Chapter 2393 2394 Exquisite Arrangement
Chapter 2393: Chapter 2394: Exquisite Arrangement Chapter 2393: Chapter 2394: Exquisite Arrangement The next morning, a little after 8 a.m., Lin Yi woke up feeling refreshed.
After breakfast, he first dropped Mi Li off at her workplace, then drove to the precinct and found everyone else was already there.
“Hurry, hurry, we’ve been waiting for you.”
Seeing Lin Yi, Zhu Junchi gestured for him to come over.
“What’s the situation? Any urgent matters?”
“Gu Yiran mentioned that you figured out how the murderer killed Fang Daye yesterday. Come and tell us all about it.”
“Hm?”
Lin Yi glanced at Gu Yiran. “Didn’t she tell you?”
“This was your discovery; obviously, you should be the one talking.”
Lin Yi understood Gu Yiran’s intention; she had thought this through quite a bit.
Over the next half hour, Lin Yi once again detailed the killer’s method of murder.
Zhang Hui and Zhu Junchi listened and finally saw the light.
They untangled all the puzzles in their minds, affirming that this must be the correct method of murder.
“We’ve also made a discovery here—we had previously jumped to conclusions.” Zhang Hui clicked his mouse. “The first crime scene might not be at Xiangyang Village.”
“Where then?”
This caught Lin Yi by surprise.
Ma Haiqiang was first beaten to break his legs, then suffocated to death, and finally buried in the ground.
So there must have been an initial crime scene.
At that time, everyone thought that due to the distance, the initial crime scene might have been in Xiangyang Village, but unexpectedly, there could be other places.
“We revisited the communication records between Ma Haiqiang and Sun Xue. He mentioned he was going back to Zhong Hai to meet a friend and would stay at home that night, so the first crime scene could likely be somewhere in Zhong Hai,” said Zhang Hui:
“They exchanged messages at 4:51 p.m. on the day of the crime, which is less than an hour before Ma Haiqiang died.”
“Can we find out who he was meeting at the time?”
Zhang Hui shook his head, “There’s no such record on his phone.”
“Looks like we need to interrogate Sun Xue.” Lin Yi leaned back in his chair. “We might get something out of her.”
“I heard from Gu Yiran just now that you two are planning to go to Xiangyang Village. Better head there now, see if you can find anything new.”
Lin Yi nodded, and the two of them drove to the woods west of Xiangyang Village again.
Like Fang Daye’s home, the area was cordoned off, no outsiders allowed.
Standing by the pit where Ma Haiqiang was buried, they noticed even-footed prints on the ground.
“Could these be fox tracks?” Gu Yiran said:
“He kills a person and leaves these behind, isn’t he afraid of being discovered?”
“The behavior and thought patterns of psychopaths are not understandable by normal people.”
“That’s true.”
“But these footprints on the ground, they should be fabricated.”
“How did you figure that out?”
“They’re too uniform.”
Lin Yi put his face close to the ground, carefully examining the “footprints” left in the dirt.
“Whether it’s a fox or any animal of this size, there should certainly be fur on its feet. Not to mention whether fur fell off or not, there definitely would be traces on the ground.”
While speaking, Lin Yi picked up a small clump of mud and pressed it onto the back of his hand, then showed it to Gu Yiran.
She saw many fine marks on it, left by the hairs on Lin Yi’s hand.
Realizing this, Gu Yiran also leaned down and saw what Lin Yi meant. The “footprints” were very smooth, indeed appearing manufactured.
“Your reasoning seems valid.”
“It’s a red herring; no need to look any further.”
The two went back to the pit where Ma Haiqiang was buried and after a thorough investigation, they found some leaves and branches.
“I guess this pit was dug in advance, then covered up by the murderer, and when Ma Haiqiang was killed, he was immediately placed inside,” Gu Yiran suggested.
“The question is, when was this pit dug?” Lin Yi voiced his doubt:
“If it was dug the night before, this pit had to stay open for nearly 20 hours or more, but this forest is frequented by passersby, making it easy to be discovered.”
“This is also my concern,” said Gu Yiran:
“If it was dug just one or two hours ahead, at that time, it would still be daylight and there would still be villagers working around. They would have definitely noticed.”
“Besides, after killing someone in Zhong Hai, he would need a lot of time to get back here, which is highly prone to accidents. Even if he’s a psychopath, he wouldn’t take such a big risk.”
“There’s another point,” continued Gu Yiran:
“No vehicle tracks nearby, the murderer must have used the highway and then transported the body here. But not far from the highway is Ma Haiqiang’s fertilizer plant, surrounded by surveillance cameras. It seems nothing out of the ordinary was detected; no car lingered here.”
Gu Yiran pointed out numerous doubts, and Lin Yi also pondered seriously, finally speaking slowly:
“We might have guessed wrong about another place.”
“Where?”
“The chat history with Sun Xue, it might not have been sent by Ma Haiqiang.”
“Not by him?”
“My guess is that at that time, Ma Haiqiang might have already been captured, or perhaps already dead.”
Gu Yiran suddenly realized the implication.
“You mean to say, the murderer took Ma Haiqiang’s phone and made contact with Sun Xue?”
“It’s possible, just to create a false appearance, making everyone think Ma Haiqiang was still alive, thereby complicating the investigation!”
Fsss—
Gu Yiran can’t help feeling a chill up her spine.
The murderer hidden in the shadows is not ordinary at all.
“So, the first crime scene might also be in Xiangyang Village, right?”
“Exactly.” Lin Yi affirmed. “If we lock the first crime scene in Zhong Hai, then this case will never be solved.”
“But we still can’t figure out how the murderer transported the body.”
“Indeed, I still have no leads on that.”
“Let’s take our time, a case this big can’t be solved in a day or two.”
After another careful search, the two left the body dumping site.
Following the trodden pathway through the fields, they walked towards the village.
The people of Xiangyang Village had already started their busy seeding work.
Seeing Lin Yi and Gu Yiran, they instinctively stopped their work, quietly watching them with complex expressions.
But one person was different.
“Officers, you’ve arrived.”
Seeing Lin Yi and Gu Yiran, Zhang Long greeted them enthusiastically.
“Have you started seeding?”
“We’ll have to wait a few more days; we need to turn the soil first.”
Lin Yi nodded, “You go ahead with your work; we have other matters to attend to.”
“Hold on, officer, any progress on Ma Haiqiang’s case?”
“Why are you interested in this now?”
“Ah… Although we didn’t get along well, he did apologize and compensated me. Now that he’s dead, it just feels uncomfortable.”