Chapter 1210: Closing the Case

When Martina's ex-boyfriend, Marco, was brought to the Criminal Police Detachment, he was only a little panicked.

He had been in China for several years and knew what China's policies were like. Moreover, this wasn't his first time in a police station—a few years, however, weren't enough for him to understand the difference between a police station and a criminal police detachment.

Meng Chengbiao took the lead, responsible for interrogating Marco, accompanied by a grassroots police officer with a TOEFL score of 110.

Unsurprisingly, Marco, who clearly understood Chinese, soon began to explain his identity as a pure American and how he didn't understand the technical terms in Chinese.

At this time, the young grassroots police officer on the side began to act as a translator using fluent American English.

Standing outside the interrogation room, looking through the one-way glass at Liu Jinghui inside, he couldn't help but roll his eyes: "The Beijing Bureau really has talent coming out in droves. His English is so smooth, and he's still a Second-Class Police Inspector."

"You get awarded Second-Class Police Inspector upon graduating with a master's degree; we can't control that." Cui Qishan watched from the side and turned his head: "However, people like this can generally go to popular units. Coming to the Criminal Police Detachment, the First Detachment and Second Detachment fight to have them."

"Still quite useful." Liu Jinghui pouted.

"Useful ones are few." Cui Qishan was the Captain of the Fourth Detachment, with the least seniority, so people like Xiao Si, whom the Seventh Detachment didn't want, were sent to him. It's normal to say sour grapes when you can't eat them.

The two just chatted for a few sentences, and things started to come out in the interrogation room.

Don't look at how foreigners talk about the right to remain silent; there aren't many suspects who can actually do it. If they could, those lawyers wouldn't have to warn their clients every time: "Don't say anything until I arrive."

Although Marco had served in the Navy and knew a little about counter-reconnaissance techniques, overall, he was still a young man with American arrogance and naivety. If he weren't, he wouldn't have chosen such an extreme and technically difficult way to express his emotions.

An interrogation expert like Meng Chengbiao only threatened him a couple of times, and then, using the excuse of different nationalities, released the lie that there was a way out if he confessed. Although Marco didn't quite believe it, he was still tricked into saying things bit by bit.

When Marco began to describe his love life with tears in his eyes, while describing Martina's death as an accident during sex, Cui Qishan had already laughed happily.

Meng Chengbiao waited until Marco finished describing how he arrived at the Avi Apartments by bike in the middle of the night, how he chose the climbing route, how he knocked on the door to enter Martina's room, and finally how he left, and then let Marco sign it before shouting: "Martina was strangled to death, not sexual asphyxiation!"

Marco naturally wasn't willing to admit it and kept denying it repeatedly.

Even if he didn't know much, he knew that killing someone in China could potentially lead to a death sentence.

Meng Chengbiao wouldn't go along with him at this time. One piece of evidence after another was laid out, and the pressure was maximized.

He actually had time pressure too, but Meng Chengbiao didn't show it. Marco didn't know how long he needed to hold out, nor did he know how long had passed.

This is also a small trick in interrogation, the same principle as not having a clock in a casino. The excitement of gambling makes people easily forget the passage of time, thinking only a short time has passed when, in fact, a long time has passed. The interrogated suspect, because they feel threat and pain, feels like a day is like a year and easily exaggerates the speed of time.

The only thing Marco could look forward to was his foreign identity, but clearly, as just a small character, he wouldn't get a rapid "rescue."

"Basically, that's it." Liu Jinghui found it boring and turned to Jiang Yuan: "The motive and means are clear, and his transportation and route are also known. Go back and check the surveillance; we should be able to find the time of the crime. The rest is finding the murder weapon, as well as the clothes and shoes he was wearing at the time... What do you think?"

Jiang Yuan touched the one-way glass with his hand and said: "This thing is quite good. I often saw it on TV before."

Liu Jinghui also touched it: "It's indeed quite good. They can't see us in the interrogation room, and they can't hear what we're saying. We see them clearly. If some leader comes to listen to the interrogation content, it's also good for showing off."

"Indeed." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement.

On the side, Xiao Si quietly poked Cui Qishan.

Cui Qishan turned his face, glared at Xiao Si, and whispered with his mouth: "None of our business!"

Xiao Si rolled his eyes at Cui Qishan and said directly: "Captain Jiang, then help us handle another case."

Cui Qishan was stunned and immediately realized that this really did concern him. Based on his understanding of Jiang Yuan, every time he came, Jiang Yuan would handle a few more cases before leaving. Although they were all cases of the Zheng Guang Bureau, they weren't necessarily all cases of the Fourth Detachment.

Cui Qishan hurriedly pursued: "Captain Jiang, we really do have a few interesting cases recently."

"Tell me about them." Jiang Yuan didn't struggle and asked directly.

Cui Qishan blinked, a string of cases flashed through his mind, and for a moment, he was a bit hesitant about which one to say.

Xiao Si said at this time: "A case I've been handling recently has had no progress. A female college student has gone missing, and it's not certain where she went..."

"How long has she been missing?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"It was two days when it was reported. If you count it now, it's almost a week." Xiao Si said and added: "We checked the surveillance, and I also found an expert I'm familiar with to look at it. We only found that she went to climb Jinshan on the last day, but we didn't find her at the ticket office and entrance of Jinshan. However, we only went through the video once."

Inadvertently, Xiao Si exposed the various disadvantages of image investigation in one sentence.

Although surveillance is good, even with AI help, when there are many people, it's still easy to miss things. Added to the time factor, for places with large crowds like ticket offices and scenic area entrances, to say with certainty that this person didn't pass through requires repeated viewing. The time and manpower spent can be imagined.

As for places like airports and train stations, using gait systems and facial recognition for surveillance, it follows a "shoot in the dark" mode. It doesn't seek to identify everyone; as long as it can find the suspect or the person preparing to commit a crime among the people it can identify, that's enough. There's no requirement to give a "yes" or "no" answer, so the pressure is naturally much smaller.

Jiang Yuan looked at Cui Qishan and Liu Jinghui thoughtfully.

Missing person cases are not easy to define. Examples of victims returning after a few days are common. However, being missing for seven days is indeed quite long...

Cui Qishan naturally knew about this case. Seeing that Xiao Si had already said this much, he said: "This girl's disappearance really does look like a case. We asked at the school, and her studies and life at school were relatively normal. Her grades were average, her relationship with her roommates was good, and her personality was relatively cheerful and outgoing. She liked to participate in various activities, and she had been to similar weekend mountain climbing trips several times..."

Cui Qishan: "The girl's parents are ordinary people. Her father is an employee of a state-owned enterprise in Shanyuan Province, in a technical position, earning about 100,000 a year. Her mother sells insurance, doesn't necessarily make money every year, and occasionally even has debts. The older generation is also still around, and they are in similar conditions. From our simple understanding, there are no particularly sharp conflicts."

Actually, most cases that can be specifically pushed out by the handling police have some nuances.

Especially for a criminal police officer like Xiao Si, regardless of his foul mouth, his own ability is beyond reproach. He works in the Criminal Police Detachment of the Beijing Branch Bureau and can even be said to be a relatively high-level type of criminal police officer. For ordinary cases, not to mention that they can be solved easily, after he handles a round, he basically has an idea of whether they can be solved or not.

Now that a missing person case has only been seven days, he is bringing it to Jiang Yuan. Although there is also the intention of striking while the iron is hot, it also shows that the case has some unexpected aspects.

Jiang Yuan then looked at Liu Jinghui and said: "Director Liu, why don't you follow up first? I'll tell Political Commissar Huang later?"

There are procedures for taking on cases. Cases in Beijing cannot be underestimated, and the rules that should be followed cannot be missing. Liu Jinghui comes from the Provincial Department, is good at reasoning, and is a senior police officer who doesn't lead troops. With sufficient armor, he is suitable for probing the bottom first.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1211 =====