At 7:30 in the afternoon, Li Hua, Bai Longfei and I escorted the real murderer to the Binhe Police Station. After learning that we had caught the real murderer, Officer Yang's face was full of disbelief. But when he saw that the murderer was missing a front tooth and the pacifier we brought back, his expression of disbelief turned into surprise. He immediately asked Ding Yang and Yuan Hao to test this person's DNA to see if it could match the DNA remaining in the two deceased bodies. Then he escorted the person to the interrogation room and began interrogation.
Ever since we caught this man, he has remained silent, facing us with a cold look and attitude. After sitting in the interrogation room, no matter how Officer Yang threatened or tempted him, he refused to speak, which made us all at a loss as to what to do.
Officer Yang said coldly, "I don't think there's any need for an interrogation. Just convict them and deal with them as they should. The evidence is irrefutable now. Why bother interrogating them? Let's go seal off the Crescent Hotel first and ask them to tell us the criminal's detailed information."
I naturally don't agree with Officer Yang's statement, and Li Hua was the first to sneer and said, "There are still many things that are not clear yet. We can't easily go to the Crescent Hotel and alert the enemy. The source of the baby is an important issue. Only by figuring this out can we catch all the leaders and subordinates of the Crescent Hotel in one fell swoop! Otherwise, even if there are no more murders, another Crescent Hotel will probably appear soon!"
I kept thinking, how can I get this middle-aged man to speak? Looking at his facial expression at this moment, there was no fear or fear, as if he didn't care about being caught by us at all. This also shows that this person's fundamental purpose is to kill people, and the consequences are not a big deal to him.
I understand that it is very difficult to get such a person to tell the truth. Unless I can find something that can make him open his heart, or some words that can touch his heart, I can deal with the murderer in front of me.
In the interrogation room, Officer Yang seemed to be performing a crosstalk, constantly verbally attacking the murderer. The noisy environment gave me a headache, so I walked out of the interrogation room and planned to go out for a cigarette.
Before I even walked out of the police station, I heard the voice behind me that gave me goosebumps every time I heard it: "The real murderer was found so quickly. It seems that I underestimated you."
I knew without even looking that the person who was speaking must be Yuan Hao. I ignored him and walked toward the door while saying, "Come out with me for a moment. I have something to tell you."
After I walked out of the door, Yuan Hao followed me out. I turned around and looked at him. Staring at his innocent smile, I felt like beating him up. I took a deep breath and asked him, "Now that the case has been solved, can you give me the clues you hid?"
When Yuan Hao heard what I said, he was a little surprised and asked, "How did you know?"
"You can deduce the approximate identity of the murderer from a gold watch. Even if you are a god, you probably can't do it. You must have hidden some key clues, right?"
Yuan Hao nodded and said, "Yes, I did hide something. Since you want it, I'll give it to you."
After that, Yuan Hao took out a relatively old-fashioned mobile phone from his pocket and threw it to me, then said: "This phone was hidden in the sleeve of the deceased. I found it quietly hidden when I was examining the body. I have read the contents inside. This phone should be the murderer's phone. Everything you want is in it."
I took the phone but didn't read the contents directly. Instead, I felt furious and asked through gritted teeth, "Why did you hide such an important thing? If we had found it, we might have been able to stop the murderer from killing people in time. What on earth do you want to do?"
"Nothing. I came here just to play with you and meet that so-called Qiongqi. If I had let you see this phone, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate your anxious look because you couldn't find any evidence."
I stared at Yuan Hao fiercely and said, "Aren't you afraid that I will tell Officer Yang and Uncle Bai about your hiding of evidence?"
"I can do it, do you think I'm afraid? Even if you tell them, what can they do? Do they have the power to fire me or arrest me? Don't dream."
The smile on Yuan Hao's face was still so innocent, and I also knew that what he said was true. If Officer Yang or Bai Qi had the ability to deal with the people behind Yuan Hao, he would not appear here.
"But have you ever thought about how much harm it would cause to others if you delayed solving the case for your own selfish interests? What's the difference between you and the murderer?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the smile on Yuan Hao's face finally gradually disappeared, and was replaced by a murderous expression that I had never seen on his face before. Even his voice became gloomy!
"Every great detective is actually a top criminal genius! The two just have different standpoints, but what they do is exactly the same. Including your father, he is also a top criminal. You will slowly understand these words in the future. Once you understand this level, you will either become a true detective like your father, or you will become a criminal like Qiongqi. But I don't think you will wait for that day."
Every word of Yuan Hao's words deeply impacted my heart. Although I still disagreed with what he said, but in my subconscious, I actually felt that what he said made sense!
"Why are you telling me this?"
"No reason. I'm just teaching you how to behave on behalf of your father. I don't want my future enemy to be an idiot like you."
After Yuan Hao finished speaking, he turned around and walked into the police station. I stood there carefully thinking about what Yuan Hao had just said, smiled at myself, took out the phone Yuan Hao gave me, and began to carefully read the messages in it.
Ten minutes later, I returned to the interrogation room. Officer Yang was still there, trying to persuade the murderer earnestly. The murderer stared at Officer Yang coldly without saying a word, just like when I left. I stepped forward and asked Officer Yang to leave first. Then I took out the phone that Yuan Hao gave me and placed it on the table in front of the murderer, saying, "Does this thing look familiar?"
The murderer's eyes, which were originally calm, suddenly flashed with surprise when he saw the phone, and Li Hua next to him asked, "Where did this thing come from?"
"I got it from Yuan Hao."
Li Hua was so smart that he realized instantly that this thing was the key evidence hidden by Yuan Hao. He suddenly became angry. He must have guessed that there must be evidence in this phone that could help us identify the real culprit.
I took a rough look at the contents. Since this phone is very cheap, it doesn't have many functions. I found an audio recording of a baby's laughter in the folder. This should be the source of the baby's laughter that the person who reported the case heard upstairs when Ma Ming died.
I looked through the text messages and call records again. There were only a few numbers that were not saved in the recent call records. I looked through the previous call records and found that the murderer often talked to some doctors. Most of the contacts were Doctor XX, Doctor XX, etc., and I also found a lot of text messages from doctors about infertility treatment. This kind of text messages almost occupied more than 80% of the murderer's mobile phone storage. It was not until six or seven months ago that the text messages gradually began to decrease.
Seeing this, a vague speculation emerged in my mind. Thinking back to when Zhang Qishan and I first discovered the Crescent Hotel, we saw a recruitment notice at the door that had been posted for less than a day or two and they had already hired someone. This made me more certain of my speculation.
I motioned Officer Yang to be quiet, and then said, "You should have started working at the Crescent Hotel a day or two ago, right? That's why you didn't record the phone numbers of the most recent contacts on your phone. Those should have been calls from the owner or employees of the Crescent Hotel, right?"
Seeing that the murderer didn't say anything, I continued, "There are also text messages and phone books. Most of them are from doctors who sent you or called you to discuss infertility. The strange thing is that these text messages and calls began to gradually decrease six or seven months ago, and finally disappeared completely. What's going on?"
Without waiting for the murderer to answer, Li Hua said coldly: "Is there any need to ask? The disease must have been cured, and his wife successfully conceived a child, etc.! Six or seven months ago? Could it be that..."
"Yes, that's what I mean! Suppose his wife got pregnant six or seven months ago, but because of something, the child was gone, and this thing happened to be related to the source of the baby in the Crescent Hotel, so you pretended to come to the Crescent Hotel to work and secretly committed this cruel murder. Tell me, what is hidden in this that we don't know?"
As I spoke, I stared closely at the murderer's eyes. His pupils gradually dilated and he became restless, swaying back and forth in his chair. Seeing this, the police officer who was guarding him nearby became alert and put his hands on the murderer's shoulders to prevent him from standing up suddenly and causing harm to the people around him.
The murderer's reaction said it all. I struck while the iron was hot and said loudly, "If you really want to avenge your child, tell us the truth. The police will never let go of those who can do such a heartless thing!"
As soon as I said this, the murderer's emotions finally broke down completely. Tears gradually flowed from his cold eyes. He said in a trembling voice: "They ate my children's flesh, why can't I eat them!"