Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 162 The Hand of God 15
The firefighters have become suspects?
Tan Jia suddenly realized: "It's quite possible. He killed someone, but because he rushed to the front to save people, none of us suspected him."

Zheng Yan wasn't surprised. He'd been a criminal investigator for years, and even if he hadn't thought of it, he'd seen it before: "Arsonists do have a habit of returning to the scene of a crime. In cases involving murder, his eagerness to rush ahead might be an attempt to sabotage the investigation."

Some murderers are cold-blooded and ruthless, with good psychological qualities. Returning to the scene of the murder allows them to witness their "heroic deeds" and destroy evidence. They can even act as helpful bystanders without batting an eye, actively guiding the police to the crime scene for investigation.

Such people are usually arrogant, conceited, and lack empathy; they are potential candidates for murdering relatives and friends or becoming serial killers.

This doesn't quite match their speculation that they "had a grudge against the Li family."

But after listening, Tan Jia thought about it again and felt that something was still not right. Holding the dough figurine like a string of pearls, he pondered and said:
"But he couldn't find the two pieces of evidence that could prove the deceased died from a arson fire: the cooling spray and the lighter. And judging from the results of the forensic examination, he didn't seem to have destroyed any clues."

"Also, that cooling spray wasn't a timer, and the lighter was brought by the Qin family. Nobody was sure the deceased would secretly take it into the room to play with it. How could he know when it would start a fire?"

Xiao Chen had the same question: "Moreover, Old Li wasn't home when the fire broke out, ensuring that no one could rescue the deceased. Could he have installed surveillance cameras in the deceased's room to keep an eye on when the fire would start?"

Tan Ming also said, "Moreover, the crime scene and the state of the deceased are similar to the case of Liu Sulan and her son fifteen years ago. If it was deliberately designed, what was his motive? Did he have feelings for Liu Sulan fifteen years ago?"

“If that’s really the case, it definitely can’t be kept from everyone,” Zheng Yan said meaningfully. “The long-time residents in the community know more than a web browser.”

So they plan to visit their neighbors again, especially the group that participated in putting out the fire this morning.

Based on Xiao Chen's previous investigation, they already knew the man's name: Kuang Fan, 42 years old, a psychologist, with a son and a daughter. The family of four lived in Unit 6 of the Jinxiu Jiayuan residential complex, which was the building directly opposite the deceased's home.

On the surface, this person has no relation to the Li family and no connection to Liu Sulan, so it's impossible to tell that he would be the arsonist.

Tan Jia wondered if her longtime neighbor could spot anything new or suspicious.

Surprisingly, everyone who participated in the survey had a very good impression of Kuang Fan.

"Dr. Kuang is a very good person! He's capable, speaks kindly, and often helps us maintain the community environment. Unlike Old Man Li's son, who became some kind of official, wears glasses, and thinks he's all that. He doesn't even come back to see his own father properly."

"Before I met Dr. Kwong, I didn't know that there were male psychologists. He speaks softly and can chat with anyone. Moreover, he is really capable. There was a high school senior in Building 6 who was under too much pressure and wanted to jump off the building. It was Dr. Kwong who persuaded him until his throat was swollen before he finally calmed him down."

“Many children nowadays have psychological problems, so we send them to Dr. Kuang. He is meticulous and can find many problems that we parents overlook. We all want the best for our children… People often travel a long way to see him for treatment, whether it's depression or schizophrenia. He tries his best to treat them. However, he is too straightforward and sometimes he gets extorted by patients' families.”

Tan Jia's eyebrows rose higher and higher as he listened.

She shifted her position and spoke quietly with Zheng Yan and the others: "So, Kuang Fan is a very good person, spending all his time saving lives in the field of psychology? How could someone like that have a motive to kill someone?"

Zheng Yan pondered, "Yes, according to Old Man Li, they took the deceased to be treated for post-traumatic stress disorder many years ago, but it didn't work, so they stopped going. Even though there was an excellent psychologist living in the same neighborhood, they didn't seek treatment. But Kuang Fan met with the deceased yesterday and even seemed to have given him a cooling spray. Why did they have contact?" Xiao Chen asked, "Was Kuang Fan's professional habit kicking in and he wanted to treat the deceased?"

That's quite possible, after all, according to everyone, Kuang Fan is such a kind-hearted person.

However, they asked other more targeted questions, carefully considering the degree to avoid making people suspect that they suspected Kuang Fan of being the murderer.

"His relationship with the Li family? They have no relationship. But Dr. Kuang probably feels sorry for Li Xin and talks to him. Sometimes when he encounters children with psychological problems but whose parents don't care, he will talk to them and help as many as he can. Look at him this morning, he was the first to rush to put out the fire, and when he saw Li Xin... sigh, he was stunned."

"Aunt Qin's grandson? He's not very promising, always playing outside. But he's quite filial to Aunt Qin, and he doesn't really object to Old Man Li and Aunt Qin's twilight romance. He even said he'd help take a look. As for him and Dr. Kuang? They're practically unrelated."

“Dr. Kwong moved in twelve years ago, the second year after we arrived. But everyone says he should move out in the next two years. He wants to make money and take his children to better schools. We understand that. His mental health clinic should do better business in a slightly better place. It is said that the mental health problems of students are more serious in those better schools.”

Liu Sulan had her accident 15 years ago. At that time, Kuang Fan's family had not yet moved into this community, and they had no private connection with Liu Sulan.

Kuang Fan was a good person, and the deceased was a reclusive person who rarely went out. Apart from occasionally exchanging greetings and exchanging gifts yesterday, there was no conflict or entanglement between them.

Kuang Fan had absolutely no motive to kill the person.

Zheng Yan thought for a moment and said, "Let's just go and ask Kuang Fan directly."

After taking a few steps, he said to Tan Ming, "There are very few surveillance cameras in this community, so we still have to rely on human eyes. Go and ask other people if they saw Kuang Fan looking for things everywhere after putting out the fire, or if they noticed that his expression was off."

"One more thing, keep an eye on Li Shixun."

After making the arrangements, Zheng Yan led his people to Kuang Fan's psychological clinic.

The clinic is located on the fourth floor of a commercial plaza. It's quite large and decorated like the lobby of a high-end company. People who walk in lower their voices as if five thousand yuan is automatically deducted from their access cards as soon as they step in, and dare not make a loud noise.

Once inside, there were quite a few people in the waiting area, sitting ignoring each other. Some were pale and had blank stares, while others were clearly restless and trembling, breathing heavily.

Zheng Yan was surprised and muttered, "Are the mental health problems of teenagers these days really that serious?"

Tan Jia didn't answer. Kuang Fan's assistant came to stop them. Hearing that they were there to investigate a case, he didn't back down, saying that the patient's psychological treatment could not be interrupted, and that if the problem children/young people here all went berserk, it would be difficult to handle.

They could only sit and wait. As they passed the examination room, Tan Jia saw through a narrow pane of glass that a pair of twin boys were sitting inside. Kuang Fan, sitting opposite them, was frowning and seemed to be examining the wounds on the two boys' arms.

(End of this chapter)