Li Shilan's will is actually very simple, the main content is to leave all his property to his son, Li Mingming. This includes his estate, his company, his stock, his car, his jewelry, his gun, everything about him. He did not mention his wife, Liu Xiaojing, nor his lover (suspected), He Lihui, nor his other relatives or friends. His will was like his last words, cold and resolute, words only for him and his son.
Uncle Jiange looked up at Li Mingming, who looked puzzled, and did not expect that his father would leave such a will. There was surprise, confusion, and a hint of uneasiness in his eyes. He didn't know why his father did it, he didn't know how much love his father really had for him, he didn't know if his father's death had anything to do with him.
"Do you know this will?" Uncle Jiange waved the piece of paper in his hand, and his tone was a little sharp.
"I don't know, I've never heard of it." Li Mingming denied it, and his voice trembled a little.
"You also don't know that on the life insurance your father bought, the beneficiary designated you is you?" Uncle Jiange continued to ask, a trace of doubt flashing in his eyes.
"I don't know, I really don't know anything." Li Mingming quickly shook his head, feeling a little suffocated.
"What about you? Do you know these things? Uncle Jiange turned to Liu Xiaojing, his gaze like a knife.
"I don't know." Liu Xiaojing replied calmly, her expression indifferent, as if these things had nothing to do with her.
Uncle Jiange and Captain Hou's eyes met, both of them showed a look of confusion and doubt, they both felt that something was wrong with this case, Li Shilan's series of actions, including written wills, purchased insurance, and gas stoves installed in advance, etc., all seemed to herald his death, as if they were preparing for his death. It reminded me of the anonymous email Uncle Jiange received in his mailbox saying that Li Shilan was in danger and that he was going to rescue him quickly. But why is Li Shilan in danger, and how does he know? And why would he write his will and the beneficiary of the insurance as his son, and not his wife or other relatives? Doesn't he care about his family? Did he have any hidden feelings or motives? These are puzzling questions and clues that require further investigation.
If Li Shilan really did not die in an accident, then in general, the most likely murderer is his son Li Mingming, because he is the only beneficiary of insurance and the only heir of the inheritance, and he has the greatest financial interests. Moreover, according to the information provided by Zhang Mengling, two weeks ago, Li Shilan and Li Mingming had a fierce quarrel, and Li Shilan said that he would break off the father-son relationship with Li Mingming, no longer give him any money, and let him get nothing. In this way, Li Mingming has a motive to kill, perhaps he is trying to kill his biological father before his father, and then take everything from him.
However, there are many unreasonable places in this reasoning, first of all, Li Mingming said that he did not know that his father had written a will, nor did he know that he was the beneficiary of insurance, if he really killed for this money, how could he not know? Was he guessing wildly, or was he deliberately covering up?
Second, Li Mingming had a perfect alibi, he provided his ticket and passport, proving that he was on a plane to the United States at the time of the accident, and he could not have personally killed people, nor could he have instructed others to kill, because he had no contact information and no accomplices. In this way, Li Mingming has no means to kill people, and there is no opportunity to kill. This is really strange, as a novice detective assistant, I can't understand the logic of this case at all, I feel like I'm stuck in a maze of unsolvable solutions, I don't know what to do, I can only follow Uncle Jiange and Captain Hou, continue to look for clues, hoping to find the truth.
Finding the will was originally a very important clue, but it did not bring much breakthrough to the investigation of the accident, because the authenticity and legality of the will need to be further identified, and the content of the will is not directly related to the cause of the accident. Today is already evening, the time is not early, and the investigation can only be temporarily concluded.
Because the investigation has not yet been completed, the criminal police team cannot give Li Shilan's family the will and other items in the safe, but must use them as evidence for detailed records and preservation. They took out the will and other items in the safe, packed them in plastic bags, labeled them, numbered them, took pictures with laptops, entered the information, and finally asked Liu Xiaojing and Li Mingming to sign a list to prove that they had seen the items, and then packed everything into a large box to take back to the public security bureau.
However, in the early hours of the next morning, when we were all still asleep, we were woken up by the sound of sirens outside the window.
I jumped out of bed and looked at my phone, only to realize that it was just after four. I thought to myself, what happened so early? I quickly put on my clothes, ran to the window, looked out, and saw police cars parked in front of Li Shilan's house, and several policemen with flashlights, knocking on the door, shouting for the people inside to open the door.
I was stunned, could it be that something happened to Li Shilan's house? I quickly picked up my mobile phone and called Uncle Jiange and asked him what happened, he said he didn't know, he had just been woken up by the sound of sirens, and he asked me to hurry downstairs and go to see together.
I hung up the phone, quickly ran downstairs, came to Li Shilan's door, saw that the police had already called open the door, surrounded Li Mingming's room, and after a while, handcuffed Li Mingming and escorted him out.
Li Mingming's face did not have any expression, just lowered his head, and his face was dejected.
Seeing us, Captain Hou said to Uncle Jiange in a loud voice: "We have all been deceived by Li Mingming!" He didn't have an alibi at all, and he came back to Yongjia on the day of the accident! "
I listened, startled, couldn't believe my ears, I couldn't help but exclaim: "Huh? What's going on? "
"It's not him, you must be mistaken!" Zhang Mengling was crying next to her and muttered softly. As the nanny of Li Shilan's family, she has always believed that Li Mingming is innocent, and last time she told us the same, she has always been by his side, comforting him and supporting him.
Liu Xiaojing, on the other hand, stood far away, calmly watching all this, without saying a word, as if it had nothing to do with herself. She is Li Shilan's wife and Li Mingming's stepmother, and it is said that she has always been good to Li Mingming, but her performance today feels a little abnormal.
"Did you find any new evidence?" Uncle Jiange asked Captain Hou.
"Yes." Captain Hou replied. "We received responses from both the airline and the airport, and cross-confirmed that he did take the flight he said he was going to the United States, but that flight was 18 hours late due to air traffic control. At the same time, we also found out that he took a bus back to Yongjia on the same day. "
When he said this, he paused, and then added, "Although the bus does not have a real-name system, we still found him through the surveillance camera of the Yongjia long-distance bus station." "
I listened and was even more surprised, I didn't understand, why did Li Mingming do this, why did he come back to Yongjia, why did he kill his father, why did he lie to us, what did he really think? I wanted to ask him, but he didn't look at me or speak, just kept his head down and let the police take him away.
We chatted as we walked towards the police car. When passing by the police car that Li Mingming was put on, he shouted at us: "I really didn't kill my father!" I didn't do it! "His voice was loud, agitated, desperate, and helpless.
I looked at him, not knowing whether to believe him or doubt him, I only felt a pang of heartache, I didn't know what would be a bigger reversal of this case, I didn't know what the truth of this case really was, I didn't know how this case would end.
We arrived at the police station, and Captain Hou took us to a small room. He said that he had important facts to carefully synchronize with us (in fact, mainly Uncle Jiange). He said that after they found the will in Mr. Li's safe this afternoon, which said that Mr. Li's entire property had been left to his son, Mr. Li, they immediately sent a letter of assistance to Hangzhou Airport and the airline requesting a review of Mr. Li's itinerary. As a result, a reply was received in the early hours of the morning, confirming that Li Mingming was indeed in Hangzhou on the day of the accident, and that his plane to the United States was delayed by 18 hours. Then they found Li Mingming's traces in the surveillance video of the Yongjia long-distance bus station, and Captain Hou said that as soon as they saw the two news, they immediately rushed to Li Mingming's residence and arrested him.
"Now the case is clear." Captain Hou said proudly, "Li Mingming did not have an alibi at all, he just used a ticket to cover up his crime, and he also lied, saying that he did not know that he was the sole beneficiary of Li Shilan's will." "
"I don't think it's that simple in this case." Uncle Jiange frowned and said, "Li Mingming said that he did not know that he was the sole beneficiary of Li Shilan's will, is it possible that this statement is true?" "
"He must be lying," Captain Hou said impatiently, "he may have secretly read the will, or learned the contents of the will through other channels, and then began to plan the killing of his father." "
"Moreover," Captain Hou continued, "even if he really doesn't know about the will, then he will share the inheritance with Liu Xiaojing, so that he can get half of the property, which is also a great temptation for him." "
"That is, you think he has a strong motive for crime?" Uncle Jiange asked.
"Yes. Li Mingming and his father's relationship has not been very good recently, they often quarrel, and his father also threatened to sever the father-son relationship with him so that he could not get a penny, which made him very annoyed, so he came up with a way to fake the gas accident and killed his father. Captain Hou said rightly.
"But how does this explain Li Shilan's purchase of a second-hand gas stove?" Uncle Jiange was not convinced, he still had his own doubts. "This gas stove was bought by Li Shilan himself, and he bought it a week before the killing, what does this have to do with Li Mingming?"
"It's just a coincidence," Captain Hou said, "Li Shilan probably wanted to save money, or liked the look of the gas stove, so he bought a second-hand one." Li Mingming may have discovered the existence of this gas stove after doing some investigation, and regarded it as a perfect murder weapon. He may have cut off the gas stove's pipe for a short time one night before the accident, taking advantage of no one's attention, and then glued it with tape, creating a hidden danger of air leakage. "
"However, as you just said, since Li Mingming was threatened to sever the relationship between father and son and deprive him of the right to inherit property, shouldn't he start as soon as possible?" Why wait a week? In case Li Shilan modified his will during this period, wasn't it a wedding dress for others? Uncle Jiange asked.
"Well, it's not very simple," Captain Hou said, "he needs time to prepare, and he also needs to create an alibi, otherwise killing his father himself will be discovered immediately, and there is no point at all." He may have bought a plane ticket in advance, then found a place to stay in Hangzhou, waiting for the opportunity. He may have been following his father's movements through his mobile phone or the Internet, and when his father had entertainment, he quickly took the bus back, tore off the tape of the gas stove while no one was home, and then quickly fled. In this way, he can create the illusion that he is not at the scene, and it can also make people think that it is a quality problem with the gas stove or an accident caused by Li Shilan's negligence. This is a high-IQ crime, and Li Mingming planned this case very calmly. Captain Hou said with confidence.
Uncle Jiange shook his head. "It doesn't make sense, he was in Hangzhou on the day of the accident, and it took six or seven hours to come by bus. How could he determine that Li Shilan would definitely have entertainment at noon that day and would be drunk? Uncle Jiange continued to analyze, "It is also necessary to separate Liu Xiaojing and Zhang Mengling so that he can have the opportunity to commit crimes." It's so hard! "
"He may have accomplices who somehow arranged all this in advance," Captain Hou replied, "We have already arranged for people to interrogate, and at the same time investigate the people who communicated with Liu Xiaojing and Zhang Mengling on the day to see if they had contact with Li Mingming." "
"I don't think you're going in the right direction." Uncle Jiange was apparently not convinced. "You don't consider other possibilities, for example, that Li Shilan's will was forged, or modified, or threatened. You didn't take into account other suspects, such as Liu Xiaojing, or Zhang Mengling, or other people who had conflicts with Li Shilan. You didn't take into account other evidence, such as Li Shilan's mobile phone, or the seller of the gas stove, or Li Mingming's associates. You just blindly think that Li Mingming is the murderer, and do not use scientific methods to analyze the case. "Uncle Jiange has a point.
Captain Hou was speechless. He felt that he had caught the real culprit and had sufficient evidence, but Uncle Jiange pointed out his loopholes one by one, which made him feel very unconvinced. He wanted to refute, but couldn't find the right words. He had to be silent for a while, and then said, "Well, since you said so, what do you suggest?" What do you think we should do? "
Uncle Jiange smiled and said, "I think we should re-examine this case, start from scratch, without any prejudice, without ignoring any details, and without ruling out any possibility." We should comb through all the clues to see if there are any omissions or contradictions. We should re-interrogate all the suspects to see if there are any loopholes or any wavering. We should re-examine all the evidence to see if there are any forgeries or new discoveries. We should use the most rigorous logic, the most objective attitude, and the most comprehensive analysis to restore the truth of this case. "
"Okay, that's fine. Originally, according to the procedure, this was also to be done, but I think that the murderer of the case must be Li Mingming, which is confirmed, otherwise why did he lie? "
Uncle Jiange looked at me, and I also looked at him, we both felt that Captain Hou's reasoning had many loopholes, but he seemed to have determined that Li Mingming was the murderer and was unwilling to listen to other possibilities.
Uncle Jiange sighed and decided not to argue with him anymore, but to change the subject.
"Captain Hou, have you carefully checked Li Shilan's mobile phone?" He asked.
"Cell phone?" Captain Hou was stunned, "We've seen it once, why are you asking this?" "
"Because I think the mobile phone may be an important clue," Uncle Jiange explained, "Li Shilan is a businessman, and his mobile phone must have a lot of important information, such as his contacts, schedule, text message records, and so on." This information may help us understand his habits, relationships, finances, etc., so as to identify his enemies or motives. "
"You have a point," Captain Hou nodded, "We'll arrange to check his phone again to see if we can find anything from it." "
"Also," Uncle Jiange continued, "have you investigated the identity of that homeless man? How did he die? What is his relationship with Li Shilan? "
"This..." Captain Hou was a little embarrassed, "We haven't found out yet, this homeless man doesn't have any identification, and no one knows him, but the cause of his death is quite clear, that is, he died of myocardial infarction." We don't know what relationship he has with Li Shilan, it may be that Li Shilan sympathized with him, gave him some money or food, and then he followed Li Shilan home and accidentally died in the basement. "
"Do you think this explanation is reasonable?" Uncle Jiange asked.
"I..." Captain Hou hesitated, "I don't think this homeless man has anything to do with the case, just an irrelevant detail, not worth wasting our time." "
"I don't think so," Uncle Jiange insisted, "I think the existence of this homeless man is a big doubt, and he may be the key to the case." "
"Why?" Captain Hou was puzzled.
"Because I think he might be Li Shilan's stand-in," Uncle Jiange said his startling speculation.