Murder Call

Due to the dilapidated state of the community where the crime scene was located and the poor security management, the investigation faced significant difficulties. However, after analyzing the scene, the police believed that the murderer used a vehicle to move the body, so they compared all the vehicles that passed by during the victim’s time of death.

After the Public Security Bureau of Fanzhou County investigated for a while, they discovered a person who matched the criminal’s characteristics. This person was named Zhou Wen.

Gu Yuan looked at Zhou Wen’s photo in the file with wide eyes, as if the truth shrouded in mist was about to be revealed. He continued to flip through the pages.

But Zhou Wen suddenly disappeared. The criminal police visited Zhou Wen’s relatives and friends, but no one had any information about him. Some said Zhou Wen ran away, while others speculated that he might have committed suicide out of guilt. In any case, Zhou Wen vanished into thin air.

Because they couldn’t find Zhou Wen, the case was left unresolved, and the file was later transferred to the Criminal Investigation Team in Yanhai City.

Gu Yuan put down the file in his hand: “It seems that to solve this case, we need to re-examine the case from two years ago.”

Mo Lin gently wiped the dust off his glasses: “Has anyone complained about this case?”

Gu Yuan flipped through the file again: “There’s no record of any complaints.”

“Alright, I’ll look into it later.” Mo Lin thought that if the murderer was dissatisfied with the outcome of the case from two years ago, they would first think of filing a complaint. If the complaint result was unsatisfactory, they might resort to extreme measures to force an investigation in such a special way.

Just then, Meng Lan knocked on the door of the lounge: “Teacher Mo, there’s a response to the missing person notice you posted!”

The two people in the lounge exchanged a glance and walked outside.

Meng Lan opened an anonymous email, and a photo appeared before them. In the photo, two girls stood together, one tall and one short, both with bright smiles.

The shorter girl wore a birthday hat and a pink tracksuit, looking like she was celebrating her birthday. The taller girl had her arm around her shoulder.

Gu Yuan immediately recognized the shorter girl as Xia Yin, who appeared somewhat malnourished.

The taller girl looked familiar.

Gu Yuan thought for a moment and realized that this girl resembled Wan Shu, who had asked for his WeChat earlier that morning.

Upon closer inspection, he confirmed that the girl was indeed Wan Shu, whose dimples on both sides of her mouth when she smiled were quite memorable.

The background of the photo featured old-fashioned furniture. Although the image quality wasn’t very clear, Gu Yuan was certain that the scene in the photo was the crime scene of Xia Yin’s case.

The bottom right corner of the photo showed the timestamp: July 20, 20XX, 12:35:03.

Xia Yin’s body was discovered on July 28, and at that time, the forensic doctor determined that she had been dead for over a week. This photo was taken on July 20, meaning Xia Yin died shortly after the photo was taken!

At this moment, Gu Yuan suddenly thought of the chocolate cake remnants found in Liu Yun’s stomach.

Cake, birthday, July 20…

Gu Yuan was puzzled: “Xia Yin’s birthday is June 23, so why was the photo taken on July 20?”

“Maybe she actually celebrated her birthday on July 20, and the date on her ID might be slightly off,” Meng Lan suggested.

Regardless, Xia Yin’s autopsy report didn’t mention a birthday cake, but based on the timing, she likely ate birthday cake before she died.

The cake remnants in Liu Yun’s stomach indicated that the murderer knew about the birthday party from two years ago.

The person who killed Liu Yun might have been the one celebrating Xia Yin’s birthday with her!

Besides Wan Shu in the photo, who else was present? Who took the photo?

As Gu Yuan pondered, Mo Lin suddenly asked, “Can we trace the sender’s ID?”

Meng Lan regretfully said, “I tried tracking the ID right away, but unfortunately, it was sent through an external network and changed multiple times along the way. It’s impossible to trace it now. The ID from the radio station’s receipt was the same situation. I believe the sender for both might be the same person.”

Mo Lin: “How’s the captain’s progress?”

Meng Lan sighed: “Liu Quan did say some things, but nothing of great value. The captain is currently investigating Liu Yun’s ex-boyfriend, Zhou Ziming.”

Mo Lin speculated about the murderer’s intentions, believing that the murderer was guiding the police to investigate. The murderer sent such a crucial photo, indicating they were ready to move on to the next stage.

*

At this moment, Wang Yue was troubled by the lack of progress.

The murderer used a voice changer during the call, making it impossible to identify the criminal by voice. They could only bring in all the suspects for questioning at the police station.

At the crime scene, they found an old phone and a strange incoming call, which was later confirmed to be a spam call about selling a house.

Wang Yue stared at Zhou Wen’s photo, deep in thought. Zhou Wen had been missing for two years, his fate unknown. Despite a missing person notice being issued for two years, he hadn’t been found. How were they supposed to find him?

Li Meng came running over: “Captain, there’s a new discovery! Our people found the victim’s clothes in Zhou Ziming’s residential area. The clothes had bloodstains and were cut up and thrown in the trash. Old Yan and the others are working on restoring them!”

Hearing this, Wang Yue jumped up from his chair.

Afterward, Wang Yue hurriedly led his team to arrest Zhou Ziming. Seeing a group of people getting into police cars, Mo Lin asked Meng Lan beside him, “Who are they going to arrest?”

Meng Lan: “They’re going to arrest Zhou Ziming.”

Mo Lin raised an eyebrow: “Arrest Zhou Ziming?”

Meng Lan: “Yes! We found the victim’s blood-stained clothes in the trash bin below his building.”

Mo Lin wasn’t surprised: “When did this happen?”

Meng Lan: “An hour ago.”

Mo Lin: “Is there surveillance near the trash bin?”

Meng Lan: “No, I heard from Old Yan that the community’s security isn’t great, and they didn’t capture who threw the trash. However, the sanitation workers clean the trash bins every morning around six, so the clothes must have been thrown in after six.

The image analysis team said the black SUV appeared at Samsung Bridge at 11:20 last night, then disappeared for a while, and reappeared on Jiangbei Road at five in the morning, before disappearing again into a surveillance blind spot. Jiangbei Road is very close to where Zhou Ziming lives, and it would only take the suspect twenty minutes to walk there.”

Mo Lin pondered for a moment, which meant Zhou Ziming was entirely suspicious of driving the SUV into the surveillance blind spot and then walking home to dispose of the blood-stained clothes in the trash bin.

Before long, Zhou Ziming was brought to the police station.

Before coming to the station, Zhou Ziming was still at work, looking completely unaware.

Zhou Ziming adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and straightened his business suit, which had creases from being pressed, as he walked into the police station.

He was then taken to Interrogation Room No. 4, where Wang Yue personally conducted the interrogation.

Gu Yuan and Mo Lin stood by the window, observing the situation inside. From getting out of the car to entering the interrogation room, Zhou Ziming remained calm, showing no signs of guilt after committing a crime.

Wang Yue: “What did you do last night?”

“I worked overtime at the company and then went home to sleep,” Zhou Ziming answered concisely.

“Be more specific, what exactly did you do?”

Zhou Ziming thought for two seconds: “Last night, after returning home from work, I went to the gym, around 8 PM. Then I had dinner at the restaurant across the street, after which I drove to the mall to buy some daily necessities… It was almost nine, and the mall was about to close, so I didn’t shop for long before leaving. I then drove home, arriving at the community around 9:30. I fed some canned food to the stray cats downstairs, watched them finish eating, and then left. After going home, I took a shower and handled some work documents, going to bed at eleven.”

Wang Yue stared into Zhou Ziming’s narrow, intelligent eyes beneath his glasses and said, “Repeat what you just said in reverse order.”

Zhou Ziming smiled, showing no signs of panic: “Went to bed at eleven, handled some documents before sleeping, took a shower, fed the cats, went to the supermarket, had dinner, worked out, got off work.”

Zhou Ziming’s response was relatively fluent.

“Do you smoke?” Wang Yue pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and handed it over.

A fresh cigarette butt was found at the first crime scene, and the trace inspection team determined it was likely left by the murderer as a “post-crime smoke.”

“Thank you.” Zhou Ziming accepted the cigarette, felt his pocket, and took out a uniquely designed lighter.

“Ding~”

With the crisp sound of the lighter, a flame flickered up. Zhou Ziming took a deep drag and slowly exhaled the smoke.

He seemed overly calm, making Wang Yue feel that this guy had been to the police station more than once, yet he had no criminal record.

To extract DNA from the cigarette butt, Wang Yue pushed a clean ashtray in front of Zhou Ziming.

Wang Yue: “Liu Quan said you dated Liu Yun. Liu Yun is dead. Why aren’t you sad?”

“Why should I be sad?” Zhou Ziming said flatly, “She cheated first, and we broke up two months ago. I’ve already moved on from that relationship.”

While investigating Liu Yun’s accounts, Wang Yue discovered that Zhou Ziming had helped Liu Yun earn a lot of money through investments over the past year.

Liu Yun had transferred money to him many times, but he returned it all. From this, it seemed that Zhou Ziming wasn’t with Liu Yun for money. Was he with Liu Yun because of love?

Cheating could hurt a normal man’s self-esteem, and in such a situation, it was possible to have the impulse to kill.

“Do you hate her?”

“No, I have no feelings for her anymore. She’s just a stranger to me now.”

“No, in your tone just now, you clearly still have resentment towards Liu Yun. You’re angry she cheated, so you killed her!”

“I said, I didn’t kill anyone.” Zhou Ziming reiterated.

Wang Yue slapped a photo in front of Zhou Ziming: “We found the clothes Liu Yun wore last night in the trash bin below your building. How do you explain that?”

Zhou Ziming frowned: “How did her clothes end up below my building?”

Wang Yue carefully observed Zhou Ziming’s reaction: “The clothes Liu Yun wore before she was murdered were found below your building. If you didn’t kill her, who did?”

[Author’s Note]

(1) Letters and Visits: Refers to activities where citizens, legal persons, or other organizations use letters, emails, faxes, phone calls, or visits to reflect situations, make suggestions, opinions, or complaints to people’s governments at all levels or departments of people’s governments above the county level, which are handled by relevant administrative agencies according to law.