CH 8

On October 27, 3020, in the Office of the Criminal Investigation Team, Jiang Chengyan called everyone for a meeting. He glanced up and saw all of the personnel already gathered together in a line, “since everyone already gathered, let’s start the meeting.” he said loudly.

Jiang Chengyan glanced at the crowd, took out a photo and pasted it on the whiteboard, and said “The name is Jiang Changping. 35 years old this year. He was born on May 13, 2985,  married, and has a son. Also, he runs a gallery in Huacheng called Changping Gallery. Lives in Room 2001, Unit 1, Building 5, Heping District.”

Yao Min asks curiously, “Captain, how did you find him?”

The image of Ling Hua’an suddenly popped out inside his head. He shook his head and continued, “it doesn’t matter how I found it. The important thing is that Su Ke has confirmed that the headless male corpse is Jiang Changping. The reason why we were unable to find him was because his wife, Li Qiuran, just reported him missing today.”

“So that’s how it is.” Yao Min asked strangely,  “the deceased died on the evening of the 22nd, and it has been 6 days since today. Why did his wife report his disappearance so late?”

“A week ago, on October 20, Jiang Changping told Li Qiuran that he was going on a business trip out of town for about three days. On the morning of October 23, Liu Qiuran received a text message from Jiang Changping saying that he didn’t finish talking and would go back a few days later. Because this kind of thing often happened before, Li Qiuran didn’t pay attention to it. It wasn’t until yesterday, that there was a big business in the gallery and the clerk couldn’t get through to Jiang Changping by telephone and informed Li Qiuran, then she discovered that Jiang Changping had disappeared.”

“The morning on 23rd October? Jiang Changping’s death was on 22nd October. So the text must be sent by the murderer for the purpose of delaying time.”

“Yes, Wang Bin and I have been to the garbage disposal company before. We learned that because it was in a remote location, the garbage usually gets removed every two days. The murderer did this to delay the time. Once the garbage was taken away and the bodies found, it will make our investigation even more difficult.” Jiang Chengyan paused before continuing, “killing, dismembering, destroying fingerprints and hiding his head. The murderer did this to hide the identity of the deceased. What he did just shows that he knew Jiang Changping and had an extraordinary relationship.”

Seeing Jiang Chengyan look over, Su Ke continued, “In the previous autopsy, I found that the deceased had lacerations in the anus. The intestines were cleaned up, and there was also slight gastrointestinal dysbacteriosis, indicating that the deceased had sexual relations with people before his death. ”

“If the laceration at the anus from the inside out, it is a problem of defecation. But the wound of the deceased is from the outside to the inside, which is obviously caused by an external force, so this inference is not wrong.” Su Ke explained lightly.

“Obviously he’s gay, yet he’s still married and has children. This man is really a scumbag.” Liu Ran’s eyes showed undisguised disgust.

Yao Min sighed and said, “After all, it was caused by the discrimination against their social community. But he cheated on his marriage, it really shouldn’t be.”

“No matter how horrible Jiang Changpin was during his lifetime, it can’t be a reason to kill him, so we must find out the truth. This is our duty as police officers. I hope you will not mix any personal emotions when handling the case.” Jiang Chengyan gave a serious reminder.

“Captain, don’t worry. We have been becoming criminal investigators for so long. We can distinguish between public and private.”

Jiang Chengyan nodded and continued, “since Jiang Changping had sex with someone before his death, then the murderer is most likely his same-sex lover. He used poor excuses to meet with his lover. But for some reason, the two had an argument. Under the argument, he gets killed. This is the speculation for now. Therefore, the first thing we have to do now is to investigate Jiang Changping’s relationships and find that secret lover that he hid under his marriage.”

Yao Min reminded, “Captain, I think this kind of thing Li Qiuran will know more or less, we should talk to her first.”

“Hmm. That’s exactly what I’m going to say next, although the murderer is most likely Jiang Changping’s secret lover, we can’t rule out the possibility that Li Qiuran committed the murder. At least she had a motive to kill, so we have to rule her suspicion out first.”

Jiang Chengyang paused, then continued, “now I’ll set up the task. Liu Ran, Wang Bin, you can check Jiang Changping’s phone records and his spending records. I want to know where he last appeared.”

The two looked at each other and answered one after another, “Yes, Captain.”

“Li Tong, you and Zhang Ling check all the vehicles that appear in the surveillance camera. Guo Hai and Sun Miao1, you should go to Changping Gallery to learn about the situation. Yao Min will go with me. Are you guys clear with the task?”

Everyone packed up and left one after another. Su Ke looked at Jiang Chengyan and said with a smile, “Are we still going to the bar?”

Jiang Chengyan thought for a while and said, “Let’s go and have a look, in case there are clues. So, Yao Min, you are responsible for notifying Li Qiuran to come and identify the body, and then make a simple question and implement it to her. Me and Su Ke will go out to work together.”

Yao Min said with a frowning face, “Captain, how is it me again? Can’t you replace it with someone else? You shouldn’t be avenging your personal revenge, right?”

Jiang Chengyan laughed and scolded, “If you don’t say it, I forgot. You say you are a rotten girl, what are you thinking about all day in your head?”

Yao Min pouted and whispered, “If anyone sees you searching for that kind of thing, they will misunderstand.”

Jiang Chengyan said amusingly, “What’s the matter, you still have a point, right?”

Yao Min was flattered and said, “I don’t dare. I’ll go get to work now, but Captain, when we assign tasks next time, can someone else be responsible for notifying the victims’ families? Every time I do this… it’s too cruel.”

“Notifying the families of victims is a very important part of our work. I don’t feel relieved to leave it to others, not to mention that Li Qiuran is now our suspect. You are also considered a senior criminal investigator, so I don’t need to teach you what to do.”

Yao Min said helplessly “No, no, I understand, then I’ll go to work first.”

Su Ke also got up and said, “Then I’ll change clothes, see you later.”

The two left one after another, Jiang Chengyan packed up the information, took out his mobile phone, and dialed Ling Hua’an’s number. The call was quickly connected, and Ling Hua’an’s deep and pleasant voice came.

“Hello, who is it?”

“It’s me, Jiang Chengyan.” Jiang Chengyan was a little nervous, he took a deep breath and said, “Ling Laoban, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“Captain Jiang, just call me by my name.”

Jiang Chengyan was stunned and immediately said, “Ling… Hua’an, Jiang Changping was confirmed dead. What are your next plans? ”

“Dead?” Ling Hua’an pretended to be surprised and went silent for a while. Before continuing, “That money is all my savings, I have to get it back.”

Jiang Chengyan took out the IOU, looked at it, and said, “Okay, I’ll help you.”

“Thank you, Captain Jiang.

“You’re welcome. I did what I was supposed to do.”

Ling Hua’an didn’t respond for a long time, Jiang Chengyan was a bit embarrassed and said, “Well, I have something to do, so I’ll hang up first.”

“Is Captain Jiang working overtime today?”

Jiang Chengyang was stunned, he swallowed the word ‘going out of the field’ and ended up saying, “Work overtime. Do you need me for something?”

“I made some braised pork rice. It’s a bit too much, and I can’t finish it. If Captain Jiang doesn’t mind, you can try it.”

“That’s very kind of you” The corners of Jiang Chengyan’s mouth couldn’t help but rise.

“TCaptain Jiang helped me, and I have nothing to thank you. It’s just a meal. It’s fine if Captain Jiang doesn’t mind.”

“Captain Jiang, you’re smiling a little too brightly. Who did you call just now?” Somehow Su Ke had already returned to the office.

“Su Ke, did you walk without sound? How can there was no movement at all? It scared me to death!” Jiang Chengyan patted his chest.

Su Ke pointed to the door of the office, and said amusingly, “Not to mention the sound of my walking, this broken door, will creak when anyone comes in. How absorbed are you that you didn’t find me coming in?”

Jiang Chengyan was a little weak-hearted by Su Ke’s look, and changed the subject “Su Ke, what about your glasses?”

Su Ke has more than 500 degrees2 of myopia and wears glasses almost every day.

“Changed it to contact lenses.” Su Ke replied casually. He looked at Jiang Chengyan and asked, “Don’t you interrupt. Honestly, who exactly was on the phone with you just now. The big smile on your face looks  like a fool in love with zero intelligence.”

Jiang Chengyan was startled. His heart skipped a beat for no reason and said, “What are you thinking? My friend asked me a favor. I helped, and then told him the result.”

Su Ke cautiously asked, “friend? Which friend, male or female, do I know?”

Seeing this, Jiang Chengyan said in amusement, “No. Su Ke, you really look like my mother. Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and leave. I have something else to do later.”