Sweeping Mouse Ridge – Chapter Three : 6

Upon hearing Zhou Liping say he ran from Sweeping Mouse Ridge to Xingyu Road, Guo Xiaofen, who had just taken a sip of coffee, suddenly spat it out! While wiping the table with a tissue, she kept saying, “Sorry, sorry,” giggling incessantly. Just as she managed to suppress her laughter, she burst into tears again, waving her hand at Liu Simiao to apologize. Her laughter was so infectious that Liu Simiao laughed too.

“I can just imagine Old Du’s nose crooked with anger,” Guo Xiaofen said with a laugh.

Liu Simiao nodded. “Yes, Fengchong almost lost his temper too, wanting to jump up and beat Zhou Liping. But he’s always been calm. Remembering what he learned during the search of Zhou Liping’s room, he thought Zhou Liping might be telling the truth.”

“The three pairs of running shoes under the bed, and the neighbors’ testimonies, show that Zhou Liping has a habit of jogging in the neighborhood morning and evening,” Guo Xiaofen said.

Liu Simiao hummed in agreement: “Furthermore, Fengchong checked Zhou Liping’s file and found that he had won the school’s long distance running championship multiple times during his student days. He maintained this habit while in prison, running in place in his cell and circling the yard during his free time. After his release, he even participated in city marathons and half marathons, though he did not win any prizes, he certainly possessed considerable ability—more importantly, there are ‘marathon buddies’ who testify that Zhou Liping used to go to the Sweeping Mouse Ridge area on weekends for cross country training to improve his physical fitness, and after training, he would simply run directly back to the city.”

“Have you verified the time it took Zhou Liping to run from Sweeping Mouse Ridge to Xingyu Road?”

“It was done. We found an officer in the police force who had won a prize in the city marathon. He chose the most convenient shortcut, running from Sweeping Mouse Ridge to Xingyu Road, and calculated the time: 43 minutes. If it were Zhou Liping running, it would probably take 48 minutes or even longer. In other words, if what Zhou Liping said is true, there’s absolutely no way he could have committed murder and burned the bodies at Sweeping Mouse Ridge at 10:30 p.m. and then arrived at Xingyu Road Park at 11:00 p.m. sharp.”

Guo Xiaofen pondered for a moment: “But there are still other possibilities, such as—”

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“For example, he might have prepared a bicycle nearby before carrying out the murder plan. After killing and burning the body, he could have ridden the bicycle, gotten off near Xingyu Road, and run to the park… We considered this and tested it; it’s feasible,” said Liu Simiao. “The problem is that while the surveillance system is designed and set up to monitor traffic violations on motor vehicle lanes, it can also capture situations on non-motorized vehicle lanes. From Sweeping Mouse Ridge to Xingyu Road, if you are running, taking shortcuts, going through side streets, or navigating alleys, you could indeed be in the system’s blind spots or dead zones the entire way. But if you are cycling, it’s impossible to completely avoid surveillance within half an hour—”

“Why not?” Guo Xiaofen interrupted her. “As long as you cycle along the same route you run, it will work.”

“It really will not work,” said Liu Simiao. “We’ve investigated carefully. From Sweeping Mouse Ridge to Xingyu Road, several sections of the back roads are in extremely bad condition—either under construction or ditched. Running would be a struggle, and in some places, we’d have to get off and push our bikes. The total time would definitely exceed thirty minutes. In short, we’ve tried various combinations, and they all prove that if we try to get there in half an hour by bike, we cannot escape the surveillance cameras; if we can escape them, we cannot get there in half an hour.”

“I see…” Guo Xiaofen looked disappointed.

“Once he said that, the interrogation stalled. The only evidence we had linking him to the Sweeping Mouse Ridge Case was a photo of him driving his Spire through the traffic lights at Qingshikou East Lane. Now he admits to going to Sweeping Mouse Ridge that night, and that he drove his Spire there. He also said that Xing Qisheng drove the car away himself, and that Lin Fengchong specifically took Zhou Liping to Sweeping Mouse Ridge. He vaguely recalled that the car was parked on the east side of the road at the intersection of Yinlushan Road and Miaopu Alley. In other words, after he left, Xing Qisheng could have easily driven the car into the alley by turning left and going straight, perfectly matching the tire tracks found at the scene—”

Guo Xiaofen suddenly interrupted Liu Simiao: “I said, that idiot Lin Fengchong—surely he did not fail to check whether Zhou Liping used any transportation to get to Xingyu Road just because of what he said?”

“Fengchong’s honest, but not stupid,” said Liu Simiao. “The police not only retrieved all usage records from several ride hailing apps and Mobike’s terminal systems on the night of the incident, proving that Zhou Liping did not use either mode of transportation that night, but they also used CCTV to check all vehicles traveling from the Sweeping Mouse Ridge area to Xingyu Road that night, and no driver remembered picking up such a passenger—including unlicensed taxi drivers. I know you also thought of buses, but aside from the difficulty in controlling the timing of taking the bus, the police also retrieved surveillance videos of several buses traveling from Sweeping Mouse Ridge to the city center, and did not even find any trace of Zhou Liping.”

Guo Xiaofen rested her chin on her hand, thinking for a moment, then her eyes lit up: “What if Zhou Liping had prepared a car near Sweeping Mouse Ridge beforehand, and after committing the crime, instead of driving directly into the city, he took a detour west along a mountain road and then returned to the city via another route?”

“There’s still a time constraint: Heading west from Sweeping Mouse Ridge into the mountains, the fastest way to detour around the mountains and reach Xingyu Road is to go around Cuiwei Mountain, coming down from its northern foot… They say, ‘Looking at a mountain makes your horse run itself to death,’ let alone detouring around it. Even at 10:30 p.m., disregarding traffic safety and speeding, it would still be past 11 p.m. by the time you reach Xingyu Road.”

Guo Xiaofen was stunned for a moment.

Liu Simiao sighed softly, “So now Zhou Liping has essentially passed the buck to us: how to prove he did not run to Xingyu Road…”

“Or rather, find a way for him to get to Xingyu Road from Sweeping Mouse Ridge within thirty minutes,” Guo Xiaofen said.

Liu Simiao gently shook her head: “Excluding the time spent on the murder, burning the body, and other delays on the road, he probably only had twenty-five minutes left—and that does not even include the time he spent hiding the Spire.”

“How long would it take to get from Sweeping Mouse Ridge to Xingyu Road by bicycle or car?”

“We calculated it. By bicycle, it would take twenty to twenty-five minutes; by car, considering it’s nighttime and there should not be any traffic jams, but there are many traffic lights along the way, it would take ten to fifteen minutes.”

Guo Xiaofen took out a pen and a small pink leather notebook from her bag, scribbled in them for a while, sighed softly, and suddenly remembered something: “Did the person who challenged Zhou Liping to a fight notice that Zhou Liping showed signs of having run a long distance when he arrived that night, like being out of breath and covered in sweat?”

“He was very emotional that day, fueled by both old and new grudges. He started fighting with Zhou Liping after only a few words. So, even after thinking for a while, he cannot be sure. He only vaguely remembers that Zhou Liping seemed very tired that day, but—” Liu Simiao gave a bitter smile and continued, “But killing, burning the body, and cleaning up the scene can also be exhausting.”

Both of them fell silent for a moment.

A waiter from the coffee shop came over and asked if they wanted more water. Liu Simiao gestured for some to be added to her cup. The tangerine and pear tea churned with orange-white foam under the pressure of the water jet. Once the waiter was gone and the foam had subsided, she picked up her cup, took a small sip, found it a little hot, and put it back on the table.

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“So, based on the interrogation results, what conclusions did the Special Task Force reach regarding further investigation of the case?” Guo Xiaofen asked.

“The Special Task Force team actually split. Du Jianping and most of the investigating officers advocated for intensified interrogation to force Zhou Liping to confess the truth. However, Lin Fengchong and Chu Tianying believed that they should not put all their eggs in one basket, as spending too much time and energy on Zhou Liping was only allowing the real criminal to escape justice… But because Lei Rong provided an expert report, the Special Task Force team reached a consensus: they all agreed that the direction and approach for the next steps should indeed be adjusted.”

“A forensic pathologist’s report?” Guo Xiaofen was somewhat surprised. “Didn’t Lei Rong already produce it?”

“No, it’s a psychological evaluation report based on the interrogation video of Zhou Liping. It analyzed his responses, including his speaking speed, tone, expression, and facial expressions, to identify potentially suspicious points.”

“Wow! Who did it?”

“Lei Rong said that because the case was serious, the ministry gave special approval to have a behavioral science expert living abroad, whose identity was kept confidential, do it. But Old Du and the others thought it made a lot of sense after reviewing it.”

“Tell me more.”

“That behavioral science expert compared Zhou Liping’s reaction time and speaking speed after each question. He found it to be a very balanced state—not too slow, not too fast, and practically fluent and flawless. It was clearly prepared, even rehearsed. However, this is common among criminal suspects with prior convictions and does not necessarily mean anything. But there was one answer that contained a subtle contradiction.”

“Which answer?”

“Zhou Liping said he received a call from Xing Qisheng around 9 p.m. that night, asking him to pick him up from Tongyou Nursery. He used the phrase ‘it’s urgent.’ Because Lin Fengchong interrupted Zhou Liping’s train of thought by asking who Xing Qisheng was, when he was asked again, ‘What did he want?’ Zhou Liping replied, ‘He drank too much that night and cannot drive,’ implying that Xing Qisheng only asked for a ride, which had nothing to do with being in an ‘urgent’ situation. Here, there was a very obvious decrease in tone. Even more subtly, he later said that after arriving at the orphanage, Xing Qisheng made him wait in the car for over twenty minutes before coming out. How could that be an emergency? Unfortunately, Lin Fengchong was completely focused on how Zhou Liping would ‘cover up’ his actions, and did not further investigate this obvious contradiction in his confession.”

Guo Xiaofen’s eyes widened.

“Furthermore, in this answer, two ‘bone spurs’ appeared, a rarity throughout the entire interrogation.”

“‘Bone spurs’?” Guo Xiaofen did not quite understand. “What does that mean?”

Interrogation, in essence, involved interrogators uncovering suspicious points in a case, asking the defendant to explain these points, and identifying any gaps or loopholes that could not be filled or that would be too glaring to be concealed. Therefore, the defendant’s response patterns could be broadly categorized into two types: a rigid, detached approach and a more reactive, less nuanced one. As the name suggested, the former meant ‘you dig a hole, and I would fill it in perfectly’, no more, no less; the latter often came from suspects with poor psychological resilience or those eager to atone for their crimes, answering two questions for every one asked, their responses rambling or scattered… However, all of Zhou Liping was answers were precise and never strayed from the question, except in two places: first, when Lin Fengchong asked, “Who’s Xing Qisheng ?”, he only needed to answer “Tongyou Nursery Director, a friend of our General Manager Zheng,” but he added, “But I do not like that person”; second, when Lin Fengchong asked, “Did you go?”, he did not answer directly, but instead said, “What could I do?”

Guo Xiaofen’s eyes lit up: “In other words, in those two places, Zhou Liping’s answers were superfluous and showed strong emotional overtones.”

“Exactly! From a psychological perspective, this indicates that the suspect is feeling guilty or flustered or even has a tendency to ‘flatter’ or ‘please’ the interrogator. Combined with the earlier contradiction, it’s like multiple instances of psychological instability occurred in four consecutive questions and answers. For Zhou Liping, who has extensive experience being interrogated and possesses excellent psychological qualities, this is highly abnormal.”

“So, what conclusions can we draw from the above analysis?”

“The behavioral science expert believes that, considering the entire conversation, Zhou Liping’s series of psychological disturbances began with the ’emergency’ claim, which’s a crucial starting point. It’s highly likely that Zhou Liping unintentionally revealed the true situation; that is, Xing Qisheng did indeed use the ’emergency’ excuse to call Zhou Liping that night, asking him to do something illicit, but Zhou Liping immediately realized: this was something he could not tell the police. Speaking out would be detrimental to him, so he panicked instantly, leading to a series of evasive and downplaying maneuvers, and two deliberate expressions of his aversion and disgust towards Xing Qisheng, attempting to distance himself from Xing Qisheng and prevent the police from investigating what urgent matter Xing Qisheng wanted with him—this precisely demonstrates that he was not as ignorant about Sweeping Mouse Ridge Case as he appeared, but rather had something he could not say.”

Guo Xiaofen’s face showed admiration: “I’m convinced by this analysis.”

“Everyone agrees with this analysis, and it’s quite inspiring. The Special Task Force team unanimously agrees that the previous interrogation and investigation focused entirely on ‘what happened after going to the Sweeping Mouse Ridge.’ Next, we should consider the case as a whole and figure out ‘what happened before going to the Sweeping Mouse Ridge.’ For example, what’s the relationship between Xing Qisheng and Zhou Liping? What ‘urgent matter’ did Xing Qisheng have that night that he called Zhou Liping to the orphanage? What kind of driving route did the Black Spire take earlier that day? Only in this way can we find the root cause of the incident and uncover the truth,” said Liu Simiao.

Guo Xiaofen nodded, then leaned her head forward: “So, now you can tell me, what exactly do you want me to help you with?”