Chapter 596 - 496: If Only She Had a Pet (Part 2)

Chapter 596: Chapter 496: If Only She Had a Pet (Part 2)

First, they headed to the underground garage. Shen Xin’s theory was that the suspect might have hidden the car there.

"Six sectors, two per person. I’ll take A and B. Check every single car, and look inside. Contact me on the radio if you find anything," Shen Xin said, giving his walkie-talkie a little shake.

The assignment for Celestial Skill’s team was clear: one officer, one dog. A perfect setup.

By the time they arrived, it was nearly midnight. Most of the cars were back for the night, and the garage was packed.

Shen Xin led Celestial Skill, searching one car after another.

Some cars were draped in dusty covers, the kind that probably only go through two tanks of gas a year. They didn’t skip any of them, checking every single one.

They searched two sectors—nearly three hundred cars—working straight through until almost four in the morning.

They also pulled the garage’s entry and exit logs and re-checked all the vehicles that had entered since the investigation began.

In the end, they came up empty.

Zhao Tianxing couldn’t stop yawning. "Maybe they washed the car," he said.

Yang Zeran, on the other hand, was full of energy. He shook his head. "No way. Besides, according to Shen Xin’s theory, they would’ve driven the car away by dawn."

"So I think we should focus on the cars that left after five."

The cars Yang Zeran mentioned were already being identified. Later, Celestial Skill’s team would have to check them again.

’But for now, it looks like my theory was wrong.’

"Alright, let’s make the most of our time. We’ll do another sweep of the entire complex, floor by floor," Shen Xin said, checking the time.

’He’d arranged with Liu Baoqing to head out at seven to meet the top-gifting fans.’

’Shen Xin’s reasoning was that if this was a theft, the suspect might have cased the joint beforehand. What if they’d left their scent somewhere?’

"Check all the nooks and crannies. Just cover as much ground as you can."

After giving one last instruction, Shen Xin assigned new areas and led Celestial Skill straight to Building 3, the scene of the crime.

They started from the second basement level of the garage and swept through every public area.

In the end, they found nothing new besides the area they had located earlier.

The result was undeniably discouraging.

An entire night’s work had been for nothing.

But that’s how normal investigations went. They were filled with more disappointments than breakthroughs.

Shen Xin was long used to it. He quickly returned to the precinct.

He fed Celestial Skill, scarfed down some breakfast himself, and splashed some water on his face before getting ready to head out.

Originally, they only had four targets.

But after some consideration, Zhang Hancheng had expanded the list.

The timeframe was extended back to the beginning of the year, spanning eight months.

The minimum gift amount was also lowered to anyone who had given over two thousand yuan.

They also had to be local to Nanjiang.

With these new criteria, the list of suspects grew from four to seven.

The workload increased significantly, but it was manageable. After all, they had Celestial Skill.

Shen Xin shared a car with Zhang Yaxin, heading straight for the first top-gifting fan on their list.

Shen Xin hadn’t interacted much with Zhang Yaxin before, but now, sharing a car, he discovered the man was quite amiable and had a great personality.

"Sigh. It’s been tough on her," Zhang Yaxin remarked, watching Celestial Skill dozing at Shen Xin’s feet.

Shen Xin nodded.

’Celestial Skill hadn’t had a moment’s rest since yesterday. She was definitely exhausted.’

It was a long drive, and since they were already talking, Shen Xin decided to ask Zhang Yaxin about his team’s progress.

Several hours had passed since the case briefing ended yesterday.

"Nothing so far," Zhang Yaxin said, his eyes bloodshot as he drove and explained the situation.

"Take Hu Bin, for example. Last night, we went to Harmony Ridge and pulled the property’s surveillance footage."

"At 6:21 last night, he drove home. The garage surveillance cameras caught him, and he went straight upstairs from there."

"Later, he went out at 11:40. The elevator camera caught him, and so did the one at the first-floor entrance."

"He returned nine minutes later, probably just to buy a pack of cigarettes. After that, he never went out again."

"In other words, he has a solid alibi."

"As for Luo Xiaoguang..."

Luo Xiaoguang seemed like the biggest patsy and a prime suspect, but a deeper investigation revealed he was less suspicious than they initially thought.

"We pulled his phone’s cell tower connection records."

This was still just a preliminary investigation, so their methods were limited.

But the data was precise.

Luo Xiaoguang rented a place in Xinming Garden, a resettlement community on Dingshan Street.

It’s a long way from Orange Apartment.

His phone records show that it was consistently connected to cell towers near his home and never pinged any towers near Orange Apartment.

"Either he left his phone behind, or this serves as another alibi."

Shen Xin sighed inwardly.

’Looks like the ’top-gifting fan’ angle is another dead end.’

Instead of heading downtown, they drove straight to Hu Bin’s company in Xinbei District.

They arrived a little after eight.

His company was in the Intelligent Manufacturing Park in Xinbei District. He rented a few offices in Building E. It wasn’t a large space, used mainly for administration; the warehouse was over in Ji Port.

There’s a port there, and Ji Port is also a nationally renowned clothing manufacturing hub. They can ship goods directly from there, exporting via the Yangtze River.

The company’s workday started at eight.

When they arrived, Hu Bin wasn’t there yet.

There were four officers in their party.

At this stage, these individuals were only persons of interest. This was just an initial contact to feel things out.

Using Celestial Skill to confirm the scent was an extra layer of insurance.

They were concerned that if the person was indeed the suspect, having a police dog sniffing around would tip him off.

That was why Shen Xin didn’t even get out of the car.

He only made one request: that when Zhang Yaxin left, he had to shake the man’s hand.

Afterward, downstairs, he would have Celestial Skill sniff his hand.

A simple handshake might not seem like much, but it was enough to transfer a scent for a police dog to identify.

For a police dog, that wasn’t an exaggeration in the slightest.

If you sneak a snack behind your own dog’s back, they can smell it on you.

Police dog training even includes exercises where they learn to identify a scent from a piece of gauze that’s only been touched by a hand.

At nearly 8:40, their man arrived.

From inside his car, Shen Xin saw Hu Bin pull up in his BMW 5 Series.

He had seen the man’s ID photo yesterday, so he recognized him instantly.

He was more handsome in person than in his photo.

He wore slim-fit trousers and a tasteful polo shirt.

He was well-maintained, with no signs of a middle-aged paunch. The glasses he wore added a touch of scholarly refinement.

He noticed the police car at the entrance, pausing for a brief glance before quickly heading upstairs.

Seizing the opportunity, Shen Xin led Celestial Skill past Hu Bin’s car to check for a scent.

Celestial Skill turned her head and barked twice.

It wasn’t a match.

Twenty minutes later, Zhang Yaxin and the two other officers came back downstairs.

He was clenching his hand as he hurried into the car and nervously asked what to do next.

He added that when he was leaving, he’d been worried the scent wouldn’t be strong enough, so he’d held the handshake for a few extra seconds and even gave it a little squeeze, which made Hu Bin give him a strange look.

"You didn’t need to do all that. A normal handshake would have been fine."

Shen Xin had him open his hand for Celestial Skill.

Celestial Skill moved in, sniffed it carefully, and then shook her head.

No match!

Shen Xin and Zhang Yaxin exchanged a look, a flicker of disappointment in both their eyes.

"It’s alright. On to the next one."

Zhang Yaxin, however, offered a word of encouragement to Shen Xin, patting him on the shoulder before starting the car and pulling away.

Celestial Skill seemed to sense Shen Xin’s disappointment. She moved closer and gave his hand a comforting lick.

Shen Xin patted her head to reassure her.

’The top suspect from the ’jilted lover’ angle had been eliminated.’

’The top-gifting fan was also cleared.’

’If this really was just a burglary, and a transient one at that, the case would become much harder to solve.’

’It might even turn into a cold case.’

’For me, the head of a Cold Case Task Force, to personally create a new cold case... that would be the height of irony.’