Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Chapter 924: Black Gloves and Down Jacket

"Third Middle School, Zhang Tao transferred from Third Middle School to Ninth Middle School six months ago."Sun Biao immediately said.

Third Middle School?

Lu Chuan was very familiar with the high schools in Haizhou City. Third Middle School is a provincial key high school, arguably the best high school in all of Haizhou City, without exception.

In Haizhou City, there are only two high schools: one is Third Middle, and the other is the rest of the high schools.

Zhang Tao’s father, Zhang Haibin, is the deputy director of the Finance Bureau. It’s reasonable for him to send his son to the best high school in Haizhou City. He naturally has that kind of privilege.

Moreover, Third Middle School is in the High-tech Zone, and it’s also under Zhang Haibin’s jurisdiction.

With Zhang Haibin’s status, he doesn’t even need to inform the Education Bureau; the leaders at Third Middle School can handle it directly.

"I remember Third Middle School is a provincial key high school, while Ninth Middle School seems to be just a city-level key high school, right?"

Lu Chuan raised a question.

Wang Zhaokai continued, "Zhang Tao’s father, Zhang Haibin, is the deputy director of the district’s Finance Bureau. Why transfer his child from a top high school to a relatively ordinary one, and at such a crucial time as the third year of high school?"

This information wasn’t initially noticeable, but now that it’s been mentioned, it does seem problematic.

The graduation rate of Haizhou City Third Middle School is top-notch in the city, leaving other high schools far behind.

Zhang Tao’s grades may be average, but completing a third year at Third Middle School is entirely different from finishing at Ninth Middle School.

Perhaps he could get into a university from Third Middle, but the chances of getting into a university from Ninth Middle are probably slim.

"This matter hasn’t been resolved yet. After the meeting, I’ll start investigating the situation here to see why Zhang Tao transferred."

Sun Biao found this odd as well.

However, the earlier investigations focused on Zhang Tao’s relationships with classmates and teachers, all conducted at Ninth Middle School, with little attention to Third Middle School.

Now that there’s a suspicion, it’s necessary to thoroughly investigate this matter.

Moreover, the investigation of the case also encompasses the interpersonal relationships of the victim’s family rather than just the victim.

Lu Chuan has already arranged for a comprehensive investigation of the residential area where the victim’s family lived.

The killer knew about the victim’s family, aware that Zhang Mei would return home from university on weekends, indicating he had a good understanding of their situation.

If not an acquaintance, then it’s very likely the perpetrator secretly monitored the family’s every move.

Therefore, a detailed investigation into the occupants of the victim’s residential area is necessary.

Additionally, the property management staff should be thoroughly interviewed.

If someone had been observing the family, it would be unlikely not to leave any traces.

Also, although the community’s surveillance was under maintenance on the day of the crime, the killer didn’t just appear on the residential site.

The perpetrator used the victim’s family car to transport the bodies to a national highway bridge to burn them, leaving clues along the way.

Especially since the crime occurred at night, with fewer vehicles on the road, making it easier to trace.

The traffic police have been contacted, but they haven’t provided a complete result yet, though they mentioned finding some things.

The meeting ended quickly, and everyone continued with the investigation.

The traffic police of the High-tech Zone handed over their investigation results to the Criminal Investigation Team on the morning of the third day after the crime.

Around 4 AM on the day of the crime, the traffic police found the victim’s vehicle on surveillance cameras at a road outside the residential area and a signal light at an intersection.

They followed this trajectory to the edge of the national highway, confirming the entire vehicle’s path.

But at the time, the perpetrator driving the vehicle was wearing a mask and a baseball cap.

All surveillance footage failed to capture the perpetrator’s face or features.

Dozens of photos from surveillance cameras are now laid out on Lu Chuan’s desk.

On the day of the crime, the perpetrator wore a dark blue down jacket, gloves, and the gloves were black, revealing no other features.

"Captain Lu, I’ve checked those gloves."

Chen Jiang had researched the information but didn’t get accurate or leading clues.

"The gloves are ordinary black knit ones with fleece lining, sold at any supermarket for ten yuan a pair. So it’s unlikely to find the perpetrator based on this."

"What about the blue down jacket?"

Lu Chuan asked further.

Finding suspects based on clothing characteristics is a common strategy in administrative investigations.

Many real-life cases involve suspects being tracked due to distinctive or rare branded clothing.

This is an essential method for the police to identify and trace suspects.

However, Chen Jiang investigated this area but didn’t find particularly valuable clues.

"That blue down jacket was a Bosideng product from three years ago."

Even without investigating, Chen Jiang recognized the jacket. He had bought one himself three years ago. It was a bestseller back then—affordable and high-quality.

"More than 7,000 such jackets were sold in Haizhou City alone, not to mention online sales."

It’s not that the jacket cannot be traced, but if no other clues are available, it might require tracking the jacket one by one.

However, time is of the essence, and it happened three years ago. Store surveillance would have been cleared unless online banking was used, revealing some transaction records.

Thus identifying the purchaser.

But what if they paid in cash?

So this investigation direction serves merely as one possible avenue.

Investing resources in this might be inefficient.

Yet, when solving a homicide, decisions can’t be made solely based on efficiency.

A life has been taken, and the case must be solved. Moreover, this was a family annihilation case where all four family members were killed and incinerated outdoors.

The incident has already alarmed the province, and unless solved shortly, the province will likely send a major case squad.

Just as Lu Chuan previously participated in major case squad investigations, all control must be handed over.

If the case is solved, the credit goes to the major case squad. If not, though there hasn’t been an unsolved case with them yet.

So from this perspective, Haizhou City Public Security Bureau won’t weigh economic losses. Regardless of the resources needed, potential clues must be pursued.