Chapter 1242

The authorities brought all the dozen or so middle-aged men surnamed Fan from Fan Family Village to the police station, which indeed caused some commotion in the village.

Fortunately, with the reminder from Wei Shikan, the town had already informed the village head in advance and dispatched several village-based cadres to assist and explain; after a day's effort, they managed to calm everyone down, mainly by preventing them from collectively going to the police station to wait.

Nevertheless, the county leaders attached great importance to the matter; while they usually do not pay much attention to whether criminal cases are solved, a disrupted stable situation is unacceptable to higher authorities.

Liu Wenkai also transferred as many interrogators skilled in questioning as possible from the various squadrons of the criminal investigation detachment, so as to take statements from over a dozen to twenty people simultaneously, to complete the task quickly and then send them back.

In the village, most things cannot be kept secret; many people live in the city and may not know how many people live next door even after ten or eight years, but in the village, if the neighboring sister-in-law and the neighbor's father-in-law have an affair, it becomes known to everyone for no apparent reason.

What the criminal investigators hoped for was to obtain some information from the suspects' relatives.

If that really fails, then they can only properly record the statements and reconcile them, which step is rather troublesome and is also the enjoyment in many detective novels: to judge from everyone's uncertain true or false words who is telling the truth and who is lying, or which parts are true and which are false……

Liu Jinhui, who was attending a meeting in the provincial capital, therefore called in the midst of his busyness to ask whether he needed to come help……

The suspect and his accomplices did not give Liu Jinhui this opportunity.

Jiang Yuan received the call and told Liu Jinhui in a tone that would disappoint him: "The suspect has already confessed, and also admitted that his father helped transport the corpse. Of course, he himself did not know his wife was not dead at that time. Moreover, the suspect's father himself was questioned and revealed inconsistencies, admitting that the suspect borrowed the car, and that he followed the entire process of dumping the body."

Liu Jinhui's emotions were immediately stirred: "Father helping son transport the corpse? Quite reasonable, the cousins really have no reliable father, but, eight years ago, the suspect's father must have been quite old, right?"

"Around fifty-five years old." Jiang Yuan said.

"If he often does farm work, fifty-five is still quite strong." Liu Jinhui sighed, saying: "Well, putting it this way, this case is basically closed; the statement should be sufficient."

"Well, the two used his father's tractor to transport the corpse that day, and on the road they encountered villagers from the same village, and someone passing by the village road by the river saw the tractor parked, basically it's like that." Jiang Yuan said this was part of the evidence chain.

Purely relying on the suspect's confession alone would still be somewhat isolated evidence, but with the accomplice's confession, there is a certain evidence chain, and sending it for inspection is already unproblematic.

Liu Jinhui asked two more questions, saying: "So calculated, the suspect's old father should also be sent in, previously fifty-five, now sixty-three? He might get out before death. Damn father!"

Jiang Yuan smiled slightly, shook his head, and holding the phone said: "The victim was preparing to divorce, and this is exactly what the suspect could not accept…… Originally it was just like that scattered, so there wouldn't have been so many troubles. But he could accept his wife running away, but could not accept divorce."

"If the wife runs away, it's equivalent to leaving with nothing, although there's not much to divide anyway, it still saves quite a bit of money; another reason might be local customs and face. If the wife really wants to run away, blocking her is useless, but if it's divorce, the entanglement makes one unsure whether to sue, probably fearing being laughed at." Liu Jinhui speculated, then added: "By the way, if it's divorce, the woman might even want to take the children; this point, her husband probably could not accept it?"

"There should be such considerations." Jiang Yuan shook his head: "This case mainly still failed to confirm the victim's identity, and the suspect's side has many loopholes……"

Under modern criminal investigation technology, once a homicide case has a suspect, gathering evidence is actually quite fast.

It's just like this old case; back then, if the victim's identity had not been confirmed, otherwise, if they had suspected the victim's husband at that time, he would have been unable to escape as well.

Jiang Yuan then said a few more words to Liu Jinhui, ended the call, turned around and saw that the others in the meeting room were all busy with their heads down.

Handling cases, handling cases—the case is the foundation; the process mainly consists of tedious paperwork.

Many police officers dislike these mountain-like documents, and Jiang Yuan is no exception, but he requires his subordinates to complete this part as thoroughly as possible.

Only after dealing with cold cases does one know: today you feel everything is so clear that no recording is needed, but eight years later you will be at a loss, dazed.

Documents and case files cannot bring efficiency, but they can bring fairness.

On the other hand, whether it's scrutiny from superiors or social oversight, ultimately it can only be achieved through documents and case files. Jiang Yuan does not want to handle cases under the supervision of a监军 (supervisor), so naturally he needs to make up for it afterward with documents, and he can understand this logic; after all, he no longer needs to fill out forms one by one.

"Jiang Yuan." Wu Zhisu waved from the back door, half his body in the meeting room, half still in the corridor, looking like an immature middle school student.

The criminal investigators who made eye contact with him quickly averted their gaze, especially Tang Jia and other female officers, who, upon seeing Wu Zhisu, would instinctively shrink their necks like a pangolin, because Wu Zhisu often scolds people when giving orders, and does so fiercely, which makes those who work with or cooperate with him feel great pressure.

They are all grown-ups now, opportunities to be scolded are fewer, and the scolding they can endure is also quite limited.

"Wu Zhi." Jiang Yuan walked to the back door, with no Bureau Chief Huang beside him, speaking with three parts politeness.

"Come see something good." Wu Zhisu grabbed Jiang Yuan and walked off.

Mu Zhiyang's hand went to his waist, then he hurriedly took two steps to catch up.

Wu Zhisu brought Jiang Yuan not far downstairs, pointed to a large white car ahead and said: "Take a look at this—do you like it? I'll give it to you to drive."

"Land Cruiser?" Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised: "This car is a bit expensive, isn't it?"

"It's been driven for several ten thousand kilometers; a new one would cost over a million, which we can't afford either, but it fortuitously fell into my hands. After thinking it over, since you often go on business trips, giving it to you to drive is most suitable." Wu Zhisu laughed while explaining the reason.

Not to mention Jiang Yuan, even Mu Zhiyang beside him didn't believe a word of it.

To some extent, the criminal investigators' need for a vehicle is similar to that of coal bosses and contractors: they need a big car that can run on bad roads, sturdy and durable, not delicate; and given the domestic environment, the top specification meeting this requirement is the Land Cruiser.

There truly may not be anything better that is as sturdy, and the insurance and maintenance costs would also be too high.

Jiang Yuan instinctively took out his phone and said: "I need to call Commissioner Huang."

"Old Huang bites too hard." Wu Zhisu grabbed Jiang Yuan's arm and said: "We still have many cases in the river; whoever does it, it's the same, but you running back and forth is too exhausting; why not just handle a few more cases in Jianjiang?"

Jiang Yuan: "I say doesn't count……"

"If you're willing to handle Jianjiang's cases, Old Huang definitely won't say another word." Wu Zhisu, having no other option, had long seen through the relationship between Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan pondered for two seconds, did not refute Wu Zhisu, and instead said: "I also don't object to handling Jianjiang's cases, but I must first handle the drowning cases along the Taihe line, especially those within the database scope."

"Since there is a database, just let the people below handle it." Wu Zhisu did not follow Jiang Yuan's line of thought, but gave him his own idea.

Jiang Yuan indeed felt moved; indeed, if the database can match, then handing the related cases to Liu Wenkai and them would be the same; the troublesome ones could be given to Shen Yaowei, and there truly is no need for him to participate directly.

Having the criminal investigators of the cold case team take over also has another advantage: if the database doesn't match, they can return it without any guilt. On the contrary, if Jiang Yuan participates, it's hard to withdraw—so to speak, fame burdens him; when pressed hard, even using skull reconstruction to force a breakthrough, he must still solve the case.

Huang Qiangmin previously used this point to pressure Wu Zhisu into compliance, precisely because Jianjiang City is the most suitable city for the current database range; later, they still want Jiang Yuan to compare with the database, making the cost-effectiveness rather low.

"Do you have any other cases?" Jiang Yuan truly had some expectations. Jianjiang City is also a place where major cases occur.

Wu Zhisu indeed responded to Jiang Yuan's expectation, pointing at the Land Cruiser ahead: "How about a major smuggling case?"

"Smuggled cars?" Jiang Yuan asked in surprise: "This should be under the anti-smuggling bureau's jurisdiction, shouldn't it?"

"Smuggled cars can be handed to them, but smuggled vehicles with human blood inside belong to us!" Wu Zhisu said, and especially emphasized: "Arterial blood, and gunshot traces."

(End of chapter)