Animal Detective

Chapter 175 Eyewitnesses
Shen Xin led Ding Yuwei along the ridgeline towards Lotus Peak.

There are only steps on the mountain path leading to Dingshan Temple to the south, and only a mountain path leading to Lotus Peak.

“Shen Xin, your guess is that between the 13th and the 15th, Zhu Guishen had an accident on the mountain and died, and his body has not been found.” Ding Yuwei said as she walked.

Shen Xin nodded.

“Look, firstly, Lao Zhou checked the surveillance footage of the roads near the farm, but he didn’t see Zhu Guishen or his farm’s beat-up pickup truck.”

“He accessed a wide range of surveillance footage and looked at it very carefully. If Zhu Guishen left the farm, it would be difficult for him to avoid being monitored.”

According to Zhou Zhongyi, he watched the surveillance footage for a whole week.

"He didn't go out, or rather, he didn't use normal channels to leave the area, so how did he disappear?"

Shen Xin countered with a question.

It can only be said that Zhou Zhongyi's suspicion of Yang Huixia was not arbitrary, because no clues were found regarding Zhu Guishen's disappearance.

They even inquired with railways, airplanes, relevant transportation routes, and scalpers, but still couldn't find Zhu Guishen.

How did he leave Nanjiang? He couldn't have walked there on foot.

If someone wants to disappear or leave, they don't have to make things so difficult for themselves.

Therefore, there is strong reason to suspect that Zhu Guishen has been murdered, and after investigating around him, Yang Huixia is the only suspicious person. So who else would they suspect if not her?

"He could only travel by mountain path, or rather, he didn't hide his whereabouts by crossing the mountain from this side of Dingshan, but was killed on Dingshan."

"There was an accident, he fell to his death, or something happened and he was murdered."

Mount Ding is not high, but rolling down it can still kill a person.

But Shen Xin prefers the latter.

There are many hikers who wander around aimlessly when they have nothing to do. If Zhu Guishen were to fall to his death by accident, the probability of him not being discovered for two years would be very small.

The most plausible explanation is that he was accidentally murdered and then his body was disposed of.

In one percent of cases, a crime of passion is committed due to some unexpected event.

"There are several reasons why I make this conjecture."

Shen Xin continued, "First, the cell phone."

After the incident, Zhu Guishen's cell phone was not found at the farm.

The phone was switched off the entire time I tried to call it.

Old Zhou also retrieved his phone's call records from the telecommunications company, which showed that the last call he received on his phone was at 3:17 PM on the 13th.

It was a harassing phone call.

Then they traced the IMEI code, and the last cell tower the phone connected to was the one closest to the farm, indicating that the phone had not left the cell tower's range at the time.

The base station's access history records show that the last connection record for this phone was at 4:00 AM on the 14th.

From that point on, the phone never connected to a base station again.

This also proves that Zhu Guishen's disappearance was not as simple as it seemed, because he no longer uses a mobile phone.

Even if you want to change your phone number, you don't need to change your phone; there will still be records of your connection to base stations.

Since there's no such thing, then it must be due to an accident, and the phone is permanently switched off.

Of course, judging from the access records on the mobile phone, it seems to be inconsistent with the time of Yang Huixia's unusual whereabouts on the afternoon of the 13th.

But this doesn't count as evidence.

Murder and when a cell phone is turned off are not causally related.

"Because his phone is permanently switched off, it further proves that he was not missing, but murdered."

"Second, as I said yesterday, I now believe that Yang Huixia deeply loves Zhu Guishen, and her motive for murdering him for insurance money may not be sufficient."

"There's also Yang Huixia's unusual behavior on the afternoon of the 13th. Her arrival in Dingshan at that time could be interpreted as a cover-up, a premeditated attempt to murder Zhu Guishen, but there's another possibility."

Shen Xin recounted how Yang Huixia often went to Lotus Peak to sit.

That day, Yang Huixia had another argument with Gou Jinlan and was feeling down. It was understandable that she went to a place she and Zhu Guishen often frequented to sit and calm down.

"Finally, Yang Huixia said that she and Zhu Guishen often go to Lotus Peak to sit for a while. Is there such a possibility?"

"On the 13th, Zhu Guishen and Yang Huixia had a fight, the farm was about to go bankrupt again, and the 3 yuan in cash prepared for the employees was forced to be returned to the supplier."

"He was worried about how to pay his employees' salaries, and feeling depressed, he chose to sit on the top of Lotus Peak to clear his mind."

"Then something unexpected happened on the mountain."

Yang Huixia's actions yesterday explained some of the questions and gave Shen Xin a basis for making this speculation.

Ding Yuwei nodded thoughtfully. Perhaps lost in thought, she didn't notice her footing and tripped over a stone, falling forward abruptly.

Shen Xin, who was walking ahead, instinctively hugged her.

"Are you okay?"

Shen Xin asked.

“It’s nothing.” Ding Yuwei shook her head, glanced at the stone that tripped her, and continued, “If we follow your theory, Zhu Guishen should have come to Lotus Peak to relax on the night of the 13th, and then the accident happened.”

"Because if Yang Huixia also went to Lotus Peak that afternoon, she sat there until evening before returning to Pingyu."

"So Zhu Guishen could only have gone there at night. After the accident, his phone ran out of battery at four in the morning, or it was taken and destroyed by the murderer."

Shen Xin nodded, "That's right."

As he was speaking, Shen Xin saw a sanitation worker wearing a yellow vest by the side of the mountain road ahead.

He was smoking next to the trash can, leaning against a forest fire prevention notice board.

"You're Grandpa Wang, right?"

Shen Xin walked over.

There are two people responsible for cleaning the perimeter of Dingshan. One is Fan Ting, whom I inquired about beforehand.

There's another one named Wang Linhong, who should be the old man in front of us.

The two of them were responsible for the ridgeline from Dingshan Temple to Lianhua Peak. They would stroll around twice a day and empty the trash cans.

"What do you do?"

He stubbed out his cigarette and asked somewhat nervously.

Shen Xinliang checked his ID, and seemed even more nervous. He then stomped on the cigarette butt under his feet.

"Sir, I have a question for you. Do you remember those two days, between May 13th and 14th, 2015?"

"On Labor Day, you didn't get a holiday, so you were given a box of salted duck eggs. You were late and hadn't received yours yet, so they gave you a replacement later. Do you remember?"

You might not remember the exact date if you were asked a normal question, but you can usually remember what happened on that day.

Sure enough, when Shen Xin mentioned that he hadn't received the salted duck eggs, Wang Linhong immediately remembered.

"Yes, that's right, there is such a thing."

Once you have a point of reference, it becomes much easier to think about what comes next.

Wang Linhong frowned and thought carefully.

"The 13th?"

"We said we'd take turns, but there's no hard and fast rule. We just wander around. I like going out for walks, and nobody cares."

"If you ask me if there was anything special about the 13th, it seems like there really wasn't."

"As for the 14th... what day of the week is that?"

As he thought about it, he clapped his hands and said, "I remember now, I met someone that morning."

He pointed to the east and continued, "My home is near Da'an Bridge in the east. We said we'd start work at eight, but we have to arrive half an hour early."

“Then you have to climb the mountain to check in. I’m old and I climb slowly, so I usually leave before six o’clock and take the road to Li Family Tomb.”

He pointed south.

There are several paths leading up Dingshan Mountain.

Between Lotus Peak and Dingshan Temple, at the lowest point of the ridgeline, there is a trail leading up the mountain.

Then, at the foot of the mountain, next to the trail, there is a Li family ancestral tomb. This trail is usually referred to as the tomb.

"It was already light at six o'clock, and when I was about halfway there, around six-thirty, I saw someone coming down from above."

"It was a man, he looked quite young, and he was carrying a shovel. I don't know where he went."

"It was only a little past six o'clock, and it's rare to go hiking that early, especially with a shovel. But I didn't think much of it and just went up the mountain."

"Then you ask about people and things that seem unusual, does that count?"

Shen Xin nodded excitedly.

That's a great deal!
Just like Wang Linhong said, even if you get up early to climb a mountain, you should be climbing up the mountain at around 6 a.m., not walking down the mountain.

Most importantly, he also carried a shovel.

It's hard not to suspect that he dug a pit on the mountain to bury the body.

(End of this chapter)