Chapter 494: 465 Chapter The clean rooftop_1
Before Zhou Ning could act, Mr. Zhao had already run over with a brick in hand.
Zhou Ning took a close look; the brick in Mr. Zhao’s hand was similar to the broken ones scattered on the rooftop, all covered with moss and appearing very ancient. However, next to the moss, there were dark brown bloodstains visible.
"Good, keep searching. There’s a lot of debris on the rooftop, so go over it inch by inch. Which direction is the surveillance camera facing, and where was the body last found?"
Mr. Zhao found a hand-drawn map, which was obviously drawn in the car based on the description given by He Hongjian, as directed by Liu Yufei. After comparing directions, Mr. Zhao pointed to the most eastern part of Building 2 on the north side of the gatehouse and said:
"This Camera No. 2 is installed on the east wall of Building 2. According to what He Hongjian said, the video footage provided by the police comes from this camera. However, upon identification, what fell was a shoe. He Hongjian’s wife found the shoe in the morning.
As for the body, it fell on the west side of Building 3 and was blocked by a row of outhouses underneath. It landed in that small open space, and the body of He Jiahong was discovered by someone early in the morning when they went to open the outhouse door to get an electric scooter."
"So you’re saying there are no cameras facing the west side of Building 3 and this angle of the outhouse, right?"
Mr. Zhao nodded his head.
"There are three functioning cameras in total. One is across the road from the gatehouse, facing Building 1, and another is in the same location but facing the entrance doors of several units in Building 2. Even if someone passed by down there, they couldn’t be seen clearly."
Zhou Ning walked towards the west side of the platform. There were no visible bloodstains on the ground. The dead person’s head had been injured, and there were bloodstains remaining on the bricks, but there was no other evidence on site. Could it be that this was not the primary crime scene?
"Have you checked thoroughly? Did you spray Luminol reagent?"
Mr. Zhao sighed.
"We checked everything once. I’ve used seven bottles of Luminol reagent already. We only found a drop of blood on the edge, I don’t know what Mr. Yang has discovered."
Mr. Yang shook his head. Before coming here, Zhou Ning knew that if professionals were involved in concealing or forging the crime scene, it would be extremely difficult during the investigation. But even so, he did not expect there to be no useful clues at all.
"We didn’t find anything else, but I did a test with the test strips. On the doorknob leading to the top platform and on this path heading west, there’s a large amount of chlorine-based disinfectant present, and looking at the traces left on the ground, it’s been carefully scrubbed."
Following the direction of Mr. Yang’s hand, Zhou Ning quickly squatted down to examine the area. Indeed, the handle on the west side of the doorknob was darker, and near the southern edge, the ground had even traces of scrubbing left by a brush. All the traces were fan-shaped, stretching all the way to the rain outlet on the far west side.
Lying on the edge of the rooftop, Zhou Ning looked down to see that the rainwater pipe had broken four meters above the ground, apparently due to years of neglect.
"Gao Tie, go down and have Mr. Wang, the driver, find you a ladder. Climb up from below to check the break in the rainwater pipe for any splatter, especially look for traces of blood and various fluids. Take samples. As for the scrubbed areas above, Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhao should also take samples."
Sun Gaotie hurried down. Mr. Yang was somewhat puzzled.
"Boss, didn’t you say that bloodstains and DNA are destroyed after being scrubbed with chlorine disinfectant? What’s the point of collecting them?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"Among chlorine-based agents, chlorine disinfectants are the easiest to obtain. Indeed, they can clean bloodstains and destroy DNA and proteins. But it just denatures the proteins in the DNA. DNA fragments can still be extracted, and of course, such fragments can also be matched."
Upon hearing this, both of them became somewhat excited. Mr. Zhao slapped his forehead, suddenly remembering.
"I remember now. The team doctor from the figure skating team used this method before. We still found DNA in the residue, though that was in the sewer with lots of things hanging on it. This one..."
Mr. Yang, pulling Mr. Zhao aside, set off. Zhou Ning was well aware that there were few traces left here, but it also indicated something else; perhaps this wasn’t the primary scene where the victim had been harmed.
Zhou Ning dialed Mr. Qu’s number, and the other party answered on the second ring.
"Director Zhou, don’t worry. The surveillance has been deleted, and it was done very professionally. I’m working hard to restore it, but it will take some time. As for the video sent by Director Zhong, I’ve watched the dark and blurry footage. At 23:37, something definitely fell, and after slowing down the footage, it’s certain that what He Hongjian said is true—it was a shoe."
"Well, then hurry up with the recovery. Have you looked at the school’s surveillance?"
"I’ve seen it. The situation is basically the same; the saved surveillance originals were deleted. And I found that a corner of the surveillance happens to capture part of the Salt Industry residential area. I’m not sure if this was adjusted later or it has always been like this. I’m working hard on the recovery."
"Okay, let me know if there’s any update."
After ending the call, Zhou Ning saw that Mr. Zhao and the others had already completed sampling. Crouching at the edge of the platform, he looked down to see Sun Gaotie had climbed to where the rainwater pipe was broken. Gao Tie was even more ruthless and didn’t use swabs for collecting; instead, he used a knife to scrape the paint off the surface of the building. The old paint came off in large chunks, and his collection box was quickly filled with nearly half of it.
Zhou Ning rubbed his nose, thinking it was time to get down quickly, or Gao Tie would strip the wall bare all the way down to the first floor.
"Mr. Zhao, hurry down and tell Sun Gaotie to collect some samples; that’s enough. If we peel off more, the residents here will start complaining."
Mr. Zhao looked puzzled, glanced over, and almost burst into laughter.
"This kid is something. I’ll use this trick next time. It’s very easy to find any residue."
Zhou Ning glared at him, and Mr. Zhao scurried off.
Mr. Yang’s face was full of worry as he peeled off a layer of gloves. The pungent smell of the chlorine-based disinfectant was overpowering.
"Boss, the sampling is done, but looking at this, it doesn’t seem like the primary crime scene. The incident occurred on March 28th,
Xinghua City’s lowest temperature that day was -1 degrees Celsius, with six-to-seven-level winds. How desperate must one be to do that thing on the rooftop, exposed to the chilly wind?"
Zhou Ning was reminded by this remark. He had previously considered that, given the high number of renters in the complex now, it was possible that one of them was the real scene of violence.
"Let’s go, head downstairs first. You guys check the spot where the victim fell, see if there’s any residue. I’m going to find Mrs. Fei. The Xinghua Municipal Bureau hasn’t provided the crime scene investigation report yet. This process is a bit slow."
Mr. Yang nodded and followed Zhou Ning down the stairs, carrying the investigation box and another box full of samples, quickly descending.
On the way, Zhou Ning noticed that besides the second-floor western apartment rented by He Hongjian, the other houses hadn’t changed their original security door styles. Some doors had the word "Fu" and couplets pasted on them, and the walls were plastered with all sorts of small ads—plumbing, moving services, locksmiths, appliance repairs, you name it.
Zhou Ning had just descended the stairs when he saw Liu Yufei approaching. He quickly walked over to a secluded spot with her, away from the gathered crowd.
"Xinghua Municipal Bureau and Chief Zheng haven’t come over, nor have they sent the investigation report?"
Liu Yufei shook her head.
"I called them; they said someone would send it over immediately, but Chief Zheng went to a company. They’ve been calling 110 since morning, six or seven times. I heard someone who was drunk and had a mental breakdown barged in there wielding a knife, slashing people all over."
Zhou Ning looked at the time; it was now only 12:07.
"Six or seven calls mean they started reporting it very early. How early did this person start drinking? Was it with breakfast?"
Liu Yufei’s brows furrowed slightly as she nodded, clearly indicating the dubious nature of the calls. By now, she could see students starting to leave middle school No. 5, trickling into the complex in their school uniforms.
Simultaneously, a police car drove straight in, its siren blaring restlessly, drawing everyone’s attention. Several older kids were running and jumping around the complex, and despite their parents pulling on them, they nearly got grazed by the car.
A police officer got out, cursing under his breath, seemingly about to scold the woman watching over the children. He reached out his hand, which swiftly turned into a palm, and ruffled a child’s head playfully.
He then carried a file bag, looking around for the right person to hand it to. Liu Yufei was easy to identify, a woman in a police uniform with an authoritative presence. Upon noticing her, the man hurried over and handed the file bag to Liu Yufei.
"Sorry, Liu Da, I was held up on the way. I am Liu Mo, the deputy captain of the Xinghua Municipal Bureau Criminal Police Team. This case was ruled a suicide, so there’s not much retained information, and it’s not easy to find. This is the investigation report."
Zhou Ning glanced at this deputy captain of the criminal police, who appeared to be in his thirties. Though he spoke of urgency, a smile played on his lips, reeking of cigarette smoke, with the tip of a cigarette protruding from his pocket. His police jacket seemed hastily put on, with the collar turned inside out, and there was dust from the seat belt on his right shoulder.
It looked deliberate; he had smoked a high-end cigarette on the way, and the police car seemed new. But usually, nobody uses the passenger-side seat belt. To be assigned to liaise with the senior special case team and still maintain such a lackadaisical demeanor, this man was certainly not an ordinary individual.
Liu Yufei took a look and then handed the file bag to Zhou Ning.
Zhou Ning flipped through it briefly. The investigation report was frustratingly simplistic, consisting of just two pages. The first page contained the investigation findings and results—plenty of superfluous words and only one useful statement.
Following the crime scene investigation, footprints of the deceased were found at the edge of the rooftop platform. No suspicious objects were discovered at the scene, and nothing unusual was found around the area where the deceased fell to their death. The conclusion was that the deceased died by suicide. The investigation date was March 29, 2013.
The subsequent page included a hand-drawn sketch of the scene, depicting the status of the rooftop and the location of the footprints, along with a comparison photo of the deceased’s shoe print. Below was a drawing of where the deceased’s body was found, with an attached photo of the victim lying supine on the ground, with arms stretched straight out at a 45° angle facing south, displaying obvious rigor mortis.
Zhou Ning opened the file bag and looked inside.
"There’s no autopsy report?"
Liu Mo slapped his forehead, as if he had just remembered, and hurriedly ran back towards the police car. He grabbed another file bag from the back seat and rushed back over.
"Look at my memory, so focused on the investigation report that I forgot the one given to me by Doctor Zhang."
