Phi-Fic Chapter 1125 Arrest of Chen Mei
Chapter 1125 Arrest of Chen Mei
His shout made Chen Mei freeze. The wet cloth slipped from her hand, revealing a black plastic bag underneath—containing half a bottle of rat poison. The label on the bottle matched the convenience store's purchase records perfectly.
When Chen Mei was handcuffed, the scars on her wrists looked even more gruesome against the metal. "Why are you arresting me?" Her voice was shrill, like fingernails scraping against glass. In her struggle, she knocked over a glass on the coffee table, and brown medicine residue mixed with tea splashed onto Xiao Zhou's trouser leg. "I didn't do anything illegal!" Xiao Zhou picked up the damp cloth from the floor. Under the ultraviolet light, the fabric immediately showed a pale blue fluorescence—the reaction of latent blood residue from washing away the bloodstains.
The incandescent light in the interrogation room shone on Chen Mei's pale face. Her fingers dug deep crescent-shaped marks into the plastic armrests of the interrogation chair. "Where were you on the night of July 3rd?" Xiao Zhou pushed a printed copy of the chat logs in front of her, the ink still warm from the printer. Chen Mei's gaze lingered on the word "take action" for two seconds, then she suddenly raised her voice: "This is a frame-up! It's fabricated evidence! I never sent those messages!"
“And this?” Xiao Zhou pulled up a screenshot of the text message Chen Mei sent to Zhang Lei. “You arranged to meet him at 7 pm to discuss business, why did you lie?” Chen Mei’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently, her eyes glancing at the security camera in the corner: “I… I just wanted to talk to him about Zhao Gang’s matter, to tell him to stop pressing for the debt, that’s all.” Her explanation completely stalled when Xiao Zhou produced the DNA comparison report—the conclusion on the report that “Chen Mei’s DNA matches the deceased’s fingernail suture tissue” was circled three times in red.
“The wound on your wrist,” Xiao Zhou suddenly pointed to her scar, “was formed around 8:15 PM on July 3rd, which coincides with Zhang Lei’s time of death. Based on the wound’s shape, it was caused by someone scratching it forcefully with their fingernails, and it’s 0.3 centimeters deep, just enough to leave skin tissue under the fingernail.” He pushed over photos of the wound details taken by the forensic doctor. “The curve of this scar perfectly matches the shape of Zhang Lei’s right index fingernail. Do you still want to deny it?”
Chen Mei's shoulders suddenly slumped, tears streaming down her cheeks and onto the interrogation record, blurring the words "July 3rd." "Zhao Gang forced me," her voice hoarse as if sanded, "He owes Brother Leopard 50,000 yuan, saying he'd break his legs if he didn't pay. On the night of July 2nd, he came back and told me Zhang Lei had some money and asked me to help lure him out; if I got the money, he'd let him live..."
"Then why did you kill him?" As Xiao Zhou pressed, Chen Mei suddenly pounded her thigh with her handcuffed hand, the clanging of the shackles echoing in the interrogation room. "Zhang Lei didn't have any money! He said we were liars and was going to call the police, so Zhao Gang got angry, grabbed a steel pipe from behind the door, and smashed it against us..." Her breathing suddenly quickened. "When I tried to break up the fight, Zhang Lei grabbed my wrist and shoved it hard; his nails dug into my flesh, and it hurt so much I almost screamed... Later, Zhao Gang said that since we'd already started, we couldn't leave any survivors, or we'd both be in jail..."
This confession perfectly matched the details in the forensic report: the blunt force trauma to Zhang Lei's skull matched the steel pipe, Chen Mei's skin tissue was indeed found under the fingernails of his right hand, and the estimated time of death was between 8 and 9 pm, perfectly aligning with the timeline described by Chen Mei. When Xiao Zhou asked about the whereabouts of the rat poison, Chen Mei's eyes suddenly became vacant: "Zhao Gang said it wasn't used, he threw it into the moat, he said the current there is too strong, he definitely wouldn't find it..."
The clock outside the interrogation room struck midnight, and Chen Mei's statement had filled three pages. Looking at the signature "The above is true" on the last page, Xiao Zhou suddenly remembered Zhao Gang smoking in a corner of the construction site—this man who had woven the tapestry of crimes with Chen Mei was about to face his trial before dawn. And those scattered fragments of evidence, at this moment, finally pieced together the complete truth, like headlights shining in the darkness, illuminating the final fog of the case.
The operation to apprehend Zhao Gang was launched immediately.
At three in the morning, the construction site was still shrouded in darkness. Suddenly, the searchlight of the tower crane swept across the pile of bricks, casting a long shadow of Zhao Gang huddled inside a cement pipe. When Xiao Zhou's flashlight beam pierced his face, a half-finished cigarette dangled from his mouth, its embers flickering in the darkness. "Zhao Gang, come with us." The moment two officers grabbed his arms, his knees suddenly buckled—an old injury in his right leg throbbed with pain from the shock, and a scab-covered scar was visible through a tear in his trousers.
The police car's lights swirled in the pre-dawn mist. Zhao Gang's head was pressed against the cold car window, the glass reflecting his stubble-covered face. "I didn't kill anyone," he repeated, the handcuffs leaving red marks on his wrists. "Chen Mei is talking nonsense; she's trying to pin all the blame on me!" Xiao Zhou sat in the passenger seat, watching Zhao Gang's shifty eyes in the rearview mirror. His right index finger unconsciously picked at the calluses on his palm—a gesture identical to Chen Mei's habit in the interrogation room.
The incandescent light in the interrogation room was more glaring than the searchlights at the construction site. The chains of the interrogation chair rattled as Zhao Gang sat down. "Where were you between 7 pm and 9 pm on July 3rd?" Xiao Zhou pushed over a photocopy of Chen Mei's statement; the edges of the paper were still stained with coffee. Zhao Gang's Adam's apple bobbed. "I was...drinking at a friend's house, and didn't get back until midnight." His gaze flickered to the surveillance camera in the corner. "If you don't believe me, go ask my friend."
"Which friend?" Xiao Zhou circled the name "Zhao Gang" with his pen. "What's the address? What's the phone number?" Zhao Gang's fingers suddenly froze, cement chips falling from under his fingernails. "I can't remember... I've had too much to drink, my mind is muddled." Xiao Zhou suddenly slammed a photo of a steel pipe on the table—the one salvaged from the moat, its surface still bearing dark red stains. "Do you recognize this? Chen Mei said you used it to hit Zhang Lei."
Zhao Gang's breathing suddenly quickened, his chest heaving violently beneath his prison uniform. "She's talking nonsense!" his voice cracked. "That woman's insane, she killed someone and wants to blame someone else!" Xiao Zhou didn't respond, instead pulling up the location data on Zhao Gang's phone. A red dot appeared below Zhang Lei's building at 7:53 PM on July 3rd: "Why are you here at this time?" He then pulled out the chat history from Chen Mei's phone. "'Closing the door to beat the dog' was your idea, wasn't it? 'Prepare the rat poison' was also your idea, wasn't it?"
These words struck Zhao Gang's mental defenses like a hammer blow; his shoulders slumped, and his forehead pressed against the table. "Brother Leopard forced me to," he suddenly burst into tears, snot bubbles hanging from the tip of his nose.