Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Chapter 738: Pinpointing the Suspect’s Location

Tang Guojin recounted the process of Tang Xiaoyu’s kidnapping while reminiscing.Lu Chuan listened carefully and took out a notebook to record some details.

From time to time, he also posed a few questions.

According to Tang Guojin, the kidnappers seemed to be very cautious during the process.

Additionally, Lu Chuan speculated that the kidnappers probably knew the Tang family.

As described by Tang Guojin, when Tang Xiaoyu returned from out of town, she was supposed to go straight home.

There weren’t many who would know Tang Xiaoyu’s itinerary, though the number wasn’t insignificant.

The kidnapping occurred while she was on the road.

Tang Xiaoyu’s mother, Li Manyu, had a habit of liking pear syrup.

Moreover, the pear syrup Li Manyu consumed was only available at Haili Mall on Youth Road.

Every time Tang Xiaoyu returned from a trip, she would go to this mall to buy pear syrup for Li Manyu.

At that time, the driver sent by the Tang family to pick up Tang Xiaoyu waited for her at the mall’s underground parking lot.

But she never arrived.

This meant that Tang Xiaoyu was kidnapped while buying pear syrup at the mall.

While there can be crimes of passion in murder and arson, kidnappings and extortion are usually well-planned crimes.

Therefore, the kidnappers must have been familiar with Tang Xiaoyu’s habitual itinerary.

It seemed unlikely that an outsider committed this crime.

Or it could have been an inside job or collusion.

"President Tang, do you suspect anyone?"

Suspect?

Tang Guojin thought for a long time, yet still shook his head.

"Over the years, as the Tang Group has grown, whether it’s my relatives or my wife’s side, we’ve tried our best to help them."

"Thanks to the group, they’ve all made quite a bit, with net worths in the tens of millions."

Although the Tang family isn’t a big clan, there are quite a few relatives on both sides.

Especially on Li Manyu’s side, there are quite a few relatives.

These people rely on the Tang Group for a living, so they’re keenly aware of the Tang family’s affairs, and everyone knows about Li Manyu’s fondness for pear syrup.

Plus, everyone knows that Tang Xiaoyu would buy pear syrup for her mother every time she returned from a trip.

Everyone also knew when Tang Xiaoyu was expected to return that day.

Therefore, Tang Guojin truly had no one to suspect.

Moreover, the kidnappers were especially cautious this time.

They demanded 30 million in cash, which Tang Guojin split into ten portions, each with 3 million.

Then they had Tang Hao individually place the cash in ten different locations.

After Lu Chuan marked these locations one by one, he found a common characteristic.

They were either in urban villages or in the wilderness, deserted areas with no surveillance.

As for the 3 million at Old Street that Er Ma picked up.

According to Lu Chuan’s guess, after Tang Hao placed the money there, Er Ma went in and took the money.

When the actual robbers went to collect it, the money was already gone.

That’s why they demanded an additional 3 million from Tang Guojin’s family in the end.

The reason is that the 3 million placed in the old house in Old Street was truly not collected by them.

"Where was Tang Hao kidnapped this time?"

"At North Mountain, he was kidnapped while riding a mountain bike with a friend. When discovered, only the bike was left on the mountain; the person was gone."

"Is the bike still there?"

"It’s there!"

If Tang Guojin had reported the incident immediately after his daughter’s disappearance, the case might not have become so complicated.

According to Tang Hao, when Tang Xiaoyu was found, it was actually at the Hilton Hotel.

There was contact between the kidnappers and Tang Xiaoyu.

If a thorough inspection of her room had been conducted upon finding Tang Xiaoyu, there might have been a chance of discovering the kidnappers’ fingerprints, hair, or skin flakes.

But now, over two months had passed, and testing the room would definitely be pointless.

Fortunately, now there’s a bike.

The focus is on checking if any traces, like fingerprints, were left by the kidnappers on the bike.

The conversation between them lasted quite a while, about two hours, before they left successively.

Given the current situation, Tang Hao’s personal safety appeared to be at least guaranteed.

This time, the kidnappers gave Tang Guojin five days.

Five days to gather 100 million in cash, then await further instructions from the kidnappers.

Compared to last time, when the kidnappers only gave Tang Guojin one day, this time was considerably more generous.

Clearly, the kidnappers also understood that amassing 100 million in old bills was extremely difficult for Tang Guojin in such a short time.

Moreover, the kidnappers’ goal was to ensure that Tang Guojin’s actions wouldn’t raise others’ suspicions.

During this period, the kidnappers would regularly send videos to Tang Guojin to confirm Tang Hao’s safety.

After leaving the cafe, Tang Guojin rushed to the bank.

According to Lu Chuan’s instructions, Tang Guojin needed to focus on two tasks.

First, gather the cash as per the kidnappers’ demands as best as he could.

Second, cooperate with the police to quickly pinpoint the kidnappers’ location.

This cooperation was primarily through telephone calls.

With today’s technological means, the success rate of kidnappings for ransom is actually not high; as long as the victim reports it to the police, the chances of capturing the criminals are significant.

The key is to ensure the safety of the kidnapped person.

At the Criminal Investigation Team.

"How’s the investigation going?"

Chen Jiang was already waiting for Lu Chuan to return.

"Chen Na, the phone number’s ID information shows the name Chen Na, from Hai Province."

"Specifically from a rural area in Gulin County, Hai Province. I checked the map, it’s a remote location."

"I’ve already called the Criminal Investigation Team there, but they haven’t responded yet."

"However... it’s probably a stolen ID used for the phone number."

Lu Chuan agreed with this assessment.

The robbers wouldn’t be so foolish as to use their real names to register a phone number to call Tang Guojin for ransom.

Determining a kidnapper’s identity solely through a phone number is evidently not feasible.

But since the kidnappers had called Tang Guojin, Lu Chuan could find some clues through these calls.

"Let’s go to the mobile company."

The extortion call number was with the mobile company.

Lu Chuan headed there to check the link information of where this phone number made calls.

Mobile communications are connected via communication base stations.

Every call or received call must be within the coverage of a signal base station.

Though the phone is mobile, the location of the signal base station remains the same.

Lu Chuan intended to check which communication base stations this phone number had connected to while calling Tang Guojin.

Some people believe using a phone number that isn’t theirs to make calls leaves no trace.

But is it really true?