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

Chapter 344 Nothing Gained

"Zhou Yi, let's go." Qiao Jiali called out from the doorway, bringing him back to his senses immediately.

When the two entered the Second Team's office, Pan Hongjie was sitting in a chair with his eyes closed, resting, rubbing his temples with one hand.

Xia Yu, who was standing to the side, was yawning and flipping through notes.

Hearing someone come in, Pan Hongjie opened his eyes and saw Zhou Yi walking in with a strange woman.

"Is this the forensic doctor from Hongcheng?" Pan Hongjie stood up and asked, and Xia Yu, who was standing next to him, quickly followed suit.

“Our forensic doctor Xu has already gone to the forensic lab. She said she needs to test the equipment first,” Zhou Yi introduced. “This is Qiao Jiali, a senior member of our Third Brigade.”

Qiao Jiali was the first to extend her hand and greet him, saying, "Hello, Captain Pan, I am Qiao Jiali, one of Captain Wu's subordinates. You can just call me Xiao Qiao."

"Welcome, welcome! Thank you for your great help!" Pan Hongjie said warmly, shaking hands with the woman.

"Not at all, Captain Wu asked me to thank you for taking care of Zhou Yi these past few days."

"Oh dear, I'm so ashamed. It's not like I'm taking care of anyone. It's all Zhou Yi who's been helping us. If it weren't for him, the case wouldn't have progressed so smoothly."

Hearing Pan Hongjie say that, Qiao Jiali turned her head and gave Zhou Yi a knowing smile.

This was a tacit understanding among the three teams; only those in the three teams knew just how formidable Zhou Yi was.

"By the way, is there any progress on Deputy Captain Wu's side? Zhou Yi said they went to Lujiang and found someone who resembles Fu Daqing?" Pan Hongjie asked expectantly.

"Captain Pan, the situation on Lu Jiang's side is not optimistic," Zhou Yi said.
"what's the situation?"

"Fu Daqing escaped before Captain Wu and his team arrived. During the pursuit, Fu Daqing accidentally fell off the overpass and was hit by a car. He is currently receiving emergency treatment."

“This…” Pan Hongjie was speechless.

In this matter, he felt the same way as Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi wanted to solve the case as soon as possible and go home, and as the person in charge of the case, he was even more eager to solve the case and deliver his report.

As a result, the investigation of the case has once again come to a standstill.

And the key point is that he stayed up all night trying to get the eagle's attention, but the woman just wouldn't let go.

It was essentially a complete loss, which is why Zhou Yi had a headache before he came in.

Sure enough, Zhou Yi also came to inquire about the interrogation of Huang Yanli.

Pan Hongjie shook his head helplessly: "To put it bluntly, I'm almost resorting to torture to extract a confession now."

"Xia, show the transcript you've prepared to Zhou Yi and Qiao Jiali."

Xia Yu nodded, rearranged the transcript, and handed it to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi then introduced Xia Yu to Qiao Jiali.

Pan Hongjie warmly invited the two to sit down and watch, and asked Xia Yu to make tea.

Zhou Yi and Qiao Jiali carefully reviewed the interrogation transcript. Zhou Yi knew that Huang Yanli was not easy to deal with, but to his surprise, Huang Yanli remained unusually calm throughout the interrogation and the murder charges.

Moreover, it's quite obvious that she prepared in advance, and it's even possible that she consulted a lawyer and sought professional legal advice.

Because Zhou Yi could tell from the statement that she had been opportunistic and changing her stance with the wind.

What she was observing was whether the police had any concrete evidence.

In other words, unless the police provide concrete evidence to definitively prove her innocence, she will deny everything and make excuses, resolutely refusing to confess.

Doing this requires strong mental fortitude; most people couldn't handle it.

Zhou Yi believed that Pan Hongjie had endured the hardships and must have said some threatening things.

The other party remained unmoved, and he was so angry that he was about to resort to torture to extract a confession.

The interrogation lasted for more than six hours, and there were a few key questions that could be summarized.

First, ask Huang Yanli, where exactly did Zheng Guangming go?
Huang Yanli's answer was: I don't know, and I don't care where he went. My husband and I have been having marital problems for a long time, which many people know, so I never ask about his whereabouts, nor do I want to. He can go wherever he wants, as long as the company is there and the money is there, that's fine.

She even asked Pan Hongjie, "So you know where he went? Or are you sure he's the one who died?"

Pan Hongjie naturally didn't let her lead him by the nose to answer her.

Second, why did she say Zheng Guangming had gone abroad when the police first came to investigate? But what she actually told Zheng Tianlan was that Zheng Guangming had been kidnapped by Bai Xiuxiu and might have been murdered?

This is not only contradictory, but it also involves providing false information to the police, and she should be held legally responsible.

On this issue, Huang Yanli directly shifted the blame to Zheng Tianlan. She said that on the evening of March 16th, she called Zheng Guangming to ask where he had put her child's vaccination certificate, because she needed to take her child for vaccinations in a few days.

Unexpectedly, Bai Xiuxiu answered the phone and told her that she and her accomplices had kidnapped her husband, Zheng Guangming, and demanded that she pay a ransom of 500,000 yuan immediately, or they would kill him.

She said she was terrified and was about to ask how to pay the ransom when she thought she heard a man laughing on the phone.

Therefore, she believed that Zheng Guangming and Bai Xiuxiu had deliberately joined forces to disgust and humiliate her, so she angrily hung up the phone and even unplugged the phone line. The next morning, she took her child and went back to her parents' home.

On March 18th, Zheng Tianlan came to her parents' house to find her, saying that she hadn't been able to contact Zheng Guangming for two days. Only then did she realize that the kidnapping call that night might be real.

She panicked immediately, realizing that it was very likely her actions that had killed Zheng Guangming.

She asked Zheng Tianlan what to do, saying that Zheng Tianlan had suggested not calling the police, and that if the police investigated and found out that she had indirectly caused the death, then things would be troublesome.

Therefore, Zheng Tianlan suggested that Zheng Guangming had gone abroad for an inspection, and told her to say this no matter who asked her.

This was a very ruthless move, because whether it was what she said or what Zheng Tianlan confessed, the two had this conversation in a private setting, and there was no third party to corroborate it.

Unless Zheng Tianlan had secretly recorded it, but in reality, he couldn't have done that with his skill level.

Moreover, Zheng Tianlan might eventually recant his confession and admit that he requested it for the safety of himself and his child. In that case, the criminal responsibility for providing false information would fall on him, and Huang Yanli would only be an accomplice.

The third question was about her relationship with Zheng Tianlan.

Huang Yanli retorted directly: Whatever my relationship with Zheng Tianlan may be, it's not illegal, is it?
Pan Hongjie could only say that whatever improper relationship you have is not illegal, but your relationship may lead to some malicious intentions and threaten Zheng Guangming's personal safety.

Huang Yanli countered with another question: "So you police have evidence that I have ill intentions towards my husband, Zheng Guangming? Or are you just making baseless guesses and engaging in induced interrogation without any evidence?"

This statement confirmed to Zhou Yi that Huang Yanli had consulted a lawyer and received professional legal advice.

These words were clearly taught to her by a lawyer; how could an ordinary person possibly understand what leading interrogation is?

Moreover, these words have a significant impact on the pace of the interrogation, because at this point, the key is to produce evidence.

Only by producing evidence can the legitimacy of the interrogation be proven.

Lacking evidence, Huang Yanli became even more confident, knowing that the police couldn't do anything to her.

However, saying it like that is tantamount to making things clear to the police.

If she were innocent, why would she consult a lawyer about how to deal with police interrogation and protect her interests from a legal perspective?

This is a situation where the fight has escalated to the point of bloodshed, and both sides are actually aware of the criminal facts.

But it all depends on how the game is played.

So, for the fourth question, Pan Hongjie tried to find loopholes in Huang Yanli's approach.

When asked why she lied about meeting Zheng Guangming, she was told, "The person you met at the nightclub was clearly Zheng Tianlan. Why did you lie to the police and say it was Zheng Guangming?"
But Huang Yanli's answer to this question surprised everyone, including Zhou Yi.

Huang Yanli said: Who said I lied? You only asked me how my husband and I met, but you didn't ask me how I met Zheng Tianlan. I met Zheng Guangming at a nightclub, and even earlier than I met Zheng Tianlan. However, we were together briefly before we broke up. Later, when I was dating Zheng Tianlan and went to his house, I found out that Zheng Guangming was his father.

She said that this was also the reason why she broke up with Zheng Tianlan shortly after meeting his parents.

As for why she got back together with Zheng Guangming later, she explained that after Zheng Guangming recognized her, he pursued her again, and she succumbed to his sweet talk.

Zhou Yi knew this woman was very cunning. He originally thought that she had turned to Zheng Guangming after discovering that Zheng Tianlan had little say in the Zheng family's money.

Little did she know that she and Zheng Guangming had known each other for a long time and had even had a romantic relationship.

Her so-called brief relationship followed by a breakup most likely means that Zheng Guangming took a liking to her at a nightclub, spent money to sleep with her, and then dumped her when he got tired of her.

It might not even be fair to say he dumped her; she was just one of the women Zheng Guangming had slept with.

Zhou Yi knew that her tearful story to Zheng Tianlan that night about losing her virginity to Zheng Guangming was pure nonsense. But what he couldn't understand was how this woman had managed to win over Zheng Guangming and even marry him.

He had to admit, this woman was truly cunning. Even in his previous life, let alone this one, he had rarely encountered such a formidable female criminal suspect.

The fifth question is, what is the story behind the 50,000 yuan? Why was the money withdrawn? What was the purpose? Where is the money now?

Huang Yanli said: "It's for my mom to buy gold."

Pan Hongjie asked: Did you buy the gold? Which store did you buy it from? How much did you buy? Where is it now?

Huang Yanli replied casually: I didn't buy it, I accidentally dropped the money on the way.

Pan Hongjie's reaction was not recorded in the statement, but it is easy to imagine that he must have been furious.

(End of this chapter)