Silent Testimony - Chapter 85

Li Hewei fought back the discomfort of a throbbing headache, reaching back to massage her aching neck and shoulders as her senses gradually returned. She grabbed the phone beside her only to find it dead. She started the car first, connecting the data cable to charge it.

Once it successfully powered on, the screen displayed 21 missed calls and 8 unread WeChat messages.

[Sister Wei, where are you?] [Why aren’t you picking up?] [Sister, what’s going on? We’re all looking for you.] ……

She dialed the number back; it connected after just two rings. On the other end, Tao Ling’s voice was hoarse, thick with the sound of crying. “Sister Wei? Where… where are you?”

“I should be on Provincial Road 205.” Li Hewei looked around. She vaguely remembered pulling over last night to contact Tao Ling, only to fall into an instantaneous, deep sleep.

In a rare state of panic, Tao Ling asked hurriedly, “Are you hurt? Where is your exact location? I’ll take a taxi to you.”

“I’m fine. I just fell asleep in the car.”

“Xiao Tao, give it to me.” Tao Ling’s phone was taken by Qiu Wan, who was standing beside her. She cut straight to the chase: “Hewei, come back first. We need to take a statement.”

Li Hewei was stunned for a moment. “A statement? What do you mean?”

Qiu Wan paused for two seconds, her voice heavy. “Du Guozhou has been murdered. Everyone who attended the reunion last night has already finished their statements.”

Li Hewei asked instinctively, “Du Guozhou? You mean my supervisor, the professor from Shujiang University?”

“Yes.” Qiu Wan’s throat tightened as she forced out the next sentence. “Everyone else at the reunion has an alibi. Now, we need to clear you.”

At 1:00 AM, a railway patrolman had discovered Du Guozhou’s body near the tracks and called the police. The crime scene was located in the Nanhe Town section of the West Shuzhou Railway, which fell under Puchen’s jurisdiction. After failing to reach Li Hewei, Qiu Wan notified He Ying; together, they led thirteen members of the Major Crimes and Technical Units to the scene. After processing the evidence, the body was transported back to Puchen. Tao Ling had performed the autopsy overnight, finishing just twenty minutes ago. Now, Qiu Wan was taking her to a noodle shop behind the station for breakfast.

After hanging up, Li Hewei’s eyes lost focus. She stared blankly ahead, her mind flashing back to the dinner and the moment she left the hotel, trying to thread the clues together. Falling asleep like that was no accident; there had to be a cause. Water? She had finished the mineral water she brought, but before she left, Liu Datong had handed her an unopened bottle.

She had been parched then and finished half of it in the taxi. Later, in her rush to get out, she had left the bottle in the backseat.

Was there anything else? Li Hewei’s thoughts were a tangled mess of wires that she couldn’t straighten out in an instant. Setting her confusion aside for the moment, she started the car and raced back.

Inside the Technical Unit’s office, the first light of dawn broke through the window. The crow-blue morning light filtered through the glass, merging with the dim glow of the indoor fluorescent lights, casting a pallor over their exhausted faces.

Li Hewei pushed the door open. She locked eyes with the worried Tao Ling in the corner for two seconds before noticing her colleagues’ hesitant expressions. She spoke first: “I’ll go to the interrogation room.”

He Ying stood up and walked over, patting her shoulder. “Xiao Li, just explain everything clearly. Leave the rest to me to arrange. Don’t worry.”

“I will.”

“Don’t worry, Sister Wei,” a colleague added. “We won’t let a single shred of evidence slip by.”

Li Hewei turned to leave, walking quickly toward the elevator. A familiar voice called from behind. She stopped and looked back at Tao Ling, who was standing by the door with pressed lips, her eyes clouded with gloom. Li Hewei forced a small smile. “Go back to work.”

“Du Guozhou was stabbed thirty-eight times,” Tao Ling said softly. “The first thirty-seven were not fatal. The final blow struck the aorta, causing death by exsanguination.”

Li Hewei’s expression changed instantly. “Tao Ling, I haven’t been cleared of suspicion yet. You shouldn’t be telling me this.”

“You would have found out sooner or later,” Tao Ling muttered.

“Even so, it should have been the Major Crimes detectives using it as a breakthrough to question me during the interrogation.”

Tao Ling, a medical school graduate who hadn’t received formal criminal investigation training, felt her eyes redden as she suppressed her emotions. “I’m sorry.”

Li Hewei’s tone softened. “Go back. The innocent have nothing to fear. I’ll be fine.”

She watched Tao Ling walk back into the office, then took a deep breath to ponder the killer’s intent. Before she could get far, she ran into Qiu Wan.

“Hewei, we have to do this by the book.”

“I understand.”

“I’ve assigned Du Guozhou’s case to Sister Wang,” Qiu Wan said, her brow furrowing. “The evidence currently in hand is very unfavorable to you.”

In the interrogation room, Li Hewei sat across from Wang Cen.

After the routine identification, Wang Cen asked immediately, “Where were you after 9:00 PM on February 5, 2016?”

“I intended to drive back to Puchen, but I fell asleep in the car. When I woke up, it was 6:07 AM today.” Li Hewei gestured toward her phone. “I sent my location to Captain Qiu then; I was on Provincial Road 205 near the Qiangdu Town section.”

Wang Cen checked the WeChat records and navigation. “The place where the body was found is less than seven kilometers from your location.”

Li Hewei remained calm. “And?”

“Instead of going home, you slept in your car. Has this ever happened before?”

“No,” Li Hewei said truthfully. “Last night was the first time. I don’t know why I fell asleep.”

Wang Cen frowned, stating the facts clearly. “Li Hewei, listen. First, the victim was stabbed thirty-eight times with only the last being fatal, suggesting the killer is familiar with human anatomy. You have a degree in Forensics; you possess the skill. Second, you saw the victim last night; you had the opportunity. Finally, you have no alibi, and your location was the closest to the crime scene.”

“Therefore, we have reason to suspect you murdered Du Guozhou.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Li Hewei said firmly.

Wang Cen received the latest data from the Technical Unit, showing that Du Guozhou’s outer coat was contaminated with fibers from Li Hewei’s scarf. “Did you have close contact with Du Guozhou?”

“Yes, when I gave him a private toast.”

“The class monitor, Zhang Heyuan, claims you didn’t drink, while everyone else was dead drunk,” Wang Cen continued. “The killer was clearly conscious during the murder. Of everyone there last night, you are the only one who fits.”

“I’m allergic to alcohol. I had to toast with water.”

“Another coincidence?” Wang Cen sighed. “How am I supposed to believe you?”

“What about surveillance?” Li Hewei countered. “There are seven kilometers between Nanhe and Qiangdu. How many cameras did I pass? They can prove I didn’t return to Nanhe.”

“There are five, but they don’t clear you.” Wang Cen noted that if premeditated, Li Hewei could have switched cars at Qiangdu and returned. “What about the taxi Du Guozhou took? Did you call it?”

“The class monitor said you helped hail the taxi, but they don’t remember the license plate.”

Li Hewei pressed a hand to her forehead. Because they were all men, she had only bothered to memorize the plate number of the taxi Shen Ning took.

The situation hit a deadlock. Wang Cen had no direct evidence of murder, but Li Hewei couldn’t clear herself. In the observation room, Qiu Wan spoke into the intercom: “Sister Wang, Director Liu has ordered her suspension pending investigation. Have Xiao Zhou take her to complete the paperwork.”

Two hours later, after her car had been swept for evidence and cleared, Li Hewei finished her suspension paperwork. At the designated lot to pick up her vehicle, an officer handed her a form. “Please sign here.”

She signed and got into the car. Just as she buckled her seatbelt, the passenger door opened. Tao Ling sat down beside her.

Li Hewei’s heart trembled, but she spoke harshly: “Get out.”

“Sister Wei.” Tao Ling frowned. “Why? You are only suspended pending investigation; your movements aren’t restricted.”

Li Hewei’s left hand clenched into a fist. “You are an investigator on the case. You should keep your distance from me.”

Tao Ling looked her directly in the eye, her voice sincere. “But I am also your girlfriend. I should be with you when you are helpless.”

Water shimmered in Li Hewei’s eyes. She looked away, staring at the floating clouds on the horizon. “Tao Tao, the killer is very clever. This is likely related to last year’s night attack and the tampering with the brakes. I’ve been framed.”

“The water I drank was definitely tainted, but I can’t find the evidence now.”

“Did you tell Sister Qiu about the sudden sleep?”

“She knows, but she said the chances of finding that taxi or the bottle are slim.” Li Hewei forced a smile. “But the net of justice has wide meshes yet lets nothing through. I believe in Sister Qiu, and I believe in all of you.”