Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 268: Methods of Confirming Identity

Wang Laohu was the one who entered Liu Bai’s room with Song Hui to carry out the kidnapping, and he was the mastermind behind this kidnapping case.

Song Hui’s confession was very detailed.

Wang Laohu and Song Hui seemed to have intentionally gotten close to each other with the purpose of kidnapping Liu Bai.

According to Song Hui’s account, Wang Laohu should have known about Liu Bai’s performance schedule a long time ago.

Organizing a concert, from planning to advertising, ticket sales, and stage setup, takes at least one or two months.

Liu Bai started promoting his concert in Haizhou City from around the Chinese New Year.

So, the information Wang Laohu obtained about Liu Bai’s concert in Haizhou was public information.

As for the hotel stay, according to Song Hui, it was decided a month and a half ago.

The Haotai Hotel was one of the sponsors of this concert.

It made perfect sense for Liu Bai to stay at this hotel.

"Last week, Wang Laohu asked me to provide some information about Liu Bai’s stay at the hotel."

"At that time, did you know he was going to kidnap Liu Bai?"

Song Hui shook his head, then nodded: "I didn’t know at first, it was only last Thursday he told me."

"Officer Ren, you have to believe me, I was unwilling to do it at first."

"It was Wang Laohu who forced me with a two million debt, I had no choice..."

"Tell me about the surveillance video."

"The surveillance... I switched it out last night."

"How did Wang Laohu leave the hotel last night?"

"He drove, we got the person to the underground parking lot, and they left by car."

"They?"

"Yes, besides Wang Laohu, there were two others waiting for him in the car."

"Do you know these two people?"

"I’ve seen one of them before, playing cards with Wang Laohu, seen him twice."

"But I don’t know his name exactly, Wang Laohu calls him Third."

"The other person I haven’t seen before."

"What kind of car did they drive and what was the license plate number?"

"A white Jinbei van, I didn’t notice the license plate number."

"You just mentioned tearing up the ticket, what’s that about?"

"Wang Laohu said, if Xu Zhe doesn’t raise the money in three days, they would directly tear up the ticket."

Song Hui’s information was very important.

This kidnapping seems to have been premeditated long ago.

And from the actual situation, it could be said to be flawless.

Song Hui, as the manager of the room department at Haotai Hotel, personally got involved, and no one would suspect a thing.

Especially since the surveillance video was swapped, the police couldn’t use the video to identify the suspect at all.

Of course, Song Hui tampering with the surveillance video couldn’t leave no trace at all, and Sun Jun and the others would find clues sooner or later.

But time might be running out, the kidnappers only gave Xu Zhe three days, which also means they gave the police three days.

If three days pass without the money being received, everything would be over if the person dies.

The interrogation of Song Hui only lasted half an hour before he confessed everything clearly.

So, what to do next.

"Captain Qin, next steps..."

The case is urgent, and the kidnappers are already prepared to tear up the ticket.

Therefore, the next task is clearly to find the whereabouts of the other party as soon as possible.

Qin Yong frowned deeply, thinking: "The focus is still to quickly track down the whereabouts of Wang Laohu."

When Song Hui mentioned the name Wang Laohu, there were police officers present who immediately searched the name using portable police devices.

The result was that there are over a thousand people named Wang Laohu nationwide.

With so many people, identifying the suspect in the video is not something that can be accomplished quickly.

Moreover, was the name Wang Laohu told to Song Hui really his real name?

"Focus on tracing the suspect’s van from last night."

"Set aside other work in the image investigation department and make this matter a priority."

Ren Qiang nodded, searching for Wang Laohu’s whereabouts was indeed the top priority: "What should we do with this Song Hui?"

"Song Hui..."

Qin Yong narrowed his eyes slightly.

For Wang Laohu, Song Hui should be a very crucial piece.

His role was not only to provide Wang Laohu with the specific hotel room where Liu Bai was staying.

But also to swap the surveillance video.

Since they swapped the video, it implies that they don’t want to expose themselves, at least not so quickly.

Furthermore, if there weren’t a pinhole camera in the room, Wang Laohu indeed wouldn’t have been detected by the police so quickly.

"First let him return to work normally, but he should be tightly monitored."

"Assign people to watch over him 24 hours a day, monitoring all communication devices like phones."

"Yes, I’ll arrange it."

"And about Xu Zhe, should we raise the ransom?"

"Of course, you have to raise the ransom. If Xu Zhe doesn’t make any moves, the other party might directly tear up the ticket."

"Understood!"

The focus of the work now is to find the whereabouts of the white Jinbei van.

The sooner the hiding place is found, the sooner Liu Bai can be rescued.

All parties are taking action, and Lu Chuan is not idle either.

With the video shot by the pinhole camera, Lu Chuan has a much more precise range for the crime scene investigation.

The investigation of room 1108 where Liu Bai was staying is almost complete, with a large amount of biological traces collected, nearly a hundred collection bags were filled.

What Lu Chuan is doing now is following the path Wang Laohu and Song Hui took last night for the investigation.

The initial focus of the investigation is the luggage cart used to transport Liu Bai.

The luggage cart used by Song Hui was not the one often used by receptionists in the lobby on the first floor. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But a cart from storage, which was rarely used.

After using it last night, Song Hui returned the cart to the storage, which presumably no one has moved since.

"Master, I saw in the surveillance that Wang Laohu and Song Hui didn’t wear gloves. They should have left fingerprints when pushing the cart."

Everyone in the meeting room has watched the surveillance video from the pinhole camera.

But different departments focus on different aspects.

Ren Qiang and others focused on whether the faces could be seen clearly, but Lu Chuan first checked whether they wore gloves.

After asking the staff to open the storage room, a luggage cart was lying quietly among a pile of miscellaneous items.

"Please turn off the lights."

In the darkness, using an ultraviolet light to illuminate the surface of the object can reveal fingerprint residue more clearly.

Liu Guodong and Lu Chuan stepped forward to take a closer look.

"This one!"

Under the ultraviolet light, the fingerprints on the luggage cart frame were very clear.

Lu Chuan was visibly excited.

The luggage cart at the Haotai Hotel was like a lantern, with a flat panel at the bottom for placing luggage.

Four columns rose up, resembling the luggage carts seen in advanced hotels on television.

In the pinhole camera’s video, Lu Chuan clearly remembered Wang Laohu grasping the upper edge of one of the columns.

"Master, please hold the light for me while I collect the fingerprints."

With Lu Chuan’s intermediate level fingerprint collection skills, this little task could be completed in a few minutes.

A total of eighteen fingerprints were collected from the entire luggage cart.