False evidence

Chapter 25 Special Relationship
Before Gao He could react, Zhou Dongdong clenched her fists and shouted, "What are you talking about? What do you mean? Spreading such a private matter among my neighbors?"

Then, turning to Gao He, she said bitterly, "I know, it's because of Lin Dan, isn't it? She wants revenge on me? She wants revenge! She wants to make me lose face and drive me to my death!"

Gao He frowned and raised his voice in return, saying, "You think you're right? Speak louder! Come on, louder!"

His identity was clearly extraordinary; once he lost his temper, Zhou Dongdong immediately fell silent.

He seemed to have no choice but to put his hands on his hips and ask me, "Do we really have to do it this way?"

I nodded decisively.

Gao He turned to the policewoman and said, "Arrange for admission."

……

In the hospital security room, Gao He greeted the two security guards on duty and pointed to a row of monitors:

"As you all know, the hospital environment is not stable now, so the surveillance coverage is very comprehensive."

He walked to the control panel, pointed at the monitor, and moved the mouse.

Soon, all the images switched to a previous time period.

The hospital's surveillance system is indeed comprehensive, covering almost every corner except for examination rooms and restrooms. Moreover, because it's all happening at the same time, the images on all the monitors are connected.

In other words, if a person disappears from the first monitor one second, they will immediately appear on the screen of the second monitor.

Gao seemed to ignore the presence of me and the monkey, and stared intently at one of the monitors. Suddenly, he abruptly raised his hand and pointed at the screen.

Just as he raised his hand, a shadow suddenly darted out from the corner of the screen.

The 'shadow' was very fast, moving quickly across several monitors before disappearing in an instant.

"Is this the dog that bumped into me?" the monkey asked me, somewhat uncertainly. This was because the 'shadow' was moving faster than the surveillance camera's frame rate.

Gao adjusted the playback speed and replayed the scene again.

This time we saw it clearly; it was indeed a large, adult wolfhound.

The monkey couldn't help but ask, "You said before that this dog has been in the hospital? And it often just pops up out of nowhere and then disappears again?"

Gao He grinned and said, "I was just kidding. If such a big dog were to suddenly appear every now and then, who would dare to come to this hospital? Actually, this is the first time it has appeared during the day."

The monkey asked, "During the day? So, it came out at night?"

Gao He nodded, then shook his head, and gestured with his chin toward one of the security guards, "Is there another room where the three of us can talk alone?"

The security guard hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes..."

I said, "Let's not do this now, I don't understand it either. I... I'm really hungry, let's go out and get something to eat."

……

After leaving the hospital, I chose a fast food restaurant nearby and ordered several dishes from an enamel basin, gesturing wildly.

Gao He exchanged a glance with the monkey and sneered, "He's not hungry, he's just craving something."

The monkey laughed and said to the waiter serving the food, "Is the meat mushy? Give him the fatty kind."

I didn't eat much rice; I just used a spoon to scoop out two pieces of tender, juicy meat and three lion's head meatballs and put them in my mouth.

As soon as I wiped my mouth, Gao He asked me, "Do you think that spreading the news that the female victim is pregnant will lure Sun Jing to the hospital?"

I countered, "When you made that phone call, did you already have people lying in ambush and scouting near Pidan and Zhou Dongdong's houses?"

Gao He nodded: "Actually, we had people scouting the perimeter earlier, but there were only so many people in the team, so the coverage wasn't comprehensive enough. Since you reminded me this time, I simply sent all my people over."

He looked around and then said to me, "By the way, shouldn't we have a proper, in-depth talk?"

I pointed to the corner of my mouth, signaling him to speak first.

Gao He nodded again, "Including Elephant Trunk Lane, the murderer's targets were all the same. They had all been to that photo studio, and they were all single mothers and daughters. That's the common point, that's one of them."

Secondly, I asked Pei Xiaofan and her mother in detail. You know that the girl is sick, right? Her mother took her to take wedding photos to fulfill a wish.

Thirdly, at the time, Pei Xiaofan's mother said this in front of the photographer and Tong Liru: "My daughter is so beautiful, no one can marry her unless they have a family fortune of at least a few hundred thousand!"

He tapped the table with his other hand. "This is the key point. Zhou Dongdong stole that scumbag, and her mother also said she wanted a certain amount of dowry. That's why that scumbag broke up with Zhou Dongdong and wanted to get back together with Lin Dan."

And then there's that mother and daughter in Elephant Trunk Lane, it's actually quite comical. The fat woman, Yang Wudao's landlady, went to have her portrait taken. She probably thought the photographer was quite handsome, so she told him a whole bunch of things, including how much dowry she'd demand for her daughter's wedding.

I don't need to elaborate on the other victims. We could only investigate through the women's spouses, and they all seemed to have the same problem: their mothers-in-law were all demanding and mercenary, asking for a lot of money…

The monkey chuckled dryly, "Hehe, this is a case of 'selling one's daughter' causing trouble, but Pidan and Aunt Pei are truly innocent." Gao He, perhaps eager to close the case, then recounted many more details.

I listened quietly until he finished speaking, then looked at him and said in a low voice, "Don't you think there's something missing here?"

"What's missing?"

"Aside from Pi Dan and the fat landlord, all the other victims who tried on wedding dresses seemed to be with a man and a woman. Who brought their mother-in-law?"

Gao He was taken aback. "Could it be that Tong Liru tricked her into revealing information? It seems like everyone says she's very friendly and close to everyone."

Before I could speak, he waved his hand repeatedly, "I was careless, I was careless. No matter how enthusiastic she is, she shouldn't ask such a private question. It's a happy occasion for the bride and groom to take photos together. Even if the bride is heartless, she wouldn't talk about the bride price, much less say that she is from a single-parent family."

The monkey couldn't help but interject, "I understand now. The other couples are all soon-to-be-married couples; they wouldn't discuss private matters with strangers. So... could it be that Sun Jing or Tong Liru were stalking and investigating them?"

"cant!"

Gao He waved his hand, "That Sun Jing, you could say he's the head of the photo studio, the 'top' photographer. Do you know how many couples he's photographed in the past two years? Even if he partnered with Tong Liru to track and investigate every single one of them, wouldn't that kill them? What's the point of them going to work then?"

"How did they know the victim's information?" the monkey asked.

Gao He shook his head and looked at me.

I thought for a moment and asked Gao He, "You've talked to Tong Xiangnan again, what does he think?"

Gao He immediately said, "He said he was 99% sure that he had indeed cured Tong Liru's mental illness and helped her return to society. He said he noticed something was wrong with Tong Liru three months ago. Tong Xiangnan was very clever and skillfully questioned Tong Liru step by step until he finally found out the truth. However, he felt indebted to his younger sister, so he ultimately chose to take the blame for her."

“Setting up the scene!” I interrupted him.

"Settings?" Gao looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I spoke slowly and deliberately (actually, my mouth hurt): "What exactly is the relationship between Sun Jing and Tong Liru?"

The monkey was taken aback: "Didn't you say they were mother and child?"

Gao He was also staring straight at me, but his eyes held a different expression.

I said, "Did Tong Xiangnan mention this to you?"

Gao He replied confidently, "Yes, but it's not as intuitive and detailed as this."

I said, "The backdrop is one thing. Also, the red dress and high heels weren't exactly 'fashionable' back when Tong Liru was jilted, especially in the countryside. And then there's that backdrop... I looked up that photo studio on my phone; they mainly do wedding dresses and artistic photos. Do you think the people standing together in front of that hidden backdrop would be a mother and son, or..."

I didn't continue, but Gao He's expression clearly became serious.

After a long pause, he nodded at me and said, "Your line of thinking is very similar to Tong Xiangnan's. He said that after he discovered Tong Liru was injured, Tong Liru panicked... That reaction was definitely not like a relapse of an old illness. I won't hide it from you, but Tong Xiangnan suspects that Tong Liru never knew that Sun Jing was her son! The relationship between the two is likely... because Tong Liru has been hurt in love, she cherishes this relationship even more, and she is willing to do anything the man asks her to do."

Gao He wanted to say something more, but I stopped him: "I've said everything I can think of. Let's leave this topic here."

Gao He clicked his tongue: "Don't rush. Anyway, you don't have anything else to do right now, so let's not talk about this case, let's change the subject. Or, how about I get you two more lion's head meatballs, you can take your time eating them?"

I asked, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

"dog!"

Gao He pointed towards the hospital building across the street through the glass window.

The monkey suddenly became interested. "If you're talking about people, I really don't want to waste my breath on you, but when it comes to dogs... if I remember correctly, you're the head of the criminal investigation team, right? Why would you need to go to the trouble of handling even a dog?"

Gao He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned his face and stared at the hospital across the street for a long while before turning back, only to raise his chin at the monkey:
"You know this hospital very well? Do you believe that someone could get lost... or even go missing in this hospital?"

"Nonsense!" the monkey immediately retorted. "How big is a hospital? Unless you're an idiot, how could you possibly get lost inside?"

"Yes, there really is!" Gao He nodded, pouting.

I looked at him and then at the monkey's reaction. I was truly 'impressed' with Captain Gao to the extreme.

Not to mention that I wouldn't stand idly by for some reason before, now even the monkey has been swayed by his few words.

Next, Gao, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, vaguely recounted to me and Monkey a mysterious case that had occurred at the hospital.

Gao He specifically noted that this strange incident was initially reported by a hospital security guard.

The security guard's name was Bian Xiaomao, and he was on night shift that night.

As is customary, after inspecting the outpatient building and the annex, one must walk through the corridor to reach the inpatient building at the back.

Just as he was about to reach the end of the corridor, he suddenly heard a deep voice behind him say:

"Hey, do you have a lighter?"

(End of this chapter)