Chapter 290: Family Portrait

The group arrived at the deceased's villa.

They climbed over the police‑set perimeter tape and entered the villa.

On the way there, Xu Mo relayed the task Han Fei had assigned to these officers.

So, as soon as they stepped inside,

they put on their radios and began the search.

Every cup, bowl, plate, snack wrapper in the trash can, the half‑empty milk‑tea cup—any item that could have been poisoned—was examined by the officers.

All were sealed in plastic bags to be taken back to the police station for testing for residual toxin.

While the officers searched, Xu Mo kept himself busy.

But he wasn't looking for food or water; he was searching for medicines and health supplements.

Anything ingestible could have been poisoned.

Medicines and supplements, of course, were no exception.

It is worth mentioning that while looking for medicines, Xu Mo accidentally knocked a book off the desk.

The book fell to the floor, and a photo tucked inside slipped out.

It was a family portrait of three members.

A couple stood on either side, with their son in the middle.

When Xu Mo saw the photo, his eyes lit up instantly.

The main reason is that the people in the picture were all too familiar to him!

The boy in the center, about twelve or thirteen, was the same as the large‑nosed security guard who had just hurriedly quit the neighborhood today, seen in his childhood photo, wasn't he?

The security guard's twelve‑year‑old face, especially his distinctive large nose tip, had changed little, so Xu Mo recognized him at a glance.

The man in the portrait, Xu Mo had seen in the case files.

He was the late wealthy husband of Guan Yiliu, Ji Gao Lang.

As for the woman on the side,

Xu Mo guessed she must be Ji Gao Lang's first wife.

Ji Gao Lang remarried?

He also has a son? That son is the security guard in the neighborhood owned by his property?

Thinking this, Xu Mo suddenly felt a breakthrough.

Just by guessing, he could roughly piece together what was happening.

The neighborhood security guard is Ji Gao Lang's son.

He killed Guan Yiliu, perhaps out of resentment that she ruined his family.

Or perhaps to claim the inheritance.

Or maybe both.

To commit the murder, Ji Gao Lang's son deliberately applied for the security guard job.

That explains why the police found no irregularities when reviewing the surveillance.

The killer could access the cameras!

As a security guard, deleting the footage would be easy for him, right?

One more point aligns with Xu Mo's earlier speculation.

The killer chose Castor toxin because he knew a conventional murder of Guan Yiliu would draw police attention.

And being Ji Gao Lang's son, it would be fine if the police overlooked Ji Gao Lang's connection.

But once investigators trace the Ji Gao Lang line and learn he had a son before marrying Guan Yiliu, and that the son is his, suspicion would inevitably fall on him.

If suspicion lands on him, he's finished.

A simple check would reveal his clear motive and the opportunity, since he had just become the neighborhood guard shortly before the crime.

Thus he needed to mislead the police into thinking the victim died of a flu accident rather than murder, causing them to drop the case.

He quickly summed it up.

Xu Mo believed his conjecture had a reasonable chance.

He immediately pulled out his phone and called Han Fei at the station.

"Han Team, I think I know who the killer is."

"Who?" Han Fei asked at once.

"The victim's husband Ji Gao Lang and his ex‑wife have a son; looking at that connection, he has a motive. This man recently came to the neighborhood and applied as a guard. He not only has motive but also the chance to act, and this morning he resigned, supposedly in a great hurry. I think he's scared we'll find out."

"Ji Gao Lang and his ex‑wife still have a son? And he's a guard in your neighborhood?" Han Fei repeated instinctively.

Hearing Xu Mo say that, Han Fei also began to suspect Ji Gao Lang's son.

Having done criminal investigations for so long, he's handled every type of case and is still very adept at teasing out details from the tiniest clues.

Moreover, Xu Mo had explained it so clearly that there was no reason for him not to understand.

"Check Ji Gao Lang!" Han Fei immediately ordered the officers to look up Ji Gao Lang.

In no time, Ji Gao Lang's file appeared.

From the biographical data shown,

Ji Gao Lang was originally a struggling laborer, but luck favored him; he caught a demolition wave, became a second‑generation developer, and built a fortune from the demolition funds.

After getting rich, his first act was to kick out his original wife and even abandon his son.

He then found the younger, prettier Guan Yiliu and married her.

Han Fei gave Xu Mo a brief rundown of Ji Gao Lang's life.

He also found Ji Gao Lang's son in the population database.

Sent the photo to Xu Mo: "Take a look, is this the person?"

"That's him!" Xu Mo said resolutely: "The person in the photo is the community security guard who quit this morning."

Because the Police initially set the investigation direction on Guan Yiliu.

They examined her social connections, checked whether she had business rivals, hoping to find the murderer from those angles.

But they never investigated her deceased husband Ji Gao Lang; moreover, the Police had never known that Ji Gao Lang was on his second marriage, nor that he had a son before marrying Guan Yiliu.

So from the start, the Police fell into a blind alley, overlooking the possibility that Ji Gao Lang's descendants might be fighting over his inheritance.

They investigated for so long with the wrong direction; it's no wonder they couldn't solve the case.

Unexpectedly, when Xu Mo was looking for other clues, he accidentally saw that family portrait.

And merely by his own conjecture he filled in the clues; the key is that Xu Mo's speculation was entirely correct.

The little boy in the family portrait was indeed the community security guard! He really is Ji Gao Lang's son!

Combined with his hurried resignation early this morning.

Xu Mo believes the possibility that he is the murderer is very high.