"The gaming hall was torn down and rebuilt again and again. It became a commercial building long ago. If the bodies had really been hidden there, it's impossible that they wouldn't have turned up when the building was leveled and rebuilt all those times. As for the rest, it's really been too long, and the records from back then are incomplete. We won't be able to find anything else within a short time." Through the surveillance camera, Lang Qiao looked at Su Luozhan, who had her chin propped in both hands. She felt a shiver of disgust. "And is what that little psycho says credible or not?"
"We can only use it as a reference. I can see this child rather likes to show off." Luo Wenzhou's unblinking gaze fixed on the surveillance feed. After muttering to himself for a moment, he said, "But the method of the crime has been basically cleared up—the adult and the girl collaborated. First they followed the target. Then, at a suitable moment, the adult would appear and do something to frighten the victim. Next, the girl would appear, gain the victim's trust under those circumstances, and after one or two contacts trick the victim into coming with her."
"The day I moved in, Chenchen really was being followed." Tao Ran thought about it, then said, "If the stalker Fei Du noticed then was the accomplice…"
"Suppose he was Suspect A." Luo Wenzhou pulled out a sheet of A4 paper and drew a circle around the letter. "For the time being, we'll say that the man who abducted Qu Tong and drove the car at West Ridge was B—we can't be certain for the moment whether A and B are the same person, but I personally incline towards thinking they aren't."
"Why?" asked Lang Qiao.
"Frequency of offenses." Luo Wenzhou tapped the table with his pen cap. "If Suspect A was following Chenchen from the time Tao Ran moved, all the way through to last night, then it's already been over a month. Let's not consider whether A would have the energy to simultaneously stalk two girls who moved around in completely different places. Even if he could do it, for a person who had the patience to stalk a victim for a month, offending twice in the space of five days is too intensive.
"Then there's the third person in this case, Xu Wenchao. He has a definite alibi for the night Qu Tong was taken, so we know he can't be B. So what role did he play in this?" Luo Wenzhou wrote down the character "Xu," then the character "Su," and drew a line between them. "After Su Luozhan drugged Chenchen and tied her up at the old Su family residence, she went home like she had nothing else to do. She wasn't afraid that Chenchen would run, or that she would move around and be heard…"
"Because she knew her accomplice was coming to the old Su residence to take over!"
"But the accomplice didn't come. Su Luozhan was alerted by the call from the Children's Palace teacher, then ran to the old Su residence to determine in person whether Chenchen had been taken away. Then she called Xu Wenchao twice." Luo Wenzhou thickened the line between Xu Wenchao and Su Luozhan, then drew downward, splitting the line into two branches. "Zhang Yuchen was scared stiff last night. We won't rely on her testimony for the moment. Judging from the rest of our information, there are two possibilities here—
"First, Xu Wenchao was Suspect A, who stalked Chenchen, attempting to abduct her." Luo Wenzhou paused. "Second, Xu Wenchao is Su Luozhan's 'proxy.' Su Xiaolan was sick for a long time, and there are some things Su Luozhan couldn't accomplish on her own; she needed a grown-up."
The first time Xu Wenchao was summoned by the police, he had been very surprised, because he'd had no idea of where he'd slipped up. He'd answered all their questions very carefully, preferring to make himself appear a bit slow—at the time, it was likely he hadn't yet known about Su Luozhan sending the recording to Qu Tong's parents, and he hadn't expected the police to link this case with the one twenty years earlier.
But Tao Ran had inadvertently alerted him during their talk. It was likely that Xu Wenchao had determined what Su Luozhan had done based on this questioning. From the time the police had started to following him to the time he'd received Su Luozhan's phone calls, he'd made his preparations to be taken into custody, and prepared his excuses.
"What you mean is," Tao Ran said, involuntarily lowering his voice, "like that girl said just now, Xu Wenchao is a 'part-time janitor.'"
"Part-time janitor… That…that can't mean what I think it means?" Lang Qiao twisted her head to look at Luo Wenzhou. "He takes care of… What about Qu Tong? Is there really no hope?"
"Last night, when Su Luozhan tied Chenchen up at the old Su residence, Xu Wenchao should have taken over. But Xu Wenchao had been summoned by us to cooperate with the investigation and couldn't go." Luo Wenzhou ignored her question, not even lifting an eyelid. "There was a large quantity of blood found on the strips of cloth in the music box in Su Luozhan's bedroom, but the medical examiners performed a luminol test at the old Su residence without finding traces of blood. That is, it's likely the old Su residence is only a temporary transfer station, and the real crime scene isn't there."
"Then where is the real crime scene?" said Tao Ran.
"Wait a minute! No… You guys, wait!" In a flurry, Lang Qiao pulled out a page from a stack of materials. "Haven't you made a mistake somewhere? Over twenty years ago, Xu Wenchao attended a shatteringly expensive private school. When he grew up, he could afford photographic equipment and became a freelance photographer. He has a house, a car, and no debts. He's really pretty wealthy. This may be unsuitable to say, but as long as you have money, you can go through certain channels to get what you want—does he have any reason to work with Su Luozhan, to do these deranged things? He's not short on money, either. What benefit can there be for him?"
These words silenced everyone.
True—why would a man who'd grown up in middle class or even somewhat better off surroundings, with both parents living and a childhood that could be called smooth sailing, get mixed up with the Su family?
If not for Su Luozhan imitating Su Xiaolan's "signature" for "fun" and leaving the recording at Qu Tong's house, as well as his own revealing slip-ups the two times he'd come, who would have thought there was anything wrong with him?
"Captain Luo." Just then, a criminal policeman stuck his head in. "That old uncle surnamed Guo, who came before the rest, is asking for you."
Guo Heng was waiting outside the noisy reception room. Someone, taking pity on him, had brought him a chair, just facing the duty room's back door. The officer on duty had run off to do something urgently, not taking the time to turn off the television. On the somewhat shabby screen, a local station was reporting on last night's sensational rescue operation at the Children's Palace.
Guo Heng had his head stretched out, all his attention focused on the screen, subconsciously straightening his stooped back, arranging himself in an upright and proper sitting posture—when prisoners in jail were collectively organized to watch TV for news broadcasts or ideological education, the discipline was strict; they were required to use this standard posture to watch.
A prison term of twenty years had turned a man in his prime into an old man who couldn't even relax freely on a sofa.
Luo Wenzhou called to him gently. "Uncle Guo."
Guo Heng subconsciously straightened his back, seeming ready for an inspection. Then he came to himself, and the corners of his eyes drooped in desolation. The wrinkles that had been pulled taught manifested, row after row.
Guo Heng sighed and quietly said, "I'm holding up your work, but I… Seeing so many people come, I've been worrying. When I killed Wu Guangchuan, could I have killed the wrong person?"
After a moment's hesitation, Luo Wenzhou took two cigarettes from his pocket, lit them, and passed one to Guo Heng. "Do you remember the girl you saved back then?"
"I remember." Guo Heng nodded at once. "Rather thin, looked a little older than Feifei, a very pretty little girl. Now what was she called?"
"Su Xiaolan."
"Right, right, that was it." Guo Heng brought his cigarette to his mouth as if it were a treasure, took a deep drag and held it in his mouth, swallowing it rather than letting it out—perhaps this was another habit left over from prison. "Ah, it's been so many years. I don't know what the child is doing now. When I'd just gotten out, I thought about going to see her. But later I thought, she may be married with children. Who'd want to remember miserable things like that? I'd better not go bother her."
As he spoke, a bit of a smile appeared on Guo Heng's distressed and gloomy face. "To be frank, these last twenty years, my conscience has been a little clearer because I thought, if I'd been a coward then, that girl may have died. Some years in a prison cell in exchange for a life seems worthwhile when you think about it, doesn't it?"
Luo Wenzhou's lips moved slightly. Looking at Guo Heng's profile, he simply didn't know where to start.
Could he really tell him, Maybe you did kill the wrong person, and the girl you saved was the real killer?
Then wouldn't this man's miserable half of a lifetime, his ramrod posture and cherished cigarettes, become a preposterous joke?
"Officer Luo," Guo Heng, suddenly remembering, asked again, "you still haven't told me what's going on? Was Wu Guangchuan the killer or not?"
"Uncle Guo, I'd like you to remember something for me first." Luo Wenzhou put a hand on the back of his chair. "Look at me and think carefully. Back then—the day you stabbed Wu Guangchuan, how did you find him?"
Guo Heng stared, not understanding why he would ask this. "Wasn't it that boy…"
"He paged you. He was a student at Jinxiu Middle School, named Xu Wenchao. He followed and investigated Wu Guangchuan with you. I know that.—Do you still remember what Xu Wenchao said when he paged you?"
With the cigarette in his mouth, Guo Heng frowned, recalling for a long time. "I think—I think he said, 'He's taken her, at the school.' Right, those were his words, very obscure, not mentioning any names. When I read that, my head exploded. I found a public telephone immediately and called him back."
Luo Wenzhou paused slightly. "You called him back? And then what? Please tell me in detail."
"Then I asked him what had happened and went to the school gates to meet him," said Guo Heng. "The boy led me to Wu Guangchuan's house. Didn't I tell you what happened after that?"
Luo Wenzhou narrowed his eyes slightly. "So that means, Xu Wenchao was waiting for your call. Where was he waiting?"
"Near the school," said Guo Heng. "Jinxiu's infrastructure was good, there was a new phone booth nearby. He usually always contacted me that way."
"How long did it take you to get there?" said Luo Wenzhou.
"Five or six minutes."
"First, Xu Wenchao sent a message to your pager, then waited for your call; after getting in touch and understanding the situation, you spent five or six minutes getting to Jinxiu Middle School to meet him, and only then did you set out, right? All of this, start to finish, took about ten minutes?" Luo Wenzhou waited for Guo Heng to nod, then went on. "You two saw Wu Guangchuan, you sent Xu Wenchao away to find someone and followed Wu Guangchuan to his door, is that right? How far was the place where you saw Wu Guangchuan from his house?"
"Not far at all, just around the corner." Guo Heng calculated. "Somewhere over fifty meters…not more than a hundred."
"Wu Guangchuan took Su Xiaolan from the school and went back to his house. You also left from near the school. With a ten-minute delay, how did you two get near Wu Guangchuan's house ahead of him?"
"The child took me by a short-cut," said Guo Heng. "That bastard Wu Guangchuan wouldn't have dared to go by the main road. He'd have gone by the back door. He'd have had to go around a big residential neighborhood, while the two of us went right through the neighborhood, basically in a straight line—all the residential estates had outer walls then, but they weren't very high. They had black-tile fretwork on top of them. Through the wall, I saw Wu Guangchuan pulling that girl. I really was young back then; I sent the boy away and jumped over the wall to follow."
Luo Wenzhou got a small notebook out of his pocket. "Could you draw out the positions you just described for me?"
Guo Heng hesitated a moment, then, thinking about it, he drew a sketch with many revisions and gave it to him. "What is it? Why do you want this? What is going on?"
"I don't know yet," Luo Wenzhou said quietly. "Uncle Guo, at this point in the investigation, it looks like things may be contrary to expectations. Will you be able to accept it?"
Leaning on the back of his chair, Guo Heng slowly stood up.
"We'll give you an accounting as soon as possible." Leaving these words behind, Luo Wenzhou strode away. He gave the sketch Guo Heng had drawn to Tao Ran, waiting to one side. "Can you find out what estate this used to be? Is it still there now?"
Tao Ran looked the paper over several times. "Wu Guangchuan's house is long gone. When we first suspected that this case was connected to the one from twenty years ago, some colleagues went to investigate the crime scenes from back then. Jinxiu Middle School moved away long ago, and there was a gymnasium built where Wu Guangchuan's house was. Though this estate seems to be… I'm going to the scene to have a look!"
Fei Du slowly came over. Luo Wenzhou knew it was him without needing to turn his head, because all of Yan City's City Bureau was madly busy, the people coming and going all moving at a march or a trot, and only his footsteps sounded unhurried as always.
Fei Du wiped the lenses on his clothing and once again perched his glasses on his nose, his whole air changing at once, transforming from a "deeply emotional" young man into a beast in human garb—at any rate, if he'd gone to see Su Luozhan looking like this, he definitely wouldn't have gotten a word out of her.
Fei Du lazily drawled, "Do you know the Fuyuan Memorial Hall?"
"The memorial hall at the Fuyuan Funeral Parlor?" Luo Wenzhou stared. "Isn't it a place to store cremated remains?"
"Su Xiaolan's ashes are there," said Fei Du. "Xu Wenchao got them put away. Apparently some of her possessions from when she was alive are with the box of remains. I propose you and I go have a look. Perhaps we'll find something useful."
Luo Wenzhou frowned thoughtfully. "Did Su Luozhan say something?"
"How could that be? That little girl is beyond crafty. She wouldn't reveal a detail like that—it's my guess," said Fei Du. "I was just thinking, faced with a group of weak and cowardly stalker clients, it wouldn't be easy to make them keep their mouths shut and maintain secrecy. Aside from satisfying their desires, at the very least you'd need to have a handle on them. The place where you kept that handle would have to be very carefully chosen. The best place would be like a bank's safety deposit box, with security cameras everywhere and someone keeping watch twenty-four hours a day. At the same time, it would have to be 'safe,' not all under your own name, unlike a bank, where the police would easily turn it up as soon as they started investigating.—If it were me, I'd think an ash storage locker was a fairly ideal place.
"Fuyuan Memorial Hall must be very strictly managed. Only the relatives who handled the internment procedures can swipe in, then have a staff member lead them inside. The cardholders have to make an appointment to come for a mourning visit. It's not like a cemetery. The management of some cemeteries is so lax that anyone can get in and wander around."
Luo Wenzhou: "…"
They hadn't found a handle on others, but his own handle had been left along with an offering of little white flowers in a cemetery.
"I don't mean anything by it." Fei Du spread his hand and smiled. "Otherwise, since Xu Wenchao was handling Su Xiaolan's funeral arrangements, why didn't he buy her a grave? I suppose Xu Wenchao would be able to get the money? Well, how about it, might I trouble Captain Luo to act as driver?"
An hour later, Luo Wenzhou stopped the car at the doors of a funeral parlor in the suburbs.
There were some parked hearses scattered around. The place backed on a mountain, peaceful and secluded; the whole funeral parlor was shrouded in the mountain's shadow, which was very dark. Only there was a chimney spouting white steam towards the sky, the product of a cremation.
Half-crippled Fei looked at it and pushed the door with one hand, but found that the driver hadn't unlocked the car yet. Fei Du knocked lightly on the door to remind Luo Wenzhou, then heard him suddenly speak, asking, "What did you mean by that last night?"