Chapter 398: Prisoner's Dilemma

Saying this, Xu Mo shifted the conversation.

"If it were obsessive-compulsive disorder, there would absolutely be no cigarette butt in the room; the butt would surely have been cleaned up, so the room being that clean must be an attempt to hide something."

"What is she trying to hide?", Han Fei asked.

"To hide the fact that not only a mother and son live in the house, but also another man."

"There's also a man living there… is that the woman's lover you just mentioned? Do you suspect they teamed up to kill the victim?"

"Yes."

"..."

Police Station.

Interrogation Room.

After the woman was brought to the police station, no officer came to question her, so she just sat in the interrogation room waiting.

Sitting for a long time in the interrogation room, facing the several cameras inside and the eight large characters 'Leniency for confession, severity for resistance' straight ahead, her state of mind underwent some changes.

As time passed, she grew increasingly nervous, and a worried expression appeared on her face.

Every minute she sat in the interrogation chair felt extremely hard to endure.

Meanwhile.

The police had already launched a sweep.

According to Xu Mo, the officers investigated the woman's social connections and also visited the neighbors living across from her.

The result matched Xu Mo's speculation.

In Room 202, Building 3 of Ta Ying Xiao Qu, it was indeed not just a mother and son living there; there was also a middle-aged man, who is also one of the suspects.

At the same time, the forensic examiner conducted an autopsy on the recovered corpse and found that the cause of death was not excessive blood loss, but carbon monoxide poisoning.

Upon comparison, the palm print on the kitchen's sliding glass door matched the victim's palm print, and the rag brought back from the kitchen contained a large amount of natural gas residue.

Xu Mo became more certain of his deduction.

"Shouldn't we interrogate the woman who was brought back?", Chen Ke asked.

"Not urgent.", Xu Mo shook his head: "Asking her now won't yield anything; let her wait a bit."

After a pause, Xu Mo continued: "Go bring back the middle-aged man living in the victim's home; I feel he is the breakthrough point."

Yes!

From the start, Xu Mo had no intention of extracting information from the woman's mouth.

The fact that she dared to report the case shows she must have prepared a story in advance; for the police's questioning, she would certainly have been ready, so directly interrogating her would likely yield nothing, after all the police still lack solid evidence proving she killed someone.

One hour later.

Chen Ke and two other officers returned to the police station, and they also brought back a middle-aged man.

"Team Leader Xu, the person has been brought back.", Chen Ke brought the man to Xu Mo's presence.

"Hmm.", Xu Mo nodded, then stood up: "Leave it to me, I'll question him."

Xu Mo took the man and left the office.

The man looked bewildered: "Police comrade, that comrade just said I'm suspected of murder and arrested me… I didn't kill anyone! You couldn't have made a mistake, could you?"

Xu Mo didn't answer his words, just escorted him out of the office.

Just as they came out, they unexpectedly met Han Fei, who had come to find Xu Mo.

Has Ren Qin confessed?

Not yet, but her emotions are very unstable now; she can't hold out much longer.", saying this, Han Fei also glanced at the man being escorted by Xu Mo.

Upon hearing this, the man's eye twitched involuntarily, his expression somewhat unnatural.

Xu Mo clearly saw the man's facial expression; it was obvious that Han Fei's few words had a huge impact on him.

This was a scene Xu Mo and Han Fei had planned in advance, deliberately staged for the man to see.

They merely wanted to convey a message to the man who had just been brought back: your accomplice is about to crack under pressure and confess.

In fact, Han Fei wasn't lying; the woman's emotions are indeed very unstable, and she truly can't hold out much longer.

But once these words reached the man's ears, it was different; the seed of doubt had already taken root in his heart.

Once a rift appears between two accomplices' hearts, solving the case is not far off.

The prisoner's dilemma has no solution.

Xu Mo brought the man to the interrogation room.

He turned on the interrogation room's desk lamp, and the light shone directly onto the man's face.

"Qin Guofu, right? What is your relationship with Ren Qin?"

Friends.

Just friends?

Yes, just fairly good friends.

Where were you between six and seven this morning?

I was at home.

Can anyone vouch for you?

No, I'm the only one at home.

Faced with these questions, Qin Guofu answered fluently and promptly, without any hesitation.

However, the next question Xu Mo raised was completely unexpected for him.

"Ren Qin's son died at home today; did she tell you about this?"

Qin Guofu was instantly dumbfounded by the question, and after a long silence without answering, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

After pondering repeatedly, he answered, "Yes, I know; she mentioned it to me in passing—she committed suicide, right?"

Qin Guofu's tone was full of uncertainty, as if probing.

"She mentioned it to you?" Xu Mo suddenly looked up, staring at Qin Guofu, his gaze as if to pierce him.

The answer had already been given, hard to change, but Qin Guofu sensed something off in Xu Mo's tone, so he simply patched the words he had just spoken.

"It seems it wasn't even her who said it; I'm not sure whether I heard it from someone else or she told me. I'm getting old, my memory's not great—police comrades, please excuse."

"Is that so? Ren Qin didn't say that; she told us she never mentioned this to anyone. Who did you hear it from?"

"I…," Qin Guofu swallowed, momentarily at a loss for words.

At that moment, the Interrogation Room door was pushed open.

The one who entered was a police officer, holding several A4 sheets: "Team Leader Xu, this is Ren Qin's Confession Statement."

Xu Mo gave a short "Hmm," then took the Confession Statement and began leafing through it.

While reading the Confession Statement, Xu Mo glanced up at Qin Guofu a few times, his gaze a little odd.

This made Qin Guofu's heart pound.

He didn't know what Ren Qin had disclosed.

"The victim was locked in the kitchen by you and poisoned… Moreover, you threatened Ren Qin not to reveal this, right?" After finishing reading, Xu Mo spread the Confession Statement on the table: "Regarding this, what do you have to say?"