A madman in France? How come he's always at crime scenes!

Chapter 85 The Meaning of Police

"Did he really meet Diao Wei?"

The interrogation room fell silent, and Meng Jiang and Zhang Ze looked at each other in bewilderment.

This sounds absurd at first, but upon closer inspection, for someone of Wang Ye's caliber, who frequents casinos and runs errands, the so-called "Brother Diao" is not actually the name on his ID card.

Meng Jiang recalled Wang Ye's flustered appearance just now.

"Don't jump to conclusions. Wang Ye said he saw few and couldn't remember, which only indicates poor identification conditions, not that it can be directly refuted."

Even so, Meng Jiang was still stung by Wu Liang's sudden idea.

Whether Diao Wei's body was a suicide remains inconclusive.

Whether the account books of Shunfa Teahouse are genuine or fake still needs to be verified item by item by technical and economic investigation departments.

Everything is hanging in the air; at this moment, evidence is the key to everything.

"Let's go back to the conference room first."

In the meeting room, the whiteboard has been re-covered with photos.

A new photo of the scene was posted next to Diao Wei, with "Dead" marked in red below.

Zhang Ze disliked the photo and reached out to move it to the side.

"unlucky."

The task force members sat around the table, already used to Wu Liang's presence, but the atmosphere was completely different from the night of the operation.

Some of the young police officers sat with their heads drooping, their faces showing the exhaustion of staying up all night.

Zhang Ze placed Wang Ye's statement in front of the whiteboard.

"What we can confirm at the moment is that Wang Ye did participate in the rendezvous with Cao Yang, and the source of Zhang Haitian's vehicle can also be traced. The name 'Brother Diao' appears multiple times in the ledgers found at Shunfa Teahouse, and his mobile phone and bank cards are still being compared."

Old He sat by the window, looking down as he flipped through the list of physical evidence.

"If the suicide note is authenticated and Diao Wei is dead, then can we basically close the net on the outside help network?"

Upon hearing this, several people in the conference room subconsciously looked up.

Wu Liang was still thinking about whether he could get some more information out of Cao Yang when he suddenly heard Lao He speak and looked at him.

Meng Jiang stood in front of the whiteboard, remaining silent for a long time.

Then, he put down the pen in his hand.

"Who said we could accept it?"

Old He looked up, as if realizing that what he said was inappropriate.

"Captain Meng, that's not what I meant. It's just that in terms of efficiency, Diao Wei is already dead, Wang Ye has confessed, and Cao Yang's case is still pending—"

"Case-handling efficiency?"

Meng Jiang turned around, his face frighteningly grim.

"You think you can get away with this just because Diao Wei died, some account books were found, and Wang Ye cried a couple of times?!"

Meng Jiang pointed to the whiteboard.

"How did Cao Yang get the gun? Where did the grenade come from? Who passed on the information from the hospital? Why was Ma Desheng's ward being targeted? Just because a suspect pointed to by a clue died, they're ready to call it a day?!"

His tone was firm and his voice resonated throughout the conference room, causing everyone to lower their heads.

Meng Jiang looked at them, his chest heaving violently.

I know you're tired!

"I'm tired too!"

"From September 15th until now, how many people have had a proper night's sleep? Li Mu's arm is still in a sling, Zhang Ze hasn't been home for days, the field team is out every day, and the technical team is practically going blind from exhaustion!"

"But can being tired really improve the case?!"

He grabbed Diao Wei's photo from the whiteboard and slammed it heavily on the table.

"Diao Wei is dead. Isn't it most convenient to have a dead body?!"

"The dead can't cry foul! The dead can't recant their confession! The dead can't say in court that there were other people involved! So now that he's dead, everyone's relieved, right?!"

Several young police officers pursed their lips.

"When you put on this uniform, you all took an oath, didn't you?"

Everyone looked up.

"Be loyal to the Party, serve the people, enforce the law impartially, and maintain strict discipline."

"These sixteen characters aren't meant to be hung on the wall for people to see!"

"It's not like I'll just pull it out and read a few lines when the case is going well, and then shove it back in the drawer and make you pretend you don't see it when the case is difficult!!!"

He turned around and pointed to the photos on the whiteboard.

"How many people died here? How many were harmed as a result! Cao Yang deserved to die, but that's a matter for the court. But how can we say we've finished our work if we don't thoroughly investigate everything behind him?!"

Wu Liang swallowed hard; this was the first time he had ever seen Meng Jiang lose his temper.

It certainly has an imposing presence.

Meng Jiang looked at Lao He, then at everyone in the conference room.

"We're not here to find someone a name they can just pass off as something."

"We're here to find out the truth."

Even if the truth is unpleasant, we still have to investigate.

"Even if the truth is hard to explain, we still have to investigate!"

"Even if it turns out that Diao Wei was the mastermind, we'll have to uncover it inch by inch, not just let someone lay the ledger in front of us and we'll nod and say yes!"

He took a breath, his voice lowered, but even more so than before.

"If the police only follow the paths laid out for them, what's the difference between them and someone else collecting corpses?"

No one dared to speak.

Meng Jiang pressed the photo back onto the whiteboard, picked up a pen, and drew a heavy circle next to Diao Wei's name.

"From now on, everyone, get your heads back on track."

"Anyone who mentions it's over again should take off their badge and go downstairs to the lobby to calm down!"

After saying that, he capped the pen.

"Did you understand?!"

A chorus of responses erupted in the conference room.

"clear!"

The voices were clear and powerful.

Old He echoed in response, his expression noticeably more unpleasant than before.

Just then, the conference room door was pushed open.

Qin, the forensic doctor, walked in with the preliminary autopsy report, his expression clearly showing that he had heard the reprimand he had just received.

"Some of them came out."

Meng Jiang immediately looked up.

"explain."

Old Qin put the report on the table.

"High concentrations of sedative drugs were detected in the stomach contents; the specific type will be determined after toxicology testing. Similar substances were also found in the medicine bottles at the scene."

Zhang Ze frowned.

"suicide?"

Old Qin glanced at him.

"Let me get to the point."

Zhang Ze shut up.

"The deceased had minor mucosal damage in the mouth and throat, and there were faint marks of restraint on the wrists. However, due to the influence of decomposition on the judgment, the possibility that the person was restricted in their movements before death cannot be ruled out."

The atmosphere in the conference room instantly became tense.

Meng Jiang's eyes darkened.

"Can't we rule out homicide?"

"right."

Old Qin nodded.

"We can only say that it cannot be ruled out. There is a possibility that the incident was staged as a case of self-administered medication. Further investigation will depend on toxicology, pathology, and comparison of traces at the scene."

Zhang Ze slammed his fist on the table.

"I knew it!"

Meng Jiang was even quieter than before.

If Diao Wei was killed, it means they did indeed find something.

But this also shows that there are people who are faster than them, always one step ahead.

"Keep the report within the task force for now."

Meng Jiang looked at everyone in the room.

"No one is allowed to spread this without my permission."

Everyone responded in unison.

After the meeting, everyone went about their own business.

Wu Liang remained seated until only Meng Jiang remained in the conference room before walking over to stop him.

"Team Leader Meng."