deep white secret

Chapter 10
The chef took off his apron and held it in his hand, with a very unhappy expression on his face:
"I didn't have a witness. It rained heavily that day and the restaurant closed early. I had a rare rest, so I went home and took a nap. I came down at about six o'clock and bought two bottles of beer and cooked two dishes and brought them back."

"Not a single witness?"

"no!"

Ning Xia looked at the chef again and took a tentative step closer to him.

Xu Ling's autopsy report showed that Xu Ling was about 1.65 meters tall and Ningxia was 1.66 meters tall. According to the angle of the knife edge where Xu Ling was stabbed, the murderer was between 1.72 and 1.75 meters tall.

If the murderer attacked Xu Ling from behind, the height difference would be enough to insert the sharp knife into Xu Ling's spleen.

This is also consistent with the height of the chef.

Facing the cross-examination, the chef's face was full of impatience, anger, and resistance, which made Ningxia's suspicion of the chef even deeper.

"When do you usually rest?"

Xu Jie asked.

"I go to work at ten in the morning and go back to rest in the evening when there are no customers. I live not far away, just upstairs here."

Ning Xia's heart skipped a beat, and the more she looked at it, the more she felt that the chef was the murderer.

"What about your day off?"

"There are no rest days, and it's not interesting for me to rest alone. I might as well make some money. I'm only busy here when I'm eating, so I'm usually fine."

"What should I do?"

"It's nothing. The boss will help me if there is anything."

After Xu Jie asked, Ningxia wanted to ask the chef's name and went back to investigate in detail. Xu Jie winked at her, and Ningxia was reluctant to let the chef leave.

Staring at the chef's back unwillingly, Ning Xia wanted to ask Xu Jie why, but Xu Jie left the aisle to find the boss:

"I have another question. Does the chef usually take a lot of rest?"

"Take a break? It basically follows our business hours, including holidays. It seems that he has never taken a break since he has been here for more than a year."

Xu Jie and Ning Xia walked out of the restaurant, Ning Xia looked anxious

He raised his little face and looked at Xu Jie.

The brim of the baseball cap blocked the area under Ningxia's eyes, and Xu Jie saw a few strands of long hair hanging on Ningxia's shoulders.

Ning Xia's eyes sparkled, and even her tone became eager and excited.

"Captain Xu!"

Xu Jie knew what she was going to ask:
"Tell me the reason for your suspicion?"

A smile appeared on the corner of Xu Jie's mouth, and he put his hands in his trouser pockets. The white shirt was a little dazzling under the sunlight.

Ning Xia quickly talked about the points he had analyzed just now, but Xu Jie shook his head after hearing this:
"The most powerful point is that the chef had no time to follow Xu Ling and Lu Yuan. We have demonstrated that the murder of the two people was definitely not an accident. He had followed them."

Ning Xia was stunned, her mood was like a roller coaster. She was full of interest just now, thinking she had touched the murderer, but she thought it was easy again.

Disappointment welled up in her heart, and there was also an unwillingness to always be a little different from Xu Jie's conclusion. Ningxia lowered her eyes, and her thinking was still narrow.

Xu Jie's arguments are more convincing than surveillance videos.

Ningxia adjusted her mood. In addition to admiring Xu Jie even more, she also felt confident that she would be as outstanding as Xu Jie in the future.

Xu Jie stood opposite Ning Xia, watching the little girl's emotional changes without saying a word. When Ning Xia raised her head again, Xu Jie saw her recovery as before, with determination in her eyes.

There were two supermarkets left, so Xu Jie first chose a chain supermarket on the north side near the bus station.

Walking in, Xu Jie just stood in front of the shelves on the street side, looking out the glass window thoughtfully.

Ning Xia walked to him, followed Xu Jie's line of sight, and understood what Xu Jie meant.

There is no subway entrance in sight.

Xu Jie thought for a moment and asked Ningxia:

"See what?"

"There's no subway entrance in sight, so if the murderer chooses to observe the two girls here and then follow them, it doesn't make sense."

Xu Jie lowered his face.

Ningxia was used to Xu Jie being stingy about his recognition of her, but Ningxia felt that Xu Jie's silence was acquiescence and approval.

The two people came to the second supermarket not far from the subway entrance, where a girl in a blue uniform was checking out.

The girl was 25 or [-] years old. She lowered her head and did not look at the customer in front of her. She just mechanically filled bags and collected money.

"Eight yuan for 120, scan the code here."

As she spoke, the little girl handed the shopping bag to the customer in front of her and tapped the QR code in front of the cash register with her fingers.

The moment she raised her eyes, she saw Ningxia, who walked over:
"Hello, we are the police, investigating a criminal case. Have you seen these two girls?"

Ningxia took out two photos. This time they were different from the others. The girl pointed at Xu Ling and said:
"I've seen this person before, she comes here often."

Xu Jie entered the supermarket and wandered in front of the glass window. When he heard the girl's answer, Xu Jie walked to the counter.

"You know her very well?"

"No, she is a customer. Because she comes often, I have an impression."

"Does she come alone every time, or does she come with someone else?"

"one person."

"Since you have an impression of her, then think about it again, has anyone followed the girl in?"

"Follow?"

The girl thought for a moment:
"She seems to come to the supermarket at about the same time. When I get off work, our convenience store takes over at four o'clock. I never saw her when I was on the day shift, so she must have passed by here after get off work."

The girl then shook her head:
"I didn't notice anyone following her. If two people were going in and out like this, I should have noticed."

"Were you on duty on the day of the heavy rain last Friday?"

"Well, it's me!"

"Has this girl been here?"

"I can't remember, there are too many people every day."

"Can the surveillance video of your supermarket in the past two months be handed over to the police?"

The girl nodded:
"I want to ask the supervisor first, it should be fine."

The girl took out her mobile phone and caught a glimpse of the convenient umbrellas at the entrance of the supermarket. The umbrellas were transparent, and ten umbrellas were neatly placed on the umbrella stand.

"Officer, the supervisor said yes, please wait a moment, I will copy it for you."

The girl saw that there were no customers in the store, smiled and said to Ningxia:

"Officer, please take care of me first."

After that, he entered the lounge behind him.

Xu Jie stood by the counter and looked outside the supermarket. The viewing angle here was just right, and he could clearly see both the subway entrance and the bus station.

Outside the transparent glass window, people were coming and going.

A man talks on the phone at the bus stop and a girl sits on a bench drinking water.

An old couple was walking and talking with vegetables in their hands. Everyone was immersed in their own world.

Everyone thought they were just passing by, but they didn't know that the moment they passed by, their every move was clearly seen by Xu Jie in the supermarket.

"Officer, here, the supervisor said that the video from June to today can be handed over to you."

Ningxia took over:

"Thank you so much."

Xu Jie and Ning Xia walked out of the supermarket and after a round of investigation, they found nothing but two USB flash drives.

Ningxia looked up at the ten-story building and asked Xu Jie with some embarrassment:

"Team Xu, are you going to investigate the entire building next?"

Xu Jie also looked up at the building, his thick black eyebrows lightly knitted together.

"You first go back to the police station to investigate and monitor, especially in the days before and after Xu Ling was killed. If the murderer starts to follow Xu Ling from here, you have to watch carefully."

After saying that, Xu Jie came to test Ningxia again:

"Tell me, Lu Yuan, how do you plan to start?"

"It may be a little difficult for me to recognize her, but I can refer to the consumption records of the two people and focus on the day when there is supermarket consumption."

Xu Jie's eyebrows were somewhat soothed:

"I went to the police station in the jurisdiction to ask. Searching more than a hundred households in a ten-story apartment is like finding a needle in a haystack."

After speaking, Xu Jie remembered that the two of them needed to split up, and just glanced at Ningxia, Ningxia hurriedly said:
"Captain Xu, I can take the subway back to the police station from here."

Xu Jie rubbed his chin and smiled: Ningxia has a very magical understanding of herself. Every time she doesn't ask a question, Ningxia has already answered.

Watching Ningxia walk into the subway, Xu Jie lowered his face and walked back and forth on Shanping Street.

The weather forecast said that there would be heavy rain in three days, and Xu Jie felt anxious that a storm was coming.

(End of this chapter)