Chapter 144

After a while, there were footsteps approaching the door. Li Qingyao knew it was Chen Pu without raising his head. His footsteps were always a little faster than others, but he walked very steadily, as if there was wind under his feet.

Chen Pu was wearing a dark grey jacket today with a white T-shirt underneath, which was open and unzipped. He still had a sullen look on his face, and his handsome face seemed to be covered with a layer of cold frost. He walked straight to an empty seat at the table, then glanced in the direction of Li Qingyao. When their eyes met, he sat down without any expression.

Li Qingyao thought this was great. She liked Chen Pu's determination to work without regard for his relatives. If he was really clingy and always treated her specially, she would be annoyed.

Li Qingyao really felt that the best boyfriend had to know his limits and how to advance and retreat. There were some words and some limits that the two of them had a tacit understanding without saying anything. She was a little worried before, afraid that he would be too enthusiastic towards her. After all, he kissed her so hard that her lips were swollen on the first day, and he hugged her for a long time before letting her go. But now it seems that was only the side of him that he showed in front of her alone. When he was working, he completely returned to his cold and hard criminal police style, which was good.

The meeting started.

The technical department first showed the freshly prepared portrait of the suspect. Li Qingyao looked at it intently. It was similar to what Xiang Siling described, but more intuitive. The man was probably in his thirties, with thick black eyebrows and thick facial bones, a short flat head, a straight nose, and thick lips. The portrait artist was very skilled. Even from the sketch, the man's eyes were impressive - cold, bright, and filled with an indescribable dead air, which made people feel creepy.

Several departments took turns to report on their current work progress:

1. Only fingerprints and hair of Qian Chengfeng, Xiang Siling and Qian Sitian were found at the scene. If there was a fourth person, he should have been wearing gloves or even a hood.

Second, the man was wearing size 42 shoes at the scene. Judging from the length of his steps, he was not tall, between 170 and 175 cm. As the soil at the scene was hard and the footprints were of poor quality, it was impossible to determine his weight.

3. The bloodstains on the double-handled pot, tent mat and car wipers all belonged to Qian Chengfeng, and no other person's bloodstains were found at the scene;
4. On the floor mat near Qian Chengfeng's face, there were drops of unknown liquid, which were Qian Chengfeng's saliva;

5. The rope used by the murderer to tie up Qian Chengfeng and the towel used to stuff his mouth were common items and their sources could not be traced;

6. The medical examiner confirmed that the wound on Qian Chengfeng's right wrist was caused by a scalpel, which cut the artery cleanly;

1911. The bullet's trajectory analysis results are out, and it was fired from an American-made M pistol. This is a classic old gun, both classic and fashionable, and can be equipped with a silencer, which is a favorite of many gun enthusiasts.

8. As for the murderer's escape route after the murder, the police immediately blocked the relevant roads of Heilifeng and searched for surveillance. The murderer's footprints down the mountain were interrupted near the mid-mountain road. From that location, there are three directions to escape: two roads, or directly walking down the hillside where there is no road. Currently, the three teams are investigating all vehicles and pedestrians during the time of the crime, as well as all the hillsides. It will take some time.

After listening to the reports, Ding Guoqiang thought for a moment and called on Chen Pu first: "Tell me about what you just reported to me." Chen Pu then introduced Xue Li's situation. Everyone was shocked.

Chen Pu looked around, his eyes sharp and cold: "At present, all the information we have about the murderer is Xiang Siling's one-sided statement, including the portrait she described. She is now the number one suspect in the Luo Hongmin case. Once we have evidence and catch Lu Xing, we can arrest the person. Therefore, before we investigate further, we have to figure out one question: Are all these words of Xiang Siling credible? How much can we believe?"

Everyone was whispering and talking, and some were even arguing in low voices.

Some people believed it, because Xiang Siling's confession was well-founded and detailed, and she couldn't have fabricated such a person out of thin air; others said they didn't believe it, because Xiang Siling was talking nonsense, and maybe she had killed Qian Chengfeng. From the time she arrived at the scene to the time she called the police, it was just enough time to kill someone. Footprints and other things can be disguised with time. And the fact that the murderer didn't kill her but chatted with her was too bizarre and far-fetched.

But someone immediately said that Xiang Siling loved her daughter so much, why did she take her daughter to witness the death of her father? If she planned to kill someone, there was no need at all.

Ding Guoqiang listened for a while, motioned for everyone to be quiet, and decided on the tone for the follow-up investigation: "We will use Xiang Siling's words as a reference to continue searching and comparing the identity of the man in the portrait, but it should not be the sole basis for investigation. We will return to the crime scene and let the evidence and facts speak for themselves."

Hearing this, Li Qingyao couldn't help but admire Ding Guoqiang, a veteran. When investigating a case, you will encounter many clues, and sometimes the clues themselves are also temptations. For example, Xiang Siling's confession is simply a shortcut. The murderer's face is drawn for you. How can you not be tempted? Who doesn't want to solve the case as soon as possible, who doesn't want to make meritorious deeds? Some people are naturally shaken and tend to be subjectively inclined to Xiang Siling. But Ding Guoqiang's heart is very stable. He requires everyone to return to the crime scene, look at the facts and speak without interference. This can also be regarded as a way to keep the original intention.

She glanced at Chen Pu who was standing next to Ding Guoqiang. At this moment, he had the same cold and hard face as his master. It was obvious that he had the same idea and stood still.

Ding Guoqiang said: "The second team is mainly responsible for the site exploration. The second team will speak first. Chen Pu, you will speak last."

"Yes."

Fang Kai is a veteran of the second team. He is often the one who takes the lead in such situations. He was the first to speak: "I have three ideas. First, the murderer is an acquaintance of the deceased. Second, the murderer is well-trained. Third, if there is a fourth murderer, then he has known Xiang Siling for a long time and knew she would come, so he was mentally prepared.

Why do you say that?
First, all the footprints at the scene were clear and in series, and everyone's route was clear, which means that there was no physical conflict or fight outside the tent. Outside the tent, there was also a pair of neat shoe prints left by the murderer, with the toes facing the tent. If it was a stranger, Qian Chengfeng would not have allowed him to enter the tent, and the shoe prints would not be like that. So I think the deceased knew the murderer.

Second, although Qian Chengfeng often sits in the office, he is tall and strong, so it is not easy to subdue him even if the murderer is a man. But after firing that shot, the murderer only used one shot to subdue Qian Chengfeng and then control his hands and feet. This is actually a more difficult thing. The murderer has fighting experience and is agile. In other words, he is very good at fighting;
Third, judging from the murderer's behavior, it must have been a planned crime, not a crime of passion. So he must have followed Qian Chengfeng in advance, determined Qian Chengfeng's itinerary, and waited for an opportunity to strike. Judging from the things Qian Chengfeng prepared, everyone knows that he may have made an appointment with Xiang Siling and her daughter. This created a dilemma for the murderer: the scene was in the right place at the right time and with the right people. There was no surveillance, so it was easy to escape. It was a good place to kill people. He didn't know when he would have to wait for the next good opportunity. But if he decided to take action, he would most likely run into Xiang Siling and her daughter. But in the end, the murderer decided to take action. This shows that he had known about Xiang Siling's existence and who she was, and he was mentally prepared. It didn't matter if she saw his face - of course, the premise of all this was that Xiang Siling did not lie. I personally think that Xiang Siling had nothing to do with Qian Chengfeng's death, and the murderer was someone else."

(End of this chapter)