Fate (Death Notice Book 2)

by Zhou HaoHui

  *

  Once the smoke had cleared and the chaos had died down, the manager whipped out his phone and dialled 110. To his amazement, three police officers appeared before he’d even put his phone back in his pocket.

  ‘We’re with the criminal police,’ said the officer in charge, flashing his badge, which read Captain Pei Tao.

  ‘I only just called you people,’ the manager said, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. ‘How the hell did you get here so fast?’

  ‘Where’s Zhong Jimin?’ Pei asked.

  The manager pointed a plump finger at the room in question. ‘In there. It only happened a minute ago – I haven’t even had time to go in and check on him. The shooter just left. If you hurry, you might be able to catch him.’

  Pei shook his head disconsolately. Eumenides had got to the range before them and now he was gone. He could be anywhere.

  Pei pushed through the crowd that had gathered outside the room and crunched his way across the broken glass. TSO Zeng and SPU Captain Liu followed him. He instantly recognised the dark, gaunt man sprawled on the floor as former SPU marksman Zhong Jimin. Several employees were standing nervously around the body, seemingly unsure whether they should try to help or simply stand and watch.

  Pei noted the shotgun on the floor and feared the worst. But there was no blood visible. He knelt down beside Zhong and placed his fingers by his nose and lips. Zhong’s breathing felt regular.

  ‘Is he all right?’ Liu asked.

  ‘Hard to tell,’ Pei answered. ‘He may be concussed. Tell HQ to dispatch an ambulance immediately.’

  He lifted Zhong into a sitting position and pressed his thumb into the pressure point at the centre of his chest. A few seconds later, Zhong’s eyelids fluttered. He opened his eyes and looked curiously at Pei and the circle of people watching him.

  ‘He’s okay!’ the manager said excitedly, rubbing his hands together. ‘Zhong is okay!’

  Pei glanced up at his two officers. ‘TSO Zeng, take the manager and any witnesses somewhere quiet and find out exactly what happened here. SPU Captain Liu, I want you to move all civilians to the lobby.’

  Pei refocused his attention on Zhong. The instructor rubbed the large welt on his forehead, gradually coming to his senses.

  ‘Did you see him?’ Pei asked.

  ‘Who?’ Zhong said, clearly very confused. ‘And who are you?’

  ‘I’m with the criminal police,’ Pei said, showing him his badge. ‘Did you see the person who injured you?’

  ‘The guy kicked my ass. How could I have not seen him?’

  ‘What I mean is did you get a good look at him? Enough to provide us with a description?’

  ‘Oh, not really. He was wearing a proper shooter’s uniform, like the kind you see in competitions. He had a hat, and sunglasses covered half of his face. It was hard to tell what he really looked like.’

  Zhong turned away. Pei could understand his embarrassment at failing to provide a good description. The man was a former police officer, after all.

  ‘Tell me what happened. Try to remember exactly what you saw. Don’t leave anything out.’

  After resting for half a minute, Zhong began recounting everything that had transpired over the past half hour.

  ‘The trainee officer who shot Wen Hongbing,’ Pei said. ‘Was his name Yuan Zhibang?’

  ‘It was,’ Zhong said, visibly startled.

  ‘And no one else knew that you weren’t the real shooter, that you willingly took the blame?’

  ‘Only Yuan Zhibang and Captain Ding Ke knew. You know who Captain Ding Ke is, right?’

  Pei nodded.

  ‘Captain Ding’s methods were foolproof,’ Zhong went on. ‘If he wanted to conceal the truth about something that happened on his turf, he’d barely have had to lift a finger.’

  Based on everything that Pei had heard about Captain Ding, he didn’t doubt this. But why would Captain Ding have done something like that? Just to hide his slip-up? And why did he even send in Yuan to deal with Wen Hongbing and the bomb in the first place?

  *

  7:23 p.m.

  Conference room, criminal police headquarters

  It was quiet inside the conference room.

  ‘Everyone needs to pull themselves together,’ Ms Mu said. ‘Things aren’t nearly as bad as they seem. Even though we weren’t able to catch Eumenides this time, we can at least take comfort in the knowledge that he’s just as frustrated as we are.’

  ‘What’s Eumenides thinking now?’ Pei asked urgently. ‘That’s the question we need to answer before we do anything else.’

  ‘He’ll be feeling very lost,’ Ms Mu said. ‘Eumenides originally hoped to avenge his father by finding out who killed him and tracking him down. But now all the evidence points to the killer having been his mentor. This turn of events is confusing enough for us, so imagine how hopelessly lost Eumenides must be right now. He needs to unravel this mystery or else his entire existence will be meaningless. Yuan shaped his life; he was like a stepfather to him, and he set the young man on his path to becoming a killer. This path has now led Eumenides to a locked gate, a gate that he needs to open on his own.’

  ‘So now he’ll be determined to find out why Yuan killed his father?’

  ‘Exactly.’ Ms Mu nodded. ‘This is something he needs to do no matter how difficult and no matter the cost.’

  Pei snapped his fingers. ‘Which means he’ll be focusing on two people: Captain Ding Ke and Chen Tianqiao.’

  ‘It’ll be a challenge to find either of them though,’ TSO Zeng said. ‘No one’s heard from Captain Ding in a decade. And Chen is in so much debt that he hasn’t shown his face in years and probably isn’t even in the country. To be blunt, we have no way of knowing whether either of them is dead or alive.’

  ‘I take it that your search hasn’t turned up many results?’ Pei said.

  ‘Correction – it hasn’t turned up any results,’ Zeng said with a despondent shrug. ‘I’ve been on the hunt ever since we found the January 30th files and so far there’s been no trace of either Captain Ding or Chen.’

  ‘Redouble your efforts, Zeng. Lieutenant Yin, I want you to put some people on this too. Do some on-the-ground investigating while Zeng focuses on police databases and online leads. We need to find these men before Eumenides does.’

  Pei now turned his attention to the psychologist. ‘Ms Mu, there’s another question I hope you can help with. If Eumenides does find the answers he’s looking for, how will that affect him?’

  Ms Mu laced her fingers and tapped her thumbs together gently. ‘That depends on what answer he’s hoping for.’

  ‘Could you be a little more specific?’

  ‘What do you think he’s hoping to find?’ Ms Mu asked. ‘What motive did Yuan have for killing Wen Hongbing? That’s the big question. After all, both Huang and Zhong have stated that they had control of the situation at the apartment before Yuan killed Wen.’

  Shaking his head, Pei said, ‘I’m not quite sure about the motive yet. Not with the information we have right now.’

  ‘Loosen up a little, Captain,’ Ms Mu said with the hint of a smile. ‘We’re all speculating here. If you have something to say, let us hear it.’

  ‘It’s pointless to speculate,’ Pei said, crossing his arms. ‘But then again… Maybe Yuan simply screwed up. He was only a trainee officer, after all. It was his first time on a live operation. It’s entirely possible that his nerves caused him to slip up.’ Pei rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘On the other hand… knowing what we do about Yuan, it’s hard to say what he was thinking. Perhaps he was fully in control and fully intended to shoot Wen Hongbing.’

  Ms Mu brightened at this. ‘Okay. So let’s try to work with the first hypothesis. If Wen Hongbing’s death really was a mistake, then Eumenides – Wen Chengyu – will be absolutely devastated to find out that his mentor killed his father by accident. He won’t quite hate Yuan, but the image of Yuan he’s built up in his mind will crumble. I
t could very well shake him to his core. There’s a chance that he’ll even lose interest in playing the part of Eumenides and try to live an ordinary life instead.’

  ‘We might know his real name now,’ muttered Lieutenant Yin, ‘but that piece of trash will always be Eumenides to me.’

  ‘And if it wasn’t accidental?’ Pei asked.

  ‘Then things might get a little complicated,’ Ms Mu said. ‘He’ll undoubtedly develop an intense hatred for Yuan. He’ll think that Yuan’s earlier feelings towards him were faked. He’ll see himself as a victim and he’ll see Yuan as the person who destroyed his life. He’ll then detest the fact that he ever called himself “Eumenides”, since it was Yuan who initially created that identity.’

  ‘Will he stop murdering people?’ Pei said. ‘That’s the real question.’

  Ms Mu shook her head. ‘I can’t say for certain. Such intense psychological stress could drive him to one of two extremes. He might be overwhelmed with regret, suddenly see the light and completely abandon the bloodstained mantle of Eumenides. Or he might become even more unhinged. He’ll see Yuan’s murder of his father as a crime that the law failed to punish, and to heal this wound in his heart, he’ll simply seek out more targets. Murder could become his solace.’

  Pei narrowed his eyes. ‘What will determine which path he takes?’

  ‘It’ll come down in large part to deep-rooted traits in his psychology – behavioural patterns that can’t be controlled and that can’t be predicted either, unfortunately, given how little we really know about him. Of course, we can’t ignore the influence of his external environment. If he has a close friend with whom he’s able to share some of the pain and anger, he’ll have a better chance of living a normal life. On the other hand, if he bottles up these feelings and has no opportunity to vent, there’s a strong possibility that his killing spree will intensify.’

  Pei paused to let Ms Mu’s analysis sink in. ‘Who could he possibly confide in?’ he said.

  *

  9:45 p.m.

  Outside the Green Spring

  The young woman’s white blouse and black skirt usually made her appear entirely unremarkable against the neon backdrop of the city. But today there was something different about her. She seemed less anxious and her face was alight with expectation. Even her eyes were full of life.

  Once again she declined the head chef’s offer of a lift home. This time she was much firmer. ‘There’s no need to wait for me after work any more. I have someone who’s promised to take me home every night.’

  The chef was astonished. He glanced curiously around the car park, but whoever was coming to pick her up seemed to be late. He tried several more times to convince her to come with him, but she refused to budge and finally he left.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she said and tugged at the lead in her hand. Niuniu rose onto all fours, shook her coat of golden fur and expertly led her mistress down the steps towards their destination.

  A polite voice soon interrupted their progress. ‘Please come with me, miss. Your friend is waiting for you.’

  She recognised the voice; it was the barista from the previous day. Smiling gratefully, she followed him into the café.

  As she settled into a chair, she asked, ‘Why do you like sitting in these kinds of places?’

  ‘Cafés?’ her companion asked.

  ‘Corners. You sat in a corner at the restaurant too.’

  He laughed. ‘You may not be able to see, but you’re much more perceptive than most people.’

  ‘What’s the advantage of sitting in a corner?’

  ‘Peace and quiet,’ he answered.

  ‘You enjoy pairing delicate Huaiyang dishes with light wines. You love listening to violin pieces like “Sehnsucht” and sitting at tables in quiet corners,’ she said matter-of-factly. Her eyes seemed to be looking straight at him. ‘You must have a lot of stories.’

  ‘What makes you think that?’

  ‘Only those who’ve weathered significant challenges in life can truly appreciate the sort of tranquillity you seek out. People with mundane lives are different. They like to dine on exciting, spicy dishes, like Sichuanese food, and to release their frustrations in noisy bars.’

  ‘You do have a point,’ he said softly. ‘But what makes you so sure?’

  ‘Being blind means that I have a lot of time to think.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I suppose it does,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘And having nothing to distract your other senses would let you perceive things that the rest of us don’t.’

  The young woman laughed. ‘Are you jealous?’

  ‘A little.’

  ‘Isn’t it a bit odd that someone with all his senses envies a young blind woman?’

  ‘A little,’ he repeated.

  ‘I think I know how you feel,’ she said, tilting her head to one side. ‘A lot of things are universal. The more you have of something, the more you desire its opposite. You’re jealous of the world I inhabit. But me… you can’t begin to imagine how badly I want to understand your world. Given your fondness for tranquil places, I can only guess what kind of life you’ve had.’

  He stayed silent for a moment. ‘Your eyes… Were you born blind?’

  She nodded. ‘I could still see a bit when I was little, but my vision got worse as I grew older. By the time I was ten, I was completely blind. When I try to picture how this world looks, I think back to the images of my childhood. Those memories truly are beautiful.’ The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. ‘But a lot of time has passed since then and many of those memories have already faded.’

  ‘Is there a cure?’

  ‘I stopped going to doctors a long time ago.’

  ‘I’ve heard there’s a type of gene therapy that can treat congenital blindness,’ he said. ‘You should look into it.’

  ‘Really? Which hospitals offer that kind of treatment?’

  ‘None in China. It’s real cutting-edge technology. You’d have to go to America.’

  ‘America?’ she said coolly, shaking her head. ‘I’ve never even set foot outside Chengdu. That sort of treatment must cost a fortune.’

  ‘You don’t need to worry about the cost,’ he said casually. ‘I’ll take care of it for you.’

  She froze. This was only the second time they’d met face to face and he was already offering to send her to America and pay for a medical procedure! Was he playing a trick on her? Was this all a joke?

  Somehow, she didn’t think so. The strangest thing of all was how he came across so sincere.

  ‘I’m completely serious. I’ll take care of everything. Once I’ve made the arrangements, all you’ll have to do is go to America and have the treatment.’

  ‘But why would you do that? Who on earth are you? Why do you care about me?’

  ‘It’s actually very simple – I just want to help you,’ he said, totally relaxed.

  ‘But we’ve only just met. I can’t think why you’d want to help me. To be completely honest, it makes me uneasy, like… like you’re trying to trick me.’

  ‘You can think whatever you want. I’ll take care of everything and you can go to America for the treatment. It’s as simple as that.’

  ‘You think I can’t look after myself?’ she said angrily, her cheeks flushing. ‘That I’m helpless because I’m blind? If that’s what you think, then there’s no way I’ll accept your so-called help.’

  ‘That’s not what I was saying at all.’

  ‘Then give me a reason. Why do you want to help me?’

  She waited.

  ‘Because I’m the only person who would do this for you,’ he said.

  She shivered. Every nerve in her body tingled. She shifted awkwardly.

  ‘I want to help you so that I can continue to hear your music,’ he said. ‘Isn’t that reason enough? And it’s not going to cause me any financial hardship. As far as I’m concerned, I’m simply doing what I can to help a friend in need.’

  ‘But you’re just a stranger to me,’ sh
e said, less confrontational now. ‘If you want to help, you can start by letting me get to know you first.’

  ‘I wish that was possible. But…’ He paused for a spell, thinking carefully about what to say next. His words were tinged with regret. ‘There are some things about me you might never be able to understand.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  He didn’t answer. She listened to the way he scuffed his shoes on the ground and to his fingers clenching at his clothing.

  Silence swelled around them. She could feel it quite distinctly. It pressed down on her skin and seeped through her pores.

  ‘I want to go home,’ she said abruptly. Though she believed he was sincere in his desire to help her, she was starting to detect something strange about him. He was hiding something from her, something very serious. At the same time, she wanted to get closer to him.

  Who was he?

  ‘It’s getting late. I’ll take you home,’ he said. ‘But there’s something I have to tell you.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  Another anxious pause.

  ‘Yesterday we made an agreement. I said that I would wait for you in this café every day and that I would take you home afterwards.’

  ‘That’s right.’ She smiled, hoping to smooth over the earlier unpleasantness. ‘I guess you could say we’ve officially started fulfilling that agreement.’

  ‘I’m going to have to put our agreement on hold for now,’ he said sombrely. ‘I’m sorry.’

  She stiffened and dropped her head in disappointment. ‘Are you always so quick to go back on your promises?’

  ‘No. It’s not what you think. But there’s something I need to finish, and I won’t be able to see you until I’ve done it.’

  ‘Then why did you bother making our arrangement in the first place?’

  ‘It only came up today. I had no way of anticipating it.’

  Her disappointment had abated a little, but not completely. ‘Do you have to leave Chengdu?’

  ‘No. I just can’t meet you.’