by Zijin Chen
Down the road, not far from the shop, the thug with the dyed fauxhawk said, “That bitch keeps prying in our business. I’m going to go to her shop today and teach her a lesson.”
“You gonna do it? With her?” his friend said, egging him on.
His lips curled into a demonic smile. “Oh yeah, sooner or later. Last time I asked her she said no. But damn, she is hot! Daddy won’t take no for an answer.”
Chapter 4
The evening was still very bright, as if the sun couldn’t bear to set. The scorching late-afternoon heat cooled down slowly.
A few retired folks sat on a bench, enjoying the cool air along a small river in the west side of the city. A young couple walked their poodle at a leisurely pace. A preschooler ran towards a dog. Her mother shouted after her to stop. Over by the bus stop, a college-aged couple seemed in the midst of an argument.
As night fell, the pace of the city slowed.
Luo Wen walked straight ahead at his usual pace with his head down, wearing his cross-body bag. He didn’t look at anyone around him, not even a striking young woman in a miniskirt who was laughing with her friends. Nothing could break his focus.
Luo lived in the suburbs, in a neighborhood called the Village in the City. It was a residential district where the rent was very reasonable and attracted a lot of young professionals.
Just outside of the district was a row of storefronts, mostly restaurants and shops selling fresh fruit.
As was his custom, he walked into a place called Chongqing Noodles and ordered a bowl of pian’er chuan, noodles with bamboo shoots and pork.
The noodle shop was owned by Zhu Fulai, a thin man from Chongqing, and his younger sister. He had a bad leg, so he didn’t interact with the customers much, just prepared the food. His sister was called Zhu Huiru. Her parents named her Huiru, hui meaning “intelligent” and ru meaning “one who is like,” in the hopes that she would grow up to be very clever. Huiru lived up to her name. She ran the front of the house, greeting customers and making deliveries.
While he waited for his food, Luo Wen fished his wallet out of his pocket and reached for a well-worn photograph. It showed a much younger-looking Luo, standing next to his wife. She was a little plain, but Luo loved her deeply. In front, there was a pouting four-year-old girl unaware that the picture was being taken.
Luo smiled briefly and put his wallet away, his eyes blank.
They had been missing for eight years. His daughter would be in the sixth grade by now. Were they still alive?
For eight years, he had investigated every possible lead. He had quit his job as the director of the Forensic Science and Material Evidence departments. By resigning, he gave up his title as Zhejiang Public Security Bureau forensics expert, but he needed to do so in order to devote more time to finding answers.
Three years ago, the fragmentary evidence took him from Ningbo all the way to Hangzhou. He had no idea how long he would keep living like this. Even though there was only a tiny glimmer of hope, he felt like he had to keep searching. But what would he do when there was no hope left?
A voice behind him called, “Fulai, this dog was being abused. Can we keep him?”
Huiru carried a small, quivering dog whose straw-colored fur was covered in blood.
In the kitchen, Fulai looked at the dog disapprovingly. “What are you doing bringing that in here? Can’t you see how dirty he is? Get rid of him. Now.”
“No!” Huiru cried, though she seemed to have expected this answer. “Those thugs almost killed the poor thing.”
“Thugs? Don’t go looking for trouble, Sis.” Fulai shot her a worried look. “I wouldn’t provoke them if I were you.”
“But I didn’t provoke them,” she said. “They were going to kill the dog. Everybody thought it was cruel!”
Guo Yu came in and asked for a bowl of noodles but shut up when he saw they were in the middle of a fight.
Fulai carried a bowl of noodles to Luo’s table. He turned and frowned at the dog. “Just get rid of the dog and don’t talk to those guys again!” he said more forcefully.
“I couldn’t just stand there, could I? Besides, if we get rid of him now, he’ll die in the street. Let’s at least wait until he’s a little bigger before we give him away.”
“Why did nobody else step in? Why did it have to be you?”
“Somebody had to take care of him.”
“You can’t take care of him!” Fulai shouted. He returned to the kitchen and started on the next orders. Still angry, Huiru put the dog gently back on the floor. The dog tried to stand and immediately collapsed. With great effort, he crawled towards Luo’s table and hid, eyes filled with fear.
Luo leaned down. It was a mutt, not particularly special, with grayish-yellow fur and a white spot in the middle of his forehead like a third eye.
Luo was startled by a sudden flood of memories.
Eight years ago, he had come home from work to find that there was a new guest in his house—a little mutt. He wasn’t much of an animal lover, so he pulled his daughter aside, explaining that the dog was dirty and she shouldn’t play with him and that they would have to get rid of him. His daughter started to cry loudly and his wife stepped in, refusing to abandon the dog. They had found him on the side of the road, where he had been hit by a car. His wife and daughter decided to bring him home, at least until his wounds healed. His daughter had clearly fallen in love with the dog. She had never had a pet before. Luo had no choice but to give in to her pleas. He even used his background in medicine to help heal the dog’s wounds.
Just a few months later, his wife and daughter went missing, and the dog with them.
He remembered the golden mutt quite clearly. He had a white spot just like the dog quivering in front of him.
Luo’s heart constricted just looking into the dog’s little eyes. He picked a slice of meat out of his bowl with his chopsticks, leaned towards the dog, and put the meat in front of him. After hesitating for a few moments, the dog gobbled it up.
Luo smiled. He turned to Huiru. “Would you mind if I took the dog?”
Huiru recognized Luo as a frequent customer who rarely spoke to her or her brother. “You want to keep him?” She sounded uncertain.
Luo nodded. “I could nurse him back to health. I promise to take good care of him.”
Before Huiru could respond, Fulai shouted from the kitchen, “Fantastic! Huiru, give this gentleman a box so he can take the dog home.”
Huiru hesitated, but eventually went back to the kitchen to get a nice box for the dog.
Almost immediately, Luo regretted his decision. He needed to concentrate; he didn’t have time for a dog. But when he looked into the eyes of the little mutt still crouching in the corner, he smiled again. If his daughter were here, she would have wanted him to keep him.
Luo had just finished paying and was about to pick up the box with the mutt when the two thugs burst into the noodle shop. The leader with the fauxhawk, disdainfully nicknamed Yellow Head by local residents, looked at Huiru menacingly and said, “What did you do with my dog?” Then he looked down at the box and smiled.
As Yellow Head bent down, Luo used his foot to pull the box closer.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Yellow Head said aggressively.
“Is this dog yours?” Luo asked calmly.
“Yeah! Give it back!”
“I see. Would you be interested in selling him to me?”
“Sell him to you?” The thug quickly took stock of Luo. He didn’t want to be too rash, since he could tell Luo was older and not the kind of person who could be easily bullied. He finally said, “OK, three hundred yuan. We have been feeding this dog for several months, ever since he was born. He’s going to be really strong—”
Luo interrupted him. “Three hundred? No problem.” He reached for his wallet and took out three pink notes.
Yellow Head was surprised to find that Luo was so eager to spend three hundred yuan on a mutt, and after accepting the money,
regretted not asking for more. Maybe the idiot would have paid five hundred without batting an eye. But after earning three hundred yuan for nothing, he sat with his friend at the next table and shouted, “Two bowls of bao shan mian!”
“No way,” Huiru said angrily. “You still haven’t paid for the last five bowls of noodles you ordered.”
“For fuck’s sake . . .” Yellow Head complained.
Worried for his sister, Fulai limped to the table. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Huiru! Go to the kitchen.” He turned back to the thugs. “I’ll make it right now.”
“No!” Huiru cried. “Why would you let them eat for free? They’ve done this so many times already! Last time when I delivered their food, they didn’t pay, and they . . .” She faltered.
“We what? That was just petting. You’ve been touched by a man before, haven’t you?” Yellow Head broke into a wily smile.
Fulai had a look of helplessness on his face. He had suffered from his lame leg ever since he was a kid and was used to being bullied. He had learned to swallow his anger instead of fighting back. Now, Fulai gritted his teeth and gently pulled his sister’s hand to stop her from saying anything else.
Sitting at the next table, Guo Yu couldn’t take it—humiliating Huiru was the last straw. He smacked his chopsticks down on the table. Staring at the thugs, he tried to look as menacing as possible.
Hearing the sound of the chopsticks on the table, Yellow Head turned and saw Guo Yu glaring at him. He immediately stood up.
“What are you looking at, shrimp?” He stepped towards Guo Yu’s table and pointed in his face. “You trying to protect the noodle girl? I don’t fucking believe this.”
Guo Yu, only briefly carried away by his emotions, became frightened. His cowardly side took control, and he lowered his head submissively.
“If you don’t have the balls, then don’t fucking stare at people, got it?” Yellow Head saw that this was someone who was easy to bully. He smacked the back of Guo Yu’s head and swaggered back to his seat.
Huiru gave the thugs a hateful look, which they ignored, and quickly went to Guo Yu’s table. “Are you OK?”
Guo Yu tried not to blush. He leaned his head forward. “I’m—I’m fine.”
Luo watched the entire episode from start to finish without a word. He stared at Yellow Head and his friend for a few seconds, shook his head, and laughed it off before picking up the box and leaving.
Chapter 5
The key members of the homicide special task force sat in a conference room at the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau.
Investigator Yang Xuejun reported the latest developments of the investigation. “According to Dr. Chen, the time of death was confirmed to be between 11:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. The victim’s details are as follows. Name: Sun Hongyun. Age: forty-five. Place of birth: Shandong. He has a criminal record; he served four years in Shandong for theft at the age of nineteen, then seven years for intentional assault when he was twenty-five. A year later he was released from prison, and he moved to Hangzhou to live for ten years. He began to sell stolen property and got involved in the freight business in west Hangzhou with a number of partners. Over several years, he managed to corner the steel market by threatening people and repeatedly breaking the law. Last year he fought with a truck driver and seriously injured him. He just got out of prison last year and was known to be vicious.”
Yang looked up to make sure everyone was listening and continued. “He had two mistresses in Hangzhou. According to our investigation, neither of them knew what happened last night. We interrogated some of his assistants, who claimed that his schedule was irregular. Last night he was in west Hangzhou, eating street food with friends. They walked home together until they reached Wenyi West Road, at which point he continued by himself. When he reached the grassy area, he apparently decided to relieve himself and was attacked by the killer. He was pulled to the concrete area of the greenbelt and died of strangulation. The lab results confirmed urine found at the crime scene belonged to Mr. Sun. None of the people who were with him last night noticed anything out of the ordinary in his behavior. Still, we are going to interrogate each one to see if any of them should be included as suspects.”
“Did anyone else know that he would be walking home alone on Wenyi West Road?” Captain Zhao asked.
Investigator Yang shook his head. “We asked Mr. Sun’s friends, and they said that going for street food that night was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Nobody could have predicted what time they would finish eating, whether or not he would walk home alone, or what street he would take to get there.”
“That means the killer followed him all the way to Wenyi West instead of waiting for him in the grassy area,” Captain Zhao said, nodding.
“That’s what I thought,” Investigator Yang said. “But when we asked the victim’s friends, they said they didn’t have the feeling that they were being followed. It seems the killer must have been extremely careful. There aren’t a lot of surveillance cameras in that area, but I contacted the traffic police, and we are looking at the available footage to see if there are any suspicious types worth investigating.”
“In the last four cases, the footage did not provide any suspects. Besides, the cameras around Wenyi West Road are all pointed towards the street. They do not cover sidewalks or grass, leaving plenty of blind spots. I’m not expecting any breakthroughs. But we still have to check,” Captain Zhao said.
He turned to Chen. “Old Chen, you checked the entire crime scene. Did you find any prints?”
“Footprints generally aren’t preserved on concrete, and it looks like the killer deliberately cleared the area of any traces. The footprints on the greenbelt are well preserved, but we didn’t find a single footprint that matched the killer.”
Captain Zhao pressed his lips into his characteristic thin line and looked around. “So the killer pulled the victim over seventy-five feet but didn’t leave a footprint. Any ideas, guys?”
Everyone was at a loss. It seemed impossible, unless the killer could fly. Zhao scratched his chin.
They all sat in silence and thought. Finally Zhao said, “Please remember that this part of the case is strictly confidential. Make sure to tell everyone in the special task force that the lack of footprint evidence is not to be leaked.”
Noticing the clear confusion on his team’s faces, he explained. “If it gets out that the killer pulled the victim that far and didn’t leave a footprint, the rumor mill will kick into high gear. If the media give the killer some exaggerated nickname, it would drive the city into a panic. That will only put more pressure on us to solve the case.”
Everyone nodded. Most of them had been in the force for a long time and believed in evidence above all else. They knew the killer couldn’t fly; he had simply devised a way to make it look like he didn’t walk on the grass. Unfortunately the average resident in Hangzhou did not think so rationally. Once a rumor got started, it wreaked havoc for the police.
As captain of his division, Zhao oversaw several hundred officers. If he couldn’t crack the case, he wouldn’t be reprimanded, but he would lose a little face. Still, he was desperate for a promotion to deputy chief of the Zhejiang Public Security Bureau, and pressure from the public would not help.
Zhao went on. “Let’s put this aside. When you leave this room, you can think about possible ways to not leave footprints. But right now I would like to summarize the similarities between the five cases. First, all of the victims were ex-convicts, and their crimes were moderate to severe: rape, theft, and intentional assault.”
One of the more experienced officers spoke up. “Captain Zhao, do you think the killer could be taking the law into his own hands?”
“The killings we typically deal with are cases of manslaughter. It is obvious that the five cases were not accidents. The two most common motives for murder are theft and revenge. The victims were still in possession of all of their property when they were found, so that leaves us with revenge. However, our inves
tigation of the previous cases shows that there is no relation between the victims. So the revenge motive doesn’t hold up. When we eliminate the three most common motives and consider that all of the victims had criminal records, I think it’s very likely that the killer wanted to kill in the name of righteousness.”
“I’ve looked at the records of the five victims,” Yang said. “Their punishments were reasonable. None of them got off easy.”
“Perhaps the killer thought that they deserved the death penalty,” Zhao answered.
A criminal psychologist nodded. “I would venture that the killer thinks he is working in the name of justice or even in the name of God. He has no respect for the judgment given by the law.”
One of the older officers shook his head. “One of the victims was just a thief. The killer would be crazy to think that theft warrants the death penalty!”
Zhao paused. The old officer had a point. “Let’s put aside the question of motive,” Zhao said. “It won’t help us learn anything about the characteristics of the killer. Let’s move to the second characteristic present in all five cases. After committing the crime, the killer always leaves his weapon close to the victim. And why does the killer always use a jump rope instead of a knife? A jump rope isn’t foolproof. The killer might fail to carry out his plan if the victim puts up a good fight.”
Zhao’s assistants all shook their heads and shrugged. If someone wanted to commit a murder, a knife was the easiest and most reliable way to do it, since guns were all but impossible to obtain. Why would the killer make the job more difficult by using a jump rope?
“The third characteristic is that the jump rope is always the same, with wooden handles,” Zhao continued. “In every case, the killer left clear fingerprints on the handles. He doesn’t seem to be the least bit worried that those fingerprints could incriminate him. Why?”
Yang ventured a guess. “Maybe he didn’t realize that leaving his fingerprints would be risky?”