Chapter 59: Chapter 59 Peeling and Looking_1
Half an hour later, at the parking lot of the First Affiliated Hospital.
Shen Weijie, who kept making a fuss, was dragged onto a police car. Xu Dayuan and He Chunyang were talking to him, while Mr. Zhao was collecting fingerprints from the Prado and searching for traces inside the vehicle.
Zhou Ning checked the dash cam, which was empty, seemingly the content had been deleted. This required the expertise of professional technicians to recover. He then opened the trunk door and continued to search tirelessly.
There were two organizing boxes in the back, containing both men’s and women’s shoes and clothing. There was no sight of a toolbox, let alone a license plate, and even the mats at the back were spotless—clearly, they had been cleaned.
Zhou Ning furrowed his brows. Without finding the murder weapon or bloodstains, one couldn’t make a definitive judgment.
Just then, Mr. Zhao called out loudly.
"Doctor Zhou, come quickly, look here!"
Zhou Ning hurried over to Zhao Xinli’s side and saw him crouched beside the right rear wheel, pointing and saying:
"This tire is a spare, he changed the tires, and it wasn’t done by a professional - the screws here are loose, you can see they could be tightened by hand."
"A woman changed it?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"I don’t know about that. However, I found two fingerprints on the lug nuts. We can compare those. Did you find the murder weapon?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"Help me open the tire compartment and see if there is a tire inside."
Delighted, Mr. Zhao stood up, darted to the tailgate, unlocked the compartment, and the moment he opened the door, he grabbed something and immediately crouched down. Zhou Ning quickly moved closer.
"No tire, but what is this?"
Zhou Ning looked at what Mr. Zhao had in his hand - it was a long object wrapped in white styrofoam. He took it and placed it in the trunk, spreading powder and brushing the edges of the tape continuously, revealing two fingerprints.
Zhou Ning promptly collected them, then lifted the item to carefully examine the edge of the tape, noticing a small tear. It was clearly the mark of being torn by teeth. Zhou Ning cut off this piece of tape entirely and threw it into the evidence bag.
Then, using a knife, he cut open the styrofoam. With several crisp sounds, as the wrapping was torn open, a pair of license plates came into view. Upon seeing the license number, Zhou Ning sighed deeply.
"Lu B 74110."
"Wow, that was tough, it really is this vehicle! Could it be that Zhang Jiahui was also involved with this Shen Weijie?"
Mr. Zhao’s words took Zhou Ning by surprise.
Up until now, the focus had been on Shen Guanlin, but it seemed Shen Weijie was also a suspect.
Clutching the license plates, Zhou Ning walked straight to the police car and pulled open the door. Xu Dayuan immediately got out of the car, instantly understanding upon seeing the license plates in Zhou Ning’s hands.
"Shen Weijie, what are you still shouting about? How do you explain this license plate?"
Shen Weijie was stunned, his eyes flickering evasively.
"Just using a duplicate plate. It’s no big deal; many people use duplicate plates just to avoid some tickets. Handle it how it should be handled, why are you yelling? I understand the law. At the worst, my vehicle could be seized, I could be detained for no more than fifteen days, and fined somewhere between 2000 and 5000 yuan."
Xu Dayuan was taken aback by such a righteous response.
Summoning courage from who knows where, Zhou Ning rushed forward, tore open Shen Weijie’s collar, and searched thoroughly, top to bottom. Not finding any scratch marks was somewhat surprising to him.
Mr. Zhao stepped forward, quickly stopping Zhou Ning and pulling him away, helping Shen Weijie straighten his collar with a grin and waved as he said:
"You’re absolutely right. In that case, boss, can we transfer him directly to the public security brigade?"
Watching Mr. Zhao wink continuously, Xu Dayuan nodded.
"Take him away, directly to the public security brigade."
Without any fuss, He Chunyang ordered the driver to leave, and Shen Weijie was handcuffed.
As the car drove off, Xu Dayuan looked at Zhou Ning.
"Doctor Zhou, why did you get so worked up? Did you discover something else?"
"Just now in the autopsy room, I found that the deceased’s fingernails were deliberately trimmed, not in a normal way. Afterward, I used the Luminol reagent to test, and it was human blood, though too little to extract. Coupling this with the DNA found at the wound, I suspect that the deceased scratched the murderer before dying."
Xu Dayuan widened his eyes in shock.
"What are you dawdling for? Hurry up and get in the car. Do you suspect that Shen Guanlin and his son worked together on this?"
Zhou Ning nodded vigorously, and Mr. Zhao agilely dashed to a police car and drove it over directly.
"Get in, we’re going to the Eighth Hospital!"
Xu Dayuan gave a couple of commands, instructing the people left behind to drive the Prado back to the police station, and then he also got in the car.
After turning past a few intersections, they arrived at the Eighth Hospital. The trio jumped out of the car and rushed directly to the operating room.
On the way, Xu Dayuan had already contacted Mr. Cao and learned that Shen Guanlin was in surgery, so they headed straight for the operating room, where many anxious family members of patients were waiting. Seeing the trio rushing in such a hurry, they all cast inquisitive glances their way.
Zhou Ning took a moment to calm his breathing, stepped forward, and pressed the call bell. A nurse opened a small window.
"What’s the matter?"
Zhou Ning bent down and whispered:
"Could you ask the head nurse of the operating room to come out for a moment? We’ve talked to Mr. Cao from the hospital office, she knows what this is about."
Upon hearing this, the nurse recognized the name of the head nurse and, without saying much, immediately closed the small window. The trio waited anxiously for a few minutes, and then the head nurse they had seen earlier emerged from the operating room.
At the sight of the trio, she looked somewhat nervous, but she quickly stepped aside from the doorway and nodded at them.
"Let’s talk inside."
The trio went straight into the operating room. Some of the waiting family members stood up and approached.
"What happened, Nurse? Is there a problem with the surgery?"
The head nurse waved her hand, reassuringly saying to them:
"Don’t worry unnecessarily. Just wait quietly for the patient. We are here to maintain some of the operating room equipment."
Hearing this, the relatives returned to their seats to wait, and the head nurse shut the door, pulling the trio into a small partition used for preparing surgical instruments.
"Mr. Cao called me and told me to cooperate with you, but I don’t know how. What kind of cooperation is needed?"
Xu Dayuan quickly pressed his hands down, sensing the head nurse’s tension.
"You just answer my questions, that’s all. Is Shen Guanlin involved in the surgery right now?"
"Yes, he’s in operating room three, performing a caesarean section. The suturing is almost finished, but there’s another thoracic surgery scheduled after this, and he’s also involved in that one. They just completed the anesthesia preparations."
"Okay, now call the anesthesiology department and ask someone to take over his surgery, but don’t let Shen Guanlin know. Get one of the nurses to call him to the auxiliary room and tell him that Shen Weijie came to deliver something to him. Got it?"
The head nurse nodded earnestly, her hands subconsciously clutching each other.
"Don’t be nervous, we’ll try our best not to disrupt your normal operations. After all, our two units have been cooperating for so many years. You can rest assured of that, or else Mr. Cao wouldn’t have notified you in advance."
Upon hearing this, the head nurse finally relaxed, and her expression eased.
"Please wait a moment, I’ll make the arrangements right now."
With that, she dialed a number, and the call was quickly answered.
"Dr. Liu, come to the operating room. You’ll be taking over the next thoracic surgery. Mr. Shen has to attend an emergency meeting. Less talk, hurry up here!"
At this tone, Zhou Ning couldn’t help but touch his forehead – it seemed that operating room head nurse was indeed authoritative; she gave direct orders to different departments, and no one seemed to dare to object.
While he was thinking this, the head nurse saw a nurse passing by the door and quickly pulled her over.
"The caesarean section in operating room three is about to end. Go call Mr. Shen out for a moment. His son has brought something for him, and he needs to leave quickly."
The nurse’s hands, which were carrying a pack of surgical instruments, were taken over by the head nurse, who promptly turned and walked briskly towards the surgeries at the end of the corridor.
Soon, Shen Guanlin, with his isolation gown loosely hanging, walked towards the door of the operating room with a deeply furrowed brow. Xu Dayuan was holding a small mirror, similar to the ones used in dentistry, and was observing the activity in the corridor. As Shen Guanlin approached the door, Xu Dayuan stepped out.
He grabbed Shen Guanlin’s arm in one swift motion. Shen Guanlin, completely caught off guard by the sudden appearance of someone, tried to back away in a panic, yelling out:
"Are you crazy?!"
Mr. Zhao followed suit, grabbing the other arm of Shen Guanlin and pulling him into the auxiliary room. In the tussle, Shen Guanlin’s isolation gown came undone, but instinctively, he raised his arms, holding the gown close to his chest.
Mr. Zhao shouted:
"Hurry up, Doctor Zhou, check him!"
