Chapter 33: The Incomplete Truth
Chapter 33: The Incomplete Truth (Combined Chapter)
What really causes death is not the cold, but hypothermia.
Xu Yiqing said: "It is winter now, and the room temperature outside is even lower than the temperature in Liu Zhu's refrigerated truck, but no one has ever heard of freezing to death while walking on the road. Humans are warm-blooded animals, and their bodies will automatically keep out the cold and prevent heat loss."
Du Yu said: "But Liu Zhuhua froze to death in the refrigerated truck."
Xu Yiqing nodded: "Yes, because she has hypothermia. There is too much humidity in the refrigerated truck, and the damp and cold environment will cause people to lose temperature quickly."
In 2012, an elderly man in Taiwan fell off his bicycle in the early morning. His clothes were wet by the rain and he died of hypothermia in the 12°C temperature.
Most of the victims on the Titanic did not drown, but were frozen to death in the icy sea water close to zero degrees.
Xu Yiqing said: "Hypothermia causes the body to lose temperature quickly, and the first symptoms are accelerated breathing and mental excitement. Then the heart rate begins to drop and blood flow slows down. Then the IQ drops and amnesia occurs. Then the central nervous system of the brain is damaged, which makes people feel warm and have symptoms such as 'abnormal undressing' and 'bitter smile'... Finally, death occurs due to cardiopulmonary failure."
Du Yu was shocked. "You mean, Liu Zhuhua took off her clothes abnormally before she froze to death, but Li Cheng mistook her for seduction by her dissolute nature, so Li Cheng, who had been sexually repressed for a long time, had sex with Liu Zhuhua?"
Xu Yiqing sighed, "I'm afraid so. When 'abnormal undressing' occurs, it is already the limit of the human body. If Li Cheng turned back in time, he might be able to save Liu Zhuhua. But he chose to commit violence, and Liu Zhuhua would have no chance of survival."
Du Yu frowned and remained silent. He thought for a while: "But why did he move the frozen Liu Zhuhua back home? In the cases I handled before, after manslaughter, the suspects often chose to quickly dispose of the body for fear of being discovered, leaving many clues behind."
Xu Yiqing also thought it made sense. According to common sense, Li Cheng should have quickly put on his pants, moved Liu Zhuhua's body away, and waited for the family to leave before dealing with the body.
The call was still going on and Zhou Shi was still listening to the two people's analysis.
"Because Li Cheng didn't think he was the cause of Liu Zhuhua's death. After he finished beating her, he found out that Liu Zhuhua was dead, and out of fear, he decided to consult his 'accomplices'... He had this idea, and Liu Zhuhua was injured and locked in the car, and many people were involved."
"Li Cheng believed that the person who locked Liu Zhuhua in the car was responsible, and that person was most likely Liu Zhu, who was in a hurry to deal with the car." Zhou Shi said: "After Liu Zhuhua died, he drove the car back home, contacted the used car company, and walked back to Li Cheng's home overnight to discuss countermeasures."
Du Yu said: "I believe the expert's judgment, and it sounds consistent with my understanding of the accomplice's crime... But why did they lock Liu Zhuhua in the cold chain truck? She wouldn't freeze to death if she just found a room... Or did they intend to kill Liu Zhuhua?"
Xu Yiqing thought of what Wang Xiaocui said in the morning in Baxia Village.
"Li Cheng's wife said she went back to her parents' home that night but forgot to bring her cell phone."
Du Yu suddenly realized: "Yes, that's true."
Zhou Shi said on the phone: "If I suddenly can't find my phone, I will call my phone first."
Du Yu thought about it and said, "At that time, Wang Xiaocui left her phone at home. Li Cheng and others had just had a conflict with Liu Zhuhua and subdued her. At this time, the phone suddenly rang, which scared them!"
Xu Yiqing nodded: "Yes, that makes sense. Li Cheng knows his wife very well. He knows that if he doesn't answer the phone, his wife is likely to come back, so he plans to hide Liu Zhuhua."
Zhou Shi said: "Liu Zhu, who drove over to drink, immediately suggested that Liu Zhuhua be locked in his car and that they could discuss the matter after the storm had passed."
Du Yu said: "Wang Xiaocui said that after she returned home, she saw Li Cheng sneaking around the door and thought there was someone hiding in the house. She looked for him but found nothing... Thinking about it this way, Li Cheng might have just locked Liu Zhuhua in the cold chain truck."
The truth behind Liu Zhuhua's argument with everyone that night was gradually restored by the three members of the task force.
During the Spring Festival holiday, a group of drinking buddies led by Li Cheng from the same village met at home to drink and play cards in the evening. His wife Wang Xiaocui couldn't stand her husband's alcoholism, but she didn't want to quarrel with her husband because of the folk customs during the Spring Festival.
So Wang Xiaocui decided to turn a blind eye and return to her parents' home.
Because Wang Xiaocui's parents' home was not far away, she decided to walk there. Shortly after she left, Liu Zhuhua suddenly broke into Li Cheng's home.
This woman, who had not returned to the village for many years and, according to villagers, had a grudge against Li Cheng, had some kind of dispute with this group of men, which led to Liu Zhuhua being beaten by everyone.
It must have been a very intense quarrel, which made the villagers who were at a distance think that Li Cheng was arguing with his wife.
At this time, Wang Xiaocui arrived at her mother's house, but found that her cell phone was missing. In anxiety, she made many calls to her cell phone.
On the other side, Li Cheng felt guilty and didn't dare to answer his wife's cell phone even though it kept ringing.
He judged that his wife was very likely to come back to get her phone, so he discussed countermeasures with everyone.
After discussion, he locked Liu Zhuhua, who was suspected to be injured and unconscious, in Liu Zhu's cold chain vehicle, so Wang Xiaocui did not hear any cries for help after returning home.
After Wang Xiaocui searched the house thoroughly, Li Cheng coaxed her out of the house.
After making sure that no one was paying attention outside, he prepared to release Liu Zhuhua from the cold chain vehicle. After opening the door, he saw an eye-catching and erotic scene——
Liu Zhuhua took off almost all her clothes. Her face turned red due to hypothermia. She hunched over and even had a faint smile on her face. Her eyes were blurred and her breath was weak.
Li Cheng, who had no knowledge of hypothermia, was severely shocked by this scene.
He had an unhappy marriage and a wife whom he hated the more he looked at her.
In addition, Li Cheng had heard a little about Liu Zhuhua's work in the city, so he became attracted to her.
When Li Cheng was about to take Liu Zhuhua home after venting his anger, he realized that he had caused a big disaster...
Liu Zhuhua froze to death!
He was very scared and panicked, but subconsciously he thought that it was not just his fault and that everyone else was responsible.
So he moved Liu Zhuhua's body back home, hid it in the second bedroom, and discussed countermeasures with everyone.
After dawn, a big fire burned everything down.
The three members of the task force fell silent after correcting their guesses and restoring the truth bit by bit.
After a long while, Lin Sheng, who had been standing by, sighed and said, "How miserable."
He was unable to participate in the entire case due to his rest, so there were some things he didn't understand.
At this moment, after Xu Yiqing performed the second autopsy on Li Cheng's body, he had been listening in the room, recording everyone's reasoning as a backup, which might become evidence in the future.
After listening to this, he couldn't help but feel some sympathy for this woman... She was not glorious, but she didn't deserve to die.
Du Yu also rubbed his eyes and said, "If Li Cheng hadn't been tempted by her beauty, Liu Zhuhua might have been saved."
Xu Yiqing looked at the morgue behind a layer of glass, where lay Liu Zhuhua, who had suffered great pain before her death.
The first person to recover from this silent atmosphere was Zhou Shi.
As a criminal psychologist, she has many doubts to resolve and continues to piece together this incomplete truth.
"So why is Li Cheng so afraid of letting Wang Xiaocui meet Liu Zhuhua?" she asked a question.
Du Yu and Xu Yiqing looked at each other and began to think about this problem.
At this time, Lin Sheng expressed his thoughts: "He must be afraid that the matter will be exposed!"
This was also the first thought of the other two people.
Wanting to hide is fear. Mistresses hide from their owners, thieves hide from the police, children who have made mistakes hide from their parents, students who haven't done their homework hide from their teachers, and employees who are late hide from their bosses.
Zhou Shi immediately said, "Yes, that's it, because Li Cheng was afraid. The question is, what is Li Cheng afraid of... After all, Liu Zhuhua was not dead at the time, so there was no possibility of manslaughter and concealing the truth... Although Wang Xiaocui hates her husband, in the matter of being beaten by the enemy, my profile result is that Wang Xiaocui will stand on Li Cheng's side and support him."
Du Yu thought for a moment, "Because Li Cheng is a son-in-law, he is afraid of his wife from the bottom of his heart. Is he afraid that Wang Xiaocui will see someone else at home and misunderstand?"
Xu Yiqing shook his head: "I don't think there's anything to be afraid of, right? There were many people at Li Cheng's house at the time, and it wasn't just the two of them... Besides, Liu Zhuhua was a sudden visit, and other people could testify for Li Cheng."
Having said so much, everyone present was not stupid, so after Zhou Shi's reminder, everyone immediately realized that it should be related to the quarrel between Liu Zhuhua and Li Cheng and others -
In Li Cheng's opinion, that was something that his wife must never know.
So Zhou Shi put forward a bold hypothesis.
"Li Cheng raped Liu Zhuhua. In addition to the misunderstanding caused by hypothermia, it may be far more than just lust. He was afraid of his wife knowing but not his friends. It is likely related to sex."
Xu Yiqing said: "And don't forget, Liu Zhuhua is very short of money, while Li Cheng's family is relatively wealthy."
A woman suddenly visited the home of the village chief, who was considered a local tyrant, during the first month of the lunar year. She said something that made her get beaten up by the village tyrants, led by the village chief.
Du Yu said confidently: "Based on my previous experience in handling cases, Liu Zhuhua must have some leverage over Li Cheng and others, and used it to blackmail them. Li Cheng and others got angry and beat Liu Zhuhua."
He proposed several possibilities.
The most likely possibility is that Liu Zhuhua had an affair with Li Cheng very early on, and it was not a consensual one.
This trivial past directly led to the hatred and conflict between them, and may even have been the direct reason why Liu Zhuhua went to the city to work.
This was Liu Zhuhua's handle on Li Cheng, which she held tightly in her hand and carefully protected along with her hatred, in preparation for biting Li Cheng hard one day in the future.
Then she collected more evidence against these village tyrants.
Finally, on the night before the fire, Liu Zhuhua decided that the time was ripe, so she went to the house to extort money in exchange for a large amount of money.
"It's because of her son's illness." Du Yu sighed and stated his reasoning: "Her son's illness requires a lot of money."
Xu Yiqing frowned, "This kind of blackmail has almost zero chance of success. A woman going alone to blackmail six men, there's no way she'll succeed."
This is like a photo of a robber holding hostages; it has no deterrent effect at all.
Zhou Shi corrected: "It's seven. Li Cheng's youngest son is still lying in the ICU ward of the hospital."
Lin Sheng, who was taking notes, raised his head and said hesitantly, "Maybe... she didn't intend to live at all?"
Xu Yiqing and Du Yu turned to look at him.
This put some pressure on Lin Sheng, who had only been in charge of the autopsy, so he quickly added, "Brother Xu, Captain Du, you also said that the deceased bought a lot of accident insurance before his death... There must be a reason for this. Anyway, my first thought is that whoever buys so much insurance either doesn't want to live and leave money for his family, or has a premonition that something bad is going to happen to him."
"Makes sense!"
Du Yu's eyes lit up and he patted Lin Sheng on the shoulder to show encouragement.
He looked at Xu Yiqing: "Old Xu, do you think Liu Zhuhua has a double plan? If the blackmail succeeds, she can get a large sum of money. If the blackmail fails, she can burn me and Li Cheng to death, and drag his whole family to be buried with them. In this way, she can also get accident compensation from the dozen insurance companies."
Xu Yiqing tilted his head: "Are you saying that Liu Zhuhua set the fire at Li Cheng's house?"
Du Yu nodded and vowed.
Xu Yiqing retorted: "If you say that Liu Zhuhua set fire to silence her after successfully blackmailing her, it might be somewhat believable, but Liu Zhuhua froze to death in an accident, so how could she set fire to her?"
Du Yu was stunned.
As soon as this question was asked, the atmosphere around them froze instantly.
Liu Zhuhua wanted to burn Li Cheng's family to death to bury her, but she died first unexpectedly.
Of course a dead person can't kill anyone...
So she has an accomplice!
He frowned, gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice: "It's that bastard again!"
When a case has eliminated all the impossibilities, the remaining one, no matter how outrageous it is, is the truth.
No one would think that Li Cheng died in an accidental fire after experiencing blackmail, rape, accidental death, and negotiation for the destruction of the body.
After the task force found out that the accomplice lived in Liu Zhuhua's dormitory, they were actually on guard against when the accomplice would show up.
At this moment, after Xu Yiqing proposed this idea, the three people in the task force immediately reached a consensus.
"The next direction of the investigation is to focus on the fact that Liu Zhuhua had the subjective intention to set the fire, and that she had an accomplice to assist her." Du Yu called the logistics department of the serious crime team and said, "Tell the leaders in the bureau that the possibility of this fire being an accident has been basically ruled out. The [Accomplice] Task Force will take over next."
The logistics police of the serious crime team responded quickly and began to change the direction of the investigation.
However, there are very few surveillance cameras installed in rural areas. Even if the cameras on nearby roads are used, it is difficult to catch an experienced old fox on a snowy night.
At the same time, the logistics of the serious crime team also gave Du Yu good news -
The fire survivor lying in the hospital ICU woke up!
Xu Yiqing and Du Yu rushed to Jiangcheng People's Hospital without stopping. Zhou Shi arrived before them and was talking to the attending physician with the excited Wang Xiaocui.
Wang Xiaocui knelt on the ground with her fat body and kowtowed to the doctor repeatedly. After kowtowing, she muttered words like thank you to Buddha.
In her ignorant understanding, the main contributors to saving her son's life were the Buddha statues that she had kowtowed to in various temples during the past few days.
If I don't think this way, then haven't I been knocking my head in vain these days?
Du Yu asked: "How is the patient now?"
The attending doctor replied: "He has basically regained consciousness, but he is still in danger of death... The burns are very likely to cause infection. Even if he seems to be getting better now, maybe..."
He paused, so as not to be overheard by the family members, and whispered to Du Yu: "It is possible that the situation could take a turn for the worse overnight. After all, no one can predict the future of infection."
In medical cases of death due to burns, 90% of the patients died from subsequent infection. Even doctors are unable to save patients with extensive burns and infections throughout the body.
Du Yu nodded: "When can we talk to him?"
Since the only living witness that night was in danger at any time, he, as a criminal policeman, could only suppress his sympathy and put the case first.
"We can try now." The attending doctor said, "The patient has been talking about something since he woke up, and we don't understand. But I want to remind you, police comrade, not to provoke him."
I would like to ask all readers, if the reasoning process is not convenient to divide into chapters, should it be split into two chapters or combined into one chapter?
You can leave your valuable comments and I will see them.
(End of this chapter)