Chapter 847 - 845: For the Deceased Her 15
Chapter 847: Chapter 845: For the Deceased Her 15
Zhao Kehan arrived at a grocery store in a district of Ning City, the very store where Su Youcheng purchased the hemp rope.
Jian Qi visited a few days ago, so the shop owner recognized her and cooperatively brought out bundles of brand-new hemp rope.
The hemp ropes here come in different lengths, the shortest being ten meters and the longest one hundred meters.
Zhao Kehan listened to the owner’s introduction and his gaze fell upon a twenty-meter hemp rope. After careful inspection, he confirmed that Su Youcheng probably bought the twenty-meter one. Previously, he measured it and, as he suspected, Su Youcheng hadn’t had the chance to use the rope.
Yet, the rope used to bind Liang Cheng and the others was bought from here.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have identified Su Youcheng as one of the suspects, but now it seems uncertain.
Could there be a third killer?
He felt the situation here wasn’t simple.
Unfortunately, this small grocery store didn’t have surveillance; they confirmed Su Youcheng bought the rope here solely because of the owner’s good memory and the event not being too long ago.
Also, most of the people who come here are locals, so a new face would leave a lasting impression.
Thinking about it, Zhao Kehan took out his phone and showed the owner a photo: "Has this person been here?"
Jian Qi tiptoed to take a look, somewhat surprised.
Ah Chen also curiously floated over to see, and couldn’t help but chuckle—this was classic police behavior, suspecting everyone.
The photo was of An Shuo, though Officer Zhao might be disappointed as An Shuo hadn’t been here.
The shop owner shook his head repeatedly: "Never seen him, never. Such a handsome young man, if he appeared before me, I’d remember him for life."
"What about this one?" Zhao Kehan swiped past An Shuo’s photo, revealing another face, "Do you recognize him?"
Ah Chen glanced at it; this time, it was the commissioner’s counselor Lu Miao’s photo. Officer Zhao was indeed well-prepared.
"I don’t know him either, haven’t seen him." The shop owner spoke, "Though not as handsome as the previous one, he looks talented and strong; if I’d seen him, I wouldn’t forget."
Zhao Kehan took a deep breath, bypassing Jian Qi’s curious gaze, and swiped the photos again, this time showing Xu Zhao’s, but the shop owner continued to shake his head.
Lastly, he even showed photos of the commissioner’s fifteen-year-old brother and three roommates, but received denials as well.
The onlooking Jian Qi had become numb; if not for the recent discovery being real, she would’ve thought Captain Zhao had gone mad.
Su Chen’s three roommates were all delicate young girls, clearly not trained, and probably not a match for a few strong young men.
Zhao Kehan was truly stumped. For the moment, no clues seemed to appear, but with the crucial evidence against Su Youcheng in jeopardy, the case surely required further investigation and couldn’t be hastily concluded.
Previously, Xu Zhao was even considered a danger.
Possibly there could be another perpetrator, maybe even a third killer.
Could Su Youcheng and Tan Ying be covering for the real murderer, trying to buy them time?
Suddenly, Zhao Kehan hurriedly pulled out his phone and dialed Xu Zhao’s number; fortunately, the call connected quickly.
"Officer Zhao, any new developments?"
"Do you still have bodyguards with you? There may be a third killer, please stay vigilant, I’ll send someone over immediately."
Xu Zhao seemed startled: "Alright, Officer Zhao, don’t worry. A lot has happened lately, my bodyguards are with me, and they’ll accompany me even abroad."
Zhao Kehan finally felt relieved, that was reassuring.
But, who is the third perpetrator?
Full of thoughts, Zhao Kehan was about to depart when the shop owner’s wife called out to him: "Officer, I’ve remembered something."
Zhao Kehan turned around, seeing the owner’s wife emerging from inside, and asked: "Please go on."
"It’s like this: recently, a twenty-meter hemp rope went missing from our shop, but it wasn’t stolen; corresponding money was left at the original spot. I thought it might be a neighbor not seeing anyone, urgently needing it, so I didn’t pay much attention, didn’t lose much. Hearing you all talk today made me think this might be helpful to your case."
With her words, Zhao Kehan finally felt a sense of relief, but the lack of surveillance at the grocery store made identifying the person difficult.
Still, there might be surveillance elsewhere.
He looked at Jian Qi: "Jian Qi, please handle this matter."
"Alright, Captain." Jian Qi promptly responded, and as soon as Zhao Kehan left, she approached the shop owner’s wife, inquired about the time of the occurrence, got an approximate timeframe, and then went to look for places with surveillance nearby. It wasn’t long, maybe some traces could be found.
Meanwhile, back at the police station, Zhao Kehan first arranged for someone to keep an eye on Xu Zhao.
At the same time, he thoroughly investigated related individuals again, involving Su Chen’s roommates, An Shuo, Lu Miao, and even the past of several deceased individuals.
Having identified a third perpetrator, apart from Su Chen’s parents, anyone could be the culprit.
These individuals came from all over, obtaining their past records wasn’t going to be quick, but Zhao Kehan had experienced this many times before and had considerable patience.
However, it needed to be concluded swiftly, as Xu Zhao was soon to study abroad; without evidence of his crime, they couldn’t obstruct his academic pursuits.
Zhao Kehan’s precise investigation indeed uncovered something significant.
Upon investigation, he discovered connections between those he suspected and individuals from 4508.
Lu Miao, Su Chen’s counselor, his parents divorced when he was in middle school, and he followed his father to live abroad.
He has a younger sister who stayed domestically with their mother; her name is Lu Xue, who later changed her surname to follow her mother’s surname, now called Ruan Xue. During middle school, Ruan Xue was bullied by a student from the same school, but since the perpetrator was a minor, the matter ended with compensation.
Her mother took Ruan Xue away from that small county town, and the boy who committed the act also left the place.
This boy later changed his name too, now known as Zhou Jiayang.
Zhao Kehan took a deep breath, so Lu Miao might actually have a motive to commit the crime, possibly being the third killer.
But then... he looked at the next piece of information.
It was about An Shuo, born into a single-parent family; his father died in an accident when his mother was four months pregnant. At that time, an abortion required an induced labor; his mother was only eighteen, with no family support, and eventually decided to give birth to him.
Since then, they relied on each other.
During An Shuo’s high school years, his mother went missing while preparing for overseas work; it was said the salary there was high, but the matter subsequently fell through.
There’s no clear connection here yet, but he noticed that in the records, An Shuo’s mother, An Mei, had dealings with the overseas agency run by Xu Zhao’s parents.