Chapter 31: Likes to Set Fires

Wei Zhenguo went out in the afternoon and came back the next morning with heavier bags under his eyes and deeper wrinkles.

The person he brought back with him was a young man less than 20 years old. He was short and thin, with an indifferent expression on his face, except for his eyes that moved rapidly.

As soon as the procedures were completed, Wei Zhenguo immediately led people into the interrogation room.

The interrogation room of the criminal police team is located on the first floor. It is only a small room of thirty or forty square meters.

There is an iron railing in the middle of the room, separated by iron doors and iron locks. The half of the room with iron bars and the door is the interrogation area, where desks, computers and chairs are placed. At one end of the inside is the suspect restraint area, with only a lone interrogation chair.

The interrogation chair is commonly known in the industry as the "Tiger Bench". The chair is made of all steel, with the lower end fixed to the ground. The chair legs are equipped with leg loops that can just wrap around the suspect's ankles. The armrests are equipped with bracelets that wrap around the suspect's wrists. A police rope is hung on the backrest to tie up the suspect's body. on the chair.

This restraint device not only prevents the criminal suspect from violently injuring others, but also prevents him from harming himself.

For the police force, injuries that occur in the interrogation room for any reason need to be treated with caution, and cannot be explained away by a simple sentence or two.

"Open." Wei Zhenguo supported the suspect with his hand and motioned to his colleagues to open the door.

Click.

The iron locked door opens.

Wei Zhenguo entered with the suspect and then signaled his colleagues to close the door.

Click.

The iron gate is locked shut.

After two rings, the nonchalant look on the suspect's face quietly disappeared.

Wei Zhenguo then pointed to the tiger bench and said, "Sit in."

The suspect swallowed: "Why? What crime have I committed?"

"Don't be verbose." Wei Zhenguo frowned. He could hold a mutton skewer without falling to the ground. He didn't tolerate the other party this time. Together with a colleague, he easily restrained the person into the interrogation chair.

After a few more "clicks", the lock was fully closed, and the suspect's brows furrowed involuntarily, looking like he could hold a cotton swab.

Click.

Kaka.

Wei Zhenguo and his colleagues opened the iron door again, went out, closed the door, and sat on the office chairs opposite.

The walls of the interrogation room are extremely thick and sound-absorbing. After closing the outer door, the entire room was completely silent.

A disconcerting silence.

Even people who have been in the interrogation room are still emotionally depressed when they come in again.

Wei Zhenguo had a sullen face and asked his colleagues to ask first.

After the routine name and age passed, and seeing that the suspect's mood had calmed down a little, Wei Zhenguo said gloomily: "Lu Xin, do you know how we caught you?"

"I...you arrested the wrong person." Lu Xin stiffened his neck.

"When people pass by, they leave traces, and when a flying goose passes by, they leave a sound. Now that technology is so advanced, what have you done, do you really think we don't know about it?" Wei Zhenguo raised his voice and said: "I can send you in without giving a confession. You don't want to explain. , the sentence will be longer.”

This is half true and half false. It is true that there are quite a few cases in which no confession has been convicted, but confessions are still more powerful and valuable than physical evidence. Apart from anything else, when the leader asks, the first thing he asks is "Have you confessed?", and the answer that the police handling the case most wants to answer is naturally "Have you confessed?"

Today's case is even more special. Wei Zhenguo hopes to use a small case to lead to a big case, but not only does he not have enough evidence for the big case, but the evidence for the small case is not enough to finalize the case.

Although Jiang Yuan succeeded in identifying Lu Xin through incomplete fingerprint comparison, the requirements for conviction were higher than those for investigation. For detection, only 8 matching feature points are enough, while for fingerprint identification, 13 matching feature points are required. On its own, incomplete fingerprints are not enough.

Not to mention, fingerprints serve as circumstantial evidence and cannot prove guilt on their own.

However, there was no trace of anxiety or fear on Wei Zhenguo's face. All that could be seen were wrinkles and blackness.

"Have you ever been cracked down by the public security organs?" Wei Zhenguo asked knowingly. This is how fingerprints are matched.

Lu Xin continued to remain silent.

"I'm asking you a question." The policeman next to Wei Zhenguo shouted.

Lu Xin was startled and waited for a few seconds before saying, "I've been hit."

It was precisely because he had been hit that he knew that "lenity for confession and severity for refusal" was true, especially at the trial stage. Resistance to severity meant a harsher sentence, which was likely to result in several more years of imprisonment.

Likewise, this kind of information is recorded and he cannot hide it.

Wei Zhenguo took over, his voice neither high nor low, and asked: "Why?"

"Not everything has been dealt with..."

"Whatever I ask you, just say it."

Lu Xin had a sullen face, waited for a while, and then said: "It was just a fight and detention. I also took other people's things."

"You got into a fight because you set the restaurant kitchen on fire, right?"

"Yes, he was careless and unforgiving." Lu Xin looked very disdainful.

Wei Zhenguo pouted. The policeman who handled the previous case didn't have enough information. He was obviously fooled by this guy and couldn't dig deeper. A suspect in an arson case set the kitchen of a small restaurant on fire. How could he be careless? He clearly got itchy hands after running into the city.

After tapping the table lightly, Wei Zhenguo said calmly: "You lied."

Lu Xin looked at Wei Zhenguo with an innocent face.

"You didn't accidentally set the kitchen on fire, you set it on purpose. Your fingerprints are on the oil bottle at the scene." Wei Zhenguo looked at Lu Xin sharply, and then motioned to the policeman next to him to show him the photo.

Through the railing, the breakpoints on the fingerprints were not clearly visible, but they were regarded as a complete set of fingerprints.

"That was... that was when we were fighting, and I grabbed the oil bottle."

"Why did you grab the oil bottle?"

"I just wanted to hit someone, but then I put it down. I didn't hit anyone with the oil bottle." Lu Xin's answer became fluent.

Wei Zhenguo smiled and said, "Because you wanted to use the oil bottle to start a fire, right?"

Lu Xin's eyes flashed, and he hurriedly said, "No."

"You like to set fires, right?"

"No."

"Then how do you explain the fingerprints I found at the fire point?" Wei Zhenguo took out another fingerprint map and said slowly, "Once is a coincidence, twice or three times, can it be a coincidence? Do you think the judicial system is stupid?"

Lu Xin's lips moved, and the expression on his face could no longer be held.

He has begun to regret why he didn't wear gloves at the beginning... But when he was in the mood, how could he have gloves around him? Besides, it is not convenient to wear them, and it is easy to be suspected if seen.

Wei Zhenguo waited long enough, and then said in a very oppressive voice: "Speak."

"I... I didn't..."

"If you don't confess, I will convict you with fingerprints."

"No, I..."

Wei Zhenguo slapped the table and said: "Speak!"

Lv Xin's body trembled, hesitated for a few seconds, looked at the two people, and finally said: "I didn't really want to set the fire, I just didn't like that scrap toll station, and I was smoking, so I lit the paper..."

He had only had this one arson experience in recent times, and the damage was not great. Not long after he left, the fire was put out. It was estimated that it was not the boss of the scrap toll station who put out the fire himself, or the enthusiastic people from somewhere.

In Lv Xin's understanding, this level of case should not be sentenced too severely.

Wei Zhenguo and his colleagues looked at each other and exchanged glances quietly.

The case that Lv Xin confessed was obviously not one of the few cases they had mastered.

This shows that Lv Xin in front of him is a habitual offender who has committed more crimes.

Wei Zhenguo's heart was slightly moved, but his face showed no expression. He looked at Lu Xin and said coldly: "Tell in the order of time and place."

"Yes. In March of this year, the waste collection station in Wulipu, Xihong District." Since Lu Xin started talking, his expression relaxed and he explained everything in detail.

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