57: The murderer surfaced

“Brother Gao, you really surprise me!”

Hearing Gao Ze say this, Liu Wenzhong and several detectives looked at each other, all showing surprise.

“You can do forensic autopsies, criminal investigations, and on-site inspections. Are you really a Traffic Police?”

“What exactly did you find?”

“Of course, I am a Traffic Police!”

Gao Ze smiled, not taking the teasing to heart, and said, “First, tell me about your inquiry.”

“Alright, I’ll go first.”

Liu Wenzhong looked at the nanny Jiang Meifang and said, “Based on your autopsy of Feng Changlin’s time of death, we asked Nanny Jiang about her schedule for this afternoon.”

“From 12 PM to 2 PM this afternoon.

She cooked and cleaned at Feng Changlin’s villa, then returned home to rest.

At 4 PM, she went to the supermarket to buy groceries.

Around 4:30 PM, she returned home to cook for her son and clean her house.”

“Around 5 PM, she went to another resident’s house to cook and help clean, working until past 6:30 PM.”

“Then Nanny Jiang returned to Feng Changlin’s villa, but found something amiss inside the villa—a murder had occurred!”

“You work as a nanny for two families?”

Gao Ze looked at the woman Jiang Meifang in surprise. Logically speaking, clients usually wouldn’t allow their nanny to hold two jobs.

And both were nanny jobs.

“Yes, Officer Gao!”

Jiang Meifang dared not meet Gao Ze’s gaze, her demeanor awkward and nervous, as she said,

“I’m not from Donghai, and the cost of living is a bit high. Also, my son isn’t married yet, so I want to save more money for him, which is why I took on two jobs.”

“Did Feng Changlin know?” Gao Ze asked.

“Mr. Feng didn’t know. I mainly worked as their family’s nanny; the other family was only when they occasionally needed me.”

“Nanny Jiang, don’t be nervous. Brother Gao isn’t suspecting you.”

Liu Wenzhong kindly comforted Jiang Meifang, then seriously told Gao Ze:

“Brother Gao, Nanny Jiang’s alibi is very strong. She clearly remembers the name of the supermarket she went to at 4:30 PM, and there are surveillance records and store employees to testify for her.”

“At the same time, we also called her neighbors, who can testify for her.

They saw Nanny Jiang at home cooking, and when she ran out of soy sauce, she even borrowed some from them!”

“I understand. Her alibi is indeed strong.”

Gao Ze nodded, then looked at the elderly woman Ye Qian on the swing in the villa courtyard and asked,

“Old Lady Ye Qian is the sole survivor of the massacre. How did she escape the killer?”

“Can you get any clues from her?”

“We can’t. If we could, we would have already.”

Liu Wenzhong shook his head and sighed, “The old lady’s mind is not clear at all. When we arrived at the villa, she was sitting on the living room sofa, with Feng Changlin’s body right by her feet.”

Gao Ze’s eyes narrowed, and he deduced, “Then it seems the killer intentionally didn’t kill Old Lady Ye Qian.”

“Yes, the killer was able to murder five victims, one by one, in different rooms. It’s impossible that he didn’t notice Old Lady Ye Qian. Not killing her was probably intentional, and there might be a mystery behind it.”

Liu Wenzhong agreed with Gao Ze’s speculation and said, “Brother Gao, what have you found?”

“This case is not a home invasion robbery!”

Gao Ze did not conceal his findings and revealed the clue, saying, “The traces of rummaging through cabinets and drawers were intentionally created by the killer to mislead our Police investigation.”

“How do you say that?”

Liu Wenzhong and several other detectives looked surprised and doubtful. This was their unanimous judgment from the inspection.

It was highly likely that the killer had robbed the place after the murders.

“It’s simple!”

Gao Ze took out the photos he had taken and said, “Liu Captain, look at these rummaged cabinets and drawers. Are only the top two or three opened, and the ones below not?”

“Yes, that’s right. What about it?”

“If you were a robber, would you pull out drawers from the top, or one by one from the bottom?”

Upon hearing this, Liu Wenzhong’s eyes widened, and he suddenly realized.

Indeed, that was the case.

If you pull open a drawer from the top, it will obstruct the drawers below, making it time-consuming and laborious.

During such a tense moment of murder, it would be impossible to act that way.

A true robber would only pull out drawers from the bottom; opening one wouldn’t block the ones above. This subtle action reveals that the killer was not a robber at all, and there’s no possibility of a home invasion robbery.

“The killer misleading our investigation direction further proves that these five family members, five lives, must have been killed by an acquaintance!”

Gao Ze said, “Only an acquaintance would clearly know each person’s residence and not alarm them.”

“Then it’s… Feng Yu!”

Liu Wenzhong nodded seriously, still in shock.

Gao Ze’s on-site inspection was meticulous, and his experience in criminal cases was rich, truly helping them identify oversights and deficiencies.

“Has Feng Yu not arrived yet?”

Gao Ze looked around. From the group photo, Feng Yu, as a member of Old Lady Ye Qian’s family, seemed to have a poor relationship with all the other members, and her status was very peculiar.

There must be a reason for this.

However, Gao Ze didn't think she could be the killer.

Judging from the injuries on multiple bodies, he vaguely felt that the killer might be male.

“Feng Yu hasn’t come, and her phone hasn’t even gone through!”

Liu Wenzhong shook his head.

“Then investigate this Feng Yu!”

Despite thinking Feng Yu might not be the killer, Gao Ze still wanted to investigate, looking at the three-story detached villa and saying,

“All of Feng Changlin’s direct relatives are dead, only Feng Yu is still alive. This villa is worth at least seventy to eighty million, and inheritance might be the motive for the murder.”

“The villa inheritance is indeed a direction, Brother Gao is right.”

Liu Wenzhong looked at the inky black night sky, then at his watch, and said, “It’s almost nine o’clock now, it’s getting late. Brother Gao, you should head back first. We’ll notify you when we find Feng Yu.”

“Okay, Liu Captain, notify me if you find any clues.”

Gao Ze’s gaze swept over his younger brother Gao Sheng, who was waiting outside the villa courtyard. After some thought, he decided to return.

For the Feng Changlin massacre, the killer couldn’t be found quickly in a short time. It was better to go back and organize his thoughts on the case, or wait for the system intelligence to refresh.

See if there were any new discoveries.

However, just as Gao Ze was about to leave.

The old lady who had been sitting on the swing suddenly jumped up, clutching the nanny Jiang Meifang tightly and weeping:

“Meifang, I’m in so much pain!”

“All my children are terrible, they treat me badly. You must treat me well, don’t leave me.”

“If you treat me well, I’ll give you my inheritance!”

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