Xu Kejiang across from him was startled, seemingly not expecting Xu Dayuan to be so blunt, but then he laughed.
"Look, Mr. Xu, you hit with this out of the blue. Where am I supposed to know from? How about this, I’m in a eting at the city bureau. I’ll ask about it tomorrow and let you know," he said.
Such a dismissive answer turned Xu Dayuan’s face dark, and his voice rose an octave.
"Give you ten minutes. After you ask, call back."
Snap, Xu Dayuan hung up the phone.
Liu Yongxin nudged Mr. Zhao, whispering instructions to make a trip to the inspection departnt. Mr. Zhao, quick on the uptake, promptly trotted out of the lab and headed straight to the inspection departnt on the second floor.
At the door, without waiting to knock, it swung open just in ti. Cui Lili, seeing the hurried Mr. Zhao, looked slightly surprised.
"What’s the matter, you’re back again so soon? Are you guys done for the day, or what? What samples now? What else needs testing?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head continuously, gasped a few tis, and then spoke:
"Mrs. Cui, don’t rush. I’m not here for testing this ti. I need to check a record, the arson case from Jingkou Branch Bureau on June 29th. The forensic doctor from their bureau, Zhang Pengfei, collected the blood sample of the deceased Fang Hua at the hospital. Do you know if it’s been sent for testing? I think your departnt definitely would keep a record of the testing."
Cui Lili retreated to the lab, grabbed a registration book which was for external district testing of the city’s two other zones. She searched directly for the records from June 29th to July 10th. Zhang Pengfei did not submit many samples, only six in total, but there were absolutely no blood samples among them.
Seeing this, Cui Lili shook the registration book.
"Do you need to make a copy for you?"
Mr. Zhao grinned.
"Mrs. Cui, you’re sharp, guessing my little plan. A copy would be even better, but I can do it myself if need be, so as not to delay your work."
Without any fuss, Cui Lili simply tossed the registration book to Mr. Zhao.
"Photocopier’s inside, just put it back after you’re done, I’m off to get busy. Ever since Doctor Zhou ca, my workload’s noticeably increased."
Mr. Zhao offered a sheepish smile.
"You should ntion to the superiors, if staff needs to be added, they should be added. We’ve got data to collect over here, naturally that ans more cases to handle. Thankfully, we’ve got you, anyone else would’ve blown up by now."
Cui Lili chuckled, giving Mr. Zhao a playful glare.
"Only you, kid, can talk like that."
By then, Mr. Zhao had finished photocopying, he hung the register back up, took the copies he made, said goodbye to Cui Lili, and then dashed back to the lab on the fourth floor. As he entered, everyone looked up at him.
"Got the register. There were six samples sent in by Zhang Pengfei, but no blood sample among them," he reported.
At this statent, Zhou Ning was the one to go still. No blood sample - then where was the blood sample?
The autopsies of the two victims were rely to check if there was any ash residue in their tracheas, though one was officially declared dead after failed resuscitation in the hospital, and the other child had died instantly at the scene.
Liu Yongxin patted Xu Dayuan’s arm and glanced at his phone.
"Don’t panic. I know Zhang Pengfei; he’s a few months my junior and also about to retire. Maybe it’s a matter of habit, but he might’ve sent the sample to a hospital in the Jingkou District for examination, or maybe they were never tested but are still stored sowhere. I think you should ntion it to Mr. Hu, after all, no matter what you say, it won’t an much between peers, right?"
Xu Dayuan’s brows knit tightly. Zhou Ning could very well understand his feeling. Making this call was akin to snitching, and if every issue required the leader’s intervention to progress,
then Mr. Hu would have nothing else to do but coordinate these problems, which he couldn’t keep up with.
Moreover, even if a nearby inspection was foregone in favor of one far away at a Jingkou hospital, it was hard to comprehend, given that the downstream inspection could not perform toxicology analysis.
As the lab fell into silence, Xu Dayuan’s phone rang. An unfamiliar number ca through.
"Hello? Who is this?"
"This is Zhang Pengfei, the forensic doctor from Jingkou Branch Bureau. Mr. Xu, right? Our captain called just now and asked to tell you, I checked the records, and the blood sample taken from the hospital has been lost. The car door wasn’t locked, and a thermal box carrying the samples was stolen, which was beyond my control."
Xu Dayuan gritted his teeth, his eyes nearly shooting flas as he slightly closed them.
"When I just asked your captain, he told he didn’t know and needed to check. How co he knows now?"
Zhang Pengfei was utterly unfazed.
"Isn’t that normal? After clearing the scene on June 29th, it was past midnight. In the morning, I took the samples planning to send them for testing. It was too early, so I went for breakfast. You wouldn’t think soone would steal those, right? I told Mr. Xu then, but he probably didn’t pay attention.
However, the cause of death for the victim was explicitly provided by the hospital. As for the autopsy of that child, it was clear at a glance. I didn’t delve deeper into the dissection, especially since the family was strongly opposed."
Xu Dayuan snapped the phone shut; if he had listened any longer, he probably would have cursed.
Zhou Ning quickly stepped forward, grabbing Xu Dayuan’s arm and trying his best to comfort him:
"Xu Da, don’t be dejected. In the crevices of Fang Hua’s fingernails, we also found remnants of the cake, and the ergency treatnt at the hospital can indirectly prove that she also ingested a certain amount of diazepam.
It’s just that her dosage was not as high as Dong Xiaomi’s. Look at Fang Hua during the ergency treatnt—she had bradykinetic movents, delirium, trembling; these are all symptoms of diazepam intoxication, and they provided tily correction."
Xu Dayuan let out a long sigh and nodded at Zhou Ning.
"It’s hard to make half-cooked rice, and now I’m experiencing it. Luckily, I have you guys. Let’s go eat first, then head to the detention center to et this Dong Chengwen."
After eating, Xu Dayuan’s phone kept ringing.
The results of Tao Zhenshan’s investigation were out, the communication records had been sent over, and Mr. Qu had cracked Dong Chengwen and Fang Hua’s social dia software. Faced with the huge stack of printed papers before them, they had no choice but to review them separately.
Tao Zhenshan was indeed reliable; they had already verified over half of the communication records, with nas, organizations, and events carefully noted on the back, saving them a lot of trouble.
Liu Yongxin clicked his tongue in appreciation.
"Zhenshan is really efficient. It’s not easy to keep up with your pace, with your impatience. But it seems these are all work-related. This Yi Xiaou has the most calls; is she an assistant at Dong Chengwen’s law firm?"
Xu Dayuan glanced at the annotations on the back and then nodded.
"I’m going to et this Yi Xiaou. You guys prepare the reports. We’ll reconvene in a while."
After speaking, he didn’t delay, heading straight downstairs, driving to et up with Tao Zhenshan, and going directly to Dong Chengwen’s law firm.
A few minutes later, just as they arrived downstairs, they saw a group of people shouting about calling the police.
The cries were very loud. As Xu Dayuan and his colleagues approached, the group instantly quieted down, and the woman in the center, who had been surrounded, already had her hair in disarray.
After smoothing her hair, the woman pointed at Xu Dayuan and his group and said:
"The police have arrived, are you going to continue hitting ? I’ve said it, if you think the law firm’s compensation thod is unfair, then sue us. What’s the use of you all ganging up on ? I’m not Dong Chengwen."
Tao Zhenshan looked around the crowd and pointed at the chubby leader, saying:
"What’s going on here? Explain the situation before leaving, co on in and talk."
The fatty imdiately turned timid, smiled sheepishly, and took two steps back, gesturing to the others.
"Nothing serious. We just ca to ask the assistant when Mr. Dong would be back. That’s it, we’re leaving now."
Without waiting for a reaction from the crowd, he took off running, and the other onlookers scattered as well. Yi Xiaou let out a breath of relief and then turned to look at Xu Dayuan.
"Are you looking for ? Or soone from Ningyuan Law Firm?"
"Are you Yi Xiaou?"
The woman nodded, opened the door, and revealed a large hall. Many onlookers, seeing the police co in, also dispersed. Clearly, they were all from Dong Chengwen’s law firm, but given the intensity of just monts ago, no one had co forward to help, which was a testant to the cold reality of the world.
"Please co in, let’s talk in the eting room."
Everyone took their seats, and Yi Xiaou brought over so bottled water for the group, but Xu Dayuan waved his hand.
"Sit down. We are from the Qindao City Criminal Police Brigade and need to re-investigate the 6.29 arson case. We need to verify so details with you, so no need to busily attend to us."
Yi Xiaou nodded, walked over with a folder in hand, and also held a tablet—evidently, such investigations were not new to her, and she was very experienced.
"This is my work schedule for June 29th, the details of the calls I made to Mr. Dong, and the tis I made them. The tablet contains copied surveillance footage from the law firm because there was a court session scheduled for July 1st. I worked overti until nine before leaving.
"I arrived ho at 21:33, too tired to eat. I fed the cat, took a bath, and then went to sleep. The last piece of surveillance here is from my living room, resting ti, which I think was about 22:00."
Everything was ticulously prepared, especially the living room surveillance. The mont Yi Xiaou entered, her cat was owing towards the cara—one of her usual ans of communicating with her cat, which was clearly familiar with it.
Tao Zhenshan checked the surveillance footage, which included hallway and main entrance caras; there was no problem with the timing.
Xu Dayuan skimd through the call content Yi Xiaou had organized—indeed, it was all about preparations for the July 1st court case, with so even having audio file nas appended. Yi Xiaou handed over her mobile phone, opened the voice recorder, and inside corresponded with the appropriate audio files.
Xu Dayuan didn’t play the audio files. With preparations to this extent, collecting substantial evidence was enough.
"To your knowledge, does Dong Chengwen have any enemies?"
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