Chapter 557: Chapter 557: Timeline Mismatch

"What money? The money you spent in bed with a woman. Don’t tell me it was free love, that she willingly climbed into your bed."

Zhang Hui was almost amused by Zhao Zhijun’s expression.

This guy not going into acting is really a waste.

His ability to confuse and feign innocence is pure talent; no amount of practice can make it this natural and smooth.

"This... this... of course not..."

Zhao Zhijun couldn’t deny this, knowing Zhang Meili was also being interrogated and wouldn’t hide anything.

If it were just a minor pornography case, he’d keep quiet, and Zhang Meili wouldn’t spill either.

But since this involves a murder case, he knew Zhang Meili wouldn’t keep it from them.

"The money, I earned it myself."

"Oh? How did you earn it?"

"This... Officer, isn’t that my private matter? Do you have to ask?"

Bang!

Zhang Hui slammed the table, making a huge noise and startling Zhao Zhijun.

"Zhao Zhijun, be honest! What do you think this place is?"

"Yang Qianqian was murdered; you are a prime suspect!"

"Last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, you used different ATMs to withdraw money with Yang Qianqian’s bank card."

Yang Qianqian’s bank card had a balance of more than 120,000 yuan. Because ATMs have a daily withdrawal limit of 50,000 yuan, Zhao Zhijun spent three days withdrawing the money.

"And on Wednesday, that was precisely when Yang Qianqian was killed."

"Zhao Zhijun, are you now saying you didn’t kill her?"

"Do you believe that?"

"I..."

Zhao Zhijun stammered, unable to say anything conclusive.

"Zhao Zhijun, confessing will do you good. If you continue resisting, I don’t think there’s a need to continue this interrogation."

At this point in the investigation, whether Zhao Zhijun confessed or not didn’t really matter.

His fingerprints were on the black plastic sheet used to dismember Yang Qianqian, which is direct evidence.

Although Zhao Zhijun wore a mask and hat while withdrawing money, the ATM cameras didn’t capture his face clearly, but comparison confirmed it was him.

Considering Zhao Zhijun’s gambling habit and a possible motive of killing out of hate after breaking up with Yang Qianqian, the motive fits.

There is motive, his fingerprints at the crime scene, and video surveillance of him using Yang Qianqian’s bank card after the crime.

The evidence chain is complete, so even if Zhao Zhijun stubbornly denies everything, it won’t affect the resolution of the case without a confession.

"Officer, I am truly being wronged. I didn’t kill Qianqian; even after we broke up, I wouldn’t go so far as to kill her."

"Okay, since you claim you didn’t kill her, explain how you got the money. Why do you have Yang Qianqian’s bank card?"

"It... I... I picked it up."

Picked it up?

Zhang Hui almost laughed in anger.

"Why don’t you say Yang Qianqian gave it to you then?"

"Officer, I’m really not lying."

Zhao Zhijun looked miserable. "Last Thursday, I did see Yang Qianqian. We were eating pig trotters on the 8th floor."

"If you don’t believe me, you can check the surveillance there, it must still be there, and I really picked up the bank card."

"Then tell me, how did you pick it up?"

"It was just when Yang Qianqian went to the bathroom during our meal, the bank card fell to the ground, and I picked it up."

Zhang Hui wasn’t laughing this time.

Instead, he frowned.

"Continue. After picking up the bank card, what did you do? How did you know the password?"

"I didn’t do anything at the time. After finishing the meal, we went our separate ways, and then I went to the ATM to withdraw money."

"I already knew the password was Qianqian’s birthday; she never changed it."

The interrogation of Zhao Zhijun didn’t actually make much progress.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, Zhao Zhijun flatly denied killing Yang Qianqian.

In the meeting room, two interrogation teams compared notes.

"Zhang Meili’s statement is mostly consistent."

Compared to the slow progress with Zhao Zhijun’s interrogation, the questioning of Zhang Meili was much faster.

"We just sent someone to Zhang Meili’s workplace at the foot bath to verify her alibi."

"She was with Zhao Zhijun last Thursday."

As he spoke, they started to map out the timeline of Zhao Zhijun and Zhang Meili on the whiteboard.

"From the timeline, after Zhao Zhijun killed Yang Qianqian on Wednesday, he took her bank card and began withdrawing money from ATMs."

"Over the course of three consecutive days."

"And he visited the footbath on Thursday."

"Combining this with information gathered from the victim’s neighbors, Zhao Zhijun likely disposed of the body during the day from Wednesday to Friday..."

Zhang Hui listened carefully to the inquiry results regarding Zhang Meili.

Compared to what Zhao Zhijun had said, Zhang Meili’s testimony seemed more believable.

And as he listened, problems began to emerge.

Zhao Zhijun indeed wasn’t telling the truth!

According to Zhao Zhijun, he saw Yang Qianqian on Thursday, but this was obviously a lie because Yang Qianqian was killed on Wednesday.

Even if Yang Qianqian had seen Zhao Zhijun on Thursday and he had picked up the bank card, surveillance footage showed Zhao Zhijun began using ATMs on Wednesday.

Finding the card on Thursday and withdrawing on Wednesday doesn’t make sense.

But here’s the issue.

The timeline discrepancy is so obvious; if Zhao Zhijun really was the murderer, didn’t he realize it himself?

Another problem is, according to the neighbors’ information, the body was disposed of mostly during the day from Wednesday to Friday.

The timing comes from, on one hand, neighbors hearing the sound of a meat grinder, and on the other, checking Yang Qianqian’s household water usage.

There was more usage during the day, but not exclusively.

Conversely, on Thursday and Friday nights, there was significant water usage at Yang Qianqian’s house.

Yang Qianqian was killed on Wednesday, and if there was water used on Thursday night, it means the killer was flushing down processed remains into the drain.

But...

According to Zhang Meili, Zhao Zhijun was at the footbath until 2 AM on Thursday night.

And he was with Zhang Meili all night on Friday.

So, either Zhang Meili is lying, or Zhao Zhijun hasn’t told the truth.

Or maybe, is Zhang Meili related to Yang Qianqian’s death?

The timeline doesn’t match up, and their statements contradict each other.

What’s going on?

Zhang Hui had never encountered a situation like this before.