Detective: From the Police Academy

Chapter 228 Mystery
The next morning, Shahe County Bureau.

As usual, Luo Rui drove the car to the parking space. After getting out of the car, the passing police officers saluted him.

In addition, there have been a lot of people gossiping about him these days, and many people are dissatisfied with him, especially some old-timers who can't stand Luo Rui's young age.

A few months ago, he was still a trainee police officer at Wuyuan Police Station, but in a short period of time, he was promoted to the position of deputy captain of the Criminal Police Brigade.

Come to think of it, although Luo Rui looks dark, tall and strong, and he tries his best to dress himself maturely, his actual age is only 21 years old.

The 21-year-old deputy captain of criminal police is incredible no matter how you look at it.

Coupled with He Bing's mentality of marrying off his daughter, it was so sad. The old man saw it and felt sympathetic.

For such things, Luo Rui only used one trick, and that was his money.

This morning, Luo Rui asked Fang Yonghui and Yang Bo to move ten boxes of Chinese medicine from the trunk of his BMW and gave them to everyone he met.

Not to mention, even Xiaomu from the police dog squadron got one. Although he doesn't know how to smoke, Luo Rui will not forget him.

Does this method work?
It actually worked, at least at the Criminal Police Brigade meeting this morning, Luo Rui received a warm welcome.

On the surface, Lao Bangcai was still very cooperative and didn't resist much.

Just as Li Nong said last night, these old foxes have little money, and they all give it to their wives. At most they give them some pocket money, and if they give them an extra hundred, it would be considered generous of their wives.

Lu Kangming and Yang Yunqiao presided over the meeting, mainly to announce the establishment of a special task force for backlog cases, which would be headed by Comrade Luo Rui.

As it is almost the end of the year and there are relatively few new homicide cases in Shahe County, the Criminal Police Brigade must unconditionally cooperate with the operations of the special task force for handling backlog cases.

The special task force for backlog cases is still mainly composed of Luo Rui's Seventh Squadron, with the cooperation of the veterans of the First Squadron.

In addition, trace investigator Miao Shouqiang and forensic doctor Han Jinli also participated in the meeting. Both of them were new, so they were not very familiar with previous cases, but if they wanted to solve the backlog of cases, they would be indispensable for the lack of evidence and the examination of bodies.

Moreover, the county bureau also intends to train them. If they can solve the old cases, then solving new homicide cases in the future will be a piece of cake.

Therefore, apart from the 7th Squadron, they are the most active.

After the general meeting, a small meeting was held to review the 521 kidnapping, poisoning and murder case five years ago.

The person who presided over the meeting was Li Nong. After all, this was his case and also the first case he had taken over after becoming the captain of the criminal police brigade.

Photos of the victims were projected on a large screen.

Tai Zhenggang, 34 years old, is a long-distance truck driver. On May 2003, 5, the long-distance truck he was driving was involved in a traffic accident on the expressway in Shahe County. The truck overturned and hit the road guardrail.

Several drivers on the highway rescued him from the driver's seat, and ten minutes later, the truck's fuel tank caught fire and exploded.

The traffic police rushed to the scene as soon as possible. After finding that Tai Zhenggang was dead, they called the funeral home directly and took the body away.

The traffic police treated this as an accident, and when Tai Zhenggang's body was about to be taken away by his family for cremation, it was seen by the forensic doctor at the funeral home.

Although Tai Zhenggang's head was crushed, the old forensic doctor could tell at a glance that the car accident was not the direct cause of death.

But the family members forcibly wanted to take the body away, saying that the burial date had been set and all relatives and friends had been invited.

The old forensic doctor had no choice but to call Li Nong who had just taken office.

Li Nong was very enthusiastic at that time, and he rushed over. After much persuasion, he got the family members to sign and consent to the autopsy.

Although the old forensic doctor knew the cause of death after just a quick look, he still carefully dissected the body and made pathological sections out of a diligent and responsible attitude. He finally concluded that the cause of Tai Zhenggang's death was tetramethylene disulfone tetramine.

This thing is commonly known as strychnine, a neurotoxin.

Moreover, after testing and extraction, the old forensic doctor found that Tai Zhenggang had drunk at least 50 milliliters.

Rat poison is extremely destructive to the nervous system and is known as one of the two most lethal weapons in rural areas, along with paraquat.

If you drink these two things, the final result will be death.

The old forensic doctor is accustomed to this kind of death. Most of them are because they are depressed and use these two things to commit suicide.

The initial symptoms of strychnine include headache, dizziness, weakness, and in severe cases, confusion, restlessness, convulsions of the limbs, foaming at the mouth, and urinary incontinence may occur.

Li Nong paused when he introduced this, and Sun Gong, who was taking notes on the side, immediately raised his hand.

Because this guy worked in logistics for the Seventh Squadron, he won a third-class collective merit for nothing. He was also interviewed by the Propaganda Department of the Imperial City Headquarters and took photos in uniform, which will be used for internal publicity in the future.

While he was feeling complacent, he also understood that if he performed too poorly in the future, Luo Yanwang would kick him out of the team, which would be disastrous. So he was being particularly motivated these past few days.

In addition to cleaning the office, he also actively participated in the case.

Li Nong nodded to him and said, "You go ahead."

Sun Gong held the notebook in his hand, coughed twice, and said, "Li Da, it is obvious that someone poisoned Tai Zhenggang, and I just read the file. He was the only one in the car at the time, so can we be sure that it was someone around him who committed the crime?"

Hearing this question, Li Nong rolled his eyes at him.

Sun Gong wanted to show off, but he didn't read the file carefully at all. At the end of the file was Li Nong's investigation report from five years ago.

At this time, Luo Rui saw a name at the back of the file, Tai Zhenggang's wife, Li Mei.

Li Mei and Tai Zhenggang were in a free love relationship and had a son named Tai Hui. At the time of the incident, he was only eight years old.

Among the family, only Tai Zhenggang has a job, and because the truck is his own, his income is more than enough to cover the family's living expenses.

After Li Mei became pregnant and gave birth to a child, she never went back to work and became a serious housewife.

The first person the police investigated was Li Mei. After all, Tai Zhenggang was busy traveling every month, and Li Mei was also in her prime, and it would be hard to bear the loneliness staying alone in an empty room.

At that time, the police's investigation was based on the idea of ​​a murder of passion, and that was indeed the case. Li Mei had really cuckolded Tai Zhenggang, and not just one.

What is most shocking is that Tai Zhenggang’s only son, Tai Hui, is not his biological son. He lost not only his wife but also his son. Even in his death, he didn’t know who harmed him.

Li Mei has a long-term lover named Bian An.

Tai Hui is the son of Li Mei and Bian An, and this man opened a hardware store in the county town.

After Tai Zhenggang's death, the two lived together legally and even got a marriage certificate.

At that time, Li Nong carefully investigated the two people and even interrogated them.

Although they had a motive to kill Tai Zhenggang, the police had no direct clues to point to them as the perpetrators.

Li Mei and Bian An both have low educational backgrounds. If it was their first time killing someone, they would not be able to withstand the test of the criminal police.

The case came to a dead end. Half a month after the incident, just after Tai Zhenggang's funeral, Li Mei's only son, Tai Hui, disappeared.

On the day of her disappearance, Li Mei received an anonymous letter. The kidnappers stuffed it through the crack of her door and demanded a ransom of 50,000 yuan.

Li Mei called the police immediately, but the kidnappers never contacted her again and never mentioned the 50,000 yuan ransom again.

The eight-year-old Tai Hui has also disappeared for five years, and his life or death is still unknown.

Luo Rui read the forensic report carefully, which speculated that Tai Zhenggang must have drunk rat poison while driving, which made him feel unwell and caused the truck to overturn.

The file contained photos and descriptions of the car accident. When Tai Zhenggang felt something was wrong with his body and was about to collapse, he was about to hit the car in front. He used his strong willpower to hold on and suddenly turned the steering wheel, which caused the truck to crash into the guardrail on the highway.

The driver on the road dragged his body out immediately, but because the truck's fuel tank rubbed against the asphalt road and the weather was hot, the truck caught fire and exploded.

The scene of Tai Zhenggang's death has been destroyed, and the most powerful and direct evidence is gone.

Even if the suspect who poisoned the patient is caught now, the police can't do anything to him as long as he denies it.

Without directional evidence, even if a suspect is found, we can only rely on the principle of presumption of innocence and presumption of innocence.

This is the case with Li Mei and Bian An.

The file also includes a photo of Tai Zhenggang, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and very white teeth. He is smiling at the camera.

He was an honest man and a man of strong will. If he had allowed the truck to hit the car in front, the consequences would have been disastrous.

The powerful impact force of the truck is likely to cause a major accident.

But, in the end, he was the only one who died.

Luo Rui put down the file and picked up the statements the police had taken of Li Mei and Bian An at the time, and found that the two people's answers were flawless.

In the interrogation record, the recorder even recorded the suspect's tone and pauses in great detail.

For example, during the interrogation, Li Mei shed tears many times and did not dare to look the police in the eye. All the details were recorded one by one.

According to her confession, Tai Zhenggang's main job was to travel between Shahe County and Linjiang City, and sometimes he would travel outside the province. However, because he did not want to come back empty-handed, he would stay at the destination for a few days, waiting to load a truck of goods before he could go home.

At the time of the incident, his car was loaded with fruits and vegetables, which were supplied by wholesalers to the Shahe County vegetable market.

He left home on the morning of May 5th and returned in the early morning of May 19st, staying in Linjiang City for one day and two nights.

At that time, the Criminal Police Brigade had three investigative directions.

First: the source of strychnine.

Second, the movements of Li Mei and Bian An in the past few days.

Third, who did Tai Zhenggang contact in Linjiang City.

But the results of the investigation were not satisfactory. Rat poison was sold everywhere and it was impossible to find the source of purchase.

During these two days, after Li Mei sent her child to school, she stayed at home with Bian An. The evidence of the two is not credible.

But Li Nong found Li Mei's neighbors, who said that they had indeed seen Bian An come to the community where Li Mei lived during the day on the 19th and 20th, and that he was carrying gifts in his hands, just like he was visiting relatives.

As for Tai Zhenggang's whereabouts in Linjiang City, the police also investigated and found that he did not stay in a hotel at all. In order to save money, he slept in his car for several nights and ate a bowl of noodles nearby when he was hungry.

The parking lot was right in front of the largest vegetable wholesale market in Linjiang City, where all kinds of people mixed together. It was extremely difficult to find out who he had contact with, not to mention that it was an era when there was a lack of surveillance.

Therefore, Li Nong turned his suspicion to the kidnappers who kidnapped Tai Hui, but to no avail. Apart from slipping a note demanding ransom under the door of Li Mei's house in the middle of the night, the kidnappers did not take any further action.

This is like a prank, but the difference is that Tai Hui is really missing. However, there are too many doubts in this case. Luo Rui believes that as long as the doubts are found, the case may become clear.

After everyone had finished reading the files, Li Nong said, "I know this case is difficult and the hope of solving it is slim, so let's set it aside for a week. If we can't find any new clues within a week, we'll give up."

Luo Rui knew that what he said was true. An unsolved case was an unsolved case. It had not been solved at the time. Now that it had been brought up again, the difficulty of solving it was exponentially greater.

Li Nong handed the matter over to Luo Rui. He sighed and left the meeting room.

At this time, Miao Shouqiang smacked his lips, spread his hands, and said, "There is no scene, no fingerprints, no footprints, nothing. It seems that physical evidence can't play a role."

During the meeting, Han Jinli had been reading the forensic report. She looked up and analyzed, "He took 50 milliliters of rat poison. This is too much! In a normal poisoning case, people would drink so much. It is not difficult to guess that the victim may have taken the rat poison as a beverage."

Luo Rui nodded: "That's right, and it is very likely that the murderer mixed rat poison into Tai Zhenggang's drink. Li Mei's transcript said that Tai Zhenggang has the habit of drinking strong tea, which is a standard for every truck driver..."

Sun Gong clapped his hands and said, "That's it!"

Qi Lei glanced at him and said, "If that's the case, then when did the murderer poison him? If Li Mei and her lover were the murderers, then they should have poisoned Tai Zhenggang before he set out. But Tai Zhenggang couldn't have not drunk water during that time. If he was going to die, he wouldn't have died on the way back. In addition, Li Mei and Bian An didn't leave Shahe County during those days."

This is the main reason why the two people were ruled out as suspects. When Li Nong was investigating, he also focused his energy mainly on the vegetable market near Linjiang City. Tai Zhenggang set out from Linjiang City at two o'clock in the morning. Who did he contact during this time period?
This is the key point of the case, but due to the difficulty of investigation, it has reached a dead end.

Fang Yonghui looked at the photo of Tai Hui. He was just in the second grade at that time. He looked very similar to Li Mei, with delicate features.

He asked, "Could it really be that kidnapper who did it?"

Yang Bo sat next to him and said, "There is a question here. What is the kidnapper's purpose? He wants a ransom, but after passing the message to Li Mei, there is no further news."

Qi Lei, who was more experienced, replied: "This is normal. This person may have killed the child and is scared, so he dares not contact Li Mei again."

Qi Lei's words were cruel, and there was no trace of sympathy in his tone, but it was not unreasonable, and this was the only explanation that made sense.

Luo Rui tapped the file on the table with his fingers and said, "Li Da investigated Tai Zhenggang's family at the time and speculated that they might know Tai Hui's identity information, so they wanted to take revenge on Li Mei and Bian An, so they kidnapped the child, but in fact they killed the child."

Qi Lei lit a Zhonghua cigarette and took a puff.

"That makes sense. After all, not only is she a cuckold, but the child is not Tai Zhenggang's. Moreover, Tai Zhenggang was poisoned to death. As his direct relatives, they must hate these two people to the core."

"Bian An is sleeping with Tai Zhenggang's woman, and he's living in the house that Tai Zhenggang bought with his hard-earned money, tsk tsk..."

Han Jinli glanced at Qi Lei with dissatisfaction: "Can you put out the cigarette?"

Qi Lei shrugged, walked to the corner, took two deep puffs, and threw the cigarette butt into the potted plant.

Sun Gong gave him a resentful look but dared not speak.

Luo Rui stood up and looked at the time. It was already past noon.

He said, "Let's start investigating this case from this afternoon. Shouqiang, I know there is little physical evidence and it is difficult for you, but you can re-examine the traces at the scene when Tai Hui disappeared and go with me to visit in the afternoon.

Forensic doctor Han, please check the forensic report at the time to see if there is any undigested food in Tai Zhenggang's stomach. It would be best if you could find out what he ate last. There is no record in this file."

The two nodded.

Finally, Luo Rui looked at Qi Lei and said, "Old Qi, take a few people to the vegetable market in Linjiang City and interview the porters and drivers who worked in the vegetable market at that time to see if you can find any clues."

"Sure!" Qi Lei agreed.

Because it was a backlog case, everyone was not in a hurry and just ate and drank as usual.

Luo Rui did not go to the cafeteria to eat. Instead, he picked up two bags from the trunk of his BMW, walked out of the county bureau gate, and turned left to the steamed bun shop on the street.

The bun shop mainly serves breakfast and dinner, so there are not many people here at this moment.

Luo Rui lifted the plastic door curtain and walked in. He saw Cui Wang rolling out dough and Meng Jun wrapping dumplings. Her technique was deft. There was a layer of flour sprinkled on the table, and the dumplings were neatly arranged, which was quite ornamental.

The two were talking and laughing and didn't notice Luo Rui coming in.

Luo Rui coughed twice. Meng Jun raised his head, and after seeing him, he quickly wiped his hands and stood up.

"Officer Luo, why are you here?"

Luo Rui smiled and said, "Come and have a look if you have nothing to do."

Cui Wang also looked at him in a daze, with some confusion in his eyes.

Before he could finish his words, Luo Rui rolled his eyes at him and said, "What are you looking at? I've never seen such a handsome police officer!"

Cui Wang rolled his eyes arrogantly and snorted coldly: "Tsk! Black police."

When Meng Jun heard this, he frowned slightly.

Cui Wang saw her expression of surprise and quickly changed his words: "A police officer with black skin is a black police officer who looks like Liu Qingyun!"

Luo Rui argued, "Your eyesight is too bad. People say that I look like Gugugugugu Louis Koo!"

Cui Wang wanted to refute, but Meng Jun quickly said: "Officer Luo, I heard that you got a promotion?"

Luo Rui put on a smiling face and asked, "How did you know?"

Cui Wang continued, "These past few mornings, the police officers who came to my place to eat buns have been talking about this. They said that the dark-skinned guy was lucky enough to solve two major cases and even drove Captain He away and took over his position. They all said that you used money to smooth over the relationship."

Luo Rui's face immediately darkened, and he said, "Old Cui, believe it or not, after Li Da Diao leaves, I will close your bun shop!"

Cui Wang chuckled and quickly put on a smiling face: "Would you like to eat dumplings? They are made with freshly chopped meat fillings, and your sister Jun made them. The skin is thin and the meat is rich. They are delicious."

Luo Rui glanced at him and said, "Then give me a bowl."

After saying that, he looked at Meng Jun and handed the things in his hand to him: "I bought two down jackets for the two children. Winter is coming and the weather is getting colder. Do you think they fit?"

Meng Jun was startled and waved his hand to refuse: "No, how can I take your things."

"It's okay. They're going to school, and I didn't give them any gifts. Take a look. If it doesn't fit, tell me and I'll exchange it."

Luo Rui handed her two bags, and then said to Cui Wang: "The dumplings are ready. Bring them to the canteen of the county bureau for me, and the bill will be put on your cousin's head."

After saying that, Luo Rui left without looking back.

Meng Jun was holding something in his hand and looking at his back.

Not long after, Cui Wang opened the bag and took a look at the clothes. He exclaimed: "Wow, these down jackets are too expensive. Each one costs more than a thousand yuan. We don't even have them for sale in Shahe County."

Meng Jun wiped away her tears and asked, "Lao Cui, tell me, why is Officer Luo so nice to us?"

Cui Wang sighed and said, "He may have seen too many evil things, and he feels bad, so he always wants to be good to others. I heard from my cousin that Officer Luo's nickname is the Living King of Hell. Many people have fallen into his hands, and he has even killed many criminals directly.

You are the only person he saved, maybe he wants to keep this kindness? Oh... I can't tell for sure, I guess that's the case."

Meng Jun nodded solemnly: "If it weren't for Officer Luo, I would have died long ago! I will live well, and I will live well with my children!"

Cui Wang opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

……

Li Mei's home is in an old neighborhood in the county town. The neighborhood is full of elderly people taking a walk. When they see a stranger, they will stare at you for a few seconds, as if they want to peel off your skin to see whose relative you are.

Luo Rui and his group went upstairs and knocked on the door.

The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man wearing glasses, staring at Luo Rui and the others with suspicion.

"Are you Bian An?"

"who are you?"

Luo Rui showed his ID: "We are from the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the County Bureau. We are looking for your wife to learn about her ex-husband's case. We hope you will cooperate."

Bian An frowned and asked, "It's been five years, why are you still investigating?"

Luo Rui asked directly: "Don't you want us to come?"

"I... that's not what I meant." Bian An explained: "Tai Zhenggang obviously committed suicide. I don't know what else you can find out!"

"Really? Where's your son? Don't you want to get your son back?"

Hearing this, Bian An swallowed his saliva and stopped talking.

Luo Rui was too lazy to argue with him and just pushed the door open. Miao Shouqiang, Fang Yonghui and others followed him in.

There was a sound of a hair dryer in the bedroom, and a woman asked, "Honey, who is that?"

Bian An answered loudly: "From the county criminal police brigade!"

The sound of the hair dryer in the bedroom stopped immediately, followed by a long silence, and a woman came out.

Her expression was just right: confused, doubtful, a little scared, and pretending to be sad.

Li Mei, this woman is almost forty years old, but she still has charm and manages her figure very well, she is not yet flabby.

Before Luo Rui came, he did a brief investigation into the current situation of these two people. Bian An was still running his own hardware store and business was pretty good.

Li Mei still didn't go to work, and the couple didn't have any more children.

As for Bian An, he was divorced when he had an affair with Li Mei five years ago. He has an ex-wife and a daughter. His wife has remarried and his daughter has grown up.

Just as Qi Lei said, Bian An took possession of everything of Tai Zhenggang, including his wife, son and house, all of which belonged to other people.

To this day, the police still cannot find out whether Tai Zhenggang knew about this before his death. If he knew, how big of a blow would it be?
Life deceived this man!
There is no trace of Tai Zhenggang's life in this house. There are no photos of him, no clothes of his, and everything related to him has disappeared without a trace.

Li Mei sat on the sofa, looked at Luo Rui, and asked fearfully: "Officer, my ex-husband has been dead for five years. Have you found any clues?"

Luo Rui stared at her closely: "We are here this time mainly to investigate your son's disappearance. I want to ask you, why have you never come to the police station to inquire about his whereabouts in the past five years?"

Li Mei's face froze and she looked at Bian An.

Luo Rui didn't let him go either, and asked, "Tai Hui is your son, right? As a father, why don't you care about him?"

I have been back to my hometown these days, I will try my best to update in time. Thanks!
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(End of this chapter)