HBWnovel Chapter 176
Chapter 176
Chapter 176
In 2009, 2011, and 2012, the Guo Family's apartment that was the scene of one of the three cases had already been demolished, the Cai Family's house had been sold to relatives, and only the Guo Family house remained because they were still financially secure and had kept their original home.
In other words, this was the only remaining crime scene.
Although nine years had passed, the visible evidence had all been taken away by the police, and the Guo family had also come to clean up several times. But in terms of returning to the crime scene, the key was not in the evidence that was usually determined, but in other overlooked places.
Fortunately, Guo Yifang's loved ones cherished her very much. Many years after her death, her and her children's old belongings were still neatly kept.
Guo Elder Brother, who had brought them here, said, "My younger sister and her children's things are all here. When my mother was alive, she would come to clean up once a year. Now...sigh, feel free to look around, do whatever you need to catch the murderer."
He didn't want to stay and be sad, so after a few parting words, he left.
Ji Feng opened the cardboard box and said, "Back in 2012, the police had combined the investigations of several cases. Their thinking was that it was a serial murder case, different from us, so the probability of discovering new clues is quite high."
Jian Jing "mm-hmm"ed absent-mindedly.
Ji Feng noticed her wandering thoughts and pretended not to notice. "Ladies first, Teacher Jian, anything you want to check?"
Jian Jing came back to her senses. She considered and said, "I'll check Guo Yifang's things, you check the two kids'."
"Okay."
There were a lot of Guo Yifang's belongings, including her phone and computer. The police had checked these electronic devices and found no valuable clues, so everything was returned.
Jian Jing found the power cord and plugged it in. Luckily it still worked and could be turned on.
She first looked at the computer. It mostly contained lesson plans and work reports she had made, some downloaded TV shows, and lots of family photos.
Going through everything one by one was tedious and time-consuming, so Jian Jing directly skipped everything before 2011, leaving much less behind.
But the lesson plans, papers, and TV shows and movies were of no value.
The browser history had been completely deleted.
It was the same with the phone. There were no special numbers in the call records, no text messages worth noticing, and the photos were only of the two children at home.
Very unusual. When looking through the photos on the computer earlier, there were many photos of the younger son at the early education center before March. Never underestimate a mother - in their eyes, every little detail about their child was worth recording.
Yet after March, there wasn't a single photo from the early education center.
Scar Man had deliberately deleted this content.
So, was it March to May?
She opened Guo Yifang's notebook. She had a great habit of recording her daily expenses every day, and sandwiching □□ in between.
Among the dry data of breakfast, milk, bus fare, supermarket purchases, there was a missing clue.
Movie tickets, looking at the price it was for two people.
However, it was useless.
The theater's surveillance kept at most fifteen days, and it had been nine years now. Also, the police definitely would not have missed such an obvious clue in the ledger, they must have already verified it.
Was there anything that was easy to overlook?
Mother, mother... She chanted to herself a few times in her heart, and suddenly had an inspiration, taking up the computer again.
Although there was no history, the browser had bookmarked a few frequently used websites.
One of which was a shopping site.
She tried logging in directly with the phone number, and used the initials of the two children's names as the password.
She guessed right and logged in smoothly.
Checking the order history, it was either clothes, snacks and toys bought for the children, or household items for the family. She had only bought two dresses for herself that cost a couple hundred yuan.
She pulled up the order list and called Ji Feng over, "Did you find anything?"
He spread his hands.
"Here are Guo Yifang's shopping records," Jian Jing said. "Should we look for anything out of the ordinary?"
"No no," he quickly handed her a bottle of water to placate her, "I just felt you had new ideas today and was curious."
Jian Jing did not believe him at all: "You're full of it."“It’s true, more real than gold,” Ji Feng coaxed her, “I racked my brains last night but had no ideas, Jian is different, I can see you’ve got something in mind. Share it, won’t you? Good things like this shouldn’t be kept to yourself, we need team spirit.”
Jian Jing: "No."
Ji Feng: "Don't be so petty."
She shot him a challenging look, with an expression of "what can you do about it?"
Ji Feng sighed, then after a while tried negotiating: "How about we trade information? I'll tell you something you don't know."
Jian Jing shot up, angry: "What do you mean, you're still keeping things from me?"
Ji Feng: "I didn't mean to keep it from you, I just forgot to mention it."
"I'd have to take your surname to believe you again," Jian Jing sneered coldly, "Say it or don't, whatever. I don't care."
Bag in hand, with amazing agility she navigated around obstacles and people, storming out the door.
Ji Feng: "Teacher Jian!"
The door was wide open, cold wind howling through.
He sighed: "Leaving me to clean up this mess..."
—What else could he do?
Jian Jing was furious.
They had agreed to investigate the case together. She had told him everything she could, showed ample good faith, but what about him? Giving half-truths, testing the waters every so often, acting as if she had already been brainwashed by Scar Man, liable to turn evil any second.
Can't people have a little more trust in one another?
Even if some leads were classified, besides regulations there's still empathy. They had known each other for so long, did they not even have rapport?
Ah, infuriating.
With friends like these, might as well break it off.
At seven pm, lights coming on in homes everywhere.
From the neighbor's house wafted the aroma of stewed meat, enticing the glutton within. But Ji Feng, having offended his partner, could only snack on biscuits while sorting through the victim's belongings.
There was a ton of stuff, tiring work, and his wound was hurting more.
Just then, the phone rang.
He picked up, mumbling unclearly: "Lao Gao?"
"Yo, eating something tasty?" Lao Gao, who had been injured last year in the Golden Case but had since recovered and returned, maliciously teased his colleague, "Have fun going out with a pretty girl?"
Ji Feng: "I'm doing grunt work alone here, spit it out, did the results come back?"
"No way it'd be that fast." Lao Gao retorted, "The nationwide DNA screening has a queue, it'll take a few days to get through."
Ji Feng complained: "It takes that long? More difficult than getting an appointment at Union Hospital."
"Of course, Union has how many doctors? There are only so many places that can do the screening." Lao Gao said, "Also don't get your hopes up too high, the database only has criminals and missing children, it may not produce a match."
But Ji Feng was optimistic: "Might as well try our luck. I've made progress on my end too, we can cross-reference and might find the guy."
"Tsk tsk, you're really dedicated to Teacher Jian's case, even traveling for it on vacation." Good comrades gossip, Lao Gao couldn't help prying, "How are things going?"
Ji Feng lamented: "How could things be going? The minds of serial killers are not normal."
Lao Gao: "That's not what I was asking about."
"Oh so you wanted to ask about the zombie case?" Ji Feng jabbed, "I can crack a case even on vacation, jealous?"
Lao Gao was speechless: "You totally deserve to be single."
"Hey now, I can still turn it around." Ji Feng deadpanned, "Your daughter said when she grows up she wants to marry me."
Lao Gao bellowed in anger: "Piss off!!"