TPODN Chapter 74

Wang Linfei arrived at the crime scene in his own car, a red BMW. Such cars were rarely seen in Fengyun City, and in the eyes of many, such a car was too luxurious for a detective, especially since he drove it to work.

On this beautiful Friday afternoon, he was getting into his car to go home, but Li Ke ran to his office, ruining his plan to spend a quiet evening at home.

“Captain Wang, this case is very strange. Captain Hu wants you to take a look.” After Li Ke said this, he immediately took Wang Linfei in a police car to Lukjiao Street in Zileng District. When they arrived, several cars and some people from the South District had already arrived and entered the bank.

A crowd had gathered outside the bank. As Wang Linfei crossed the sidewalk, a patrolman who had been standing there watching the onlookers approached him and said, “I found a few witnesses who said they heard gunshots. What should I do with them?”

“Keep them here,” Wang Linfei said, “and then disperse the crowd.”

The patrolman nodded, and Wang Linfei continued towards the bank. The deceased lay on the marble floor between the counters and desks, his arms outstretched, his left knee bent, one trouser leg slipped up, revealing a snow-white sock with a dark blue anchor embroidered on it, and a section of sun-tanned leg with some golden hair. The bullet had hit him squarely in the face, and blood and brain matter splattered out from the back of his head.

The bank staff were all sitting in the innermost corner of the room. Hu Shi was sitting in front of them, half-standing and half-sitting with one leg propped on the corner of a desk. A woman was describing something in a shrill and angry tone, while he was taking notes in a notebook.

When Hu Shi saw Wang Linfei, he raised his right hand to signal to the woman, and she stopped immediately, even though she hadn’t finished her sentence. Liu Zihao stood up, took the notebook, walked behind the counter, and went to Wang Linfei. He nodded towards the man lying on the floor and said, “He doesn’t look very good. If you stay here, I can take the witnesses elsewhere, and you can work here quietly.”

Wang Linfei nodded.

“They said it was a man who did it,” Hu Shi said, “and she left with the cash.”

“Did anyone see which direction she ran in?”

“The people outside the bank didn’t notice,” Hu Shi said. “There was a guy standing inside at the time, and he’s sure he saw a car drive away, but he didn’t see the license plate number, and he’s not sure what make the car was, so I didn’t ask too many questions. I’ll talk to him again later.”

“Who is this?” Wang Linfei asked, nodding slightly at the dead man.

“A wannabe hero. He tried to pounce on the robber, and of course, in a state of extreme panic, she fired. He’s a bank customer, the staff all know him. He went there to access his safe deposit box, went down the stairs over there, and unfortunately ran into this.” Hu Shi looked at his notebook. “He’s the director of a fitness association, named Zhong Hao.” “He probably thought he was ‘Flash Gordon’,” Hu Shi said.

Hu Shi revealed a questioning look, and Lean’s face turned red. He immediately changed the subject, saying, “Oh, I guess there might be footage of her inside.” He pointed to the cameras hanging from the ceiling.

“If the focus is right and there’s film inside,” Hu Shi said without much confidence, “and if the teller remembers to press the button.”

Most banks nowadays are equipped with cameras that start filming as soon as the teller on duty presses a button on the floor. This is the only thing bank staff are supposed to do when faced with a robbery. Due to the increasing number of armed bank robberies, banks have ordered staff to comply with the robbers’ demands and not take any action to stop them, so as not to endanger their lives. This order might lead people to believe that banks are based on humanitarianism or considering the safety of their employees, but in reality, that’s not the case. It’s the result of accumulated experience. For banks and insurance companies, it’s more cost-effective to let robbers escape with their money than to compensate customers for losses or injured personnel, or their families (which would be the case if someone were injured or killed).

At this moment, the forensic doctor arrived, so Wang Linfei went to his car to get the bag he used for handling homicide cases. He used the old methods to handle cases, and they often worked.

Hu Shi came out, preparing to return to the Fengyun City Public Security Bureau. He also brought the bank staff and four people who claimed to be eyewitnesses.

He borrowed an interrogation room. After entering, he took off his calfskin jacket, hung it on the back of the chair, and began the preliminary investigation. Initially, the statements of the first three bank staff questioned were very consistent, but the statements of the last four witnesses were somewhat different.

The first witness was a forty-two-year-old woman who was standing five yards from the bank door when the gunshots went off. She saw a man wearing a white hat and sunglasses rush out. Half a minute later, according to her, she saw a green sedan, probably an Opel, rushing out of the sidewalk ten meters away and speeding off in the direction of Lukjiao Plaza before disappearing. She believed she saw the man in the hat sitting in the back seat. She didn’t have time to see the license plate number, but she believed it started with “AB”.

The next witness was a woman, the owner of a women’s clothing store. She was standing in front of her store when she heard the gunshots. Her store was just a wall away from the bank. At first, she thought the sound was coming from the store’s pantry. She was worried that the gas stove had exploded, so she rushed inside. After finding nothing wrong, she returned to the front of the store. Then she looked at the street and saw a large blue car suddenly swerving into traffic – the tires screeching sharply. At this moment, a woman came out of the bank, shouting that someone had been shot.

She didn’t see clearly who was in the car, and she didn’t know the license plate number, but she said it looked a bit like a taxi.

The third witness was a thirty-two-year-old blacksmith, and his description was more detailed. He didn’t hear the gunshots; he didn’t notice anything at all. He was walking along the sidewalk when the woman came out of the bank. She was in a hurry and bumped into him as she ran past him. He didn’t see her face, but guessed she was about thirty years old. She was wearing blue pants and a shirt, a hat, and carrying a black bag. He saw her get into a car with a license plate marked “tcA”, and the license plate number had two threes. It was a pale yellow Renault Sixteen. A thin man, about twenty to twenty-five years old, was sitting in the driver’s seat. He had long, straight black hair and was wearing a short-sleeved cotton crew-neck T-shirt, and his face was frighteningly pale. Another man appeared to be older. He stood on the sidewalk and opened the back door for the woman. After closing the door, he sat in the passenger seat. This man was burly, about five feet ten inches tall, with a head of gray hair that was messy and thick. He had a ruddy complexion, wearing black trousers, was pigeon-toed, and wore a black crew-neck shirt with something shiny on it. The car turned around and drove off in the direction of the Gate Plaza.

After listening to the testimony, Liu Zihao felt a little confused. After summoning the last witness to leave, he carefully read the notes.

The last witness was a fifty-year-old watchmaker. He was sitting in his car outside the bank waiting for his wife, who was in the shoe store across the street. His car window was open, so he heard the gunshots, but he didn’t react, because there was noise everywhere in the bustling Lukjiao Street. He saw the woman come out of the bank at five minutes past three. The reason he noticed her was because she seemed to be in a great hurry, and didn’t even apologize for bumping into an elderly lady. He thought this was typical of people from Sodra, always in a hurry and not very friendly.

And she was from Södertälje going to. The man was wearing long trousers, a hat that made one think of a cowboy, and was carrying a white shopping bag in her hand. She ran to the street corner before disappearing around the corner. No, she didn’t get into any car, and she didn’t stop. She ran all the way to the corner and disappeared.

Hu Shi called to describe the characteristics of the two men in the Renault car, then stood up, tidied up the papers, and looked at the clock.

It was already six o’clock. He felt he had done a lot of useless work. The patrolman who arrived at the scene first had said that these eyewitnesses had different descriptions of the car. Besides that, each witness’s description of the process was also inconsistent.

No clue. Of course, it was usually like this.

For a moment, he hesitated whether or not he should keep the last witness, but he gave up. Everyone looked eager to go home, and to be honest, he was the most eager, although that might be wishful thinking. So he let all the witnesses go back.

After putting on his jacket, he returned to the bank.

The body of the brave fitness instructor had been removed. A young radio communications patrolman came out of the car to inform the captain of the criminal investigation team, Liu Zihao, was waiting for him and Wang Linfei in the office. Hu Shi sighed and then walked towards his car.