Chapter 36
Investigation
Shen Yin entered the restaurant. She put on white gloves, picked up the section of finger that had fallen on the ground, and put it in the body bag.
She looked at Wu Zheng, who was giving orders, and suggested, “Captain Wu, shouldn’t we investigate the frozen goods supplier thoroughly?”
Wu Zheng instructed someone to open all the packaging from the batch of frozen goods that had just arrived and examine them carefully. When he heard that, he nodded and instructed Zou Sheng, “Find out the address of the supplier.”
Zou Sheng quickly ran a search on his tablet. “I’ve found it. It’s on Tongjiang Street in the New District. It’s only an hour’s drive away.”
Wu Zheng nodded and skillfully directed the work. “Meng Heng, stay here and bring the man back to the station to take a statement. Dr. Shen will remain here to check if there are any other body parts in the freezer. Brothers from the Evidence Unit, I will have to ask that you work hard. Note the possibility that the restaurant owner might have killed and dismembered someone. Zou Sheng and I will bring a few police officers to investigate the supplier.”
The well-trained team began to move off an orderly fashion under Wu Zheng’s directions.
The officers meticulously examined each frozen package. Half an hour later, they finally had all ten fingers of the corpse, obtained from different bags in the same batch.
“How’s the evidence collection going?” Shen Yin put away the body parts and asked a colleague, who was squatting on the ground.
Her colleague knew that this was the new young chief forensic pathologist, so he answered immediately. He quickly stood up and replied, “There are no suspicious bloodstains.”
Shen Yin nodded. “That’s reasonable. This certainly isn’t where the murder took place.”
“Sister, bad news. Some reporters have heard the news and they’ve surrounded us.” Meng Heng walked in anxiously. He had only been to crime scenes a few times and was inexperienced. He did not know how to handle this situation.
Shen Yin frowned and walked out. A leak was considered taboo when an investigation was ongoing, but these reporters used all ways and means to get first-hand information. The nature of the two professions was at odds, and it was extremely difficult to mediate between the two.
When the reporters saw a woman in a white coat coming out of the restaurant, they knew she must be the forensic pathologist. They quickly surrounded her.
“Hello, Comrade Officer. May I ask if there are any other human organs in the shop?”
“There’s a body in the restaurant. Do you think food safety should be monitored more vigorously?”
“May I ask if this is the first the place where the murder and dismemberment took place? Could the owner be the killer? And what is the identity of the victim?”
Shen Yin stood in front of the camera like someone accustomed to it. Such situations were quite common. “Sorry, no comment.”
She turned around and gestured to Meng Heng. With the body parts she had just collected in hand, she got into the police car.
Meng Heng followed closely behind with the restaurant owner and delivery man. Shen Yin looked at the news on her phone. This case had instantly made the headlines. “Back to the police station. There’s something wrong with this corpse. I need to defrost it.”
Lian Jing looked at the woman on the monitor. His lips curled up slightly, making the regional manager beside him shudder.
The major murder and dismemberment case had happened in a new development that the Lian family had bid for. How could he still laugh? He must be mad.
The manager thought for a moment and braced himself. “Although our property is behind this street, it shouldn’t affect the property prices…”
“It shouldn’t?” Lian Jing gave him a sideways glance and wiped the smile off his face. A chill appeared in his eyes. “The restaurant doesn’t have much impact, but the factory that supplies this street does.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” The manager wiped the cold sweat from his face. “The factory was an oversight on our part. Don’t worry. We’ll definitely trace the problem to the source and get to the bottom of the case.”
Lian Jing looked away. He had been smiling when he saw Shen Yin, but now his face fell when he saw Meng Heng following closely behind her.
He did not miss Meng Heng’s admiring gaze.
Looks like I’ll have to give someone a warning.
He stood up and looked coldly down at the manager, whose shirt was soaking wet. “Check all the personnel lists and surveillance footage for the assembly line for this shipment.”
The manager nodded and bowed. “Of course, of course. Don’t worry.”
Shen Yin returned to the autopsy room and first removed the bits of ice on the surface of the corpse’s ten fingers. After thawing them slightly, the original appearance of the corpse was finally revealed.
The nails on the fingers were curved and the fingers were a waxy yellow. They looked rather like they had been cut from a zombie’s hand.
“Boss, this…” Zheng Ling looked through them in disbelief. Shen Yin’s solemn gaze confirmed her guess.
Shen Yin sighed and said sternly, “The victim died at least three months ago.”