Chapter 55: Chapter 16 There is Always a Reason for Murder (Please Favorite and Vote for Monthly Ticket)
At seven in the evening, after returning from the crime scene, the criminal investigation team held a meeting to analyze the case.
After discussion, the majority leaned towards the conclusion that the deceased died from drowning, thinking no one would purposefully murder a nine-year-old child.
There were a few who believed the child was murdered, and Luo Fei was among them. Luo Fei was already filled with suspicion regarding the child’s death, and after the appearance of the child’s father, Luo Fei was even more convinced it was a murder.
For the investigation of the case, group one, group two, and group three each had their tasks, investigating separately the activities of the deceased on the previous Saturday—where he went, what he did, whom he interacted with. When he went to the water pit at Dragon Beard Creek, was he alone, or was he with someone else, did anyone see? In short, all these matters needed to be clarified.
The tasks for group one included Yang Su, Xia Zheng, and Zhong Jun going to ask the tutoring class teacher about the situation on Saturday. Luo Fei and Wang Lei were to gather more information about the deceased from the parents.
Sun District
"Mr. Zeng, Ms. Wang, did your child usually swim?" Luo Fei inquired, while Wang Lei took notes beside him.
The parents of the deceased, Zeng Xiaoguang, were Zeng Tianming and Wang Wenying.
"Yes, during the summer, I often took him to the swimming pool to swim, so Xiaoguang knew how to swim," Zeng Tianming replied, while Ms. Wang seemed still immersed in the grief of losing her child, appearing dispirited.
"Would Xiaoguang usually go to the water pit to swim by himself?" Luo Fei continued to ask.
"Probably, he might sometimes go there with his friends, but we don’t know for sure. Even though we are his parents, we don’t know everything he does all day," Zeng Tianming answered after thinking for a moment.
"Do you know which classmates Xiaoguang was close to?"
"We’re not really sure. Xiaoguang didn’t bring friends home to play often."
"Officer, isn’t Xiaoguang’s death by drowning? Are you investigating because you suspect our Xiaoguang was harmed by someone?" Zeng Tianming asked with a confused expression on his face.
Meanwhile, Wang Wenying, who was deeply mourning, suddenly looked up at Luo Fei.
Luo Fei nodded and replied, "We can’t be certain yet, but we are not ruling out that possibility either."
Though Luo Fei suspected Zeng Tianming was highly suspicious, he had no evidence. Thus, he could only treat Zeng Tianming as an ordinary grieving parent for the time being to ensure he didn’t become suspicious.
"As for Xiaoguang’s close friends, I know there’s Liu Wen and Ruan Xiaoyue. Xiaoguang mentioned them a few times at home," Wang Wenying suddenly said to Luo Fei.
"Alright." Luo Fei nodded. Wang Lei hurriedly took notes, and Luo Fei then asked, "By the way, Mr. Zeng, Ms. Wang, what work do you both do? Is there a possibility of having grudges with anyone in your work?"
"My wife and I run a coffee shop and haven’t held grudges with anyone," Zeng Tianming shook his head, and Wang Wenying also shook her head.
"Mr. Zeng, Ms. Wang, what were you both doing on Saturday? Did you discover your child’s disappearance right away?" Luo Fei asked, trying carefully not to raise Zeng Tianming’s suspicion.
"Tianming went to the city to discuss a contract. I was at the coffee shop all day. At five in the afternoon, Xiaoguang hadn’t returned. I didn’t pay much attention, just thought he was out playing."
"Around six, Tianming came back from the city. We closed the coffee shop and arrived home near seven, and Xiaoguang still wasn’t home. We started to worry and called his teacher and classmates, but they said Xiaoguang had left for home early. That made both me and Tianming anxious, so we both went out to search for Xiaoguang, but we couldn’t find him anywhere. Eventually, we reported it to the police station," Wang Wenying said, her emotions slightly agitated.
"Yes, that day I went to the city to discuss a contract with a supplier for our coffee shop, and I came back from the city after four in the afternoon, arriving at the county around six," Zeng Tianming added.
"Alright, thank you for your cooperation."
After questioning the deceased’s parents, Luo Fei and Wang Lei left.
"Where should we go now, Luo Fei?" Wang Lei asked just as they stepped off the stairs. Although he’d been in the criminal investigation team longer than Luo Fei, Luo Fei’s impressive track record meant he often took the lead.
Luo Fei thought it over for a while. His initial idea was to investigate Zeng Tianming’s colleagues and friends to see if any useful information could be obtained. But then Luo Fei dismissed that idea.
Investigating Zeng Tianming’s colleagues and friends could easily alert him, which Luo Fei wanted to avoid at this stage. He preferred to investigate secretly and gather some evidence first.
"Do you know anyone at the traffic management bureau?" Luo Fei asked Wang Lei beside him.
"Yes, a former classmate who graduated a year before and works there. We have a good relationship," Wang Lei nodded, then asked puzzledly, "Why do you ask?"
"Let’s go, let’s check the monitoring at the traffic management bureau," Luo Fei headed directly in the direction of the bureau.
Twenty minutes later, Luo Fei and Wang Lei found Wang Lei’s classmate at the traffic management bureau. With the help of Wang Lei’s classmate, they successfully checked the surveillance at Ningjiang County’s entrance and exit.
After investigating Saturday’s surveillance, it indeed showed that Zeng Tianming’s car left Ningjiang County at nine in the morning and re-entered at six ten in the afternoon.
Upon leaving the traffic management bureau,
Luo Fei’s brows remained furrowed.
"Why are you checking on Zeng Tianming’s car, Luo Fei? Don’t tell me you suspect Zeng Tianming killed his son!" Initially, when Luo Fei mentioned coming to the traffic management bureau to check the surveillance, Wang Lei was confused, but when Luo Fei retrieved the surveillance for Zeng Tianming’s car, Wang Lei understood that Luo Fei was investigating him.
"Just some suspicions," Luo Fei replied understatedly. Since Luo Fei couldn’t say anything about the system, which was difficult to explain, he decided to attribute such things to intuition and see whether people believed him or not.
"That’s too far-fetched. A father killing his child is too absurd, and I cannot imagine what motive Zeng Tianming could possibly have to go to such lengths to kill his own child," Wang Lei shook his head, clearly unable to accept it.
"There must be a reason for murder. By the way, do you know anyone at a bank?" Luo Fei asked Wang Lei.
Wang Lei glanced at Luo Fei with a bit of resentment and said, "You give me too much credit, thinking I have friends everywhere. No, I don’t."
"Then let’s return to the criminal investigation team," Luo Fei had thought of something but needed to return to the team to seek authorization from Zhao Donglai.