Chapter 376: Chapter 359 Everyone Has Weaknesses_1
July 6, 2012
The sun was scorching early in the morning. By the time Zhou Ning walked from the parking lot to the entrance of the technical department, sweat was already beading on his forehead. As he entered the first floor, he saw Zhu Zuozhang heading towards the autopsy room, and noticed quite a few people in the corridor outside it.
"Director Zhou is here!"
Zhou Ning nodded at Zhu Zuozhang.
"What’s up? An autopsy first thing in the morning?"
"A case from Rudong. The body was delivered at dawn. I got here before five to do one, and now two more have come in."
"If it’s urgent, shall I send Zhu Xingxing over to assist you?"
Zhu Zuozhang laughed.
"Okay, that’d be great. Zhao Lijian over there is swamped, and I really don’t have any forensic doctors who can perform autopsies independently right now."
Zhou Ning took out his cellphone and called Zhu Xingxing.
"Have you arrived?"
"Boss, I’m in the third-floor office. Something up?"
"Hand over whatever you’re working on to Sun Gaotie and come down to Autopsy Room Three. Help Section Chief Zhu with an autopsy. They’re short on staff here."
Zhu Xingxing paused.
"Boss, just a temporary assist, or am I being switched to a new group?"
Zhou Ning was taken aback but quickly understood Zhu Xingxing’s concern; after all, she had been with him for some time and had become a regular employee. She was worried about being reassigned to a new group.
"You talk too much. Hurry up and come help. We’re wrapping up our current case. What made you think you’re being transferred?"
Zhu Xingxing chuckled happily.
"Hehe, no worries, I’m fine with anything as long as you don’t transfer me. I’ll be right down."
After hanging up, it wasn’t long before Zhu Xingxing came running down and quickly followed Zhu Zuozhang to Autopsy Room Three. Zhou Ning also returned to his office just in time to see Liu Yongxin holding a thermos cup, standing in front of the air conditioner and cooling it off.
"Exhausted from yesterday?"
"Not too bad. I ran into Zhu Zuozhang downstairs. Their team is overwhelmed, so I had Zhu Xingxing do an autopsy independently. It’s good practice for her, and she’ll be ready to take the lead on major cases later."
Liu Yongxin nodded.
"She indeed needs some pressure. She has the ability, just lacking in experience with independent work."
Zhou Ning glanced around the room; only Mr. Yang and Sun Gaotie were there, sorting through relevant documents. He did not see Mr. Zhao.
"Zhao Xinli hasn’t arrived yet?"
"He went to the other building to deliver documents. The various toxicology reports from last night are all out. Director Xu took some of the drug reports. The rest are unremarkable. The DNA collected from the small building all belongs to the Zhu family and Lou Sanfeng. As for the nail clippings found by the north gate, they indeed came from Fang Yue.
I am puzzled and really don’t understand why. With all these things in his possession, why didn’t he clean them up, or better yet, raze the small building and rebuild it? He’s not short on money. In that way, wouldn’t he have left no trace at all?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"I thought a lot last night. Lou Sanfeng can’t be understood with normal logic. In his mind, the Lou Sanfeng who commits murder and kidnap is a different person; he’s not aware of these things unless that personality manifests.
Just like with Fang Yue’s death, it might as well be the sealing of that personality, keeping those items, and even burying all the ransom money in the garage, sealing it with concrete. All these actions probably sealed away that version of Lou Sanfeng too."
Liu Yongxin sighed, thinking back to the Red Dress Serial Murder case and Cui Guanglin, and came to comprehend Zhou Ning’s analysis; the thinking of someone with multiple personalities simply can’t be deciphered using normal reasoning.
"Let’s go upstairs and have a look. Director Xu didn’t go for the interrogation. He’s upstairs with Mr. Qu and the folks from the technical department discussing video footage."
Zhou Ning was startled, then realized that they had prepared a solitary room for Lou Sanfeng the day before, with multi-directional surveillance. But that violent version of ’Lou Sanfeng’ had been dormant for years. Could it really emerge overnight?
"Let’s head up together, Master. Let Mr. Yang and the others handle things here."
They arrived at the lab, and upon entering, they saw Xu Dayuan gesturing at the big screen, with Mr. Zeng standing on the other side of Mr. Qu, also watching the screen closely. It was only when they got closer that they saw it indeed showed footage from Lou Sanfeng’s room.
In a small single room, Lou Sanfeng sat huddled in a corner of the bed, legs pulled up to his chest, not sleeping at all. Zhou Ning glanced at the timestamp on the screen which showed 2:00 a.m.
Mr. Qu rubbed his neck and pointed at several images:
"Ever since this guy was brought to this room, except for eating and going to the toilet, he sits just like this, hugging his legs. He hasn’t changed position at all, for eight hours. Not sleeping— is he plotting a strategy, or thinking about what he has done?"
Xu Dayuan’s brow was furrowed.
"Same behavior later on?"
The two technicians nodded continuously.
"We’ve been monitoring him the entire time. He didn’t make any other movements. Someone brought him breakfast this morning; he just glanced at them and didn’t eat a thing."
Zhou Ning glanced at the angles of several cameras and pointed to the one facing the bed from the sink, saying:
"Look at the angle of this camera. Although his movements haven’t changed, I think the way he’s sitting with his legs hugged, perfectly avoids his face from all four cameras. Perhaps after entering the room, he managed to check out the room’s setup during the times he ate or went to the bathroom."
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"What Zhou Xiaozhou said makes sense. Are the cameras in this room pinhole or the mechanical kind?"
Mr. Zeng took out his phone, played a video, and at a glance, one could tell it was shot when this room was empty. As the angle changed, one could clearly see several cameras above the iron bars, by the window, and right above the bed. The equipment was definitely large, and there were also cable channels on the wall connecting all the cameras.
Xu Dayuan was somewhat speechless and glanced at Mr. Zeng.
"Do you think Lou Sanfeng is blind? Such obvious equipment, and you still call that surveillance?"
Mr. Zeng scratched his head with a look of grievance on his face.
"Leader, our criminal police team only has these two temporary detention rooms. One contains several people, and this is the only single room."
Xu Dayuan was about to say something when Mr. Qu raised his hand and patted his arm.
"Director Xu, look!"
Xu Dayuan quickly stopped what he was doing and turned to look at the large screen. At this moment, Mr. Qu had already enlarged the view from this camera to full screen. Although Lou Sanfeng was sitting on the bed with his head down and legs embraced, seemingly resting against the wall, upon zooming in, one could see his left eye, which was against the wall, was open, constantly glancing towards the iron bars.
And his right hand kept picking at the wall, performing such an action at intervals. As for his feet, they seemed motionless, but upon closer inspection, it appeared as if his toes were rhythmically tapping.
Xu Dayuan noticed Lou Sanfeng’s movements and pushed Mr. Zeng and two technicians aside, turning his head towards Zhou Ning and Liu Yongxin.
"You Zhou Xiaozhou and Mr. Liu, step forward. Why is this man’s movements so strange? I seem to have come across this before, but I’ve forgotten what the condition is called."
Liu Yongxin shook his head.
"Repetitive movements, it’s uncertain whether they are genuine or deliberate, as many mental illnesses can present like this. It requires a professional to make an assessment."
Zhou Ning patted Mr. Qu, asking him to clip a part of the video and send it to Mr. He, then dialed He Shancun’s number.
"Tell me, this person keeps picking at the wall and tapping his toes without stopping, staying up all night just sitting with his legs hugged. Does he really have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder or some other mental illness?"
He Shancun, this time, was to the point, apparently playing the video and after a moment said:
"Judging solely from the symptoms, this repetitive behavior is very likely a manifestation of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. However, I’m not sure how long this repetition can last, whether it’s all night or just transient behavior?"
"So far, it looks like he hasn’t slept all night and has been doing the same thing."
Mr. Qu nodded, as he fast-forwarded through the footage from that camera.
"Let me put it this way, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder has two aspects: obsessive thinking and obsessive behavior. Each patient is different in the severity of their illness. Some people have obsessive behaviors that don’t last long, but the psychological impact is still very significant. Others may have persistent, intrusive thoughts or uncontrollable compulsive behaviors that can lead to the loss of social functioning. This needs a detailed assessment."
"What if this person has multiple personalities?"
"Are you examining me? Like, testing levels continuously? However, if an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder patient also has multiple personalities, perhaps, and I say perhaps, they might have experienced traumatic life events in childhood, such as sexual abuse or maltreatment."
Zhou Ning had used speakerphone, so Xu Dayuan and others heard clearly. Seeing Xu Dayuan nodding, Zhou Ning thanked He Shancun and hung up.
"Mr. He gave his analysis from a medical perspective, but given Lou Sanfeng has hidden funds and hasn’t destroyed evidence at the primary crime scene, just from this behavior, he’s not normal. Of course, whether to assess him, Director Xu, it’s your call."
Xu Dayuan glanced at Zhou Ning, understanding his implication.
"Multiple personality disorder isn’t listed in Hua Country’s regulations as exempt from criminal penalties, and mental health forensic evaluations are generally requested by family members. Lou Sanfeng has no family, his parents are deceased, he has no children, and he’s been divorced for many years. Alright, I’ll report to Mr. Hu and then directly interrogate Lou Sanfeng. You two come with me to listen."
Zhou Ning didn’t struggle; it would have been futile anyway, and he was indeed keen to hear what Lou Sanfeng would say, especially since the man hadn’t resisted when arrested and was strangely cooperative. The series of actions was very puzzling.
The four of them quickly headed to the interrogation room in the front building, on the way Liu Yufei had arranged for the person to be brought over.
After a short wait, Lou Sanfeng was brought in, holding a boxed meal in her hands, Liu Yufei passed the boxed meal to him after he was handcuffed to the chair.
"Are you going to eat breakfast or not? If not, we’ll start the interrogation."
Lou Sanfeng shook his head.
"Thank you, but I’m not hungry!"
Mr. Liu sat down, gesturing for Zhou Ning to do the same, then put on headphones and said:
"No idea if this guy will cooperate, but let’s sit and listen. I remember when Cui Guanglin handed over the case, he mentioned we had broken his psychological defense by discovering his peculiarities. But this person doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses at all!"
Zhou Ning focused on Lou Sanfeng inside the interrogation room, shaking his head slightly.
"Everyone has a weakness, and I think his may very well be Fang Yue."
Mr. Liu was taken aback.
"Fang Yue?"
