CH 5

Chapter 5: Hidden Accident

No one expected this family to be so complicated. The uncle and the nephew’s wife got together, and the main point was that the neighbors around seemed to know the inside story. Not only did they not plan to divorce, but they could live together peacefully under the same roof, which was really weird.

He Wei wasn’t surprised. He had been in the police force for many years; what kind of things hadn’t he seen? There was another case last year. The son liked his mother, was jealous of his father, and stabbed him to death with a screwdriver in the middle of the night.

He recalled Pan Pinghai’s appearance. He was dark and thin, but he was a hotel owner. He had emotional and financial disputes with the deceased, so there was indeed a possibility of him committing the crime. However, based on his intuition in handling cases, He Wei had a feeling that there was something wrong with it.

“Lao He, listen to me; there is an unexpected harvest.” Chong Zhen took out a photo and handed it over. In the photo was a white-haired elderly man who was already very old but in great spirit. The photo was black and white, and at first glance, it looked more like a photo of a deceased person. He Wei asked, “Who is this?”

“Wang Fusheng, who lived in Wangjiawa village near the hotel. He lived alone. Half a year ago, he was killed while picking up waste. His family members were all in the city. There was no one to take care of him. His family didn’t even show up after he died, and the funeral was arranged by the village committee.” Chong Zhen continued, “There was no surveillance on the country road where the accident happened, and because it was midnight, there were no witnesses. The village police station could not find the vehicle that caused the accident, and no one cares about it.”

“It’s just that they haven’t tried to catch the prepator all this time, right?” He Wei took the photo and frowned, “Is he the one who is haunting?” 

“According to the statements of the hotel staff, he fits the description. This picture was given to me by the village committee. You see, he is wearing a Chinese tunic suit, and the ghost they saw was also wearing a Chinese tunic suit, so he must be the one.” 

The news brought back by Chon Zhen caused a qualitative change in the investigation direction of the case, and what might have been a case of love murder turned into revenge; the change was too great. He Wei flipped through the records that had been made before and asked Yun Xiaoxiao: “Does Chen Lei have a car at home?” 

“No, but his yard is large enough to park a car. I also saw screenwash, car wax, and other automotive supplies. “

“Okay, Xiaoxiao, you and Xiao Xia go and investigate Wang Fusheng and find out his recent whereabouts.” He Wei picked up the car key and said, “Chong Zhen, you are going with me.”

——

Wang Cui opened the door. Her face was without makeup, her eyes were bloodshot, and there were several large bags piled up in the living room, all of which were Chen Lei’s remnants. She packed them up overnight, preparing to burn them together with the funeral.

“It was tidied up so soon?” Chong Zhen flipped through the bags, “Yo, the razor and toothbrush are all in there; none of them have been left behind.”

Wang Cui smiled awkwardly: “The person is gone. There is no reason to keep them. The more you look at them, the easier it is to think about him.” 

Chong Zhen thought that she cried miserably in front of them last night, but now she looked like a normal person, thinking that this couple really had no relationship and that the fact that they haven’t divorced may be out of consideration for their child and reputation.

He Wei came over at this time mainly to ask about the car. According to his way of thinking, since it was a ghost asking for his life, it must have something to do with the accident; otherwise, there would be no such task as demanding one’s life. Wang Cui said that there used to be a red BYD at home. Chen Lei wanted to change it half a year ago, so he sold it. He never found a suitable one later, and the car purchase plan was temporarily put on hold.

“Who did he sell the car to?”

“It was sold in the city. I’ve got the invoice.” Wang Cui went to the room to search for a while and found the invoice for selling the car. Chong Zhen took it and went to the car repair shop with He Wei.

The little girl with pigtails was jumping rope carefree in the yard. When she saw Chong Zhen and He Wei, she ran over and said, “Uncle, where is my father?”

Chong Zhen knelt down and stroked her hair: “Didn’t Mom tell you? Dad has gone far away, and he doesn’t have time to go home for now.”

The little girl shook her head: “Mom said Dad would not come back. She didn’t let me cry and told me to forget Dad.”

Chong Zhen and He Wei glanced at each other, feeling sorry for this kind of marriage that existed in name only. This child had lived in such an environment since she was a child, so he wondered if there would be psychological shadows.

The car repair shop on the invoice was in the suburbs of the city, in the economic development zone, and it was a private car repair shop. After seeing the invoice, the shop owner immediately remembered: “Yes, this is the car that Chen Lei sold to us half a year ago. His car had been in an accident before. The bumper and the front panel of his car were changed, but then he wanted to sell it. If it weren’t for the low price, we wouldn’t be willing to accept it.”

“What accident?” He Wei took out a pack of cigarettes and gave one to the shopkeeper, who nodded and stooped to take it and lit it: “He said he was driving in the village and hit and killed someone’s sheep and also lost a sum of money. Later he felt this car was unlucky, so he wanted to sell it for a new one.”

Chong Zhen smiled: “You really believe it?”

“Why won’t we believe an old acquaintance? All the maintenance of his car is done in our shop, and he is a regular customer.”

He Wei asked him if he had sold the car and to whom. Coincidentally, the one who bought the car was a car mechanic in their shop who bought it cheaply and took it home. The car mechanic took the two police officers to his house. The red BYD was parked at the door. The inside and outside of the car were cleaned up, coated, and waxed, making it look like a new car.

“Have you changed the parts after buying it?”

“No, I had repaired it before. Except for the bumper, there is no other problem with this car. It drives very well!” 

“That’s good.” He Wei took out his mobile phone to make a call, “It’s much more convenient if the big parts are all there.”

——

In the repair garage, Zheng Youqing was wearing a mask and holding a watering can with a prepared luminol reagent in it. The bumper of BYD had been removed, and what she needed to test was whether there was a blood reaction in the front of the car, and if there was, DNA would be extracted from the collected blood sample.

After spraying, Zheng Youqing stood up and gestured, and the staff of the car repair shop at the door pulled down the shutter door. All of a sudden, the light in the garage became dim, and the front of the vehicle showed fluorescent reactions in the form of dots and flakes, and the distribution was concentrated above the bumper.

Xiao Chen took out his camera to take pictures, and Zheng Youqing took a cotton swab and quickly wiped the light-emitting area. He Wei asked: “Half a year has passed; how high is the success rate of the extraction of the DNA of the deceased?

“The blood sample needed for the testing is very small; the M48 magnetic bead extraction method will be used for the DNA extraction.” Zheng Youqing didn’t delay her work at all when she spoke, and half a minute later, the fluorescent reaction gradually disappeared, and she sealed the swabs that had been wiped and put them in the evidence box.

The store manager and the car mechanic panicked: “Didn’t he just kill a sheep? How-how could there be a dead person?”

Zheng Youqing took off her mask and smiled: “Whether it was a sheep or not will be known soon.” She carried the evidence box and asked, “What else do I need to do? If there’s nothing, I’ll go back to the bureau and find Sister Lan for extraction.”

He Wei told her to go back early and pay attention to safety on the way. Although the results haven’t come out yet, He Wei already knew that Chen Lei was the driver of the accident after seeing the reaction of the luminol reagent. After he escaped, he sold the car to an acquaintance, thinking that he would be able to hide the truth without anyone noticing.

But what was puzzling was that Wang Fusheng’s family members were all in the city. They didn’t usually contact the old man, and they didn’t even look at him when he died. How could they think of avenging him? His ashes were stored in a small funeral home in the township, and the storage fee was also paid by the village committee. If there was really someone so close to him, why didn’t they even claim the ashes?

“Is it possible that there are two people, one pretending to be the ghost and the other the murderer?” Chong Zhen guessed, “Maybe the old man was hit to death, someone pretended to be a ghost, and then the murderer followed suit, just to disguise the murder case as a supernatural event, killing two birds with one stone.”

“There is such a possibility, so Wang Cui and Pan Pinghai have not cleared their suspicions.” He Wei took Chong Zhen’s arm and said, “Get in the car and go to Wang Fusheng’s house to visit.” 

With the help of the Wangjiawa Village Committee, He Wei and Chong Zhen found the house where Wang Fusheng lived before his death. This was a dilapidated, small, tile-roofed house. The roof was not even covered with tiles; it was covered with plastic sheets. Compared with the surrounding two-story buildings, it looked too shabby. The chief of the village committee revealed that Wang Fusheng’s son kept it here to wait for the government to demolish it; otherwise, this dilapidated house would have been demolished long ago and sold to the family, who built a greenhouse next to them to grow vegetables on the three acres of land.

Wang Fusheng makes a living by picking up scraps. His house was empty, and his daily necessities were very simple. The only appliance in the house was a broken electric fan. Chong Zhen lifted the quilt, and a burst of pungent dust hit his face. He coughed twice and swept the dust away with his hands in the air a few times.

They rummaged through the house, and the chief of the village committee was holding the key at the door. He Wei chatted with him while looking for clues and listening to all the gossip in the nearby villages.

“…Wang Cui is also from our Wangjiawa village. She married into Chenjia village and lived a restless life. Our village officials know everything about her. Pan Pinghai’s wife, Chen Chunhua, has come to our village committee four or five times to cause trouble, wanting us to do something, but we can’t control it…”

“Then you have worked hard too.” He Wei bent over, and when he took a flashlight, he found a few pieces of paper stuck between the bed, “Chong Zhen, come here; here is something.” 

A few pieces of paper were taken out of the bed, which unexpectedly turned out to be a remittance slip. The money was remitted at the post office in the town. The remitter was Wang Fusheng, and the receiver was a person named “Chen Gui,” whose address was in Pingchuan City. The remittance time varied every year, and the amount was not much. It was about 1,000 each time, but given Wang Fusheng’s economic conditions, the 1,000 was at least his long-term savings from picking up scraps.

The chief of the village committee didn’t know who this “Chen Gui” was. They didn’t have anyone with this name in Wangjiawa, so they might have to go to Chenjia Village up ahead to have a look. Chong Zhen frowned: “This case is getting more and more complicated like a ball of thread, and we still have to ask the Pingchuan Municipal Bureau to cooperate with the case?

“Isn’t it how case investigation is? Is it your first day of a criminal investigation?” He Wei pinched the remittance slip, “We still have to make a report for the collaborative investigation. Hey, didn’t you have a classmate who went to Pingchuan?”

Chong Zhen put a cigarette in his mouth: “I haven’t contacted him for a long time. On the day of his wedding, I caught an armed robber in Sichuan and failed to go there; on the day of his child’s full moon wine, you detained me outside the nightclub to go to the grassroots level to conduct investigations. It already happened twice; how could I have the nerve to ask for help? “

He Wei smiled: “Special circumstances are treated specially. We are criminal police, and the missions come as soon as we talk. When my mother was over 50, I was still in the branch office. On the way back, I was robbed with a knife. Not only did I fail to go on her birthday, I also went to the hospital. She was so angry that she ignored me for half a month.”

Chong Zhen sighed: “Do what you do and love what you do…” He dug out the number of that classmate, went to call under the big banyan tree, and came back after a while: “Go check it out, and let me know if you have any news.”

It was getting late. He Wei drove Chong Zhen in the direction of the dormitory. Chongzhen wondered: “You workaholic, do you want to go back to the bureau?”

“I’m going back to take a shower.” He Wei rubbed his neck, “I forgot the time while handling the case in the bureau, and I haven’t washed in two days.”

“It’s only been two days since you took a bath?”

“…..”