Chapter 358: The Case Of The Broken Skull (2/2)

”For the sake of public security and stability in Nanjiang City, I must stay beautiful then,” Xiaotao solemnly added.

The crime scene had been scrubbed clean without a trace of blood visible to the naked eye. At first glance, I noticed that the bathroom was situated next to the door. I looked inside and found more than enough room for a person to hide.

”What a daring and clever man!” I remarked.

”What have you found?”

I shook my head, ”It's just a guess for now. With what we have so far, I can’t prove it was the Imitator. After all, the relationship between husband and wife was very poor. Perhaps it's a simple case of uxoricide after all.”

”Let’s just assume it’s him,” Xiaotao replied.

”Alright then, we’ll assume it’s the Imitator we’re dealing with!” I concurred.

If this had also been orchestrated by him, then the man must be a genius! This time, it wasn’t the husband he feigned but the wife. The crime itself was straightforward–the Imitator walked into the apartment and killed the wife. Then he called the husband and possibly with the help of a voice alteration software, asked him to come over to sign the divorce agreement. When the husband arrived, the murderer performed the act of an illicit sexual affair in the bedroom, fully aware and counting on Mr. Jia’s tempestuous character for the man to make a drastic move.

While Mr. Jia hysterically kicked the door open, the Imitator hid in the bathroom by the main entrance. He was waiting for the horrific scene to hit Mr. Jia before sliding out a foot to trip him, successfully staining his hands with blood.

The hitman who found Mr. Jia online was another character played by the Imitator, for no other reason than to guilt him so he wouldn’t dare call the police! In this way, the suspicion on Mr. Jia would be magnified indefinitely.

After the husband fled the scene, the Imitator called the wife’s parents with the voice alteration software, using her voice to expose her husband’s murderous intentions. Then, he calmly left the crime scene.

The crime wasn’t so much a frame-up as it was discrediting Mr. Jia’s every word.

Of course, these were all my speculations which I couldn't yet verify. Besides the key evidence found in the Ding case, the Li case was still up in the air. If we didn't catch the Imitator, both Mr. Li and Mr. Jia would be convicted and incarcerated.

The furniture in the room had evidence seals on them. I didn’t have to take them apart one by one to know what was inside. All I had to do was stick my ears close, tap and knock with my hands.

There seemed to be some items in the drawer of the dresser. I repeated the same trick and carefully removed the seal, finding cosmetics, health supplements and a cell phone inside. The cell phone was dead so I turned to Xiaotao, ”Do you have a charger?”

”I'll remove my battery!” said Xiaotao.

Xiaotao detached the battery and connected it to the cell phone we found with a cable. As it hadn’t been turned on in some time, a bunch of notifications popped up. I glanced through them but found no clues of importance until I checked her WeChat account.

After a quick browse, a message caught my attention. The victim had texted her friend: ”Thank goodness! I finally got my driver's license. One of my classmates’ husband is a driving instructor. It’s all thanks to him that I passed on my second try.”

Xiaotao and I exchanged a meaningful look. A thorough scroll through the victim’s address book revealed a contact person named “Mr. Li from driving school.”

”Do you have Mr. Li's number?” I asked Xiaotao.

”Yes... but I’ve just removed my battery!” she pointed out.

I phoned the station and officers confirmed that our suspect, Mr. Li, was the same “Mr. Li from driving school” in the victim’s phone. In other words, the two victims were classmates... The three victims were of similar age so perhaps they were all classmates!