Chapter 444: The True Culprit

"Do you recognize the person in the video?"

"…I don't know!" The older man fell silent for a while, then shook his head very firmly.

Xu Mo didn't press him; instead, he said casually.

"Harboring a criminal is also a crime. Your daughter is still lying in the hospital, with no one to care for her and no source of income. If both of you go to prison, have you thought about what will happen to her?"

"You have to think about her."

After speaking, Xu Mo returned to his seat, said nothing further, and silently stared at the older man.

"Harboring a criminal is also a crime; if both of us go to prison, what about our daughter?" Hearing Xu Mo's words, a flash of panic instantly crossed the older man's eyes; the officer knew that his wife had set the fire!

Thinking of this, the older man immediately lost his composure.

"You... you both know?"

Actually, after questioning the victim, Xu Mo had a vague suspicion, but it was incomplete until he met this older man at the hospital, and his very abnormal behavior—turning and running at the first sight of the officer—completed Xu Mo's conjecture.

Just now, after asking a few questions, Xu Mo became increasingly certain that his suspicion was correct.

The arsonist was the victim's mother, also the older man's wife.

Otherwise, their behavior wouldn't be so strange.

First, the victim clearly recognized the arsonist but refused to tell Xu Mo her identity.

Adding the older man's guilty reaction of running from the officer, his and the victim's refusal to tell Xu Mo the arsonist's identity, and the surveillance footage showing the arsonist as a woman... all these signs stacked together made it easy to guess this.

Although this defied common sense, Xu Mo guessed there must be some hidden circumstances.

Xu Mo stared at the older man expressionlessly and nodded in response.

"Hmm, tell me what you know."

"Sigh..."

The older man first let out a long sigh, his expression very painful.

If he could, he wouldn't choose to turn in his married wife.

But now he has no choice, because Xu Mo is right: harboring a criminal is also a crime, his wife's guilt is a fact, and the police have already grasped the truth.

Even if he refuses to speak, his wife will eventually face imprisonment.

In the current situation, he cannot do something foolish to protect his wife.

After all, their daughter is still lying in the hospital.

If the old couple both end up in prison, what will happen to their daughter?

"Both her mother and I are teachers, so we can barely be called a scholarly family. We place great importance on our daughter's education, sending her to learn piano, ballet, and calligraphy from a young age, hoping to cultivate her to be even more outstanding."

"Our daughter is also very smart and learns quickly, but we painstakingly raised her to be so outstanding so that she could marry a good family and avoid suffering. Who would have thought she'd fall in love with an orphan who has no parents and no abilities? We naturally opposed the marriage, and she simply ran away from home, and we haven't heard from her since."

"Until recently, we happened to learn of her whereabouts: she and that man opened a Music Shop together. He can't play piano and has no teaching skill; he only handles money and promotion, leaving all the teaching to our daughter. She teaches piano from dawn till dusk, nonstop."

"My daughter, I feel heartache watching her. We spent money to train her in piano, not to make her pursue that profession, but just to give her an extra skill and cultivate her temperament. When I learned of this, I was angry and wanted to persuade her to return, but her mother has a violent temper. In a fury, she took gasoline while I was asleep and set fire to the Music Shop, thinking... that with the shop burned, they would lose their livelihood, and the daughter would have to come home."

"But who knew my daughter, to save on rent, simply lived in the Music Shop? The fire destroyed the shop, which was fine, but my daughter also..."

Speaking of this, the older man's eyes reddened.

"Afterwards, we received a call from the hospital and learned the daughter was also in the Music Shop at the time. After she was burned by the fire, her mother was also shocked, ate nothing, spoke nothing, and locked herself in a room, just sitting there... what a sin!"

"So that's how it is... After hearing the older man's words, Xu Mo finally understood the motive for the arson."

The reality differed slightly from Xu Mo's assumption: the arson wasn't intended to kill, just to burn down the Music Shop so the victim would lose her means of livelihood, hoping she would return home.

But who knew the victim, to save rent, simply lived in the Music Shop? The fire not only burned the shop but also nearly killed the victim.

Although rescue arrived in time and the life was saved, the rest of her life is essentially ruined.

At that moment, the older man suddenly looked at Xu Mo and Han Fei with a pleading tone.

"Comrade, can you give her a break and let her mother off? She's in a very bad state now; I'm afraid she can't endure prison. Let me serve the sentence for her; I can take the blame for her, whatever you decide."

"Sorry." Xu Mo sighed lightly: "This isn't up to us."

The interrogation ended, and the two walked out of the Interrogation Room.

Now that the perpetrator is known, just issue an arrest order.

Han Fei dispatched several officers to go capture the suspect.

……

Not long after.

The mastermind arsonist was brought to the Police Station: a woman whose face was ashen.

As the older man said, her condition was indeed very poor, her mental state almost at the brink of collapse.

The officers only asked a little, and she confessed everything clearly.

The fire was indeed set by her while the older man was asleep. Before receiving the hospital call, the older man was unaware; he only learned later and was innocent.

Just as the woman was being detained and awaiting processing, a system notification sound suddenly rang in Xu Mo's mind.

"You have successfully captured the criminal and earned a reward—Gold Ulcer Pill ×100!"