Chapter 243 - 241: Murder to Silence?
Chapter 243: Chapter 241: Murder to Silence?
Su Miaoyi went to the autopsy room first.
The incident had occurred a little after three o’clock this morning. The sub-bureau had been handling it, but the case was transferred to the municipal bureau this afternoon.
Yan Cheng was in the middle of an autopsy.
Su Miaoyi walked over to the autopsy table. Yan Cheng was drawing cardiac blood from the body, and she stood quietly to the side.
After drawing the blood sample, Yan Cheng said, "There are petechial hemorrhages on multiple internal organs. Death by asphyxiation."
Su Miaoyi examined the deceased’s neck, but there were no marks.
"It wasn’t mechanical asphyxiation," Yan Cheng said. "The hospital report listed the cause of death as asphyxiation due to sudden cardiac arrest."
Su Miaoyi looked over the rest of the body, but nothing was visible to the naked eye.
Yan Cheng then took samples of the stomach contents and tissue from several other internal organs to prepare for histological and toxicological analysis.
Su Miaoyi then turned to the other body.
It hadn’t been autopsied yet. She went to examine the wound on the body.
There was a knife wound on the abdomen that had been closed with three stitches.
She looked back at the autopsied body. "This one was wounded in the buttocks?"
Things had been chaotic in the private room last night, but she had gotten a quick look as the two men were loaded into the ambulance. One was wounded in the abdomen, the other in the buttocks.
"Yes," Yan Cheng said. "The hospital’s report is on the table over there."
Su Miaoyi went to read the report.
The photocopied report from the hospital was very detailed, covering admission, surgery, and their hospital stay.
Neither of their wounds were deep, nor had they damaged any internal organs. The blood loss wasn’t significant.
Both wounds had been closed with three stitches.
After their surgeries last night, they were taken to a hospital room. The two of them were in the same room.
At midnight, the on-duty nurse made her rounds and recorded that both patients’ vitals were stable.
The nurses checked on them every hour after that.
At one and two o’clock, their conditions remained stable.
Around three o’clock, both men went into cardiac arrest, one after the other. Medical staff immediately performed emergency resuscitation, but neither could be saved.
Su Miaoyi stared at the report.
It was a standard treatment report written by the doctors and nurses. There was no other information.
The report didn’t state a reason for the sudden cardiac arrests.
The various lab tests would also take time.
Su Miaoyi touched the wound on the autopsied body with her finger, then touched other areas as Yan Cheng instructed.
She didn’t see anything.
It was the same with the other body; she saw nothing.
Having seen nothing, Su Miaoyi headed back to the main office area.
A case discussion was underway in the conference room. She entered quietly and took a seat.
Zhuang Yanzheng looked toward her, and Su Miaoyi shook her head, indicating she hadn’t seen anything.
Zhuang Yanzheng continued, "This is the surveillance footage from the inpatient ward’s hallway. Last night, there were three nurses and one doctor on duty."
The sub-bureau had handed over the surveillance footage and their preliminary findings along with the case.
"The on-duty nurses make rounds during the night. This is the footage of those rounds," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Midnight, one o’clock, two o’clock..."
While speaking, he cued the footage to 2:27 AM. "This nurse... at 2:27 AM, well before the scheduled rounds and with no reported issues from the room, went inside."
"According to the family members who were staying with the two deceased, this nurse came in to check their wounds, claiming the doctor had sent her to see if they were bleeding."
"We confirmed with the on-duty doctor; he hadn’t asked any nurse to check the wounds. Furthermore, this person wasn’t one of the three nurses on duty last night."
"Each of the three on-duty nurses had their own assigned areas for rounds."
So, looking at the footage from midnight, one, and two o’clock, the nurse who visited the room was the same person each time.
But the person at 2:27 clearly didn’t match in terms of height, build, and other aspects.
She was wearing a nurse’s uniform, a nurse’s cap, and a surgical mask.
She kept her head down, so the camera never caught her face.
"Did any of the other cameras get a shot of her?" Lu Zhishen asked.
"None of the footage we’ve acquired so far got a clear shot," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "According to the video from the sub-bureau, this person entered the hospital at 2:14 AM already dressed in a nurse’s uniform."
"She entered the inpatient ward from the emergency department entrance. The ward has two elevators, east and west. The east elevator shuts down after 10 PM, so she took the west elevator up."
"She got to their floor at 2:20 AM and walked directly to the two victims’ room."
"She went straight to the room, which means she knew where they were," Chu Xingrou said.
"She didn’t just know which room they were in. According to the family, her movements were very proficient. She seemed to know the patients’ conditions well and knew exactly where both their wounds were, so the family didn’t suspect a thing at the time."
"So she was familiar with the victims?" Su Miaoyi said. "Did one of them contact her before they died, and that’s how she knew the room? Or did the family tell a friend or relative? After all, it’s normal for friends and family to visit someone in the hospital."
Zhuang Yanzheng nodded. "It’s likely one of the victims told her themselves, because both of their cell phones are missing."
This gave everyone pause.
The family members were present while she was ’checking the wounds,’ so it would have been difficult to take the phones then.
That means the person in the nurse’s uniform must have returned to the room.
"On the surveillance footage, the person in the nurse’s uniform entered the room at 2:27. Three minutes later, she came out and went into the fire escape stairwell."
"A little after three o’clock, the two victims went into cardiac arrest one after the other. Doctors and nurses rushed to the room and began resuscitation efforts."
"The medical team was performing CPR and other emergency measures while wheeling the beds to the resuscitation room," Zhuang Yanzheng explained. "The resuscitation room was right next to the victims’ room."
"After both men were wheeled into the resuscitation room, the person in the nurse’s uniform returned to their now-empty room. She was inside for less than a minute before coming out again."
"We can’t tell anything from the footage, since a cell phone slipped into a pocket wouldn’t be noticeable. After that, she left the hospital the same way she came and vanished from all camera coverage."
"We’ve checked the security cameras in the vicinity of the hospital but haven’t found anyone with a similar build. She likely avoided the cameras intentionally. In all the footage from inside the hospital, she kept her head down, so we never got a look at her face. We’ve also ruled out all the doctors, nurses, and cleaning staff; she’s not a hospital employee."
"Based on her build, hair, and gait, the suspect is a woman."
"A hit to silence them?" Lu Zhishen asked.
"It certainly looks that way," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "The sub-bureau thoroughly questioned everyone we brought in from the restaurant last night, and their stories match what we already learned. The two victims were con artists. They ran into their marks at the restaurant, and a fight broke out."
"How much money did they con people out of?" Su Miaoyi asked.
"It varies from person to person. The most was over twenty thousand, the least was over five thousand," Zhuang Yanzheng said.
"Could there be something more to their scam?" Su Miaoyi asked. "Was someone worried about what they might tell the police? Is that why they were silenced last night, and their phones were taken?"