My childhood best friend Wong was killed, and the investigation involved the disappearance of a child 20 years ago.
Three little boys threw stones and killed a little girl.
Wong was the leader of the three boys, and now he and another boy are dead.
We suspect that the little girl's mother, Su, is secretly pursuing a plan of revenge.
Feng and I tracked Su down to the urban village of Lianhua Road, the provincial capital, and found that Su rented a house here and engaged in prostitution.
And the landlady said that one of her guests was my childhood friend Wong.
Wong34 years old, Su50 years old, these two mixed together, we can't imagine that picture.
The landlady said, I also always wondered, Wong's age, how to find Su.
She also recommended young women to Wong, but Wong wasn't interested.
I asked my landlady when was the last time she saw Wong?
She said that some time ago, during a heavy rain that night, she met Wong at the gate and watched him leave in a black car.
We found the black car driver, mentioned Wong, he was excited.
He said that son of a bitch had to go to Peace Street on crutches, and that was fine, but he skipped the fare.
At the west end of the city village, Heping Street is a hutong full of foot washing rooms and massage parlors, and is a famous red-light district nearby.
The driver dropped Wong off at Heping Street, where Wong threw him a pack of cigarettes and told him to wait.
But the driver smoked half a pack of cigarettes, Wong has not come out, go in to ask, only to know Wong left the back door, did not take the crutches.
The driver of the black car is still angry when he says it.
I asked him what day it was, and he was sure it was the 21st of last month, when the rain was particularly heavy.
I asked the driver to take us to the store.
On the evening of May 16, 2015, Feng and I took a black bus to Heping Street and came to a small shop named "Leisure Bar".
Feng and I walked into the Casual Bar, where several scantily clad women sat on the sofa.
When we came in, a woman stood up.
With a flattering smile, she asked what service we would like.
I looked at these people in front of me, wearing heavy makeup, I could not tell the actual age.
I asked the female boss, these are the only ones?
The female boss nodded and said that these services were good and guaranteed to make the big brother satisfied.
I pointed to Feng and said to the female boss, "Your big brother likes older ones, is there any here?"
The female boss thought I was joking, said you don't tease, the big brother is young and handsome, which will like the old woman.
I mean, he likes old ladies, and he left without us.
The female boss looked very embarrassed and said that all the young people here, the old ones only clean up.
I said, clean up is fine, you call him out and show him.
The female boss waved her hand and said, no, she only does hygiene, not massage.
I pulled Feng to go, the female boss quickly came up to retain, said the store did not, but can help contact.
I asked with a smile, you can "transfer goods" in this line of work?
She laughed, too, and said it was all for the client.
The female boss asked us to wait, she went to make a phone call, came back and said that "Hong" is not convenient to come, if you must serve, you can go to her house directly.
This makes me a little surprised, I said a little interesting, sent to the door of the business, how to push out.
The female boss smiled and said, all for the guests.
I asked the female boss, "Are there any pictures? Bring it to see, your big brother doesn't want to be too ugly."
A woman sitting on the couch whispered "motherfucker!"
I pretended not to hear, insisted that the female boss take a look at the photo.
The female boss turned over the phone for a long time, found a wechat profile picture, and said, "Hong looks like this, are you satisfied?"
I handed the phone to Feng, who nodded heavily, and I asked the female boss for the address.
Feng got into the black car and ran to the address. He kept complaining about me before getting in.
I turned back to "leisure bar", the female boss wanted to go out, and I bumped into full.
I said, I'm still here, what are you doing.
She put on that coquetty smile again and said that you did not go with him.
I said I don't like old women.
The female boss laughed and said that it was right, and then asked me to pick someone quickly.
I said I didn't care for any of these girls and wanted to talk to you.
Listen to me say this, the female boss is a little embarrassed, said he does not do "service".
I asked the female boss if she had ever seen a man on crutches?
The female boss said she couldn't remember.
I pulled out Wong's photo and she looked at it and said she didn't recognize him.
I also asked, the female boss was impatient, she said: "In the end do not do, the old pull these have no, don't do hurry to go, don't hinder my business."
It's a shame, too, because it's a secret.
I found a place to sit for a while, assuming Feng had arrived and was ready to have a showdown with the female boss.
But after Shouting for a long time, no one answered me.
I turned to ask next to the female technician, your boss?
"The boss?" She looked puzzled.
I mean, the one I was talking to.
"Oh, look for Hong. She just left out the back door."
The female technician said that, and bowed to play mobile phone.
I bounced up off the couch and Feng called me back. He shouted on the other end of the phone, "We were fooled, the address she gave was fake!"
I woke up, grabbed the female technician and asked her, Where is Hong?
The female technician threw me off and said, "What are you doing? Where did she go is none of your business."
I just remembered, before I identified myself, I need to show you my officer's ID.
The female technician was startled and quickly explained that what she provided was a regular service.
I didn't have time to talk to her about it. I just asked her where Hong was.
The female technician said she didn't know.
I asked her for Hong's home address and informed Feng to come.
As I walked out the door, I called the security brigade and asked them to send someone immediately to control the "leisure bar."
While waiting for the police of the public security brigade, I took out Wong's photo again and showed it to the female technician.
The female technician looked nervously and said, Wong ah, is a regular customer of Hong.
I said, when was the last time you saw him?
She said that some time ago, on the day of heavy rain, he came with a crutch and forgot to take it when he left, and then Hong took it away.
The female technician said that when Hong came to work, Wong followed her, like a regular customer she brought over, coming once a week and only looking for her.
More than half a month ago, Wong visited Hong again, but stayed in Hong's room for a long time.
Wong has not come out, the boss is very worried, this black car driver also ran in, menacing, asking Wong where.
The owner, sensing something was wrong, opened the door with a spare key and found the room empty except for Wong's walking stick standing against the wall.
It was three in the morning before Hong returned.
The boss asked her, what happened?
Hong said she had just gone out with Wong for a late night snack and handed the boss a few hundred dollars, saying it was Wong's service fee.
She then went back into the room and took Wong's crutches.
The female technician said, "I was wondering how a cripple could walk without a stick."
Wong never came back after that, and Hong never mentioned him again.
What date was it? Can you recall it? I asked the female technician.
"Sunday, April 21, heavy rain," she said.
After the police arrived, I hurried to Hong's house.
Hong lives in the city village and Feng arrived before me and was waiting for me downstairs.
Feng saw me and said, "I have good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?"
Let me tell you the bad news.
Feng said Hong ran away, just 10 minutes after a neighbor said she left in a hurry with a suitcase.
And the good news? I asked Feng.
"Hong is her nom de guerre. She's Su." "Feng said.
I called the bureau, had them send someone inside to do a scene search.
Twenty minutes later, my colleague arrived and we went into Su's house together.
It was a small one-bedroom apartment, cluttered with large wardrobes open and bedding on the floor.
There were a lot of clothes piled up on the bed, and the writing desk and drawers were pulled apart, just like the scene of a burglary, indicating that Su left in a hurry.
The landlord was watching at the door, and I called him in.
"When did Su move in?" I asked.
"Last September."
"Does she live alone?"
"Well, she rents the house alone. She's the only one who lives there."
A colleague came out of the bathroom with a razor and two sets of dental gear and said Lam, there may have been a man living in the house.
I stared at the landlord, raised my voice and asked him, "Who else lives with Su?"
"Oh, there was a man who used to come to her." The landlord hurriedly changed his mind.
"What does it look like?"
"Mid-50s, crew-strong, northwest accent, looks like a driver."
"How do you know it's a driver?"
"I've seen him drive up here in a blue van."
"When was the last time you saw that car?"
"Two months ago."
So, the bureau ordered a subpoena for Su.
Feng alerted the surrounding municipal public security authorities and asked the city's police to help find Su.
And right now, we're at the station, waiting for DNA comparisons.
Zheng, who is in charge of Wong's car accident case, is also waiting for the DNA comparison report.
I asked Zheng, have you found anything new?
Zheng asked, do you still remember the case of a white truck falling into the water some time ago?
I nodded and said I remembered.
Zheng said, I was busy looking for the blue container truck that hit Wong, the case of falling into the water will be handed over to others.
Later, colleagues told him that the case was very strange, no one had called the police, and the white truck had no license plate, and even the main driver and engine number were defeated.
A few days later, on the beach 10 kilometers away from the scene of the fall, a body was found without documents, and the body showed a giant view, unable to determine the identity of the deceased.
The case investigated for half a month, with no results, the brigade published the information of the drowned car.
Until a few days ago, several loan company employees found the traffic police, said that someone used the truck as a mortgage, loans in their company, and now it is time to repay, the other party has lost contact, they suspect the other party to cheat loans.
The loan company employee took out the loan materials, which said that the owner's name is Sheldon, Shaanxi, 52 years old.
The police looked at the license photo and said they were looking for the wrong one.
Why? I asked Zheng.
"That's the point." Zheng said.
The mortgage truck in the photo is a blue container truck, and the truck that went into the water is a white truck.
But the loan company employees insist that the car to find is here, the traffic police brigade had to take them to see the car fell into the water.
The guys at the loan company found a GPS in the truck, and it confirmed it was the car they were looking for.
"What's going on?" I don't really understand.
Zheng said: "We checked again and found that the car had been modified."
Zheng smiled and said that the most crucial thing was coming.
Most importantly, the GPS on Sheldon's car has a recording device.
I asked him, what did he record?
'Two months of recordings were made,' Mr. Zheng said. 'I had people listen to all the recordings and found a suspicious conversation.'
Zheng dug out the phone and played the recording for me.
The dialogue is a man and a woman, the man kills for the woman, so that the woman can fulfill her promise to marry him, but the woman says that the thing is not done, the man loses his temper, suspects that he is used, the woman defends, and then the two argue.
I said, no recording of the accident?
Zheng said the power supply of the equipment was limited and there was no recording.
What happened, I asked him?
Zheng found the forensic department and conducted an autopsy on the floating body.
Meanwhile, in order to find out Sheldon's identity, Zheng sends people to Shaanxi to investigate.
Sheldon was adopted by Sheldon's family when he was young. His adoptive parents died early.
Because his family was poor, Sheldon never married and had no relatives.
With the help of local police, they find Sheldon's nephew.
"Who do you think his nephew is?" Zheng asked me.
I shake my head. I don't even know Sheldon, let alone his nephew.
It was Jack's son, Jack, who died of liver cancer in 2007, whose DNA was implicated in Chang's death.
Zheng deduces that Sheldon and Jack are identical twin brothers.
Zheng then took the DNA from the floating body and compared it with the DNA of Jack's son.
He's waiting for the report now.
I asked Zheng, was the loan company giving Sheldon money in cash or by transfer?
According to Zheng, the money was transferred to Sheldon's bank card, which was withdrawn three days later.
I said, what about the bank card?
The bank card wasn't on Sheldon's evidence list.
I mean, who took the money? We need to find out.
Zheng's report arrives, and he goes straight to the last page, confirming his theory that the floater is Sheldon and that Sheldon is Chang's killer.
My report is late and disappointing.
The man in Su's room had nothing to do with Chang's death, and Ming's sample comparison failed, and his criminal suspicion was ruled out.
Feng and I were silent, thinking about how to explain to Zhao.
After a while, my phone rang and it was a colleague from the tech team.
"Lam, there's something I want to tell you." There was a trace of anxiety in his voice.
I said, what?
"When I compared the male DNA in the Su family, I found that the man had been tested eight years ago."
I'm curious. Eight years ago?
"Well, his name is Tong, and his DNA was matched with the remains of a 5-year-old child, and he later took possession of the body."
I almost shouted, "What about Su's DNA?"
"Yes, Su is the mother."
The news shocked me. I couldn't figure out what was going on with Su. First Ming found Sheldon, and then Tong.
I suddenly a little pity Ming, this looks very smart man, did not realize that the daughter raised for six or seven years is not flesh and blood.
Su knew the news of her daughter Ceci's death.
What's her relationship with Sheldon? The man and woman in the recording device are Su and Sheldon? And why would Sheldon kill Chang? And who is Tong?
My head is all messed up.
On the morning of May 19, 2015, the cleaning attendant at a hotel in Inner Mongolia smelled a unique odor that he suspected was drug use.
He quietly finished cleaning the guest room and dialed the police in the hallway.
Five minutes later, police took control of a man and a woman in the room, and found drugs and tens of thousands of dollars in cash.
Police took the two men back to the police station, and when they verified their DNA information, they were identified as Su and Tong.
Two days later, Feng took the two back to the station for questioning.
Su kept silent, but my attention was on Tong, who kept his head down, afraid to look at me.
I said, Tong, lift your head and look at me.
He raised his head reluctantly, glanced at me, and quickly lowered it again.
I thought he looked familiar, and then I asked him to look up, and he was angry, but he still raised his head.
I re-looked at the Tong in front of me and finally remembered.
When Wong was in a car accident, I went to the hospital to see him, and the nurse who showed me the way was Tong pretending to be.
At night, the interrogation room was brightly lit.
Su was still silent, I was looking at the bank records, and Feng sat next to me smoking all the time.
The police in the technical department quietly set up a sound recorder to collect Su's voice and compare it with the female voice in the GPS recording device.
The clock on the wall was ticking and Su looked up from time to time.
Feng stabbed her with a negative face and said, "Well, count the time, you can leave without talking for 24 hours, you are quite experienced."
Su remained silent.
I read the notes, I stretched, I looked at her, and I said, is there anything you want to say?
Su deadpan said, drug use this thing I have explained, want to know you ask them.
I banged on the table and said that instead of talking about drugs today, let's talk about something else.
"I don't know anything else." Su looked at me with a probing look in his eyes.
I stared into Su's eyes and said every word, "Ceci, Wong, Tong, Sheldon, you decide which one you want to talk to."
Su clasped her hands and glanced aside. "I don't even know what you're talking about."
I stood up, walked over to Su, opened up a stack of documents and laid them out in front of her. "Let's talk about it one by one, starting with Sheldon."
This is the data from Zheng's investigation. The 90,000 yuan in Sheldon's account was withdrawn from the ATM six times three days after it arrived.
Security cameras caught the withdrawal.
The cash was withdrawn by a girl, who put the money into a red bag, then left the ATM and entered a store down the street, and Su came out of the store with the red bag shortly after.
I threw the red bag in front of Su, which I found in her luggage.
Su's face turned white, but he tried to remain calm: "What does this mean?"
I ignored her and pulled out another set of photos.
In the sale, Su and the girl to withdraw money into the first floor bathroom.
There's no surveillance in the bathroom, but Zheng found the girl.
I took a picture of the girl in front of Su and blocked her escape: "The girl has told me, you run errands for her and withdraw 50 yuan a time, a total of 6 times, right?"
Su looked at the photo in a daze.
"Now, what does that mean?"
"That money, he owes me." "We were going to get married, but he suddenly backed out and offered me 100,000 yuan," Su said.
It makes me laugh that Ceci's biological father Tong, who is now locked up next door, says she wants to marry Sheldon.
I followed her conversation, a lie, at least three lies to round, there is always a problem with her.
I asked her, where is Sheldon now?
Su says, Sheldon's gone.
"Yes, and when did you last see him?"
"Three or four days ago, he left a bank card and left."
"How? Where?"
"How should I know? " Su gave an impatient look.
I continued to question her, and she broke out in a cold sweat.
She couldn't keep up with the lie, and it was very embarrassing.
At this time, my mobile phone rang, the text message sent by the technical police, there are only four words: the voice is consistent.
I smiled and Su was confused. She looked at me with confused eyes.
I said, "We found a recording device in Sheldon's car that happened to record a couple arguing. I thought you might be interested."
"Recording equipment?" Su asked back, his voice lost.
As I stared at her, Su had a slight twitch on her face, a reaction to high mental tension.
I told her about Sheldon's car loan.
Su opened his mouth but said nothing.
I showed her every piece of evidence I had collected before, and exposed the lies she had worked so hard to fabricate.
Su looked, lowered his head, and began to gasp.
I asked them to play the recording, and Sheldon and Su's argument was pretty intense in the interview room.
Su buried her head and actually laughed, then looked up, and there were two more tears on her face.
I knocked on the table, handed her a cigarette and asked, "Aren't you going to tell the truth at this point?"
Su's psychological defenses have finally collapsed.