by Lei Mi
Could it have been a clue to the next murder?
He looked at the symbol on the left, the "9" with a line through the middle, and shook his head.
If Deng Linyue had been six and he had been seven, then there was no way the next one could be "nine". Therefore, the symbol before him most likely wasn't nine.
Besides, this 9 had been written very strangely. Not only was there a line through the middle, but also, unlike the way most people write 9; where the bottom half slants slightly to the left, this one ran straight down, almost perpendicular to the ground.
Rather than a 9, could it instead be the letter q?
As for the one on the right, no matter how he looked, it appeared to be an A.
Then if they were both letters, why was one uppercase and the other lowercase?
While Fang Mu was racking his brains over this question, Deng Linyue's reflection suddenly appeared in the glass.
She had been dancing for a while, and now her face was red from the heat and she kept fanning her neck with her collar. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing really."
"Why aren't you over there having fun?"
He laughed. "I can't dance. You should go enjoy yourself; don't worry about me."
She covered his hand with her own. "Then I won't go either," she said softly. "I'll stay here with you."
At that moment, the student who was emceeing the party called loudly, "Next we're going to exchange presents. Time to show your S.O. how deep your love goes!"
Taking her hand away, Deng Linyue rifled excitedly through her bag. In the blink of an eye, she was holding a small gold-colored metal box.
She presented it to Fang Mu. "This is for you! Merry Christmas!"
"Oh, thank you." Taking the beautifully-made box from her, Fang Mu saw that the word "Zippo" was written on the side. He understood: It was a lighter.
"Open it up and took a look." Deng Linyue's chin was resting on her palms, her elbows on the table, an expectant look in her eyes.
He opened the box. Inside was a limited-edition Eternal Star Zippo. He knew its market price had to be over 1,200 renminbi. Lifting the cover, he flicked the flint wheel, and a flame whooshed out of the top of the lighter.
"Like it?" she asked, winking at him. "But I still don't want you to smoke too many cigarettes. Now, how about mine?"
Fang Mu hesitated for a moment, then handed her the wrapped box.
Beaming, Deng Linyue undid the wrapping paper. As she took out the box, a boy at the next table noticed it and snorted derisively. Looking over, Fang Mu saw that the boy was just placing a ring on his girlfriend's finger.
"Wow, how beautiful," Deng Linyue said, ignoring the boy. She smiled and held the music box to her heart. "Where's the on switch? Oh, don't tell me; I want to find it." Reaching under the box, she flipped it on and the music began to play.
The streetlight glowed. The snowflakes whirled.
She set the globe on the table and resting her chin on her crossed arms, watching the two sweethearts press together at the center of the snow globe. She watched all the way though, until the song ended.
"I love it," she said, carefully placing the music box in her bag. She looked up at Fang Mu and smiled sweetly. "Thank you."
At the next table, the girl was complaining that the ring was too small. Sweating, the boy there finally managed to squeeze it onto her pinky.
Seeing this, Fang Mu and Deng Linyue couldn't help but look at each other and laugh.
Du Yu and Zhang Yao walked over, arm in arm. She had given him a pair of Nike basketball shoes and he already had them on.
"What do you think? They're Scottie Pippen Nike Air Throwbacks. Slick, huh?" Du Yu smiled with pleasure.
"Enough," said Zhang Yao with a smile. "Look how pleased you are with yourself." She nudged his head playfully, and then turned to Deng Linyue. "Linyue, we're going to go do karaoke soon. You guys should come!"
Deng Linyue looked at Fang Mu, as if waiting for his approval.
Du Yu pulled Fang Mu over to him and said, "You don't need to ask – he's coming for sure!"
Three cabs pulled up out front of the Night Flyer karaoke club and let out more than a dozen young people. Before Fang Mu had even gotten out, he saw Du Yu emerge from the cab ahead of him talking on his cell phone. A few seconds later, however, whoever he was speaking to must have hung up, leaving Du Yu staring at the screen with a baffled look on his face. When Zhang Yao walked over to find out what was going on, the phone suddenly rang again. Although Du Yu picked it up and said "Hello" a few times, it seemed as if the person on the other end wasn't saying a word, so he hung it up and shrugged at Zhang Yao. She just stood there, a suspicious look on her face.
Everyone else then filed into the club, leaving only Fang Mu, Deng Linyue, Du Yu, and Zhang Yao outside. Gesturing wildly, Du Yu was trying to explain something to Zhang Yao, but she just smiled coldly, as if she didn't believe anything he was saying.
Deng Linyue walked over and said something to Zhang Yao, and then clasped Fang Mu's arm and led him into the club.
"What happened?" he asked her.
"I don't know; probably some kind of misunderstanding. We should just go inside and let them be for now," she told him. "Zhang Yao said that she'd come in soon."
After renting two private rooms and ordering beer and snacks, everyone began belting out the karaoke tunes. Unable to withstand the peer pressure, Fang Mu joined in and sang I Haven't Loved You Enough with Deng Linyue.
Du Yu and Zhang Yao never came back inside.
Eventually, Fang Mu called Du Yu, but he didn't pick up. Deng Linyue then called Zhang Yao, but she didn't answer either. Beginning to worry, Fang Mu grabbed his coat and said he was going to look for them. When some of the other boys heard this, however, they all sat him back down on the couch, laughing.
"Come on," one said. "Those two have been together for a long time. It's Christmas Eve; why do you want to disturb them tonight?"
Thinking it over, Fang Mu had to agree. If the two of them had gone to a hotel together, then he would clearly just be spoiling the fun.
By 3 a.m., everyone was exhausted. Unable to hold out any longer, several people had already fallen asleep on the couch, slumped at odd angles. Those who still hadn't had enough were singing tiredly or sitting around the table, drinking beer and chatting.
When someone suggested they tell scary stories, the others immediately agreed.
So people began regaling each other with tales of mountain village zombies and haunted offices. A few of the more cowardly girls hid behind their boyfriends' backs, revealing only their eyes as they listened in abject terror.
"Aw, that's all a bunch of bull," said one of the boys. "If you want to hear something scary, you'd better listen to him." He clapped Fang Mu on the shoulder, who had fallen asleep. "And everything he says will be true."
At once everyone perked up.
"That's right. Didn't you help the police investigate a bunch of cases, Fang Mu? Let's hear some stories."
"I heard you helped them solve those murders that the law school student committed. You have to tell us what happened."
"Yeah, I heard the murderer almost killed you, too. You've gotta tell us the story."
As Fang Mu looked around at all the curious faces, he suddenly remembered the scene before him when the provost had called him up onstage during the assembly.
They didn't care at all about the pain of the victims, or about the fate of Meng Fanzhe. To them, other people's deaths were nothing more than an exciting topic of conversation.
"There's nothing interesting to tell," he said pointedly.
Having been all set to hear some behind-the-scenes stories, the listeners groaned with disappointment. Unwilling to give up, several of the girls who had been hiding behind their boyfriends tried to provoke him, saying, "Don't be so selfish, tell us something." One of them even grabbed Fang Mu's arm and, ignoring her glaring boyfriend, swung it back and forth.
"Come on, handsome," she said. "Let us hear one. Crime stories are my favorite; they're so exciting."
Fang Mu stared right into her eyes until she sensed his mood. Feeling a little frightened, she let go of his arm.
"Exciting?" He laughed, and the corners of his mouth curled into a faint smile. "If someone peeled off all your skin and then sewed it into clothing for a mannequin to wear, would you think that was exciting?"
The girl covered her mouth, her face paling at the description. "What's your problem?" her boyfriend yelled angrily. "You don't want to talk about it, fine, but what? Are you trying to threaten her?"
As the others quickly tried to smooth things over, Fang Mu grabbed his jacket and backpack and stormed out of the room.
When he was only a few steps down the hall, he heard Deng Linyue call his name. She quickly caught up to him.
"Don't be angry. They didn't mean anything bad by it." As she took his arm, a pleading look flashed through her eyes. "Why don't you stay for a little while?"
He lightly pushed her arm away. "I can't. You guys have fun. Don't stay too late."
He turned and walked away. He didn't look back once.
CHAPTER
24
The Sixth Lane
Unexpectedly, Du Yu was already back in their dorm room. When Fang Mu walked in, Du Yu was leaning back in his chair and talking on the phone, still wearing his garish new Nikes. A half-empty beer bottle was on the desk.
"What are you doing back here?" Fang Mu peeked behind the door. "Where's Zhang Yao?"
Du Yu waved for him to be quiet and listened closely to whoever was on the phone. After a few seconds, he threw it against the desk with a bang, grabbed his beer, and took a huge gulp.
Fang Mu frowned. "What's wrong with you?"
Putting the beer down, Du Yu burped and said, "I'm…I'm fine."
Noticing his roommate's red eyes, Fang Mu asked again, "Seriously, what is it?"
"Man, I don't even know myself," said Du Yu at last. Then, as if he was finally letting something out that he had been holding back a long time, he continued. "Right when we arrived at the karaoke club someone called me, but when I picked up, the person on the other end was silent. Then just as I hung up, they called me again and still didn't say word. While I was standing there confused, Zhang Yao became suspicious and demanded that I tell her what was going on."
Fang Mu laughed. "I'm not surprised. If I were Zhang Yao and I saw someone was calling you that late, and especially on Christmas Eve, I'd be suspicious, too. Not to mention, you do have a wandering eye."
"I swear to God," said Du Yu, talking faster, "I've never done anything to dishonor Zhang Yao."
Fang Mu chuckled. "All right, I believe you. Then what happened?"
"Then she got angry and stormed off. When I tried to stop her, the crazy woman turned around and slapped me across the face." He rubbed his cheek as if it still hurt. "After that I was too pissed off to care, so I ignored her and caught a cab back here."
Fang Mu looked at his watch. It was almost 4 a.m. "Where is she now? Back in her dorm?"
"I don't know; no one's picking up the phone in her dorm room. I called her cell several times, but every time she just hangs up immediately."
Fang Mu smiled. "She's probably just still angry at you. Tomorrow – oh, I mean today – you'd better just humor her."
Du Yu didn't respond directly, just glared at his cell phone and muttered, "This girl, man. Her temper is too goddamn bad, and I normally just put up with it." He kicked his leg out, causing one of his shoes to fly into the corner of the room.
"Jeez, don't take it out on the shoes, man."
Fang Mu was in slippers. He shuffled over and grabbed the shoe. Just as he was about to pass it back to Du Yu, he saw something that made him freeze.
The word "AIR" was written on either side of the shoe in huge letters, and on both sides the designer had very skillfully transformed the shape of the A and the R. On the outer side, the R was placed beside the toe cap, while on the inner side, it had been subtly altered and was sewed by the heel of the shoe in a fluid way that looked extremely well-coordinated.
This meant that the placement of the A and the R was reversed on either side, and through some minute tweaks in their design, the two letters looked very similar.
It made Fang Mu think. Could the right-hand symbol he had seen on the window that night have actually been an R?
R? What was that supposed to mean?
When Du Yu saw that Fang Mu was staring blankly at his shoe, he asked curiously, "What's up?"
Coming back to reality, Fang Mu shook his head and said, "Oh, nothing." Then he tossed the shoe back to Du Yu.
"Jeez, a little softer, please. These are brand new."
This guy, thought Fang Mu. How come it wasn't a problem when he was the one kicking his shoe into the corner of the room?
Smiling to himself, Fang Mu grabbed his washbasin from beneath his bed and headed to the bathroom.
After he finished washing up, he returned to the room to find Du Yu on the phone again.
"Well," he said, "did she pick up?"
"Her phone's off," said Du Yu, tossing his phone on the desk. "What the hell? Where could she have gone?"
"There's nothing to worry about. It's really late; I'm sure she's just asleep." Fang Mu took off his glasses and then hopped in bed and pulled the covers up.
Du Yu didn't seem ready in the least to go to sleep. He just continued to lean back in his chair, staring at his shoes, lost in thought. After a while, he suddenly said, "Fang Mu." His voice was slightly trembling.
"Yeah?"
"You don't think…something happened to her, do you?"
"I don't think so." Fang Mu paused. "People were out all over the city tonight; nothing bad could have happened. You should get some sleep and not worry about it."
Du Yu stood up and walked anxiously around the room several times. Then he once more grabbed his phone and dialed.
"Hey, where'd you run off to…? Oh, Deng Linyue. Did Yaoyao come back yet?… Oh, I see… Yeah, he's here… You want to talk to him?… Oh, okay. Talk to you later."
Du Yu sat heavily at his desk. Without turning around, he said, "Deng Linyue asked if you were back."
"What about Zhang Yao?"
Du Yu didn't say anything.
"Maybe we should go look for her," said Fang Mu, reaching for his pants.
"No way!" yelled Du Yu suddenly. "Let her be an idiot if she wants!" He leapt to his feet, strode over to the door and angrily switched off the light. "Go to sleep!"
At 6:30 in the morning Fang Mu was woken by the sound of his ringing phone. He groggily sat up and reached for it, only to see that Du Yu was still sitting at his desk, phone in hand.
"You didn't sleep at all?" Fang Mu asked.
Du Yu's face was covered with stubble and he looked a lot more haggard. Squinting his eyes, he nodded at Fang Mu.
Fang Mu noticed that Du Yu's other hand was holding his stomach. "What's wrong?"
"My stomach hurts a little. I probably drank too much last night."
Fang Mu climbed out of bed and pulled on his clothes. "Come on. Let's grab some porridge at the dining hall and then find Zhang Yao."
The dining hall was fairly empty. Most people had probably stayed out late the night before and were sleeping in. Fang Mu had Du Yu find them seats while he went and bought them breakfast.
Two girls were standing beside him, scooping tea eggs onto their plates and chatting about the party they'd went to the night before.
When Fang Mu had stacked his tray high with food, he headed back to his table. As he passed the two girls, he happened to hear one of them say, "…It's really strange. It's so cold out today, but for some reason the pool's full of water…"
Fang Mu suddenly slowed his pace, and as he walked toward where Du Yu was sitting, he looked back at the two girls.
Abruptly, he placed his tray on one of the tables beside him and began running for the exit.
/> R was for river!
The symbol on the left wasn't a q – it was an uppercase G! Water droplets had dripped down the two letters, elongating them, which had made the G look like a q with a line through the middle.
GR. Green River!
The Green River Killer.
As Fang Mu burst out of the dining hall doors, he knocked a male student to the ground, but at this point he no longer cared.
Run! Run! Run!
Don't die! Don't die! I'm begging you…
He sprinted over the withered yellow lawn, darted around the tennis courts… He could see the outdoor swimming pool, its gray water rippling faintly.
No matter who you are, don't die!
He ran around the chain-link fence bordering the pool as fast as he could. The branches from the pine trees surrounding it struck his face, but he felt no pain. When he reached the entrance, he saw that the chain lock had already been pried off and was lying curled on the ground like a dead snake.
He pulled open the gate and ran inside.
Before him was a huge pool, already filled with water. He circled it, anxiously searching the depths. Before he had gone more than a few steps, he saw something moving underwater in the deepest part of the pool.
Someone was down there.
My God! The thought froze in his mind.
Without thinking, he took several hurried steps and then dove headlong into the pool.
The ice-cold chill spread from the tips of his fingers to the bottom of his feet. In a flash, he felt like he was going to suffocate.
When his feet touched bottom, he kicked off hard and rose back to the surface. With his head above water, he oriented himself, took a deep breath, and dove back under.
Although the water was extremely murky, Fang Mu could still see a young woman standing on the bottom of the pool. She was wearing a yellow tube top, short leather skirt, and black platform heels. Her arms were slightly raised and her head drooped, and her dyed-blonde hair fluttered with the movement of the water.