Beneath the Dome, Sin within Sins - Chapter 61 - Hallucinogen

After dinner, we all went home. Lying in bed, I kept tossing and turning. Something was gnawing at my mind-the image of that office I saw today. There was an odd feeling about it, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

In the end, sleep eluded me. I asked Su Mo to send over the suspect files. Since I couldn’t sleep, I figured I might as well go through the information and analyze the murderer’s profile.

Su Mo sent me files on five people in total, and among them was Zhang Yang.

The only thing I knew about Zhang Yang was what he told us over the past two days. I went through his file and found nothing particularly noteworthy.

After reviewing Zhang Yang’s file, I moved on to the remaining four. Among them were two people whose families had been completely destroyed by the victim. However, one of these individuals was now over sixty years old, and the other was merely a teenager, about fifteen or sixteen.

I could basically rule out these two as suspects, but to be thorough, it would be better if Su Mo conducted some follow-up investigations tomorrow.

The last family I looked into had the surname Zhang. They had made their fortune in the lumber business. On the surface, there seemed to be no connection or conflict between them and the victim-they didn’t even have any business dealings. By all accounts, there should have been no grievance between the two parties.

But fate had other plans. One month ago, the victim was driving under the influence and hit a woman-this Zhang family man’s wife-who was on her way to a prenatal checkup. The accident ripped apart what had been a happy family in an instant.

Naturally, the Zhang family couldn’t just let the victim walk away from this. They filed a lawsuit and took him to court. Unfortunately, the victim was someone with power, wealth, and connections. The lawsuit essentially went nowhere-it was as good as swept under the rug. The Zhang family tried everything they could think of, but nothing worked. In the end, they had no choice but to swallow their despair.

Ever since then, the Zhang man had been inconsolable, buried in grief.

Still, no matter how much grief he was in, it’s impossible to overlook the fact that such a person might commit murder. After all, when it comes to the hatred of someone who killed his wife and unborn child, the pain is irredeemable. A vengeance like that knows no bounds.

But if it was murder, then why were there no signs of struggle at the crime scene?

The objects on the desk were positioned perfectly, without any signs of being disturbed. Everything looked as if it had been in use.

What exactly caused the victim’s death?

I tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. My thoughts kept drifting back to that office, which no matter how I looked at it, felt off somehow.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing unusual about the office. But that one jarring detail-the subtle sense of incongruity-had lodged itself in my mind like a thorn.

Finally, I gave up on sleep and decided to call Su Mo.

It was already 11 p.m. I hesitated slightly before dialing, worried that I might disturb Su Mo if he had already gone to bed. Chances were, I’d end up being a nuisance at this late hour.

To my surprise, Su Mo picked up almost immediately, and his voice sounded sharp and alert-not at all like someone who had been asleep.

“Why aren’t you asleep yet?” I asked casually.

“Sleep? How can I sleep? This case has my head spinning. I can’t close my eyes for even a moment,” he replied. “What about you? Why are you calling so late? What’s going on?”

“When we examined the office at the crime scene earlier this morning, did you notice anything unusual?” I asked.

“Unusual? Nothing comes to mind. Why? Did you find something?” Su Mo sounded excited, his voice quickening. For a moment, I could tell he probably thought I had uncovered a significant lead. Unfortunately for him, he was about to be disappointed.

I chuckled awkwardly. “If I’d really found something, don’t you think I’d already be dragging you out to nab the culprit?”

“Fair enough,” he said grudgingly. “So, why are you really calling?”

“I wanted to ask-did the investigators take photos of the crime scene?”

“Of course they did! That’s standard procedure. Come on, you’ve been a detective for long enough-how could you not know that?” Su Mo teased, his tone tinged with mock annoyance.

“Alright, alright. Can you send me the photos?” I asked.

“Well, I could, but the images haven’t been uploaded yet. Tell you what-I’ll send them over first thing in the morning.”

Hearing this, I decided not to waste any more time with Su Mo. I muttered a quick, “Got it. Gotta go,” and ended the call. Honestly, Su Mo could be such a character sometimes. If I could’ve waited until morning, why would I have bothered calling so late tonight?

But since the photos weren’t available now, there wasn’t much I could do. Instead of stewing in frustration, it was probably wiser to try to get some sleep. Tomorrow might be another long day at the office, and I still had plenty of things to figure out.

And then there was what Bigo had told me back at the holiday resort-those cryptic words of hers-and the faint shadow of that bandaged man outside the window. Together, they had been haunting me, gnawing away at my thoughts.

I forced myself to close my eyes and sleep. I don’t know how long it took, but eventually, I drifted off.

That was until the shrill ringtone of my phone jolted me awake.

I grabbed my phone to check the caller ID-it was Su Mo. I pressed the answer button and immediately turned on the speakerphone. As I began getting dressed, I asked, “Calling this early-what’s going on?”

“I sent the photos to your email. Take a look when you can.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Of course not. There’s something much more important.”

When Su Mo said this, his tone became significantly more serious. “Zhou Haifu’s autopsy results are back.”

“What do they say?”

“The victim had high levels of hallucinogens in his system.”

Hearing that, I immediately felt a jolt of recognition. This case seemed oddly similar to the heart removal case we dealt with before. In that case, the victim had died with a smile on his face due to inhalation of a drug. Now, in this case, the victim had hallucinogens in his body. It felt like there was some kind of eerie parallel between the two incidents.

“I’m heading over right now,” I said before hanging up the call.

After I ended the call, I quickly finished getting dressed and washed up, then rushed out the door.

By the time I arrived at the police station, Su Mo and the others were already there.

“What took you so long? Didn’t you say you were coming right away?” Su Mo muttered as he strode over, giving me a slight look of exasperation.

I shot him a glare and replied, “You’re unbelievable. Do you think I can sprout wings and fly over the moment I step out the door?”

“Alright, you two, cut it out,” Lu Xun said as he walked over to us. Judging by his demeanor, he seemed to have found something.

Intrigued, I turned to Lu Xun and asked, “You look like you’ve got something to share. Did you figure something out?”

“Not exactly a discovery, but we’ve identified a specific suspect,” Lu Xun said.

“What do you mean?” I prompted.

“The forensic pathologist confirmed that the victim had a significant amount of hallucinogens in his system. We suspect someone used the opportunity to poison him while getting close. So, we began investigating the people who had access to the office and narrowed it down to two individuals with the highest level of suspicion.”

I felt my interest pique at this. “Who are they?”

“One is Zhang Tu. The other is Zhou Haifu’s secretary. Since the secretary frequently entered and exited the office as part of their job, they’re less likely to be involved. That leaves Zhang Tu as the one with the most suspicion.”

“So, it really is this Zhang Tu,” Su Mo suddenly chimed in.

I turned to Su Mo, puzzled. “Why are you so sure?”

“Of course I’m sure-I wouldn’t just guess. After the case broke, I had people look into Zhou Haifu’s business dealings. Three days ago, we discovered that Zhang Tu suddenly began doing business with Zhou Haifu. Keep in mind, these two had been at each other’s throats for years. And now, out of nowhere, they’re working together? Doesn’t that strike you as suspicious?” Su Mo explained.