Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 255 No Evidence (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

"Is it possible that Yao Fenfang and Tang Xue murdered the child together?" Qiao Jiali asked.

Zhou Yi shook his head: "I think that's unlikely. What mother would want her daughter to kill someone with her? To protect her daughter, Yao Fenfang would never let her daughter participate in the killing. She would handle it all by herself."

"As far as Tang Xue is concerned, this child is still hers, how could she bring herself to harm it?"

"Let's set aside the fact that she's too young and her limited understanding is due to the lack of education she received from her divorced family. From the perspective of a newborn, I've read a study that said many mothers don't have much emotional connection with their newborns at first because of the hormonal changes after childbirth, which is physiological. After a while, once the hormones return to normal, maternal love begins to emerge."

Qiao Jiali had no children, but she was somewhat surprised by Zhou Yi's words. "So if it wasn't a crime committed by two people, then it means that Yao Fenfang shouldn't have been home when Tang Xue gave birth."

Zhou Yi nodded: "Yes, she works the night shift two days out of every six days, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. the next day. That's plenty of time for Tang Xue to get everything done."

Qiao Jiali suddenly realized: "Oh, no wonder you asked Captain Shi to check Yao Fenfang's attendance records at the plastics factory. So you had already thought of this possibility."

“In Yao Fenfang’s statement, she said that Tang Xue gave birth on the night of February 28th, which was a Thursday. She said she asked Tang Xue for leave the next day to rest at home, while she worked the night shift. It’s too late at the school today, so we can only verify it tomorrow.” Zhou Yi sighed, “It’s a pity that we couldn’t find the child’s body, so we can’t determine the time of death.”

The incident occurred on February 28th, while the police began salvaging the Donghai residential area on March 25th, a full 25 days later.

Just as Qin Beihai said, it was almost impossible for that highly decomposed intestinal tissue to be salvaged.

Is there really such a thing as destiny?
During the interrogation just now, Zhou Yi asked Yao Fenfang what her reaction was when the police were dredging the septic tank in the community.

She replied that she happened to be off the day shift that day, so she was among the onlookers when the police were conducting the retrieval.

She was terrified at the time, thinking the police were after her, but later she heard from others that they were looking for the missing woman in the neighborhood.

But she was still so frightened that she couldn't sleep all night, fearing that the police would come looking for her.

It wasn't until she heard that Xu Jiaguang had been arrested that she realized it had nothing to do with her.

However, she was still under a lot of stress, which caused her to make mistakes at work and get scolded by her supervisor.

That's why she reacted so agitated when the neighborhood committee informed her that there was something going on at home. Coming back suddenly would be considered absenteeism, which would not only result in a deduction of pay but also a scolding from her supervisor.

“The biggest problem now is that we have no evidence,” Zhou Yi sighed.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Shi Tao returned, pulling out two long, rectangular attendance sheets and placing them on the table. "I brought back Yao Fenfang's attendance sheets from last month and this month. Take a look."

Zhou Yi picked it up and saw that it was one of the most commonly used time clocks in the past.

On February 28th, I clocked in at 7:52 AM and clocked out at 8:09 PM.

March 1st is the night shift. I clock in at 8:00 PM and clock out at 8:05 AM the next morning.

"It seems like there's no problem," Qiao Jiali said after glancing at it.

Shi Tao said, "I specifically asked them, and they said that it's a production line, with one person per post. Let alone sneaking home in the middle, even if you go to the toilet, you can't leave for more than five minutes, otherwise there will be problems."

Zhou Yi put down the two attendance sheets, seemed to be deep in thought, and then asked, "Sister Qiao, has Tang Xue's check-up been done?"

Qiao Jiali nodded: "It's been checked. The conclusion is pelvic floor muscle damage and changes in cervical morphology, confirming that she has had previous pregnancies."

Where is Tang Xue?

"In interrogation room number three."

"I'll go talk to her for a bit." Zhou Yi took a sip of water, then carefully put away the note on his desk with Qin Beihai's phone number written on it, and walked out.

Looking at Zhou Yi's retreating figure, Shi Tao asked, "Xiao Qiao, don't you think Zhou Yi is starting to resemble your Captain Wu more and more?"

Qiao Jiali smiled and said, "Team Leader Shi, then you'd better work hard."

Shi Tao was taken aback: "What should I be working hard for?"

"Zhou Yi is so outstanding, what if he takes your place one day?" Qiao Jiali joked.

"No way, if anyone's going to take something, it'll be Old Wu's." Shi Tao chuckled. "I'm two years younger than Old Wu, so he, as the older comrade, should set an example by making way for the younger generation."

……

Zhou Yi pushed open the door to interrogation room number three. Inside, Tang Xue was sitting behind a table, her head down, fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist.

Upon noticing someone open the door, she immediately hid both hands under the table.

Zhou Yi entered the house, closed the door, and placed a bag of bread and a glass of warm water in front of her.

"Have something to eat."

Tang Xue didn't move, her hair covering her face, but through the gaps in her hair, Zhou Yi noticed that she glanced at the bread.

Zhou Yi pushed the bread and warm water towards her and said, "This bread is quite delicious, it has cream inside. When you're unhappy, eating something sweet will make you feel much better. Scientifically speaking, the sugar in sweets can quickly provide energy and promote the release of dopamine in the brain, making people feel happy."

Zhou Yi's tone was very amiable, and what he said had absolutely nothing to do with the case.

The goal was to lower her guard.

Tang Xue hesitated for a moment, then reached out and picked up the bread, tore open the plastic bag, and began to nibble at it in small bites.

Zhou Yi immediately noticed the bracelet on her left wrist. It was indeed silver and nothing special about it. Just as Qiao Jiali had said, it was no different from the ones sold in roadside shops, except that it had a star-shaped pendant on it.

"Wow, after all these years, this is still the style that's popular?" Zhou Yi suddenly exclaimed in surprise. Tang Xue was clearly taken aback, not understanding what he meant.

"Look at your bracelet, when I was in middle school, a lot of girls liked to wear something like that, they all look pretty similar. Your pendant is star-shaped, and there are also heart-shaped and little moon-shaped ones. Back then, there were vendors selling them at the school gate at night for 50 cents each, and a lot of girls liked to buy them."

As soon as Zhou Yi finished speaking, Tang Xue suddenly became emotional, large tears streaming down her face, and she said repeatedly in a sobbing voice, "Mine is different from theirs, it's different."

Sure enough, there was something wrong with the bracelet; it was most likely a love token given to her by someone.

Zhou Yi deliberately made it sound cheap, and used rhetoric that echoed others. Although he didn't directly attack the bracelet, he subtly diminished its value.

The young girl, lacking social experience, was easily fooled.

But Zhou Yi still pretended to be surprised: "Really? Let me see." As she spoke, she naturally stood up and leaned closer.

This time, although Tang Xue was somewhat afraid, she did not pull her hand away again.

Zhou Yi took a look, nodded, and said, "Hmm, you know what, it does seem different. Judging by the material, it's silver, right?"

Tang Xue nodded.

"Wow, that's not cheap. This star pendant is also very well made, it's really beautiful." Zhou Yi said, casually touching the pendant.

But Tang Xue immediately pulled her hand back as if she had been electrocuted.

Zhou Yi had already noticed that the star-shaped pendant had an X engraved on the front and an H engraved on the back.

The letter X is likely the first letter of the pinyin for "snow," representing Tang Xue.

And this "H" is most likely the child's father.

Zhou Yi sat back down and continued to praise, "You don't know, back when we were in school, teachers didn't allow students to wear expensive jewelry, because it was easy to lose."

Tang Xue didn't respond, and even put down the half-eaten bread in her hand.

Zhou Yi knew that she had turned back into a hedgehog.

"Tang Xue, did your mother tell you that the child was sent away?" Zhou Yi had no choice but to return to asking true or false questions.

Tang Xue lowered her head and nodded.

"We have found him."

As soon as Zhou Yi said that, Tang Xue looked up at him abruptly, her eyes filled with terror.

But in just a moment, she immediately lowered her head again.

However, that look of terror said it all.

If she truly believed that Yao Fenfang had sent the child away, why would she be terrified? It could be any emotion, but it certainly couldn't be terror.

Her immediate lowering of her head to avoid the situation was clearly taught to her by Yao Fenfang.

Yao Fenfang decided to take the blame for her and bear everything for her.

But Yao Fenfang knew that police questioning was inevitable on the day the truth came out.

She could rehearse and recite the confession of the crime countless times in advance, but Tang Xue, with her age and experience, could not do that.

Therefore, keeping silent is the best approach. As long as Tang Xue remains silent and insists that Yao Fenfang killed the child, she will be safe.

This is also the biggest dilemma in this case right now: there is no evidence to prove it.

Despite Zhou Yi's seemingly logical analysis of Qiao Jiali's situation in the office, these are all reasonable suspicions during the criminal investigation stage and cannot be used as evidence.

The law recognizes evidence, not reasoning.

Zhou Yi believes that the technical department, which is currently conducting a field investigation at Yao Fenfang's home, will definitely discover key evidence such as the murder weapon and the primary crime scene.

However, this only proves that a murder occurred in this room, but it cannot pinpoint exactly who the murderers were Yao Fenfang and Tang Xue.

After so long, Yao Fenfang must have taken care of everything.

Therefore, their testimonies, combined with other evidence, are needed to form a complete chain of evidence.

Moreover, since Yao Fenfang voluntarily confessed to the crime of murder, Zhou Yi and his team were unable to conduct high-pressure interrogation on Tang Xue, especially given her mental state. Even if high-pressure interrogation led her to confess to the crime, it would be impossible.

The prosecutor's office and the court will also question the authenticity of the confession.

Sigh, it's supposed to be a fairly simple case, so why has it become so tricky?

As Zhou Yi was silently reflecting, Tang Xue suddenly spoke up.

Her words caught Zhou Yi off guard.

　[Minor Adjustment Notes] I have changed Tang Xue's age from the third year of junior high school to the second year of senior high school. I have also changed all the details mentioned earlier to avoid any inconsistencies after reading the previous text. This is a special note.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)