Chapter 484: Kill The Donkey When The Grinding Is Done[1]

Lin Dongxue hurried to ask, "Where is she?"

"Where we were just at."

Lin Dongxue thought for a moment and suddenly realized. "I seem to understand now. Little Qin disappeared on the evening of August 3rd and Zhang Xiao's 'killing workshop' was accidentally discovered by the neighbors and reported to the police on August 4th. He couldn’t have known this in advance. That is to say, he didn’t need to prepare another hiding place because there was no problem killing two people in one place. Little Qin is in the previous community.”

Xu Xiaodong argued, "But we’ve been to the scene several times. There were no other victims. Wasn’t that dismembered corpse said to have been dead for several days?"

Chen Shi explained, "Remember how the living room was covered with newspapers but was very clean? I think it was intended to be used to kill Little Qin. However, because it was accidentally discovered, the suspect had to transfer her away from that scene."

Lin Dongxue said, "We’ve watched the surveillance video over and over again. We’ve also visited the community many times. If there are suspicious people coming in and out, we shouldn’t have missed them."

"Let’s go and check it out again!"

The three of them drove to the community where the police were called the first time and returned to the crime scene. Chen Shi recalled the situation that day. "That day, the building was crowded with people downstairs. When the police came later, it would be hard for the murderer to take Little Qin out. Perhaps they went upstairs?”

"Or... They rented another hiding place in this building." Lin Dongxue suggested.

Chen Shi pondered. "Xiaodong, call the property manager over."

Xu Xiaodong found the property manager who had a list of property owners that showed which units were rented out. They knocked on each door of these rented units. They were nervous every time they knocked.

It turned out that there were no suspicious tenants in this building.

Finally, they got to the top floor. Chen Shi pointed to the rooftop door with iron chains around it. He asked the property manager, "Is it possible to go to another building from the rooftop?"

The property manager replied, "It’s accessible, but the roof door of each building is locked from the inside just like this door. It can’t be opened from the outside."

"Do you have the key?"

"I do!"

"Open it."

They opened the rooftop door and went onto the rooftop. There were many air-conditioned ventilators and solar panel water heaters on the rooftop. Additionally, there were several cylindrical water tanks. Chen Shi walked to the side of a water tank and climbed up the ladder. The property manager said, "No way! How can there be people hiding in the water tank? And it was locked!"

"What's that smell?" Lin Dongxue sniffed around.

If one were to smell carefully, there was a strange odor in the air, which came out from the gap of the water tank. It wasn’t a stinking smell, but more like that of a chemical.

Chen Shi felt a little dizzy and suddenly said, "Hurry and go! This smell may be poisonous!"

Everyone hurried upwind. Chen Shi thought that it was very dangerous just then. There was a slight smell of bitter almond. It was most likely cyanide. Looking at the locked water tank, he thought there must be something in it.

"Call Old Peng over!" Chen Shi said.

After a while, several police cars drove over. Peng Sijue led several forensic officers to put on protective clothing before heading to the roof. They opened the water tank and a voice came from the radio. "Captain Peng, there are bodies in the water tank. There’s two people."

"What?!" Lin Dongxue was shocked.

"Describe them." Peng Sijue instructed.

"A man and a woman. The woman was underneath and the man was on top. They were both soaked in water that’s waist-deep… The color of the body indicates that they were poisoned. The smell inside is really heavy. You can smell it a bit even through the gas mask."

"Be careful. Don't touch the water inside. Maintain ventilation and let the scent disperse first."

Three hours later, the bodies were taken out and laid down on the rooftop. What was surprising was that one was Little Qin and the other was the suspect, Zhang Xiao, who the police had been looking for.

The poison in the water should be hydrogen cyanide, which was a highly toxic gas produced by the reaction between hydrochloric acid and cyanide. It would be fatal even if you inhaled a small mouthful. Although the structure of the water tank was sealed, Chen Shi had just smelled a little from outside the water tank and still felt dizzy.

Peng Sijue was still worried. "You’re really fortunate. Do you want to go to the hospital for a checkup?"

Chen Shi waved his hand. "It's okay. If I was going to die, I would have already. This dose was at most like eating too many almonds. There shouldn’t be a problem."

The two examined the bodies. The signs of death between the two were very similar. They should have died at the same time. The time of death could also be guessed. It must have been around the evening of August 4th.

Little Qin's clothes were thin and both her hands and feet were tightly bound by nylon rope, which caused them to change color. The skin where she was bound had torn apart. It was a sight people couldn’t bear to look at.

The police officer who discovered the body said that Little Qin was facing up at the bottom of the water tank while Zhang Xiao was pressed down on her sideways. His arm was pressed down by Little Qin's body. They seemed to have fallen in together.

When Zhang Xiao's body was turned over for inspection, there weren’t any wounds on his back, and they couldn’t determine whether he had been pushed.

Chen Shi looked at the body and asked, "Does Zhang Xiao smoke?"

Peng Sijue said, "He might have. There were a lot of cigarette butts found at the corpse dismemberment scene downstairs. He should have smoked."

Chen Shi speculated, "Then he shouldn’t have a good sense of smell. The hydrogen cyanide has a slight bitter almond smell, but many people can't smell it. It’s almost instantaneously fatal when inhaled. I think the murderer poured cyanide into the water tank in advance. Zhang Xiao intended to deal with Little Qin. However, when he opened the lid, he inhaled the deadly gas and fell down with Little Qin."

Lin Dongxue said, "But when we came, the water tank was locked."

"Yes. Old Peng, is the diffusion rate of hydrogen cyanide fast?"

"This gas is lighter than air and diffuses relatively quickly."

"How long does it take for it to completely diffuse?"

"We’d have to conduct an experiment."

"It seems that the murderer locked the water tank before the cyanide completely diffused. They must have put on a gas mask and hid nearby... By the way, it’s most likely that he also called Zhang Xiao to deal with Little Qin here. A fatal trap was laid out in advance. This person is Zhang Xiao’s accomplice. He perfectly executed the killing of the donkey when the grinding was done. He killed Zhang Xiao without showing any traces and then transferred the money away."

Lin Dongxue said, "I suspect that the sewer was blocked by him on purpose. The purpose was to force Zhang Xiao to run away and lose his rationality."

Chen Shi nodded. "This guy is really smart. If we didn't find the body in the water tank, we might still be looking for Zhang Xiao everywhere, thinking he had run away. Now that Zhang Xiao is dead, the lead is lost, but he’s hidden in peace with the money.”

Xu Xiaodong said, "Didn’t the bank surveillance film the money withdrawals at the ATM?"

Lin Dongxue said, "The footage didn’t capture the face at all. It's too difficult to catch someone using that... Haii, after checking around, the last lead was lost as well. It’s too vexing!”

1. It means to get rid of something once they cease to be useful.