. Does he think I don't know why he was complained about? Who knows how much money he's already taken?"

"Is that why?"

According to Tan Jia's dream, the murderer felt a vengeful satisfaction at the victim's death. Was Wu Jinyou truly only enraged by being refused preferential treatment and thus decided to kill Wan Anliang? Perhaps there was also underlying jealousy and resentment.

Wu Jinyou shrugged: "That's why. I had a few drinks and was a bit tipsy, so I couldn't control my emotions for a moment."

They blame it on emotions, on alcohol, on the deceased bringing it upon themselves—this is the mindset of most murderers.

Seeing his relaxed demeanor, Zheng Yan asked one last question: "So you're just admitting it like that? Do you think the responsibility for the murder lies entirely with the driver who caused the accident, and that you're innocent?"

"Isn't that right? The one who burned the body was the driver who caused the accident. At most, I'm just guilty of not being able to rescue in time."

Zheng Yan closed the notebook with a cold smile and said, "Putting aside the fact that you beat Wan Anliang to the point of serious injury and unconsciousness beforehand, just consider that after the driver burned the body, the eyewitness died less than two minutes after discovering the deceased rolling down the cliff. If it was just burning to death, it wouldn't have happened that quickly. What do you think was the real cause of death?"

Wu Jinyou's expression changed: "Impossible..."

"Is it impossible to detect? Forensic experts have plenty of ways to detect it!"

This case is almost over. The next case will involve the mysterious person who escaped in the previous toxic yogurt case.
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(End of this chapter)