Chapter 114: You’re the Murderer! (1/2)

Xiaotao stared at Zou Wei with stern eyes, and he suddenly laughed out loud.

“You have a rich imagination, Officer!” he jeered. “It sounds just like a movie plot!”

“I’m taking you to the police station, Zou Wei!”

Zou Wei didn’t budge. “I’m sorry, but I’d like to see your warrant, please! To be honest, I’m not even sure if both of you really are police officers! I’ll give Officer Zhang a call and ask him.”

Xiaotao and I were shocked. We didn’t expect him to have the balls to contact the officer who led a team that investigated him a year ago! I knew instantly that things would go bad for us.

Zou Wei made a call, and when he hung up after a short conversation, he sneered at us and said, “So you’re acting independently and one of you isn’t even a police officer! You almost tricked me!”

“You mean, you almost admitted to the crime?” I asked.

“Nonsense!” yelled Zou Wei as he glared at me. “I didn’t kill anyone!”

“Mr. Zou, do you often get a dry and sore throat, blisters, cold sweat, and bloody urine?” I asked.

“How did you know?” he responded with astonishment.

“That’s what happens when you have sexual intercourse with a corpse. They’re the symptoms of corpse poisoning!”

Zou Wei slammed the table and yelled, “That’s nonsense! It was a whole year ago…”

He stopped suddenly, realizing that he had just admitted his guilt. Xiaotao immediately asked, “What happened a year ago?”

“No, that was a trick! It doesn’t count as a confession! I’m asking the security guards to escort you out now!”

At that moment, Xiaotao’s phone rang. It was Captain Lin. She was ordered to return to the police station immediately. Xiaotao gave me a look and sighed.

“Mr. Zou, we’ll meet again,” she said.

After leaving the company, Xiaotao asked me if what I said about corpse poisoning was true. I told her that it was all a lie. I did it to see his reaction. They were just symptoms of liver disease, which I noticed that he was suffering from by the pallor of his face.

I recorded the conversation we had with him earlier, but it would have no legal power in incriminating him. The confession we got wouldn’t be enough to be used as evidence in court.

Nevertheless, both Xiaotao and I learned one thing from the meeting—Zou Wei definitely murdered his wife. Now, the problem was how to use the evidence to prove his guilt.

Once we returned to the police station, Captain Lin called Xiaotao to his office, and I went in with her. Another dark-skinned middle-aged officer was there too. It was Officer Zhang. Captain Lin yelled at Xiaotao for quite some time, telling her that she could be fired if she acted without permission again.

“I understand your intentions, Xiaotao,” said Officer Zhang, “but I’ve investigated the case thoroughly and there wasn’t any doubt about Zou Wei’s innocence. I’ve been investigating crimes for more than thirty years. Don’t you think that I’d find out if there had been any anomalies in the case? Your investigation of my old case is an affront to my dignity as a seasoned police officer!”

“But there really are some suspicious points about this case!” replied Xiaotao. “At the time—”

“Stop!” Captain Lin interrupted. “Get out and reflect upon your misconduct. This place is not your home! You can’t just do whatever you want here!”

We got out. Xiaotao heaved a long sigh. Captain Lin definitely wouldn’t allow her to investigate the case now. Not only that, but she realized that if it was confirmed that Zou Wei murdered his wife, Officer Zhang would be seen to have made an egregious mistake and might be punished for it.

The most troublesome thing right now was that Zou Wei already knew that I was not a police officer. That meant that I couldn’t investigate the case alone. I asked Xiaotao what should we do next.

“We’ll carry on,” she answered. “At most, I’ll be demoted to a low-rank officer like Wang Yuanchao. What’s the big deal? I didn’t become a police officer to get rich or climb to the highest ranks anyway!”

“You’re a hero!” I praised her.

I then suggested that we no longer contact Zou Wei for the moment. If he found out, he could get Xiaotao suspended from her job with just a phone call. We would have to find a way to gather evidence without his knowledge. Once the evidence was strong enough, we’d confront him with it and see how he’d argue.

On the next day, Xiaotao emailed me some information that Wang Yuanchao had found. Zou Wei used to work at an insurance company that was known for being especially treacherous and cunning. They had been reported to refuse to pay out even when it was proven that no foul play was involved. However, since Zou Wei was an insider, he knew how to manipulate the evidence to make it seem that he was definitely innocent and force the insurance company to pay him out.