Fate (Death Notice Book 2)

by Zhou HaoHui

  Zeng pulled a sheet of paper from his stack of documents. First, he noted Wen Chengyu’s date of birth: the thirtieth of January 1978. ‘I’ve got everything here, including his medical records. These show that after his mother died in June 1984, young Wen was sent to live at the Bright Moon Orphanage in Shuangliu, on the southern outskirts of Chengdu. Oddly enough, Wen Chengyu never thought of himself as an orphan. The records state that he repeatedly insisted that his father was not dead, just missing. This created a rift between him and the other children at the orphanage. On the thirtieth of January 1987, the now nine-year-old Wen Chengyu vanished during a group outing and was never seen again.’

  Pei raised an eyebrow. ‘His disappearance and his father’s death both happened on his birthday.’

  ‘I don’t believe that’s a coincidence either,’ TSO Zeng said, setting down the documents. ‘As I’ve already said, Wen Chengyu was born in 1978, which would make him twenty-four years old right now. His father was killed on the day of his sixth birthday. Unbeknown to him, Yuan took part in the police operation that resulted in his father’s death. Several months later, Yuan was hospitalised on account of the injuries he sustained in the warehouse explosion. As we all know, he spent the next three years recovering from his wounds on the police department’s budget. Then on the thirtieth of January 1987, Yuan abducted Wen Chengyu and began training the boy to be his successor. He clearly chose that day because it was the anniversary of Wen Hongbing’s death.’

  Zeng paused to glance around the room, relishing the attention. ‘Now, this is my own analysis. One: Wen had no idea that the police had shot and killed his father. Instead, he remembered only that his father vanished on the thirtieth of January that year. It was his birthday; he wouldn’t have forgotten that. Two: I also believe that Yuan never revealed his true identity to Wen. And three: this has now been revealed to Wen, thanks to recent reports in the media. Something about Yuan’s former life as a police officer triggered Eumenides’ memory and made him think about his father. He then realised that his father’s last known movements would be contained somewhere in our files. All he had to do was search for case files marked the thirtieth of January 1984.’

  The others pondered TSO Zeng’s words in silence. Then Lieutenant Yin’s phone rang and he hurried out into the hallway to answer it.

  Captain Pei was the first to speak up. ‘So, now that Wen knows his father is dead, how will he have reacted to that?’

  ‘With great sadness,’ Ms Mu said, ‘and intense disappointment. He’ll want to find out everything he can about his father’s death, beyond the sparse details of the report. And having seen Yuan’s name in the file, he’ll be anxious to learn what role his mentor played on that day. But most important of all, he’ll want revenge.’

  ‘Against who?’ Pei asked. ‘The hostage – Chen Tianqiao? Captain Ding Ke? The marksman?’

  Ms Mu frowned. ‘That’s hard to say. But I’d recommend that we try and locate each of those three as soon as possible.’

  ‘The commissioner is collecting information on all of the officers involved in the January 30th case. As soon as we have those details, we’ll track them down. In the meantime, Captain Ding Ke and Chen Tianqiao are our main focus. Their whereabouts are currently unknown, but I’m hoping that the other officers will help bring us closer to both individuals.’

  Lieutenant Yin ran back into the room, his face as pale as a bedsheet. His eyes locked onto Captain Pei’s.

  ‘We need to go to the hospital!’

  *

  9:40 a.m.

  Chengdu People’s Hospital

  The police had already cordoned off a wide area in front of the hospital building. In the centre lay a man in a hospital gown. There was a thick bandage around one arm and his face was planted nose down in the ground. Two young police officers stood next to the body, glaring at the crowd that had gathered around the cordon.

  Captain Pei and Lieutenant Yin ducked under the tape and approached the officers.

  ‘Teacher Wu didn’t make it then?’ Pei asked, although he already knew the answer.

  ‘Dead as soon as he hit the ground, sir,’ answered one of the officers with a shrug. ‘One advantage of being called to a hospital, I guess. There was no shortage of doctors to check the body.’

  ‘He jumped from the seventh floor,’ the other officer added. ‘The grass might have cushioned the landing, but for a frail guy pushing seventy that would have been like using a piece of paper to shield yourself from a grenade.’

  Pei crouched beside the corpse. He put on a pair of gloves and gently lifted the head of the deceased off the ground, revealing the mud-covered face.

  The fall hadn’t done the man’s looks any favours. Deep creases radiated from the corners of his closed eyes and his lips were contorted in pain. Blood oozed from his mouth and nostrils, staining the surrounding mud dark purple.

  Pei turned away from the body and took a deep breath. ‘Do you know the specifics of what happened here?’ he asked

  ‘Of course,’ the second officer said, nodding. ‘He jumped. He died.’

  ‘It was suicide?’ Pei said, surprised. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Absolutely. His family visited him earlier and said that he was acting abnormally and seemed depressed. He wouldn’t speak and he refused to eat any breakfast. He was just staring into space. At around eight fifty he told them that he needed to be alone for a bit, so they left his room and waited out in the hall. Twenty minutes later, Teacher Wu fell to the ground. A few members of the public witnessed the whole thing. He just climbed out the seventh-storey window and jumped.’

  ‘Why would he want to kill himself?’ Pei asked.

  ‘Well…’ The officer faltered. Swallowing, he tried again. ‘According to his family, he killed himself because of the police.’

  ‘Meaning…?’ Pei cocked his head.

  ‘His wife and son said that he started acting strangely after an officer barged into his room last night and interrogated him. I got an earful when I asked for their statements earlier.’

  ‘Was it one of our officers who interrogated him?’ Pei asked, looking over at Lieutenant Yin.

  ‘No,’ Yin said. ‘You, me and Ms Mu are the only people from the criminal police who’ve been here.’

  ‘Contact every local station immediately and find out if any of them sent an officer here.’ Turning to the other two officers, Pei said, ‘I want one of you to take me to see Teacher Wu’s family.’

  Teacher Wu Yinwu’s adult son, Wu Jiaming, was in the reception area talking to some of the hospital staff. When the police stepped into the room, he stopped what he was saying and frowned.

  ‘Hello, sir. I’m Captain Pei from the criminal police.’ Pei tried to keep his tone as sympathetic as possible.

  Wu Jiaming snorted and shot him a derisive look.

  Pei ignored the slight. There was no time to waste. ‘I need to ask you a few questions. Firstly, did a police officer visit your father last night?’

  ‘Why are you asking me?’ he spat. ‘Can’t you keep track of your own people?’

  Blood rushed to Pei’s cheeks.

  ‘Yes, an officer did come here yesterday,’ interjected a woman in a white uniform. ‘It was me who directed him to the patient’s room. I’m the head nurse.’

  ‘What did he say to the patient?’

  ‘I wouldn’t be able to tell you that.’

  Before Pei could ask the nurse another question, Wu Jiaming pointed an accusing finger at him. ‘How the hell could she know what he said? He barged in, told us to leave the room and then locked the door!’

  Pei frowned. No officer would behave like that. Not unless they were willing to risk suspension. An uncomfortable lump began to form in his throat.

  ‘Did you see this officer’s credentials?’ he asked the head nurse.

  ‘I did. In fact, he showed them to me before I even asked.’

  ‘How closely did you look at them?’

  Her voice wobbled. ‘No
t very closely.’

  Pei’s phone rang and he excused himself.

  ‘Captain Pei, it’s Lieutenant Yin.’

  ‘Talk to me, Lieutenant.’

  ‘I have some bad news about that officer.’

  *

  10:02 a.m.

  The Longyu Building

  Vice President Lin and Vice President Meng did not look happy.

  ‘At three o’clock this morning I received word that Sheng had been involved in a car accident,’ Brother Hua said, lowering his head to avoid the two men’s eyes. ‘I reached out to my contacts in the traffic police to find out more.’

  ‘What did they say?’ Vice President Lin asked.

  ‘They called it a drink-driving accident. His car plummeted off the edge of an unfinished flyover. It was a twenty-metre drop, equivalent to driving off a six-storey building. The first responders had to rip the car apart to find what was left of him.’

  Vice President Meng grimaced. ‘Sheng had a habit of mixing fast cars and alcohol, didn’t he? I seem to remember Mayor Deng reprimanding him for that before. And now he’s paid for it with his life.’

  But Vice President Lin still had questions. ‘Where exactly was this unfinished flyover?’

  ‘At the Douzi Zhuang exit on the southern highway. The flyover will connect to the expressway outside the city once it’s completed.’

  ‘I thought Sheng lived downtown? What was he doing all the way out in the suburbs?’

  Brother Hua nodded. ‘The location of Sheng’s death isn’t the only suspicious detail.’

  Both men looked startled. They watched Brother Hua with hungry anticipation.

  ‘When they tested Sheng’s blood, they found that his blood alcohol concentration was over 0.2 per cent. He shouldn’t even have been able to drive at that point. But for the sake of argument, let’s assume his tolerance for drink was such that it allowed him to drive all the way to the edge of the city. Why would he drive onto an unfamiliar road that was blocked off? The initial investigation has concluded that his car smashed through the barrier at the entrance to the unfinished flyover, stopped and then carried on again. A kilometre further on, his car plummeted off the end of the flyover.’

  Brother Hua paused at the memory of his late colleague. ‘Now, does that strike either of you as logical behaviour for an intoxicated driver?’

  Vice President Meng nodded and Vice President Lin scratched his fleshy chin.

  ‘According to the trace analysis done at the scene,’ Brother Hua continued, ‘Sheng didn’t brake when he got to the end of the road but tried to swerve away instead. Even if we ignore all the other suspicious things about his death, why would he try to avoid the edge of the flyover by turning away from it instead of simply slamming on the brakes?’

  ‘Could his brakes have failed?’ Meng ventured.

  ‘That’s exactly what I wondered. What if someone brought his car onto the flyover, tampered with the brakes and let him drive off? Unfortunately, as Sheng’s vehicle was totally destroyed, we’ve no way of verifying that.’

  Vice President Lin gazed down at his feet. ‘There are a lot of unexplained things about this crash,’ he said softly. ‘It’s not good.’

  ‘I believe he was murdered,’ Brother Hua said.

  Vice President Meng coughed in shock. ‘But who would want to murder Sheng?’

  Brother Hua tossed something onto the table. ‘This was found in one of Sheng’s pockets. It was probably the only thing in the car that was left intact.’

  They all stared at the scratched plastic lighter. Meng’s brow creased as he recognised the insignia.

  ‘“Courtesy of the Green Spring”,’ Brother Hua read. ‘Sheng had a habit of pocketing a complimentary lighter whenever he went out to dinner. When I found this, I was very curious as to who he was drinking with last night. I paid a visit to the Green Spring earlier today and had a look at their security footage.’

  Lin picked up the lighter and twirled it around in his hand. With a soft click, he lit himself a cigarette. After several puffs, he said, ‘I underestimated you, Brother Hua. You’re wasted as a bodyguard – you should have become a cop.’

  ‘Sheng worked under me. An attack on him is an attack on the Deng estate,’ Brother Hua said calmly and without emotion. ‘I’m simply doing my job.’

  ‘Sheng did have dinner with us last night,’ Vice President Meng said, ‘as you’ll have seen. And he did seem quite drunk when we left him. But Lin and I had nothing to do with what happened after that.’

  Vice President Lin took a long drag on his cigarette, reducing a large segment of it to grey ash. ‘We don’t even have the skills to pull off what you’re implying.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I believe you. The footage from the security cameras made the purpose of your dinner abundantly clear. Sheng was drunk in your presence, which means that he was no longer resisting your overtures. With an operative of the Deng estate in your pockets, why would you want to touch him?’

  Vice President Lin met this accusation with a jovial grin. ‘Brother Hua, we’re all on the same side here. We might disagree on certain things, but there’s no reason for any of this cloak-and-dagger stuff you’re implying. You know that Mayor Deng kept Sheng in a highly visible position these past few years and Sheng had no shortage of enemies. Now that Mayor Deng is gone, a lot of these enemies are bound to be feeling a little more courageous.’ He drummed his fingers on the table. ‘But then again, perhaps we’re simply making too much of this. For all we know, Sheng simply got drunk and drove off the flyover all by himself.’

  ‘Sheng was murdered, believe me. And I know who killed him,’ Brother Hua said, his expression stony.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The killer who sent Mayor Deng his death notice. Eumenides.’ Brother Hua’s voice was dripping with hatred – and laced with a tinge of ice-cold fear.

  ‘You’re saying that he killed Sheng too?’ Lin said. ‘Why?’

  Brother Hua fixed both men with a cool stare. ‘The crimes listed on Mayor Deng’s death notice could apply to any one of us.’

  The two vice presidents stiffened. Premeditated murder, racketeering, drug dealing, extortion. Despite the company’s legitimate facade, no one in the top tier of the Longyu Corporation was innocent of the accusations enumerated in the death notice.

  Brother Hua watched the two men closely. Beads of sweat had already formed on Vice President Meng’s forehead. He knew that they were asking themselves the same question. What if the murder of Mayor Deng had not sated Eumenides’ thirst for blood?

  ‘Perhaps I should personally see to your security for the time being. I suggest we set aside internal matters regarding the Deng estate for the moment, given that we’re dealing with such a formidable enemy. I’m sure Mayor Deng would say the same if he were still here.’

  ‘We would very much appreciate that.’ Vice President Lin nodded. ‘You’re an indispensable member of the Longyu security team.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Vice President Meng agreed.

  ‘I’m just doing my job,’ Brother Hua said.

  *

  12:51 p.m.

  Criminal police headquarters

  After lunch, Pei shut himself inside his office to review his notes. He needed a quiet environment and a clear head.

  At ten past ten the previous night, a man claiming to be a police officer entered the intensive-care unit where Teacher Wu was being treated. His conversation with Teacher Wu lasted about thirty minutes and during that time he specifically requested that no one else be allowed into the ward. He was wearing sunglasses that obscured much of his face and he left the unit at around ten forty-five. When questioned as to the man’s features, the staff were only able to provide the vaguest of descriptions.

  The nurses stated that the man’s departure left Teacher Wu in a strange mood. He appeared to be suffering from depression and a lot of stress. Teacher Wu did not sleep well that night, and his mood the next morning was even worse. He refused to see his wife and s
on when they came to visit. Twenty minutes after their arrival, he jumped out of the window in his room.

  Lieutenant Yin’s calls to Chengdu’s local police stations had confirmed that none of them had dispatched an officer to the hospital. Not a single law-enforcement agency in the city could explain what that man had been doing in Teacher Wu’s room.

  The task force had initially suspected Eumenides. In fact, Lieutenant Yin was still convinced it was him. Ms Mu, however, thought differently.

  ‘There are several reasons why that theory doesn’t hold water,’ she’d explained. ‘As far as we know, Eumenides never issued Teacher Wu with a death notice. And if he’d come back for Wu, he would have gone after the girl as well. Also, this “interrogation” achieved the exact opposite of what Eumenides intended for Wu. He wanted Wu to rediscover his dignity and sense of duty, qualities patently lacking in Wu’s decision to commit suicide. Which makes me think that the person we’re looking for is most likely not Eumenides.’

  Pei was inclined to agree with her. ‘Teacher Wu may not have seen Eumenides’ face in the hotel,’ he said, ‘but he heard his voice. Wu’s wife and son both stated that Wu reacted normally when he heard the man’s voice outside his hospital room and again when he entered it. Which would imply that it wasn’t the same individual as the man from the hotel.’

  Fatigue was creeping over Pei like an approaching fog. He tried to focus on his computer screen and began blinking repeatedly until the blurry blotches sharpened into individual characters.

  He was shaken out of his doziness by several soft but urgent knocks on his door.

  Lieutenant Yin entered the room. ‘We have some news!’ he said excitedly. ‘About Captain… about Han.’

  ‘Well, what is it?’ Pei said impatiently.

  ‘We’ve had Han’s friends and family members under surveillance for the past few days. His wife and son in particular. This morning, Han’s wife received a call on her mobile that lasted nearly twenty minutes. We traced the number and it was registered only this morning. She left her workplace immediately afterwards and went to pick up her son from school. After that, her phone received multiple short calls from the same number.’