At the Qindao City Criminal Police Brigade First Team’s office area, Zhou Ning and Mr. Qu walked briskly to the room next to the interrogation room, where Xu Dayuan waved at Zhou Ning.
"You conducted the autopsy quite quickly today. Did you find anything on the phone?"
Mr. Qu shook his head.
"It’s being recovered. The person handled it very thoroughly, cleaning all the software and various files on the phone before restoring its factory settings. Therefore, it’s taking a bit longer. However, based on the screensaver image, I’ve found so information about a person."
As he spoke, Mr. Qu opened his laptop and displayed the photo.
"The photo was taken on August 22, 2011. Although it was edited, I’ve restored it to its pre-edit state and found information about this person. She is called Zhang Manli, works at Qindao’s Shengshi Model Agency, and is a sowhat famous model."
Xu Dayuan glanced at the photo, his brow furrowed.
"We just questioned Zhang Bo’s mother first; she’s been taken to an office to rest. According to her, Zhang Bo and Chen ilin weren’t getting along, and they had a few argunts even before their grandson Zhang Yangrui was born, so she kept going back to live at her parents’ ho.
Chen ilin suspected that Zhang Bo was seeing soone else, and their conflicts were very intense, leading to Zhang Yangrui being born prematurely. After birth, he stayed in an incubator for a month before being taken ho. The child’s birth date was on August 30, 2011, aning this photo was taken before the child was born.
Zhang Bo only finished junior high due to poor academic performance and didn’t go to high school. He followed his father into the seafood business, so financially, there seed no issues. In contrast, Chen ilin was an undergraduate at Qindao Agricultural College, working in quality inspection, and her family’s education and conditions were very good.
The two got divorced on May 11, 2012, after seven or eight months of turmoil. Logically, custody of a breastfeeding child should be awarded to the mother, but Chen ilin agreed to Zhang Bo’s request in order to get rid of him as soon as possible. She would take the daughter, and Zhang Bo would raise the son.
Chen ilin would pick up her son twice a week, and Mrs. Zhang would visit the daughter every week, sotis taking her out. They would be picked up in the morning and returned in the evening, or Chen ilin would co to pick them up without ever spending the night at Zhang Bo’s house.
Yesterday, Zhang Bo went to the Chen Family with Mrs. Zhang, appearing very sincere, saying he hadn’t spent much ti with the children lately and wanted to take them out to have fun and build a relationship. He even proactively paid 5,000 yuan in child support since the Chen Family had spent more on the children.
Only then did Chen ilin agree to let Zhang Bo take the children away, but she never expected such an incident to happen just a day after the children were taken. Did you find anything from the autopsy?"
Zhou Ning shook his head and glanced at Chen ilin in the adjacent interrogation room. Her face was twisted in anger, and the microphone was picking up her voice scolding Zhang Bo’s actions.
"The autopsy of the two children showed extensive tearing of the scalp, comminuted fractures of the occipital part of the skull, shattered and largely missing brain tissues, multiple contusions, and abrasions on the torso and limbs, fractures of the spine, ribs, and the right hurus, and puncture wounds on the liver and spleen, consistent with characteristics of a high fall.
I’ve carefully observed the bodies, and no bludgeoning or bruising from abuse were found, nor were there any grip marks on the wrists, neck, or ankles. Furthermore, no handprints were on the back. Of course, we can perform a second autopsy tomorrow, especially on the children. After the bodies have been frozen, we may discover sothing else."
Xu Dayuan patted Zhou Ning’s arm, sensing sothing different in him.
"Don’t rush. The suspects are all here, and the evidence won’t escape. Aren’t you still waiting for the results of various tests to co out tonight?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"As for the phone, content recovery will take another hour. How are things going over here?"
Xu Dayuan sighed, crossed his arms, and looked towards the interrogation room, where Liu Yufei and Mr. Bai were sitting opposite Chen ilin. Liu Yufei wasn’t in a hurry and let Chen ilin slowly talk about the reasons for her divorce from Zhang Bo.
Zhou Ning knew that for anyone to go to such lengths as to willingly give up custody of a child, there must be a pain that they could never get over. Still, it was good for Chen ilin to let her emotions out, to co to terms with what was coming next. At least she would have sothing to live for, else this incident could destroy a mother.
"The inquiry with Mrs. Zhang went smoothly, finishing in a little over an hour. Then we called Zhang Bo over. He was a typical case of incoherence. At first, he said he was sleeping, heard a ’bang’, and went to check, only to find the children weren’t at ho. It wasn’t until he heard shouting outside that he realized the kids had had an accident.
I spoke to him about the policies, and at that ti, we checked his records and found out that this kid had no education and had been mingling in the market since his teens, making a living by helping his parents wholesale seafood. Their business entered the offseason in March, and his father was looking after the stall.
After a round of questions, I asked again, and Zhang Bo started saying that when he went to make baby formula, he didn’t notice the children had gone to the master bedroom and climbed onto the windowsill. By the ti he heard the screams and felt the room temperature drop, the children had already fallen.
Obviously, the answers from the two interrogations were completely different. Liu Yufei said that Zhang Bo even attempted to harm himself at the scene, feeling very guilty. Yet, during the interrogation, not a tear fell from his eyes, and he kept asking about the condition of the children."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"At the scene, he rushed to the child’s corpse, and the first thing he did was grab the child’s wrist. By touching the wrist with his fingers, it felt to like he was attempting to check the child’s pulse. So I believe that, although the evidence is insufficient, this person cannot be released yet. He is a major suspect."
Xu Dayuan sighed.
"Liu Yufei told you the sa thing, but we all know it’s hard to find clues from a body that fell from a great height. So don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Evidence will be found slowly, and I will release the person later tonight."
Mr. Qu’s eyes widened in surprise, unable to hold back a gasp. In his understanding, both Xu Dayuan and Zhou Ning thought that this Zhang Bo was the murderer who killed his own children, so why release him?
Nevertheless, hearing his own surprise, Mr. Qu felt a bit embarrassed.
"Sorry, Director Xu, I couldn’t hold back," he apologized.
Xu Dayuan smiled. Zhou Ning glanced at him and then turned his gaze toward Chen ilin in the interrogation room.
"A biological father killing his own children is sothing even the most brutal person would rarely do. I always feel there must be a reason behind it. Therefore, we need to check Zhang Bo’s phone. Once we get the content, let him go as usual.
We can investigate better that way. After all, the examination will take several days at the slowest, and we can’t keep holding him here. He will think the investigation is over, and no one suspects him anymore. After worrying for a day or two, his true colors will show."
Xu Dayuan smiled again.
"That’s exactly the point, but I don’t know if we can find anything on his phone."
Mr. Qu seed to understand sothing and waved his hand, saying:
"Never mind waiting for them to investigate. Didn’t we find the woman from the screensaver? I’ll check using his and Zhang Bo’s mobile numbers. I should be able to find sothing on WeChat or QQ. Just give a mont; I’ll try right now."
As Mr. Qu said, he began to work with his hands, clicking and tapping in a flurry. Surprisingly, he first found Zhang Manli’s QQ number. Zhang Bo hadn’t linked his phone, so that would have to wait until the phone’s content was restored.
Zhang Manli’s ssage history was extensive, with contacts with curious and strange nas—Crouching Dragon, Zither Silent, Taxes, and various other n whose importance Mr. Qu couldn’t guess.
After a look, there were only two won among the contacts, with the rest being male. The chat frequency was high, with the most interactions being with Zither Silent, Taxes, and Qiming.
Upon opening the three chat boxes, it was clear that Zhang Manli had t all three n offline. Their conversations were filled with suggestive and explicit language. Taxes, whom Zhang Manli called Brother Ma, had lengthy discussions about summarizing the actions from their last ga and even suggesting that Zhang Manli should bring a friend along next ti to make the ga more interesting.
As for the other two, it was much the sa, perhaps even more blatant, but it was not hard to notice that all three were Zhang Manli’s financial patrons. Moreover, Zhang Manli managed her ti exceptionally tightly, even eting one in the afternoon and swapping to another scene in the evening.
Moving between these three without any mishaps or conflicts, even managing to celebrate her birthday thrice on different days—a ti managent maestro, or rather a female Casanova, truly astonishing.
Mr. Qu’s hands trembled as he quickly scrolled up the chat box to find the first ti she contacted these three n. The earliest was on February 20, 2010. Of course, after this date, she also started similar interactions with other people, but those normally ended after one or two exchanges.
After review, one na seed suspicious: Chanafanghua. Zhang Manli called him Brother Zhang.
They added each other’s QQ on July 10, 2011, and started to have sporadic chit-chat and flirting. Zhang Manli acted like an innocent young girl, reacting with shy emotions when the other side spoke sowhat indecently.
Then, they made plans for a trip in August. The agreed date matched the ti on the photos: from August 20 to 24, 2011. During this period, Zhang Manli told her patrons she was going on a trip for a heartbreak retreat.
Afterward, Zhang Manli lost contact with Chanafanghua. The reason for losing contact was a photo of a bag Zhang Manli sent to Chanafanghua. Looking at the LV brand, Zhou Ning knew it was expensive, and Chanafanghua didn’t respond, but they amiably didn’t throw insults at each other and just stopped talking.
"Could it be that this Chanafanghua is Zhang Bo’s QQ number?"
Seeing Xu Dayuan ask with doubt, Mr. Qu shook his head.
"I don’t know. I will check this number later. But according to the ti of the photo, Zhang Manli was with this person. Didn’t Director Xu just say that Chen ilin thinks Zhang Bo has been unclear with other won, and that’s why she decided to divorce?
Moreover, Mr. Zhao also heard the people around talking, saying that Zhang Bo has a new girlfriend and she often appears around their residential complex. Looking at their communication frequency, they don’t seem to be in a relationship, do they?"
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