Skin - Chapter 9

Meng Zhao found it a bit funny, but he quickly stopped the idea and continued: “I was thinking, if the owner of the dog hair was not the murderer, and the dog hair was not accidentally blown by the wind, then what had actually happened? How did it appear on the dead body?”

　　Ren Bin continued what he said: “It’s most likely the murderer. Do you want to deviate from here?”

　　”Well,” Meng Zhao nodded, “How did the murderer get the dog hair and put it on the deceased? I think this can be used as an entry point.” Sensing that Ren Bin was a little reluctant to the idea, Meng Zhao left him no room for refusal.

　　”Oh my God,” Ren Bin was really reluctant. He raised his hand and brushed his hair back, “Who knows when the murderer got the dog hair? What if it was a month ago?”

　　”Brother Qing made a judgement that the dog hair should have fallen out within the past week.”

　　”I thought that it was only possible to detect the shedding time of human hair. But how is it possible to even detect dog hair?” Now that Meng Zhao had brought out the conclusion from the physical examination, Ren Bin could only accept his fate, “Okay, then I will check it out. Let’s check the surveillance of this Purui Care Center and see if we can find out if anyone deliberately took this dog’s hair.”

　　”Not only Pu Rui, but also the surveillance near the trash can downstairs in Building 3, Yuhuwan, and I just sent you a route,” Meng Zhao forwarded the dog walking route Lu Shichen sent him to Ren Bin, “I also want you to check the surveillance of the last week on this route.”

　　”It will take forever to investigate this…” Ren Bin’s eyes darkened, “Oh God, give me 100 Liang Chuan to interrogate him, I would rather be disgusted to death by him than this…” Although he showed his dislike, he still followed Meng Zhao’s words. In that case, we need to monitor when we go out.

　　In any case, it was indeed an entry point for investigation, and someone had to take up the responsibility of completing the large amount of investigation work.

　　As soon as Ren Bin left, he met Zhou Qiyang who went to check with the live broadcast platform. He raised his hand and put it on Zhou Qiyang to stop the other party: “How did it go? What did the live broadcast platform say? Liang Chuan didn’t live broadcast all that night, right?”

　　Zhou Qiyang shook his head and said in a very confident tone: “He did a live broadcast that night and sat in front of the computer between 9 and 10 o’clock. The murderer couldn’t be him unless he found an identical stand-in to sing for him. But, that’s not a very realistic idea, is it?”

　　Ren Bin was completely desperate and heard Meng Zhao speak in the room: “That’s just right. Xiao Zhou, you and Ren Bin can go together and share the work.”

　　”What’s the matter, Brother Bin?” Zhou Qiyang looked at Ren Bin without understanding the situation.

　　Because he had an assistant at his disposal, Ren Bin cheered up, put his arm around Zhou Qiyang’s shoulders and walked out: “Let’s go, it’s a good job.”

　　Meng Zhao replied to Lu Shichen: “Received, thank you.”

　　Lu Shichen did not reply.

　　Meng Zhao picked up the diary he had brought out from Zhou Yan’s old house and flipped through it. The diary seemed to record events from Zhou Yan’s high school days.

　　One could only treat a dead horse as a live doctor, grab a few clues and investigate to death. Meng Zhao sighed. If there were no clues, he would go with Ren Bin and Zhou Qiyang to check the never-ending surveillance records.

　　Meng Zhao opened the first page of the diary, and Zhou Yan recorded on it: “The classes are about to be divided. I want to choose liberal arts and take the music and art exam in the future, but my stepfather talked to me yesterday and insisted that I choose science. Oh, I’m so confused. If I took the music exam in the future, then when I had to sign up for the class, it would definitely be embarrassing to ask my stepfather for money. I really wonder if my parents were still alive, would they agree to me studying music?”

　　Meng Zhao was about to turn the page back when he suddenly noticed that there were raised marks on the back of the cover. It turned out that there was another page in the front that was clipped to the clip behind the cover.

　　Meng Zhao pulled out the page and saw what was written on it: “I can’t sleep. I just dreamed about ZT again. Sometimes I think, it would be better if I didn’t choose to watch it at that time.”

Chapter 10

　　Lu Shichen finished walking the dog and took a shower at home. When he was about to start working, he received a message, 【Handsome guy, do you still plan to rent the house? Someone wants to come see the house this afternoon. If you want to rent it, I won’t let them come.】

　　The text was from the landlord of a house that he had viewed a few days ago.

　　Because a murder occurred in Building 3, even though the crime scene was not in their building, some tenants who were superstitious about Feng Shui were already planning to move houses.

　　But…

　　Lu Shichen stood on the balcony of the living room and looked out. A while ago, because it was too noisy upstairs, he actually went to look at houses in several other residential buildings.

　　His sleep quality was poor, and the slightest movement was enough to disturb his sleep. He had looked at several houses and failed to find a new home suitable for his needs.

　　When he originally bought his current apartment, the units on the property were for sale with fine decoration. The layout and decoration conditions were similar, but only Building 3 provided the best view. Standing on the balcony, one could see far away.

　　Lu Shichen stood on the balcony for a while as the wind blew. He watched the red light on the road in front of the city bureau change to green and a police car drove out. He returned to the room and replied to the message on his mobile phone: 【I won’t rent it anymore. You can rent it to someone else.】

　　–·–·+·–·–

　　Meng Zhao stared at the line of words on the title page. ZT…it should be a personal name, right?

　　The writing on the title page was darker and scrawled harder than the other pages. If his judgement was correct, it should’ve been recorded later than the other contents of the diary. Maybe… it was written when Zhou Yan moved to the old house after he went to college?

　　Meng Zhao continued to flip through the pages, and the contents recorded by Zhou Yan in the diary were very brief.

　　【It’s so annoying. I don’t want to be friends with them anymore, but I’m also afraid that I will be the next one to be isolated.】

　　【It would be great if I could transfer to another school.】

　　【When I passed by ZT, I wanted to apologise to him, but Tiger turned his head and called me in front. He should have noticed, right? No wonder they didn’t want to talk to me this afternoon. Forget it, I don’t want to talk to them either.】

　　【During the exam, ZT didn’t have a 2B pencil, and no one was willing to lend it to him. Although Tiger looked back to warn me with his eyes, I still lent it to him. It was really embarrassing. However, next week may be another day. It’s going to be a little sad.】

　　What Zhou Yan had written, was it relating to a… bullying incidents in middle school? Meng Zhao guessed Zhou Yan’s role in this incident. It seemed that he was a bystander as he said on the title page, but he seemed to have a good relationship with the main leader ‘Tiger’ and his group.

　　In the next few pages, Zhou Yan did not record the specific time. His diary was full of emotional expressions:

　【I’m afraid, what should I do…】

　【It probably has nothing to do with me. I didn’t do anything wrong】

　　【I can’t sleep again. Why did the night come so quickly?】

　　【Don’t make me dream about you again, please.】

　　Meng Zhao quickly finished flipping through the diary, put it aside, and searched for the keyword ‘Wenzhao High School Violence’ on his computer, but there was no relevant news on the Internet.

　　He took out Zhou Yan’s cell phone again and flipped through the gallery. Most of the photographs in the album were photos of Zhou Yan and his friends. It could be seen that Zhou Yan was very popular and had many male and female friends. In addition, occasionally there were one or two photos of him and Zhao Yunhua.

　　Judging from their poses while taking the photographs and the relaxed smiles on their faces, if Meng Zhao had not known their relationship in advance, he would have made a conclusion that “they were a pair of mother and son. After all, it was impossible for most housekeeping aunts to sit at the same table as the customers they serve.

　　Most of the photographs were taken at the dinner table. Meng Zhao imagined the scene when they were taken. It was probably when Zhao Yunhua cooked another table of delicious dishes. Zhou Yan happily sat at the table and took out his phone to first take photographs of the dishes. Then he raised his phone and said to Zhao Yunhua: “Come on, Aunt Zhao, let’s take a photo!”

　　”I’m back.” Cheng Yun walked into the office at this time and used her hand to fan the side of her face. “It’s so hot today, Brother Zhao. I brought back copies of the records from the law firm.”

　　”Leave it aside for now. You arrived just in time.” Meng Zhao motioned for her to come over. He wrote the words ‘Wenzhao High School’ on a stick note paper, tore it off and handed it to Cheng Yun. “Call this high school and find out what class Zhou Yan was in. Then also get the list of all students from his class.”

　　”Oh…” Cheng Yun took the note and said with some surprise, “We are looking into high school history too?”

　　”It’s just a guess,” Meng Zhao stood up from the computer, “I’ll go to the forensic room upstairs. I want the list ready by the time I return.”

　　”I got it.” Cheng Yun said in a long voice.

　　Because no new corpses were sent for autopsy, Li Jin was browsing through shopping websites. When she saw Meng Zhao approaching, she stood up and said, “Captain Meng, is there any progress in the case?”

　　”No big progress,” Meng Zhao said. “I came here to confirm Zhou Yan’s time of death. It was somewhere between 9 and 10 o’clock on the night of the incident, right?”

　　”Yes, are you wondering if the time can be shortened any further?” Li Jin opened the anatomy record, “In fact, it can be shortened by another eight minutes. I told you about this earlier.”

　　”I’m not here to shorten it. I just wanted to ask if it was possible that Zhou Yan was killed before 9 o’clock?”

　　”Impossible.” Li Jin said briefly and firmly.

　　”Sister, I’m not doubting your professional ability, but…” Meng Zhao frowned slightly. He remembered the time displayed in the upper left corner of the surveillance camera. Zhao Yunhua appeared in the surveillance camera at 8:54. At that time, she was digging through the trash can. Going forward, the surveillance footage closest to the crime scene showed that Zhao Yunhua appeared in the surveillance footage near Yuhuwan Community at 8:41.

　　”It is absolutely impossible to push it backwards by 20 minutes,” Li Jin said. “I dissected the oesophagus and judged the time of death based on the speed of food digestion. Zhou Yan’s body has not been picked up yet. The family said they would pick it up in the afternoon. If Captain Meng wants to verify, I’ll invite my mentor and let him take a look on the spot?”

　　Li Jin’s mentor, Shi Qi, was a professor of forensic medicine at the Public Security University. He was over 70 years old. It seemed inappropriate to invite the old man rashly. Moreover, Li Jin was a close disciple of Shi Qi and a doctor of forensic medicine. When she was studying, she ranked first in the professional class every year, there was no reason for her to make a mistake, but Meng Zhao felt that the current situation couldn’t be explained.

　　”Inform the family members to not come to pick up the body yet,” Meng Zhao said. “Wait until I notify you.”

　　”Okay.” Li Jin agreed readily.

　　While going down the stairs, Meng Zhao sorted out the clues of the case. Judging from the blood stains left from dragging the body, the murderer was probably not very strong in terms of physical strength.

　　Judging from the strangulation marks on the lower part of the deceased’s neck, the murderer was less than 1.73 metres tall.

　　Judging from the video surveillance, Zhao Yunhua appeared in the surveillance footage of Yuhuwan Community the night before the incident. It was said that Zhao Yunhua would go to the trash cans in Yuhuwan Community every day to look for cardboard boxes. Although there was enough reason to explain her presence in the surveillance, but, she would also have enough time to take away Zhou Yan’s express delivery which was left in the metre box;

　　Also, the ‘Z’ in the initials of ‘ZT’ recorded in Zhou Yan’s diary happen to coincide with the surname ‘Zhao’. Could it really be a coincidence…?

　　Various clues and his own intuition forced him to focus on Zhao Yunhua, however during the time of the deceased’s death, Zhao Yunhua’s alibi was very clear…

　　The case was really strange. Meng Zhao couldn’t help but feel that way. First it was the dog hair, then the painted wall in Building 7, then the plagiarism incident, and now the ten years old incident recorded in Zhou Yan’s diary appeared. The bullying incident… There were too many interfering factors, and they all seem to be related to the case in various ways, but they just couldn’t be connected.

　　Meng Zhao walked into the office, and Cheng Yun was still on the phone with the school staff.

　　He walked to the computer and clicked on the surveillance records near Yuhuwan Community. The night before the incident, Zhao Yunhua was carrying a huge black garbage bag, which contained cardboard boxes, cans and other items that she had rummaged through from the trash can. Perhaps because the garbage bag was a bit heavy that day, Zhao Yunhua had to carry it with both hands to prevent the bag from being dragged to the ground and causing damage to the bottom.

　　Zhao Yunhua’s strength was obviously not very strong, which even made Meng Zhao doubt whether she could strangle Zhou Yan to death with her strength. However, Zhou Yan had drunk alcohol that night, and if he was in a heavy drunken state, then the result was unknown…

　　”Brother Zhao, the school said that it would only give us the class list if we provide proof.” Cheng Yun put her phone away and turned to Meng Zhao and said, “I’m going to make a run to the school.”

　　”I’ll go.” Meng Zhao stood up and took the car keys, “I have other things for you to do.”

　　”What’s going on?” Cheng Yun walked over.

　　”Go and look through the forum records of Wenzhao High School. Keep your focus on any discussion about campus violence in those years when Zhou Yan was in High School. The keywords may be obscure, so read carefully.”

　　”The forum records from ten years ago…” Cheng Yun muttered.

　　”Contact me if you find anything.” Meng Zhao said, while walking out, he called Zhou Qiyang.

　　As soon as Zhou Qiyang picked up the phone, he said: “Brother Zhao, are you coming to help us investigate?”

　　”Forget about that and,” Meng Zhao walked towards his car, “Check where Zhao Yunhua is right now, and be careful not to alert the enemy.”

　　”Ah? Could it be her?” Zhou Qiyang recalled Zhao Yunhua in the surveillance camera and raised the same doubt as Meng Zhao, “A middle-aged woman in her forties or fifties strangling a 28-year-old boy to death…”

　　”Don’t forget that Zhou Yan was drunk that night.” Another colleague said from the side.

　　”A little drunk but not completely drunk.”

　　Hearing the two people arguing on the other end of the phone, Meng Zhao hung up the phone, walked to his car, and drove out of the city bureau.

　　Wenzhao High School was nearly 20 kilometres away from Huai’an District. Although there was not much traffic jam on the road, Meng Zhao still had to drive for more than half an hour to get there.

　　Because Cheng Yun had already explained her purpose on the phone, he only needed to show his police ID to the school staff. The other party quickly found that year’s class roster and handed it over to Meng Zhao.

　　Meng Zhao took it, browsed through the roster from top to bottom, then pointed to the name ‘Zhao Tong’ and asked, “Do you have any information on this student?”

　　The woman in charge of the external reception was in her early forties. She came over to take a look at the list, and then looked up at Meng Zhao. With just one glance, Meng Zhao saw a hint of vigilance in her eyes.

　　”After they were admitted to college, their files were transferred out,” the other party said, “We don’t have files here.”

　　”What if they failed the exam?” Meng Zhao asked.

　　”It’s up to them if they don’t pass the exam,” the other party’s tone was a little perfunctory, as if she wanted to quickly send Meng Zhao away, and she repeated again, “We don’t have files here.”

　　”Is Zhao Tong dead?” Meng Zhao looked into the other person’s eyes and asked directly.

　　The woman opposite seemed frightened by his gaze, but quickly looked away, and her tone became very cold: “It was a case from so many years ago, why are you bringing it up now? The court already said it was a suicide. It has nothing to do with the school. Is it possible that if there’s a suicide, it’s our school which will have to bear the responsibility?”

　　No wonder the woman’s was evasive. It turned out to be because she was afraid of being held accountable. Meng Zhao sneered in his heart and said calmly: “Since you don’t know clearly, let Zhao Tong’s head teacher cooperate with the investigation.”

　　Because of the bullying incident from that year, Zhao Tong’s class teacher Zhang Yue resigned ten years ago and was now running a small business with his family. Although they were not happy with it, the school staff still called Zhang Yue and asked for his current address.

　　The other party was quite cooperative and said that he didn’t need to bother the police. He could just go to the school by himself.

　　The school arranged a vacant office for Meng Zhao, and then the staff disappeared.

　　While waiting for Zhang Yue to arrive, Meng Zhao stood outside the window and looked down at the students having physical education class on the playground.