The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

”For this case, I’d say the pressure on all of us is enormous. I just watched your interrogation—Zhang Xiang won’t respond to either soft or hard tactics.”

”But I still think, the suspicion on him is not going anywhere.”

After pausing for a moment, He turned his head to look at Director Hou and said, ”Director Hou, about this case, we’d like you to help us broaden our thinking.”

After hearing this, Director Hou took a sharp drag on his cigarette and said, ”Just now I was also watching your interrogation the whole time.”

”We can now be sure that the body parts put into the coffin back then are completely different from the ones we discovered today.”

”Which leads to another question—was the person who died in the fire scene back then the same person as the remains we found in the valley? At present, we simply don’t know.”

”Because we still haven’t found the skull and pelvis that were put into the coffin back then.”

”But one thing is certain: the body currently in the coffin is Li Ailing, and her time of death should be after that fire.”

Right after that, Director Hou said, ”So next, I think we have two directions for investigation.”

”One is, where exactly did the skull and pelvis from the coffin end up? This is a direction we must work hard on.”

”The other is the cause of Li Ailing’s death—was she killed and then dismembered, or was she dismembered after death and then placed in the coffin? If she was killed first and then dismembered and put into the coffin, this case becomes much more complicated.”

As soon as these words fell, the atmosphere in the conference room suddenly grew much more heavy.

Just now, both Chen Guan and Qin Feng had been thinking about how to break through in interrogation, but they hadn’t thought this far.

If the Li Ailing death case is also a homicide with dismemberment, then things are far more complicated.

In an instant, the two only felt their heads buzzing.

This case, for which a special task force has already been set up six times in a row, is a dismemberment case.

Now, not only has that case made no progress at all, but how... have they ended up with yet another homicide with dismemberment?

Chen Guan and Qin Feng exchanged a glance; in each other’s eyes they both saw deep shock.

No surprise there.

One is the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the other the deputy director of the bureau in charge of criminal investigation.

These two are the ones who bear ultimate responsibility for solving the case.

If the case remains unsolved, they are the first ones to be held accountable.

After a long moment, the corner of Chen Guan’s mouth twitched; his heart was a jumble of emotions.

Qin Feng also realized that what Director Hou had just said was indeed reasonable.

If, in this case, we can already confirm that today’s discovered remains are different from those placed in the coffin back then, that alone is enough to show that two people have died.

One person’s identity is clear—Li Ailing; the other’s identity cannot be determined.

If Li Ailing was also killed and dismembered, then the problem is even more serious.

This case has not only failed to advance, it has actually added another unsolved homicide on top.

Thinking of this, Criminal Investigation Team Captain Qin Feng scratched his head anxiously.

His hair, already thinning, lost a few more strands after a couple of scratches.

Immediately after, he lit another cigarette and began smoking hard.

Among people working in the police, 90% smoke, because cigarettes can ease inner anxiety and pressure.

Although Qin Feng was unwilling to face this possible outcome, based on his experience as Criminal Investigation Team Captain, the likelihood that Li Ailing was murdered and dismembered was very high.

Seeing the unusually grim expressions on both Chen Guan and Qin Feng’s faces, Director Hou gave an awkward smile and said, ”Well... Jiang An and I were originally supposed to stay on to assist in solving the case.”

”I really didn’t expect that, with your cold case still unsolved, we’d end up digging out another homicide for you. I’m truly a bit embarrassed about that.”

As soon as he finished, Chen Guan gave a self-mocking smile and said, ”Director Hou, you’re being too harsh on yourself.”

He turned to Jiang An and said, ”If it weren’t for you and Mr. Jiang coming over, we wouldn’t even have discovered this case.”

”Now that we’ve found this case, it’s a timely remedy for how we handled things back then.”

”If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even know where we went wrong.”

He then smiled and said, ”It’s good that we uncovered it. We’ll combine the two cases and investigate them together.”

After he finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Jiang An.

He didn’t know why, but at this moment it felt as if Jiang An had become the only person he could pin his hopes on for solving the case.

Meeting his gaze, Jiang An nodded and said, ”Mr. Chen, what you just said about tackling the two cases together, I think that fits our situation perfectly.”

”Whether it’s the arson case back then or the Li Ailing death case, the two are very closely related.”

”Just now, I kept thinking: since the person who died in the fire back then was not Li Ailing, then why did Zhang Xiang go to such lengths to make Li Ailing suddenly die?”

”We have to know that, in the case file from back then, after the fire, Li Ailing was declared dead, and from then on her identity and household registration were cancelled.”

As soon as he said this, Qin Feng nodded: ”Exactly.”

”I remember, at the time I was undergoing grassroots training at the local police station, and I was the one who handled the cancellation of her household registration.”

”Why would a person, for no reason, be declared dead?”

”In my understanding, this kind of declaration of death is used only when an identity needs to be wiped clean.”

Then he muttered to himself, ”Aside from wiping an identity clean, there’s another possible reason for her ’forced’ death—could it be that Zhang Xiang had someone else on the side, and deliberately used this method to get his wife killed?”

However, after speaking, Qin Feng again said, ”No, that doesn’t make sense! If that were the case, then the person who died in the fire back then should have been his wife, Li Ailing. It wouldn’t make sense to kill her later and then put her in the coffin. Wouldn’t that be completely unnecessary?”

Hearing this, the others all nodded.

But Jiang An said, ”Perhaps there was a huge利益 exchange.”

”利益 exchange?”

Jiang An nodded and said, ”If a person’s death could bring enormous利益 to the other party, then it might create a very strong motive for murder.”

As soon as he said this, Wan, who was standing next to them, suddenly spoke up: ”Life insurance!”

Jiang An nodded: ”Entirely possible.”

”If someone’s death could be exchanged for enormous利益, then the only thing that fits is life insurance.”

”Moreover, judging from our analysis of this case, Li Ailing’s death should have occurred after the fire. Based on the degree of ossification of her bones, I estimate her time of death doesn’t exceed ten years.”

”The case occurred fifteen years ago, which implies that after the fire, Li Ailing remained alive for nearly five years.”

Hearing this, both Director Hou and Chen Guan showed expressions of surprise on their faces.

Then Chen Guan said, ”If she remained alive for nearly five years after the fire, then where was she during those five years? What kind of life was she living?”

Jiang An went on, ”That’s indeed a question worth exploring.”

”But the more pressing task is to clarify the hypothesis we just mentioned—whether this ’forced’ death for利益 actually existed.”

He suggested, ”Director Hou, Mr. Chen, I recommend that we next investigate all local insurance companies, to see whether there are any policies with Li Ailing as the insured and any insurance payouts involved.”

Deputy Director Chen Guan nodded and said, ”That really is a very good line of thought. Back then, when we were handling the fire case, we ruled out a criminal case, so we didn’t follow up afterward, and this whole part of the material is indeed missing.”

Qin Feng stubbed out his cigarette and said, ”Mr. Chen, Director Hou, Mr. Jiang, leave this matter to me.”

”I’ll immediately lead the brothers to check every insurance company in the city, big and small, to see whether there are any large policies in Li Ailing’s name.”