Chapter 1008: Wang Meili Is Lying

While Wang Meili was explaining the relevant situation, a team of police had already gone to her house.

However, considering there was still a child, the police took some measures.

Furthermore, Lu Chuan had already instructed in advance that the skeleton just needed to be taken out.

It’s crucial to control the crowd and prevent them from seeing anything.

Also, measures must be taken to protect Wang Meili’s daughter. If necessary, she can be accommodated in the Criminal Investigation Team dormitory for a night.

Lu Chuan specially arranged for a female police officer to accompany her.

Since this child is in the final year of high school facing sudden circumstances, it will undoubtedly have a significant impact. The college entrance exam is imminent, so Lu Chuan is considering ways to minimize the impact on her as much as possible.

Moreover, her grandfather won’t arrive until tomorrow. So tonight, it’s not ideal for the little girl to stay alone.

After all, her mother was taken away by the police in front of her, with the charge of allegedly killing her stepfather, which is bound to be quite a blow to a girl.

The skeleton cleanup work was smooth, and under the kumquat tree, the remains had decayed to just bones.

However, even so, the skeleton must be identified by the forensic doctor once transported back to the Criminal Investigation Team.

The related work is estimated to take all night.

In the interrogation room, Wang Meili had almost finished explaining how she fabricated the illusion of Zhang Chao living with her.

According to Wang Meili, creating the illusion that Zhang Chao continuously lived with them involved a series of actions.

Firstly, Zhang Chao’s phone was constantly used by her to update Moments on WhatsApp and communicate with his family, relatives, and friends.

But since Zhang Chao was already dead, there was definitely no way to make video calls or voice calls.

Wang Meili fabricated Zhang Chao’s long-term business trip and claimed poor signal as reasons to avoid video calls, using these excuses to brush off Zhang Chao’s parents and some of his relatives and friends.

"I knew dragging it out like this wasn’t a solution, it would be exposed eventually. But I just thought I could buy a day and gain some time."

Wang Meili naturally knew this method couldn’t be sustained long-term. Being out of sight for over a year would eventually lead to discovery, so during this time, she focused on communicating and interacting with neighbors and vendors downstairs in her residential area.

Almost every day after returning home from work, Wang Meili would chat with Little Fan downstairs, often talking about her and her husband Zhang Chao.

She also frequently shared kumquats from her home with neighbors, to deepen their impression of Zhang Chao.

"Everyone knows Zhang Chao planted a kumquat tree at home, so whenever I gave kumquats to them, I’d casually mention that they came from my husband Zhang Chao. Just to deepen their impression, to let them know Zhang Chao was always with me."

Wang Meili did all this to ensure someone could testify for her if exposed.

Indeed, Wang Meili’s tactics were somewhat effective, for instance, Huaguang Street police station hadn’t uncovered the ultimate truth.

But Wang Meili was just one person, there were aspects she could and couldn’t fake, like Zhang Chao’s company situation.

Wang Meili could enhance neighbors’ impressions of Zhang Chao through conversations with Song Jinju, but she couldn’t bring Zhang Chao back to life. Naturally, work at the company couldn’t be done.

To prevent suspicion from Zhang Chao’s company, Wang Meili sent a resignation message from Zhang Chao’s phone to his boss.

Zhang Chao claimed other reasons for not being able to continue working, but said the company treated him well, and Wang Meili should deliver some kumquats to his boss.

"I orchestrated it all. The goal was to make everyone think Zhang Chao was always there."

"The murder weapon? Where’s the scissor you killed Zhang Chao with?"

"It’s in the drawer of my coffee table at home."

Wang Meili was very calm: "If he hadn’t hit me back then, I wouldn’t have killed him. I could only justify by saying I had no choice. I felt he nearly beat me to death that time. So, officer, does this count as excessive self-defense or manslaughter?"

Excessive self-defense?

Manslaughter?

To be honest, if Wang Meili had reported and confessed immediately after the murder, then perhaps it could have been considered manslaughter or excessive self-defense. Of course, excessive self-defense is less likely, but manslaughter is possible.

But now, a year has passed, and during this time Wang Meili deliberately concealed her crime with premeditated and planned acts, making it hard to judge.

"How it’s judged is up to the judge, but we will truthfully report everything you said upwards."

The interrogation finally ended after two o’clock in the morning.

The remaining matters were relatively simple; just sending someone to retrieve the scissors. This completed the elements of motive, murder process, murder weapon, burial location, and body, forming a logical loop for the case.

Next will be organizing materials and preparing for prosecution, then it’s over.

But things took a turn the next morning.

The autopsy results came out the next morning. Though only skeletal remains, many clues were found.

The forensic team hadn’t slept all night, and early in the second morning, they handed the forensic report to Lu Chuan.

Just upon a glance, Lu Chuan noticed the problem.

"Cause of death? Knife wound to the abdomen?"

The forensic doctor nodded: "It should be the fatal knife wound to the abdomen that led to the victim’s death. We found some cuts on the victim’s abdominal spine, marking made by the blade."

"Furthermore, there are some cuts on the lower ribs, suggesting several frontal stabs with a knife before ultimately killing the victim."

This is strange.

In the interrogation record from last night, Wang Meili clearly stated that she committed manslaughter during Zhang Chao’s domestic abuse using scissors stabbed in the left side of his lower back.

But now...

The forensic identification results are undoubtedly correct.

Lu Chuan himself possesses exceptional forensic identification skills. Just a few photos are enough to confirm the forensic team’s judgment is correct; scars appear on the anterior spine and ribs.

In fact, Lu Chuan felt something was amiss when Wang Meili mentioned her murder motive yesterday. Wang Meili seemed to be lying. Now, it appears not only was the murder motive deceptive, but the murder method lacked truth as well.

That’s surprising.

She’s already confessed to the murder. So, why hasn’t she told the truth about the motive and the method?