The clothes of the female victim were in disarray; she was lying face down on the back seat of the car, her dress's zipper only halfway up.
Mu Mian examined the surface of the female victim's body. The ligature marks around the victim's neck formed a closed loop, with even depth and a dark color, and there were pressure marks at the back of her neck.
Chen Xue pointed at the marks on the victim's neck and said, "These are typical ligature marks from strangulation. It's highly likely that the victim was strangled to death."
"There are no abrasions on the wound, so the ligature that killed her must have been made of a soft material," Mu Mian thought, recalling that the male victim had lost his tie. She suspected that the tie might have been the murder weapon.
"Could it be the tie?" Zhang speculated.
"It's possible."
"If that's the case, the killer didn't bring any tools with him. It's likely a crime of passion," Wang analyzed.
Crimes of passion usually leave behind a lot of evidence.
The items inside the car had also been looted. The victim's phone was missing, and there were no items in the car that could identify the victim's identity.
Mu Mian noticed that the victim's right hand was clenched tightly, as if holding something. After prying it open, she found that the victim was holding a condom.
The team quickly deduced the sequence of events.
"The scenario likely went like this: the two victims were having an affair in the red car when they realized they had no condoms. The female victim then got out and went to the black car to retrieve one. The killer took the opportunity to approach the red car and kill the male victim; then he used the victim's tie to strangle the female victim. The killer was probably following the victims," Fang Rui analyzed.
"Could the killer be the female victim's husband or boyfriend? This looks like a scene of catching someone in the act. The motive could be a crime of passion," Zhang said, suggesting a high possibility of a love-related murder.
Fang Rui and his team reviewed the mall's surveillance footage and quickly spotted the two victims on the cameras leading to the underground parking lot.
Around 9:45 PM, the male victim first passed the parking lot entrance's camera, carrying two shopping bags. About a minute later, the female victim appeared with several luxury shopping bags. A man wearing a baseball cap, tall and dressed in black athletic wear with a black mask covering his face, followed closely behind her. The brim of his cap obscured his eyes, and the camera didn't capture his face.
At 10:41 PM, the camera captured the man in the baseball cap, now carrying a bulging black backpack, hurrying through the passage from the parking lot to the mall.
The police quickly identified this suspect. Although the camera didn't capture his face, the police had his physical characteristics: about 1.82 meters tall, male.
"The car fridge isn't valuable, so the killer had no reason to take such a bulky, low-value item," Fang Rui analyzed. "It's likely that something on it could incriminate the killer, so he had to take it with him. The suspect in the surveillance footage was carrying a lot of stuff, but he didn't seem strained, so it's unlikely to be the fridge. Let's search the trash cans in the parking lot to see if we can find it."
The mall's cleaning staff hadn't yet cleared the trash, but the police searched all the trash cans in the parking lot and found no fridge.
"Maybe the killer's car was also parked in this lot, and he hid the fridge in his car and took it away," Wang speculated.
"Then why didn't he put the other items in his car and take them all at once?" Fang Rui countered.
"Right."
The victims' identities were quickly confirmed. Both were regular customers of the mall, and a store clerk recognized them.
The male victim was Wang Yonghua, the procurement manager of Jianhua Engineering Company, aged 42, married with one son and one daughter; the female victim was Sun Xiaoning, the human resources director of the same company, aged 27, unmarried.
The police first contacted Wang Yonghua's wife to come and identify the body. She answered the phone.
Wang Yonghua's Wife coldly said, "Wang Yonghua is dead? Finally, the heavens have taken him! Where did he die, on some woman's bed?"
"He was murdered!"
"Murdered? There should be plenty of suspects; he was such a scumbag that many people would want to kill him. Start by investigating the women around him. Where did he die?"
"In the underground parking lot of the mall."
"Parking lot? No wonder we couldn't catch him cheating; he must have found a new place to cheat, in the mall's parking lot. Why are you contacting me? Do you want me to collect his body? He's not worth it!"
Wang Yonghua's Wife was very indifferent and didn't seem inclined to come to identify the body. "Contact his mistress, or mistresses, to collect his body. Do you need their contact information?"
Zhang was stunned by Wang Yonghua's Wife's cold attitude. Could she have harbored resentment towards her husband and hired someone to kill him?
Zhang then called Wang Yonghua's mistress. The woman on the other end was gentle and started crying loudly upon hearing the news of Wang Yonghua's death. "Woohoo, he promised to transfer a house to me, and now he's dead! Does his verbal promise still count? Can I still get the house?"
"Sorry, I'm a police officer, not a lawyer!" Zhang interrupted her crying.
"Then why are you calling me?"
"Do you have time to come and identify the body?"
"As a mistress, what right do I have to collect his body? You should contact his wife!"
"..."
The phone went dead.
Zhang then called the other mistresses, but they all said they had only a financial relationship with Wang Yonghua and had no obligation to collect his body. The phone of the seventh mistress, however, was unreachable. Soon, Zhang found out why: Sun Xiaoning was the seventh mistress.
"Zhang Qiang, no one is willing to come and identify Wang Yonghua's body?" Li asked.
Zhang shrugged, "Wang Yonghua's parents are already deceased, and his brother and sister have cut off contact with him. His women also refuse to come and identify the body. The deceased's character must have been pretty bad."
Sun Xiaoning was a local from Jiangzhou City. Her parents were workers living in the old part of the city, with average family conditions. Upon receiving the news, they quickly came to identify the body.
Fang Rui and Zhang took statements from them.
"Has Sun Xiaoning had any recent conflicts with anyone?" Fang Rui asked.
Sun's Father said, "Not that I know of. My daughter works at a construction company as an office worker. She usually goes between the company and home. My daughter has a high EQ and gets along well with her colleagues and superiors. Many colleagues and leaders celebrated her birthday with her. She shouldn't have offended anyone."
Sun's Mother, tearfully, scrolled through Sun Xiaoning's photos on her phone, showing pictures taken at the company and during team-building activities. Sun Xiaoning was always smiling in the photos and was very beautiful.
However, Fang Rui and his team noticed that most of the people in the photos with Sun Xiaoning were men, with only a few photos including women, and those were group photos. Several photos showed Sun Xiaoning with Wang Yonghua.
