Chapter 10: The Twisted Ones 3

  If it wasn't for the fact that he had nothing better to do early in the morning and saw that damned Tianchang Daily, Ah Pan's mood wouldn't be so terrible. The front page of the Tianchang Daily carried a large report on the murder of columnist Zhao Junjie, with extremely harsh language. Ah Pan was shocked and his heart racing as he read it. He took another look at the date of Zhao's murder - it was clearly the day he had arranged for him to meet Professor Chen. Ah Pan suddenly felt goosebumps all over his body. Thinking back to the mysterious expression on the reporter's face, Ah Pan felt uneasy and glanced around nervously. Apart from a few colleagues chatting loudly, no one seemed to have noticed him. But Ah Pan was still on edge. He hesitated about whether he should call the police to provide clues, as the newspaper had suggested. The phone number was printed in bold letters at the bottom of the page - Ah Pan couldn't miss it. However, if he made the call, his hard-won job might be lost. Offending a foreign scholar was no small matter. But if he didn't speak up, he would have to live with the guilt for the rest of his life. For the first time in his life, Ah Pan felt the complexity of his situation.

  At this moment, a figure appeared in front of him. Apan raised his head and was stunned.

  Since Director Li personally came forward, Chen Haijun had no way to find an excuse to decline. Sitting on the sofa in Director Li's office, Chen Haijun had a calm and composed demeanor, with his hands crossed and casually placed on his thighs.

  Regarding the questions from Director Li, Chen Haijun responded with ease and confidence. When talking about his daughter Chen Dongmei, he did not avoid any questions either. On the contrary, he spoke freely and openly about her illness, their past hardships in life, and even shared some of the misfortunes that Zhang Tong's family had experienced.

  Wang Yanan watched from the sidelines with a cold eye. Chen Haijun's words were flawless and didn't reveal any loopholes. To get a better look at Chen Haijun's hands, Wang Yanan even took the opportunity to carefully examine his ten fingers while pouring water halfway through. What surprised her was that Chen Haijun's slender hands had all ten fingers intact, which completely did not match the handprint left on the deceased Zhao Junjie's chest with one finger missing. The size of the palms was also different. Could it be that her judgment was wrong? Was Chen Haijun really unrelated to this case? Wang Yanan couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she thought.

  After seeing Chen Haijun off, Li Ju had a worried look on his face: "Xiao Wang, what's the next step?"

  "Don't worry, Director Li. There's still one more person we haven't asked yet. Don't worry, there will be a way to catch this old fox."

  Li Juemo nodded silently and turned back to his office.

  Pan Wei, also known as Ah Pan, was already unable to speak when Wang Ya Nan and his subordinates arrived at his home. At this moment, the young man lay motionless on the cement floor of the apartment building, his body twisted in an impossible direction like a broken doll, with a pool of dark red blood under him. The fading light of day made the blood on the ground reflect an eerie glow.

  The local police officers who arrived at the scene first were surprised to see the municipal bureau's serious crime unit personnel arriving soon after: "You guys came so quickly, we haven't even notified the municipal criminal police team yet."

  Wang Yan looked down at the corpse on the ground with a helpless expression: "We're still too late."

  "What did you say?" The police officer at the police station was momentarily confused about what Wang Ya Nan meant by "coming late".

  "He is an important witness in a case I'm handling," she said, looking up at the over ten-story apartment building in front of her and asking, "Which floor did he fall from?"

  "The officer at the police station replied: 'It should be from the twelfth floor, from his own home. There are very obvious grip marks and footprints on the railing.'"

  Wang Yan frowned: "Take me to the scene immediately. Also, Little Zheng, notify the bureau to send forensic and technical personnel over right away. This is very likely a murder case. Hurry up and notify the technical department to come to the 12th floor to find me."

  Xiao Zheng quickly took out his mobile phone and contacted the local police station.

  Wang Yanan then followed the police officer from the police station into the building where the incident occurred, which was less than five meters away. They took the elevator to the 12th floor and arrived at the door of Pan Yu's rented apartment.

  The apartment is not very big, only about 30 or 40 square meters. At this time, the entire apartment has been tightly surrounded by a police cordon.

  Wang Yan and the police officer entered the room, where a large balcony faced the door. The officer pointed to the balcony and said, "He jumped from there. My men found half a shoe print on the railing." Wang Yan walked onto the balcony, taking in the beautiful sunset view before turning back to examine the tidy apartment decor. Her intuition told her that this was clearly a murder case. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but worry deeply about Zhang Tong's safety, who had been missing for several days. Within a few days, the killer had already taken two lives, and Zhang Tong, who knew the truth, might be the next victim... or maybe she had already been harmed. Wang Yan didn't dare to think further.

  The trace identification team arrived at the scene quickly. Wang Yanan stood on one side, waiting. She was certain that the inference of murder would be confirmed.

  Very soon, the staff responsible for the balcony area discovered a new situation. Wang Yan came to the railing edge, squatted down and carefully examined the fingerprints that appeared under the black fingerprint powder. Her heart was moved: if the deceased had jumped over the railing by herself, then she should have left palm prints on top and finger prints below, in a fist-like state. However, this set of prints on the railing was exactly the opposite - palm prints were below, and finger prints were above. Wang Yan made a gesture, if someone grabbed the railing in this way, there was only one possibility: that they were desperately trying to stop themselves from falling down.

  When they arrived downstairs, forensic expert Old Zheng had already completed the on-site preliminary autopsy and was doing the final cleanup work.

  "Old Zheng, Zhang Fa is not here. You've worked hard." Wang Ya Nan said this for a reason. Old Zheng will be retiring in another week. His body isn't well either. Yet he has to work day and night like young people, running around on the scene.

  Old Zheng smiled slightly: "I'm not that old yet. When Little Zhang comes back, I can rest then."

  Wang Yanan nodded and asked instead: "What was the cause of death?"

  "Preliminary conclusion is that it's a high-altitude fall death. Almost all the internal organs of the deceased have been shattered and displaced. However..." Old Zheng pointed to the building. "The distance is too close. It's almost in a straight line with the jumping point on the upper floor. I've seen this kind of scene before, Captain Wang. The deceased should have been thrown down by someone else. Time of death was about half an hour ago, no more than forty minutes."

  "So, Old Zheng, can you explain why you think he was pushed down the stairs?" Wang Yan suddenly became interested.

  "If it was a suicidal jump, the body should be at a certain distance from the building due to the acceleration of the fall. However, this victim is less than 5 meters away from the entrance and almost directly below the floor. Therefore, I deduce that he was thrown down."

  "Great, this matches the scene I saw on the deceased's balcony upstairs. He was murdered. Thank you, Old Zheng." Wang Yan relaxed a bit. Suddenly, she froze. The deceased's blood-stained left hand caught her attention.

  This is a left hand missing an index finger.

  "Lao Zheng, look at his hand. Isn't it very similar to the palm print found on the chest of the deceased in the cold storage?"

  "As soon as he heard this, Old Zheng quickly turned around to examine the deceased's hands. 'No mistake, no mistake. Whether it's from the size or the characteristics of the joints and the missing index finger, these hands are likely related to the palm print found on the chest of the victim in the previous cold storage case. I'll go back and do a detailed fingerprint comparison right away. I'll notify you of the results as soon as possible.'"

  "I'm counting on you."

  On the way back to the bureau, Wang Yan couldn't figure out why Pan Yu's palm print was on Zhao Junjie's chest. Could it be that the person who pushed Zhao Junjie into the cold storage and ultimately led to his death was actually Pan Yu? Pan Yu had nothing to do with this case until now. The only connection point is Zhao Junjie's diary. But how could he be implicated in this? In the end, he was even brutally silenced. Or maybe it was a misjudgment, and the whole event was just a disguised suicide made to look like murder.

  Things won't be so simple.

  "King's team. Someone is looking for you. In your office."

  Someone reminded herself from afar that there was a visitor in the office. Wang Yanan nodded absent-mindedly and pushed open the door of the office.

  A slender, twenty-something girl who looked quite like the famous actress Zhang Ziyi immediately stood up upon hearing the voice. She raised her head with an apologetic expression and greeted Wang Yan: "You're Captain Wang. I'd like to discuss the case of Ah Pan's jump from the building."

  Wang Yan noticed that the girl still had tear stains at the corners of her eyes, and even her carefully applied makeup was smudged by tears. The girl didn't care about reapplying her makeup at all, her face filled with sorrow.

  At this scene, Wang Yan's tone suddenly became much softer: "I am. Please sit down. What can I do for you."

  "I am Ah Pan's colleague and also his friend. My name is Li Yue Rong. Ah Pan would never commit suicide."

  "Why."

  "Because, because it's Christmas this year and we're getting married soon. He can't be so heartless as to abandon me like that." The girl's emotions became more agitated. "Please believe me, he's a good person who has never wronged anyone else. He must have been murdered. I have evidence."

  Wang Yanan remained expressionless: "Can I take a look at this evidence?"

  The girl handed over a black mobile phone from her bag to Wang Yan: "This is what I found in the file basket on my desk this morning when I was tidying up. This phone was a birthday gift I gave him this year. There's a recording inside, you listen to it, that's the evidence." The girl paused for a moment and continued, "Also, he left me a note, I brought it with me." She carefully took out a neatly folded note with only one sentence: "If something happens to me, give the phone recording to the police."

  Wang Yan opened the mobile phone recording folder. There was indeed a recording. The recording time was exactly three hours before Pan Yu fell to his death.

  After a faint "beep" sound, the phone's loudspeaker transmitted a young man's angry rebuke: "You're a swindler! That reporter is dead, frozen to death! You actually used me to commit murder! You're the real killer..."

  Wang Yan looked at Li Yuerong, who had unknowingly shed tears. The latter nodded, confirming that it was indeed the deceased Pan Wei's voice.

  "It was you who pushed him in. The door was also locked by your own hands. I have nothing to do with it." This was the voice of a rather old man. Wang Yan's heart moved, very familiar, but couldn't think of who the other person was for a moment.

  "You said you just wanted to teach him a lesson, and that you would let him go in half an hour. But instead, you deliberately turned the temperature down to the lowest setting... until he died, and you still didn't let him go... This is clearly premeditated murder! I'm going to report this..."