You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 271 No rush, let's play around with him!
"Could it be that Ji Yuan wasn't lying? Was it really the killer of Case 528 who murdered Huang Mingquan?"

Before Yang Jinwen could say anything, Yao Weihua, who was standing to the side, replied, "I think it looks like this guy did it."

Zhou Changyuan asked, "What's the reason?"

“I just inquired and the workers at the coal mine said that Ji Yuan and Deputy Director Huang had a conflict, and that he coveted Huang Mingquan’s position and wanted to replace him, but he couldn’t get rid of him, so he had a reason to kill him.”

Furthermore, the way he looked at me—it looked exactly like the eyes of a murderer!

Zhou Changyuan shook his head: "This reason is untenable. We need to produce solid evidence."

Yang Jinwen said, "I'll survey the site."

"Alright, if we can find any evidence, even the smallest piece of evidence, we have grounds to detain him."

Yang Jinwen put on shoe covers and gloves and entered the crime scene.

Yao Weihua and Cai Ting followed them inside, helping to hand over things and turn on the lights.

Yang Jinwen first carefully examined the spot where Huang Mingquan had fallen.

Because it was raining at the time of the incident, and the roads outside were all gravel roads with sewage flowing everywhere, there were many footprints at the scene, and it was very messy.

Ji Yuan confessed that he saw the body as soon as he went in, and when he turned around, he found the murderer coming out from the shelf.

He was walking in a straight line, and he was also wearing rain boots, but he was about 1.75 meters tall.

Yang Jinwen compared the footprints behind the shelf and found that the two footprints were completely different in size, and the patterns on the rain boots were also different.

Even an experienced person can estimate a person's height based on their footprints. Generally, a person's height is 6.8 times the size of their footprints. Therefore, Ji Yuan's footprints would give him a height of about 1.75 meters.

The footprints behind the shelf were less than 1.7 meters long, at most 1.68 meters, which matches the height of the perpetrator in the 528 case.

In addition, within the area where the female victim was killed, there were footprints measuring 1.68 meters in length, and several of these footprints showed that the force was exerted by the forefoot and the heel, leaving a clear trail of mud.

In other words, when the murderer killed the female victim, he stood on tiptoe, put a steel rope around the victim's neck, and then leaned his body backward.

Looking at the female victim's height again, she was about 1.62 meters tall.

Therefore, the murderer did not have a height advantage.

Moreover, as Wu Jianhao said, the murderer's footprints moved around the shelves. Counting from the door, there are several obvious footprints behind the second row of shelves, indicating that he was squatting down.

Yao Weihua helped by turning on the investigation light, and Yang Jinwen said, "When Huang Mingquan came in, the murderer was hiding in this place."

"How did you figure that out?" Wu Jianhao asked the question, and immediately regretted it.

Because Yao Weihua let out a very impolite laugh, and made a 'pfft' sound with his mouth.

Yang Jinwen didn't think much of it and explained, "A standing footprint is evenly pressed on both the inside and outside sides, just like a 1.75-meter footprint, which is standing, and the pressure point of the forefoot and the pressure depth of the heel are also different."

Judging from the types of traces, the footprints of the squatting posture show drag marks on the heels and deep arch collapse, which are 3 times more pronounced than those of the standing posture.

Furthermore, the fan-shaped radial indentations on the 1st to 5th metatarsals, with crescent-shaped indentations at the edges, indicate a forward shift in the center of gravity, resulting in pressure on the heel.

Wu Jianhao only half understood what he was hearing; he knew a little bit, but the forensic investigators who followed him were completely confused.

Wu Jianhao made a fool of himself, so no one dared to ask, because whoever asked would be the clown.

Besides, Deputy Director Zhou was standing by with his hands behind his back, watching.

Zhou Changyuan said, "So Ji Yuan didn't lie all the way through, and he and Huang Mingquan really did encounter the murderer?"

"Yes." Yang Jinwen nodded.

If it turns out that Ji Yuan lied afterward, the nearly two thousand people who went into the mountains to search for him would probably overwhelm him.

The subsequent footprints were not very clear. Even with a surveying light, only some blurry marks could be seen. We had to sift through them first and then compare them.

Yang Jinwen stood up and continued, "Ji Yuan said that the murderer suddenly rushed out, and he wasn't lying. The footprints we can see show that the murderer did have a running start."

Zhou Changyuan said, "According to you, Ji Yuan is truly innocent."

Yang Jinwen pondered for a moment and said, "Not necessarily, Director Zhou. Think about it. The murderer was caught red-handed killing someone, and there were two people standing in front of him."

One was the head of the security department, the other was the deputy factory director, and the murderer was a worker at the mine.

Normally, both Ji Yuan and Huang Mingquan are high-ranking people who manage such a large coal mine.

If you were in their shoes, would you fight those two, or run away immediately?

Yao Weihua nodded: "Yes, yes, that's what I mean too. The murderer has no advantage in killing Huang Mingquan again. If he just shouts, the people on the other side can hear him, and there is also the risk of being caught."

Yang Jinwen continued, "Not to mention that the murderer wouldn't dare to make a move, even if he did, the fact that he hit the person once and then hit them a second time, and that he killed them with such precision, makes even less sense."

Yao Weihua nodded again: "That's right, and Ji Yuan said that the murderer used a steel bar to hit the person, snatched the steel bar from the murderer's hand, and the murderer also took away the murder weapon."

"If it could kill someone with two blows, this steel bar must be quite long, at least a meter or more. The murderer wouldn't even have time to run away; why would they carry this thing around? Isn't it just a burden?"

Yang Jinwen added, "There's another very important point: Ji Yuan is 99% lying."

Zhou Changyuan hurriedly asked, "What lie did he tell?"

“He said he had a struggle with the murderer, but didn’t see the murderer’s face clearly. That doesn’t make sense. I think he must have recognized who the murderer was!”

Zhou Changyuan scratched his face with his finger and frowned, saying, "We have no evidence that Ji Yuan killed Huang Mingquan, so we can only try to find the murderer first."

Yao Weihua said, "I'm afraid that if we find a corpse, there will be no way to prove anything, and then we won't be able to pry the truth out of him at all."

Zhou Changyuan suddenly raised his head: "That won't do. If that's the case, our whole case is over! I'll go and call this guy back right now. If I had known, I would have detained him first!"

At this moment, Yang Jinwen tugged at his arm: "Director Zhou, wait a moment."

Just as Yang Jinwen was about to speak, Fu Mingyuan and his men rushed in through the coal mine gate.

"Director Zhou, the murderer's identity has been identified!"

Zhou Changyuan and Yang Jinwen hurriedly stepped forward: "What's your name?" "Chai Jinqiang, 33 years old, no ID card. According to his roommates, he speaks with a Guizhou accent. He came to Dannan Coal Mine at the end of last year."

How can we be sure it's him?

"Height matches..."

Before Fu Mingyuan could finish speaking, Yang Jinwen immediately asked, "What is your exact height?"

"He's about 1.7 meters tall, but less than 1.7 meters, so I can't be sure of the exact height. Besides that, the belt that Chai Jinqiang wears around his waist has a metal buckle. His coworker who sleeps next to him has seen that his belt does have scratches, which were caused recently."

"what type is it?"

"It's a small metal rod, the kind of belt that goes into the hole of a belt. There's a scratch on the metal rod. It was originally black, but the paint is worn off."

Zhou Changyuan said to Yang Jinwen, "It completely matches your judgment of the murderer."

Fu Mingyuan continued, "We verified with Chai Jinqiang's coworkers in the dormitory. They were all unemployed and migrant workers from other places. They said that on the afternoon of May 28th, Chai Jinqiang went out alone and didn't return until very late."

After lunch today, Chai Jinqiang went out and hasn't returned to the dormitory yet.

Furthermore, Chai Jinqiang is a loner, taciturn, and doesn't talk much or interact much with his coworkers.

Zhou Changyuan nodded: "That's him. Notify the search team and tell them his name. Also, go and call Section Chief Ji Yuan back to me!"

Fu Mingyuan nodded and was about to leave when Yang Jinwen immediately called out, "Wait a minute..."

Seeing his serious expression, Fu Mingyuan frowned and asked, "Captain Yang, is something the matter?"

Yang Jinwen raised his eyes: "Why don't we have some fun with Section Chief Ji!"

---------

Two o'clock in the morning.

A dense array of flashlight beams were scattered around Well No. 4 as a group of people moved through the darkness.

Ji Yuan gripped the walkie-talkie tightly and looked around at the pitch-black surroundings.

Da Biao complained from the side, "Section Chief, we've been searching for hours, and it's the middle of the night, but we haven't seen a soul. I think that bastard is definitely hiding. He's not easy to find."

"We have to find them, even if it's hard! We absolutely have to find them!"
By the way, have you asked anyone else? Did you find anything?

"Didn't you notice? Everyone's complaining. By the way, Old Huang's been killed, so you should be the deputy factory director now."

Ji Yuan remained silent, his brows furrowed.

Da Biao continued, "That's it, that old bastard deserves to die too. He's just hogging the toilet without doing anything, always yelling and shouting."

Ji Yuan laughed in the darkness, "Don't speak too soon, the mine has its own arrangements."

“Arrangement my ass. We’ll accept you as the deputy factory director, but if someone else comes, I’ll lead a strike.”

Ji Yuan patted him on the shoulder: "Good brother, if that day ever comes, I will never treat you unfairly."

Da Biao said righteously, "I'm telling the truth. Half of the sales of our Dannan Coal Mine were done by your old man."

Before the old man became general manager, the mine's railway tracks were all rusted. He led the sales team, constantly expanding sales channels to other provinces. Now, trainloads of coal are being transported out, bringing so much benefit to our mine.”

"He was also thinking about the livelihoods of tens of thousands of coal miners," Ji Yuan said absentmindedly, then squinted and asked, "What did you just say?"

Da Biao scratched the back of his head: "I said the old man is capable..."

"No, you just said railway tracks."

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Tell me, not long ago, when we were on patrol, we saw a flatbed cart operator in the coal storage area. He was secretly reading Royal Color magazine while he was working. This guy was less than 1.7 meters tall and had single eyelids. What was his name?"

"There was such a person, what was his name again? I remember this guy was reading a very explicit magazine called 'Royal Colors,' so we confiscated it and brought it to the office, where everyone took turns criticizing the magazine."

At this moment, a clerk behind them replied, "His surname is Chai, his name is Chai Jinqiang, he's a flatbed cart operator, a coal loading worker."

Ji Yuan's eyes widened: "Let's go, let's go to the coal storage silo!"

Da Biao said, "No, the coal is hidden at the station, and the station is at the foot of the mountain. Are we not going to search further?"

"Hurry up, stop talking nonsense."

"Okay." Da Biao called out to the people around him, and more than a dozen people began to return.

As the group walked around the coal mine buildings toward the loading station, Da Biao's walkie-talkie suddenly rang.

"Hello? Deputy Section Chief Zhang?"

Da Biao shouted impatiently, "It's me, what is it?"

"We found the murderer's shoes and raincoat here..."

Upon hearing this, Ji Yuan quickly snatched the walkie-talkie from Da Biao's hand and hurriedly asked, "This is Ji Yuan. Where are you?"

"Section Chief, it's at the foot of the mountain, about half a kilometer along the railway tracks."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"No, didn't we say we'd tell Deputy Section Chief Zhang first?"

"Well done! Remember, don't tell anyone else yet, keep searching ahead, I'll be there soon."

"Catch the murderer, and I will give you an additional five thousand yuan reward in the name of the security department!"

"Okay, thank you, Section Chief."

Ji Yuan tossed the walkie-talkie to Da Biao, touched the pistol tucked into his waistband, quickened his pace, and headed straight for the railway tracks.

(End of this chapter)