Chapter 59

On the fourth day of the incident, early in the morning, inside the interrogation room, the video equipment, desk lamp, and record book had long been prepared.

Song Wen and Fu Linjiang took their seats. The woman sitting across from them was in her middle age, with slightly white hair and a bit of plumpness. This woman was the relative of the elderly deceased at the funeral home last night.

According to the information, Duan Sheng had a daughter relatively late in life and only had a daughter when he was 35. Now, Duan Yunyun is 52 years old, married and divorced, with a 27-year-old son. Currently, her grandson is just over a year old. This family could not be considered poor, but it was definitely not well-off.

After Fu Linjiang finished asking for detailed information, he got straight to the point: “Duan Yunyun, did you send your father to the Luoxin Nursing Home?”

Duan Yunyun’s face showed confusion and incomprehension. “Comrade, I’m not quite sure why the police called me to the station?” She seemed unfamiliar with the place. Song Wen sensed a bit of uneasiness in her posture. This was a common reaction for most people brought in for questioning at the police station. They had only mentioned Duan Yunyun assisting in the investigation on the phone and didn’t go into details.

“We are asking for your assistance in investigating a related case. Did you send your father to the care home?” Fu Linjiang repeated the question.

Duan Yunyun lowered her head and whispered, “I take care of my grandson at home. Luoxin Nursing Home has a good reputation. Sending him there is also our filial duty.” As she spoke, she adjusted the black sleeve cuff on her arm.

Fu Linjiang continued to inquire, “Did your father have some illnesses before he passed away?”

Duan Yunyun nodded, “My father had severe diabetes before he passed away and also suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s disease. His consciousness was unclear, and sometimes he couldn’t even recognize his own family. We were actively treating him.” After answering this question, she looked up again and asked, “I’m still not quite clear about why you called me here.”

Under the illumination of the light, her eye bags made her appear a bit aged. Her fingers were constantly trembling, expressing uneasiness.

Song Wen stared into the woman’s eyes and changed the tone this time. He flipped through the documents in front of him and handed over a consent form for autopsy. “Your father may have died from homicide. To investigate the true cause of your father’s death, we need the family’s consent for an autopsy. Please sign this autopsy form to cooperate with our work.”

Duan Yunyun trembled all over, noticeably more flustered after Song Wen posed this question. Her fingers felt hot as she tossed the pen on the table. “I… I do not agree to the autopsy. My father was 87 years old, and his death was natural. There are numerous procedures and documents. Why do you need an autopsy?”

Fu Linjiang pointed to the case file, saying, “We just informed you that your father may have been murdered. I think as a daughter who has just lost her father, you should have questions about your father’s death instead of being eager to stop the autopsy.”

Song Wen also looked at the woman. Her response seemed too anxious, as if she had been speculating on what the police would ask and how they would respond since receiving the call last night. The current situation appeared to be what she had feared.

The woman lowered her head and whispered, “Anyway, my father is already dead. For an elderly person of his age, does the cause of death really matter…?” She seemed to be trying to explain her earlier reaction but ended up making it worse.

“The cause of death is important, regardless of age. If it’s not a natural death, it is a matter the police need to investigate,” Fu Linjiang bluntly pointed out. “Your reaction makes me feel that you were prepared for your father’s death.”

“Regardless, the deceased is important. I don’t want my father’s body to be dissected. After working hard all his life, he doesn’t even get to rest in peace,” Duan Yunyun said through gritted teeth.

Song Wen put away the documents. “Normally, an autopsy must be performed after the family signs, but according to the latest Article 129 of the Criminal Procedure Law, in cases of non-natural death, public security agencies have the right to decide on an autopsy and notify the family to be present. If the family refuses to sign, it is considered a refusal, and all responsibilities will be borne by the family.”

Song Wen emphasized the phrase “all responsibilities borne by the family” very slowly. He was sure that Duan Yunyun understood his meaning. It was only now that Duan Yunyun seemed to realize it, and her face turned paler. Her previous performance revealed a flaw.

Song Wen then shifted the topic, “Before this, did the director of the Luoxin Nursing Home have a conversation with you?”

“That was just a normal discussion about my father’s condition.”

“Afterward, you transferred thirty thousand to the care home’s account.”

“That was… that was my father’s funeral preparation fund.”

“Did you prepare for your father’s death from that time?”

“…His condition has never been good.”

“So, on the third day after that, your father died of natural causes?” Song Wen asked in an inquiring tone. The timing seemed too coincidental.

After a moment’s pause, Duan Yunyun nodded quietly. “Yes.”

“Can you explain the whereabouts of the one hundred and fifty thousand?” Duan Yunyun remained silent.

“If Luoxin Nursing Home injected your father, causing his death, and they informed you in advance, but you now refuse to cooperate with the police… you will be an accomplice, an accomplice in the murder of your father.” Song Wen’s expression became more serious.

“What do you mean? You police need evidence when you speak! I’m just cooperating with the investigation! How can you accuse me like this?” Duan Yunyun exploded, widening her eyes and waving her hands. “How could I possibly murder my father?”

Song Wen looked at her, as if seeing through her heart. “Because he was seriously ill, and you considered him a burden…”

Duan Yunyun gnashed her teeth in hatred, “You… you people who talk while standing don’t understand. Do you know what it feels like to have an elderly person with an illness at home? He can’t even remember your name; he has become a stranger who only eats, drinks, excretes, and then curses and fights. He spends a lot of money; he can’t even control his own body, constantly having incontinence, changing diapers several times a day. No matter how many times you talk to him, it’s useless. In his condition, my entire life is thrown into an abyss! Even so, even so…” She lowered her head, tears in her eyes, and her hands gradually tightened.

“So, did you kill your father?”

Duan Yunyun clenched her teeth even tighter, her eyes wide open, full of anger and sensitivity. “No, I didn’t! My father died a natural death!”

At this point in the conversation, Song Wen looked at the woman in front of him and said, “I wonder, when you were seriously ill back then, did your father make the same choice?”

Upon hearing this, Duan Yunyun’s eyes suddenly moved. She remembered. At the age of eight, she had a severe pneumonia. All the doctors said she was beyond saving, and even the children’s hospital refused to admit her. It was her father who carried her from one hospital to another. They stayed overnight in the hospital corridors. At that time, she had a high fever, lying in her father’s arms, covered with his coat. After a while, her father used damp gauze to wipe her cracked lips…

In the long night, which seemed like it would never end, all she could hold onto was her father’s hand, listening to her father pleading with the doctors time and time again.

Listening to her father say… Dad will be with you, Dad won’t give up on you.

Please, save my daughter…

Her body suddenly trembled, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Dad…”

Song Wen and his team had reviewed Duan Yunyun’s information before and knew that she had a serious illness during primary school, taking a year off. Once the breakthrough was made, the rest would follow smoothly. The woman in front of them had her psychological defenses broken, and they had obtained the truth from her reactions. What they lacked now was a written statement.

Watching Duan Yunyun cry bitterly, Fu Linjiang said to her, “Ms. Duan, please organize your testimony. Considering that relatives like you might be misled, cooperating with the police’s work, we will offer lenient sentencing. However, this opportunity is only available once.”

It was a routine interrogation process where many suspects would become eager and spill the truth. Duan Yunyun’s face turned pale. She reached for her hair, and her entire face looked somewhat lost, twisting in confusion. Her fingers touched a scar on her forehead, a mark left by her father not long ago when he hit her with an ashtray. At that time, her father seemed like a madman, with a ferocious face, smashing her head repeatedly because he forgot to buy him cigarettes. Regardless of her cries, the pain was unbearable, and from that moment, her heart died. She wanted to escape that hell, hoping the old man in front of her would die.

Her mind was like churning waves, and new memories quickly replaced the touching moments of the past. In an instant, Duan Yunyun woke up. That was no longer her father; he was now an evil spirit. Now, everything was over; her father was already dead! She had been liberated, with nothing to fear. She still had her life, her family; she did not belong to her father alone.

Duan Yunyun suddenly reacted.

Trap, all of this was a trap set by the police…

Duan Yunyun’s mind suddenly solidified. She strengthened her resolve and hoarsely said, “If you have suspicions, go ask the other family members.”

Song Wen and Fu Linjiang were somewhat surprised by the sudden change in her attitude. Just a moment ago, they thought the interrogation was about to end.

The woman in front of them slowly straightened her body. Her eyes still had tears, and she looked like she had been through a downpour, extremely haggard. However, her gaze underwent a subtle change, a bit fierce and malicious. “If you can dissect my father’s body without my consent, you could have done it long ago. Why waste time interrogating me here?”

Song Wen’s eyebrows twitched slightly; this was the key to the entire interrogation. This was precisely what they used to trick Duan Yunyun.

“Anyway, I won’t sign.” Duan Yunyun looked at the two men in front of her with swollen eyes, her voice trembling and indifferent. “You haven’t provided any evidence that my father was killed by others, right? I’ll say it again, my father died a natural death.”

Exiting the interrogation room, Fu Linjiang exploded, “What is going on? We were so close…”

In contrast, Song Wen calmed him down, “Maybe we pressed too hard just now, leaving some traces, but it’s a good thing. Asking like this didn’t yield anything. Either Bai Luorui is really clean, and we should be glad that no more people are harmed, or Luoxin Nursing Home has issues, and Duan Yunyun is lying. As long as there’s a lie, we can use other things to connect the dots. We’re not afraid of not finding any traces.”

Fu Linjiang said, “You seem quite calm about it.”

Song Wen replied, “It was expected. We can’t prove the truth of the real or fake. With so many family members, if there are issues among them, there will eventually be new leads. We can’t rely on a single testimony to break the case.”

Fu Linjiang walked over, sat on the edge of the table with crossed arms, looking at Song Wen with a somewhat sulking expression, “I can’t understand… Why, when we were so close…”

Song Wen raised his head and asked, “What don’t you understand?”

“Do you think our investigation is going in the wrong direction? Is Bai Luorui really an upright entrepreneur? Does she manage the nursing home exceptionally well? Did the families of those deceased seniors only pay for funeral expenses? And Zhang Peicai’s death, has nothing to do with them?” When logic and reasoning reached a dead end, Fu Linjiang began to assume another possibility. Although the chance was slim, they couldn’t completely dismiss it.

Song Wen frowned, questioning him, “Do you believe those are the facts?”
Fu Linjiang shook his head, hoping that Song Wen’s reasoning could convince him.

“Is it because Duan Yunyun’s interrogation took an unexpected turn that made you start thinking this way?” Song Wen said softly.

Their current investigation could only see individual points, like glimpsing a leopard through a tube; they were missing some crucial parts to connect all the events.

Fu Linjiang voiced his confusion, “Eighteen years ago, in order to catch Xia Weizhi, the enraged people of Nancheng surrounded the Wushan Nursing Home, demanding severe punishment for the culprit. But now, we suspect that some elderly people were killed by Bai Luorui. Regardless of whether it’s a positive or negative association, not a single person has come forward to say a word. Do you think the world has changed, people have changed? Or have we fundamentally misunderstood something?”

Song Wen lowered his head and said, “There must be something we don’t know in our investigation, leading to the current situation.”

He had an intuitive feeling that there was a problem with the deaths of those elderly people. But what silenced them, creating such a unified front with no traitors?

Who killed Zhang Peicai?

What was the connection between Bai Luorui and Xia Weizhi?

As one mystery remained unsolved, new ones emerged. Since the beginning of this case, everything seemed like a spider’s web. He felt as if he were standing in the mist, able to see individual threads in the air when looking up, but unable to grasp the whole picture, to understand the entire layout.

Suddenly, Song Wen wished that Lu Siyu could be by his side. If Lu Siyu had been there during today’s interrogation, how would it have gone? Could she have seen through Duan Yunyun’s inner thoughts and turned the tide?

Although Fu Linjiang cooperated seamlessly with him, their thought patterns had some similarities. On the other hand, Lu Siyu was entirely different, always offering different views and opinions. With everyone’s thoughts merging together, they might be able to piece together a complete truth.

TN:

The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.