That evening, Yu Hanjiang went to the Police Station to work overtime and investigated all of Zhou Yuanyuan's information, including her contact information and the housing information registered under his and his family's names. Xiao Lou, having nothing else to do, simply went back to the Police Station with Yu Hanjiang.
The results of the investigation surprised the two of them greatly.
Zhou Yuanyuan happened to buy a house in Moon Lake Villa Estate, but it was registered under her father Zhou Jianqiang's name. This house is located in Zone C. According to the house distribution map provided by the community property management, her house is very close to Lin Yiyan's villa, separated only by a road.
Yu Hanjiang said, "If Zhou Yuanyuan had binoculars, she could have clearly tracked Lin Yiyan's movements from home. This would confirm our deduction that the murderer had already prepared a detailed murder plan. Lin Yiyan is a big star and is usually very busy. Her return time to Moon Lake Villa is not fixed at all. If she is far away, it would be difficult to seize the opportunity to kill her. Only people living in the villa area can monitor Lin Yiyan's movements at any time and find an opportunity to strike after she returns."
Zhou Yuanyuan and Lin Yiyan had a personal grudge, giving her a strong motive for murder. She also "coincidentally" bought a house in Moon Lake Villa Estate, which was very close to Lin Yiyan, making it easy for her to monitor her. This gave her ample opportunity and time to commit the crime.
Xiao Lou said, " Zhou Yuanyuan is highly suspicious. If she is the murderer, she could have taken ice to Lin Yiyan's place, since she lives very close to Lin Yiyan... But, given their personal feud, would Lin Yiyan have opened the door for her in the middle of the night?"
Yu Hanjiang thought for a moment and said, "If we knock on the door under the pretense of negotiation, pretending to reconcile with Lin Yiyan, perhaps Lin Yiyan will open the door? After all, she wouldn't have expected Zhou Yuanyuan to actually kill someone."
Xiao Lou nodded in agreement: "That makes sense. The one who knows you best is often your enemy. It's not surprising that Zhou Yuanyuan knows Lin Yiyan's habits. If she killed Lin Yiyan and drove away in Lin Yiyan's car... where would that car be now?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "When I went to the Traffic Police Detachment yesterday, I asked them to help me find out the route and whereabouts of the black car with license plate number 6K502. There are no results yet. Let's go and take a look together tomorrow."
After working overtime until the early hours of the morning once again, Yu Hanjiang drove Xiao Lou home, and the two went back to rest.
The next morning, Yu Hanjiang drove to pick up Xiao Lou and took him to the traffic police brigade on time.
Captain Zhang of the Traffic Police Department was very familiar with Yu Hanjiang. Upon seeing him, he hurriedly came up to him and said with a smile, " Captain Yu, you're here to investigate a case so early?"
Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice, "Old Zhang, has there been any news about Lin Yiyan's car?"
Captain Zhang shook his head with a wry smile: "We've been tracking this car, 6K502, for a long time. Last Tuesday at 4 a.m., after it drove out of Yuehu Villa, it circled around the city for a whole time before disappearing at a fork in the road. We couldn't get any more footage after that. That area is the most remote suburb in our city, and they're currently doing road construction, so they haven't had time to install cameras yet."
The killer circled around the city before finally heading to a remote area without surveillance cameras, clearly intending to make the investigation difficult.
Captain Zhang pulled up the prepared surveillance footage and pointed to the license plate "6K502" captured on the screen, saying, "According to the surveillance footage at the intersection, this car should have left Binzhou City and headed towards Yue Prefecture. I have already contacted the traffic police in Yue Prefecture. They checked all day yesterday and just replied that they could not find any information about this car in the city's surveillance cameras."
Upon hearing this, Yu Hanjiang frowned: "So, this car just vanished from the surveillance footage?"
Captain Zhang awkwardly touched his nose: "Well, the murderer was very good at counter-surveillance. Although our surveillance covers most of the main roads, there are indeed many areas where cameras have not been installed yet."
Lin Yiyan's car is key to this case; the person who drove it away is highly likely to be her killer. Finding the car would greatly help solve the case. Unfortunately, the car remains missing; it mysteriously disappeared from surveillance footage.
Yu Hanjiang took out his phone, glanced at the map, and asked, "How many roads are there from Binzhou to the neighboring city of Yue Prefecture?"
Captain Zhang said, "There are two routes. One is the newly built intercity expressway, which takes only an hour. The other is a mountain road that requires crossing Nanlin Mountain, taking three and a half hours. Although Nanlin Mountain is not high, its terrain is treacherous, with fourteen sharp turns on the mountain road, known as the 'Fourteen Turns Road.' Few people usually take this road, but thrill-seeking racers do race on it..."
At this point, the captain suddenly paused, then blurted out, "Could the murderer have crossed the mountain path in the middle of the night?!"
A bad feeling rose in Yu Hanjiang's heart. He asked in a deep voice, "Aren't there any cameras installed on the mountain road?"
Captain Zhang said helplessly, "That road was built more than ten years ago. The road conditions are bad, and there are no cameras along the entire mountain road. Many large trucks like to take that road, and no one cares if they are overloaded."
Yu Hanjiang narrowed his eyes: "According to you, this mountain road has fourteen sharp turns, which makes it easy for car accidents to happen, right?"
Captain Zhang said, "That's right. The mountain road has several sharp U-turns, and there are no streetlights, so very few people dare to travel this road at night. We haven't been able to find Lin Yiyan's car, could it be... that it fell off a cliff?!"
Yu Hanjiang whispered, "It's possible. Go search below the cliff right away."
At Yu Hanjiang's request, the Traffic Police Detachment and the Criminal Police Detachment were dispatched together and quickly headed to the Shisipanshan Road.
The experienced Captain Zhang quickly noticed something was wrong at a bend in the road.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou got out of the car with him to check – they saw that there was a broken gap in the guardrail of a sharp bend, enough for a car to go off the bend and roll down the mountain.
Vehicles come and go on the mountain road. After a week, the tire tracks have become very blurry, making it impossible to conduct on-site trace identification. However, there are obvious scratches on the black paint at the gap in the guardrail.
Yu Hanjiang crouched down and examined it closely: "The black paint suggests it's Lin Yiyan's car. Let's go down the mountain and check!"
Several young traffic police officers quickly went down the mountain. A moment later, Captain Zhang's wireless microphone came through the report: "Captain, a car was found down the mountain. The fuel tank exploded, and the entire car was burned down to an empty shell. The license plate number is Bin A-6K502!"
Everyone: "..."
It really is Lin Yiyan's car.
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance, both seeing helplessness in each other's eyes.
When the two arrived at the foot of the mountain, several traffic police officers had already cordoned off the scene to take photos and collect evidence. The vehicle rolled down the hillside, and eventually the fuel tank exploded, igniting a fire that destroyed the entire vehicle. Naturally, little evidence remained inside.
Fingerprints, skin surface, hair, etc. cannot be collected at all.
If Yu Hanjiang hadn't specifically investigated, no one would have known that a vehicle had fallen off a cliff in a remote, uninhabited area.
Finding the car was useless; there were still no clues as to who drove it here.
Looking at the burned car, Yu Hanjiang stroked his chin and said, "The murderer drove the car to a bend in the mountain road, pushed it off to destroy evidence, so how did she get back? It's such a remote mountain road, she couldn't possibly walk home, so someone must have come to meet her. Or, she left another car on the mountain road beforehand and switched cars to drive back."
Xiao Lou looked at the Traffic Police Detachment Chief and politely asked, "Chief Zhang, do you know if there are any security cameras on the other side of the mountain road?"
Captain Zhang said, "Once we cross this mountain, we'll be in Yue Prefecture. Two kilometers further on is the provincial highway. There should be cameras there. I can ask my colleagues in Yue Prefecture to help check the information of vehicles that passed through this road last Tuesday."
Xiao Lou followed up, "The car might not have gone to Yue Prefecture next door." Captain Zhang was slightly taken aback, then heard Xiao Lou calmly say, "He could have turned around halfway, gone in the opposite direction, and returned to Binzhou."
Yu Hanjiang gave Xiao Lou an approving look and said to the traffic police officer, "Captain Zhang, the investigation in Binzhou should continue. It's indeed possible that the car turned around and returned to Binzhou. If it wants to enter the city after going back via the mountain road, it will definitely have to pass through that intersection. I would like to obtain the information of all the car owners who passed through the intersection after 4 a.m. on the 17th. Thank you for your help."
Team Leader Zhang laughed and said, "Of course, I'll go back and help you investigate right away."
After collecting the evidence at the scene, everyone returned to the city together.
Yu Hanjiang treated Xiao Lou to a simple meal, and then immediately took the police officers to find Zhou Yuanyuan.
Zhou Yuanyuan had been recuperating in a hospital since her car accident last year. Yu Hanjiang called the hospital, but they said Zhou Yuanyuan had been discharged half a month ago. They kept calling her, but no one answered. So Yu Hanjiang decided to bring everyone to the Yuehu Villa area to try their luck.
After finding Zhou Yuanyuan's house by address, Yu Hanjiang asked his colleagues to wait outside while he went up and rang the doorbell himself.
The person who opened the door was an elderly man around 60 years old, with gray hair, a face full of wrinkles, and a very haggard appearance. He looked at Yu Hanjiang with a puzzled expression and asked, "May I ask who you are?"
Yu Hanjiang showed his police ID and said, "Hello, sir, we are police officers. We are here to investigate a case with Zhou Yuanyuan."
The old man's expression changed: "You've come to the wrong place, Zhou Yuanyuan doesn't live here!"
Xiao Lou said gently, "You must be Mr. Zhou Jianqiang, Zhou Yuanyuan's father?"
The old man's lips twitched violently when he was exposed. Before he could retort, Yu Hanjiang calmly said, "Uncle, we are just conducting a routine investigation. We hope you can cooperate. After all, Miss Zhou is a public figure. Obstructing the police investigation will not do your daughter any good."
A voice came from inside the house: "Old Zhou, who is it?"
The old man remained silent for a moment, seemingly also feeling that keeping the police out would be detrimental to his daughter's reputation, before opening the door to let Yu Hanjiang and the others in. He then said to the old lady inside, "Two police officers, you say you're here to investigate a case."
The old lady paused for a moment, then immediately turned around to pour a few glasses of water, smiling broadly as she said, "Officer, please sit down. What's the case? My Yuanyuan was injured before and was just discharged from the hospital a while ago. She doesn't know what's going on outside! What happened?"
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Is Miss Zhou here?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a slender woman came down the stairs. She was wearing simple home clothes and slippers, and her hair was only a few centimeters long, obviously cut off during surgery.
She was without makeup, and there were several noticeable scars on her face, marks left from skin grafting surgery, still in the recovery period. But her features were still undeniably exquisite, especially her eyebrows and eyes; her slightly upturned, sword-like eyebrows gave her a powerful and commanding presence.
Zhou Yuanyuan walked into the living room, sat down on the sofa, casually lit a cigarette, and said indifferently, "What does the officer want with me?"
Yu Hanjiang asked directly, "Where was Miss Zhou on the 16th and 17th of last week?"
"I'll rest at home." A cold smile crept across her lips. "Where else could I go with my face looking like this?"
"Can anyone testify for you?"
Just as her parents were about to step forward to speak, Zhou Yuanyuan said calmly, "I'm home alone, and no one can testify for me."
Zhou Jianqiang was stunned for a moment: "Yuanyuan, last week I didn't..."
Zhou Yuanyuan interrupted him, saying, "Dad, you and Mom only came to Binzhou for the photoshoot the day before yesterday afternoon."
"Take care of me. The police can easily find your flight records with a simple check. You don't need to give false testimony for me." She looked at Yu Hanjiang, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Last week, I was indeed home alone. I also fired the manager and assistant. I wanted to be alone for a while."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance, quite surprised. Most suspects would try every means to create an alibi to clear their name, but Zhou Yuanyuan was so straightforward, actually admitting that no one could testify for her?
This Zhou Yuanyuan has acted so openly and honestly, could it be that the murder case really has nothing to do with her?
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