Chapter 9. Burial Site
All of them stood up,
eagerly anticipating Philip Sofia to continue.
However, Philip Sofia paused for a moment,
saying that he had no evidence,
only reasoning and speculation.
The director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau slapped his thigh and shouted,
"Stop keeping us in suspense. Who is the murderer?"
Philip Sofia drew a simple timeline on the blackboard.
According to the chronological order,
he matched up all the clues from the three homicide cases.
Some words were written by him in different categories,
such as: mobile phone number, rain, disappearance of the corpse, raincoat, familiarity with the terrain, murder scene, etc.
Everyone found that there were two important common points.
First, no corpse was found.
Second, the murderer was wearing a raincoat.
Philip Sofia reminded,
"There is a third common point that we all overlooked."
The director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau asked,
"What?"
Philip Sofia said,
"It was raining when the three murder cases occurred,
but none of the three victims was wearing a raincoat or carrying an umbrella!
The reason why the murder scenes of the water - tower corpse case and the accountant's murder case were not found is that -
the murder scenes were constantly moving."
The murderer wore a raincoat to conceal his identity,
but this also happened to expose his identity.
All three murder cases occurred on rainy days,
and none of the three victims had rain gear.
Transporting the corpse requires a vehicle.
So, what is the identity of the murderer?
Professor Liang said,
"A driver."
Philip Sofia said,
"Yes. It was raining heavily when the deceased Pierre left the sauna city,
and it was also raining when the tobacco bureau accountant went to the bank to withdraw money.
If you were them, what would you do?"
The director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau scratched his head
and couldn't answer.
Amy said,
"If it's raining, I would take a taxi."
Philip Sofia said,
"Exactly. The murderer is likely to be a taxi driver.
None of the three victims had rain gear.
They got into his car and embarked on a one - way journey to death.
I want to remind everyone that -
Tony's father happens to be a taxi driver."
The director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau said,
"Arrest this guy, interrogate him,
give him a hard time, and he will surely confess if he did it."
Professor Liang said,
"What if he is not the murderer and is innocent?"
The director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau said,
"Who cares about that?
When the police handle a case,
who can guarantee that the right person is arrested 100% of the time?"
Professor Liang said,
"Without evidence, we can't arrest him."
Amy used technical means to obtain the photo in Tony's father's household registration file
and also got his driver's license photo,
and compared them with the surveillance video.
The result was disappointing.
The driver's license photo showed that Tony's father was a middle - aged fat man,
while the person in the raincoat in the surveillance video was thin.
Obviously, they were two different people.
The director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau insisted on arresting Tony's father for interrogation,
but Professor Liang believed that there was no evidence directly indicating that he was the murderer.
The situation was a bit deadlocked.
Finally, the director of the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau made a compromise,
agreeing to let the Special Case Team first go to Tony's home to investigate
and then arrest him if evidence was found.
The four members of the Special Case Team drove off.
According to the household registration address,
they found Tony's home.
They parked the car in the distance
and planned to go to Tony's home under the pretext of renting a car.
Tony's home was in a dilapidated residential community, on the first floor,
with a small courtyard.
The door was ajar.
There was a grapevine in the courtyard,
with clusters of black grapes hanging among the green leaves,
dripping with rainwater.
A taxi was parked at the door,
with the doors locked.
Nothing abnormal could be seen inside.
The four of them walked straight into the courtyard.
Matt shouted,
"Is anyone there? We want to rent a car."
Amy was pushing Professor Liang in a wheelchair.
Philip Sofia observed the courtyard.
Under the grapevine,
it could be clearly seen that there were signs of digging.
The loose soil was a different color from the surrounding soil.
Philip Sofia put his index finger to his lips and said,
"Shh,"
signaling everyone not to move.
He found a shovel from the corner of the wall
and dug twice under the grapevine -
a person's sleeve unexpectedly emerged from the soil.
It seemed that a corpse was buried here.
The hearts of all four were pounding.
They communicated with each other through their eyes
whether to arrest the suspect immediately or notify the Fourth Street police.
Just then, the door of the house opened,
and a thin - built person rushed into the courtyard.
Matt realized that the person wanted to run
and stepped forward to meet him.
The person raised the thing in his hand -
a nail gun.
Without saying a word,
he pulled the trigger towards Matt's head.
Matt saw the murderous look in the person's eyes.
He didn't have time to draw his gun,
not even time to dodge.
In the crisis,
he blocked the muzzle of the nail gun with his hand.
A nail shot in,
penetrating his palm.
The tip of the nail protruded from the back of his hand.
Blood immediately flowed out.
Matt squatted down in pain.
When the person saw Amy pushing Professor Liang in a wheelchair,
he rushed forward
and fired another shot at Professor Liang's chest.
Then he pushed Philip Sofia aside forcefully
and fled in a hurry.
This sudden change stunned both Philip Sofia and Amy.
In less than a minute,
Matt and Professor Liang were shot.
Matt was not in life - threatening danger,
but Professor Liang's injury was in the chest,
right in front of the heart.
The nail shot in,
and he must be dead.
Philip Sofia shouted in panic,
"Amy, call an ambulance quickly,
notify the Fourth Street Sub - Bureau to come to the scene.
I'll go after that guy."
Philip Sofia rushed out of the courtyard gate.
The person had already started the taxi
and drove out of the community at a very fast speed.
Philip Sofia couldn't drive,
and Matt's palm was injured and he couldn't drive either.
Philip Sofia chased to the outside of the community gate
and watched helplessly as the person drove further and further away.
He was dejected,
very worried about the safety of Professor Liang.
At this time, a taxi stopped beside him.
Driver: Where to?
Philip Sofia immediately got in the car and said,
"Quick, hurry up, catch up with the car in front."
The driver started the vehicle and asked,
"Chasing after a debt? Or did your wife run away?"
Philip Sofia: Drive faster!
Taxi driver: There's a red light ahead.
Philip Sofia: Run the red light.
Taxi driver: Why should I listen to you?
Philip Sofia: I'm a police officer.
Taxi driver: I really didn't see that. Catching a bad guy? Seriously,
I haven't done this for a long time - running a red light!
Philip Sofia: How's your driving skill?
Taxi driver: When I was young, I used to drag - race.
I could make the wheels catch fire.
Even Schumacher wouldn't dare to compete with me.
This is our taxi drivers' turf.
Did you notice how I snatched you up?
You were standing on the roadside.
A fellow driver was going to cut in diagonally,
but I came out of nowhere.
When you opened my car door,
I was rolling my eyes at that fellow driver.
The harsh survival environment has made us have excellent skills in snatching passengers...
Philip Sofia: Well, drive on the wrong - way lane,
take a shortcut,
cut in front of him and intercept him.
Taxi driver: You'll be responsible if something goes wrong.
I mean, not a car accident,
but getting points deducted.
If it's serious, my driver's license will be revoked.
Philip Sofia: I'm not responsible.
You will definitely get points deducted,
but your name will appear in tomorrow's newspapers and on the radio.
Taxi driver: Oh, really? Okay, fasten your seatbelt.
I've long wanted to do this.
Philip Sofia: Can you catch up?
Taxi driver: Don't worry.
Even if the person in front is an F1 racing champion,
I can catch up.
I've been driving a taxi for so many years.
By the way, what's the guy in front doing?
Philip Sofia: That guy is also a taxi driver.
The taxi driver recognized the license plate of the car in front.
He said that this was the car driven by Master Jian.
Almost all taxi drivers knew Master Jian
because there were three 4s on his license plate number.
Master Jian was Tony's father.
That day, there was a car accident on the expressway outside the city.
Two cars chased each other all the way,
with dangerous situations.
A goose was run over,
and the splashing water was higher than the greening trees.
The taxi behind tried to overtake the taxi in front
but almost got thrown into the roadside ditch.
When the toll - booth participated in the interception,
the taxi in front crashed through the roadblock.
A large truck braked urgently and blocked the road horizontally.
Just as the taxi was about to escape,
it crashed through the guardrail on the bridge at the fastest speed,
honked its horn in the air,
flew a certain distance,
and then crashed heavily onto the river beach under the bridge.
We have to say that when the car was in the air,
its posture was very beautiful,
an arc and trajectory of life.
The police found a bloody corpse in the twisted and deformed vehicle.
Judging from the scene,
this person should have committed suicide!
Because at that time, he could have driven away.
What Philip Sofia couldn't figure out was:
Why did Master Jian kill people,
and why did he commit suicide?
A terrifying picture flashed through Philip Sofia's mind:
A teenager, in the middle of the night,
accidentally saw a person in a raincoat carrying a corpse,
and this person turned out to be his father.
However, Philip Sofia didn't have the heart to think more.
He was worried about the life and death of Professor Liang!