A Devil's Mind

by Gangxueyin

  The station chief walked over and said, “Young Liang, please take your mother home. We don’t know for sure if it’s your sister or not. We’ll notify you as soon as there’s news.”

  When the station chief turned around, Han Yin and Gu Feifei were standing there. He was very happy to hear that they were from the J City Public Security Bureau. He told them his station had just sent someone to J City to discuss this case.

  Station Chief Cai introduced Han Yin and Gu Feifei to the high-ranking officers. One was Q City’s Public Security Bureau deputy bureau chief, Yu Bo. The other was the Municipal Criminal Investigation Division chief, Fang Dawei, the deputy head of the Gaoshen Village Serial Killer Case task force.

  The victim of the first murder had been Li Lan, who worked at the town government’s Forestry Bureau. The second was Zhang Dan, who worked in the town’s Electricity Administration. Zhang Dan had been married to a local boy and lived with his parents. And Teacher Zhao’s missing daughter was the kindergarten teacher and lived with her husband in the center of town. All three women had very positive work evaluations. None of them had had affairs or had been in any recent altercations. The three of them had been born the same year as Yin Aijun, had been classmates in the same primary school, and had gotten along well. The task force had connected this with Yin Aijun’s grievous murder many years before and suspected J City’s killer had repeated that crime with the Wang Li murder. Thus, the task force was considering if there might be a connection in the village.

  This was precisely what Han Yin now wanted to clarify. He reported the situation back to Ye Xi. She requested instructions from bureau leadership, who said that Han Yin would investigate the crimes in Gaoshen Village. If he found the two crimes were connected, J City would immediately assign additional man power and work with Q City to solve the cases. Ye Xi told Han Yin to rest easy: J City would continue its investigation and would inform him of any new developments right away. So Han Yin stayed in Gaoshen Village, and Gu Feifei drove back to J City to perform the DNA tests.

  By evening, the results of the forensic tests were revealed. Aside from the DNA evidence, which needed more time, all the other evidence showed that the corpse in the gunnysack that was hauled from the river was Teacher Zhao’s daughter, Liu Xiao’e. The strangulation marks on her neck and damage to the internal organs were identical to those of the two earlier crimes. She’d been strangled to death. In all three crimes, the victims had been decapitated. The body had been cut in half, and there were signs of violent sexual assault. Considering the vaginal tearing, hemorrhaging, and trauma to the other parts of the body, it was determined that sexual penetration had occurred after death. Also, flesh had been cut away from Liu Xiao’e’s thighs. None of the victims’ valuables had been taken, and no heads had been found. The dismemberment tool was confirmed to be a large machete-like blade, with no evidence left by the killer.

  The killer had also carved a symbol into each of the three victims’ chests. Li Lan’s chest had a horizontal bar (—). Zhang Dan had a vertical one (|). And Liu Xiao’e had a horizontal one (-) about half the length of the one on Li Lan’s chest.

  Gaoshen Village was a little over a mile from the town center. The victims, Li Lan and Zhang Dan, usually traveled to and from work on their scooters. On the days the women disappeared, their scooters were found parked at their places of work. Liu Xiao’e lived in town, only a five- or six-minute walk from work. All three women were kidnapped at the time of day when foot and vehicular traffic were at their busiest. No one saw the kidnappings happen. There were no indications that the bodies had been tied up and no evidence of resistance. Considering all this, Han Yin decided the victim’s friend or acquaintance had committed these crimes.

  The killer had abducted the victims in town but got rid of the headless corpses in the village. The corpse-dumping behavior implied an extreme expression of rage. And such emotions were all the more apparent with the second dumping site at the village committee, a symbol of power and authority. The killer left Zhang Dan’s corpse there as an expression of intense dissatisfaction with the village. From this, Han Yin deduced the killer either lived in Gaoshen Village or had once lived there. The killer felt the frustrations and setbacks he experienced were due to the unfair treatment by the victims or the village.

  The act of necrophilia embodies a violent lust to possess, and cutting off the head is a type of execution, connoting judgment. The combination of necrophilia and the information he’d learned about the deceased told Han Yin that the judgment was not aimed at the victims’ morality, but rather at how they treated the killer. Similarly, collecting heads is an act of possession. All this showed that the victims certainly had some kind of interaction with the killer.

  The symbols the killer left on the chests of the victims was some kind of message, perhaps his way of leaving a ritualized marker signifying that this will continue. There was no information yet to determine if these crimes were connected to the Wang Li and the Yin Aijun cases. Han Yin needed to establish points of interaction between the three victims and Yin Aijun. He believed there had to be some place where their lives intersected, and that information would, he hoped, lead to the killer.

  That night, Han Yin stayed at Qianyan Town’s police station dormitory. Early the next morning, he had a brief session with the task force; then he and Chief Cai prepared to visit some people in the village.

  They hadn’t gone too far when Chief Cai’s cell phone rang. Upon taking the call, he did a quick U-turn and rushed through the center of town to a commercial street with a wedding photography studio. It was one of the larger establishments in that district, with a floor-to-ceiling plate-glass window that had originally housed two mannequins that displayed bridal gowns and tuxedos. The glass had been shattered, and only the groom mannequin was left. The bridal gown had been peeled off the female mannequin and thrown on the ground.

  The reason Chief Cai had rushed to the scene was because the studio manager was the younger sister of the wife of one of his bosses, and he had no choice. Thus, Chief Cai made a big show of taking notes. He checked the crime scene and said he’d definitely make time to solve the case. He said it was just some punk teenager who had nothing better to do.

  It was just about noon when they entered the village and headed for Teacher Zhao’s house.

  The layout of the house was the same as the Yin family’s: kitchen in the middle and two sleeping quarters each were on the east and west sides. Teacher Zhao’s eyes were swollen and red, and her face was pallid. She lay feebly on a big bed in the east wing. Her eyes were without expression as she stared at the ceiling. When Chief Cai and Han Yin entered, she didn’t react at all.

  Her son, Liu Liang, was filling dumplings at a small table by her bed. He apologetically invited Han Yin and Chief Cai to sit, and said in a low voice, “Ever since my sister went missing, my ma hasn’t eaten or drank anything. After she heard the news yesterday, she cried all night. I thought I’d make her favorite dumplings and get her to eat a little something; otherwise I’m worried her body won’t hold up.”

  “Right, right!” Chief Cai said. “Teacher Zhao, you can’t go on like this! You’ve got to eat!”

  When she heard Chief Cai’s voice, Teacher Zhao nodded. Then she started to weep. All Chief Cai and Han Yin could do was keep her company and wait for the episode to subside.

  After a while, Teacher Zhao stopped crying. Han Yin said, “We really apologize for disturbing you at a time like this. We hope to catch the killer very soon and hope you can assist us by answering a few questions. Would that be all right?”

  “Uh-huh.” Supported by Chief Cai, Teacher Zhao forced herself into a sitting position and leaned against the headboard. “Go ahead.” She was barely able to croak out a word or two.

  “Had your daughter given anyone in the village reason to hold a grudge against her?”

  “No. Never,” she said, without a second thought. She shook her head and added, “My daughter was on good terms with e
veryone. She’d always been a good student and was very levelheaded. Everyone in the village liked her. She went on to a good university, and after graduating, she came back to this little town to work. The town thought highly of her and made her the head of the kindergarten. The children tried to model themselves after her.”

  “How did she get along with her husband?”

  “Very well. They never fought. They had a very warm and harmonious relationship.”

  “The day Liu Xiao’e disappeared, we questioned the husband. He wouldn’t have had time to commit the crime,” said Chief Cai.

  Han Yin looked at him, nodded, and continued his questioning. “How did your daughter get along with Li Lan and Zhang Dan?”

  “Very well. They grew up together and were all in my class. They came here to play almost every day. And that child, Aijun, she was my favorite of all. She was so well behaved, very grounded, and always eager to get ahead. Oh! What a pity! Such an unfortunate thing!”

  The three victims, along with Yin Aijun, were all the same age, in the same class at primary school, and were all good friends. Now there was another connection: their teacher in primary school had been Teacher Zhao. Is this why the killer chose them?

  Han Yin pondered this for a moment. Then he asked, “Did you have the impression that they may have done something they shouldn’t have to someone?”

  “How could they? Those kids were so nice and had such good manners. Especially my Xiao’e. She’d never hurt anyone!” At the mention of her daughter, Teacher Zhao again burst into tears.

  Han Yin couldn’t bring himself to go on with the questioning, so he and Chief Cai thanked her for her help and left.

  Han Yin and Chief Cai found a small place that served food. However, just when their lunch arrived, Chief Cai’s phone rang. Upon answering, a shocked expression came over his face. He pulled out a one-hundred-yuan bill, threw it on the table, and waved Han Yin to follow him out of the restaurant. As he started the car, Chief Cai exclaimed, “Something’s happened at Teacher Zhao’s place!”

  They rushed over to her home and burst inside. Teacher Zhao was passed out, with bits of saliva at the corners of her mouth. Liu Liang, his face soaked in tears, was on his hands and knees, vomiting uncontrollably.

  Chief Cai pulled him up to his feet and asked, “What’s going on?”

  Liu Liang fell limp into the chief’s arms, trembled, and pointed to the dumplings on the table. “The du-du-dump-lings . . . I a-ate someone’s finger. My ma . . . thinks it wa-was my sister’s. Is the me-me-meat in the du-dumplings m-m-my sister?”

  21

  HUMAN DUMPLINGS

  After Han Yin and Chief Cai left, Liu Liang had busied himself with the dumplings. Teacher Zhao appreciated her son’s gesture and decided to eat a few dumplings for his sake. When she bit into a fingernail, she fainted. Liu Liang immediately called Chief Cai.

  Chief Cai and Han Yin stayed behind to comfort the terrified Liu Liang. Then Chief Cai drove Teacher Zhao to the village clinic.

  Han Yin scrutinized Liu Liang, sitting in shock on the edge of the bed. “Where did you get the meat for the dumplings?”

  “I went out to buy vegetables this morning and saw a bag of meat hanging on the gate. I thought maybe a kindhearted person from the village had left it. So I brought it in and cut it up and made dumplings with it,” said Liu Liang, looking very distressed.

  “And the rest of it?”

  Liu Liang pointed. “I put it in the refrigerator.”

  Han Yin studied Liu Liang. “What do you do?”

  “I drive a van. I do a little trading.”

  “What kind of trading?”

  “Small foods I get at the wholesale market in the city. I sell it to the little shops in the villages. In the summer, I also run a wholesale ice cream, Popsicle, and drink business.”

  “How’s business?”

  “Not bad.” Liu Liang managed to squeeze out a smile.

  “How old are you? Do you have a girlfriend?”

  “Two years younger than my sister. Thirty-three this year. I don’t have a girlfriend yet. I want to establish myself before starting a family. Wait until my business gets big enough.”

  Han Yin tightened his lips and nodded. Just then, Chief Cai came back.

  “How’s my mother doing?” Liu Liang asked him.

  “Relax. It’s nothing. Just a terrible shock. After the IV drip, she’ll be fine.” The chief tried to put him at ease. “So, where did the meat come from?”

  Han Yin explained on behalf of Liu Liang. Chief Cai had Liu Liang remove the rest of the meat from the refrigerator, and he took it away in the same bag it had been left in. Then he and Han Yin rushed to the Public Security Bureau’s forensic medicine department to conduct tests on the meat.

  The forensic pathologist said that based on the fibers and muscle tissue, it was probably human flesh. It conformed to the missing part on the thigh of the most recent victim. Further confirmation would require DNA testing.

  So it seemed the meat used for the dumplings came from Teacher Zhao’s daughter, Liu Xiao’e. This killer was extremely brutal and ruthless, and Han Yin wondered what kind of deep hatred had made him so utterly devoid of conscience. It was clear now that the killer’s target had not merely been the three girls, but also Teacher Zhao. Maybe a classmate or schoolmate of the three victims who had also been taught by Teacher Zhao? Han Yin suggested to Chief Cai that he assign some man power to protect the teacher and check the classmates of the three girls during their childhood and any male schoolmates still living in Gaoshen Village. Also, Han Yin was unsure about Liu Liang. The explanation he gave about the “meat” seemed farfetched, and Han Yin wasn’t buying it.

  Han Yin related this suspicion to Chief Cai and was surprised when the chief waved him off, saying there was no way Liu Liang was the killer. “I’m pretty clear about what goes on here. That neighborhood had been my beat for five years. I knew Teacher Zhao when she was the first person in Gaoshen to have passed the university entrance exam. When she graduated, she turned down the chance to teach in a big city and returned to teach here in her hometown. That was when Gaoshen was really poor, and the primary school was extremely rudimentary. Apart from her, the only formal teacher, we had a few community-sponsored teachers who weren’t very educated. Thus, the teaching responsibilities of the entire school fell on Teacher Zhao’s shoulders. Later, she married one of those local teachers and gave birth to Liu Xiao’e and Liu Liang. Sometime in the eighties, they filed for divorce, apparently incompatible. After that, she raised the kids all by herself and taught at the primary school until she retired.” He paused. “Rural folks are pretty simple. They understand gratitude. The entire village, men and women, old and young, all feel total respect for Teacher Zhao. People who grow fresh vegetables or fruit or who slaughter pigs or cows or goats, they all give Teacher Zhao a part of it. Some don’t go into the house and just leave the food by the gate and quietly leave. What Liu Liang explained about the meat is nothing surprising. I have no problem believing it.”

  What the chief said made sense and dispelled Han Yin’s suspicion of Liu Liang. Now they needed to conduct precise investigations targeting the students Teacher Zhao taught who had also been classmates of the victims and were still living in the village.

  According to the Gaoshen Village primary school records, that class had thirty students—fourteen girls and sixteen boys. The task force discovered that eleven of these male students still lived in the village and summoned them all to the police station. They were questioned, one by one, about their whereabouts at the times of the three killings. This questioning lasted an entire night. When the last transcript had been completed, it was almost six o’clock. Then they had to go into the village again to take the depositions of the eleven suspects.

  After an entire night in the stuffy police station, Han Yin and Chief Cai went out for some air, and the whole neighborhood felt misty. Puddles had collected. Apparently, it had rained heavily during the night
.

  They stretched their backs and breathed in the fresh air; it felt wonderfully pleasant. Their stomachs started to rumble. The station chief suggested bowls of fresh meat wonton broth. Then, Chief Cai’s phone rang. It was Liu Liang. Chief Cai had an ominous feeling.

  Liu Liang shouted, “Chief Cai, please come quickly. Someone’s head’s in our yard!”

  22

  THE HEADS THAT TILTED UPWARD

  Earlier that morning, having returned home from the clinic the previous evening, Teacher Zhao pushed open the two windows of her bedroom and stared at her little courtyard, entranced. After the overnight rain, the village air was fresh and clear. For the past several days, she had been overwhelmed by the grievous news of the violence done to her daughter and was utterly exhausted. Her body, which had been thin and weak, now seemed even more frail.

  A great rainfall had swept the yard clean. Everywhere smelled of mud. Pearls of rainwater were still dripping from the tiled eaves. All the trees, shrubs, and flowers were wet. Not far from the window, the peony bushes had fallen over, unable to withstand the savagery of the storm, and their buds lay soaking in shallow puddles. This was Teacher Zhao’s favorite flower, and she couldn’t help going out to prop up the stems. Once outside, she saw something sticking out of the ground, covered in mud. She lightly rubbed the dirt from the object and let out a piercing shriek and fell to the ground and into blackness.

  Her neighbors came running. One of them pounded the courtyard gate while another jumped over the wall. Liu Liang sprang out of bed and ran outside. They all saw Teacher Zhao lying on the ground, a severed head beside her.

  Again, the sound of police sirens sounded through this seemingly cursed peasant village.