Chapter 448: Suspect Found
Two hours ago, Cheng Zihao received the notification, and immediately organized the police force to begin preparations.
The surveillance video from the traffic police side was not yet available, but the surveillance video from Ren Qiang’s hotel parking was already copied and brought over, though they had not yet watched it.
Ten minutes later, Sun Jun, Cheng Zihao, and others watched the surveillance in front of the computer.
"The hotel where Group Leader Ren is staying is our Criminal Investigation Team’s partner hotel. Because many participants attended this on-site meeting, aside from some leaders and experts from the provincial department who stayed at the guest house, the rest stayed at the partner hotels."
Nowadays, it’s different from before. Previously, the Public Security Bureau had its own guest house, and the Criminal Investigation Team also had its own guest house, but these were gradually abolished with reforms.
Even the retained facilities are outdated, and the service quality is lacking.
Still, it’s our own territory, and higher-ups might feel more at ease staying here.
Also, there’s no need to pay separately for accommodation, eliminating the reimbursement process.
But due to the high number of attendees this time, the other participants had to stay in commercially operated hotels.
Since Haizhou City and Liangzhou City are not too far apart and there’s no bullet train, taking a regular train would take even longer.
So Ren Qiang drove to attend the meeting.
"Ren Qiang’s obstructed car is parked inside the corner of area B."
The surveillance could just capture the front of Ren Qiang’s police car, but not the rear.
According to the news from Ren Qiang’s side, he received a text message at 8:30 the day before yesterday, then completed leave procedures, taking about an hour to hurry from the venue to the hotel, at around 9:30 he got in his police car and left Liangzhou City.
Therefore, the video Sun Jun retrieved was also between 8:30 to 9:30 the morning before last.
Once the video played, everyone watched frame by frame. Initially, the underground parking garage was very quiet, with only occasional passing vehicles, no pedestrians appearing.
Until 9 o’clock.
"Look!"
A hooded figure appeared on the surveillance video.
The person lingered in the underground parking garage for a long time, seemingly searching for something, finally looked up at the surveillance position, and then walked past the surveillance.
"Where did he go?"
"Behind, behind the column."
The figure, upon discovering the surveillance, did not leave the underground parking garage but circled behind a column.
The hood was pulled even lower, obscuring the face, and due to the vehicles blocking, only the head could be seen.
"That’s him!"
In the surveillance footage, the individual walked past the car beside Ren Qiang’s police car and then disappeared from the screen.
"9:18... That’s probably when he acted."
He moved quickly, taking no more than two or three minutes, at about 9:21, his figure suddenly emerged from the left side of Ren Qiang’s police car, reappearing in the frame.
At this time, due to the angle, his head was not in the frame, only the lower half was, and he quickly disappeared from the entire surveillance view.
"Brother Sun, this person doesn’t seem to be the same as the one in the North Mountain parking lot surveillance."
Sun Jun noticed this point; the person driving the tow truck in the North Mountain parking lot wore a baseball cap and mask, while this person wore a hooded sweatshirt.
It is unlikely he changed clothes so quickly, plus their body shapes do not match.
The person found in Liangzhou City hotel underground parking garage was slightly chubby, whereas the individual driving the tow truck in North Mountain parking lot was slimmer, and their heights didn’t match either.
"Group Leader Cheng, how about we go to the scene and take a look?"
"The person in the video always wore a hood, and their face couldn’t be seen clearly, but he must have passed by other surveillance when entering the hotel from outside. Let’s see if we can find any clearer footage."
Cheng Zihao nodded and said, "No problem, the hotel isn’t far from our team, driving there takes about 30 minutes."
With significant progress made, they wasted no time and immediately drove from Liangzhou City Criminal Investigation Team to Ren Qiang’s hotel.
"Brother Sun, do you think we can catch him this time?"
In the car, Song Tao, who came with Sun Jun, mumbled from the back seat.
Though not much younger than Sun Jun, Song Tao is only two years junior, back then, even though he and Wang Mingshan were not in the same team, they bought houses together and became good friends.
In the years since Wang Mingshan disappeared, Song Tao took good care of his family.
This was why, knowing the hardships Wang Mingshan’s wife and child endured, his determination strengthened.
For so many years, with no trace of life or death, it was as if he never existed.
Dead?
No one knew.
Alive?
Where?
Sun Jun, well aware of Song Tao and Wang Mingshan’s relationship, patted Song Tao on the shoulder: "Don’t worry, we’ll definitely apprehend him!"
The hotel’s underground parking garage has three areas: A, B, and C, with two levels above and below ground, and only one exit.
"Our hotel is newly built, so the facilities are quite advanced. Entering the underground parking, you can only access through the elevators or the stairs."
The hotel security chief led everyone to the underground parking garage.
"Can anyone enter through the vehicle exit?"
"No, we have someone monitoring the vehicle entrance, plus it’s sealed, accessible by cars only, with a sensor for license plates to raise the garage door."
"Are there surveillance cameras in the elevators and stairs?"
"Yes, we have installed surveillance in the elevators, and at the stair entrances, but not inside the stairwells."
"We use high-definition surveillance, the best quality, so the video quality is excellent."
In garage area B, Sun Jun and others retraced the suspect’s route as spotted on the surveillance earlier.
"Brother Sun, over here."
Song Tao shone a flashlight at the position where Ren Qiang’s police car originally parked, and found some reflective material at the left rear wheel.
Sun Jun squatted down, rubbing the substance with his fingers.
"Metal filings, likely from the brake fluid line being sawed off."
"Group Leader Cheng, let’s go to the security room."
"Alright."
Three minutes later, the group reached the security room.
The incident had just happened two days ago, so the surveillance footage would still be there, and the hotel security chief instructed the guard to cue up the appropriate footage.
"Pull up the surveillance from the 1234 elevators and four stairways leading to the underground parking garage."
On the big screen, eight surveillance feeds played simultaneously.
8:56.
"There!"
The surveillance feed showed a hooded man entering through the 3rd stairway, his face captured clearly.
"That’s him!"