Chapter 1018: Footprints at the Edge of the Wall

Wang Zhaokai’s unit was divided into 10 groups, and after receiving orders from Lu Chuan, they began to conduct a sweep of all personnel at the mine.

Although not everyone has been completely screened, and not all personnel interviews and investigations have been conducted, key personnel in key positions have basically been investigated.

“This afternoon, we conducted investigations based on the situation of the work teams at the mine. Although not everyone in each team was interviewed, we have essentially covered all the work teams.”

Wang Zhaokai actually discovered some clues. This time

“Last night, there were two groups of people at the mine who didn’t sleep. These two groups alternated between playing mahjong and poker.”

It’s highly unlikely for over 300 men gathered together not to gamble or play for money, and Wang Zhaokai discovered some clues just by asking around.

“One group included the deputy mine manager, who is Zhang Dabao’s brother-in-law. Last night, he brought a few middle-management people to his dormitory for drinking and mahjong, playing until dawn, around five o’clock. Two of them drank too much and fell asleep there, while others watching went back to their dormitories to sleep.”

A total of 7 people were in the deputy manager’s dormitory last night.

Wang Zhaokai personally interviewed these 7 people.

“Based on the accounts provided by these 7 people, they didn’t notice anything unusual last night. It was just like any other night, because usually the workers operate on a shift system, but middle managers don’t, so they have a relatively relaxed schedule. During the day, there isn’t much activity at the mine, as workers are underground, leading them to occasionally play a few rounds of mahjong.”

Wang Zhaokai reported, “There was also another group in the communal dormitory playing poker, consisting of 12 people.”

“These few people were from two teams of absent workers, and since there wasn’t anything happening tonight, a group gathered for poker. The total win-loss was only one or two thousand yuan.”

Wang Zhaokai opened the projector, displaying relevant information about one of these people.

“We’ve basically spotted the situation of these 12 individuals. Except for one, the other 11 people don’t have significant suspicious points. That one person is a miner who was with finance to withdraw cash the day before the incident.”

Withdrawing cash?

“Why would a miner go to withdraw cash?”

Sun Biao posed the question.

Wang Zhaokai explained, “Because 10 million is too much.”

“The mine’s finance department has only two women, one is 42, the other is 36. Naturally, these two women can’t handle 10 million alone, so the afternoon before yesterday, the mine sent 4 miners to withdraw the cash, along with two security guards.”

Lu Chuan suddenly spoke, “Did the two security guards who went to withdraw the cash also fall unconscious during the night shift?”

Wang Zhaokai nodded, “We checked, and whenever the mine withdrew cash in recent years, these two security guards always went with them. It’s become a routine.”

“Through our investigation, we found that all cash withdrawal personnel totaled 8: the two female finance staff, 2 security guards, and 4 miners. Among the general group, only these people had direct cash contact.”

“After taking the cash back, these individuals directly placed it into the iron box at the crime scene. Zhang Dabao watched the finance personnel lock it and left; we’ve already checked with finance that the keys were promptly locked in a safe afterward.”

Wang Zhaokai has already secured the keys.

“During the investigation, we had the keys sent back for fingerprint analysis; only the finance personnel’s fingerprints were found on them.”

This implies that the keys haven’t been touched by outsiders, which is puzzling, considering the iron lock on the crime scene’s iron box was pried open.

A pried lock and a smashed lock are different; Lu Chuan found prying marks but no signs of random smashing during lock examination.

The suspect likely did this to reduce noise, preventing others from being alerted.

Having a key and prying open the lock for cover purposes isn’t excluded as a possibility either.

Lu Chuan focused on the lock: “Regarding that lock… did they previously secure the cash in the same way after withdrawals?”

Wang Zhaokai nodded, “According to Zhang Dabao, cash was secured this way whenever they withdrew it in past years, although the amounts differed annually. This year, it’s 10 million, the most substantial yet.”

“As for the padlock, finance typically purchases it before cash withdrawals each year, and the keys are collected immediately thereafter. The iron box doesn’t change, nor does the room for storage.”

“These are our current findings.”

Wang Zhaokai has been busy for nearly half a day, investigating many leads and information, but nothing seems conclusively indicative yet.

With over 300 miners, pinpointing potential suspects remains challenging without stronger leads.

Given the short timeline, Wang Zhaokai will continue investigating tomorrow. If it’s indeed an inside job, he believes someone must know something; they just haven’t found it yet.

After Wang Zhaokai finished his report, everyone turned their attention to Chen Jiang, who is responsible for some external investigations to see if any leads have emerged.

Chen Jiang stood up.

He didn’t speak at first, but instead started the projector, which displayed a set of chaotic footprints.

“Let me briefly state a discovery.”

The footprints projected by Chen Jiang drew everyone’s attention.

He didn’t keep them guessing; Chen Jiang promptly reported relevant findings.

“This afternoon, our people conducted detailed investigations around the perimeter of the mine area.”

“Firstly, surveillance footage.”

“Results from the North City Police Station’s investigation show no issues. Footage indicates there wasn’t any suspicious activity or personnel entering or exiting the gate, no vehicle traffic during the night of the incident up to the time of the crime. The gates remained closed, suggesting the perpetrator would have moved stolen cash over the wall.”

Chen Jiang turned and pointed to the image behind him, “Here, at the northwest corner of the wall, we found a circle of footprints, along with evident climb marks on the wall. The marks are new, and so are the footprints. Less than 10 meters beyond the wall lies an external road.”