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

Chapter 262 We Didn't Do Anything Wrong
Shi Tao's words instantly attracted everyone's curious gaze, and they couldn't help but come closer to take a look.

What he slammed on the table was an attendance sheet from an evidence bag, with March written in the month column.

But this attendance sheet wasn't Yao Fenfang's; it belonged to someone named Jiang Guihua, a name I'd never heard of before.

"Team Leader Shi, did you take the wrong one?" Zhou Yi asked.

Shi Tao raised an eyebrow and said, "Take out Yao Fenfang's attendance sheet from March yesterday and take a look."

Zhou Yi complied, and the two attendance sheets in the evidence bag were placed together. A group of people gathered around to look for the secret, while Shi Tao smugly stood aside.

"Team Leader Shi, just say it straight. These are just two attendance sheets, there's nothing wrong with them."

"Let's take another look, let's take another look," Shi Tao said with a smile.

Zhou Yi carefully compared the check-in records from March 1st.

This type of attendance sheet uses a card attendance machine. You insert a rectangular attendance sheet into the machine's opening, and the machine will use the corresponding roller inside to print the time on the card based on the time on the dial. It was one of the most common attendance machines in the 1990s.

Once adjusted, the accuracy is very high, and the machine will automatically match the date and get off work location, so it won't make a mistake.

The downside is that it's easy for someone else to clock in for you, because the cards aren't carried around. Instead, they're standardized cards with your name on them, stored next to the machine, and you just need to find your own card and clock in when you leave or arrive at get off work.

This is also why Qiao Jiali previously suspected that someone else was using her to clock in.

Zhou Yi discovered that Yao Fenfang was on the night shift that day and clocked out at 8:00 PM sharp.

Because the machine is accurate to the second, the time displayed on the card is 20:00:16.

Jiang Guihua works the day shift, and her shift ends at 20:00:11 PM.

In other words, the time difference between swiping the two cards is only five seconds. Basically, the order is to swipe one card and then swipe the other, because the attendance machine needs time to swipe and insert the cards.

Zhou Yi scratched his chin and said, "Captain Shi, could it be that these two cards were played by the same person on March 1st?"

Shi Tao was slightly startled. "Continue."

"Judging from the clock-in time, it was basically a seamless connection. It's possible that they just happened to be going to and from get off work, but you definitely wouldn't have brought that back, Captain Shi. So it can only be that the same person clocked in, either Yao Fenfang or this Jiang Guihua. But no matter who it is, it means that one of them covered for the other."

"However, when we interrogated Yao Fenfang, she only said that she asked Tang Xue for leave on Friday, but did not say that she found someone to cover for her that day."

"And what we learned from the homeroom teacher proves that Yao Fenfang lied about Tang Xue's leave request. The leave was not requested on the same day, but was made up on Monday after the weekend."

"Why would Yao Fenfang lie about asking for leave? If she was under so much stress the night before that she committed murder and dismemberment at home that she forgot to ask for leave from school the next day, and then made up for it later, that would be logical. But during the interrogation, when she was able to clearly and in detail recount the entire crime, she deliberately made a mistake about asking for leave, which makes it seem like she was trying to cover something up."

"Why didn't she say it was made on Monday? Because she felt guilty, because she wasn't even home on Friday! She couldn't possibly ask Tang Xue for leave on Friday! She was afraid that if we questioned her, she would give herself away."

Everyone was drawn to Zhou Yi's analysis, no longer staring at the attendance sheet on the table, but at Zhou Yi himself.

"And that's not all, the birth date wasn't February 28th at all, but March 1st."

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

"If on the first night, Yao Fenfang delivered her daughter's baby at home, then murdered and dismembered the body, and after a night of this ordeal, on the second day when her daughter was extremely weak, instead of staying home to care for her, she went to cover someone else's shift and worked 24 hours straight. Was she willing to risk her life for a little money? Does this match the attitude of how much she cared for her daughter?"

"That makes sense." Everyone nodded in agreement. After such a long night, it wasn't just physical exhaustion, but also intense mental stress. A normal person simply couldn't handle working for another day and night.

"I couldn't figure out the problem here before, but the two attendance sheets that Captain Shi brought back gave me the answer. On March 1st, Yao Fenfang covered Jiang Guihua's shift, working the day shift followed by the night shift, so she needed to clock in twice at 8 o'clock sharp. After getting home from get off work the next morning, she noticed Tang Xue's abnormality and subsequently confirmed Tang Xue's crime of giving birth and killing the child. In order to take the blame for Tang Xue and take all the responsibility upon herself, she changed the date of childbirth to the night before, which makes the timeline logically sound."

"Tang Xue was likely absent from school on March 1st due to discomfort caused by her impending childbirth. She then gave birth to the child alone at home and committed the crime of murder and dismemberment. After learning that Tang Xue had missed school on Friday, Yao Fenfang was worried that she would not be able to explain herself during the subsequent investigation, so she personally asked the teacher for leave when she took Tang Xue to school on Monday. During the interrogation, she emphasized that she had asked for leave for Tang Xue that day, but avoided talking about covering for her, in order to avoid arousing our suspicion."

Zhou Yi gave Shi Tao a thumbs up and said, "It takes an old hand like Captain Shi to do this. He found the clues from just an attendance sheet. If it were me, I would have ignored the attendance sheets of unrelated people."

"Team Leader Shi, you're amazing! I need to learn from you."

Amid Zhou Yi's praise, everyone cast admiring glances at Shi Tao.

Shi Tao said modestly, "Not at all."

But inwardly, he was wondering why he didn't feel as satisfied as when he slammed the attendance sheet on the table earlier. "Team Leader Shi, have you confirmed the substitute shift with Jiang Guihua?" Zhou Yi asked.

Shi Tao nodded. He didn't find it through an attendance sheet. If it were really as Zhou Yi said, he should have found it when he was looking through the attendance sheet last night.

He learned from his coworkers today when he went to the plastics factory with Gu Changhai to find out more about the situation that Yao Fenfang was a hard worker and sometimes covered shifts for others, which led him to think of this possibility.

Upon checking, it turned out that I had indeed covered for someone else on March 1st, and that's when I checked the attendance sheet.

Shi Tao considered himself to be quite perceptive, able to notice such things.

I originally intended to put on an act, but it seems like I ended up doing all the work for Zhou Yi.

However, since Zhou Yi had already elevated him to a high position, he would lose face if he stepped down, so he could only pretend to be stupid.

Anyway, apart from Gu Changhai, no one else knows the details.

“However, Zhou Yi, you’re wrong about one thing. Yao Fenfang isn’t filling in for Jiang Guihua; she’s buying the shift,” Shi Tao said.

"Buy a class? What do you mean?" Zhou Yi asked.

“The factory has a full attendance bonus, so taking leave would be a disadvantage. Therefore, workers usually either swap shifts with each other or pay a little extra on their original daily wage to have someone else cover their shift. Yao Fenfang is particularly concerned about her income and is the type of worker who is often asked by her coworkers to cover shifts. We took a statement from Jiang Guihua, and she confirmed that she had something to do at home that day and asked Yao Fenfang to cover her shift, and that she had arranged it with Yao Fenfang a day in advance.”

Zhou Yi suddenly realized: "Oh, I see. I've learned something new."

How could Zhou Yi not know about this? His family were all steel factory workers; he knew about things like substitute shifts and paid shifts when he was in elementary school.

He was simply pretending to be stupid so that Shi Tao could make his presence known.

"Zhou Yi, with this attendance sheet and Jiang Guihua's statement, shouldn't we be able to expose Yao Fenfang's lies?" someone asked.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yi shook his head: "Not enough!"

“Not enough? This should be enough to re-examine her,” Shi Tao said.

“That’s right, we can definitely use that as a starting point to reopen the investigation. But this isn’t direct evidence, and it can’t prove that the crime happened on March 1st. At most, Yao Fenfang will just admit that she lied or misremembered.” Zhou Yi said sharply, “You need to understand that if a mother is determined to take the blame for her daughter, all interrogation techniques will be in vain.”

"We must produce irrefutable evidence!"

The crowd's initially high morale was inevitably dampened.

Someone scoffed and said, "Then... all that searching for clues was for nothing."

Zhou Yi quickly said, "No, this clue is very useful. At least from our perspective, it has helped us determine the direction of our investigation. Why are we still investigating? It's to find out the truth and bring justice to the child who was murdered right after birth!"

"If everyone was just thinking about closing the case as soon as possible, it could have been closed yesterday, since Yao Fenfang confessed everything."

"So, Captain Shi, this clue is crucial because it tells us that we're heading in the right direction! We're not wrong!"

Zhou Yi's words instantly boosted morale, and even Shi Tao was moved by his words, nodding vigorously and saying, "That's right, we're on the right track!"

"Zhou Yi, what do you think we should do next? We'll listen to you!" He Bin said.

"Yes, we..." Shi Tao suddenly realized. Huh? Who exactly is your captain?

Zhou Yi said that the key now is to prove that Tang Xue was not born on February 28th.

However, there was no autopsy to prove the time of death, and the medical examination could only confirm that Tang Xue had given birth. There was also no video or other physical evidence to prove it.

The only way there is still a chance is through witness testimony!
If someone can prove that they saw Tang Xue on March 1st, then Yao Fenfang's fabricated lie will fall apart.

She claimed that Tang Xue was unaware of the process of her murder and dismemberment because Tang Xue had been severely weakened after giving birth and had been in a coma for a long time.

Even for women who have a normal vaginal delivery, it is common sense that they should not get out of bed and move around properly until a day later, and they should also avoid going out.

So if anyone saw Tang Xue outside on March 1st, it proves that she had not yet given birth at that time!
(End of this chapter)