Li Ruiqing's face changed as he hurriedly walked over. He wanted to touch the teddy bear but was stopped by Fang Rui, "Mr. Li, you're not wearing gloves, please don't touch it."
"This teddy bear belongs to Yangyang. I gave it to him on his seventh birthday," Li Ruiqing said, staring at the teddy bear. He mumbled, "Yangyang's body was right here. I brought it here with the nurse. How could it suddenly disappear?"
Fang Rui looked at nurse Chen Li. She was the nurse on duty in Yangyang's ward that night, and she had helped Li Ruiqing transport the body to the morgue.
Chen Li stammered, "I brought the body here with Mr. Li. I'm certain we placed it on this bed. Mr. Li said Yangyang loved this teddy bear the most, so we put it in Yangyang's arms. Why is only the teddy bear left now?"
The morgue didn't hold many bodies. Most deceased patients were sent directly to the funeral home for cremation. Only bodies involved in medical disputes or those unclaimed by family members were temporarily stored here.
Li Yang passed away around eight o'clock on August 9th, two nights ago. Feng Xiaonan refused to send her child to the funeral home, holding onto his body all night long.
The next morning at 9:10, Li Ruiqing and nurse Chen Li took advantage of Feng Xiaonan being asleep to secretly move the child's body to the morgue.
Originally, Li Ruiqing had planned to send the child directly for cremation, but the hospital feared trouble from Feng Xiaonan. They worried that without the body, the situation might become complicated, so they temporarily placed it in the morgue while waiting for the forensic examiner.
They searched the entire morgue but couldn't find Yangyang's body.
Fortunately, there were security cameras installed in the hallway outside the morgue and in the service elevator.
"Let's check the surveillance footage. We'll definitely find who moved the body."
Li and Zhang went to the security room to review the footage, while Fang Rui and Mu Mian questioned nurse Chen Li and Li Ruiqing separately.
They started with Chen Li.
Before Fang Rui could ask anything, Chen Li spoke first: "Officer, do you think Yangyang's mother, Feng Xiaonan, might have taken his body? She's mentally unstable and loves her child so much. She's the most likely suspect."
Mu Mian replied, "If she had taken him, she would have been holding the body during her confrontation with the hospital." Noticing Chen Li's strange expression, she added, "That's how it always happens in TV dramas."
"Then there are no suspects. Who would steal a child's body?"
Mu Mian asked, "Aren't there any doctors in your hospital who might have a particular interest in corpses?"
"Our doctors aren't perverts. They're only interested in treating living patients."
Fang Rui asked, "Did the child's father visit often to care for him?"
"Yangyang's father rarely came. He was extremely busy with work. He would occasionally visit in the evenings but only stay for an hour or two. Most of the time, it was just the child's mother and grandmother taking turns caring for him.
You know, I think Yangyang's mother's mental illness was brought on by stress. It's already heartbreaking enough when your child is hurt, and any mother would feel guilty. But her mother-in-law would aggressively criticize everything she did every day. She even blamed her for not watching the child properly, saying that's what led to the accident. Combined with the exhaustion of caring for her child day and night, Feng Xiaonan was practically broken."
Chen Li, being a mother herself, deeply empathized with Feng Xiaonan. She even worried that at this rate, Feng Xiaonan might be the one to die first.
"So the mother spent most of the time caring for the child?"
"Yes. The grandmother would come during the day, but she mostly just complained and watched dramas on her phone. Basically, Yangyang's mother did all the care herself. She was very responsible. Despite Yangyang being bedridden for so long, he never developed bedsores and was always kept clean. She took better care of him than professional caregivers would have."
Fang Rui asked, "After Yangyang passed away, didn't his grandmother come to make trouble?"
"No. I found it strange too. Yangyang's grandmother is usually so confrontational, yet she hasn't come to the hospital to cause a scene. Instead, it was the seemingly gentle and timid mother who did."
Mu Mian asked, "What was Yangyang's condition like before he passed?"
"I was on duty then. Around eight o'clock, Yangyang's mother ran to the nurse's station saying her child wasn't breathing. When I got to the ward and saw the child's unusual color, I immediately called for doctors to attempt resuscitation, but it was unsuccessful."
Mu Mian asked, "Wasn't he on a cardiac monitor?"
"Yes, he was."
"Didn't you notice when his heart rate and breathing became irregular? Didn't the machine alarm?"
Chen Li looked embarrassed and explained, "That night we had another patient in emergency care, and the entire nurse's station was busy. I was changing IV bags for other patients and didn't notice the abnormal readings immediately."
Li Ruiqing received a phone call about an urgent matter and left immediately, so they couldn't complete his questioning.
After the interviews, Fang Rui and Mu Mian went to the security office to find Li and the others.
They were still reviewing the surveillance footage.
Zhang analyzed, "Could this actually be a murder case? Why else would the child's body suddenly disappear? Whoever took the body must not want us investigating the cause of death."
Mu Mian agreed, "It's possible. Common causes of death for patients in vegetative states are infection and organ failure, which usually show a gradual progression. It's unusual for death to occur without warning. Li Yang's death was too sudden."
"Who could have taken the body? It must be either Li Yang's family or a doctor."
Zhang said, "Don't you think Li Ruiqing's attitude is strange? His child died, yet he's so calm. And when his child's body was stolen, he barely showed any anger? If it were me, I'd turn the hospital upside down looking for my child's body."
Mu Mian countered, "Some people just remain calm when facing death, like me."
"Mian Mian, you're not representative," Chen Xue said.
Wang thought more practically: "Well, they probably cried themselves numb when the accident first happened, and now it's more like relief. Think about it - how difficult is it to care for a child in a vegetative state? It costs money and energy. The child's death might be a release for both the child and the parents. He's probably thinking about the accident compensation money. Once money enters the picture, he might not feel as sad."
Fang Rui said, "Li Ruiqing doesn't seem to want us investigating the cause of death. Even if he doesn't care about his child, wouldn't he care about money? If this escalates, the hospital would likely pay to settle the matter. Why isn't he making a fuss with his wife?"
"Could it be that he loves his child so much that he doesn't want to profit from the situation?"
"That's unlikely. The nurse said he rarely came to the hospital to care for the child."
After this analysis, everyone felt something was off about Li Ruiqing.
"Let's stop discussing and find who took the body first," Mu Mian urged.
"We're looking."
Not many people had accessed the morgue, and most visits were made by nurses accompanied by family members. Very few went in alone. They quickly identified one suspicious person.
The person wore a loose white coat and was tall and thin. Their face was covered by a mask, and they had thick, fluffy hair that made their head appear large.
This person entered the morgue alone at 12:08 PM yesterday with empty hands, stayed for about seven minutes, and then left.
"They didn't carry out a body. Could it still be in the morgue?"
