by Zhou HaoHui
Pei: I have one more question for you and I want an honest answer.
Eumenides: Ask the question first.
Pei: Did killing Sergeant Zheng really make you more determined to kill a police officer, your so-called enemies, the next time one got in your way?
Eumenides: …
Pei: Well?
Eumenides: …
Pei: It’s been two minutes. What’s the hold-up?
Eumenides: …
Pei: Yuan’s theory was wrong, wasn’t it? Killing Sergeant Zheng didn’t strengthen your resolve at all; rather it plunged you into a deep mire of guilt and procrastination. Why else would you seek out that girl? Admit it – you’re motivated by guilt.
Eumenides: Amusing. You’re imposing your own ideas on me.
Pei: Yuan’s the one who imposed his ideas on you. He’s the one who made you kill Sergeant Zheng. He brainwashed you into believing that the police are your enemy. He even gave you that infamous moniker you still use. Have you never wondered why Yuan expected you to accept all those things without question? Have you never wondered why you had to become Eumenides? Deep down, you know you’re only living out someone else’s twisted desires.
Eumenides: He gave me a second chance at life. After all he did for me, what right did I have to refuse him?
Pei: Do you really think Yuan was just being generous, that he didn’t have an ulterior motive?
Eumenides: I’ve heard enough from you.
Pei: You know that it was Yuan who killed your father. The situation in your father’s apartment was already under control, but Yuan still opened fire. Why did he do that? Have you never asked yourself that question?
Eumenides: Enough! I don’t need your lies. I can find out the truth on my own, without your help.
Pei: Fine. Perhaps the truth will change you more than you expect.
Eumenides: What could it change? I’m already a killer.
Pei: What you already are isn’t what matters. What matters is that everyone has a future.
Eumenides: You’re the leader of the April 18th Task Force. I’m a wanted murderer. Do we really need to talk about the future?
Pei: My role as head of the April 18th Task Force is only temporary. If enough time passes without there being another murder, I’ll go back to Longzhou.
Eumenides: You’ll give up on your mission?
Pei: My mission is not to seek revenge, it’s to prevent crimes from happening. I have two options. If you continue with these murders, I’ll find you and arrest you. If you vanish and are never heard from again, then it’s over.
To be honest, I’d choose the second option in a heartbeat. If you try to seek redemption for your past crimes, my choices become a little more interesting.
Eumenides: As long as I keep killing, you won’t stop looking for me – am I right?
Pei: Yes. Right now you still have a choice, but the moment you commit another murder, everything else is off the table. I’ll give you until the end of the month.
Pei hadn’t chosen that deadline arbitrarily, of course. It was the deadline Eumenides had written on his death notice for the journalist Du Mingqiang.
He waited for Eumenides’ reply. None came.
Three days later: 10 November, 9:27 a.m.
Funeral parlour
It was still early in the day and the road in front of the funeral parlour was wide and flat. Even so, few drivers went that way. Most gave the funeral home a wide berth and chose instead to take the long way round.
About a dozen vendors had set up their stalls outside the building. They were selling flowers, ghost money for burning with the corpse on its journey into the afterlife, and candles – all traditional products associated with death and mourning in China.
‘Sir, would you like to buy some flowers before you go inside?’
‘Ghost money! Cheap, very cheap!’
An older man stepped out from the crowd of newly arrived mourners. He was gaunt, his hair and beard flecked with grey; he appeared to be in his seventies. After scanning the vendors for a few seconds, he approached a flower stall.
The vendor was short and young. Neither his cheap clothes nor his greasy hair appeared to have been washed in at least a week. At the sight of his approaching customer, the man straightened up.
‘How can I help you, sir?’
Ignoring the vendor’s wares, the older man said, ‘Where’s your captain?’
The vendor blinked in confusion. He glanced at the other vendors then looked back at the man. ‘What do you mean? We’re just a bunch of vendors. We don’t have a captain.’
‘Drop the act,’ the man said with a disapproving shake of his head. ‘You’re with the criminal police. So is the young man who got off the bus with me. The one with the green jacket.’
The vendor’s eyes darted left then right. He forced a smile. ‘I’m sorry, sir. You must have confused me with someone else.’
After letting out a long, frustrated sigh, the man reached out with his right hand and grabbed the greasy hair at the vendor’s right temple. The vendor jerked his head back, but the grizzled man held on tight. Something flashed in front of the younger man’s eyes and he felt a gust of air against his face. When his vision focused again, he saw that the other man was holding a wireless microphone between his fingers.
The vendor looked at the microphone and then at the face of the man holding it. This wasn’t covered in the briefing, he thought.
‘Call your captain over. I’d like to speak to him.’ He placed the microphone on the stall counter and walked away.
The younger man hastily snatched the device from the counter. He could sense the intense gazes of the other vendors on him.
The older man walked into the funeral home and headed directly for the mourning hall in the building’s west wing. Several funeral parlour employees were milling around inside, seemingly absorbed in their work. He stopped at the entrance and quickly singled out one of the employees, a well-built man in his twenties dressed in a shirt bearing the funeral home’s logo; he was doing a better job of blending in than the ‘vendor’ outside, but the stiffness in his gait was a dead giveaway. There was a distinct difference between being genuinely comfortable in your surroundings and simply pretending to be.
In the centre of the hall was a glass coffin. An elderly woman was standing beside it, weeping silently. The older man walked over, gently placed his hand on the glass lid and lowered his head to look at the body lying inside.
The woman turned. When she saw him, the grief on her face quickly turned to hate. ‘So you’ve come,’ she said, her voice hoarse. ‘I was hoping I’d never see you again.’
He slowly swept his hand along the top of the coffin, as though he could feel the face of the man inside. ‘He’s my son. Of course I’m going to come and see him.’
‘Enough with the false charity. When have you ever cared about him? If you’d been a true father, we wouldn’t be burying him.’
The man’s face froze. ‘You think our son has only just left us? His heart’s been dead for years already.’
‘Are you still blaming me? You honestly think this is my fault?’ the woman spat.
He lowered his head and his eyes slid shut.
Ignoring him, the woman gazed down at the body of her son. Then she leant forward and embraced the coffin. She burst into long, heaving sobs.
The man’s eyes watered, but no tears fell. Suddenly, he sensed something. In a flash, he turned around to face the room’s entrance.
A man and a woman were standing at the double doors. Judging from their expressions, they regretted having to be there. Although the man was silent, his eyes spoke volumes. The woman appeared to be a decade his junior.
‘Are these your people?’ the older man asked as they came up to him.
‘They are. I’m the new captain of the criminal police. Pei Tao. I meant no disrespect in assigning my people here. I did it for your security.’
‘Captain Pei?’ Recognition flashed i
n the older man’s eyes. He looked down at the corpse inside the coffin. ‘You’re the one who found him, aren’t you?’
‘I was too late. Someone else got to him first.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘It was Eumenides. The serial killer. You’ve heard of him, I presume?’
The man frowned. ‘Yuan Zhibang? The news reports said he died in an explosion.’
‘Yuan is dead, but Eumenides is still out there. Long ago, Yuan chose a successor to bear that name.’ Pei kept his eyes on the man as he spoke, watching for any signs of surprise or confusion.
‘A successor.’ The man blinked silently for a moment. He shook his head gently. ‘It makes sense, considering what kind of person Yuan was.’
‘Are you aware of who it is that Yuan chose?’ Pei probed.
The man stared deep into Pei’s eyes. Comprehension slowly spread across his wrinkled features. ‘I am now,’ he said softly. ‘But only because you just told me.’
Pei shifted uncomfortably. Behind him, Ms Mu looked on silently. Pei had been anxious about meeting this man and now she understood why. He was reading the captain like an open book.
‘He’s looking for the truth behind his father’s death, isn’t he? That’s why you were looking for my son.’ He exhaled slowly. ‘What father wouldn’t want to say one last farewell to his recently departed son?’
Pei nodded in silent sympathy. He had planned for this day when he’d instructed all of Chengdu’s major newspapers to publish Du’s article about Professor Ding’s death, but he hadn’t been sure what to expect when he actually met the man.
‘Eumenides contacted your son online and threatened to expose his crimes. His threats manipulated your son into taking his life. That’s the real reason he jumped.’
‘You don’t need to explain yourself. I’m not looking to blame anyone for his death. In truth, I’m the one that should be held accountable.’ Captain Ding Ke shut his eyes again and rested both his hands on the coffin.
Pei and Ms Mu look at each other in discomfort. Pei turned back to Captain Ding.
‘It wasn’t my intention to disturb you today, sir. I had to send these officers as protection because the killer is looking for you with greater urgency than ever and we need to make sure you’re safe.’
‘I can take care of myself – a few extra officers watching my back won’t make any difference. Today is the day I say my final goodbyes to my son and I don’t want to be interrupted.’
‘I understand,’ Pei said.
‘How about this?’ Ms Mu suggested a moment later. ‘We’ll leave just one person in this room and the rest will be stationed outside. The individual in question will be someone you’re already very familiar with. He shouldn’t be a distraction.’
‘I suppose you mean Huang Jieyuan,’ Captain Ding said dryly.
Ms Mu nodded.
‘Fine.’
Captain Ding looked down at the pale, expressionless face of his son, the professor. The funeral parlour’s make-up artist had done a fine job of covering up the evidence of his eight-storey fall. To an untrained eye he would appear flawless.
‘Once I’ve said goodbye to my son, I’ll tell you what you want to know.’
20
CAPTAIN DING KE
11 November, 4 p.m.
Captain Ding Ke’s home
The members of the April 18th Task Force – with the exception of SPU Captain Liu, who was still watching over Du Mingqiang – were sitting outdoors around a table with Captain Ding Ke. Huang Jieyuan, the task force’s newest provisional member, was there too. The meeting was being held in the courtyard of a single-family country house just outside the city. It was Captain Ding’s home.
‘Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary today, Captain Ding?’ Ms Mu asked.
‘You’re referring to that killer? He won’t come after me. Why would he, with you watching me so closely. Huang told me your thoughts on the Bagman case, Ms Mu. I admire your psychological approach. Your analysis of my son was spot on.’
Ms Mu nodded awkwardly. Inside, she was beaming with pride, but given the circumstances, she was trying to keep her expression neutral.
‘My wife left me more than twenty years ago. I don’t resent her for it. I always had my nose deep in a case back then, and I barely contributed anything to my family’s wellbeing. What woman wouldn’t leave a husband like that? Unfortunately, my son – Ding Zhen – walked in on my wife in flagrante when he was very young. She sent him to a series of counsellors and psychologists, but there was no helping him. He was traumatised by what he saw that day. When he got older, he abstained from having any relationships. That aspect of his life was taken away forever, because of that day.’
Ms Mu nodded glumly at this revelation. So that was the source of Professor Ding’s hidden inferiority complex, she thought.
‘I didn’t know any of this until yesterday,’ Captain Ding said despondently. ‘I always did think it was strange – my son was smart, successful, good-looking, so why couldn’t he get a girlfriend? I started getting anxious; he was my only child, after all. So I began pushing him to find a wife and start a family. But ten years ago, he couldn’t take it any more. He—’
‘It’s okay, Captain Ding,’ Ms Mu said gently. ‘You don’t need to say any more.’
‘Don’t you see?’ he said, hanging his head. ‘I’m the one who’s truly responsible for that disgusting murder. That’s why I disappeared ten years ago.’
There was an air of intense sorrow about him, and Ms Mu looked away. Even with her background in psychology, she could barely imagine the weight of his guilt.
‘But you don’t need to hear my lamentations about my failings as a father,’ Captain Ding finally said. ‘Captain Pei, tell me why you’re all here. Is it because of the January 30th hostage case?’
Pei nodded solemnly. ‘I’d like to know if we still have a chance to stop Wen Chengyu.’
Captain Ding gazed up at the cloudless sky. ‘Yesterday, when you told me that Yuan had found someone to succeed him as Eumenides, Wen Chengyu was the first person I thought of. To tell you the truth, I could have stopped this from happening a long time ago, but I ignored Yuan. I certainly didn’t expect him to go into hiding for eighteen years and train a new Eumenides.’
‘Do you mean that eighteen years ago,’ Pei said, arching an eyebrow, ‘you knew that Eumenides was Yuan Zhibang?’
Captain Ding nodded. ‘I retired before the warehouse explosion, but I couldn’t exactly ignore a case like that, could I? I went to your dorm to investigate, and I also read the statement you gave to the police. That two-minute discrepancy you mentioned – it stuck with me. It was what helped me figure out how Yuan had done it. Once I knew that, I knew who Eumenides was. But the explosion had already crippled Yuan, so I assumed that his crazy plans had come to an end right there. As for his sudden transformation into a killer, I couldn’t bear to look into that any further. The two of us were connected, you see…’
Pei’s eyes widened.
‘Cause and effect,’ Captain Ding said. ‘It’s the one principle that connects everything in this world. When I started to think about retiring, I began searching for someone to take my place on the force. Can you guess who my first choice was?’
Pei had a name in mind, but he was hesitant to voice it.
‘One of the best students the academy has ever produced. Pei Tao.’
‘What?’ Pei said, taken aback.
Captain Ding eyed him intently. ‘Steady, quick-thinking and with superb attention to detail. Exactly the kind of student who would make an excellent officer of the criminal police.’
‘If he was your first pick, why didn’t you choose him?’ TSO Zeng asked.
‘Unfortunately, I soon discovered some blemishes on Pei’s record. Specifically, he created the character known as Eumenides.’ He kept his gaze locked on Pei.
The head of the April 18th Task Force shut his eyes and breathed out slowly.
‘But
that was just for a competition between him and his girlfriend, Meng Yun,’ Ms Mu insisted. ‘At the worst, it was only a bit of good-natured mischief. I wouldn’t consider it a “blemish” on his record by any means.’
‘The individual I chose would become the backbone of Chengdu’s police force for years to come. I couldn’t afford to overlook even the smallest infraction,’ Captain Ding said, adopting the sort of tone that a professor would use when lecturing a student. ‘As it happens, I had someone else in mind. That student was also exceptional in all regards. In fact, I’d had quite some difficulty deciding between them. Thanks to Pei’s pranks, I was able to make that final decision fairly easily.’
‘Yuan Zhibang,’ Ms Mu said. ‘I can’t imagine how much you regret that now.’
Captain Ding immediately shook his head. ‘I don’t consider it a mistake. Yuan and Pei were both more than qualified for the role, and they were both unique in their own ways. Pei was introverted, calm and persistent. Had I chosen him, he would have developed at a steady rate, performing capably every step of the way. Yuan, on the other hand, would have been quite different. He was an extrovert and impulsive to a startling degree. I was more interested in short-term developmental prospects.’ He looked closely at Pei and then Ms Mu. ‘If I had to trace Yuan’s transformation back to its source, I would summarise it with a single word.’
‘I presume you’re going to tell us what that is?’ TSO Zeng asked sarcastically.
Captain Ding’s brow wrinkled. ‘Fate.’
Pei gawped at him in dumb shock.
‘Fate,’ Captain Ding repeated, staring back at Pei. ‘You, me, Wen Hongbing, even Wen Hongbing’s son – all of us are connected. It’s hard to say which mistakes were made by whom, but all of these factors somehow combined and became the catalyst for Yuan’s transformation. Everything that happened may have simply been Yuan’s fate, the result of a series of inevitable events beyond any one individual’s control.’
‘How could Wen Hongbing’s son have influenced Yuan?’ Zeng asked. ‘Yuan’s the one who influenced the rest of that boy’s entire life.’