March 3, 2012, 15:22
Zhou Ning sat in the forensic doctor’s office, continuously twirling a whiteboard marker in his hands as he stared at the whiteboard in front of him.
On the whiteboard were various pieces of autopsy information, along with a variety of details and tilines related to Xia Lirnin, Chang Yuzhang, and Zhang Wei, and a few blank spaces waiting for test results.
Last night, Mr. Zhao and Yang Xuetong had been busy until early morning, ensuring every touchable part of the electric scooter had been sampled. They sent the samples back to the city bureau overnight, and although Mrs. Cui scolded Mr. Zhao, the on-duty staff was more than sufficient.
Zhou Ning reviewed everything again, took off his glasses, and rubbed his sore nose bridge.
He always felt as if sothing were missing. According to the description given by Xia Lirmin’s sister, Xia Lirmin was a fun-loving and thrill-seeking person with a high standard of living. She didn’t like to be bound or controlled.
She wasn’t very cultured and had done various jobs, eting plenty of n.
Such a woman, able to keep Zhang Wei wrapped around her finger and maintain a relationship with Chang Yuzhang, showed she wasn’t witless.
Although Chang Yuzhang’s statent was in his favor, it was only his word. If they couldn’t find evidence, then Chang Yuzhang truly had nothing to fear.
Zhou Ning wasn’t sure about it. Even though the paint from the electric scooter had been found on the stone bridge, that only proved the scooter was dumped there, but it didn’t prove who did it.
As he pondered, Mr. Zhao received a phone call.
"Hello, Mrs. Cui, are the tests done?"
Mr. Zhao stepped closer to Zhou Ning, the phone’s speaker on, and Cui Lili’s shouting voice ca through.
"Tell Zhou Xiaozhou, if he sends this many tests again, I’m not doing them. He even gave a deadline. Do you have any idea how massive the workload is?"
Mr. Zhao, with a smile plastered on his face, glanced at Zhou Ning with no good intentions and hurriedly reassured her:
"I know it’s too much, but Director Xu is pressing us hard, and we couldn’t help it. I’ll scold him for you in a bit, don’t be angry, big sister!"
"Hmph, I did a batch test followed by individual tests and found a residual DNA. Report’s in the email, let know if there’s as much work today so I can organize my schedule."
"That’s it for today; even if there is testing to be done, it won’t be as much as yesterday. You can arrange for people to rest, big sister, and we’ll co apologize in person later."
Cui Lili humd twice and hung up the phone.
Zhu Xingxing had already opened the email and printed the report, handing it over to Zhou Ning.
Zhou Ning’s gaze moved from the whiteboard to the last page of the report, which read that the electric scooter sample, test number 247, matched suspect Chang Yuzhang’s DNA with a 100% match rate.
Zhou Ning exhaled deeply, this was solid evidence, but why did Chang Yuzhang kill soone?
Zhou Ning couldn’t figure it out. The couple had been on-and-off for years. Could it really be as Chang Yuzhang said, that he was being blackmailed by Xia Lirmin?
If there truly was a blackmail video, Chang Yuzhang would definitely keep the victim’s phone, as it would be the most favorable evidence to clear suspicion. But the victim’s phone had vanished without a trace; whether it hadn’t been retrieved or soone else had picked it up was unknown.
After adding the DNA test result to the whiteboard, Zhu Xingxing spoke up:
"This Zhang Wei is really foolish. Doesn’t he know his wife cheated on him multiple tis? He was even a lawyer. No wonder he got swindled and ended up in debt. However, he treated his ex-wife well, both with the last of his property and the house."
Zhou Ning abruptly looked up, startling Zhu Xingxing, who quickly covered her mouth as Zhou Ning walked straight towards the whiteboard.
"What’s up, boss?"
After staring at Zhang Wei’s information for a while, Zhou Ning circled Zhang Wei’s occupation.
"A lawyer, he used to be a lawyer, very familiar with the law. So, could he have colluded with Chang Yuzhang? In case the police questioned him, how would he clear himself of suspicion?
According to what Zhang Da found before, Zhang Wei had divorced his wife, given the cash and house to his ex-wife and children. I think there must be a reason for this. If this happened before he was disbarred, then it was about protecting his assets to the greatest extent.
As for pursuing Xia Lirmin and the quick marriage, further cooperation with Chang Yuzhang..."
Zhou Ning stared at the two photos on the whiteboard, his eyes finally resting on Chang Yuzhang’s place of work.
Just then, the door was pushed open, and Xu Dayuan walked in with Zhang Sannian, wearing an excited expression that indicated they had made a major discovery in their investigation.
Xu Dayuan tilted his head towards Zhou Ning and said with an intrigued look:
"Keep talking, Zhou Xiaozhou, I just heard your analysis."
Zhang Sannian also joined in on the excitent, showing more interest than Xu Dayuan. He walked over to stand beside Zhou Ning, looking at the whiteboard as well.
But above, there were just those few known pieces of information.
"Having just heard your analysis, I almost believed you were clairvoyant, or that you had planted a bug on us. Director Zhou, hurry up and continue with your analysis,"
Zhou Ning’s face turned a bit dark, these two were really shaless.
However, looking at the stack of papers Xu Dayuan carried on his back, which seed to be photocopies of bank statents, Zhou Ning frowned slightly and after thinking, he continued:
"I suspect Zhang Wei knew Chang Yuzhang. One used to be a lawyer, and the other is still working for an insurance company. It can’t help but make one wonder. If Chang Yuzhang, like Zhang Wei, had a massive amount of debt, then I suspect the two of them conspired to kill Xia Lirnin and defraud a large sum of insurance money."
Mr. Zhao’s mouth fell open, and his small eyes widened too. He looked from Zhou Ning to the whiteboard, and finally his gaze settled on Xu Dayuan’s face. Seeing that Xu Dayuan hadn’t objected, and was even looking at Zhang Sannian with a smug expression, Mr. Zhao knew, Zhou Ning had guessed correctly.
No, his analysis was entirely correct.
Zhang Sannian let out a sigh and looked at Zhou Ning with eyes full of resentnt.
"It’s no fun, the evidence hasn’t even been presented, and you’ve already guessed it. This really takes away the sense of achievent."
Xu Dayuan glared.
"Sense of achievent my ass. Go arrest them now!"
Zhang Sannian smiled and led people away. Of course, Mr. Zeng and Liu Yufei followed them. After all, Mr. Tao had been keeping an eye on them all along.
In an instant, the office beca a lot emptier. Xu Dayuan handed over various photocopies to Zhou Ning.
"Your analysis was spot on. If you weren’t unmatched in forensic capability, I’d want to transfer you to the Second Squad to be the captain. Your brain really works wonders!"
Liu Yongxin coughed, with a faint smile on his face and a touch of pride.
"Cut it out, and tell what exactly did you find? An insurance policy? But doesn’t this require a death certificate?"
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"There’s no call record between Zhang Wei and Chang Yuzhang, which makes think they might have used a dedicated number to communicate. We found in the insurance company where Chang Yuzhang works, the policy Zhang Wei bought for Xia Lirnin.
Normally, there shouldn’t be any issue claiming insurance since the person is gone. But considering the marriage, it becos highly suspicious. The policy was signed the day after they got their marriage license, and the coverage amount was extrely high, with a compensation sum of 4.5 million."
Zhou Ning was startled. He had guessed the amount was large, but he didn’t expect it to be this much. 4.5 million indeed could easily breed malicious thoughts.
And this amount of money was definitely not sothing Zhang Wei could swallow alone. After all, Chang Yuzhang risked killing soone and even losing his job. He wouldn’t settle for less.
"Did you find anything suspicious with Chang Yuzhang’s bank statents? Or does he also have debt issues?"
Xu Dayuan nodded and flipped to the last two pages of those photocopies.
One page showed the insurance company’s deposit records. On June 28, 2011, 4.5 million was transferred to Zhang Wei’s account. However, he withdrew 2 million in cash the next day.
On the other page, Chang Yuzhang’s account record showed a deposit of 1.5 million in cash, but the account was cleared with two transactions shortly after. One for a paynt to Qindao Huadong Real Estate Company for 1.1 million and the other transfer of 100,000 to an account under the na Liu Hui.
Zhou Ning flipped back. After Zhang Wei withdrew 2 million in cash, he transferred 847,700 to soone nad Li Xin the next day, an uneven amount, perhaps related to the previous debt.
Then, he transferred 300,000 to Yu Xiuli. That na seed familiar to Zhou Ning. Xu Dayuan quickly said:
"Yu Xiuli is Zhang Wei’s ex-wife. As for Li Xin, he’s the guarantor from Zhang Wei’s previous law firm, and I’ve already asked Mr. Tao to look into Li Xin. It seems they were only asked to pay compensation due to the guarantee issue.
I think there’s more to this than what ets the eye, and it might not be related to this case. Knowing that he was about to be in trouble, he hurriedly divorced and moved assets, with that shop ending up in the na of Zhang Wei’s mother, subsequently marrying Xia Lirnin and quickly processing a large insurance policy.
All of this was planned in advance. I asked the insurance company, and they said that normal insurance has a ’cooling-off period’ depending on the product terms; usually for disease, annuity, property insurance, etc., it is effective from midnight the next day after the premium paynt is successful.
However, for accidental injury insurance, it usually takes effect the next day. If a death claim is made within three months of the policy start, the insurance company will conduct a strict review. If it’s over six months, and a forensic doctor’s certificate is provided, they’ll typically make a direct compensation payout."
Zhang Sannian rubbed his hair with a very awkward expression.
"Zhang Wei ca to several tis, always saying that the Xia family wanted an explanation, at least a death certificate, so the household registration could be canceled. After he was cleared of suspicion, I didn’t stop the matter and let Doctor Xu issue an autopsy report. I never thought it was because of this, this man is too horrifying."
Xu Dayuan humd in acknowledgnt. Although they didn’t have the suspect’s confession yet, the sequence of events in the case seed to have been sorted out, which relieved a lot of pressure from him. He grinned at Zhou Ning.
"Let’s go, Zhou Xiaozhou. Zhang Wei and Chang Yuzhang have been brought in. How about you co with to listen to the interrogation?"
Before Zhou Ning could say anything, Mr. Qu raised his hand on the side.
"There’s sothing I need to ntion. Just now, using Zhang Wei’s mobile number, I found a disposable QQ account and cracked its password. It only had one friend, and the two started chatting on November 29, 2010. The most discussed na inside is Xia. Don’t you want to see it?"
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