"I only committed manslaughter, nothing else!"
On the interrogation chair, the man shouted excitedly, desperate to prove his innocence.
Xu Mo merely nodded faintly and put away the strands of hair, cigarette butts, palm prints, rags, and other evidence he had just collected from the scene.
These items were no longer needed. Realizing that his accomplice had indeed confessed, the man no longer put up a tough front.
Xu Mo wasn't surprised by the man's words.
In fact, after reading Ren Qin's confession, Xu Mo had already sensed that there was something wrong with it. Her claim of being threatened was just her one-sided story, aimed at reducing her sentence.
This wasn't hard to figure out.
If Ren Qin had truly been threatened into silence, she wouldn't have initially appeared so calm. The first time she met the police, she would have been extremely conflicted and nervous, showing signs of wanting to reveal the truth but not daring to.
The problem was that her demeanor was far too calm, especially since the incident was directly related to her. She wasn't being coerced.
As for the mention of being threatened in the confession, that was undoubtedly an excuse. She had just turned around and blamed the man to reduce her own guilt.
This was why Xu Mo had given the man a chance after reading Ren Qin's confession.
It was Xu Mo's duty to bring the murderer to justice, but he judged that the man was only guilty of manslaughter, not coercion. There was no need to add another charge to him... even though he had killed someone.
Although this was what Xu Mo thought in his heart, he didn't agree with the man verbally.
"Was it Ren Qin who suggested disguising the victim's death as suicide?" Xu Mo expressed a hint of doubt. "That doesn't make sense. The victim was her son. Why would she go out of her way to exonerate you?"
A mother helping an outsider kill her own son and then fabricating a suicide scene... that really didn't add up.
"It makes sense!" The man nodded heavily.
He said excitedly, "That child wasn't her biological son. She couldn't have children, so she adopted him. He had no blood relationship with her... and ever since he found out he wasn't her biological son, they've been constantly arguing. They fought almost every other day. The conflicts between them were deep, and Ren Qin was beaten by her adopted son countless times, and he was brutal about it."
After saying this, fearing that Xu Mo wouldn't believe him, the man added, "You can check this! DNA test, or ask the neighbors. Everyone in the neighborhood knows about this!"
If that was the case, then it made sense... Xu Mo couldn't help but touch his chin.
The victim wasn't Ren Qin's biological son; they had no blood relationship.
Moreover, because the victim had discovered he wasn't Ren Qin's biological son, he harbored considerable resentment toward her. This explained why Ren Qin would choose to exonerate her lover rather than seek justice for her son.
Xu Mo put himself in Ren Qin's shoes.
The adopted son she had raised found out he wasn't her biological child, and resentment brewed inside him. He even repeatedly attacked her, causing a commotion that made the neighbors gossip.
Anyone in such a situation would harbor resentment.
Raising someone for decades only to end up with a ungrateful wretch? Who could bear that?
So, choosing not to seek justice for her son but to exonerate an outsider also had its reasons...
Suddenly, an idea flashed through Xu Mo's mind.
Long-simmering resentment, using someone else's hand to kill!
He recalled a detail.
"Was it Ren Qin who told you the victim was going on a business trip?"
"Yes." The man nodded, then recalled, "At the time, she told me her son was going on a business trip for a week, and she asked me to stay at her place for a few days. I didn't think much of it and went over. Who knew her son would come back early the next morning? We bumped into each other, and since Ren Qin and I were in a secret affair... well, I ended up fighting with her son."
So... Xu Mo felt he needed to re-examine the case.
He had to figure out who the mastermind was and who was the accomplice.
Xu Mo left the interrogation room and stepped out.
"Dachuan, Xiao Zhang, come here."
In the office, Xu Mo assigned tasks to Wang Dachuan and Xiao Zhang.
"Dachuan, go to the victim's company and ask where they were supposed to send him on the business trip and for how long."
"Xiao Zhang, go to the victim's neighborhood and ask the neighbors if they ever heard any commotion from the victim's home."
"Yes!" Both responded in unison.
After receiving their tasks, they left the police station one after the other.
Next, Xu Mo went to the interrogation room where Ren Qin was being held and collected a few strands of her hair. Then, he went to the morgue where the victim's body was kept and did the same.
The body could also be used to test DNA. Skin tissue, hair, blood, and other tissues from the body could extract DNA samples... as long as the body hadn't been tampered with, like being dissolved in acid.
This victim's body hadn't been tampered with and had died recently, so DNA samples could still be extracted.
Xu Mo took the hair samples from both Ren Qin and the victim primarily to conduct a paternity test, to verify the man's claims.
The paternity test could be expedited and results obtained in as little as three hours.
Xu Mo looked up a place that could conduct the paternity test and then left the police station with the two hair samples.
At the identification center (DNA identification center).
Xu Mo showed his credentials, provided the two hair samples, and explained that he was investigating a case and needed the results as soon as possible.
The staff at the identification center didn't waste any time. They immediately began the testing upon receiving the samples.
About three hours later.
A staff member from the identification center brought the results to Xu Mo.
"Officer, the results are ready. The DNA probes from the two hair samples do not match in multiple areas. We can confirm with 100% certainty that the owners of the two hair samples are not biologically related."
Xu Mo took the results.
"100% not biologically related... so they're definitely not mother and son?"
"Correct."
"Thanks."
Xu Mo returned to the police station with the results.
At the station, Wang Dachuan and Xiao Zhang had already completed their tasks and returned. They were waiting to report to Xu Mo. Seeing him back, they immediately approached.
"Xu Mo, I asked around. The victim's boss said they only needed him to entertain clients that night. Entertaining clients would take at most half the night. There was no business trip involved. If he wanted to go back, he could have returned that night."
"I also talked to the neighbors. They said they had heard commotion from the victim's home multiple times, with the victim beating Ren Qin."
"That all fits together..." Xu Mo murmured.
Indeed, it was a case of using someone else's hand to kill!