by Zhou HaoHui
‘Humour me.’
‘I’d have assumed the two of you would be much more knowledgeable about the relevant details. While this case is ostensibly closed, I assure you it hasn’t been completely solved. You see, about two months after the event, the police received a call about the man who was taken hostage that day. The caller said that he had been robbed by the suspect’s accomplice.’
‘His accomplice?’ Pei asked. ‘Who?’
‘If there was an answer to that, my father wouldn’t have quit.’
‘You’re saying that the identity of the accomplice, some burglar, was never found? And that’s why your father resigned?’
Professor Ding nodded. ‘My father’s a perfectionist. He can’t tolerate failure. That’s why, when faced with failure, he ran away. No matter what his official excuse was, he couldn’t hide the truth from me. I’m his son. No one understood him better than me.’
Pei glanced down and saw that the professor still had half his lunch to go. ‘What was so tricky about that case?’
‘I’m not very clear on the specifics – I’ve never really cared about such things. But I have a very distinct memory of my father hunching over two folders for hours. One contained the files for the closed January 30th case and the other concerned the robbery I mentioned. I’d never seen him that intense before.’
Pei massaged his forehead as he pondered what it all meant. There was something lurking behind the January 30th case. Wen Hongbing was killed in the standoff at the apartment building, so who was his accomplice and why rob Chen Tianqiao? And more importantly, how was that unidentified individual able to force Captain Ding Ke into retirement?
‘I believe our discussion has come to an end,’ Professor Ding said calmly, polishing off the last of his meal.
‘I’m sorry?’ Ms Mu said.
‘My lunch break is over. Thus our conversation must suffer the same fate. I need to get back to work.’
Pei looked at his watch. Barely twenty minutes had passed.
‘I’m finished, Gao,’ Professor Ding said into his phone ‘Please bring in those materials on the wastewater discharge from that pharmaceutical factory in Shandong.’
‘Professor Ding,’ Pei said impatiently, ‘you still haven’t told us where we can find your father.’
‘He’s been gone for ten years. I don’t have the slightest idea where he is.’
‘You don’t have any way of contacting him?’
‘He went into hiding. Why would he leave his contact details?’
‘Why exactly did he go into hiding?’
‘I believe I’ve already answered all your questions,’ Professor Ding said irritably, tapping one finger against his temple. ‘Use those analytical skills your department is so famous for.’
Gao walked in with an armful of documents.
‘I’ll give you thirty more seconds. Are there any more questions?’ Professor Ding said as he watched his secretary set the papers down on his desk.
‘All things considered, we don’t have anything else to ask at the moment,’ Pei said.
Nodding to himself, the professor immediately turned his attention to his work. It was as if a switch had been flipped: his entire manner changed and he ignored everyone.
Gao addressed the confused officers. ‘Captain Pei, Ms Mu, feel free to contact me if you have any more questions and I will arrange another appointment with the professor.’
Her timing was impeccable, Pei thought. ‘We won’t bother you any further today,’ he said.
The professor did not react.
*
‘Do you think his answers made sense?’ Pei asked Ms Mu once they were in the lift.
‘Which ones?’
‘Firstly, his explanation as to why his father retired from the force. And secondly, his assertion that they haven’t had any contact over the past decade.’
‘The first point is sound. Or at least it’s more probable than retiring for health reasons. Captain Ding Ke was in his fifties then, wasn’t he? He was hardly frail – he was a legend and still solving every case he took on. It must be psychological. It’s hard to imagine just how stressful maintaining that sort of reputation must have been. He’d have been seriously afraid of failure, so if he was faced with a case he couldn’t solve, especially that far into his career, the urge to flee would have been very strong.’
Pei grunted in agreement. ‘How about the second point?’
‘That they’ve had no contact for more than ten years? That’s harder to believe. It would mean that their relationship was under significant strain.’
On exiting the lift, Pei and Ms Mu stepped into a near-empty waiting room off the lobby and sat down to continue their conversation.
‘What went wrong with their relationship, do you think?’ Pei asked.
‘Would you agree that when you’re a police officer, and especially if you’re a captain with the criminal police, you’ll likely have to prioritise your professional responsibilities over your familial ones?’
‘It’s unavoidable. Your life has to revolve around police work, so naturally you can’t spend as much time with your family.’ Pei nodded thoughtfully. ‘One of the younger guys I worked with in Longzhou often talked about resigning. His girlfriend couldn’t stand his work situation and she kept threatening to leave him.’
‘What kind of a person is Captain Ding?’ Ms Mu asked herself aloud. ‘How did he balance his professional and his personal life?’
‘Work would have been at the centre of his life,’ Pei said quickly. ‘I heard quite a few stories about the cases he cracked back when I was at the academy. It was said he was a workaholic and that when he was working on a case he could go for days without eating or sleeping. I remember hearing about one case in particular, which required infiltrating the inner circle of an organised-crime syndicate. To keep his new identity intact, he cut off all contact with his family for more than a month. Not even his wife knew where he was.’
‘That would explain why the professor feels as he does about him. Captain Ding retired twenty-eight years ago. His son was twenty-four then. The most intense period of Captain Ding’s career overlapped precisely with his son’s formative years. Boys crave their father’s help and guidance, but Captain Ding would have been too absorbed in his work. That undoubtedly caused a schism between them.’
‘And that’s why they’ve had no contact for more than a decade?’
‘Relationships are two-way: in an estrangement, both parties bear some responsibility.’
‘I was thinking the same thing. Professor Ding was already an adult when his father went missing. He could have taken the initiative in trying to mend their relationship.’
‘Yes, and therein lies the problem. We both saw how the professor views his own job. He’s a workaholic just like his father. As far as he’s concerned, his family may just be a fading memory. That would explain his indifference to our questions.’
Pei recalled the tone the professor had used when talking about his father. It was more than indifference; he’d detected resentment as well. Both father and son had achieved great things in their careers, but they were as distant as the two poles.
‘But even given all that, some things still don’t make sense,’ Ms Mu went on. ‘When Captain Ding went into hiding, he had already been retired for several years. People tend to rely on their families more when they get older. Even if the professor didn’t have the time to seek his father out, you’d have thought his father would have made contact.’ She paused. ‘What if he’s already passed away?’
‘Unlikely,’ Pei said.
‘What makes you so sure?’
‘He’s still getting his pension.’
‘His pension?’ Ms Mu’s eyes grew wide with disbelief.
‘He’s been withdrawing it from his bank account,’ Pei said. ‘Ten years ago, Chengdu police set up accounts for every employee so they could receive their salaries and pensions. I’ve checked and someone has been making regular with
drawals from Captain Ding’s account. The last time was two months ago.’
‘Then why haven’t we been able to find him? If he’s making withdrawals at banks and ATMs, can’t we check security footage?’
‘Headquarters has been trying to do just that, but to no avail. The money just vanishes from his account in a way they can’t trace.’
‘So Captain Ding is alive and mostly likely here in Chengdu. Then why hasn’t anyone been able to find him?’
‘I don’t know. But I do know that his son has told us why the captain went into hiding.’
Ms Mu wasn’t sure what Pei meant, but she was reminded of one of the last things Professor Ding had said.
‘I believe I’ve already answered all your questions. Use those analytical skills your department is so famous for.’
‘He was stuck on another case, wasn’t he?’ she asked.
‘Exactly.’
Ms Mu shook her head. ‘Sure. But when you look at it from a psychological perspective, something doesn’t quite add up. Let’s say that Captain Ding quit the force because he wanted to maintain his legendary 100-per-cent success rate. He’d already been retired for eight years when he vanished. Even if he couldn’t solve a case, wouldn’t his reputation already be secure?’
‘Think about it. There was a very special case around the time he disappeared. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.’
‘Which case was that?’
‘The Bagman case.’
Ms Mu let out an involuntary gasp.
‘So you do know about it.’
‘Of course I do. Everyone in Chengdu does.’
‘I was working at the Mount Nanming station when it happened,’ Pei said. ‘Even there, people were talking about it. I can imagine how terrifying the grisly details must have been to an ordinary member of the public. You must have still been in high school back then, right?’
‘Yes. It was my final year. After the news of the murder, my parents insisted on coming to school every day to pick me up. The school entrance would be packed with parents waiting to take their daughters home. The killer was supposedly searching for other girls who looked just like his victim.’
Pei grimaced. ‘The whole city was obsessed with that case. The citizens of Chengdu were desperate for the police to solve it and the police were under immense pressure. Seeing no other option, they turned to Captain Ding Ke for help – and presumably shifted some of the pressure onto him in the process. He might have been retired, but his connection with the force meant that the outcome would undoubtedly affect his reputation.’
‘That’s why he went into hiding? Out of shame?’ Ms Mu rolled her eyes in disappointment. ‘I wonder if this Captain Ding doesn’t quite live up to his own reputation. It sounds like he’s not nearly as courageous as everyone thinks.’
Pei rubbed his nose and stood up. ‘I have a few ideas. Time to test them.’
‘How do you intend to do that?’
‘I have a theory about the relationship between Captain Ding and his son. I’ll take care of this one on my own. Wait here until I get back.’
Ms Mu’s jaw twitched. Pei waited for her inevitable rebuttal.
‘Okay,’ she said.
*
With no little surprise, Pei exited the waiting room and went into the lobby. After checking the building’s floorplan on the wall, he got into the lift.
Meanwhile, Ms Mu shifted left and right on the hard chair. Her attention was drawn to a magazine rack: Professor Ding’s face decorated the cover of one of the publications on display.
‘What luck,’ she muttered and began flipping through it.
She recognised the background of the cover picture – it was Professor Ding’s office. The professor wore an immaculate suit and sat at the same desk where he had eaten his lunch only fifteen minutes ago. He looked straight at the camera, radiating confidence and authority.
The caption read: Extraordinary Achievements Require Extraordinary Dedication: an Interview with Professor Ding Zhen, Water Pollution Management Expert.
The interview spanned two pages. The first page mostly described the professor’s recent academic achievements, while the second page discussed his career and personal life. Ms Mu eagerly absorbed the text of the second page.
Professor Ding, do you feel your personality has influenced your achievements in any way?
DING: Certainly. For example, I’m not the kind of person to countenance defeat. No matter what I’m doing, I always try to get the best possible results. I can’t tolerate doubt, and the only way to avoid doubt is through perfect results.
How do you divide your time between work and leisure?
DING: Leisure? I have no need for that.
So you spend all your time working? You don’t ever need to take a break?
DING: I do, in fact. I eat, I sleep and I work. I find relaxation in all of those things. When I tire of running experiments, I enjoy reading academic literature. When I grow tired of that, I organise a meeting. But ‘leisure’ as you put it? That’s just a waste of time.
You’re currently single. Have you ever thought about starting a family of your own?
DING: I’m very content with my current work situation. I feel no need to start a family just because of societal expectations.
Many professionals say that family provides a strong motivation for their career. Would you care to comment on that perspective?
DING: That’s a very normal attitude, but I know it doesn’t apply to me. I have no time to enjoy whatever warmth a family might provide. And I’m afraid that if I did start a family now, I’d be forced to neglect them for the sake of my job.
Ms Mu read on and was stunned by how emotionless and robotic the professor appeared.
She was interrupted by Pei’s return to the waiting room.
‘A magazine interview?’ he said with interest and quickly picked up another copy from the rack. He flipped through it and a gratified smile appeared on his face. ‘You haven’t gone anywhere, but it looks like you’ve already discovered quite a bit.’
‘All I gleaned is that the professor has led a celibate life for the sake of his career,’ she said with a careless shrug. ‘I’m willing to bet you had more luck than I did. Let’s hear it, Captain.’
Pei’s attention, however, was still focused on the interview. He read it to himself until he came to a passage that seemed worth sharing.
‘“I have no time to enjoy whatever warmth a family might provide”,’ he read out loud. ‘“And I’m afraid that if I did start a family now, I’d be forced to neglect them for the sake of my job.” An obvious jab at his father,’ he said.
‘My thoughts as well.’
‘There’s more to this than you know,’ Pei said. ‘Captain Ding’s dedication to his job alienated his wife. She eventually had an affair and the fallout tore their marriage apart. That was twenty years ago. Professor Ding was a teenager at the time.’
‘To be a teenager, when you know everything and nothing at the same time…’ Ms Mu mused. ‘The affair and subsequent divorce must have cast a dark shadow over the professor’s early years – and had a massive impact on his adult life.’
‘An outsider might assume that he ignores his emotional side because of his devotion to his work,’ Pei said. ‘But I think the reverse may be even more plausible – that it’s because he’s so emotionally damaged that he puts so much effort into his work. And come to think of it… What do you know about his relationship with Gao?’
‘Nothing,’ Ms Mu said. ‘But I take it you do?’
‘I’ve done some digging. You know, a man with Professor Ding’s reputation and accomplishments – and he’s not bad looking – would be one of Chengdu’s most eligible bachelors. They say quite a few women have tried to woo him – including Gao. I don’t know if you guessed, but she used to be one of his students. A number of students have fallen for him over the years, apparently, and the professor has always ignored them. But Gao was very persistent. After completin
g her postgraduate studies, she rejected an impressive offer from IBM and instead chose to work as a secretary in the department where she formerly studied. The reason? To stay close to Professor Ding. But despite that, he’s remained all but oblivious. She’s worked for him for three years and as far as I can tell they’re nothing more than colleagues.’
Ms Mu felt a flash of pity for Gao. ‘I can’t believe she would let her emotions blind her like that.’
‘Maybe she thought that things would change once they were working together,’ Pei suggested. ‘But Professor Ding is more than just emotionally unavailable – his life is positively Spartan.’
‘Oh? What else did you find out so quickly?’
‘He apparently stays cooped up in that office for weeks at a time. He eats the same takeaway every single lunchtime. And he still lives in a cramped staff apartment provided by the college, despite having more than enough money to buy a villa downtown.’
‘The man’s an enigma. But how did you find out so much?’
‘I had a pleasant chat with a talkative woman in the HR office,’ Pei answered with a wry grin.
Ms Mu smiled mischievously. ‘You should have taken me too!’
‘I wanted it to be a natural conversation, gossipy, no filters. With two of us there, it might have felt more like an interrogation.’
‘You wouldn’t make a half-bad psychologist,’ Ms Mu said. ‘In case you’re ever in the market for another job…’
Pei rolled his eyes playfully. ‘In another life.’
‘Well, we have a rough profile of Professor Ding’s personality now. He’s emotionally distant and focused on nothing but his work. I’m afraid the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Thus it makes sense to conclude that father and son haven’t communicated at all over the last decade. In other words, the professor was telling the truth.’
‘Agreed.’
‘Well, Captain, what’s next?’
‘There are the two major investigations to catch up on: the January 30th case and the Bagman case. In order to find out what happened to Captain Ding Ke, we’ll need to look into both of them in considerable detail.’