Mr. Zhao raised his fist and hit the desk, after all, having witnessed two children fall to their deaths was a feeling he would never forget. Now, when he thought about it, the heavy thud of the children’s bodies hitting the ground seed to still echo in his ears.
Zhou Ning took a deep breath and drank so water before saying,
"So, I feel the information on the phone is limited, maybe this phone is just a new one with barely any content, fitted with so apps that were deliberately uninstalled to erase all traces, and even purposely left a photo with Zhang Bo to mislead our attention to this woman. Who do you think would do such a thing?"
Mr. Zhao shivered, his brain sowhat crashed, he blinked, revealing a shocked expression.
"If we combine that with the neighbor’s testimony, is it Zhang Bo’s real girlfriend who did this? But why? Cleaning the phone’s content and leaving clues of soone else to clear herself, is this related to Zhang Bo harming the children?
It can’t be that she wanted Zhang Bo’s children dead, right? But those are also Zhang Bo’s kids. If you fall out of love with your ex-wife, just split up, and if you don’t want to raise the kids, they still have their biological mother. Besides, Chen ilin has always wanted custody of both children. Isn’t this like cutting off one’s lineage? How deep must the hatred be to warrant this?"
By the ti he spoke the last word, Mr. Zhao’s voice was trembling, and then he turned back to look at Zhou Ning.
Zhou Ning shook his head; he couldn’t provide an answer, but given that this person had appeared around the neighborhood, finding them shouldn’t be difficult.
"The reason, only the person involved would know; we cannot speculate. After all, there are many people with twisted and abnormal psychologies out there – extre, misanthropic, cruel, violent – what they wish to do is beyond the speculation of us normal people. Let’s wait for the results. If Zhang Bo is not the biological father of the two children, then this case will take a different direction."
The office grew quiet, they had listened to Zhou Ning’s words, and now they understood the full picture of the incident. Looking up at the autopsy results on the whiteboard, everyone felt turmoil within. Were the two children really thrown down by their biological father?
Or, were the two children not really Zhang Bo’s?
Whichever it was, it seed to have nothing to do with the death of the children.
At this mont, Zhou Ning’s phone rang. He took it out and answered the call; Mr. Qu’s voice sounded a bit hasty.
"Director Zhou, co over here. The phone’s contents have been recovered, but the only app in the phone is a chat app called Momo with a pig nose icon; there is no WeChat or QQ, and furthermore, all the apps inside are in an unlogged state, and the call history I restored is all empty."
Zhou Ning humd in response, not very surprised.
"Understood. Can Zhang Bo’s call history be traced? Print that out, and also, have you found anything about the QQ number you were tracking before?"
"That Chanafanghua QQ number, I can confirm, is Zhang Bo’s. I don’t know if the password was forgotten or if he just didn’t want to use it anymore. After January 10th, 2012, this QQ number was never logged in again. The contacts in the address book are just a few dozen, and I’ve checked: many of those numbers are no longer in use."
Zhou Ning frowned; the investigation had hit a bottleneck since what remained was entirely out of control, and it was also hard to say definitively if that QQ number really belonged to Zhang Bo, as his number wasn’t registered under his real na.
"That is to say, this phone might have been deliberately placed in Zhang Bo’s ho, aside from a SIM card, the rest of the content was all carefully manipulated. Many apps were installed but never logged into, and a picture was specifically saved as a screensaver, then how was the photo transferred, I rember before we could trace the photo’s path."
At that statent, Mr. Qu on the other end paused, then followed with the sound of typing.
"Found it. This phone once connected to another mobile device through Bluetooth, the other phone is displayed as HTC ONE, but I’m not aware of this brand."
Zhou Ning thought for a mont; he seed to have heard of this brand, but only during the Lunar New Year in the Bay Province when Zhou Xiaoyu seed to show interest in it. The price was not cheap, and at that ti, it was considered a niche interest among a certain group of people.
"Good, that’s a breakthrough. Director Xu and Mrs. Fei are investigating Zhang Bo’s social relationships. Since he had taken his girlfriend near his ho before, then the relationship can’t be completely hidden. We’ll just wait now, but keep an eye on the surveillance.
By the way, before the incident, was there any young and beautiful girl who visited Zhang Bo’s ho, or say, has any young stranger been to this floor?"
Mr. Qu also seed a bit frustrated, initially thinking that the capabilities of their technical departnt were lacking. Now, after Zhou Ning’s analysis, it beca clear that the perpetrator was cunning, which sparked Mr. Qu’s eagerness to engage.
"They didn’t find anything just now, but don’t worry, Director Zhou. I have copied all the surveillance footage I could, and I’ll analyze it later. Anyone who has gone to the fifteenth floor using the elevator, I’ll search them all.
If it doesn’t work, I’ll compare those who visited the second unit with those who took the elevator, and look for soone who didn’t take the elevator yet occasionally ca and went. The thod might be a bit crude, but with such a thorough screening, I believe so traces will be found.
By screening the information of these found individuals and comparing them with Zhang Bo’s contact list and call history, so things cannot be concealed. Don’t worry, I’m not going back just yet. I will let you know imdiately if there are any updates."
As he spoke, Mr. Qu took the initiative to hang up the phone, and Mr. Zhao ca over.
"I’ve had the children’s bodies quickly frozen. Are we preparing for a second autopsy tomorrow?"
Zhou Ning nodded, Mr. Zhao had been following him and was sowhat aware of his habits, especially after hearing the conversation with Xu Dayuan. He naturally knew that after freezing, the second autopsy would reveal many body surface features, such as bruises or slight pressure marks – these initially invisible traces would beco clear after freezing.
"No need to rush; just be ready before 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. Okay, you stay here and keep watch, I’m going out for a bit."
Zhao Xinli didn’t ask where Zhou Ning was heading to; he knew that it was ti to step up the workload, and quickly started a series of directives. Soon, everyone got moving.
Zhou Ning went downstairs and made a call to Xia Momo.
"Are you still at Qin University?"
"Hmm, huh? You don’t seem right. Aren’t you supposed to go to the psychologist today? Did you rember sothing, or did sothing happen?"
"Don’t guess blindly. I took over a case. It’s in the Vanke Residential Community behind Doctor Shi’s clinic. Two children fell from the building and died. The oldest was two and a half, the youngest just over a year old."
Xia Momo was evidently startled by this, letting out an exclamation of shock, followed by Liu Yongxin’s voice.
"What’s wrong?"
"It’s nothing, Mr. Liu. Zhou Ning called about a case."
"Do we need to go back?"
"Not for now. I’m calling to ask if you could sketch a person’s portrait just by hearing soone’s description?"
There was silence on the phone. Zhou Ning was about to speak when Xia Momo answered.
"I can only say I can try. Whether I can sketch an image accurate enough that the person could be located using software, I’m not sure I can do that."
"I want you to help . Those two children fell from the fifteenth floor, landing on the stairs and dying instantly. He Shancun, Mr. Zhao, and I could only watch helplessly as the children died. I want to try to do sothing."
Xia Momo sighed.
"Understood. I’ll have Mr. Liu take over my eting here, and I’ll head back right now. I’ll be in your office in twenty minutes. Is that okay?"
"Don’t. I’ll send you the address. Just go straight to Vanke Residential Community. It saves ti since this kind of sketching takes a long ti, right?"
Xia Momo laughed this ti.
"Why ask so many questions? If I can piece together an image for you, that’s enough. Send the address."
With that, she hung up the phone. Zhou Ning was confused, but he trusted Xia Momo’s abilities. Before, she had reconstructed a victim’s face from just a skull, a skill that was simply beyond words.
Zhou Ning thought for a mont, then called Xu Dayuan, and after heading upstairs to get Xia Momo’s drawing board and other supplies, he quickly set off for Vanke Charm City, Liuhe District, with Zhang Ping, who had been sent by Xu Dayuan.
...
"Director Zhou, Mr. Xia, you’re here!"
Ma Liang greeted Zhou Ning, who nodded in response.
"You know where that neighbor lives, right?"
"Yeah, I know. I’ve been there before and just called her. She’s very eager to help. I’ll take you up."
Xia Momo glanced at the stuff Zhou Ning brought and said with a smile:
"We don’t need these. I have another thod. Just bring the tablet; leave these in the car."
Zhang Ping, already ahead of Zhou Ning, returned the drawing board and tools to the car. Then, the three of them followed Ma Liang toward building two. Seeing the police, two people waiting for the elevator quickly made way and didn’t even share the elevator with them.
Xia Momo looked puzzled, and asked Zhou Ning in a low voice:
"What’s going on?"
"They’re probably afraid we’re going to their hos for questioning. Not everyone is willing to be a witness. After all, with indifference prevalent, discussing matters that don’t concern oneself is easy, but when asked to speak up about what they’ve seen, no one wants to talk."
Ma Liang chuckled.
"Director Zhou is right. According to the body cam footage that Mr. Zhao showed us, among the onlookers, there were indeed many people who debated vehently as if they had seen sothing firsthand. But when it cos to actually answering our questions, only this lady was willing."
With that, the elevator stopped at the fourteenth floor. Following Ma Liang, they ca directly in front of room 1402.
Zhou Ning realized why this lady was so understanding. Zhang Bo’s family lived in 1502, right above, so she probably heard a lot of noise on a regular basis, which naturally made her concerned.
The doorbell rang, and the door was quickly opened by the lady, who did not hold a child this ti. She peered out to look at them, her gaze falling on Zhou Ning with a smile on her face.
"Co in quickly. The handso police officer, I saw you this morning."
Zhou Ning paused. He hadn’t been in uniform that morning, so how did she know he was a police officer?
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