Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Chapter 839: Pursuit

The actions of Gao Qiang and his team were actually quite swift, arriving at the scene within ten minutes after the crime occurred.However, during the subsequent tracking, no further traces of the robbers were discovered.

In other words, they lost them.

"Take us for a walk."

Li Donglin decided to let Gao Xiang lead the major crime team through the route that was tracked at the time.

"Okay, let’s go to the right side first."

As Gao Xiang walked, he introduced the findings of the Binzhou Criminal Investigation Team.

"According to the information provided by eyewitnesses, the three people fled in three different directions, and one of them headed to the right, walking along the sidewalk."

"We also checked the surveillance footage along the way, and some stores recorded images of them."

"But when they reached the alley entrance ahead, they disappeared."

The alley entrance is about 800 meters from the bank where the crime occurred.

A group of people turned into the alley, where there were many residents.

"This is a residential area of self-built houses, but this alley is not long, only 200 meters, ending in a dead end."

"We searched every house at that time, but found nothing."

"After the robber ran here, he seems to have vanished into thin air."

Li Donglin and others looked around the alley entrance, and besides the residents on both sides, there were basically no other paths.

Since Gao Xiang said they had already searched all the households and found nothing, there should indeed be nothing discovered.

Considering the magnitude of the case, Gao Qiang’s team must have searched very meticulously.

However, if the robber didn’t hide in one of these homes, how could he have disappeared into the sky or earth?

The group continued walking inward, with Lu Chuan’s attention focused on the ground.

Although the robbery already occurred a day ago, the robber had two money boxes when fleeing, each weighing about fifty pounds.

Even if the robber had good stamina, it might be hard to keep carrying the boxes.

If the robber dragged them, there might be marks left on the ground.

Others were also focusing on different observations.

Since they entered the alley, it’s impossible to vanish into thin air; they must have hidden or escaped through some channel.

"What’s behind this wall?"

"It’s another family’s self-built house, but we’ve checked it and found nothing."

Gao Xiang could say they’ve checked all the houses they could.

But there was no harvest.

Lu Chuan looked up: "Checked the roof?"

Although this wall was about three floors high, if the robbers had prepared in advance to put down a ladder from the top, they could possibly escape from here.

This...

Gao Xiang shook his head.

Though he had done a spot check on the household, he hadn’t checked the roof.

Lu Chuan glanced at Li Donglin, and after receiving a nod, Lu Chuan retraced his steps to let Gao Xiang assign two people to go up and check the roof.

If the robber escaped via the roof, some traces might be left behind.

Looking around the self-built houses, Lu Chuan noticed they were close together, with heights around three or four floors.

Many rooftops were connected; while not completely level, with a planned route, it’s feasible to cross.

While Lu Chuan investigated the rooftop situation, Li Donglin wasn’t idle.

Robbers couldn’t vanish into thin air, and while Lu Chuan checked the possibilities of escaping upwards, the team considered escaping downward.

"Checked the sewer?"

Gao Xiang...

They hadn’t really checked.

Li Donglin didn’t comment further; although Gao Xiang’s team were from a municipal administrative unit with many cases handled, they didn’t have experience with such diversity as the provincial office.

"From the alley entrance to inside this wall, there are three manhole covers along the road. I checked: one’s for the cable corridor, another for sewage, and one for water supply. Open them and have a look."

"Yes!"

Wang Song and the major crime team members were already paying attention.

After parting from the main group, Lu Chuan circled back to the alley behind the self-built residential area after about ten minutes.

Providing credentials to the homeowners, they were cooperative.

The residents near the bank were aware that a major incident occurred, and since Gao Qiang’s team had already done a round of investigations, they knew the police were investigating the bank robbery.

"Officer, we heard from the banker that over 8 million were robbed, is it true?"

"We heard they had guns too. I said yesterday, what was the bang-bang sound outside, turned out they were shooting, aren’t there any deaths?"

This homeowner is quite curious.

Lu Chuan naturally couldn’t disclose details of the case.

"Mr. Li, the case details are confidential; don’t spread rumors."

The robbers used fake guns; no shots were fired.

This household had a tenement building, with access through the stairwell, and from there to the third floor, there was a ladder to climb.

"What’s the rooftop used for?"

"Nothing much, originally planned to add a floor, but currently no funds, so it’s been left untouched."

In Haizhou City, most self-built homeowners engage in three tasks: renting, building, and waiting for demolition.

Once on the stairs, they reached the rooftop.

There were some sundries in the corner and some abandoned flower pots.

Lu Chuan went directly to the wall side of the dead end.

Looking up from below, Li Donglin saw Lu Chuan.

"How is it?"

Lu Chuan nodded: "Found something."

On the eaves directly across the alley entrance, there were very clear fresh friction marks.

Following the direction, Lu Chuan saw it faced the stairs at the entrance.

The robber seemed to have secured a rope or similar to the stairs.

The building owner also noticed these marks.

"Officer... this, it’s unrelated to me... this..."

Old Li was stuttering now.

Walls don’t keep secrets forever, and everyone nearby knows the police are investigating the bank robbery, even if details aren’t disclosed.

They knew there were reportedly three robbers, all armed, but lost track during pursuit.

Last night, the police searched every home in the self-built area overnight.

Old Li’s was a focus point.

But nothing was discovered.

Now, it seems one person escaped from their rooftop...

This is terrifying!

Lu Chuan ignored Old Li, knowing he wasn’t the culprit.

Lu Chuan had seen the footage; the suspects’ heights were about 1.7 meters, 1.75 meters, and 1.78 meters.

Old Li stood about 1.67 meters, with a slight hunch, clearly not matching the robbers’ profiles.