sbdcsierra Chapter 482 Suspect!
Chapter 482 Suspect!
Zhang Haiyang gulped down another large mouthful of plum juice, and then began to get down to business.
"Yuemin, have you noticed that there are more and more taxis on the streets now? They're all four-wheeled. Compared to two years ago, it's like heaven and earth. But with more cars, trouble has followed."
I lit a cigarette, exhaled, and the smoke slowly dissipated in the sweltering air.
"Last month, for the first time, a taxi driver was robbed. He was robbed of all his cash and stabbed. Fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured and is still in the hospital."
"This is just the beginning."
Zhang Haiyang flicked his cigarette ash, his brows furrowing deeply.
"Then, in less than a month, four or five more incidents occurred in succession, all with the same modus operandi. The suspects would pretend to hail a taxi, lure the drivers to secluded and deserted places, and then rob them with knives. Three drivers were seriously injured. Although no one has been killed yet, at this rate, something bad is bound to happen sooner or later."
"The clues we have now are pitifully few."
He counted on his fingers.
All we know is that the suspect speaks with a regional accent, sounding like he's from Hunan province. He's not very tall, about 1.65 meters, and he always commits his crimes at night.
When they got on the bus, they all sat directly behind the driver, intentionally covering their faces or wearing hats. The victims had only a vague memory of his appearance, only able to roughly estimate that he was around thirty-five or thirty-six years old and of thin build…
He poured out the basic facts of the case and the difficulties he was facing in his investigation.
"The most crucial thing is,"
Zhang Haiyang threw the cigarette butt, now only half lit, on the ground and stomped it out, his voice filled with anger.
"That bastard is getting more and more arrogant. According to the latest victim's recollection, before leaving after robbing the money, that bastard said that we police are all idle, a bunch of useless trash. He said that after all this time, he wouldn't even know what I look like, and that we'd never catch him in our lives. He's challenging the authority of the police; he's too arrogant!"
Now taxi drivers are all living in fear; many are too scared to drive after dark. This case got published in the newspapers, and it's getting a lot of attention. The city police leaders are calling me several times a day, demanding the case be solved within a limited time! My head... is about to explode!
After listening, Zhong Yuemin asked thoughtfully,
"These cases didn't all happen within your Xicheng branch's jurisdiction, did they? How come they're all being pinned on you?"
"Don't mention it!"
Zhang Haiyang looked distressed and sighed:
"You know the current environment. The crackdown in 83 was severe and suppressed a lot of criminals, but in the last two years, the crime rate has risen again, and all kinds of cases are emerging one after another."
"The police force in each branch is so limited, we're stretched thin. I'm not complaining, Yuemin, but I'm officially the deputy captain of the criminal investigation team, but in reality? I'm no different from a regular investigator, running around every day gathering clues, staying up all night staking out locations... Look at my eyes, if I keep going like this, I'm afraid I'll collapse before we catch the suspect."
He stared longingly at Zhong Yuemin.
"Brother, hurry up and give me some advice. I'm really out of ideas."
Zhong Yuemin shook his head, both amused and exasperated.
"Haiyang, do you really think I'm a detective? Just because you said that, I can calculate and identify the suspect? I don't have that ability."
"I didn't tell you to arrest them directly!"
Zhang Haiyang quickly waved his hand, then diligently refilled Zhong Yuemin's cup with plum juice, handing it over with both hands.
"I just wanted you to listen first, and see if you can come up with any brilliant ideas, or discover any subtle details we might have overlooked. Come on, have another drink to perk yourself up and clear your head. Don't be shy!"
"You're asking me to do you a favor by providing the plum juice that we provide?"
Zhong Yuemin rolled his eyes at him, but still took the drink and drank a sip.
"Alright, I'm just sharing my thoughts casually. Just take it with a grain of salt and don't take it seriously."
"You talk! I'm listening!"
Zhang Haiyang immediately sat up straight, took out his notebook and pen, and acted like a primary school student.
"first,"
Zhong Yuemin put down his cup.
"Your current investigation focuses on screening out-of-towners, especially migrant workers from Hunan who come to Beijing to work, mainly based on their accents. Isn't this approach a bit too general?"
"Now that so many educated youth are returning to the cities, it's no surprise that a considerable number of them went to the countryside in HN back then. They stayed there for over a decade, so it's perfectly normal for them to speak with a local accent, or even a slight accent. Take Zheng Tong and Luo Jianguo, for example; they spent so many years in northern Shaanxi, and now they speak the Shaanxi dialect just like locals."
Zhang Haiyang nodded thoughtfully and quickly jotted it down in his notebook:
“The locals… may have cut in line in HN.”
"Secondly,"
Zhong Yuemin continued,
"You just said that the locations of these cases were all chosen to be extremely remote. There were some places that even local taxi drivers who had been driving for several years didn't know the exact locations of, but the suspects knew them like the back of their hand and directly directed the drivers to drive there."
If the suspect wasn't a long-time Beijing resident with an extremely thorough understanding of the city's geography, how could a migrant worker from out of town have figured out so many remote and obscure locations in such a short time? I think it's more likely the suspect is a local.”
"It makes sense..."
Zhang Haiyang's eyes lit up, and he added more to his notebook.
"but……"
He immediately looked worried again.
“Even if we narrow the scope to locals who were sent to the countryside in HN, the scope is still too large. In the past ten years, there have been at least tens of thousands of educated youths who were sent to the countryside there. With the limited manpower in our bureau, if we were to check every household, how long would it take? By then, it would be too late!”
“You can narrow down the scope of your investigation,” Zhong Yuemin said slowly.
"Where should we concentrate them?" Zhang Haiyang immediately asked.
“Dongcheng District,” Zhong Yuemin uttered.
"Dongcheng District?" Zhang Haiyang was taken aback. "Why? Is there some explanation?"
"Look,"
Zhong Yuemin tapped the teacup on the table with his palm-leaf fan, as if he were gesturing on a map.
"These cases occurred in almost every part of the city, including the south, north, and west districts, but none of them occurred in the east district. Of course, this could be a coincidence."
He paused, then looked at Zhang Haiyang.
"But if we rule out the 'coincidence' option, what do you think is the most reasonable explanation?"
Zhang Haiyang frowned and pondered for a few seconds, then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said excitedly:
"Yuemin, are you saying... this suspect is very likely from Dongcheng District? His social circle and activities are mainly in Dongcheng District? Is that right?"