Case Files 013

Chapter 135: A Message

I nudged Gu Chen on his shoulder and he quickly slipped the half newspaper into his coat pocket. We then stopped to wait for the others to catch up. I relaxed somewhat seeing Lee Danan had stayed in his own home. When he accosted me in the toilet earlier, that was quite suspicious. The group huddled together and Guan Zhenglin asked, "Why are you guys walking so fast?"

I cleared my throat and said, "We should head over to the fields over there first. We're standing too conspicuously in the open."

When we arrived at the edge of the village, I said, "I just think there shouldn't be any reason for us to involve someone who doesn't know too much about the case lest we put them in danger. When the village head summoned you guys, he must have told you something about the reason why we're here already. But I'm going to officially explain it again. We're here to capture the killer."

"Capture the killer?" Er Xiao was still the chatterbox. "That's good! But please don't assign me a job like the one before. You told me to be on the lookout for suspects but there was no one who passed by the place at all. My eyes are already dry from all the staring. I didn't have a good night's sleep either because I was afraid that someone might pass by when I was sleeping, so I kept waking up to look"

I quickly stopped him before he continued to drown us with his story, "Based on 3 days of observations, we noticed that the killer would pick the time when it's snowing heavily to dump the body. Coincidentally, it has been snowing heavily for the past few nights and the darkness has provided the perfect natural cover for them."

The village head added, "Therefore, after some discussion between the officers and myself, we feel like we should lay an ambush. Once the killer comes out to dump the body, we'll capture them red-handed. But based on the clouds in the sky, I don't think it'll snow today. We'll start this operation tomorrow." The two nodded.

Gu Chen glanced towards the village. "This village only has 1 main road. Me, Wu Meng, Chief Zhou, Ol' Xia and Er Xiao, each of us will hide on the rooftops of the houses along the main road. Pay attention to the environment around us. If there's anyone roaming around the village late at night, then that's our killer." Everyone nodded.

At that moment, Guan Zhenglin cut in, "Hey, why aren't I part of the lookout? I can help too."

I tapped her head lightly. "It's too dangerous for a female, what if we have to accost the killer. By the way, if you get too tired, you can rest when it is almost dawn. It will take time for the snow to cover a person's footprint so I believe the killer will not make any move after 3 am. And due to the lifestyle of the villagers here, most people would be up by 5 am already."

The village head added, "We'll be on the lookout if it snows; if it doesn't, we'll stay at home. Bring extra comforters with you, so you wouldn't be too cold when you're on the lookout." After everything was arranged, it was decided that Er Xiao would stay with Ol' Xia for these few days.

After the sky darkened, I almost fainted from hunger. The village head's wife cooked another table of food for us. She promised that she cooked everything herself this time and everything was home grown. We wolfed down the food, the hunger winning over the fear of the human dumpling. Gu Chen shook his head and said between bites. "If you ask me, we'll eat anything if you're hungry enough. When there's no other option, you'll even eat human dumplings. Look at me, did it affect my appetite this afternoon? After vomiting, I still managed to finish my lunch."

I had no idea why Gu Chen would be proud of that but I was too busy eating to care. After we finished the meal, we bade the village head and his wife goodbye before we returned to our temporary home to rest. Walking on the country path, we kept burping.

At that moment, suddenly there was a ringtone. It was from Chief Zhou's phone, we immediately stopped moving and turned back to look at him. Chief Zhou's phone was more like decoration, other than the few scam messages, his phone rarely rang. But someone had sent Chief Zhou a message. He took out his phone and glanced at the name. Under the yellow streetlight, we saw his expression took on immense fear before turning to confusion and sadness. The 3 busybodies went over and noticed the sender was Luo Sumei.

Luo Sumei was Xiao Mei, or Chief Zhou's girlfriend. Why would the girlfriend who had ignored Chief Zhou for a week suddenly send him a message? We wondered if the message was one to ask for a breakup or for them to get back together.

The 3 of us understandably turned our heads away and slowly walked away to give Chief Zhou some privacy. After about 10 metres, Chief Zhou suddenly called us, "Wu Meng, Gu Chen, wait, there's something wrong with this message!" We turned around and saw that Chief Zhou's brows were deeply furrowed. Something bad must have happened.

The 3 of us quickly hurried back. Chief Zhou handed me his phone. I glanced through the content and passed it to the others. Our faces were carved with anxiety and fear. I glanced at Chief Zhou from the corner of my eyes and saw that he was sweating despite the cold weather. He must be extremely worried to sweat in the snowy weather. This was the message:

Captain Zhou, tell me, you haven't seen Xiao Mei for quite some time already, haven't you? I don't get it, you two have been together for 2 years already, haven't you had sex yet? Shouldn't you know that there is a black mole on Luo Sumei's left big toe?'

Guan Zhenglin mumbled, "I am the one who is the most familiar with the leg since I did the autopsy. There is indeed a mole on the big toe."

Gu Chen countered, "But that doesn't prove the victim is Luo Sumei. The message could be fake. Chief Zhou, does her big toe have a mole?"

Chief Zhou stood there and appeared quite flustered. This man over 40 was quite at a loss, like a child who needed guidance. He stammered, "I, I never inspected that leg closely before, but, but Xiao Mei does have a mole on her foot. But that means" Chief Zhou suddenly collapsed to the snowy ground. "The victim is Luo Sumei, my girlfriend, but that couldn't be. It's impossible." Gu Chen and Zheng Guanlin hurried to help Chief Zhou. Seeing Chief Zhou on the floor, there was a strange feeling that bothered me. I asked, "Chief Zhou, is this Luo Sumei's phone number?"

"Yes." He nodded.

Holding Chief Zhou's phone in one hand, I sent a message to Mary on my own phone. I sent her Luo Sumei's phone number and requested her to look into Luo Sumei. I was about to put my phone away when I thought about something else and sent another message.

So the victim was Luo Sumei, Chief Zhou's girlfriend. She hadn't contacted Chief Zhou for a week already, did that mean she was detained throughout that whole time? According to Guan Zhenglin's report, Luo Sumei died around noon 3 days ago but we only confirmed her identity now. This was hard to believe. We were trying so hard to find out the victim's identity but it was Chief Zhou's girlfriend all along. It was normal that Chief Zhou wouldn't be able to make the identification with just a single leg and arm. However, it did mean that Chief Zhou's objectivity to this case would be compromised. I probably would lose my mind if I was in his shoes now.

So what was the motive behind this murder? Did this killer have a grudge with Chief Zhou? That was possible. At Elm Town, Chief Zhou handled all the heavy cases. So he would naturally be assigned this case. What would be more heartbreaking from finding out the mysterious victim was your girlfriend all along in the middle of the case? Furthermore, the killer had no idea whether we had finished the dumplings or not. If we did, then Chief Zhou's girlfriend would be in our stomach now.

As that thought entered my mind, the vomit came up my throat. Then Guan Zhenglin and Chief Zhou doubled over as well. They must have understood the killer's intention too. Only Gu Chen stood there dumbly, not understanding why we had suddenly vomited. Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss.

I looked from the corner of my eye. While Chief Zhou vomited, he also wiped away the tears from his face. Tonight would be a sleepless night for the man.

I turned my thoughts to the killer. Who would have such a deep resentment towards Chief Zhou to take such a horrid revenge?!

According to Chinese history, there are 3 major reasons for taking revenge; collapse of a country, death of a father, stealing the wife. The killer didn't kill Chief Zhou but used a more brutal method to come after Chief Zhou. So just how deep was the hatred? Did Chief Zhou kill someone's father or steal someone's wife? I believed only Chief Zhou would be able to answer that.

Gu Chen said, "It's too cold here. We can talk about it inside. Fuck, after we capture the killer, I will break their bones myself." Then the two helped walk Chief Zhou towards the Siheyuan. As they walked past, I saw the tears freeze on Chief Zhou's face. He must be heartbroken. I followed behind them as I pulled on my hair. The more we looked into this case, the more complicated it became. Just what kind of unknown story and conspiracy could be behind it?