SFTD -Chapter 277 The Disappearing Evidence (Part 10)

Huang Zhongsheng could tell that Ji Cheng’an was not lying. That kind of pain and self-blame was enough to crush a person. Perhaps that was why he later became an auxiliary police officer.

Still, regardless of the circumstances, they would have to wait for further test results. At the very least, Ji Cheng’an had not lied about the alarm clock. Before the inspection team arrived, even Zhang Chao, the original investigator on the case, had known nothing about it.

Huang Zhongsheng had someone take Ji Cheng’an away to await the lab results. As soon as they stepped out of the interview room, Zhang Chao was standing outside the door with his hands in his pockets, frowning deeply at him. Ji Cheng’an avoided his gaze and said nothing, simply following the officer away.

Just after he was taken away, a local policewoman led a man and a woman up to the second floor while speaking to them as they headed toward the conference room. The man seemed reluctant to come, while the woman and the policewoman kept trying to persuade him. Their hesitant manner made it obvious they had something important to say.

Huang Zhongsheng stopped immediately and waved at the three of them.

“Come over here and tell me. What’s going on?”

The policewoman brought the couple over. The woman looked somewhat timid, clutching the man’s arm tightly. Seeing how nervous they were, the policewoman smiled reassuringly.

“There’s no need to be nervous. A police station is a place for telling the truth. You don’t need to be afraid. We’re here to serve the people. Just repeat to the leaders of the task force what you told me earlier. You’re providing clues to the police—why be nervous? We should be encouraging you!”

She did not rush them at all, merely standing there quietly and patiently looking at them. Her attitude seemed to ease some of their worries.

Even Huang Zhongsheng was impressed. The policewoman’s psychological approach was excellent. Sure enough, the tension on the couple’s faces visibly relaxed. Huang Zhongsheng quickly forced himself to put on what he thought was a kind and approachable smile.

“Come on, let’s sit down inside. Tell us whatever’s on your mind. Da Liu, pour two cups of tea.”

Huang Zhongsheng directly led them into the conference room. Unfortunately, even what he considered a gentle voice still sounded loud and booming. The couple instantly shrank back a little. Huang Zhongsheng scratched his head.

After spending so many years as a criminal investigator, his entire body carried a fierce aura. Gentleness really wasn’t his strong suit. Back when his son was little, the kid cried every time he held him, which had left him thoroughly depressed.

Helpless, Huang Zhongsheng waved toward Xu Biao.

“Xu Biao, come handle this!”

Xu Biao waddled over. As he passed Huang Zhongsheng, he widened his tiny eyes, craned his neck stubbornly, and wore a face full of protest and dissatisfaction.

“I’m a forensic technician, not one of your investigators!”

Huang Zhongsheng raised a fist at him and narrowed his eyes.

“We’re all members of the inspection team. Don’t start internal divisions, or I’ll have Haizi deal with you!”

Xu Biao rubbed his nose and reluctantly walked over to the couple. In an instant, his small eyes curved into harmless little slits as he smiled warmly at them.

“Our leader’s used to shouting like thunder, so he probably scared you two. Come with me. Whatever it is, we can sit down and talk slowly.”

Xu Biao’s smiling little eyes were surprisingly approachable. He led the couple to the innermost seats in the conference room while everyone else continued working. Da Liu brought over two bottles of water.

Without too many people staring at them, the couple finally seemed to relax for real. Xu Biao leaned closer.

“So, what’s going on? Tell me about it.”

The man pointed around at everyone in the conference room and cleared his throat.

“You’re all members of the task force, right?”

Xu Biao nodded. “We’re all from the Southeast Municipal Bureau, helping Mocheng clear up old unsolved cases. How did you find this place?”

The woman nudged the man’s arm and, without taking the water bottle, urged him: “You say it already, so we can go home afterward.”

The man took a drink of water, set the bottle down, and organized his thoughts.

“My name is Chen Jianshan. I work for the Mocheng Sanitation Department. This morning, a friend called me and asked whether I’d been home on the night of October 8, 2010, and whether I’d seen or heard anything that night!”

The woman beside him smacked his arm.

“The way you’re saying it is just confusing the officers! You can’t even repeat a message properly. Honestly, I don’t know what to say about you! Move aside, I’ll explain it!”

Xu Biao swallowed hard as he looked at the woman. Clearly, she was no longer scared. It was obvious who ran the household. Sure enough, once a man gets married, his social standing tends to decline.

The woman leaned forward and began speaking.

“In July 2010, our old house was demolished for redevelopment, so we rented a coworker’s new apartment in Building 18 of Zhongcun Community. They’d only renovated the kitchen and bathroom, and the other rooms were just roughly painted, but we made do and lived there.

At the time, I happened to be pregnant with our eldest child and was only a few months away from giving birth, so I stayed home most of the time and rarely went out. Every day I’d just stay in the rented apartment, Unit 1 Room 301 of Building 18, watching TV.

This morning, that coworker called and asked whether we’d heard or seen anything on December 8, 2010. He said the murder case in their residential complex had been reopened, and the police were asking tenants and renovation workers whether they’d noticed anything.

My husband here said no and hung up. But afterward, the more I thought about it, the more it felt wrong. So I got up and checked the calendar. Our eldest child’s birthday is the third day of the eleventh lunar month, which corresponded to December 9, 2010, on the solar calendar.

I sat on the bed and thought it through carefully. The night before I gave birth, my stomach had already started hurting. He was on the night shift and wasn’t home, so I kept pacing around inside the room.

I remember it was almost midnight when I saw lights flickering back and forth in the easternmost room on the second floor of Building 16 behind us. It wasn’t like a normal light being on—it looked more like ghost fire, flickering and jumping around. So I turned on the light and stood in the north room to look over there.

Then I saw the easternmost window of that apartment light up, but the curtains were drawn. I could see shadows and the curtains swaying constantly.

At the time, I even thought, ‘That couple sure has energy, making that much noise in the middle of the night.’ But later, it seemed the window hadn’t been fully closed. A gust of wind lifted the curtain slightly, and I saw there were actually three people in the room, not two.”

At first Xu Biao hadn’t paid much attention, merely recording the statement routinely with the body camera in his hand. But the more he listened, the more something felt wrong. He interrupted the woman.

“Ma’am, you said three people. Did you see clearly?”

The woman slapped her thigh.

“I saw clearly! I kept thinking about it the whole time I was giving birth afterward. One man was lying on the bed, one woman was lying on the floor, and a young man was standing beside the bed, seeming to curse and shout about something. The man on the bed kept kicking and struggling, while the woman on the floor never moved at all. See? You interrupted me, and now I’ve forgotten what I was going to say!”

Xu Biao’s face darkened helplessly. That turnaround was fast enough to catch anyone off guard. He immediately forced a smile and handed the woman a bottle of mineral water.

“Don’t worry, ma’am. Take your time and think carefully. And then? Did you see where that young man standing there went afterward?”