Chapter 74: Guarding Closely

Peng Sijue slumped into his seat as if all the air had been let out of him. The room fell awkwardly silent. Lin Dongxue asked, “Captain Peng, you mentioned there’s a new discovery…”

Peng Sijue tossed a printout onto the table and said flatly, “Cause of death confirmed. The victim died of heart failure, and the time of death should be adjusted back six to twelve hours.”

Lin Dongxue picked it up and said, “Thank you, this finding is crucial.”

Peng Sijue waved his hand, indicating dismissal. The two left the technical team office. Lin Dongxue scolded Xu Xiaodong, “Why do you always blurt things out?”

Xu Xiaodong looked innocent, “How would I know Captain Peng would react so strongly… Could it be someone he knows?”

“You should ask him yourself!”

Xu Xiaodong vigorously shook his head, “I don’t want to get in trouble again.”

The task force devoted all their efforts to investigating the suspect Wu Hao. Three days later, Lin Qiupu gathered everyone and summarized the intelligence they had.

The officer responsible for investigating the background of the Wu brothers said, “The Wu brothers’ parents passed away early. According to their relatives, the brothers had an average relationship from childhood. Clearly, their parents favored the clever and nimble younger brother. The older brother harbored jealousy, and they often had violent fights over trivial matters. The older brother later came to the city for work, while the younger brother remained in school. When their parents died, the older brother handled the funeral affairs, selling the family’s property without a will. He promised to give the younger brother a share when he got married, but he never fulfilled this promise. Later, when the younger brother had a girlfriend and asked his brother for money, the brother couldn’t produce it. They had a big argument, and many relatives intervened. At the relatives’ mediation, the older brother said the younger one could live with him temporarily and he would save up to buy him an apartment in the future. However, he kept delaying, and the younger brother’s girlfriend eventually broke up with him. It’s easy to imagine the younger brother was very angry.”

The officer investigating Wu Hao’s affair with his sister-in-law said, “Captain Lin, we haven’t made much progress here. Pan Xiuying and ‘Ximen Qing’ are deeply involved, and no matter how we hint around, we can’t get her to admit to any other relationships. However, we did find something: ‘Ximen Qing’ bought a year’s membership at Wu Hao’s gym, leaving personal information. It’s highly likely they met through Wu Hao.”

Lin Qiupu said, “It’s okay to investigate slowly; just don’t let them know where our suspicions lie.”

“We understand. That’s why we didn’t dig too deep.”

Next was the search for evidence of Wu Hao’s murder, led by Lin Dongxue. She stood up and said with embarrassment, “I haven’t made much progress either. I’ve visited Wu Hao twice. He said he had dinner with his brother last month. I verified with the restaurant, and they did see Wu Hao with someone claiming to be his brother. He also said he went to a foot spa club with Wu Hao, and I’ve confirmed that with the club. Additionally, the victim operated an online store. Although sales were poor in the last three months, he was consistently active online. He even participated in the website’s promotions on Singles’ Day.”

Lin Qiupu said confidently, “This cunning guy was well-prepared. We need to prove he’s lying with Peng Sijue’s findings and Chen Shi’s deductions supporting us. We have to find a way to prove he’s lying.”

Lin Dongxue bit her lip, looking troubled.

Lin Qiupu told everyone, “From the various clues so far, it’s almost certain that Wu Hao and Pan Xiuying were involved in the victim’s imprisonment and murder. The victim’s death was delayed by three months, and they had been preparing for three months. Finding a breakthrough won’t be easy, but don’t get discouraged. I believe they will slip up sooner or later! Okay, that’s it for today. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

After the meeting, Lin Dongxue walked straight out. Xu Xiaodong caught up with her and asked, “Hey, Dongxue, where are you going?”

“I suddenly remembered something. Didn’t the worker mention finding feces in the floor gap that day? It should be identifiable as the victim’s, and it could also indicate his physical condition at the time. If we can get that, it would count as evidence!”

“You’re going rogue. We can’t just enter someone’s home without a search warrant.”

Lin Dongxue stopped in her tracks. She knew who the killer was but couldn’t break through. She felt extremely anxious. She said, “What if the workers threw the garbage out?”

“It’s been several days; the garbage must have been taken away.”

“Communities usually don’t allow construction waste to be dumped. They might have transferred it somewhere else…” Lin Dongxue checked her watch. “It’s five o’clock now; we might catch the workers before they finish work. Let’s go!”

“Alright, I’ll drive you.”

The two rushed to the neighborhood. The workers at Wu Hao’s house had already finished work, so Lin Dongxue asked the neighbors where the construction waste had been taken.

“I saw them loading it onto a pickup truck, and they took it all away.”

“Do you know where their company is?”

“Just a small construction team. They don’t have a proper company. They just have those small ads on the wall. You can ask around.”

Thanking the neighbor, Lin Dongxue asked every small advertisement on the wall until she finally found that construction team. They said they were having dinner at a nearby restaurant. They rushed over and explained their purpose. The foreman said, “We sold all the dismantled materials to another construction team to fill the road. They bought it at one yuan per half kilogram. I’ll take you back to check it out later.”

“Is the material from three days ago still there?”

“It is.”

Another worker said, “Boss, didn’t you forget? Mr. Wu asked us to give all the building materials to him that day and paid us two hundred yuan.”

“Oh, right,” the foreman said, “I’m sorry about that. The building materials from that day are gone.”

Lin Dongxue stared blankly, and Xu Xiaodong said, “This action shows that Chen’s deduction was correct. Wu Hao is hiding something!”

“What’s the use? We still don’t have evidence…” Lin Dongxue stared at the construction waste on the pickup truck like it was a big cake.

“Are you thinking…”

“Trying to turn a dead horse into a live one. Let’s search through today’s garbage for any clues.”

Lin Dongxue immediately paid three hundred yuan to buy the construction waste. The workers gladly helped her transport it to the bureau. Lin Dongxue specifically instructed them not to spread this matter around, especially not to let Wu Hao find out.

“Rest assured, we’ll cooperate… But if Wu Boss is caught, can we still get paid?”

“You won’t lose your wages. If he doesn’t come out, we’ll pay you ourselves,” Lin Dongxue assured them.

Xu Xiaodong added, “If you blab, and he runs away, you won’t get paid.”

“We won’t say anything! We won’t say anything!”

The workers dumped the pile of waste in the parking lot behind the municipal building, raising a cloud of dust. This annoyed the colleagues upstairs who peeked down at the bizarre things the criminal police did, but the dust was hard to take, so they closed the windows.

Xu Xiaodong was horrified. “Are you planning to move a mountain?”

“I don’t want to sleep poorly tonight. Help me call a few people from the technical team!”

“I swear, I’m not going!”

“I’m not going to see what kind of weird things the detectives pull back; I’m already used to it. However, this dust is unbearable, so they all closed their windows.”