After sending off Professor Li, Zhou Ning had dinner with Doctor Lu and Mr. Liu. Although Doctor Lu was now a vice president, Zhou Ning still wasn’t used to calling him Mr. Lu.
According to Doctor Lu, Zhou Ning could call him old Lu or any other nickna he liked, a statent which only made the elderly man seem more endearing to Zhou Ning. By the ti he returned to the technical departnt, it was almost one-thirty in the afternoon.
Before he could go upstairs, his phone rang—a landline number. Zhou Ning answered without much thought, but a passing water truck blared music so loudly that he could barely hear the other party on the call.
"Hello!"
"It’s Hu Guangjian."
Zhou Ning paused, sifting through his mory, completely unsure who Hu Guangjian was.
Yet, the voice sounded familiar. After searching through everyone he knew with the surna Hu, he suddenly rembered that the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation was surnad Hu.
Zhou Ning shivered as he realized this must be related to the arson case Professor Li had ntioned earlier. He had already spoken with Mr. Hu. Zhou Ning hurriedly responded.
"Mr. Hu, I was just about to go to your office."
"Humph, don’t play smart with . You have five minutes to get to my office."
Not daring to waste a mont, Zhou Ning rushed toward the front building, raced up to the fifth floor to catch his breath, and then walked to office 507. He patted his chest and was about to knock when the door opened.
Xu Dayuan held the doorknob and gestured to Zhou Ning. Zhou Ning exchanged a questioning look with him, and Xu Dayuan raised his eyebrows towards Mr. Hu’s direction.
"Don’t pull any stunts in front of . These are all gas I’m done playing. Close the door and co sit down, both of you."
Zhou Ning obediently shut the door and walked to the office desk where Mr. Hu pushed a file folder towards them.
"I’ll cut to the chase. Regarding the 6.29 arson case, Xu Dayuan, you’re in charge of leading the re-investigation. I’ve looked over the file, and while the details seem complete, the suspect has never admitted to arson and murder. However, the house caught fire after he left, and by the ti he returned, the blaze had already grown.
As for the autopsies, they were conducted in two parts: the first victim, Dong Xiaomi, died of asphyxiation with 60% of her body burned; the other victim, Fang Hua, had second-degree burns over 60% of her body and 20% were third-degree burns. The cause of death was severe burns and a serious infection that followed."
Xu Dayuan flipped through the file, his brow furrowing.
"And then?"
Mr. Hu paused, not imdiately catching Xu Dayuan’s drift.
"What ’and then’?"
"The investigation of this case is already complete, right? Looks like it was about to be handed over to the prosecution. How do we take over sothing like that?"
Mr. Hu shook his head.
"The case was returned by the prosecution due to insufficient evidence. Based on surveillance footage, it only suggests that Dong Chengwen is a suspect. The fire started after he left the house and by the ti he returned, a big fire had erupted.
The fire investigation report only identified the starting point of the fire in the second floor master bedroom’s walk-in closet. As for Dong Chengwen’s arrest, it was because neighbors reported the fire incident. After the disaster, Dong Chengwen rushed into the fire and rescued his wife and daughter, crying out, ’It’s all my fault; I’ve dood you all.’
In his statent, he never admitted to arson, maintaining his innocence throughout. Dong Chengwen was also burned. The case was sent back due to lack of evidence. His categorization as a suspect was because he had a record of purchasing an excessive amount of gasoline, and the fire spread rapidly at the scene, which led to suspicions of gasoline as an accelerant."
Xu Dayuan frowned deeply. Arson cases like this were the hardest to determine.
"Since we’re launching a second investigation, will the fire departnt be on it as well, under the jurisdiction of the city fire brigade?"
Mr. Hu let out an exasperated laugh, surprised at Xu Dayuan’s reluctance to take on the case, though he genuinely didn’t have anyone else more capable on hand.
"Enough talk. Hurry up and start the second investigation. I want to see concrete evidence. As for the forensic examination, Professor Li hopes to have Doctor Zhou’s Unit Two in charge of the second autopsy. I’ve already had the bodies sent to your technical departnt by the branch bureau. The fire brigade will also conduct a second investigation."
Discussion turned into orders, and Xu Dayuan said no more.
The two left office 507, not uttering a word in silent agreent, heading straight to the technical departnt in the backcourt. Coming down from the corridor, they saw the vehicle transporting the bodies leaving. Xu Dayuan shook his head.
"That was quick. Are you going to perform the autopsy right away?"
Zhou Ning glanced at Mr. Pang standing at the door. In fact, since a new investigation was underway, there was no rush for the autopsy.
Especially in fire cases, the evidence remaining at the scene is very minimal and even less so after so much ti has passed.
"The autopsy isn’t urgent. I want to take a team to the scene to look around and also et with Dong Chengwen. Mr. Hu ntioned he was injured as well, so I’ll find a professional doctor to assess his recovery. This will also help establish what happened when he charged into the fire.
According to the case file, while a neighbor did call the fire departnt, Dong Chengwen was the first to enter the scene to rescue people before the firefighters arrived. I didn’t find details about this in the case file or in the statents."
Xu Dayuan snapped his fingers, his eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.
"Good thinking. The scope of your consideration has broadened. That’s right, you should contact Doctor He. On my end, I’ll send soone to the scene and investigate the social relationships of Dong Chengwen and Fang Hua. This guy has managed to offend the entire legal community in Qindao. Supposedly, no lawyer wants to defend him. The branch bureau wanted to hand the case over to the prosecution office swiftly. Since they were going to need a lawyer, but nobody was willing to take his case.
Before you arrived, I discussed with Mr. Hu that one of the main reasons the branch bureau closed the case so swiftly was because Fang Hua’s father was causing a ruckus at the Jingkou Branch Bureau, claiming that Dong Chengwen had been abusing Fang Hua and was pushing to have the case concluded quickly to sentence Dong Chengwen to death!"
Zhou Ning was taken aback.
Clearly, Xu Dayuan knew more than he did. But thinking about the state of Mr. He during their last dinner, Zhou Ning still furrowed his brow and shook his head.
"We can’t ask Mr. He. Doesn’t he have so involvent with Dong Chengwen?"
Xu Dayuan looked surprised. Since they were both transferred from Qidong, they weren’t too familiar with local relationships in Qindao. Zhou Ning ntioning "so involvent" confused him.
"What’s the connection?"
"The victim, Fang Hua, was Mr. He’s ex-girlfriend. They dated for eight years, from college to graduate school, and then she disappeared without a word, only to have a flash marriage soon after with Dong Chengwen. It was Mr. He who organized the rescue efforts; despite six or seven days of attempts at the central hospital, they couldn’t save her."
Xu Dayuan blinked rapidly, his mouth hanging wide open.
"Who would have thought Mr. He had such a past? No wonder he’s not married at his age. But you don’t have an ex-girlfriend like that, do you? You’ve been getting along well with Xia Momo; if you can settle down with her, you better hurry and make it official."
Zhou Ning was sowhat at a loss for words. Xu Dayuan was even more eager to push him than his second uncle.
"We’re off topic. Other than Mr. He, I’ve run out of doctors I know from Qindao hospital. You handle it."
Xu Dayuan ground his teeth.
"You cheeky kid, stop making demands. If Mr. He won’t co, have him send a doctor from the burns departnt instead. I’m going to contact the detention center now; we’ll head over there in a bit. There’re other things to do, so hurry up."
After speaking, Xu Dayuan lifted his phone to make calls. Indeed, there was a lot to arrange.
At that mont, Mr. Pang waved at Zhou Ning. Seeing that quite a few people had gathered at the door, he quickly walked over. Mr. Pang’s face was all smiles as he pulled Zhou Ning along to start introductions.
"We have so new people in our technical departnt. Let’s assign them to the groups. These two are for your second group. This young lady is forensic doctor Zhu Xingxing, who interned in our departnt last year. The other is the trace examiner Yang Xuetong, transferred over from Rongcheng; he’s quite an experienced trace examiner."
As they were introduced, Zhou Ning looked over at the two of them.
Zhu Xingxing was a young woman, quite tall, with lightly curled short hair, small eyes, and a pair of tiny fangs. She wasn’t beautiful, but her appearance was nonetheless pleasant to look at.
The trace examiner, Yang Xuetong, appeared to be in his thirties, a fit man, neither too tall nor thin, but evidently soone who worked out regularly.
"Hello, Chief Zhou!"
The two of them were polite, a form of address that Zhou Ning found a bit awkward.
After all, Mr. Zhao always called him Zhou Xiaozhou, while Sun Gaotie was forever calling him Doctor Zhou. It seed Zhu Xingxing had secured a governnt position. He had reported for duty around this ti last year as well.
Mr. Zhao, standing beside him, was stunned, his gaze fixed on Zhu Xingxing.
This expression surprised Zhou Ning. Could Mr. Zhao have a crush on Zhu Xingxing?
But it didn’t look that way; it seed more like recognition. Zhou Ning quickly said:
"Hello, welco to the second group. Just in ti—Mr. Hu has assigned us a case. Head upstairs to prepare your investigation kits; we’ll be leaving shortly. Also, Mr. Pang, about the driver—did you discuss it with the chief?"
Mr. Pang blushed. Privately, Zhou Ning’s question could have been deflected or postponed. However, in front of the new recruits on their first day—especially since they were from his second group—it seed embarrassing for him to refuse.
"We’re looking for a driver; haven’t found the right person yet. The vehicles are requested, though. We in the forensic departnt have been allocated two cars, so you can drive them whenever there’s a case. They are Iveco vans, though, which most of us can’t drive under a regular license."
Mr. Zhao grinned, moving closer.
"Chief, I have a Class B license. Any extra pay for driving?"
Mr. Pang laughed; he was grateful for the out. Patting Mr. Zhao’s arm, he replied:
"Don’t worry, I’ll submit the request for a fuel allowance and everything else soon. Before we get a driver, we’ll just have to manage."
Zhou Ning finally smiled. He hadn’t wanted to inconvenience anyone—after all, using his own car ant wearing it down, even with fuel compensation.
"Mr. Pang, we’ll get to work then."
Mr. Pang waved his hand, a chuckling smile on his face.
"If the chief has given the order, then get to it quickly. Nothing is more important than the case."
With that, Mr. Pang trotted off, his movents almost like he was fleeing. Sun Gaotie had already brought down several investigation kits. Zhu Xingxing and Yang Xuetong were quick to help with the car-loading—one had interned here, and the other had years of experience as a trace examiner. There was no need for further instructions.
Instead, Mr. Zhao ca over to Zhou Ning, poking his arm worriedly, and asked:
"You seem off. What’s wrong?"
Zhou Ning lowered his voice.
"Never mind the case for now. Do you know Zhu Xingxing?"
Mr. Zhao rubbed his nose and spread his hands in a helpless gesture.
"Well, we grew up together in the sa courtyard, then her father got transferred, and they moved to Jiangzhe Province. How was I to know she’d suddenly turn up here? I hope she didn’t recognize ."
Zhou Ning coughed.
"Look at you, childhood friends, and she’s followed you here."
Mr. Zhao’s eyes widened, and he quickly changed the subject.
"Stop worrying about my business. What’s the case about? Did you pick up another case that nobody else wanted?"
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