Diary of a Criminal Investigator

For the police to catch someone, as long as they have identified who the person is, even if they don’t know their identity, it isn’t particularly difficult to apprehend them.

Of course, that’s assuming the person isn’t intentionally hiding.

Just like the woman in the surveillance video.

She thought her actions were foolproof and flawless.

But in reality, she was ultimately exposed.

After the woman with the headscarf left through the hospital’s main entrance, she got into a taxi and left.

Although the hospital entrance’s surveillance didn’t capture the taxi’s license plate clearly, as long as they identified which car it was, Zhang Hui certainly had a way.

The entrance of the hospital has always been a key area for traffic control.

The Maternal and Child Health Hospital is located in a busy district with heavy traffic.

To facilitate the medical access to the hospital, the traffic police have specifically opened a green channel.

All taxis picking up passengers must line up in this lane.

And when they line up at the hospital entrance, there is a traffic police surveillance camera directly above.

"Brother Hui, the traffic police found that car, the license plate is..."

Great!

Once they had the license plate number, they just needed to track the car’s movements for the day.

A taxi that doesn’t intentionally avoid surveillance can easily be tracked through road surveillance.

It just requires spending some time.

At this point, Zhang Hui wasn’t too concerned about time; since the person had been found, it was just a matter of a day or two to catch them.

It’s only a matter of time before they are caught.

After a night of busy work, by 8 a.m. they finally had some results.

Golden Sunshine District.

The woman with the headscarf got off the taxi in front of the entrance to Golden Sunshine District.

"Old Chen, take a few people and head to Golden Sunshine District immediately."

With a specific location, it became much easier to catch her.

Of course, even finding the district where the person got off doesn’t mean they necessarily live in Golden Sunshine District.

Catching someone is like a relay race.

Now that there’s more surveillance, the police heavily rely on monitoring during suspect apprehension.

But in the past, when there wasn’t as much surveillance, they could only carry photos to interview and inquire.

Generally speaking, as long as the person has stayed somewhere, they’ll always leave some traces.

Even those who’ve evaded capture for over a decade or even twenty years have been caught in many cases.

That’s the principle.

Relay searching, don’t let up, and he won’t escape.

Zhang Hui, meanwhile, took the front-facing photo of the woman with the headscarf to the health department during his shift at the hospital.

Since she was so familiar with the hospital’s operations and knew all the procedures for storing birth certificates in the health department, she must be an insider.

Even though Lu Chuan’s fingerprint identification analysis confirmed it wasn’t a current employee of the hospital, what if she had resigned before?

Therefore, Zhang Hui wanted the health department staff to take a look to see if they had seen this person before.

"Isn’t this Qin Xiaohui?"

Director Chen from the health department recognized the person at first glance upon seeing the photo.

Zhang Hui was pleased.

As expected, she was known to them.

"Is she your doctor?"

Director Chen shook his head, "She’s not one of our doctors; she’s from an insurance company."

"Insurance company?"

Director Chen nodded, "Sometimes, parents who process birth certificates here buy some hospitalization insurance for their children."

"So a lot of insurance company people are stationed here every day."

"Sometimes when we’re overwhelmed, they help out."

"And they can also provide parents with professional advice on children’s insurance."

"This Qin Xiaohui used to be from People’s Insurance, but it seems she stopped working a few months ago. We haven’t seen her for a while."

"Officer Zhang, what happened to her?"

Zhang Hui put away the photo, "Based on the current investigation results, we preliminarily suspect that the birth certificate theft could very well be her doing."

"Her?"

Director Chen was obviously surprised, "Why would she steal that, she..."

"How long has she been around here, and does she know your procedures for handling birth certificates?"

"She’s been selling insurance here for two or three years. We don’t usually hide the procedures for transferring birth certificates from them, so she should be familiar."

"Alright, thank you, Director Chen. If there are any questions later, I’ll come back."

Knowing she’s from People’s Insurance makes it easier to proceed.

Zhang Hui headed directly to the People’s Insurance Company.

Since she once worked at People’s Insurance or might still work there, they must have her personal information over there.

Haizhou City People’s Insurance Company.

"She resigned last month. Some of her information isn’t here at headquarters but at the High-tech Zone branch."

"Should I have them send it over, or..."

"No need, don’t call over there, I’ll head over directly."

Zhang Hui was afraid if they called, someone familiar with Qin Xiaohui over there might make a getaway.

Leaving the People’s Insurance Company, Zhang Hui immediately called Lu Chuan.

"Did you find the person?"

Lu Chuan hadn’t asked again after going back last night, not expecting they would find the person today.

"Almost, the person worked at the People’s Insurance branch in the High-tech Zone. I’m heading over now."

Since it involved the High-tech Zone, Lu Chuan knew he could be of help, "Alright, I’ll meet you there."

"Thanks."

"No need for courtesy."

Half an hour later, when Zhang Hui arrived at the People’s Insurance branch in the High-tech Zone, Lu Chuan was already waiting at the entrance.

"Brother Hui, over here."

Zhang Hui hadn’t slept at all last night, with his eyes bloodshot.

However, his spirits were high with the major development in the case, just waiting to apprehend the suspect now.

"We found this morning while checking the video that the health department recognized this person as Qin Xiaohui, who used to sell insurance."

"No, Old Chen and a few others have already reached Golden Sunshine District."

"After stealing the birth certificate, the suspect took a taxi from the hospital entrance to this district. They’re investigating over there now."

Zhang Hui briefly explained the situation to Lu Chuan.

"I just came from the city People’s Insurance Company, and found out Qin Xiaohui resigned last month."

"The people here should know her."

"Alright, I know the person in charge here. We’ve arranged it, let’s head up."

...

Upstairs in the meeting room.

"Captain Lu, she didn’t resign, she was actually fired. We just put it politely."

The person in charge handed over information about Qin Xiaohui to Zhang Hui and Lu Chuan.

"Why was she fired?"

"She withheld clients’ insurance payments. Our regulations don’t permit this, and after a client complaint, we had to let her go."

"I heard she had family issues and needed money."

"Do you know where she lives?"

"Her registered address is Red Light Mountain District on Qianjin Street, but I’m not entirely sure if she’s still there."

"We have someone named Zhang Ru who knows her well, I can call her over for you to inquire."