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

Chapter 412 Lu Xiaoshuang's Confession
"What's so strange about it?" Qiao Jiali asked hurriedly.

Lu Xiaoshuang's words startled both Zhou Yi and Chen Yan, especially Zhou Yi.

Lu Xiaoshuang said, "The person was wearing a long black coat and trousers, and was wearing gloves, a hat, a mask and sunglasses."

If it weren't for the screen separating them, Zhou Yi would have rushed in to confirm with Lu Xiaoshuang right now.

The person Lu Xiaoshuang described was dressed exactly like the mysterious person she had chased on Daguan Street that day.
Is it Xiao Bing? It must be him. He's disguised and waiting for an opportunity to follow Lu Xiaoshuang.

Qiao Jiali immediately pressed, "Did you get a clear look at this person's physical features?"

Lu Xiaoshuang shook her head: "No, she was completely covered up, so I couldn't see her at all. Besides, after she got on the bus, she sat in the last row. I was sitting in the row next to the ticket seller, and I didn't turn around to look."

On April 30th, the temperature in Hongcheng was between 16 and 28 degrees Celsius, which wasn't very high, but it was still quite hot to be dressed like that at midday.

"You should be able to see how tall and fat this person is, right?"

Lu Xiaoshuang nodded and said, "She's very thin. As for height, she should be a little taller than me, but she was wearing a hat, so I'm not sure."

Lu Xiaoshuang is 1.62 meters tall. If she could feel that someone was significantly taller than her, then she would be at least 5 centimeters taller, plus the interference from the hat she was wearing.

Xiao Bing is thin and not tall; her medical examination report states she is 1.71 meters tall.

Theoretically, their height and build are also very similar.

It was very similar to the mysterious man in black that Zhou Yi had seen that day, except that the man in black was running, so Zhou Yi's estimation of the height would have been more inaccurate.

"Lu Xiaoshuang, do you think the other person is male or female?" Qiao Jiali asked.

"It must be a woman."

"Why are you so sure?"

Lu Xiaoshuang gestured to her shoulder, "Because her hair is about this long..."

Zhou Yi was taken aback. Was she disguised? Using a wig? But she hadn't found a wig at Xiao Bing's house.

But Lu Xiaoshuang's next words left him speechless.

“Oh, when she was buying the ticket, the ticket seller asked her where she was going, and she said two words, ‘to the end.’” Lu Xiaoshuang said with certainty, “Although she only said those two words, I was sure it was a woman’s voice.”

Zhou Yi was stunned. A woman?
If hair can be disguised, what about voice?

Although Xiao Bing is a refined and gentle person, his voice is still a normal male voice and it is impossible for him to disguise it as a woman's voice.

Men and women have different voices. Even if a man tries to imitate a woman's voice in a pinched voice, it will be easy for people to tell immediately because it will sound very strange.

How did another woman suddenly appear out of nowhere?
Or was this person on the bus just a coincidence? A complete stranger?
After all, no one says you can't wear a mask, hat, and sunglasses when you go out.

In the video, Qiao Jiali asks, "Which station did this person get on the train?"

"They got on the train after me at the same stop as me."

"Which stop did you get off at?"

Lu Xiaoshuang frowned and thought for a moment: "I'm not too sure about that, because I was the first one to get off the train when we arrived at our stop, and I didn't pay much attention to the others."

Did you see Xiao Bing in the car?

"Teacher Xiao? No."

Are you sure?

Lu Xiaoshuang nodded: "Definitely, there's no one I know in the car."

Qiao Jiali suddenly asked, "Lu Xiaoshuang, would you like some water?"

Lu Xiaoshuang hesitated for a moment, but nodded nonetheless. Qiao Jiali got up, poured a glass of water, and handed it to her. Lu Xiaoshuang obediently said thank you, Officer Qiao.

No one in the Third Brigade would consider this girl a criminal suspect. This was not favoritism; it was precisely because of their trust in Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang.

Conducting investigations and interrogations is a matter of respecting the law and fulfilling the duties of the people's police.

After taking a couple of sips of water, Lu Xiaoshuang spoke up, saying, "I can continue."

"Which stop did you get off at?"

"Ergang Qianjie Station".

Zhou Yi knew exactly where Lu Xiaoshuang got off the bus. It was only about fifty or sixty meters away from his dormitory at the No. 2 Steel Plant, and it was right next to a main road, so it should be quite safe at midday.

Unless it's a situation where a van suddenly stops and people are forcibly arrested on the street, but that's usually something organized criminal gangs would do because it requires the cooperation of many people.

Moreover, such blatant kidnapping is easily witnessed.

The characteristics of suspects in this type of crime are quite different from those in dismemberment cases.

"After getting off the bus, I went straight to Officer Zhou's house, which is the No. 2 Steel Company dormitory."

"Nothing happened in between?"

“No, I went upstairs and knocked on Officer Zhou’s door, but… there was no response.” Lu Xiaoshuang hesitated for a moment before saying, “So I used my key to open the door.”

At this moment, Xiang Jie's voice came through the camera, and he asked in surprise, "You have a key to Zhou Yi's house?"

The group of people who were watching TV all turned around and looked at Zhou Yi.

But immediately, Lu Xiaoshuang on TV explained, "No, no, I saw Officer Zhou hide the spare key under the flowerpot by the front door. I was worried that something might happen to him inside, so I opened the door without permission." Everyone's attention returned to the TV.

Zhou Yi was suddenly startled. Could it be that the murderer had followed Lu Xiaoshuang to her house and then drugged her?
Fortunately, Lu Xiaoshuang said that when she entered the house, she found that there was no one inside at all, and it didn't look like anyone had lived there recently, so she left.

"Lu Xiaoshuang, didn't you have any doubts about what Xiao Bing said at the time?" Qiao Jiali asked.

"At the time... I did feel that something was wrong. Thinking about it carefully, if Officer Zhou really had something to talk to me about, he should have come to the school directly. If he was too busy and just happened to run into Teacher Xiao, then it would have made sense for me to come to the police station to find him."

Although Lu Xiaoshuang is a smart person, she is still just a naive 19-year-old female college student, and no one has taught her how to be wary of others. When faced with unexpected situations, her thinking is not comprehensive enough.

However... even if she had been more careful at the time, she might not have been able to escape the killer's clutches.

Because the murderer is in the shadows, while Lu Xiaoshuang is in the light.

As long as the threat remains, she will always be in danger.

Even if she contacted Zhou Yi and confirmed that Xiao Bing was lying to her, it would only solve the immediate problem.

The fundamental problem remains.

As for Zhou Yi, even if he suspects Xiao Bing, he wouldn't arrest him just because Xiao Bing told a lie.

At most, I'll just give him a warning.

But if he really is a deranged killer who has his eye on Lu Xiaoshuang, then the warning might only enrage him.

Qiao Jiali asked, "Where did you go after leaving Officer Zhou's house?"

It was only then that Zhou Yi noticed that Lu Xiaoshuang's expression was starting to look a little dazed.

"I plan to go to my grandma's house first. My grandma lives with my second and third uncles in a large courtyard. Aunt Zhang's house, which faces south in that courtyard, got a telephone installed last year. I want to borrow the phone there and then call Officer Zhou to verify something."

Zhou Yi remembered that Lu Xiaoshuang had come to his house several times before, and it seemed that she had come from school.

He didn't know which bus to take to get to her grandmother's house.

"However, I wasn't sure which bus to take, so I wanted to ask someone. After leaving the No. 2 Steel dormitory, I saw an aunt selling apples on the roadside, so I asked her how to get there."

This information greatly encouraged Zhou Yi, because it meant that there were witnesses to Lu Xiaoshuang going to his house, which, together with the bus conductor earlier, confirmed the truth of Lu Xiaoshuang's words.

"The aunt told me that I could take bus number 134, which goes to the vicinity of Xingnan Road."

Zhou Yi had just taken a bite of wontons when he heard this and suddenly looked up. He had a premonition that something bad was about to happen.

Because the bus stop for route 134 is on the back street of the No. 2 Steel Company dormitory, you have to go through an alley next to it to get there.

This alley is only about two meters wide. On the left is the wall of the No. 2 Steel dormitory area, and on the right used to be a scrap metal recycling station. Later, due to some incident, it was ordered to move away and has been empty ever since.

The grass there grew taller than a person. When Zhou Yi was a child, he and the neighbor's kids would go there to "hunt for treasure." As a result, the three kids lifted a tire and found a nest of snakes coiled inside.

The three of them screamed and ran home. From then on, whenever Zhou Yi passed by this alley, he would instinctively walk close to the dormitory wall and keep a safe distance.

Sure enough, Lu Xiaoshuang said that her aunt had given her directions, saying that she could just go through the alley ahead and walk a little further to the right of the bus stop.

"To express my gratitude, I bought a few apples from the aunt. Then I walked into that alley, and when I was about halfway there, I suddenly felt like someone was following me. Just as I was about to turn around, someone covered my mouth from behind..." Lu Xiaoshuang's body began to tremble, a very obvious reaction of fear.

Afterwards, Zhou Yi made a request to Liang Wei: to compare Lu Xiaoshuang's fearful reaction during interrogation with the reaction Ding Chunmei had filmed when Lu Xiaoshuang was held hostage by Bai Mao, to prove whether Lu Xiaoshuang was faking it. Qiao Jiali hurriedly asked, "How did they take you hostage? What did they do after taking you hostage?"

"He...he restrained my body from behind with one hand, and with the other hand he had a wad of cloth covering my mouth. There must have been something on that wad of cloth, because it smelled pungent, but also had a faint fragrance."

It is ether. Ether has a slightly sweet smell, but it also has a pungent odor.

Ether is also a commonly used anesthetic drug, but it is highly volatile and can only be stored in sealed containers.

Qiao Jiali asked, "Did you struggle?"

Tears streamed down Lu Xiaoshuang's face as she trembled and said, "I struggled, but he was too strong, and I couldn't break free at all. He dragged me into the bushes next to him, and I felt dizzy and disoriented. I couldn't muster any strength, and then I passed out."

Qiao Jiali then asked, "Lu Xiaoshuang, please recall carefully how long the whole process lasted from when the other party grabbed you and covered your mouth and nose until you finally passed out?"

Upon hearing this question, Zhou Yi couldn't help but exclaim in her heart: Sister Qiao, this is such a great question!

He turned to look at Qiao Jiali beside him, his eyes filled with gratitude.

Upon seeing this, Qiao Jiali smiled slightly.

This question, and Lu Xiaoshuang's answer, are very important.

It could even be said to be one of the keys to confirming whether Lu Xiaoshuang was lying.

Lu Xiaoshuang replied that it should have lasted for more than half a minute, because she struggled desperately at first, but then she felt weaker and weaker, and finally her consciousness became blurred and she fainted.

Although ether is an anesthetic drug, it does not mean that smelling ether will make a person unconscious.

The legendary "miracle drugs" that supposedly make someone faint by covering their mouth and nose or obey by patting their shoulder do not exist; they are all exaggerated and based on hearsay.

Without a professional inhalation device to release anesthetic drugs, it generally takes more than 40 seconds to knock someone unconscious by pouring ether on a towel and covering their mouth and nose. If the time is too short, the person will not be unconscious enough, and if the time is too long, the person will be suffocated to death.

If Lu Xiaoshuang is a criminal suspect or accomplice who wants to lie and escape punishment by being held hostage, this is a crucial point for determining the truth.

Most people are influenced by movies and TV series and think that if you cover someone up for ten or eight seconds, they will faint.

But only criminal investigators have this experience and know the actual situation.

Even ordinary medical staff may not know this, because no one in the hospital would do this with anesthesia.

So if Lu Xiaoshuang answered that she immediately fainted, she would be suspected.

It's also abnormal to give such a precise answer in seconds, because at that point, who could calmly count down the seconds?

The correct answer is one where the timeframe is ambiguous but the scope is correct.

“Lu Xiaoshuang, don’t be afraid. You are in the police station now, which is the safest place. No one can hurt you,” Qiao Jiali comforted her.

But when people are afraid and sad, what they can't stand the most is other people's concern.

Qiao Jiali's words caused Lu Xiaoshuang to break down and begin to sob uncontrollably with her head down.

At this moment, Liang Wei's voice came through the camera: "Let's hold the interrogation for a while. There are some things we need to deal with."

Then a hand appeared in the shot, and the recording paused.

It was only then that Zhou Yi realized that Liang Wei had been in the interrogation room the whole time, not in the listening room next door, but had not said a word.

Zhou Yi glanced at the head of the Major Crimes Division from the General Team and knew that he must have been observing Lu Xiaoshuang's every subtle reaction.

The situation he described was, of course, his own report to Ni Jianrong about Xiao Bing's escape.

Liang Wei stood up and said to everyone, "This is the first interrogation video. There's another one, which Comrades Xiang Jie and Qiao Jiali just brought over. I haven't seen the second one either, but we'll watch it together in a bit. But before that, I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts after watching this interrogation video."

"Speak freely and without restraint."

After a brief silence, someone spoke up: "Judging from her reaction during the interrogation, I believe that Lu Xiaoshuang, like Xu Liu, is a victim in this case. Her descriptions were very clear and logical, without any ambiguity."

"Moreover, when she mentioned the bus ticket seller and the woman selling apples, she was clearly referring to them, especially the ticket seller. It's easy to find out who was on duty that day. If she wanted to hide it, she shouldn't have included such a clearly targeted eyewitness in her description."

Liang Wei nodded and concluded, "It's simply that he has no guilty conscience."

The man immediately nodded: "Yes, there was no sign of guilt."

Does anyone else have any opinions?

Chen Yan raised his hand and said, "I think the question that Sister Qiao asked was particularly good."

Liang Wei asked with some surprise and delight, "Oh? How did it get better? Tell me."

Chen Yan explained his thoughts on the onset time of ether, which received Liang Wei's nod of approval. This surprised Zhou Yi, as he clearly felt that Chen Yan was making rapid progress.

"Zhou Yi, what are your thoughts?" Liang Wei asked, calling out his name.

Everyone looked at him, after all, he was practically a party to the case in this interrogation video.

"Okay, Captain Liang, then I'll share my thoughts."

"Actually, everyone has already mentioned several key points in the interrogation, so I won't go into detail. I'd like to go back to the source of the case and share my thoughts. I'd like to start with the formation of the murderer's criminal psychology and motives."

"As you all know, Hongcheng recently solved a dismemberment case, the Zhang Hui case in Donghai Community. The murderer in this case, Xu Jiaguang, has several prominent characteristics: a distorted upbringing, a strong desire for psychological control and physical desires, a paranoid personality, extreme selfishness, and self-centeredness, but he hides it very well in front of outsiders and is actually a well-regarded good person."

"Xu Jiaguang's decision to kill Zhang Hui seems to stem from his son's illness and Zhang Hui's demolition compensation. But if he were an ordinary person with a normal upbringing and life experience, he would never have thought of achieving his goal by murdering and dismembering her."

Zhou Yi added, "Although this may sound pessimistic, the fact is that when ordinary people are overwhelmed by life and hardship, their final choice is often suicide rather than crime."

These words left everyone sighing, because what Zhou Yi said was true: the vast majority of ordinary people are cowardly yet kind.

To end one's life is the last act of courage an ordinary person has when faced with despair.

"Therefore, Xu Jiaguang's descent into murder and dismemberment is inextricably linked to his previous life experiences, because these experiences are the real reasons for the formation of his criminal psychology. His son's illness and the demolition compensation were merely the triggers that ignited his criminal intent."

"Sorry, I've digressed. Let's get back to the major case. Regarding Lu Xiaoshuang being a suspect, I'd like to analyze the possibility of how her criminal psychology developed. I'm sure everyone is familiar with Lu Xiaoshuang's personal situation. If the conflict between her and Xu Liu could be the trigger for her criminal intent, then how did her criminal psychology develop?"

"If she killed someone in a fit of rage during an argument with Xu Liu after the conflict erupted, then it can be concluded that she was emotionally unstable and committed a crime of passion because she could not withstand the stimulation."

"But what kind of case is the Hongda case now? It is a premeditated murder case with a meticulous criminal plan, so the murderer must have had reasons and experiences that led to the development of the criminal psychology."

"Lu Xiaoshuang simply did not have the conditions to develop such an extreme criminal mentality. She left her parents at the age of thirteen to come to Hongcheng. Although living conditions were relatively difficult, her academic performance was always among the best. Junior high school was compulsory education, and although high school was tuition-free, Lu Xiaoshuang was the child of educated youth, and Hongcheng had a policy of reducing or exempting education fees for the children of educated youth, so the money her parents sent was enough."

"As far as I know, Lu Xiaoshuang only started looking for long-term part-time jobs after the college entrance examination, in order to reduce the burden on her family and earn living expenses and tuition fees. This is because the cost of university is much higher than that of junior and senior high school, and there are no longer any policy subsidies."

"So she was a typical student who lived in relatively difficult conditions but studied very hard."

"Then I'll talk about something else, the Zhang Hui case I mentioned earlier. At that time, Xu Jiaguang and Zhang Hui's daughter, Xu Xinxin, had some problems, and all of us were at a loss. In the end, Lu Xiaoshuang comforted the child and took care of her for us until we settled her in the welfare home. Later, Lu Xiaoshuang and I even visited the child at the welfare home."

Zhou Yi pointed to the still image on the TV and said, "There was another detail just now. Lu Xiaoshuang said that she asked a street vendor for directions and then bought a few apples. You can imagine, under those circumstances, would she have had the leisure to buy fruit? The real reason she bought fruit was because she felt embarrassed that the other person had helped her, so she bought some fruit to express her gratitude."

"These subconscious details are the best indicators of a person's true character."

"Captain Liang, I'm done speaking."

Zhou Yi did not give a final conclusion because his conclusion was already contained in every sentence.

He did not analyze the alibis and physical evidence because he knew these could be verified in subsequent investigations.

He was talking about criminal psychology and criminal motives.

In professional terms, this is called criminal profiling, a psychological criminal investigation technique developed by the FBI in the 1970s.

The core objective is to analyze crime scene characteristics, victim information, behavioral patterns, and other factors to infer the personality traits, lifestyle habits, psychological motivations, and potential social attributes of unknown suspects, thereby narrowing the scope of investigation and optimizing the allocation of police resources.

Its essence is "behavioral evidence analysis".

Theoretical research was introduced in China in the late 1990s, and even FBI experts were invited to provide training. It was not until the early 2000s that preliminary practical applications began.

Like micro-expression research, Zhou Yi knows a little about it, but he can't be considered an expert.

However, this analytical perspective that specifically analyzes criminal psychology had not yet been formed in the case-handling practices of that era.

Liang Wei neither expressed his opinion nor agreed nor disagreed, and didn't even respond, leaving everyone present somewhat bewildered.

However, Zhou Yi was very calm, because for him, he had already said what he wanted to say.

He believed that the head of the Major Crimes Division of the Provincial Criminal Investigation Corps must already have the answer in his heart.

After all, in his previous life, just three months before his rebirth, the department had held a memorial service for Liang Wei, the former deputy director of the provincial public security department and head of the criminal investigation team, who was 72 years old.

Zhou Yi heard that Deputy Director Liang's last words before his death were: if the huge case is ever solved, be sure to burn the case report for him, so that he can rest in peace in the afterlife.

(End of this chapter)