Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 65 The Headless Case

To avoid making the elderly woman nervous, Sun Runcai did not directly reveal his police identity: "Auntie, hello! We would like to ask you something."

Three nights ago, did you see a young woman in the neighborhood? About this tall.

Sun Runcai roughly gestured Su Taohong's height.

The old lady thought for a moment and said, "Oh...you mean three nights ago? I think there was a girl like that, wearing a dress."

It was only a short while after dusk when I went out to empty the water from washing my feet and saw her standing on the roadside, making a phone call.

I thought to myself, "It's so late, and she's all alone. Isn't she afraid of bad guys?" So I took another look.

Wu Zhiyuan and Sun Runcai exchanged a glance, their hearts pounding.

The time, place, and clothing of the person all match Su Taohong perfectly.

It's unlikely that the old lady made up such a story out of thin air.

In particular, the details of her wearing a dress were the same as those seen in the surveillance footage.

Wu Zhiyuan quickly took out his phone, showed the old lady a photo of Su Taohong, and said, "Auntie, look, isn't this the girl?"

The old woman leaned closer to the screen and shook her head: "Young man, it was dark then, and I couldn't see her face clearly, so I can't say anything. However, her figure is very similar."

"Did you hear what she said?" Sun Runcai subconsciously pressed the recorder in his pocket.

The old woman recalled, "I heard her shout, 'Where are you?' and then she walked into the mountains."

I didn't think much of it and went back inside after pouring the water.

Wu Zhiyuan then asked, "Auntie, did you see any suspicious people or anything unusual afterwards?"

The old lady looked Wu Zhiyuan and the others over again. Luckily, she knew Mr. Wang, the owner of the guesthouse, and asked, "Are you looking for someone? Is this girl missing?"

Wu Zhiyuan nodded: "Yes."

The old lady suddenly slapped her thigh: "I remember now! About an hour later that night, my ducks didn't come back from the pond as usual, so I went to look for them with a flashlight and saw two men walking from the pond to the roadside."

Sun Runcai was startled and quickly asked, "Two men? Can you describe what they look like?"

"One of the men is taller, about the same height as him," the old lady pointed to Wu Zhiyuan, and then said, "The other one is shorter, about the same height as Boss Wang."

It was dark, so I couldn't see their faces clearly; they were walking quite quickly.

I don't know anything else. I found the duck and went home.

After thanking the old lady, Wu Zhiyuan and Sun Runcai returned to Tinghushan Homestay.

They retrieved the surveillance footage installed at the guesthouse and pinpointed the time to around 7 or 8 pm three days prior.

After careful investigation, the images from 8:03 PM were indeed found to show the figures of two men, one tall and one short.

Although the image is somewhat blurry, the physical characteristics closely match the old woman's description.

They came from the mountain road in a hurry, and after passing the entrance of the guesthouse, they continued forward along the only cement road and soon disappeared from the surveillance range.

Mr. Wang reminded him, "Officer, there's a tea factory at the end of the cement road, and there's a security camera installed at the entrance."

Sun Runcai acted decisively, reviewing the tea factory's surveillance footage to see where the two suspicious men had gone.

At the tea factory, they successfully retrieved the surveillance footage from three days prior.

Around 8:10 p.m., the two men, one tall and one short, reappeared in the camera's view.

They walked quickly to a black Volkswagen sedan parked in an open area near the tea factory, opened the door, got in, and the car drove away.

"That's them! We've found the car." Sun Runcai noted down the license plate number.

Continuing to watch the surveillance video, it was discovered that the car had been parked here around 5 PM.

After parking, the two walked into the mountains. They left by car around 8:10 p.m.

"Zhiyuan, these two men arrived around 5 o'clock. I suspect they went to the mountains to scout the area."

We went back to the guesthouse and reviewed the surveillance footage from an earlier timeframe. Previously, we had been watching the footage from 7:00 AM when Su Taohong left the guesthouse.

They returned to the resort and reviewed the surveillance footage from 5 p.m. onwards.

Sure enough, the footage at 5:20 clearly captured the two men, one tall and one short, walking along the dirt road into the mountains.

The time, the people, and the behavioral patterns formed a perfect closed loop.

Sun Runcai's expression was solemn: "Zhiyuan, we can now basically conclude that Su Taohong has been murdered, and the crime scene is very likely in some corner of Longshan."

Whether she was buried in the mountains or sunk into Longshan Datang remains unknown.

But the most urgent and critical task at present is to file a case immediately.

Only by filing a case can we legitimately use all investigative means to track down the two suspects and the black Volkswagen sedan.

This is currently the clearest, and possibly only, breakthrough point.

Although Su Taohong was just his ex-girlfriend, Wu Zhiyuan still felt heavy-hearted and angry at the thought that she might be murdered.

This was a meticulously planned and skillfully executed murder.

Wu Zhiyuan asked Su Taohong's mother to report the incident to the police, and with his coordination, the Haihe County police officially opened a case.

The first investigation result is in: the license plate of the black Volkswagen corresponds to a white van that has long been scrapped, meaning it is a counterfeit vehicle.

The second investigation result has been released: the identities of the two men in the surveillance video have been confirmed.

The tall man was named Zhao Dahu, and he was from Longshan Town. He was familiar with the terrain.

The short man was named Qian Xiaojun, from another province, and was Zhao Dahu's cellmate.

But the two of them went to Southeast Asia for a trip the day after Su Taohong disappeared.

Police believe the two individuals are prime suspects, but they are not in the country.

Wu Zhiyuan concluded that Su Taohong did not know the two suspects.

But the fact that they could get Su Taohong to come out by making a phone call was already very suspicious.

Police immediately organized officers, cadres, and the public to conduct a comprehensive search of the area where Su Taohong last disappeared.

On the third day after Su Taohong disappeared, a torrential rain fell on Longshan. In the following days, several more rainstorms occurred, which destroyed any possible evidence.

After several hours of arduous searching, the police dog barked fiercely beside a hidden pit.

The investigators carefully dug and found a pair of women's high heels, a woman's thong, and a bloodstained sanitary napkin under the soil.

After Wu Zhiyuan identified them, he confirmed that the high heels and thong belonged to Su Taohong.

The blood-stained sanitary products indicate that Su Taohong was menstruating at the time.

Due to rain erosion, no clear footprints or signs of struggle could be found around the pit where the items were discovered.

DNA testing results showed that the blood in the sanitary napkin belonged to Su Taohong.

But what about Su Taohong's body?

Police believe the body may have been moved.

Based on what the old lady saw when she was looking for the ducks—the two people walking from Longshan Datang—it was initially determined that Longshan Datang might be the location where the body was dumped.

Longshan Pond has never dried up; the water depth is at most a dozen meters, so draining the pond is impractical.

Several nets were pulled, but Su Taohong's body was not found.

The truth of this case may only come to light once the two suspects return to their home countries.

But will they return to their home country?

Hearing rumors, they probably won't dare to return to China.

Will this case become an unsolved case?