The comrades of the project headquarters also decided that after the section of the river from Xihuamen to Liuyedu was completed, the distance could be shortened by half (equivalent to half of the section from Zhonghuamen to Liuyedu) by dredging the cofferdam from the west section of Liuyedu and the east section of Xihuamen. Obviously, Zhao Zimeng and Xiao Lao pinned their hopes of finding the deceased's head on Moling Road, the Thirteen Battalions, Liuyedu and the river section near Huashen Town). The dredging of the cofferdam in both sections of the river was carried out at the same time, which made it possible to shorten the construction period to one month, and the riverbed could be seen by the end of September at the latest.

According to Xiao Lao's opinion, Zhao Zimeng still took Moling Road, Thirteen Camps, Huashen Town and Liuyedu as the focus of the investigation.

Xiao Lao's reasons are threefold:

First, Xiao Lao has been in contact with six headless cases in his life - in addition to the "9.27 headless case", among the six headless cases, five of the headless cases were victims of people near the crime scene, and among the six headless cases, three were related to the river. Water is the easiest thing to hide a corpse, so under normal circumstances, the murderer will choose the river to hide the corpse on the spot.

Second, the reason why the murderer made the deceased's head different is because the deceased was a local, and since he was a local, someone would definitely recognize the deceased, and people determined the identity of the deceased mainly by the deceased's head.

Third, (earlier, Xiao Lao also emphasized this point of view) After the murderer killed the deceased, the only thought was to dispose of the deceased's body as soon as possible, although the waterway provided very favorable conditions for the murderer to dispose of the body, but since it was hidden in the underwater mud, it was the same everywhere. There is little need to go far and near.

The murderer must know the Qinnan River very well, in people's memory, the Qinnan River has never been treated, if it were not for the pollution of industrial wastewater and domestic sewage on both sides of the river, the city would not have spent so much manpower and material resources to remediate, the murderer is based on the understanding of the Qinnan River to hide the body under the river mud.

Once the focus is determined, it is time to confirm the target of the investigation. After analysis, Zhao Zimeng, Xiao Lao, Ling Hu Yunfei, and Xiang Daimo decided after research: All men who suddenly disappeared from people's eyes between April 15 and May 15 can be the subject of investigation. The specific conditions are as follows:

1. Be between the ages of forty-three and forty-eight.

Traditionally, at the time of autopsy, there is a reasonable space in determining the age of the person.

Second, the height is between 1.67 meters and 1.710 meters.

The approximate height of the deceased can be calculated according to the corpse - and it can only be approximate height, because the neck of the person is long and short, and the head is also small, so when determining the height of the headless corpse, there must also be a more reasonable range.

Three, the body is super fat.

Fourth, there is a birthmark the size of a broad bean on the back of the right hand; There is a long scar above the knee of the left leg.

Fifth, the toenail is very particular about trimming.

When all the conditions of the survey subjects are in front of them, everyone has a bottom in their hearts. It is not difficult to find that when all the conditions are listed together, the scope of the survey cannot be considered large, because there are not many people who can meet all the above requirements.

So, a second notice was posted.

This notice can be seen on both sides of the river, wherever it is inhabited. At the same time, Zhao Zimeng also sent Xiang Daimo and Lin Di to get in touch with the local police station and neighborhood committees, including the village committee (seven or eight miles east of Xihuamen Castle had already entered the territory of Ningjiang County, which is a rural area. Although this area is not in the scope of focus, Zhao Zimeng still takes them into account). The so-called key areas are the Moling Road, the Thirteen Camps, Huashen Town and Liuyedu that we mentioned above.

After the first great net was cast, nothing was gained. What will happen when the second wide net is cast? Comrades are full of anticipation.

After three days of anticipation, after dinner on the evening of August 3rd. A person knocked on the door of the Moling Road police station in a hurry. The doorman Liu Luxi led the person up to the second floor.

This person's name is Lai Guocai, and he is about 35 years old.

Liu Luxi pushed open the door of the large conference room.

The comrades spread quilts on the table only when they were sleeping, and in normal times, everyone discussed and studied the case here.

At this time, Zhao Zimeng was muttering something with Xiao Lao, Ling Hu Yunfei, and Xiang Daimo.

Director Ma saw Liu Luxi leading a person in, stood up suddenly, and greeted him: "Lai Guocai, what's the situation?" ”

"I'm looking for you." Lai Guocai said.

Zhao Zimeng pulled Lai Guocai to a chair and sat down.

Lai Guocai sat down and stood up again, and looked at Zhao Zimeng and Director Ma: "Don't sit down, Daddy Liu asked me to invite you to go - he wanted to come to you, but he couldn't spare time." ”

Zhao Zimeng and his entourage followed behind Lai Guocai and went straight to Liuyedu.

On the way to Liuyedu, Lai Guocai provided a little background information: "Tonight, when I returned to Liuyedu from Huashen Town, I saw a notice on a dry wire, you see—this is the notice. Lai Guocai took out a folded notice from his pocket, "Daddy Liu took it and looked at it, and then asked me to invite you - he couldn't pull away." ”

As night fell, the ferry was crowded. When everyone walked to the small pavilion, the ferry boat had already left the shore, and the ferry was full of people, and there were still many people on the shore. As we all know, the cofferdam dredging will soon be moved to the west of Liuyedu, and once the cofferdam is completed, Liu Laosi's ferry will have to rest for a while, so residents on both sides of the river, especially those in Huashen Town, should stock up on some daily necessities.

"You wait a minute, after a while, Daddy Liu will be free, no one can do his job." Lai Guocai said.

Everyone can only wait patiently at the dock. The conversation could only take place when Liu Laosi was free—the ship was certainly not suitable for talking about such things.

After three round-trips between the north and south piers, the ferry is finished, and after that, there will be sporadic people coming, but they will not be able to leave until they have almost accumulated up.

Liu Laosi's work, others really can't do it, the water in the middle of the river is still relatively deep, the progress of the boat completely depends on a penny, although the penny is just a bamboo pole, but if you want to use it to control the advance and retreat of the boat, you can't really do it without any real skills.

Liu Laosi knew that the comrades were in a hurry, so the speed of launching the boat was much faster.

After sending off the third boat man, Liu Laosi threw the boat rope to Lai Guocai, jumped ashore, and went straight to the grass pavilion, which was seven or eight meters above the pier, which was specially prepared for the boat people, only when it rained, or the sun was blazing, the people waiting for the boat would stay in the grass pavilion.

Liu Laosi was open and panting.

"Ma-Director Ma, I-I've seen your-after the announcement-" Liu Laosi gasped heavily.

"Master Liu, don't worry, it's not too late to wait until your breath is even." Xiao Lao said as he pulled Liu Laosi to the bench and sat down, there was a long board connected together between the eight pillars, and the long board was built with green bricks underneath.

"When I saw your notice, I—I remembered someone."

"There are several places where this man can match the hoop as the notice says." Liu Laosi continued.

"On the hoop" is on the number.

"Liu Laosi, who is this person?" Ma said.

"This person's surname is Wang, his name is Wang Hongbao, Guocai, come over here."

Lai Guocai tied the rope to the willow tree and ran over.

"Guocai, what about the notice you just showed me?"

Lai Guocai took out the notice from his pocket.

Liu Laosi took the notice and unfolded it.

Xiang Daimo turned on the flashlight. Pointed the light of the flashlight at the words on the poster.

"Wang Hongbao is a foreigner from Chongqing, Sichuan, he is in the furniture business in the 13th camp, he often takes my ferry, as long as the people from the north of the river go to the 13th camp to buy his furniture, they have to cross the river from me. This summer, Wang Hongbao and his wife crossed the river by boat, and the couple had a few words for business, and the wife said that she would not do it, but Wang Hongbao still wanted to do it-"

"How old is Wang Hongbao?"

Zhao Zimeng wanted to shift Liu Laosi's words to specific issues.

"Born in 1949, he is forty-three years old."

The age of the deceased was between 43 and 48 years old.

At this time, Liu Laosi remembered the purpose of his announcement to Lai Guocai: "Wang Hongbao is a big fat man, and he is five big and three thick. ”

In terms of body type, Wang Hongbao's figure also meets the conditions.

"He also has such a birthmark on the back of his right hand——," In order to prove that what he said was true, Liu Laosi mentioned a detail, "He is a very polite person, he doesn't have a frame at all, every time he takes my boat, he has to hand me a cigarette to smoke, and he also lights a fire for me, so I remember it really, there are still a few hairs on the birthmark." Liu Laosi pointed to the photo and said.

"Master Liu, are there three hairs?" Ma said.

"I don't particularly care about a few hairs, but there are definitely hairs."

"What about Wang Hongbao's height?"

Liu Laosi looked at the content of the notice, and then said: "Everything else is similar, but the height is a little wrong." ”

"Master Liu, what is Wang Hongbao's height?"

"And—and Lai Guocai is about the same height."

Xiao Lao and Zhao Zimeng looked at Lai Guocai, who was at least one meter seventy-two tall.

Zhao Zimeng frowned, according to the length of the deceased, plus the neck and head, it was not even one meter seventy-two - no matter how long the deceased's neck was, it was less than one meter seventy-two. Xiao Lao set the height of the deceased at 1.71 meters, which was already beyond the normal and reasonable range. Even for deformed people, their length is not so out of proportion to their neck and head.

Zhao Zimeng also wanted to ask some more specific information: "Master Liu, how is Wang Hongbao's furniture business doing?" ”