Chapter 402 - Patients, Doctors [2 in 1] (1/2)

Translator: Lonelytree  Editor: Millman97

The police’s discovery was similar to Chen Ge’s previous speculation—the statue had been used as a transport mechanism. After getting Lee Zheng’s reply, Chen Ge’s mind cleared. “After the suspect killed the victims, he hid them inside the statue and then had someone move the statue into the underground storeroom. When no one was looking, he sneaked back into the storeroom to deal with the dead body. Then the body was dragged into the underground morgue, and the crime was completed without a trace.”

Jiujiang Medical University was special because the area underneath the western part of the school was a morgue. Without wasting much energy and effort, one could take care of a dead body easily. “There shouldn’t be anyone who would consider going to look for missing people inside the underground morgue, so reality proved that the culprit is a really smart person.”

Chen Ge stated everything Lee Zheng had on his mind. Lee Zheng, on the other end of the phone, was silent for a while. “It is still unclear who the owner of the statue is, but the suspect pool is narrowing. After our detailed investigation, we can confirm that the statue does not belong to Jiujiang Medical University but appeared one day inside the Arts Society without warning.”

“Sudden appearance?”

“We managed to find the man who was the chairperson at the time. He could remember how he felt when he entered the activity room and found a new statue. At the time, most of the members thought that it was a new purchase by the school, so they did not think much of it. Since the school campus was also moving soon, in the end, the thing was moved by several male students into the underground storeroom.”

“This means that the killer was not a part of the moving process.” Chen Ge thought about it. “The killer probably knew about the imminent campus movement and that those unusable items would be sent to the underground storage. In fact, he might even have been present then to silently insinuate things to his liking.”

“I was thinking the same. The killer can move in and out of the campus freely late at night and knew about all this information with regards to the university. So, chances are high that he is a student, a teacher, or some other staff at the university.” Someone was talking to Lee Zheng, so he replied the man before turning back to inform Chen Ge. “After our investigation, we have narrowed down our pool to four suspects.

“The first one is the male counselor that you told me about yesterday. His name is Liu Zhe, and he’s a popular figure at the school. He’s a sharp dresser and quite handsome, so you can imagine his popularity with the female students. However, as our investigation deepened, we found that the man is really not as he appears. He has not been to a reputable school, and the university was unable to provide a clear answer to how he managed to become a counselor. The only thing we found out is that the reason is related to his brother-in-law.

“The second suspect is the night security guard at the old campus—Zhang Li. The man is thirty-five years old this year, and he is a private person. The complete opposite from Liu Zhe, the students shy away from him, and for some reason, he is weirdly hated.

“The third suspect is an original member of the Arts Society and the only female of the four suspects. Her name is Zhang Sihan. She is Zhang Li’s little sister and had a tense relationship with Ma Yin’s sister. Before the sister’s disappearance, many people remember her having many ugly confrontations and arguments with Ma Yin’s sister.”

Lee Zheng stopped at this point, and Chen Ge was deeply intrigued. “The security guard, Zhang Li, has the ability and means to be the killer while Zhang Sihan has the motive and timing; however, neither of their lifestyles have any connection to a western sculpture. I still think the first suspect is the most likely killer. By the way, didn’t you say there are four suspects?”

“Actually, according to our investigation, the chance of the fourth suspect being the killer is the highest.” Lee Zheng sounded weird on the phone like he did not want to reveal the name of the fourth suspect. “You are familiar with this fourth person; it’s Doctor Gao.”

“Doctor Gao?” This answer was quite surprising to Chen Ge.

“Just as you said earlier, be it Zhang Li or Zhang Sihan, their lives have nothing to do with the statue. However, it is different for Doctor Gao.” Lee Zheng lowered his voice. “I first met Doctor Gao about five years ago. I was asked to go on a psychological assessment after using my gun to kill a criminal. During the two weeks of conversations, we became friends.” Chen Ge listened closely; he was surprised that Lee Zheng had known Doctor Gao for five years.

“To be honest, Doctor Gao can be considered the perfect man. In my eyes, he has no weaknesses. In fact, I can list the good points about him, and it would take all night.” Lee Zheng’s voice sounded depressed, and Chen Ge understood why the man had chosen this time to make this call. “I admired the man, but this does not mean that I won’t do my job. During my therapy sessions, I found out many things about him. This includes his hobby of collecting artwork—for instance, he likes to collect paintings by Van Gogh.”

“Being an art lover doesn’t make him a killer, or have you seen that statue before at Doctor Gao’s place?” Using the statue to hide and move the body looked like a brilliant plan, but when it was put into action, there were many loopholes. If Doctor Gao was the real killer, Chen Ge believed that he would have utilized a more perfect method to conduct the crime.

“I have not been to Doctor Gao’s home, but I do know that he appreciates artwork that has conflicting contrast, those that have stunning visual impact. I also know that the few nights before Ma Yin’s sister disappeared, Doctor Gao’s car was caught on camera around Jiujiang Medical University.” Lee Zheng sounded tired on the phone. “He knows the school inside out and managed to avoid all the surveillance. It was not until we broadened the scope of the search that we noticed his car showing up in the area around the school. We compared all the footage from the nearby cameras, and the final conclusion was, in that twenty-seven minutes where he disappeared from screen, he was actually inside the school.”

“Wait a minute, could there be someone who was driving his car? Using his car to conduct these crimes?”

“That is what I was about to say.” Lee Zheng’s tone slowly turned serious. “There might be two killers to this case.”

“Two killers?”

“Whether Doctor Gao is the killer or not, it is an undisputed truth that his car was inside the campus during that sensitive period of time, and there were only two people who could drive his car into the campus—one was Doctor Gao himself, and the other person was Liu Zhe.”

Lee Zheng’s words made Chen Ge’s eyes widen. “Wait, you’re telling me Liu Zhe’s brother-in-law is Doctor Gao‽”

“Indeed! This was a crime committed by two people. The person who killed Ma Yin’s sister and wanted to move the dead body through the statue was Liu Zhe, and he should be the one who did all the dirty work.

“However, the man was dumb and exposed too many clues. If he committed the crime alone, it would have surfaced in a matter of days. However, weirdly enough, when we looked through the files on the case, all the clues that the police could come up with were silenced. It felt like an invisible hand was snuffing out these trails before the police could get their hands on them.” Lee Zheng sighed. “Liu Zhe would not be able to do something like that. I’ve been a police officer for almost a decade already, and in my mind, there is only one person who is capable of doing something like that—Doctor Gao.”

“But why would Doctor Gao do all these things to protect Liu Zhe, to help him cover up the crime?” Chen Ge voiced the biggest question that he had.

“Liu Zhe is the little brother of Doctor Gao’s wife and the only family she had that is still alive.” Lee Zheng seemed to know what Chen Ge was about to say, so he pointed it out first. “Doctor Gao’s wife died in a car accident about seven years ago. Asking him to take care of her family was her dying wish.”