Chapter 288 Deliberate arson and murder?
Ten o'clock in the morning on May 12th.
The sun casts dappled light and shadow through the gray sky, and there is a faint smell of smoke in the air, as if the embers left by the fire have not been completely extinguished.
Li Sihai stood in front of a ruins.
Looking at everything in front of me, I couldn't help but feel an indescribable feeling in my heart.
Yesterday, he and Chen Yun were laughing and chatting happily in Lingchuan County, but today they were faced with such a tragedy here.
Next to the charred ruins of the auto repair shop, several police cars were parked quietly, their red and blue warning lights flashing in the dilapidated scene, adding a bit of solemnity and solemnity to this desolate place.
Surrounded by a wilderness on the Loess Plateau.
Apart from the occasional passing bird, there was almost no sign of life.
The sun penetrated the clouds, and the light cast down formed a halo around the police car, freezing the scene into a solemn picture.
The policemen were dressed in uniform uniforms and police hats, with serious expressions on their faces.
They all wore white gloves and carefully searched the ruins for every possible clue.
Some people used small shovels to gently stir the rubble and blackened wood pieces scattered on the ground, trying to find undamaged objects; others bent over and rummaged through the piles of rubble, each one All movements are extremely cautious, for fear of missing any important details.
An experienced old police officer stood in the middle of the ruins, his eyes scanning every broken wall, as if he was trying to reassemble the scene before the accident with his eyes.
He stopped from time to time, picked up a flashlight and looked at a place carefully, or touched some objects lightly with his fingers, trying to get more valuable information from them.
Behind him, the young new police officer followed closely, carefully recording every discovery and analysis of the old police officer, for fear of missing any important links.
A burly police officer in uniform was questioning Li Sihai at the moment.
His eyes were sharp and calm, giving people an unquestionable sense of majesty.
"Mr. Li, please describe the scene in detail."
The police officer's voice was calm and strong, revealing a meticulous and professional attitude.
He is a police sergeant from Jinsha County, the nearest county. After receiving the report, he led his team and rushed over as soon as possible.
Li Sihai took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down: "I stayed in a small hotel in Yun'an County last night. I set out at about seven o'clock this morning and drove north along this road."
Said.
Li Sihai pointed to the small road next to it.
Then he continued: "About eight o'clock, I found that there seemed to be a fire in an auto repair shop on the roadside. The entire store was burned beyond recognition."
"I just wanted to see if there was anyone in need of help. I didn't expect it to be like this..."
While talking.
He seemed to be remembering the shrunken human hand he saw just now, and couldn't help but change his face again.
The burned, dried, shrunken, and twisted human hands are really visually striking.
At first glance.
Asking him to write about a tall, strong Northeastern man would make him shudder.
Upon seeing this, the police officer quickly handed over a bottle of water.
After Li Sihai almost recovered, he nodded and asked him to continue: "Then what?"
"I took a closer look and found a man lying there, no longer breathing. I immediately took out my mobile phone and called the police, and stayed at the scene to wait for your arrival."
Li Sihai's voice was slightly heavy.
This kind of thing is obviously not something he can handle.
It's better to call the police.
Even from the perspective of not getting yourself into trouble, you still need to call the police as soon as possible.
Otherwise, when someone else calls the police in the future, the police may not be able to tell clearly when they investigate.
Call the police now.
At least he could distance himself from the matter while keeping all the evidence at the scene and on his body intact.
"You mentioned that you have a driving recorder. Can you provide us with the video of that time?"
the officer asked after recording for a while.
This was mentioned by Li Sihai when he called the police, and it can be considered a relatively important piece of evidence.
Li Sihai nodded: "Of course. But I just bought a new driving recorder yesterday, because the original one seemed to have been damaged by some strong electromagnetic waves. Fortunately, the new one can record everything."
He took out a key from his pocket and walked towards the gray car parked not far away.
After opening the car door, Li Sihai skillfully removed the driving recorder from the top of the dashboard and handed the memory card to the police officer.
The police officer took the memory card and turned around and handed it to a young female police officer.
The latter quickly inserted the card into the handheld card reader and started playing the video.
in the screen.
The car was driving along a deserted road, and the scenery along the way was monotonous and desolate.
Suddenly, the camera pans to the right.
The charred auto repair shop came into view.
Later, the scene of Li Sihai getting out of the car was also clearly visible. He could be seen approaching the scene carefully and finally found the body.
Because it is a relatively new type of driving recorder.
This process is surprisingly clear.
"Do you still have the old dash cam? Can you bring it over and show it to me?"
The police officer asked again after reading.
Li Sihai nodded after hearing this.
Although he replaced the driving recorder with a new one, he did not throw away the old one directly.
Although it did not contain the scenes of his encounter with Chen Yun because it was broken, there were still some precious scenes and related video records before that, and it would naturally not be thrown away.
Now the police officer asked to see it.
Of course he took it out.
After repeating the previous process, the burly police officer in charge of the interrogation read all the details recorded by the old driving recorder.
It is nothing more than a record of various travel journeys.
It didn't end until the afternoon of May 11th.
According to Li Sihai, at that time he met a man walking with a dog in his arms, and gave him a ride while joking.
But because the driving recorder was broken, the subsequent footage was not recorded.
It wasn't until about seven o'clock in the evening after Li Sihai went to Yun'an County that the new driving recorder continued to record the entire journey.
This all seems normal.
The few hours in which there was no picture were far earlier than the time when the fire broke out here.
However, the police officer in charge of the interrogation avoided everyone and showed a silent expression.
At first glance.
This matter seems to have nothing to do with Li Sihai.
It can be clearly seen in the driving recorder that there does not seem to be any new ruts or footprints around.
After preliminary investigation of the scene, it was determined that the fire started around three o'clock in the morning, with an error of no more than an hour and a half at most.
According to the contents of the driving recorder and the surveillance obtained by contacting the police in Yun'an County where Li Sihai stayed last night, it is very likely that Li Sihai did not commit the crime at the time, and it seems that he is really just an innocent discoverer and reporter.
But.
But he had a few thoughts in his mind.
The first is.
There was something strange about this fire.
Members of the inspection team just reported that they could be determined from factors such as the degree of damage to the building, the location of the smoke marks, and the direction of the fire's spread.
There were multiple fire points, and they started at the same time!
This is most likely caused by man-made arson!
But the cause of the fire is unknown.
Based on the analysis of the traces on the scene, the fire spread at a very strange speed, and it is suspected that some kind of accelerant was used. But after the initial investigation, no specific discovery was made as to how the fire was fueled.
Secondly, there was one thing that made him think. According to the preliminary investigation at the scene.
Not only the person Li Sihai said died.
A total of three were subsequently discovered!
They seemed to have been alive before being burned to carbon, with signs of struggle.
However, there were clearly no signs of restraint around him, but there was no widespread struggle.
Apparently before being burned to death, their mobility was restricted, and their muscle tissue was probably severed.
The most terrifying thing is that because the bones have not been burned clean, one of the corpses can be found with comminuted fractures of both legs.
This further supports the view that the three people were restricted in their ability to move during their lives.
There is no doubt that this was a deliberate arson and murder.
And Li Sihai always swore that he found a dead person, but it didn't look like he was lying. He looked like he really didn't know that three people were dead.
But whether this is a disguise or not, we have to wait until we get back to the bureau for a psychologist to take a look.
His final doubt was.
Why did you change your driving recorder to one that was so clear last night?
It’s not that you can’t let others change it.
But the point is, the timing of this replacement was too coincidental. Why did the old driving recorder suddenly break?
Just after replacing the driving recorder, the recorder image was used to prove that Li Sihai had no time to commit the crime.
It was hard not to think about this coincidence.
only……
He had no evidence, so he said nothing.
Time passed quietly.
It's noon in a blink of an eye.
The police station took photos of possible evidence and corpses around them according to the procedure, and then hurriedly collected them with them.
Li Sihai was invited to eat in the canteen of the nearest Jinsha County Public Security Bureau.
The police sergeant who came back sent the body to the forensic doctor for in-depth examination with instruments, hired a psychological expert to assist in the further interrogation later, and also asked people to investigate the specific identity of the deceased.
until the preparations are completed.
More formal interrogation work began.
In an interrogation room.
The light inside is soft, but there is a serious atmosphere in the air.
In the interrogation room, a police officer in neat uniform sat opposite, with a laptop and several documents in front of him.
"Mr. Li, we have preliminarily checked the video information you provided. It seems that you did call the police immediately after discovering the deceased at the scene." The police officer said, "But in order to ensure the fairness of the case investigation, we need to learn more about some Condition."
After all, when I was at the scene just now, I just asked briefly.
Neither formal procedures have been followed, nor enough information available.
Now this is a more formal interrogation.
in the following time.
Li Sihai patiently answered a series of questions, including his itinerary, personal background and possible connections with the deceased.
Whenever key information is mentioned, officers carefully note it down.
but.
In more detailed inquiries, it seems that there is still no conclusive evidence.
In the recent case of deliberate arson and murder, there are no more clues for the time being, or it should be said that it is difficult to continue the in-depth investigation from Li Sihai's side for the time being, and other new breakthrough directions should be found.
In the afternoon, the sun gradually rises.
The temperature also rises.
After some detailed inquiries.
Li Sihai was finally allowed to leave.
"Mr. Li, we have not found any suspicious behavior related to you so far. On behalf of the police department, I would like to thank you for your cooperation today."
"You can leave now, but please keep your phone open and it is best to stay here within the next month. We may contact you again if necessary."
The police chief, who had some doubts in his heart, stayed at the door to see Li Sihai off.
Li Sihai nodded and said, "Okay. If you still need any help or information from me, just let me know at any time."
Finished.
Li Sihai turned around and left here.
Although he was willing to do his best to cooperate, this morning's busy schedule had really exhausted him.
Not to mention that my body is tired from running around.
The shock of seeing the corpse and the nervousness of being interrogated made him even more tired.
therefore.
After leaving Jinsha County Police Station.
Li Sihai drove directly to the nearest small hotel.
Don’t say anything else.
All he wanted now was to take a nap and rest.
…
The sun shines through the gaps in the curtains into the simple hotel room.
Li Sihai was lying on the bed.
He stared at the ceiling, replaying everything he had experienced today in his mind.
Despite his physical exhaustion, he tossed and turned and had trouble falling asleep.
"Mr. Li, we have not found any suspicious behavior related to you so far..."
The officer's words still echoed in his ears.
Despite the understanding and affirmation from the police, Li Sihai always felt a little uneasy in his heart.
After all, it's not an unusual thing to find a body, let alone in such a deserted place.
He closed his eyes and tried to dispel those messy thoughts, but the charred auto repair shop and the man lying in the ruins always appeared in front of his eyes.
It was an indescribable feeling of depression, as if something had taken root in his heart and made him feel unable to get rid of it.
Li Sihai turned over, buried his face in the pillow and took a deep breath.
He realized that he was not only physically exhausted, but also mentally under tremendous pressure.
He felt physically and mentally exhausted and couldn't sleep.
He pondered for a long time.
He seemed to suddenly remember something.
He quickly ran downstairs to the hotel, picked up the bamboo flying sword from the car and returned to the room.
When Chen Yun gave him this thing, he said that it could help calm the mind.
Although I don't know if it has any effect.
But he still treats a dead horse as a living horse doctor.
Try holding the bamboo flying sword and close your eyes tightly.
Not long.
Perhaps for some psychological reason, he felt that he fell into a deep sleep.
only……
There seems to be something slightly wrong with this dream.
Because of it.
There seemed to be something too real, which made Li Sihai realize something was wrong.
(End of chapter)