National Forensic Doctor

Chapter 1328: Chapter 1254 Interrogation

Low Wu, Low Wu...

The police car was blaring, bringing in two carloads of people.

Wu Zhisu watched from upstairs, frowning, unsure if she would like the upcoming scene.

Solving the case was undoubtedly thrilling, but if it were too easy, it would make her seem foolish—not just for not solving the case, but also because of Huang Qiangmin’s deception!

What does it say about the esteemed leader of the Criminal Police Brigade, getting tricked by someone! It would be one thing if it were the director or someone like that, but being deceived by a former squad leader of the Criminal Police Brigade was truly... immensely cunning!

Wu Zhisu expected Huang Qiangmin to be cunning, but she didn’t anticipate Huang Crocodile to be this cunning... So, facing such a cunning person, what should she... noveldrama

As Wu Zhisu pondered, her brow furrowed even more...

"Wu Zhi, would you like to listen in on the conversation?" Huang Qiangmin approached lightly, his voice quiet as if an old piece of decayed wood was floating across a river.

"Sure, it wouldn’t hurt to listen." Wu Zhisu turned her head with a smile, a smile so tense it seemed a bit fake, like a boy in class seeing a pretty girl.

Huang Qiangmin habitually handed over a cigarette, lit one for both of them, and said as they walked, "Jiang Yuan had the victim’s children and a few close relatives brought over, let’s start with questioning them. As for the suspect, let them sit in the interrogation room for a while longer, there’s no rush."

"Alright." This was standard procedure, and Wu Zhisu naturally wouldn’t interfere.

The two of them went down to the interrogation center and entered a meeting room where a dozen people were sitting facing a one-way transparent glass.

On the other side of the glass was a standard conversation room with sofas, a tea table, tea cups, and snacks. Inside sat the victim’s daughter and son, alongside Meng Chengbiao, who was in charge of the conversation.

And behind the observers in the room, on the other side of another one-way glass, was a standard interrogation room with iron windows, iron bars, a floor-fixed interrogation table and chair, and most importantly, a padded interior.

"Wow," Wu Zhisu was stunned, "You even have things like this in your county?"

"Ah, brother police bureau’s generosity," Huang Qiangmin smiled.

Wu Zhisu was speechless, chalking it up to favors.

"You have both sides? One room observing two rooms?"

"One room observing just one room would be a waste. Foreign TV dramas are always extravagant," Huang Qiangmin commented, then pointed to both sides, "Look at what we have here, an inquiry room on one side and an interrogation room on the other. Depending on which side we’re using, we focus on that side, and the sound is output from the microphone, it can be turned on or off as needed. When not in use, both sides function as ordinary interrogation rooms. Have a seat and watch."

Saying this, Huang Qiangmin led Wu Zhisu to sit in the front row.

There were three more rows behind.

Indeed, in China, the one-way transparent glass interrogation room is complemented by a room with four rows of seats for observation, which can anytime be turned into a small lecture hall.

Huang Qiangmin thought it through; there would definitely be leaders from various levels coming to Ningtai County to inspect work. Especially in major cases, what can leaders see when they visit? What’s more convincing than a suspect confessing during an interrogation?

Why does a suspect need to confess? If you absolutely need that sense of security, we can re-interrogate after the suspect confesses.

Wu Zhisu’s mind was suddenly filled with numerous effective ways to use the one-way transparent interrogation room. After sitting down, she couldn’t help but look around like a 40-year-old man entering a private suite in a karaoke bar for the first time...

"This suite... uh, this room needs to be soundproof, right? Our conversation won’t be heard across? How much sound can it block out? Have you tested it?" a series of questions came from Wu Zhisu.

Huang Qiangmin smiled, thought for a moment, and said, "Put it this way, you can curse all you want, and it won’t be heard on the other side."

"Great, great," Wu Zhisu nodded repeatedly. After a moment of hesitation, she asked, "Is it expensive?"

"Zhengguang Bureau donated it... uh, paired support, there’s probably some fluctuation in the estimate we ended up with..." Huang Qiangmin whispered something in Wu Zhisu’s ear.

"Not cheap!" Wu Zhisu gasped as if bitten.

"Depends on how you view it, it might not be directly useful for solving cases, but we’re building a police team, it’s not just about solving cases. You could say a conference room is useless too, yet we need so many. By the way, there’s also this..." Huang Qiangmin handed another cigarette to Wu Zhisu and lit it.

"Sigh..." Wu Zhisu took a puff and looked at the clean, bright interrogation room, shaking his head slightly, "You don’t say, you really don’t say..."

"Everyone, have one," Huang Qiangmin said as he offered cigarettes to the detectives behind them, laughing, "Isn’t this better than huddling in an interrogation room?"

Everyone chuckled as they accepted the cigarettes, praising the good example set by the political commissar.

Clatter, clatter...

In the neighboring interrogation room, the family of the deceased began to cry.

Huang Qiangmin and the others’ expressions dropped, falling into silence naturally. Every detective knew this was where the real drama began.

"My dad said mom had run away, much like Liu’s wife from Four Uncle’s family, who thought it was too poor and hard and went to the city to find another man... But I don’t believe it, I said my mom wouldn’t leave like this..." The victim’s daughter, old enough for college, cried her heart out, slipping from the sofa to the floor.

Meng Chengbiao, sitting opposite, handed her a clean handkerchief and said, "It’s all in the past, it’s all in the past..."

"Is it my mom?" Suddenly the daughter looked up at Meng Chengbiao earnestly, "Are you sure it’s my mom?"

"Absolutely. The DNA matched perfectly." Meng Chengbiao nodded gently.

"Mom..." The daughter wailed loudly.

"Before your mom left, did she ask you anything? Did she say she’d take you with her?" Meng Chengbiao guided steadily.

The daughter shook her head vigorously, and the victim’s son beside her couldn’t help but cry too.

"Mom made us breakfast that morning, but when we came back in the evening, she was gone." The son cried even harder. He was two years younger than his sister, his face covered in acne, tall and thin, crying uncontrollably.

Tears filled the interrogation room, but Meng Chengbiao remained composed.

He didn’t rush, even knowing someone was watching from the next room, he waited quietly, and when the siblings’ sobs eased slightly, he immediately asked, "Your dad said your mom ran away, did she take anything with her? Clothes, money?"

"Dad said she took a bag of clothes," the sister whispered.

"How many pieces? Were they her favorite clothes?" Meng Chengbiao continued asking.

The sister didn’t answer.

So Meng Chengbiao changed his approach, asking, "When your mom left, did she take any jewelry?"

The sister still didn’t respond. This time the brother suddenly looked up and questioned, "What difference does it make if she took them or not?"

Meng Chengbiao sighed deliberately, "If she left intentionally, she would usually take some personal clothing. Of course, sometimes people do leave in a frenzy, grabbing random clothes. But if she decided not to return, she would at least take her jewelry. You need money for a lot of things outside; if she didn’t take anything valuable, she couldn’t have left."

"We don’t even know how much money we had at home. Besides, we were poor back then, and she didn’t have much valuable jewelry." The brother argued.

Meng Chengbiao knew what he was implying and chose not to play coy, directly stating, "If your mom wanted to leave some valuables for the family, assuming she decided to leave but still wanted to do so, she might leave gold jewelry, but at the very least, she would take her less valuable but cherished jewelry, because it’s light and easy to carry. For example, did you ever give your mom any hair ties or similar items?"

The sister looked up, somewhat bewildered, "I bought her a necklace, a red bird one, she really liked it... She didn’t take it, I thought..."

As she spoke, the sister sat back on the ground, hugging her knees and weeping.

The brother, too, had tears in his eyes and was lost for words.

Meng Chengbiao then pulled out a sheet, "This is a copy of a page from the forensic report. You can see, the victim suffered hammer blows before death, and there were defensive wounds on the hands..."

The siblings took the A4 paper, their eyes glossing over as they tried to focus on the words.

"Your mother was murdered," Meng Chengbiao said softly, "She did not abandon you, she never intended to leave you... Who do you think the killer is?"