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

Chapter 6 The Old Hand in the Interrogation Room!
Inside the interrogation room of the Criminal Investigation Team at the Chengbei Branch of the Public Security Bureau.

It was already dark, but the rain was still falling outside, though the intensity had lessened.

Cao Qiang sat in the interrogation chair, his handcuffs removed, his eyes darting around.

Yang Jinwen stood in the corner, staring at He Jinbo, Zheng Kang, and the police officers from the pre-trial team.

The three of them each dragged a chair and sat to Cao Qiang's left, middle, and right.

No matter which way Cao Qiang looked, he could feel a strong sense of oppression.

In addition, at the table behind the three old men, there were two pre-trial officers, making it five people staring intently at the suspect in their minds.

He Jinbo sat in the middle chair, almost knee-to-knee with Cao Qiang, showing how close they were.

If you don't have a real understanding of this kind of situation, you can refer to the scenes of students being bullied or being blocked by thugs.

Of course, these are two different things, but the intense sense of oppression and immense fear were very real.

"Cao Qiang, confess! How did you kill your wife?"

Cao Qiang immediately raised his face, his eyes unwavering: "What do you mean? What did you say?"

He not only did not avoid eye contact, but also leaned forward, his eyes showing only confusion, not panic.

This is a physical gesture that actively seeks answers, without any attempt to avoid them.

Yang Jinwen had been a police officer for nearly thirty years in his previous life and was very experienced. With just a glance, he could tell whether Cao Qiang was hiding something.

He Jinbo and Zheng Kang were both veteran criminal investigators, so they could naturally tell.

"Cao Qiang, your wife Huang Cuicui wasn't home last night, don't you care about her?"

There was a trap in those words. Yang Jinwen sighed inwardly. As expected of a 90-year veteran criminal investigator, he was far superior to those rookie officers who had just joined the police force in his previous life.

Cao Qiang had already realized what was going on. He swallowed hard and stared intently at He Jinbo: "No, what did you just say? My wife... what happened to her?"

As expected, Cao Qiang was still actively seeking out questions, rather than answering He Jinbo's questions in the same way.

If he really killed his wife, needless to say, he would answer whatever the police asked and would never do anything unnecessary, let alone question the detective interrogating him. Most suspects wouldn't have that kind of guts.

Upon seeing this, Zheng Kang and He Jinbo exchanged glances, and then Zheng Kang directly asked, "You didn't know that your wife, Huang Cuicui, was murdered?"

“I…” Cao Qiang’s eyes were glazed over, and his lips were slightly parted, a sign that he wanted to breathe, to have air.

This natural expression cannot be faked.

"How could this be? When did this happen?"

Zheng Kang didn't answer directly, but instead reached out and pressed his left shoulder: "Cao Qiang, tell the truth, did you kill him?"

Reaching out and pressing on the suspect's shoulder constitutes physical contact between the interrogator and the suspect, which is not permitted in a future era with a sound legal system.

This action was a display of authority, and Zheng Kang was testing the other party's reaction to confirm whether Cao Qiang's performance was genuine.

"No, it wasn't me! Officer, is my wife really dead? You're not lying to me..."

Zheng Kang hesitated for a moment, patted him on the shoulder, and then took his hand away.

He Jinbo seemed to have lost patience with him and asked directly, "If you didn't kill the person, why are you running away?"

Cao Qiang pursed his lips: "I...I thought you were here to catch me stealing vegetables."

"Stealing vegetables?" He Jinbo asked in confusion, "Whose vegetables did you steal?"

"Every day, trucks delivering vegetables and fruits arrive at the farmers' market, and these trucks arrive in the middle of the night. The loading and unloading workers haven't started work yet, and the drivers are all sleeping in the trucks."

"I...I just steal from cars and then sell them...Besides me, many people do this!" After saying that, Cao Qiang anxiously asked, "Officer, how did my wife die? Who killed her?"

He Jinbo didn't answer him, but instead called out, "Cat!"

The cat's name was Jiang Mao. He was standing by the door and immediately responded, "Master."

"Find someone to ask him if he's telling the truth."

"it is good."

He Jinbo continued the interrogation of Cao Qiang, but Cao Qiang answered fluently and did not deliberately avoid the questions.

By 8 p.m., nothing had been found except for confirming the time of Huang Cuicui's disappearance.

Huang Cuicui and Cao Qiang got married two years ago and have no children. She left home at 6 p.m. on May 30.

The reason for leaving home was that Huang Cuicui and Cao Qiang had a quarrel. Because they had been married for two years without having children, Cao Qiang blamed Huang Cuicui for it.

Cao Qiang assumed that his wife had gone back to her parents' home in a fit of anger, and that Huang Cuicui always did this after their arguments.

The following day, which was this morning, Cao Qiang went to set up his stall at the North City Vegetable Market as usual, without noticing anything unusual.

It wasn't until the afternoon, when the police came to his door, that he realized he had been caught stealing vegetables, so he ran away.

Maozi called the management office of the Chengbei Farmers Market and learned that Cao Qiang's statement was true. Cao Qiang and several other vendors had indeed done this, but because they were not caught in the act, the management office had not taken any action against them.

It was already 8 p.m.

The members of the Major Crimes Unit gathered in the corridor outside the interrogation room.

He Jinbo, hands on his hips, asked, "Old Zheng, what do you think?"

Zheng Kang took out cigarettes and gave one to each person, but he forgot to give one to Yang Jinwen.

"Cao Qiang isn't that much of a suspect, but we can't release him now. We need to wait for the autopsy report to come out, confirm the exact time of death, and look at his alibi before we draw any conclusions."

"That's all we can do." He Jinbo sighed. "Alright, everyone, go home. We're all soaked and haven't even had time to change our clothes."

Before leaving, he glanced at Yang Jinwen and said, "When you were making the arrest this afternoon, you threw that basket quite accurately. People who have served in the military are definitely different."

The body was found in less than a day, and He Jinbo was able to report back to his superiors, so he was naturally in a good mood.

Yang Jinwen smiled, but as soon as he left, he was met with a glare from Zheng Kang.

"You seem distracted today. Just now, while we were interrogating the suspect, you were standing in the corner sighing and complaining. What's the meaning of that?"

Yang Jinwen took a breath. He hadn't expected that Zheng Kang would have time to pay attention to his expression during the interrogation.

“Master, Cao Qiang is definitely not a suspect. I think this case is not simple, and we can’t investigate it using conventional methods.”

"Oh, you're teaching me now?" Zheng Kang sneered. "Then tell me, how exactly do you plan to investigate?"

Yang Jinwen pondered for a moment, then replied, "We need to mobilize the entire bureau to conduct a massive search and investigation along the route where the body was dumped, checking each building and questioning each unit..."

Zheng Kang chuckled: "The power of the whole system? What are you thinking? Why don't you go and ask the leader for permission, and see if you or I get scolded?"

“Master!” Yang Jinwen insisted, “We really can’t investigate this as a crime of passion. The killer’s methods weren’t driven by self-interest or conflict. Moreover, the forensic team said that the victim Huang Cuicui’s internal organs are missing!”
This killer is extremely cruel. I feel like it's a serial murder case. Let's head to the murder scene and the dismemberment scene to investigate!
Why did the killer commit murder? Let's not worry about that for now. But the murder scene and the dismemberment scene are definitely confirmed; let's investigate that, maybe we can find some clues.

That's a bit alarming. A serial killer?
Zheng Kang's face turned pale with anger: "Have you been watching too many American movies? Hurry up and go home. You don't need to rest, but I do!"

Yang Jinwen sighed and had no choice but to leave dejectedly.

Zheng Kang took two steps toward his office, then stopped, pondering, "A dismemberment scene? This kid seems to have a point..."

(End of this chapter)