"I saw it on the news, too. I hear it was very close to us?"
"Across Nanping Road, then a little further on. When I go see my parents and don't want to cross the bridge, I go around that way. I thought it was a mess before, but I didn't expect…hey!"
The two office workers were too engrossed in slacking off and chatting in the tearoom to notice that there was someone standing behind them listening in. One office worker's hand shook, nearly spilling the whole cup of hot water as a libation onto the floor.
"Careful." Fei Du put his hand under the cup she was holding, took it from her, and put it aside. "Next time don't pour such hot water. You have such tender hands, what if you burn yourself?"
Fei Du generally didn't speak at all loudly, and everything he said seemed to be ordinary human speech. But passing through his mouth, human speech could at once turn into something with a covert feeling of intimacy. It often led people to form one-sided affections. Though fortunately he usually spoke and then left, leaving others ample time to destroy their own illusions.
"President Fei, you scared me!" At first the young office workers in the tearoom had been startled, but seeing it was him they quickly relaxed, because in comparison to the former Chairman Fei, who had been a man who'd always had the last word, Young Master Fei, rightful heir to all he possessed, was basically a charming mascot.
He wouldn't bring the disgusting playboy habits of his private life into the office. Here, his display of "steadiness" was performed to satisfaction. Ordinarily he didn't especially exercise his decision-making powers and didn't take on many assignments. Even when teasing the young ladies with a few stray words, he usually maintained a strong sense of propriety. Rigorously adhering to the principle that "the rabbit doesn't eat next to its warren," he didn't overstep any bounds.
Fei Du used a paper towel to wipe away the spilled hot water, then handed the cup back. He casually asked, "What were you two just talking about?"
"We were talking about the West District across the way. Yesterday there was a mugging and killing, and it seems that the criminal hasn't been caught yet. What if the HR department sends everyone an e-mail? To remind everyone to be extra careful on the way to and from work?"
"All right," said Fei Du seriously. "And if that doesn't work, we'll just go on vacation and wait until the bad guy has been caught to come back. How could work be as important as your safety?"
The two girls clearly knew he was talking nonsense, but they were still overwhelmed with delight and went happily back to work.
After a while, Fei Du did indeed receive an e-mail from the HR department.
He poured about a half a cup of chocolate-hazelnut syrup into his coffee cup, planning to use the sugar to bind up every molecule of caffeine. He had nothing to do at the moment, so while he stirred he opened the streaming video attached to the e-mail.
"Late last night, behind this residential building in the city's West Flower Market District, a violent crime occurred. At present, the police have yet to issue any official statement. Reports say that the victim Mr. He lived in an illegally shared apartment near the crime scene…"
The video came from an online news site widely known for its sensationalism. The prudish voiceover jabbered on for a couple of minutes, and then from outside the frame suddenly came a loud commotion.
The swaying camera, fearing to miss out on the action, quickly shifted its focus over to a small food stand.
A middle-aged lady wearing an apron, who may have been the food stand's owner, was just scowling and shoving a teenage boy. "Little whelp, can you not count, or has your conscience been chewed up by a dog? You'd even steal these few yuan? And once you've stolen them, what will you do? Take them home and buy your mother a coffin?"
Beside this scene, a handful of middle-aged and elderly people with nothing else to do were eating wontons at the food stand's illegally set out tables. This crowd's mouths were quite skilled; eating and drinking didn't hold up their pompous declarations. They voluntarily began explaining in the direction of the camera.
"You know, that little brat was buying a sesame bun? That lady told him to put the money there and take some change out of the change basket himself. Shouldn't he have some sense of responsibility? He gave her ten and tried to take fifteen out of the change box. I just saw it all."
"Eat five yuan's worth, and take five yuan into the bargain—that's great, not far from founding a family fortune."
"He should be beaten—when a young person steals trifles, won't he grow up to deal drugs and kill people? What about our law and order here? As soon as it gets dark, even the strapping young men don't dare to wander around outside. The way I see it, it's all the fault of these dregs of society coming in from out of town."
"How many times has this happened? And no one's taken any notice. All right, won't it be murder next time? What did I say?"
When a middle-aged and elderly cheerleading squad takes it into their heads to stir up trouble, the results won't be insignificant. The conflict quickly intensified.
The food stand owner's rage mounted to its height. She attacked. The teenage thief covered his head with both hands, curling into a ball. His neck and ears, red enough to drip blood, stuck out. He didn't make a sound; he only dodged.
Just then, some onlookers who couldn't stand to see any more of this attempted to separate the grappling stand owner from the teenager. Unexpectedly they also got pulled into the battle.
In an instant, the fight escalated, becoming an ideological battle between the West District's original inhabitants and the out of town renters, both sides indiscriminately attacking each other's character.
It was a complete mess. The camera was knocked askew three or four times. Fei Du finished stirring his coffee. He thought this battle of "three rats with four eyes" was extremely senseless; there was absolutely no entertainment value in watching it. He was just about to close the video.
Suddenly, someone in the video yelled, "The cops are coming!"
There was confusion, and a few uniformed people forced their way in to hurriedly part the crowd. They were immediately drowned in the ocean of citizenry. One young policeman even got his glasses knocked off.
Fei Du saw a familiar figure among them. His hand, poised to close the window, paused.
After noon, at the Flower Market District Sub-Bureau, Wang Hongliang slipped away under the guise of "having a meeting."
With his hands behind his back, Luo Wenzhou bent to get a close look at Tao Ran. "Last time when we went over to help the drug squad catch those drug traffickers, we had a twenty-minute shootout, and I don't think anyone suffered such a 'serious injury.' I just knew it. The moment you guys are out of my sight, something is sure to go wrong. When we leave, don't forget to stop by the hospital to get a rabies shot."
Some unknown hero's magic claws had left a scratch on Officer Tao's chin.
The sub-bureau was in total chaos. The crowd that had taken part in the brawl had had its battle spirits raised; even after arriving at a Public Security Bureau they refused to lay down their arms. Mixed in among the cacophonous cursing and struggling, a handful of civil policemen whose vocabularies were clearly pitifully deficient kept saying "get down" and "behave" on repeat. Some extra pairs of hands brought in from the local police stations stood at a loss, lined up to one side, not knowing what to do.
When Luo Wenzhou came in, he slammed his hand heavily against the door, suppressing the two opposing armies with his even more overbearing manner. Everyone was startled by the thunderous sound and turned their heads to look at him.
Luo Wenzhou leaned against the doorframe. "Who here assaulted a police officer?"
No one spoke.
"You think if you don't admit it, the law doesn't apply to you?" Luo Wenzhou nodded. "All right, then, we'll detain all of you. Don't forget to notify your relatives to come and make bail. Those without relatives can contact their supervisors at work. I hear some of you were also involved in illegally occupying the road and participating in unlicensed business practices? Great, so you'll all face severe penalties. I'll have my colleagues at the police stations around here be especially attentive to those of you who have a criminal record."
Before the words were fully out of his mouth, a middle-aged man around fifty years old blurted out, "Who are you saying has a criminal record? What do you mean we assaulted a police officer? Do you have evidence? You're detaining us without evidence. Let me tell you, I have heart disease!"
Luo Wenzhou didn't raise his voice or his eyelids. "Have you ever heard of a law enforcement body camera? Ignorant."
Here Lang Qiao made a timely entrance and handed Luo Wenzhou a printed document. He took it and scanned it, then gave the middle-aged man leading the disturbance a meaningful look. "What a coincidence."
Then he got out his phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Principal Han, this is Wenzhou… No, no, just puttering around—is there a security guard named Yu Lei at your school?"
The middle-aged man creating the disturbance stared, then the blood rushed out of his face. It really did look like a heart attack.
With the phone to his ear, Luo Wenzhou gave him a smile. "Please look into it. That's 'Yu' with two bars and a hook, the 'Lei' that's three stones (11), male, fifty-three—it's nothing, this uncle is old in years but young in spirit. He's been in a fight with some people. He was arrested by my colleagues at a local police station. Now he's been arrested, he says he has heart disease. If he has a heart attack here and word gets out, won't that land us in it? We can't shoulder this responsibility. Auntie Han, I'm begging you, send someone to come over here quickly and pick up this high-risk insurance scammer."
"I…I-I-I did it to protect the safety of the neighborhood and my neighbors!" While Luo Wenzhou was still on the phone, the middle-aged man named Yu Lei was clearly panicking. "It was legitimate self-defense."
Luo Wenzhou was amused. "You know what 'legitimate self-defense' is?"
Yu Lei pointed at the few young men who stuck out like sore thumbs among the crowd. "It was self-defense. One of those people is the murderer who killed someone last night! I heard it!"
Luo Wenzhou: "…"
No one had expected a farce of law and order to inexplicably evolve into a series of separate interrogations.
All the criminal policemen out interviewing and investigating hurried back to quickly collect the witnesses' testimonies.
"According to that old hoodlum named Yu Lei, last night after he had turned off the lights and gone to bed, while he was half-sleep, he heard a fight. It was two men, speaking with out of town accents. The dialect was too heavy for him to understand what they were fighting about, but he sensed that they were people who knew each other." Lang Qiao pushed back her long hair. "We've confirmed it. This Yu Lei lives very close to the spot where the victim was found. The direct distance is less than fifty meters. He lives in an apartment. With the back window open he should have been able to hear."
"What time?" said Luo Wenzhou.
"He's not sure, but he says he goes to bed around nine and doesn't usually have trouble with insomnia. If he was half-asleep…it shouldn't be after 9:30. That conforms with the estimated time of death. Besides that, there are some other people who live nearby who also say they faintly heard something, but there are often drunks getting into fights at night, so the neighbors are used to it. They didn't think anything of it, and they weren't about to go butting in to investigate."
"Chief Luo." Tao Ran, now with a bandaid on his chin, stuck his head in. "There's someone here you should come look at."
In the interview room, Xiao Haiyang, wearing glasses stuck together with clear tape, was sitting across from a skinny teenage boy.
"This child is named Ma Xiaowei," said Tao Ran. "He claims to be over eighteen, but I think he's still a minor. The brawl today started because he stole five yuan. He's the victim He Zhongyi's roommate, and likely the last person to see the victim."
Luo Wenzhou nodded, opened the door, and went in.
Ma Xiaowei quickly glanced up at him. Perhaps Captain Luo's aura was too fierce; the boy's face looked a little panic-stricken.
"It's all right," said Xiao Haiyang. "Keep talking."
Ma Xiaowei wrung his hands and spoke in a voice as thin as a mosqitoe's hum. "He…He Zhongyi comes from H Province, the same one of our roommates, although they aren't from the same town. H Province is supposed to be pretty big. I think Zhongyi-ge's home town is more out of the way. He only came last year. He's pretty nice, outgoing, and he's a good roommate, cleans up regularly… He…he never had any trouble with anyone."
Xiao Haiyang asked, "Do you know if he has any other friends or relatives here?"
Ma Xiaowei's chin sank, then he thought of something and quickly shook his head. "I…I don't know, I've never seen anyone."
Luo Wenzhou cut in: "Where were you between eight and ten last night?"
Ma Xiaowei's throat moved. Again he didn't dare to look at Luo Wenzhou. He quietly said, "At…at home."
"What were you doing at home?"
"N-nothing, just…watching TV."
"Alone?" asked Luo Wenzhou.
Ma Xiaowei only then seemed to notice what he was getting at. His expression changed.
"It's all right, darling." Luo Wenzhou pulled up a chair, sat down in front of Ma Xiaowei, and smiled kindly. "We're from the serious crimes division. We're only responsible for major criminal cases. You won't be punished for attempting to steal five yuan. Don't be nervous."
Ma Xiaowei almost couldn't sit still.
Luo Wenzhou's tone changed at once. "Although I think that if you steal repeatedly without mending your ways, you can still be penalized even without stealing a significant amount. This isn't your first time, right?"
Ma Xiaowei stiffened at once, his sickly pale face going blank.
Luo Wenzhou lightly knocked on the table. "You were at home alone watching TV? Where were the people who live with you?"
"He Zhongyi came home after work last night, changed his clothes, and left. Zhao-ge…the one who's from the same province as Zhongyi, he's gone back home for a few days to attend a family funeral. There are a few others who went out to find people to play Mahjong with, so…so I was on my own, but I didn't…it wasn't…"
"I didn't say it was you," said Luo Wenzhou, interrupting his rambling defense. "There were some residents who heard an argument happening near the scene of the crime around that time. Given how close your house is to the scene, you would have heard. Did you hear anything then?"
Ma Xiaowei bit his lip hard.
"If you heard something, say you heard something. If you didn't, say you didn't. Does the question need this much thought?"
"M-maybe I heard a little, the TV was on pretty…"
"Around when did you hear it?" said Luo Wenzhou.
"Quarter past nine," Ma Xiaowei blurted out.
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Xiao Haiyang, taking notes with his head down, and Tao Ran, listening in from the door, both looked at him.
Luo Wenzhou narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you just say you 'maybe heard a little?' Then how come you remember the time so precisely now?"
Ma Xiaowei said nothing.
"Xiao Ma, tell the truth," Tao Ran said gently. "How do you know it was a quarter past nine? Did you actually hear something, or were you near the scene of the crime at the time? What do you know?"
Not giving Ma Xiaowei time to react, Luo Wenzhou immediately added, "If you don't explain yourself clearly today, you could be under heavy suspicion of having committed the crime!"
"I believe it wasn't you," said Tao Ran, playing the good cop to his bad cop. "If you didn't do it, then there's no need to be scared. If you know something, then say it. This is a homicide case. I think you understand the severity?"
Ma Xiaowei instinctively turned an appealing gaze on him.
Luo Wenzhou struck the table. "Who are you looking at? I'm telling you to account for yourself!"
"It wasn't me… I…I heard." Ma Xiaowei was about to cry. "At a quarter past nine, I heard people arguing downstairs. The voices sounded familiar, so I wanted to go down and look…"
"What did you see?"
"Nothing." Ma Xiaowei's eyes opened wide. "I didn't see anybody, not even a shadow, as if what I'd just heard had been an illusion. And…and the streetlight was broken, I…I…"
Luo Wenzhou snorted. "Kid, is this a ghost story you're telling us?"
The rims of Ma Xiaowei's eyes were red. As he looked fearfully at Luo Wenzhou, the blood vessels crawled bit by bit over his eyeballs.
They questioned him repeatedly, until it was near evening and time to get off work, and Ma Xiaowei was near collapse, but the boy didn't cough up anything else of use. He just told the same inferior late-night ghost story over and over again.
"I don't think it was him," said Lang Qiao, coming out of the sub-bureau. "This kid's psychological quality is unsound. He'll say anything once he's scared. If there really was something, he couldn't have held out long with all of us questioning him…although the bit about the haunting is pretty strange."
Luo Wenzhou made an uncertain sound.
"What is it?" said Tao Ran.
"That's not for sure," said Luo Wenzhou. "It could be he's only telling a part of the truth. I think he's still holding something else back—let's talk about it tomorrow. Where are you two headed, back to the City Bureau first or…"
His speech was interrupted by a whistle.
The three-person team of Court Supervisors (12) looked up and saw a big SUV at least two meters tall parked by the side of the road. There was someone leaning against the car. "You've had a hard day, Officer Tao. Could I take you home?"
----
Author's Note:
(11) 于 - yu (a preposition); 磊 - lei (heap of stones), made up of three 石 characters (stone).
(12) This is a call-back to the eunuch joke in Chapter 3; Court Supervisor was a position filled by eunuchs.