Silent Testimony - Chapter 3

After two days of observation, Li Hewei was discharged from the hospital. As it was a Sunday, the family gathered for a meal. She was slightly unaccustomed to their closeness but accepted it fully.

After dinner, Cheng Yingqiu finished moving the last carload of luggage and saw her parents off, and the surroundings finally quieted down. The original owner’s three-bedroom, two-living-room, two-bathroom apartment, at 142 square meters, had the exact same Mediterranean pastoral decor as Li Hewei’s small 56-square-meter two-room apartment in Shenzhen, giving it a very approachable style.

All three bedrooms had balconies. She occupied the master bedroom with the washroom, and the slightly smaller adjacent bedroom had been converted into a studio, furnished with three easels, a solid wood desk, and a set of bookshelves.

As she familiarized herself with the environment, Cheng Yingqiu’s cheerful voice drifted from outside the door.

“Sis, I plan to buy a movable height-adjustable desk to work in the living room sometimes.”

Li Hewei stepped out of the studio, sat on the sofa by the coffee table, and replied, “Suit yourself.”

“Because you don’t allow people to disturb you when you’re painting, right?” Cheng Yingqiu naturally looped her arm through Li Hewei’s, showed her her phone, and said, “Come on, help me reference this. I trust your taste.”

Li Hewei quickly scanned the screen, and her slender index finger tapped the screen: “This one.”

“Wow, I was just wavering between this one and the other teak-colored desk.” Cheng Yingqiu placed the order. “Thanks, Sis.”

“You’re welcome.” Li Hewei withdrew her gaze and lowered her head to reply to a colleague’s WeChat message.

Cheng Yingqiu asked her, “Back to work tomorrow?”

“Mmm, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be processed later.” In the short two days, Li Hewei had broadly clarified the scope of her job responsibilities.

“Me too, starting work tomorrow.” Cheng Yingqiu clasped her hands, praying sincerely, “Hope everything goes smoothly.”

Resting up, the sisters each retired to their rooms close to 9 PM. Li Hewei did not have a habit of sleeping early. She tossed and turned, finally sitting up, slipping on her slippers, and moving to the studio. She carefully examined the original owner’s drafts, knowing the gap between them and how to bridge it.

For instance, she needed more practice in her free time.

Li Hewei sat in front of the easel, removed the hair tie from her wrist, tied up her long hair, and then found a piece of surveillance footage from a train station to start sketching the passing pedestrians. She observed and captured the facial features of the figures, first drawing the rough shape, then adding details.

After a long time, Li Hewei finally stopped writing, her curled index finger resting against the tip of her nose, her thin lips slightly pursed, contemplating something. Two minutes later, she picked up the brush again.

The light rain outside changed from a drizzle to a dense curtain, gently tapping against the glass. The night was deep, half a stack of paper was consumed, and the light in the room finally went out.

The next day, in the Technical Squadron Office of the Puchen Municipal Public Security Bureau, Li Hewei strolled around and found her desk by the window. She sat down and turned on her computer. The policewoman who entered the door, sitting across from her, expressed concern: “Xiao Li, didn’t you sleep well last night?”

The speaker was He Ying, the “Big Sister” of the squadron and the Deputy Captain, responsible for on-site investigation and internal affairs, and was six years older than Li Hewei.

“Maybe.” She did return to her room around 2 AM.

“You young people just love staying up late.” He Ying organized the materials for the upcoming meeting and asked her, “Is your body okay? I’ll organize this morning’s meeting.”

“I’m fine, I have a strong foundation.” Li Hewei felt warmth in her heart. Before transmigrating, she worked at a Judicial Institute, where she mostly interacted with male colleagues, and only her assistant was a woman. She sighed, it really is warmer where there are more women.

At 8:30 AM, during the squadron morning meeting, He Ying gave a brief report on the police situations and case leads from the previous two days, and other officers provided analysis. Li Hewei listened, recorded case-related information, and finally summarized the next work plan. She occasionally glanced at Tao Ling in the corner, watching her take meticulous notes and speak composedly. At less than 25 years old, with only two months of work experience, it was no wonder the assistant who wrote the novel favored her.

Her composure was indeed more stable than other young people newly introduced to society; she was neither rushed nor impatient.

Time flew by, and on the last day of July, after the noon break, Li Hewei organized various data, sending and receiving relevant documents. Over the past half-month, the Technical Squadron had assisted the Comprehensive Squadron in solving two residential burglaries and one child trafficking case. She had also gradually adapted to the rhythm of Puchen life: 8 AM to 6 PM, with overtime two or three times a week. At 2:24 PM, a call from the 110 Command Center arrived unexpectedly.

“A male corpse has been found near the North Bridge of Liuhang River. Please have the Technical Team proceed to the scene immediately.”

“Received.” Li Hewei hung up the phone, looked up, and the colleagues around her all put down their work and went to the locker room to change. They wore a unified blue short-sleeved duty shirt for indoor office work in the summer, but when going to a crime scene, they also needed to put on a dark blue uniform vest outside.

The Technician and Laboratory Forensic Doctor stayed behind, and the remaining six packed up, fully equipped, and hurried toward the parking lot.

“Captain Li, you take the seven-seater car in front.” Outside the Comprehensive Building, a woman in plain clothes—high ponytail, dark shirt, light-colored pants, and a brown leather belt around her waist—called out to her.

“Okay.” Li Hewei recognized the person; she had seen her during a meeting a few days ago. Qiu Wan, 32 years old, had 10 years of police experience and was transferred from the Deputy Director of a police station to the second-in-command of Puchen’s Criminal Investigation. She was good at using psychological warfare to destroy the defensive lines of criminals who stubbornly resisted, and her actions were decisive, earning her the nickname “Iron Lady.”

They got into the car, and a convoy of three vehicles drove toward the North Bridge of Liuhang River.

The collection of physical evidence should fall under the responsibilities of case investigators, but in Mainland China and the Special Administrative Regions, this duty is taken up by the Technical Team’s trace examiners or Forensic Center examiners, who conduct on-site inspections and evidence collection. Therefore, the trace examiners enter the crime scene first.

After a half-hour drive, Li Hewei put on her mask, gloves, head cover, and shoe covers to enter the police tape cordon set up by the police station. Beside the corpse, Tao Ling was squatting, reaching out for an initial external examination of the body.

The corpse was bloated, a sign of ‘gigantism’ post-decomposition, and the smell was overwhelming. Even the patrol police from the police station did not dare to get close. Li Hewei watched Tao Ling, who looked unfazed and observed meticulously, and asked, “How is it?”

“The epidermis of the corpse has already decomposed and peeled off.”

“And the dermis?” The state of decomposition of the dermis and epidermis is an important standard for judging the time of death.

Tao Ling was looking for a fatal injury and replied, “Not bad.”

Li Hewei fell into her professional habit: “Not bad? Be more precise.”

Tao Ling paused slightly. She couldn’t gauge Li Hewei’s current mindset. Why was the attitude of the person who usually ignored her at crime scenes now completely different? Was it due to the amnesia?

“The dermis is intact.” Tao Ling suppressed her thoughts and quickly added, “The summer temperature is high, so the time of death should be around seven days.”

“What is the cause of death?” Qiu Wan, standing behind them, asked.

“Currently, no other external injuries have been found, and there is a small amount of mushroom-shaped foam in the mouth and nose. The preliminary determination is drowning.”

Given the recent heavy rain and severe flooding upstream, Qiu Wan speculated: “Accidental drowning?”

Li Hewei and Tao Ling said in unison, “Not necessarily.”

“Hmm, how so?”

Tao Ling subconsciously competed with Li Hewei, quickly saying, “An average person will struggle out of an instinct for survival when falling into the water, and there are often sand and mud embedded under their fingernails, but the deceased’s fingernails are exceptionally clean.”

“You suspect the body was dumped here?” Dumping a body implies the case will be categorized as a vicious homicide, Qiu Wan frowned.

“Perhaps drowned and then dumped.”

Bold assumptions, followed by careful verification? The corners of Li Hewei’s lips unconsciously turned up, and she offered a suggestion: “Captain Qiu, once Tao Ling finishes the external examination, please bring the body back to the police station as soon as possible. An autopsy is needed to confirm the cause of death.” She asked He Ying, who was passing by, “Sister He, how is your side?”

“The deceased seems to have been washed down from upstream, so no useful physical evidence was found on the riverbank.” She had already asked Xiao Zhou to collect river water to take back to the lab for testing.

Qiu Wan agreed: “Yes, the reporting person claims to stream fishing nearby every day and accidentally discovered the body when casting his rod today. I’ll have people go upstream to survey and investigate both banks later to see if we can find the point of entry into the water or the dumping site.”

Li Hewei nodded.

Half an hour later, officers from the Major Case Squadron came to help transport the body. As they packed up to leave, Li Hewei’s gaze was instantly drawn to two people beside the police car in front.

Yingqiu?

Perhaps due to the hot weather, a faint blush stained Cheng Yingqiu’s cheeks: “Reporters have the right to report the news! I did not cross the police tape, and the photos I took are legal and reasonable!”

The nearby police officer reminded Qiu Wan: “Captain Qiu, she is a reporter for the TV station’s Legal Channel.”

“The camera.” Qiu Wan was unyielding and followed the regulations.

“Here.” Cheng Yingqiu carefully handed over her tool of the trade, puffed out her cheeks, silently reciting a mantra to keep calm, looking exactly like a little hamster.

The specific details of ongoing criminal cases under investigation or pre-trial are considered state secrets, so Qiu Wan had to review Cheng Yingqiu’s footage first. She held the camera with one hand, meticulously looked through the photos and videos, and only returned it to the girl staring angrily at her after confirming nothing was out of bounds, admonishing her: “Don’t hide behind trees to take photos in the future.”

“The weather is hot. Can’t I hide from the sun?” Cheng Yingqiu was so angry she wanted to stamp her foot, questioning, “Why aren’t you dealing with the reporter from Puchen Evening News? He took more photos than I did.”

“And the Puchen Metropolitan Daily.”

Qiu Wan gestured for her to turn her head and look to the left, where two other police officers were checking the cameras of reporters from other news agencies.

Cheng Yingqiu was defeated, muttering, “Who knows if you’re holding a personal grudge?” Her voice was low, and Qiu Wan, who had her back turned, communicating with a colleague, clearly didn’t hear her. She put away her camera, got back into the front passenger seat, and took out her phone to send Li Hewei a WeChat message.

Sis, are you familiar with Qiu Wan from the Major Case Squadron?

Li Hewei watched Cheng Yingqiu enter the car before returning to the investigation vehicle. During the return trip, discussions about the case rose and fell around her. She occasionally picked out the main points, and her phone screen suddenly lit up. Cheng Yingqiu was anxious because she hadn’t replied yet.

Sis

A pouting tone.

No, why?

She noticed that the original owner didn’t even have a close girlfriend to confide in; her life was only work and family—how boring.

She might be targeting me!

Li Hewei was confused and edited a message:

Do you two know each other? Did you have an old feud?

She’s my college roommate’s ex-girlfriend. We’ve had a meal together.