It was still dark outside. Chief Lu woke up from his sleep at some point and heard the telephone ringing outside the room.
Ring ring—
Ring—
He knew who it was.
As if repeating it the thousandth time, he rolled over and got out of bed, stepping on the cold floor tiles with his old and swollen bare feet. Outside the window, the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month was whistling, covering up his almost silent footsteps. He pushed open the door and heard a long screeching sound from the unlubricated door hinge in the bedroom.
Ring ring—
Ring—
The telephone was giving out a red light, flashing in the darkness.
He stood in front of the flashing red dot, staring at the telephone, feeling as if his fat body had melted into the winter night, turning into nothingness in the cold air.
"You pick it up," He heard a sharp and harsh voice say, "Pick it up—"
Ring ring—
Ring—
With a click, Chief Lu picked up the receiver.
Just like pressing the play button of a tape recorder, the tape started to turn, and everything started repeating the thousandth time. There was the sound of laughing and crying over the phone, and countless sharp hooks scramble into his ear holes, digging desperately into his eardrum:
"I'm sorry for them, I'm sorry for Jiang Ting, Old Lu——"
"I killed them, I killed them, Old Lu——"
Chief Lu stood in front of the telephone, wanting to say something, but his throat seemed to be blocked. He heard a snake-like movement behind him. The icy breath got closer and closer, and then a rotten hand was placed on his fat shoulder; the cry on the telephone phone suddenly cleared up, appearing behind his ears:
"Why did you cover me with a national flag?"
Chief Lu stared ahead, his hands loosened, and the receiver fell to the ground like a dying head after being hanged.
"Didn't I tell you?"
"I told you specifically?"
"Why put a flag on me? Why? Why—"
Don't look back, he thought, don't look back. But the irresistible force in the dark forced him to turn his neck inch by inch, only to see the bloody purple face clinging to his back. Its purplish lips were still opening and closing, uttering a mournful cry:
"Why put the flag on me—"
"Ah!"
Chief Lu suddenly woke up, his chest heaving violently, and he couldn't tell whether he was in a dream or in reality at the moment.
Ring— the office was empty, the phone on the desk was still ringing unrelentingly, and the caller ID was Secretary Zhang.
"..." Chief Lu picked up the phone, his voice hoarse and indistinguishable: "Hello?"
"Hey Chief Lu, Vice-Captain Qin needs your opinion and confirmation on some routine reports within the division, is it okay?"
The chubby and heavy old chief closed his eyes, feeling his eardrums still buzzing, and the cold sweat had already soaked through the hurdle vest under his white shirt. After more than ten seconds, he finally tried his best to stabilize his breathing, his heartbeat was still beating in his throat, and there was a faint needle-like pain in his chest.
"Okay." Chief Lu finally said steadily, "Let Qin Chuan come in."
He clicked and hung up the phone.
...…
"Room 301, Block A, Building 701, Botaoyuan Community," Yan Xie slammed the car door, blocked the sun with his hand, and looked up at the gray residential building. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "This is the place where Yue Guangping used to live?"
The old-fashioned residential building had only six floors, and all the balconies except the third floor were open. When one looked up, they could see sheets, quilts, shorts, flowers, birds, fish, insects, and cardboard boxes. The air-conditioning case of each household was hung on the outside of the wall; rainwater had rusted the air-conditioning bracket, and several yellow rusted signs were neatly hung under each household's balcony.
The taxi slid away, and Jiang Ting stepped forward, also looking up at the balcony of household 301, which was particularly eye-catching because of being empty.
Yan Xie turned his head and asked Qi Sihao, "Yue Guangping has been dead for almost three years, but the house hasn't been sold yet?"
Qi Sihao had been very nervous for the past two days. He wore a mask, sunglasses, and a baseball cap wherever he went. Hearing this, he nodded vaguely and said, "No."
"No one lives here? It's empty?"
"Yue Guangping didn't have any relatives here." Jiang Ting answered his question: "His hometown is not in Gongzhou. His wife died early; it's said that she couldn't give birth, so he had no children. Usually, there was an elderly housekeeper in the family. She was from his hometown, but sometime before the incident, she had already returned to the countryside to be with her grandson."
Yan Xie said casually: "D@mn, this is really…"
He wanted to say that it was really lonely, but then he thought that it was bad to talk about people who have passed away, so he swallowed the words and patted Jiang Ting's shoulder with a smile:
"Let's go up."
The corridor was narrow and full of debris, and the rusted iron door of household 301 had a seal on it. Yan Xie stabbed and tore the seal and motioned to Qi Sihao, who was holding the key: "Open the door."
The key was stolen temporarily from the Gongzhou Municipal Bureau. Qi Sihao had no other choice but to go up and open the door. With a screeching sound, the iron door and the wooden door opened in turn, and the nightmarish living room from three years ago reappeared in front of Jiang Ting — only this time there was no dead body on the ground but only a human figure drawn by a technical investigator with white chalk.
"Cough cough cough…"
Dust particles were floating, the light was dim, and the furniture was all dusty in the still years. Yan Xie took the lead in getting into the door and stood in the middle of the living room. Although it was spacious, it was obviously decorated in the style of the 1990s. Yan Xie touched his chin and sighed twice.
No wonder Jiang Ting chose to trust Yue Guangping and explained all his secrets to him.
Judging from this standard of living, Yue Guangping was obviously an elderly person living alone, relying solely on his salary for festival expenses, heating bills, etc. Compared with ordinary people, his economic conditions should be considered extremely superior, but he was still far from being a "rich person."
"Your technical investigation work was really rough," Yan Xie suddenly discovered something, finally returned Jiang Ting's mocking words about Jianning to Gongzhou, and turned to ask Qi Sihao, "Why is this scene so clean? It doesn't even have a physical evidence sign, are they all removed?"
Qi Sihao finally took off his sunglasses indoors and looked at him embarrassedly: "But, this is not the scene."
Yan Xie was stunned and then reacted.
"Deputy Mayor Yue's death has always been said to be a heart attack, so…"
Since it was a heart attack, there was no need to even investigate. Drawing a human figure was already considered a responsible technical investigation.
After wearing gloves, Jiang Ting slowly knelt down on the ground, staring at the human figure outlined by white chalk under his feet. He reached out and gently stroked the ground as if stroking the corpse of the old deputy mayor, whom he couldn't see. His hair was already a bit long, and his bangs covered his eyes. From Yan Xie's top angle, he couldn't see the shimmering light in his eyes.
"That's how he laid here on his back." Jiang Ting said lightly, "His face was cyanotic, his lips were blue, and there was vomit around… He stared straight ahead, and he didn't close his eyes until the end."
Yan Xie squatted down and said, "You told me that Yue Guangping was wearing a sweater and long underwear pants when he died?"
Jiang Ting nodded and said nothing.
——Being able to notice the details on the surface of the corpse in such a frightening and tense situation was not because of Jiang Ting's strong psychological quality but because of his professional instinct as a criminal investigation expert.
"Do you remember any other details?" Yan Xie asked hopelessly.
"Not much." Jiang Ting gave a wry smile, saying, "I was in very bad physical condition at that time, coupled with the sudden incident, and then I heard the siren again… In order not to leave footprints and fingerprints, I didn't even cross the threshold.
He paused for a while, then suddenly remembered something and pointed to the foot of the coffee table in front of the sofa: "By the way, there was an overturned ashtray on the ground at that time."
——Ashtray?
"Could it be that someone used an ashtray as a murder weapon to kill him?" Yan Xie asked suspiciously, "But the corpse was obviously poisoned."
"I don't know. It's possible that the coffee table was knocked crooked, and the ashtray slipped off the table and fell to the ground. It may also be picked up by the murderer as a murder weapon and then thrown on the ground casually. The marks on the surface of the ashtray should be completely different in both situations, but I only glanced at it from a distance and couldn't tell the difference."
Yan Xie nodded, gave it some thought, and suddenly said: "It is also possible that the murderer just cleaned out the cigarette butts with his own DNA from the ashtray."
Jiang Ting frowned.
"A thin old man wearing long underwear pants will not have a good impression. Even if he was meeting a guest at home, the possibility that the visitor was a woman is very small. If this is replaced by a close male acquaintance, the two sitting on the sofa and talking while smoking cigarettes makes sense." Speaking of which, Yan Xie looked up at Jiang Ting, then turned to Qi Sihao and raised his chin: "Do you know if Yue Guangping has any close male acquaintances?"
Qi Sihao answered blankly.
"As far as I know, no" Jiang Ting suddenly paused, seeming to be feeling a little strange, then said slowly: "Unless there is one person…"
Yan Xie asked, "Who?"
"…Me."
They looked at each other. After a moment, Yan Xie stood up and slapped his thigh: "Not only is this joke not funny, I also don't believe it."
Jiang Ting breathed out bitterly.
"Let's go into the inner room and have a look." Yan Xie pulled Jiang Ting up with his arms, as if nothing had happened, and even patted his butt smoothly: "Boxes, cabinets, wardrobes, drawers, any paper with words, tea cups for guests — maybe we can find some clues."
However, it turned out that Yan Xie was thinking too much. After Yue Guangping's accident, his house must have been swept for a round. Not to mention sensitive items like diaries, notes, sticky notes, and so on; there weren't even any newspapers, magazines, or books left.
This house has four bedrooms and one living room, which was divided into a master bedroom, a study, a tea room, and a housekeeper's bedroom. There was a tape recorder on the bedside table of the bedroom, and there were several boxes of old tapes. Yan Xie put the tapes in the tape recorder and tried them one by one. Most of them were completely damaged and could no longer be listened to. Only one or two could be played, but they were all just ordinary old tapes without any messages.
These were— Yan Xie thought in the melodious and sweet "When will you come again".
This kind of audio and video product could still be kept out of the hands of the King of Spades. They must have been thoroughly checked, and the reason they were not packaged and taken away should be that there was a tape recorder on site.
Yan Xie stood up from the bed, looked around the master bedroom, and opened the large wardrobe against the wall.
Yue Guangping's wardrobe was similar to that of any elderly police officer, with dark blue police uniforms, white shirts, two or three belts with the police badge stencil, and several blue and gray scarves distributed by the public security system; in addition, there were also tailor-made suits and coats for formal occasions.
There were cufflinks, tie clips, watch winders, and other objects in the small drawer inside the wardrobe. Yan Xie opened the watch winders and saw that there was a Rolex Submariner, a Tudor steel watch, and a Longines with a leather strap that was obviously worn the most.
Yan Xie didn't know about his taste, and after a long breath, he gently put the watch winders back in the drawer.
He didn't find anything in the wardrobe. The thing the elderly wore the most were hurdle white vests under their shirts. Yan Xie no longer had any hope. He flipped through them casually and suddenly caught a glimpse of something, "Huh?"
—There was a yellow, dust-proof bag hanging in the deepest part of the wardrobe.
He unzipped the bag, and inside was a brand-new trench coat.
"Jiang Ting!" Yan Xie said loudly: "Jiang Ting! Come and have a look!"
Jiang Ting was rummaging in the study; his shirt cuffs were rolled up to his elbows, and when he heard the words, he walked into the master bedroom: "What's wrong? — This…"
Yan Xie threw the cloth with the dustproof bag onto the bed.
It was a black Burberry men's trench coat with a fresh white shirt, tie, belt, and black pants, all in a complete set by the brand. As if anticipating something, Yan Xie turned around and dug something out from the bottom of the wardrobe. As expected, he took out a brand-new shoe box. When he opened it, there were men's formal leather shoes, which exuded the unique smell of good leather.
"..." Jiang Ting bent down and looked at the size of his clothes and said, "Yue Guangping can't wear size 52; it's too big."
"These shoes are a size 42, which is a large size when compared to the pairs of leather shoes left at the door, which are a size 40, and the whole set is obviously not worn by anyone." Yan Xie took off the bag and motioned to Jiang Ting: "Look, this trench coat has leather decoration on the back collar and cuffs, which is an upgraded version of the classic style; the price should be in the early 20,000 range. With the shirt, pants, tie, belt, and shoes, the whole set is estimated to be around 35,000 yuan, far exceeding the consumption level of Yue Guangping."
Jiang Ting folded his arms, "I can only see that this whole set of clothes is very new…"
"Yes, and this design is for relatively young people; it is more suitable for people between the ages of 20 and 40. This old man, Yue Guangping, was dressing too abruptly."
Both of them looked at the thick dustproof bag on the bed, and no one made a sound for a while.
"—Was he planning to buy it as a gift?" Yan Xie took a breath and spoke suddenly.
Jiang Ting raised his eyes: "Gift for whom?"
Indeed, if a person at the level of the deputy mayor sent a gift to someone, sending expensive presents was too simple and impolite methods. Besides, if you really wanted to give a gift, it wouldn't be so complete, and the price tag and packaging of the clothes and pants were also removed as if they were afraid of increasing the trouble of unpacking for the recipient.
"Can't you see?" Yan Xie asked curiously.
Jiang Ting shrugged blankly.
"Isn't that obvious?" Yan Xie gestured, "A full set of formal clothes, both inside and outside, with colors and styles obviously carefully selected. Everything is expensive; even the tie and shoes were included… An elderly man was giving this as a gift, I can only think of one situation."
Jiang Ting: "?"
"Father."
Jiang Ting was stunned.
"His son has just come of age, has just graduated, or has just entered society and is preparing to develop his career. As a father, he prepared a full set of high-end formal clothes for him and entrusted him with encouragement and wishes. This is a very normal way of thinking. Of course, it can also be replaced by a nephew or son-in-law. This is the same as the mother taking out the jewelry at the bottom of the box for her daughter before she gets married." Yan Xie didn't turn his head around for a while and smiled: "Why don't you even think about this…"
Then his words came to an abrupt end.
The room was suffocatingly quiet.
Three seconds later, Yan Xie smiled nonchalantly and said, "Do you really think that Yue Guangping has relatives, such as nephews?"
Jiang Ting did not speak, only the sound of quiet breathing could be heard, and Yan Xie did not dare to look back at his face.
"Well… this is the first time I've heard of it." Jiang Ting said slowly, after a long while, "I will remember when your nephew graduates from college."
A hot emotion surged through his heart, his body shivered slightly, and even his breathing had a strange trembling.
"…All right," Yan Xie smiled, trying to sound natural and smooth as if nothing had happened, "We will both remember it then."
"That's a good wish." Jiang Ting smiled slightly and said, "But I really don't know that Yue Guangping has any children or nephews in Gongzhou. If it is a younger generation of a comrade-in-arms or a relative from his hometown, then I can't say anything… But there is one person who must know Yue Guangping's interpersonal relationships very well."
Yan Xie couldn't help but ask: "Who?"
Jiang Ting said, "The housekeeper who went back to her hometown."
...…
The old housekeeper, Xi Hanxiang, was called Aunt Xi among the neighbors. Jiang Ting had only met her a few times when he visited the leader's house during the holidays. He knew that this aunt was probably in her 60s and was a distant relative from Yue Guangping's hometown.
They were said to be relatives, but in fact, they were just from the same village. Xi Hanxiang had worked in Yue Guangping's house for about eight or nine years. Yue Guangping's wife passed away early, and he hadn't remarried for many years. According to Jiang Ting's usual observation, he and Aunt Xi, who was as strong and loud as a door god, should be in a normal employer-employee relationship, and there shouldn't be a romantic affair between a retired old man and an old housekeeper kind of story.
However, she had been a live-in housekeeper for many years. If anyone in this world knew more about Yue Guangping's kinship, it was indeed only Xi Hanxiang.
When he left Yue Guangping's house, Yan Xie took a photo of the formal suit, then sorted it out, put it back in the bag, and hung it back in the deepest part of the closet.
Jiang Ting first went downstairs and called for a car. Yan Xie closed the wardrobe door, stared at the handle of the cabinet door that had been peeled off due to years of use, and exhaled, thinking: I haven't given Jiang Ting a gift yet.
With Jiang Ting's current state of mind, his need for material things was very weak. Yan Xie thought about it, but he never thought that he had ever paid special attention to anything. The only ones he showed obvious love for were those Pu'er tea cakes.
He can be satisfied with just a thermos cup!—Yan Xie thought about it, and there were mixed emotions that were both sweet and sour in his heart.
"When everything is settled, Jiang Ting can appear in front of everyone in a dignified manner, and I will definitely prepare him from head to toe." Yan Xie thought: "Although I don't know much about him and can't tell what he likes to eat and do, and what material, style, and color of clothing he likes, when the time comes, I can slowly inquire and find out about it."
He thought so, only to hear Qi Sihao poke his head in and ask: "Well, can we go now?"
"Oh." Yan Xie turned around and asked casually, "Where's Captain Jiang?"
Qi Sihao shrank his head, put on his sunglasses and mask again nervously, and said vaguely: "Downstairs, he has already gotten into the car."
Yan Xie nodded and went out with Qi Sihao, watching him lock the door as it was before.
"I'm going home later, my wife is already asking." As long as Qi Sihao was outside, he would keep looking around, always worried that someone might rush out of the road and stab him at any time: "I have to deal with my wife; let me get some change of clothes, I'll come out in ten minutes — can you wait for me in the car? Don't let me go outside alone."
Yan Xie sighed: "Okay."
Qi Sihao was slightly relieved at this moment and especially emphasized: "My home is not far, it's in the neighborhood, and it's on the way to the hotel."
Yan Xie nodded and suddenly remembered something: "Where did Captain Jiang use to live?"
"Ah?"
Yan Xie suddenly became interested, thinking in his mind that he knew nothing about Jiang Ting's life in Gongzhou before, so he asked, "Your Captain Jiang should not be living in the police dormitory, right? Has he bought a house?"
"You suddenly asked this…" Qi Sihao was stunned for a while, scratching his chin: "I really don't know. Captain Jiang works seven days a week and doesn't participate in group activities during holidays, let alone invite people home for dinner or something. No one in the bureau should know where his family lives."
At this time, they had reached the exit of the community, and Jiang Ting was facing them, standing beside the taxi.
"Okay," Yan Xie ordered casually, "then you can go back to the police station and help me take a look."
Then he couldn't help but quicken his pace to meet Jiang Ting.