Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 769 Interrogation of Zheng Amei

Having confirmed that the hotel cleaner, Zheng Amei, was a suspect, Huang Mao quickly led his men to the hotel where the incident occurred. Within about an hour, they had her brought back to the station.

He was just a hotel employee, so the arrest was simple and smooth, and he obediently followed the police into the cage.

Without offering any resistance, not even a verbal explanation or question, they simply followed the police quietly with their heads down.

She signed whatever was asked to be signed, and took out whatever was asked to be taken out. Even when the police searched her in a circle, they forgot to call a stop, but she kept circling around.

Even Jiang Hai, who was still studying at the police academy, felt that Zheng Amei was 200% suspicious.

Chen Shu turned to Jiang Hai and asked, "Did you find anything suspicious about the victim's phone records that you and Huang Mao investigated earlier?"

“Brother Huang doesn’t have a digital certificate, so we can’t access the information. Also, the phone is an Apple brand, and the screen is locked, so we can’t access the social media records at all.”

"It's harder than a gold vault!" Jiang Hai said indignantly.

Young people today typically use mobile apps to contact friends, including text messages and voice calls, all of which are done within these apps.

Phone calls and text messages are rarely used by people in their age group.

The security of iPhones is indeed a headache, and there is still no solution.

As he spoke, Jiang Hai looked at Ma Rongcheng and said sweetly, "Teacher Ma, may I borrow your digital certificate for a moment? I want to check the phone records of the deceased and Zheng Amei."

Ma Rongcheng's certificate was plugged into the computer at that moment, but Jiang Hai still politely inquired about it, which won Ma Rongcheng's great favor.

"Just use it. By the way, do you know how to operate it? If you want to learn, I'll teach you." After listening to Chen Shu's reasoning, Ma Rongcheng also seemed quite interested and began to operate the machine to retrieve the data of Zheng Amei, the hotel's cleaning lady, step by step.

Men, as they get older, tend to become more inclined to act as teachers.

After half an hour of searching, the computer system only listed Zheng Amei's recent contacts and did not analyze any useful information.

Due to the popularity of social media, the other suspect who maintained contact with Zheng Amei may not appear in the call log, but may appear on WeChat or QQ.

Some criminals with strong counter-surveillance capabilities often use foreign software that has not obtained official permission in China for internal communication.

Large-scale software includes Telegram, Bluebird, and TikTok. These instant messaging software either have servers located overseas or provide point-to-point encrypted communication. Secondly, they can also be set to "self-destruct messages" to automatically delete chat history after a certain period of time.

The more ruthless ones source their software directly from Africa and Southeast Asia, where the software is even more unruly, directly using illegal VoIP traffic.

Faced with these new-era criminal methods, traditional call detail record (CDR) analysis has become largely meaningless, and therefore it is no longer as important as before.

Jiang Hai was somewhat discouraged, but Chen Shu didn't care. The focus of the case was still on the people. Once the suspect was in place, there was nothing that couldn't be solved.

Interrogation is also one of the most basic and essential skills for a criminal investigation police officer.

“Although WeChat is popular now and saves money, I don’t believe they won’t even make a phone call.” Ma Rongcheng’s temper flared up as he pounded on the keyboard without turning his head. “I’ll try other methods to see if I can find the mastermind behind this. You guys go ahead and do your other things. I’ll let you know if I find any clues.”

On the one hand, there is a shortage of police manpower, and not enough officers are available to investigate each person on the call log. On the other hand, Zheng Amei has already been arrested, and if they can get her dealt with, everything will fall into place. Therefore, while both aspects of the work need to be carried out, the focus of the case should still be on interrogating Zheng Amei.

Chen Shu nodded: "Expert Ma, then I'll leave this to you."

After the meeting, Chen Shu, along with Huang Mao, the police officer in charge of the case, prepared to interrogate the suspect, Zheng Amei, in the interrogation room.

Before leading the men into the interrogation room, Chen Shu quietly pulled Huang Mao aside and asked if there were any procedural issues with this operation, since they were police officers from another province.

As a former border guard who had just been demobilized, Huang Mao naturally knew nothing about the matter.

Chen Shu then asked the other party to find someone to assist in the case, and Huang Mao, as expected, continued to shake his head.

This situation has become somewhat passive, as the case is now steadily progressing and this case, which was initially wrongly judged as a "suicide," is increasingly showing signs of turning into a murder case.

Under these circumstances, the leadership of the Criminal Investigation Brigade remained silent, and Chen Shu, who came from another province, couldn't figure out the problem for a long time.

"Hey, what are you afraid of!"

Just as Chen Shu was struggling with his decision, forensic doctor Lao Tang walked in, shaking his head and with his hands behind his back.

He smiled broadly: "Although we are forensic doctors, we are also real criminal police officers. With me and Xiao Huang here, we are two genuine police officers, and there is absolutely no problem with the procedures!"

When the case occurred, forensic doctor Lao Tang insisted on solving the case by dissecting the corpse. He was the one who put in the effort, and according to his usual practice, the criminal police officers handling the case couldn't be happier to have him take charge.

However, the young detective from another province unusually stopped him from performing the autopsy, saying that he pitied the victim's fate and that if there were other methods, he should avoid using a knife.

At the time, Lao Tang even laughed at the other party, saying that a dignified people's policeman was superstitious.

Later, I overheard Huang Mao talking about Captain Chen's exploits in Nanjiang, and I learned that he was a ruthless character who single-handedly took down a group of terrorists.

This cold-blooded guy who kills without blinking an eye becomes unusually considerate of people here, which greatly changed Old Tang's impression of him. Thinking about it carefully, he also found it interesting.

At this point, Lao Tang began to understand that Chen Shu's actions were not out of superstition, but rather out of respect and sympathy for the victims and their families.

The fact that cold-bloodedness and tenderness could coexist in one person is something that Old Tang, who had grown somewhat weary of studying human anatomy, suddenly found this complex human nature even more fascinating, especially since it was his colleague who was also a police officer.

"Officer Chen, I'm counting on you from now on." Old Tang politely extended his right hand into the house.

"No, no, not at all. Forensic Doctor Tang, the case still needs to be decided by you. I'm just here to lend a hand," Chen Shu quickly said modestly, knowing that he couldn't overstep his bounds in front of the notoriously short-tempered forensic doctor. This should be a universal rule across the country.

Old Tang smiled and cupped his hands in greeting to Chen Shu, showing none of the strictness of the forensic doctor he was known for at work.

If any other police officers from the unit who knew this forensic doctor were present—oh yes, like the blond guy who just happened to be around the corner in the corridor—they would be looking over with a surprised expression.

Anyone who didn't know better would think Chen Shu was a long-lost relative or younger descendant of Old Tang.

(End of this chapter)