latelenovela Chapter 984 Major Clue Discovered, Suspect Identified
Chapter 984 Major Clue Discovered, Suspect Identified
Xiao Wang turned his gaze to Section Chief Zhao, who was in charge of freight dispatch: "Is it you who gives the orders to arrange Song Houdong's transportation every time?"
Section Chief Zhao adjusted his glasses, his voice trembling slightly: "The factory's transportation arrangements are all done according to procedure. Song Houdong is an experienced driver with strong professional skills, so he's often sent out..."
"But why is there such a big difference between the cargo manifests and the actual weights in these shipments?" Xiao Wang's tone suddenly became stern.
Section Chief Zhao fell silent; only the ticking of the wall clock filled the office. After a long while, he sighed: "To be honest, there is indeed a mole within the factory. Three months ago, we discovered that some precision steel was missing, but we haven't found any evidence."
Xiao Wang immediately requested to view the attendance records and surveillance videos of the relevant personnel. While reviewing the surveillance footage from June 15th, he discovered an anomaly—Chen Hao, who should have been in the duty room, briefly left his post for five minutes while Song Houdong's truck was being weighed.
"Call Chen Hao in for questioning," Xiao Wang ordered.
When Chen Hao was brought to the interrogation room, his eyes were clearly darting around. "Why did you leave the weighing room on the evening of June 15th?" Xiao Wang asked bluntly.
"I...I went to the restroom," Chen Hao stammered.
"It takes five minutes to go to the toilet? And the surveillance footage shows you went towards the truck parking area." Xiao Wang took out the surveillance screenshot and placed it in front of Chen Hao.
Chen Hao's face instantly turned deathly pale, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead: "I...I just went to get some fresh air."
"Really?" Xiao Wang sneered. "Then how do you explain that Song Houdong's truck was missing 1.2 tons of cargo? Also, what's with these transfer records?" He slammed Song Houdong's bank statements on the table, several of which showed large transfers from anonymous accounts with dates that coincided with the abnormal transportation schedule.
Chen Hao panicked completely, frantically twisting the hem of his clothes with both hands: "I...I was forced into this. Someone threatened me, saying that if I didn't cooperate, they would tell everyone about my dad's hospitalization and make me lose my job..."
Based on Chen Hao's confession, Xiao Wang identified the suspect as Zhou Ming, the steel mill's warehouse manager. Zhou Ming had worked at the mill for many years, was familiar with the steel transportation process, and had access to precision steel. However, when the police investigated Zhou Ming's whereabouts, they discovered that he had a perfect alibi for the night of the incident—he was at the city hospital taking care of his sick mother, a fact corroborated by hospital surveillance footage and nurses.
The investigation reached a stalemate. Xiao Wang returned to the steel mill and carefully examined the warehouse. The warehouse had a robust security system, with double access control for the precision steel storage area. However, he noticed that the surveillance camera at the back door of the warehouse went black for three minutes during the time of the incident.
"Why did the surveillance cameras here stop working?" Xiao Wang asked the warehouse security captain.
The security captain scratched his head: "There was a problem with the wiring that night, but it was fixed quickly."
Xiao Wang, however, keenly sensed something was amiss. He contacted technicians to inspect the surveillance equipment and discovered that someone had deliberately tampered with the surveillance lines, and the method was highly professional. More importantly, technicians extracted rubber fragments from Song Houdong's truck tires from the corner of the wall behind the warehouse.
The clues point to Zhou Ming again, but how can his alibi be explained?
Xiao Wang decided to start with the hospital.
The smell of disinfectant filled his nostrils, and Xiao Wang's leather shoes made a crisp sound on the hospital's gleaming floor tiles. He pushed open the glass door to the inpatient ward's nurses' station. Night shift nurse Chen Juan was organizing medical records, the incandescent light making the dark circles under her eyes particularly noticeable. "Nurse Chen, I'd like to ask you about what happened on the evening of June 15th," Xiao Wang said, pulling out his badge and trying to sound as gentle as possible.
Chen Juan paused, flipping through the schedule. "That night... I remember it very clearly. The old lady in bed 302 had a fever the whole time, and I was so busy I barely had time to breathe." She suddenly frowned. "Now that you mention it, it reminds me of something strange. That family member of Zhou Ming is usually quite quiet, but after receiving a phone call that night, he was like a completely different person."
Xiao Wang immediately opened his notebook: "Tell me more details?"
“It was around 11:10 p.m.,” Chen Juan recalled, pointing to the digital clock on the wall. “His phone suddenly rang, the ringtone was very loud. He glanced at the screen, his face turned pale instantly, and his voice was trembling when he answered the phone. After hanging up, he told me he was going out to buy fever reducers, and he ran faster than a rabbit, without even buttoning up his white coat.”
Xiao Wang's heart tightened. Song Houdong's time of death was around 11:30. "How long was he gone? What was his condition when he came back?"
“It took about fifteen minutes in total.” Chen Juan bit her lip, trying hard to recall the details. “When he came back, his hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead, but his hands were empty. I asked him where the medicine was, and he stammered that the pharmacy was closed, but I could clearly smell a strange smell on him, a bit like gasoline and a bit like rust.”
Xiao Wang immediately requested to view the surveillance footage. In the hospital's monitoring room, the technician retrieved the recording from that night. In the footage, Zhou Ming hurriedly ran out of the inpatient department at 11:12 PM, the headlights of his black SUV streaking across the rain like two blinding streaks. At 11:27 PM, he rushed back, looking flustered, his clothes still dripping wet, and his trousers covered in suspicious mud.
"Can you see the license plate number clearly?" Xiao Wang leaned closer to the screen.
The technician shook his head: "The rain was too heavy, and the license plate was covered in mud. But look at this." He zoomed in on the image, and when Zhou Ming opened the car door, his sleeve slipped down, revealing a fresh scratch on his wrist.
Xiao Wang's heart suddenly raced as he recalled the injury on Song Houdong's right index finger. He thanked the technician and then turned to ask the security guard from that night. The old guard slapped his thigh: "Yes, yes, yes! I knew it looked familiar! That truck went out and came back in the middle of the night, its tires covered in mud, just like the tracks of those dump trucks I saw when they were repairing roads back home!"
Back at the police station, Xiao Wang compared the hospital's surveillance footage with soil samples from the back gate of the steel mill warehouse. Under the microscope, the results didn't match at all.
However, the police still arrested Zhou Ming.
Currently, he is considered a prime suspect in the crime.
The incandescent lights in the interrogation room hummed. Zhou Ming's hands were cuffed to the iron table, yet he maintained a calm demeanor. He wore a neatly ironed shirt, and even in this environment, he exuded the composure of a professional. Li Ming and Xiao Wang exchanged a glance and decided to break through from the outside first.
“Zhou Ming, tell me about your relationship with Song Houdong,” Li Ming said first, his voice low and calm.
Zhou Ming raised his head slightly, a hint of wariness in his eyes: "Officer, I didn't say anything about sex. We're just business partners. I'm in charge of arranging the steel transportation, and he's in charge of driving. We split the money according to the rules, nothing special."