deep white secret

Chapter 11 Finding Clues

When Ning Xia returned to the police station, the criminal investigation team was quiet. Everyone had tasks in their hands and everyone was busy.

Ningxia walked to the computer and inserted the USB flash drive.

Sunlight slanted in from the window, and the area near the window was illuminated transparently. Several pots of pothos outside the window were blooming with dark green leaves, full of vitality.

The photos of Xu Ling and Lu Yuan were placed in Ningxia's hands. Ningxia felt a little sad in her heart. Both girls were smiling. Why did they encounter unexpected events when they were in their best years?

The murderer must be caught!

This sense of sacredness made Ningxia feel inexplicably excited, and even her eyes were a little moist.

Telling herself not to get emotional, Ningxia took a deep breath and looked at the computer screen.

This is the video record of the restaurant, Ningxia quickly found June [-]th.

Neither the restaurant owner nor the chef lied. The restaurant closed at 35:[-] and the chef entered the video at [-]:[-].

To be safe, Ningxia fast-forwarded once every two minutes. The chef cooked two dishes in the back kitchen and left at 2:[-]. This was the time Xu Ling was killed, so the suspicion of the restaurant chef was completely eliminated.

Now that only chain convenience stores were left, Ningxia felt a little uneasy. She always felt that she had overlooked something today, but she couldn't think of it.

I had experienced this feeling during the criminal investigation practical class at the police academy.

At that time, the murderer was analyzed based on clues at the scene, and Ningxia ignored an overturned chair at the scene.

In the end, when the teacher announced the murderer, Ning Xia regretted that he had missed the most direct clue.

Ningxia noticed the chair at the time, but did not investigate further.

The classmates didn't take it to heart. Although Ningxia had doubts, she gave up because she couldn't figure out the cause and effect. It turned out that it was the most direct evidence of the murderer's crime.

Ningxia has always taken this matter to heart, and every link in the investigation cannot be ignored. Ningxia always remembers one sentence:

"Every contact leaves traces."

This feeling came again today, but Ningxia couldn't grasp it. What's the problem?
Opening the file, Xu Jie had already circled Xu Ling's consumption records in the supermarket chain during the investigation yesterday.

The red water-based pen clearly and eye-catchingly marks the time and location, clean and direct, and clear at a glance.

A person like Captain Xu is rigorous yet strong.

With Xu Jie's annotation, Ningxia was much simpler, but when he opened the USB flash drive to call up the surveillance video of June [-]th, Ningxia was dumbfounded and the screen went dark.

Filtering further, the supermarket's video surveillance records no longer exist starting from 21:09 on June [-].

Filtering backwards, there are no images until 17:12 pm on June [-]th.

There was no record of the three days before and after the incident!
Ning Xia leaned against the back of the chair, her heart felt chilly, a little unbelievable, what's going on?

Ningxia worriedly put the USB flash drive back in and looked at it again. There was no problem. The video records happened to be missing for the three days when the crime occurred.

Ningxia couldn't wait for Xu Jie to come back, so she picked up the USB flash drive and took a taxi back to Shanping Street. When she walked into the chain convenience store, the girl in uniform had just seen off the customers.

The girl waved her hands enthusiastically:

"Officer, are you back so soon?"

"I have a question for you. Is the computer malfunctioning? This USB flash drive has been missing for three days, which is exactly the three days I need."

The girl was very surprised:

"No, I followed the supervisor's instructions and copied them all for you."

Ningxia handed over the USB flash drive:
"You take a look, or let me take a look at the original video."

The girl looked surprised and took Ning Xia to the room behind the counter. This computer was displayed here, and the screen displayed real-time surveillance videos of the convenience store from several perspectives.

"Why is the surveillance camera placed in the room?"

"It was outside before. Because it's summer and there are a lot of ice drinks, it occupied the place where the surveillance camera is placed next to the cashier. So I put it here temporarily."

The girl said as she put the USB flash drive into the computer.

"Look after 21:[-] on June [-]rd."

When the screen changed from image to black image, the girl was shocked:
"I... don't know, what's going on?"

"Ask your supervisor, has anyone reported that the monitoring system is broken?"

The girl's hands were trembling, and she dialed the phone tremblingly:
"Manager Yang, it's still about the police officer just now. The image of our supermarket has been gone for three days, which is exactly the time the police officer needs."

Ningxia stared at the little girl closely, and she kept explaining:

"Yes, the screen is black. Officer would like to ask if anyone reported any problems with the surveillance to you?"

"No?"

Ning Xia couldn't wait any longer and motioned to the little girl to hand her the phone:
"Hello, Manager Yang, because the video recorded by the supermarket in the past few days is the key to our solution to the case, so please think about it carefully, Manager Yang. Has any employee reported to you that the monitoring has malfunctioned?"

The female voice opposite was very sure:
"No, I only know now. Officer, I have a meeting now. Do you need me to return to the convenience store?"

"Then no need. If I have any questions, I will contact you again."

Ningxia hung up the phone, looked at the video surveillance position and asked the girl:

"Have you been working these days?"

"Ah."

"The surveillance is here. If there were no images, it would be easy to spot your coming and going. Why didn't you pay any attention?"

The girl then remembered:
"Officer, I've been cleaning up the warehouse for the past few days. There were several large boxes here a few days ago, blocking the back, so no one noticed."

Ningxia feels more and more something is wrong:

"How many employees do you have in your supermarket?"

"In addition to the supervisor, there are two other people who work three shifts like me."

"The supervisor is a woman. Where are the other two? How old are they?"

"He Peng and Wang Min, Wang Min and I are the same age, she is a girl, He Peng is the eldest brother, she must be in her 30s."

"Do you have a rotating duty schedule?"

At this time, a customer was knocking on the counter while checking out, and the girl pointed to the wall:
"It's right there, officer, look at it."

Ning Xia nodded and walked over, running her fingers over the duty list. It was the night of June [-]nd.

He Peng!

Ningxia's fingers moved forward on the duty list, and she pulled down to lock June [-]th:
It’s still He Peng!

Ningxia's heart skipped a beat.

When Ning Xia walked out of the room, her face was calm, but her heart was already in turmoil. With a glance, Ning Xia saw the umbrellas neatly placed at the door.

At this time, the girl had finished paying the bill and smiled apologetically at Ningxia:

"Sorry, officer, we need people here. If you want to check anything, I can help you."

"It's okay, no need. I just got a call from the team with other clues. By the way, I want to ask He Peng a few more words. When will he be here?"

"Tonight, he will be on duty after four o'clock today until tomorrow morning. If the officer wants to see him, he can just come over in the evening."

"Okay, thank you. We are here to come to you today. If you don't want to say it, it's better not to tell others. You know, the case is still in the investigation stage."

The girl nodded hurriedly:

"I know, I know, don't worry, officer, I won't say anything."

Ningxia walked out of the convenience store and took out her mobile phone to call Xu Jie. She wanted to report her new discovery.

Ningxia stood at the subway entrance and looked back at the supermarket chain. The point in her heart that she couldn't grasp gradually expanded.

There were many people going in and out of the subway and bus stations, but Ningxia felt a slight chill on her fingertips in the crowd.

The phone rang several times before it was connected. Xu Jie's deep voice came from the receiver:

"Ok?"

There was a lot of noise on the phone, with many people talking. Xu Jie repeated:
"I'm in the household registration section of the police station. What's wrong?"

This time Xu Jie's voice was raised slightly, and Ningxia suddenly didn't know how to explain his new discovery at length, and his words were frozen for a moment.

"Did the surveillance find anything?"

This time there was another man's voice next to Xu Jie:

"Captain Xu, do you think there is anything wrong with this person?"

Xu Jie left the receiver and was silent for half a second:

"Screen it out and I'll go back and verify it again."

Then he leaned closer to the receiver again:

"Ningxia, there are a lot of people here. I can't hear clearly. If there are no new findings, continue checking. Focus on convenience stores."

"Team Xu, convenience store..."

Before Ning Xia finished speaking, there was a beep from her phone. Because she spoke too slowly, Xu Jie had already hung up the phone...

(End of this chapter)