A Devil's Mind

by Gangxueyin

  Based on Han Yin’s recommendations, Ye Xi decided to investigate all three types at the same time and divided the task among the officers. Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei would be in charge of the investigation of the top-tier suspects. The second-tier suspects would be the responsibility of Du Jun and Yao Gang. The difficulty of investigating the third-tier suspects would be the greatest and broadest scope. Over this sixteen-year interval of investigation, the dispersion of this group of people had become fairly complicated, so the person in charge of their investigation needed to be seasoned and very familiar with the environment and case details. The best choice was an old criminal policeman who had been a member of the original task force. By following the indications in the profiling report, he would lead a well-focused investigation, and this person was none other than Fu Changlin himself. Ye Xi would link the information for each of the groups and coordinate the police force.

  The meeting adjourned, and the various groups threw themselves into their respective tasks.

  Kang Xiaobei expected Han Yin to head straight for Old Capital University, but he instead requested a meeting with Shen Xiulan, the sanitation worker.

  The task force had already intensely investigated Shen Xiulan. Her husband had worked in a petrochemical plant, and after he was laid off, he got into petty trading. They had a daughter who was still in school. Shen Xiulan had been a sanitation worker for over twenty years and had been responsible for keeping sections of North China Road swept clean. Being the first person to report the dismemberment was purely a coincidence, and Kang Xiaobei thought it unnecessary to waste any more time on her. Halfway there, they passed a fruit stand, and Han Yin bought a fruit basket.

  A philosopher once said you can’t step into the same river twice. Similarly, the probability of an ordinary person being the initial witness in two dismemberment crimes was incredibly small. After discovering the body parts at the beginning of that year, she’d been a wreck and had to take a leave of absence from work to recover.

  Shen Xiulan still lived in the same place. Her husband, Ding Damin, answered the door, and Han Yin offered him the fruit basket. Ding Damin took it with a surprised smile and turned to his wife. Shen Xiulan’s expression grew tense when she saw the strangers, but after her husband explained the situation, she relaxed a bit. Ding Damin invited the officers to sit down in the living room while he put the basket in the kitchen and asked Shen Xiulan to boil some water for tea.

  Ding Damin looked to be a simple and honest man. He offered cigarettes to Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei, but they declined, so he lit up alone and puffed away.

  Han Yin glanced at the kitchen and said softly, “Has it been tough for you lately?”

  Ding Damin squeezed out a simple smile and said, “That’s life. What do you do?”

  “How’s her health now?”

  “Her blood pressure was high to begin with, and her heart wasn’t so good. This time she suffered some mental anguish, so her condition has gotten worse. Took her to the hospital and the doctor gave her some medication. As soon as she feels better, I want to get some stents put in for her heart.”

  Han Yin nodded. “I’m sure she suffered quite a shock. Did it do any damage to her psychologically? Has she shown any unusual or excessive behavior?”

  Kang Xiaobei cut in. “Uncle, Professor Han is an expert in the area of the mind. If the missus is having any problems, you can tell him. Let him make a diagnosis.”

  A sudden glimmer sparked in Ding Damin’s eyes. He lowered his head and sunk into thought. After a while, he raised his head and said, “She doesn’t sleep well and has horrible dreams. She’s often worried and gets flustered easily. She’s afraid of just about everything now, barely eats, and her temper has gotten a lot worse. Sometimes it turns her into a different person.”

  This was precisely what Han Yin had been afraid of. Shen Xiulan’s symptoms were very likely reactions from posttraumatic stress. If the disorder isn’t dealt with in time, the subject suffers terrible physical and mental anguish and may look to suicide during the most stressful times.

  Han Yin chose his words with care. “I sense she may be in great shock and has been seriously traumatized. I advise you to have a psychological specialist look at her.”

  Ding Damin opened his mouth to say something but said nothing.

  “Are there economic issues?” asked Han Yin, when he saw Ding Damin’s hesitation.

  “No, no! My business is doing fine. I’ve even hired two guys to help.” He paused. “If it’s like what you say, how would she be treated?”

  “For that, you need to bring her to be examined. They can only apply the correct treatment when they’ve determined her issue. But usually this sort of thing is treated by a specialist who offers psychological guidance along with antidepressants and anticonvulsives. I’m really sorry. I won’t be in town for long so I can’t offer too much help. If there’s anything you don’t understand or if you need some suggestions, feel free to call me anytime.”

  Han Yin took a business card from his coat pocket and handed it to Ding Damin, who kept nodding, his eyes filled with gratitude.

  “We won’t disturb you anymore.” Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei rose and said good-bye.

  “You’re not disturbing us at all. It should be me thanking you. As busy as you must be, you’re still thinking about how my wife’s doing. Please stay awhile!”

  Shen Xiulan came out of the kitchen and said, “The new building doesn’t have a gas line yet, and the microwave boils water too slowly. It’ll be ready very soon.”

  “Thank you, but no need to bother. We’ll drop by for a visit some other time. If you need anything, you can call me,” Han Yin said.

  The couple accompanied Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei to the door and watched them leave. Ding Damin looked at his wife. His smile changed to gloom.

  Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei got in the car.

  Han Yin had not raised a single question related to the case because he had gone there just to pay Shen Xiulan a visit. Because of her excessive fright, he anticipated she might be experiencing some psychological discomfort, so he wanted to provide whatever help he could.

  Now that he understood Han Yin’s purpose, Kang Xiaobei admired him all the more. He had originally thought of offering praise, but seeing Han Yin looking out the window, he swallowed the words.

  An hour later, they were at the Old Capital University campus. The first suspect they wanted to visit was Yin Aijun’s class master, Huang Chuanjun, who had really been negligent. He had been oblivious to his student being missing for nine days after her abduction.

  Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei entered the university’s security office to introduce themselves and to request assistance.

  “Is it true that the killer struck again?” the head of security asked.

  “Which killer?” asked Han Yin.

  “The one who killed Yin Aijun. Word’s going around that it’s like the serial killers from TV.”

  “Glad to hear you’ve figured it all out for us,” quipped Kang Xiaobei.

  “It’s all rumors. Just nonsense. If I’ve got it wrong, please don’t be offended.” The head of security smiled. “So how can I help?”

  “Is Yin Aijun’s class master from sixteen years ago still at the university?” asked Han Yin.

  “Yes. But he doesn’t teach now. He was reassigned to library administration. Back then, when it all came out, Huang Chuanjun was fired as class master for dereliction of duty. Shortly after that, he got divorced and was pretty depressed. The only thing the university could do was assign him to the library.”

  “Has he acted unusual recently?”

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him around much the past few years. I really hope you can catch the killer soon. Maybe the school would calm down some.”

  “Do you think we want to be here?” Kang Xiaobei asked.

  “No, I didn’t mean that you . . .” The head of security sniffed, like he was holding back his words.

  “If you’ve
got something to say, just say it,” Han Yin said with a smile.

  “For years, the rumors surrounding Yin Aijun have been a big headache for the school. All the girls living in the dorm with her were scared to come back. The university had to put them up for a while in a hotel, and they stayed there until the end of finals week. When they returned, Yin Aijun’s room was left empty. But still there was all kinds of talk about Yin Aijun haunting campus. One of her classmates said she heard someone moving in her old room. Others talked about hearing a girl crying or singing. Everyone was so afraid of her old dormitory that the university kept it unoccupied. But several years ago, multiple people saw Yin Aijun in that dormitory!”

  “What? So you’re saying Yin Aijun’s still alive?” Kang Xiaobei asked, a little frightened.

  “Later on, the university built a branch campus at the university village in the eastern suburbs, and some of the students in specialized studies transferred over there. Because Yin Aijun’s dorm was the most dilapidated, the university decided to leave it vacant and at some point rebuild the whole thing. It became a place for students to meet and socialize. But only in the daytime. After dark, it was off-limits. Even at night, security guards were too nervous to patrol around there. Around the winter of 2008, we got a new guard, and one evening he went alone to patrol the area around Dorm 4. He saw dim light coming from a window on the third floor—flickering, sometimes there, sometimes not—from room 304, the one Yin Aijun had lived in. The new guard hadn’t heard the stories about her and turned on his flashlight and went in to check it out. When he got to the third floor, he heard faint humming, like a person talking to herself. When he got to the room, he shined his flashlight into the transom window above the door. When the light beamed down on the worn iron bed, he saw a girl lying there. The girl suddenly turned and looked right at the door. Her face was ungodly pale. Bloodless. We had to send him home for a week, and soon after, he quit.

  “A month later, a couple of horny students ran into the building to make love in the middle of the night. They heard a girl crying. The couple held hands and walked toward the crying—room 304. They pushed open the door, and in the dim moonlight, they saw the same iron bed that Yin Aijun had slept on. A girl was lying on it, her hands covering her face as she sobbed. The couple described her just as the security guard had, with very short hair and a frail-looking body. She was wearing denim pants and a red quilted jacket. After that, no one dared to go into that dorm again.”

  There was silence for a while, then Han Yin said, “Can you take me to the dormitory?”

  The head of security winced. He looked at the floor. Then he looked at Han Yin and nodded.

  They crossed the campus, walking over patches of lush, green grass. The head of security led Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei out the university’s north gate and into the dormitory area, which consisted of four buildings with gray walls and reddish-brown roofs. The innermost building was overgrown with weeds. Dorm 4 was in a deplorable state. The remodeling had been abandoned when the funding fell through.

  The dorm’s main entrance had two red wooden doors with iron handles. The paint was mottled, and all the glass had been broken. They opened the creaking doors, and dust fell down. The head of security reminded Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei to watch for things underfoot as he led them up the stairs. In the silent building, their steps echoed and were unusually distinct, almost eerie.

  After fighting off dust and cobwebs, they finally came to room 304. Again, a curtain of dust fell when they pushed on the door. A concrete floor, even more dust, papers strewn everywhere. Two sets of iron bunk beds were on either side of the room, rusted and remarkably obsolete. Some had collapsed. The frames were crisscrossed with spiderwebs. There was a bottom bunk next to the window that looked much cleaner—Yin Aijun’s old bed.

  “One thing’s for certain. Someone’s been lying on that bed.” Han Yin looked out the window, lost in thought.

  Suddenly, that oppressive feeling of being intensely watched came to him again. Was it that pair of mournful eyes that appeared at North China Road, where the body parts had been left?

  Han Yin frantically searched outside the window. He only saw a few students going back and forth in the distance. No one suspicious. But that feeling was so real that he felt like he was suffocating. He turned and looked. The other two looked fine. Han Yin didn’t want to say anything more. But he felt puzzled. Why was he the only one who could feel that pair of eyes? And whose eyes were they?

  The room was not so big. Yin Aijun’s bed was the only odd one. Han Yin suggested they leave.

  They left the dorm, and Han Yin gave the head of security his business card. “If anything else strange happens, give me a call.”

  Just as he was about to take the card, the doors flew open, and a gust of wind knocked the card out of Han Yin’s hand. The card rose into the air and floated out of sight.

  “Probably didn’t shut it tight enough.” Han Yin said casually, then took out another card.

  The head of security was speechless, and he took the card with a trembling hand.

  Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei went to the library to speak with Huang Chuanjun. After getting acquainted, they found a secluded corner and sat down to talk.

  “We’re here to ask you about the latest dismemberment crime,” Han Yin said.

  Huang Chuanjun could hardly keep from thinking about Yin Aijun and bowed his head. There were tears in his eyes when he looked up.

  “I was too young then,” he said in a trembling voice. “It was the first time I was a class master, and I didn’t have much sense of responsibility. If only I had taken it more seriously and notified the university a little earlier that Yin Aijun had gone missing, maybe . . .” Huang Chuanjun covered his face, the tears flowing through his fingers.

  Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei watched silently. When Huang Chuanjun had more or less finished, Han Yin handed him a tissue.

  He didn’t take the tissue and instead roughly wiped his eyes with his palms. “I’ve always asked myself, if I’d reported this earlier, would Yin Aijun be alive? Wouldn’t the police have been able to rescue her? Every day I ask myself this, and every day I beat myself up for it. Really, I know I was wrong. I wish she could hear me say I’m sorry.”

  Huang Chuanjun was in his forties but appeared much older. His hair was mostly white and his complexion pasty, like someone suffering from a serious illness. Han Yin believed his regret was genuine, but that didn’t keep him from being a suspect.

  “Why did you get divorced?” Han Yin asked.

  Huang Chuanjun gave a shiver and said, “What does that have to do with the case?”

  “Maybe something and maybe nothing.”

  Huang Chuanjun gave him a cold look and said, “My wife thought I wouldn’t amount to anything. She took the child and remarried. Simple.”

  “Do you hate her?”

  “Naturally. Because I had loved her, that’s why I hate her.”

  “Where were you from the early morning hours of January first to the early morning hours of January fourth of this year? And what were you doing?”

  “What? You think I’m the killer?”

  “Answer the question!” snapped Kang Xiaobei.

  Beads of sweat rolled down Huang Chuanjun’s forehead. He looked even more displeased. Finally, doing all he could to control himself, he blinked and said, “Nothing much. I was alone. Apart from going to the market to get food, I was at home, reading.”

  “What were you reading?”

  “Um . . . I don’t really remember.” Huang Chuanjun wiped his forehead.

  Han Yin stared at him for few moments. He said, “Tell me about the male students in the class.”

  Huang Chuanjun looked relieved at the change of subject, and his tone softened. “That year, the class had ten male students. I only taught them for a few months. I didn’t know much about them, and I know even less about what they’re doing now. But after the class leader graduated, the university retained him. You can find ou
t more from him.”

  Han Yin gave Huang Chuanjun another penetrating look, then handed him his business card. “If you think of anything, give me a call.”

  Before leaving the library, Han Yin asked Huang Chuanjun about this class leader. His name was Liu Xiangming, a local who started out as a professor and then requested a transfer to the Student Department after finding teaching too boring. At first, he performed pretty well there. Later he got hooked on playing the stock market and lost all interest in his day job. His superiors demoted him to clerk. He was married young and got divorced six months later. Some of the female professors expressed interest in him, but he turned them all down.

  When they arrived at the Student Department, Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei immediately recognized Liu Xiangming. He was tall and handsome, with gel in his meticulously parted hair, giving the impression of roguishness. His eyes glowed as he stared at the K-line candlestick charts. Han Yin and Kang Xiaobei stood next to him for some time, and Liu Xiangming was not aware of them. When they greeted him, he irritably dismissed them.

  A woman nearby said, “He doesn’t do office work from nine thirty to two thirty, but I can help.”

  “Wrong, wrong! I don’t receive visitors before three,” he said.

  This set Kang Xiaobei off, and he dangled his badge in front of Liu Xiangming’s monitor.

  Liu Xiangming finally looked up. After many apologies, he invited the two policemen to sit down.

  “You two gentlemen have come to ask about Yin Aijun, I guess? I heard the killer’s at it again. That’s just too fucking much! Sixteen years before, you let him get away. Don’t blow it this time!”

  Even without an official report, people had started spreading the word and generally assumed it was the same killer. It was probably because of Yin Aijun that the faculty and students were closely watching this case. Han Yin had the feeling everyone had been prepared for this visit, from the head of security to the former class master.

  Han Yin smiled and said, “Are you happy working in the Student Department?”