Chapter 102: Chapter 46: The Third Person at the Crime Scene (Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)_2
"This..." Sun Jun pondered but couldn’t come up with a suitable reason for the moment.
"Could it be that Cheng Wei called Cheng Zhiyou, which made Cheng Zhiyou come back?" Wang Yong looked at Luo Fei and asked.
"The team has checked the victim’s call records, and the victim did not receive any calls that night," Luo Fei shook his head and replied.
"Secondly, if Lin Gang was caught burglarizing by Cheng Zhiyou, why would Lin Gang kill Cheng Zhiyou? Cases of burglars committing murder do occur, but it’s rare. Do you think Cheng Wei was betting on such a rare event to happen in order to murder Cheng Zhiyou?" Luo Fei continued.
Sun Jun shook his head, "The probability of that is too low. I think Cheng Wei would have to be incredibly lucky to make such a plan work."
"But the reality is Cheng Wei actually managed it. Lin Gang successfully killed Cheng Zhiyou. Do you think that’s just a rare accident?" Luo Fei asked again immediately.
The members of the third group either frowned or scratched their heads, perplexed.
"I just can’t figure it out." Wang Yong felt his brain cells dying rapidly, unable to comprehend, and subsequently gave up thinking altogether.
"Actually, the first point should be easy to understand, which is a matter of habit. Cheng Wei and Cheng Zhiyou are father and son. Cheng Wei must be very familiar with all of Cheng Zhiyou’s habits."
"I estimate Cheng Zhiyou had a habit, probably a daily one, of returning around ten in the evening, which is why Cheng Wei would have Lin Gang go to steal money at ten. This would greatly increase the chances of Lin Gang running into Cheng Zhiyou. As for whether this is what really happened, we can check with Cheng Zhiyou’s neighbors for validation."
"Another thing, have you considered the fact that it’s inherently unreasonable for Lin Gang to carry a knife just to steal money? This isn’t a case of burglary; he was just going to steal money. I think few thieves would carry a knife specifically for stealing money, right?"
"Moreover, the victim Cheng Zhiyou received a total of eight stab wounds. If Lin Gang was caught in the act by Cheng Zhiyou, the logical thing for him to do would be to flee immediately. However, according to Lin Gang’s own account, he was in a state of panic, so he used the knife. When Cheng Zhiyou grabbed his shoulder, he stabbed and slashed at Cheng Zhiyou in a frenzy."
"That’s not inherently problematic, but when I thought it over and simulated the scene in my mind, I couldn’t explain the two stab wounds on the victim’s lower back from any angle."
"Right now, let’s seize the opportunity to rearrange the office and simulate the scene to see under what circumstances Lin Gang could have inflicted the two stab wounds on the victim’s lower back," Luo Fei instructed.
Subsequently, several people roughly arranged the office according to the setup of the victim Cheng Zhiyou’s living room.
"Alright, Wang Yong will play the victim Cheng Zhiyou, and Sun Jun will play Lin Gang. You should understand the situation, but I’ll explain it to you anyway. First, the victim enters and turns on the light, seeing Lin Gang about to leave. Lin Gang sees the victim and immediately stabs him with the knife. The victim grabs Lin Gang’s shoulder, and Lin Gang struggles free and frenziedly stabs and slashes. The two scuffle and the victim ultimately collapses onto the sofa," Luo Fei explained.
"Captain, can’t I play someone other than the victim?" Wang Yong asked with a grimace.
"Your height and build are similar to the victim’s. If not you, then who? Stop complaining," Sun Jun said discontentedly.
"Alright, get ready. Remember, from this moment, you two are the killer and the victim. Start. We three will move over there so as not to interfere with your performance," Luo Fei gave Sun Jun a piece of chalk to serve as a weapon, then moved to the side with Zhang Fan and Zhaocheng.
Then Wang Yong walked out of the room and closed the office door behind him.
Sun Jun held a bag in his left hand and a piece of chalk in his right.
"The chalk should be in your pocket," Luo Fei reminded Wang Yong with a frown.
Upon hearing this, Sun Jun immediately put the chalk in his pocket.
Wang Yong, playing the victim, entered the room and turned on the light, then saw Sun Jun, playing the killer, in the living room.
Both were momentarily stunned, then Sun Jun pulled out the chalk and jabbed it hard at Wang Yong.
Wang Yong got stabbed once, but it wasn’t lethal. He immediately grabbed Sun Jun’s shoulder. Sun Jun tried to break free, but couldn’t, and then he frenziedly started stabbing and slashing at Wang Yong.
Getting into the role, Wang Yong instinctively hugged Sun Jun, and the two began to scuffle.
Wang Yong, playing the victim, eventually collapsed onto the sofa due to blood loss and exhaustion, while Sun Jun, playing the murderer, seeing no more movement from Wang Yong, hastily left the room.
"Leader, how’s that?" Wang Yong asked immediately after getting up.
Luo Fei checked the chalk marks on Wang Yong’s body. There were marks on the abdomen and hands, but none on the lower back, so he frowned.
"Not right, let’s do it again. This time, you two will scuffle and fall onto the sofa together. The killer will stab the victim again, and the lower back must be stabbed," Luo Fei said.
Sun Jun and Wang Yong had no complaints. Simulating the case required repeated attempts.
They then proceeded with another simulation.
"Not right, at this point, Wang Yong, the victim you are portraying, should have no strength left to fight back."
"Not right, Sun Jun, playing the murderer, where is your knife? You should be holding the knife now."
In the office, Luo Fei recalled the crime scene in his mind and repeatedly corrected Wang Yong and Sun Jun’s actions.
But no matter how they simulated, they couldn’t explain the direction of the stab wounds on the victim’s lower back. For Sun Jun to make the knife’s direction align with those of the injuries on the lower back, it would require an extremely awkward posture, which didn’t make sense logically.
There was only one circumstance under which Sun Jun could stab Wang Yong in a way that the stab wounds on Wang Yong’s lower back would align with the victim’s. That was if, after the victim played by Wang Yong had died, Sun Jun, playing the murderer, went to the middle of the sofa and stabbed the dead victim again.
"So, does this mean that after the victim fell onto the sofa, Lin Gang stabbed him again? But didn’t Lin Gang say he was panicked at the time? How could he think of delivering additional stabs? Could Lin Gang have been lying?" Sun Jun asked.
Luo Fei also frowned. The extra stabs made no sense, but it didn’t seem like Lin Gang was lying either.
But if Lin Gang wasn’t lying, could it mean that there was a third person at the scene, who, after Lin Gang left and saw the victim was not dead, inflicted additional stabs?
Cheng Wei
Almost immediately, Luo Fei thought of Cheng Wei, the clean and composed individual.
Could it be that from the very beginning, Lin Gang was set up by Cheng Wei as the scapegoat? Cheng Wei hoped that Lin Gang would kill Cheng Zhiyou, but if Lin Gang failed, Cheng Wei intended to kill Cheng Zhiyou himself and frame Lin Gang.
So after Lin Gang killed the victim, Cheng Wei entered the room, checked the situation, and seeing the victim was only wounded and not dead, stabbed him twice more.
While Luo Fei was deep in thought.
"Leader, it’s twelve o’clock, time for the meeting," Wang Yong reminded from the side.
"Alright, let’s go."
The members of the third team then hurried to the meeting room, where most of the criminal police had already gathered.
After a short wait for everyone to arrive, Zhao Donglai asked everyone to share their views on the current situation.
"Captain Zhao, the forensic team has a new development. We just discovered it and haven’t had the chance to report it yet," Yang Mei spoke.
"What’s the situation?" Zhao Donglai looked towards the technical team.
The technical team’s forensic expert, Xiaoma, stood up and replied, "Here’s the situation, Captain Zhao. After conducting an autopsy, we found some differences in the stab wounds on the victim’s body. The victim’s abdominal area had four stab wounds, with clear signs of significant bruising and abrasions at the wound sites. However, the two wounds on the lower back were clean and smooth without any bruising."
"Therefore, we suspect that the stab wounds on the victim’s body were made by two knives of similar design but varying sharpness."
On the third team’s side, Sun Jun and others immediately looked at Luo Fei upon hearing what Xiaoma from forensics said, which completely matched the situation they had just simulated.