Chapter 40: Doubts

  Lao Tang held the scalpel and opened the deceased's skull, using tweezers to remove the bullet head. He carefully examined it, comparing it with the shell casing, furrowing his brow before putting it in a bag. Then he went to the other side, squatting down to examine the deceased. Lao Tang checked with his hands all over again.

  He said to the assistant: Record. The assistant nodded. The deceased had no obvious wounds on his body, and his tibia was fractured, suspected of being broken by someone's strong pinch.

  He stood up, walked to the corpse of the deceased by the wall, squatted down and examined it, saying: "The deceased's knee bone was fractured, the groin area was severely injured, and the fatal wound was a slit throat with a sharp blade, finished."

  Lao Tang stood up and walked to Liu Jianmin's side, saying: "This case is not easy to crack. There are no signs of a struggle at the scene, obviously the murderer was an expert, leaving them with no ability to resist." He then picked up the bag containing the shell casing and bullets and continued: "I suspect this bullet came from the handgun in the deceased's hand. If that's the case, it would be very strange. The deceased clearly did not commit suicide. If it were a suicide, there would be scorching around the wound. When firing at close range, the flame from the gun would burn the skin around the wound, but obviously, there are no signs of scorching on the deceased's wound. This has left me puzzled. However, this is just my speculation, and we can only confirm after the autopsy."

  Old Yang asked: Could it be that the murderer killed someone and then put the gun in the victim's hand?

  Liu Jianming furrowed his brow and said: I don't rule out this possibility, but if it were me, I wouldn't do it that way. It doesn't make any sense. If the murderer had a gun, he wouldn't have gone to so much trouble "using hands, using knives" to kill people. If the murderer had a gun, why not use it? One shot, one person, clean and efficient. "If you were in a situation where you had a gun, would you use your hands to kill someone?" This is impossible.

  Liu Jianmin turned around and asked the forensic personnel who were collecting fingerprints in the car: How's it going? Any leads?

  The detective said, "No, the fingerprint sampling is done. In the car, only a few long hairs were found, obviously belonging to a woman."

  Old Yang heard his words and smiled bitterly: With such a high-end sports car, and also having bodyguards, how could there not have been any women in the car?

  Liu Jianmin heard this and waved his hand, saying: Don't say anything else, notify the funeral home to take away the body, let's disband.

  Jinzhou City, Municipal Public Security Bureau, conference room, a silence.

  Director Liu rubbed his temples thoughtfully and asked Old Yang: "Old Yang, have you found out the identity of the deceased?"

  Old Yang nodded and said, "It's been investigated. The deceased in his 40s was the younger brother of a big shot from Hong Kong's underworld, New Righteousness Society, named Shang Kun. The other two deceased were his bodyguards."

  Liu Jianmin asked in puzzlement: "Then how did he end up here?"

  Old Yang continued: He is chasing after Han Yuqing. She is the female lead in the very popular movie "Ghost Head Legend" and is very famous. My wife and daughter both like her a lot. According to our investigation, Han Yuqing's hometown is actually Jinzhou, and her parents still live here now. This time she returned to China to hold a concert in Beijing and took the opportunity to visit her parents in Jinzhou.

  Liu Jianmin asked: Is this Han Yuqing still in the city?

  Lao Yang: She lives in a villa district by the Xiao Ling River.

  Liu Jianmin: You go see her immediately and understand the situation. There are no footprints of hers at the scene, maybe she left before the deceased was killed.

  Old Yang asked: You think this might be a crime of passion, after all, many people are pursuing Han Yuqing. Even in various countries in Asia, there are many wealthy people chasing her. Although the deceased was from the underworld, some people in Hong Kong may have concerns, but outside of Hong Kong, it's not necessarily the case. In the eyes of those truly powerful families, the underworld is nothing at all.

  Liu Jianmin nodded and didn't say anything.