Chapter 1722: New Progress in the Case
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Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation | Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“I didn’t. Besides, what right do you have to say that my company is a sh.e.l.l company?” Zhang Hao denied.
“This point is beyond your resistance; our colleagues from the Commercial Investigation Division have already thoroughly investigated. This isn’t something you can dictate.”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Hao immediately calmed down, knowing full well that if the authorities wanted to probe into his company’s affairs, they could do so in minutes.
It was useless to try to explain himself.
“I admit that my company did not have much performance in the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same this time. I really wanted to work with Song Deyuan, but I didn’t expect something to happen to him.”
“Why did something happen to him? Don’t you know?”
“What do you mean? Are you suspecting that I killed him?”
Zhang Hao looked very excited. “When he got into trouble, I was working in the company. How could I kill him? Can you have some common sense?!”
“But I really want to know, if you have nothing to hide, why did you run when you saw our people?”
Li Xianghui also knew that he could not continue the topic.
Because she didn’t have any evidence, she couldn’t do anything to him, so she changed the topic.
Zhang Hao’s expression was very exaggerated, just like the villain in the movie. There was even a hint of playfulness, and there was no fear in his expression.
“As I said earlier, I thought my enemies had come looking for me. That’s why I troed to run.”
“Now, I want to ask you, do you know a woman named Du Juan?”
“Du Juan?”
Zhang Hao muttered.
“I had dinner with Song Deyuan before. He has a mistress called Du Juan. I don’t know anything else.”
Li Xianghui fiddled with the lighter in his hand and looked at Zhang Hao gloomily.
“I advise you not to struggle needlessly. A fake can’t be made real, and pretending nothing is wrong won’t help you now.”
“I really don’t understand what you’re talking about. I am a legitimate businessman. Why are you accusing me of killing Song Deyuan?”
“Whether or not you killed Song Deyuan, we will investigate that ourselves. But you will be under our surveillance for the time being. I hope you behave yourself!”
“I’m sure the law will clear my name!”
“We’ll see.”
Li Xianghui did not say anything else. He led his men out of the interrogation room and returned to his office. He lit a cigarette angrily and started smoking.
“The evidence we have now can’t prove that he killed Song Deyuan and Du Juan.” Gu Yiran said.
“I checked the time when I was investigating the surveillance footage. When Song Deyuan fell off the cliff, Zhang Hao was in his office. The last call between the two of them was five hours before Song Deyuan died. It would be a little farfetched to say that he induced Song Deyuan to fall off the cliff.”
“It’s not just that.” Zhang Hui also lit a cigarette and sat on the chair, smoking.
“I’ve checked his travel records. He’s only been to Yanjing once in the past three months. There’s no overlap with Song Deyuan’s travel records. There’s not enough evidence to accuse Zhang Hao.”
The office fell silent. No one spoke.
Zhang Hao had a motive to kill, but none of the evidence pointed to him.
“Could we be going in the wrong direction? Although Zhang Hao has a motive to kill, is it possible that he didn’t kill him?”
“Something’s wrong!”
Lin Yi’s sudden words made everyone in the office look at him.
They wondered what he was going to say.
“Four days have pa.s.sed since Song Deyuan’s death. According to Zhang Hao’s statement, he learned of Song Deyuan’s death around 5 PM on the day it happened. There was no contact between the two for over ten hours in between, which is quite unusual.”
Everyone frowned. Li Xianghui asked,
“Can this be used as evidence?”
“No, but this is very suspicious.” Lin Yi said.
“The two of them are business partners. It’s a little unusual that they haven’t contacted each other for so long.”
Lin Yi, having come from the corporate world, understood the intricacies involved.
“As business partners, especially with large sums involved, their contact should have been frequent,” Lin Yi said.
“Just look at their call logs to see that they were in touch almost daily. Yet, uniquely on the day Song Deyuan died, there was no contact between them for over ten hours. This is highly suspicious and might be worth digging into.”
Hearing Lin Yi’s words, Gu Yiran’s eyes lit up as if she thought of something.
“There’s one more thing that’s not right. Song Deyuan’s phone and WeChat didn’t have any contact records with Zhang Hao. As a business partner, this is also unusual.”
“Does he have the habit of clearing his WeChat records?” Zhang Hui asked.
“My wife clears it every day. She doesn’t leave any chat records. Moreover, her WeChat Moments disappear after three days. She makes herself look so mysterious.”
“No.” Gu Yiran said.
“His WeChat Moments are all public, and there are many chat records on his phone. I’ve looked through them before. The earliest record was three years ago, but I couldn’t find any records of him and Zhang Hao. It’s very likely that they were deliberately deleted.”
Gu Yiran’s a.n.a.lysis made sense to the others.
Lin Yi changed his posture.
“Let’s go over this case again.”
“After Song Deyuan’s accident, we took his phone away. If someone deleted his chat history, there’s only one possibility. Someone deleted his communication history before he fell off the cliff.”
“On that day, Du Juan had been working at the company. His contact with Song Deyuan was limited to that 40-minute video call.”
“At that time, Song Deyuan should have realized that Zhang Hao was a liar and that their relationship was in a deadlock. If Du Juan asked Song Deyuan to delete the communication records with Zhang Hao in the video, I believe the former would not agree. There must be someone else involved in this.”
“In other words, the murderer had an accomplice, and this accomplice wasn’t Du Juan but someone else who helped the murderer lure Song Deyuan to fall off the cliff!”
Everyone suddenly realized that they could finally find an explanation for Song Deyuan’s death.
“But how do you explain Du Juan’s death? Zhang Hao has a perfect alibi. Could it have been done by that accomplice too?” Gao Mingjun said.
“If that’s the case, it indicates that the accomplice is no ordinary person.”
“The circ.u.mstances surrounding Du Juan’s death might involve other factors, but Song Deyuan’s death is pretty much accounted for,” Lin Yi said.
“If we can find that accomplice, I think Du Juan’s case could also be solved easily.”
“But here lies the problem,” Gu Yiran said, “this behind-the-scenes accomplice didn’t leave any clues. With the information we currently have, it’ll be difficult to track them down.”