The Untouched Crime

by Zijin Chen

  “What I don’t understand is why are you determined to show that Xu’s death was committed by three people and not just by the third person? Why do you think that Mr. Guo and Ms. Zhu have something to do with the case?”

  “They killed Xu. The third person did not,” Yan said seriously.

  “But why?”

  “Two reasons: first is the paring knife. Xu’s wound perfectly matches the knife that we found at the noodle restaurant. Second, if that third person actually killed Mr. Xu, we wouldn’t be racking our brains to try and crack the case.”

  “And why do you say that?” Lin asked.

  Yan breathed in sharply. “Because that third person would never have left any evidence. We would have no way of solving it.” Yan looked at Lin. He knew that it was not the time to mention Luo’s name.

  Instead he said, “Every time the serial killer committed a murder, the special task force was unable to find any clues. That crime scene was cleaned up by a pro. The serial killer didn’t kill Xu, but he helped to clean up their mess. Mr. Guo and Ms. Zhu didn’t know what they were doing; that’s why he resorted to scattering money at the crime scene.”

  “If that’s what really happened, the third person was taking a major risk on their behalf,” Lin said.

  Yan reflected on Lin’s comment for a moment. “I’m not sure how the third person is related to Mr. Guo and Ms. Zhu. Perhaps they weren’t close friends.”

  “Do you really think someone would help a stranger clean up a crime scene?”

  Yan smiled wryly and shook his head. “I can’t figure that part out. And I still don’t know why the third person appeared in the park at the exact moment that Mr. Guo and Ms. Zhu attacked their victim.”

  “So what are you going to do now, Professor Yan?” Lin asked. “Your conjectures explain every point in the case, but you don’t have any evidence to support them. There’s no way of proving that Mr. Guo and Ms. Zhu were the killers or that a third person was involved.”

  “You’re right, Lin,” Yan said. “At the moment all I have is one solution to the difficult equation. I cannot prove that it is the only solution. If our equation is x squared equals four, one answer is two but we also have the answer of negative two. In other words, I can be sure that my solution is sufficient for this equation, but I can’t prove that it is both necessary and sufficient,” Yan said.

  “How confident are you that you have the right answer?”

  “One hundred percent. The only problem is that from a law-enforcement perspective, it looks like I’m inventing a story to explain what happened,” Yan said with a smile.

  “If you feel that confident, I’ll get some guys to bring Ms. Zhu and Mr. Guo here immediately,” Lin said.

  “No, don’t do that!” Yan said.

  “Why not? Didn’t you say that you couldn’t prove your theory even though you’re sure it’s correct? We don’t have physical evidence and we don’t have witnesses, so we need confessions. If we can force a confession out of those two, we would definitely get the name of that third person and probably get more incriminating evidence too,” Lin said.

  “Interrogating them is our last resort. Don’t use it unless you have to. Just think: if we don’t have any evidence to show that they’ve committed a crime, we won’t get an arrest warrant. We can summon them to the bureau, but what if they don’t cooperate? I think the criminals involved in this case know that we don’t have witnesses and we can’t find any evidence. We’ll be stuck,” Yan said.

  “What do you think we should do?” Lin asked.

  “I’d start by listening to all the conversations between Ms. Zhu and Mr. Guo—and monitor any other messages or texts. They have probably been trained to avoid communicating by phone, but we might catch them being careless. Then let’s go see Ms. Zhu and Mr. Guo together. I’m not a cop, so I can’t force them to talk. But you can, and I want to see just how much those two have learned from their accomplice.”

  As he spoke, Yan looked out the window, his eyes distant.

  Chapter 52

  The next day, it was so hot you could fry an egg on the street. Nobody was willing to leave their house, so the noodle restaurant didn’t have much business.

  Fulai had taken off his shirt and was napping on a folding chair behind the cash register. The electric fan was on full blast. Huiru sat in a wicker chair, playing with her phone to pass the time.

  At that moment, Professor Yan and Investigator Lin walked in. Lin was in uniform, but Huiru didn’t notice either of them.

  Lin saw that Huiru was totally absorbed in her phone, and he coughed to get her attention. “Ah, Ms. Zhu, we need to speak to you again.”

  When Huiru looked up, the color drained from her face.

  Fulai woke up at the sound of Lin’s voice. He hurried towards them. “Hello, officer. Can . . . can we help you?”

  “It has to do with that murder,” Lin said. “We need to ask Ms. Zhu some questions.”

  “My little sister has told you everything she knows, hasn’t she? What—what else do you need?” Fulai said.

  Lin was about to make up an excuse, but before he could speak, Yan smiled coldly and said, “Maybe she hasn’t told us everything.”

  Fulai’s expression changed but Huiru was prepared. She looked resigned and said, “Yes, I’ve told you everything, and several times already.”

  “Yes, you were very cooperative before,” Yan said. “We’d like you to just clarify a few things.”

  “Cooperating with the police is the duty of every citizen,” Lin added. “We specifically came in the afternoon so that you wouldn’t be too busy in the restaurant. Believe me, we’re also miserable in this heat. Would you please come with us, Ms. Zhu?”

  “Where are you going?” Fulai asked, looking alarmed.

  “Oh, we’ll just go to one of the cafés around the corner. Somewhere with air conditioning, I think.” Lin watched Fulai’s reaction carefully.

  “Just stay here. I’ll turn on the air conditioning,” Fulai said, turning it on.

  “No, we don’t want to trouble you. Anyway, we asked Mr. Guo to meet us there,” Lin said.

  While Fulai thought of an appropriate answer, Huiru acted as coolly as possible. “I wouldn’t mind a free coffee. You’re paying, right?” She stood up quickly and put her phone in her pocket.

  Lin stared in surprise. She seemed totally at ease. Yan pulled him towards the door, and they all made their way to the café.

  The three of them sat down at the table Lin had reserved. “What did you want to ask me?” Huiru asked.

  “Let’s wait until Guo Yu comes,” Yan answered.

  “OK,” Huiru took out her phone and started playing a game.

  Lin looked at Huiru and then at Yan. Yan had a slight smile on his lips as he watched Huiru. Lin decided it was best to keep his mouth shut.

  Guo Yu arrived with tiny beads of sweat on his forehead. He saw Yan and Lin before he noticed Huiru. For a split second he looked unsure, but he quickly composed himself. “Good afternoon. Huiru, what are you doing here?” he said.

  “The officer said he wanted to ask some more questions,” Huiru answered casually.

  “Have a seat, Mr. Guo,” Lin said, indicating a chair. “We’re sorry that we asked you to leave your office when the weather is so unbearably hot.”

  “It’s fine. I asked for the rest of the day off,” Guo Yu said, wiping his hands on his pants and sitting next to Huiru.

  “Would you like something to drink or eat? Please get anything you like,” Lin said, handing them each a menu.

  “Maybe just something to drink, thanks,” Guo Yu said.

  The waitress promptly brought their order to the table: iced coffee, juice, and some snacks. Guo Yu nibbled self-consciously while Huiru took full advantage of the spread.

  Yan smiled again. “Let’s get started. On the night of Xu’s accident, did you see a man wearing a cross-body bag?”

  Guo Yu bent forward to take a drink.

  Huiru
scrunched her lips together and thought. “A man wearing a bag? No, I don’t remember that. It happened a while ago, though. What about you, Guo Yu?”

  “Hmm . . . I don’t remember that either.” Guo Yu had the kind of face that people tended to trust.

  “Maybe if I describe him, you’ll remember,” Yan said. “He’s between forty and fifty, he has short hair, and he wears this one bag a lot. Almost every day, in fact. He’s very rich and he drives an Audi SUV. He lives in an expensive apartment, but it is not decorated very well because he lives on his own. There is only one photograph on the wall, a picture of him with his family. Should I go on?”

  Huiru and Guo Yu knew not to admit to anything since the police were only guessing. They both acted very calmly, though they were worried about protecting their friend.

  Lin, on the other hand, stared incredulously as Yan described the accomplice. Lin knew that the pervert had seen a man wearing a cross-body bag on the night that he assaulted a woman. But how did Yan know that? How did he know his age? How did he know about his nice car, his big apartment, and everything else?

  Huiru looked confused. “Who are you talking about?”

  “We know Xu’s death was an accident,” Yan said, avoiding her question. “You two aren’t bad people. You’re good, honest people, and if somebody humiliates you or takes advantage of you, or even smacks you on the back of the head, you’ll just take it on the chin. You never wanted to kill Xu Tianding. But when an accident turns into a murder and you lie in order to avoid punishment, the situation changes. If you repent now, it’s better than continuing to try to hide the evidence until everything gets totally out of hand.”

  “What do you mean?” Huiru asked, giving Yan a penetrating look.

  Guo Yu coughed lightly. He kept his eyes fixed on Yan as he spoke in a soft voice. “Officer, do you mean . . . you think we did it?”

  Yan let out a short, bitter laugh. “Some people might think that the man who wears the cross-body bag is a good man. That’s because they don’t know him—they don’t know that this isn’t the first crime he’s committed. Have either of you been paying attention to the serial murders in west Hangzhou? It’s been in the news for months. You know, the one who leaves a sign that says ‘Come and get me’? He has killed at least five people. You can imagine what kind of trouble you’ll be in if you keep hiding the identity of a violent killer.” Yan’s eyes flashed.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Guo Yu said, taking a sip of his drink.

  “I don’t understand either; you’re not making any sense,” Huiru said somewhat impolitely. She picked up her drink.

  Yan sat and stared in the ensuing silence. Nobody moved until he finally pursed his lips. “Fine, then we have nothing else to ask you about. I’m very sorry for bothering you.”

  “Can we leave, then?” Huiru said, surprised that their meeting was so short.

  “Yes,” Yan said with a nod.

  “OK then,” Huiru stood, then sat down again. “Actually I think I’ll finish my drink first. It’s delicious. Just to check, are we paying or . . . ?”

  “We’re paying, of course,” Lin answered.

  “OK,” Huiru said, focusing again on the food on the table. “You’re not going to eat any of this?”

  “I’m not very hungry. It’s so hot outside,” Yan said.

  “Oh, that’s great!” Huiru said. “I mean, if you don’t want it, I’ll ask the waitress to box it up and take it home. I don’t want it to go to waste.”

  “Of course,” Lin said, somewhat stunned. It was as if he had just met a Martian. He had worked in the force for years and had done countless interviews, but he had never seen anybody ask if they could take the food with them.

  “No matter how you look at it, those two don’t seem suspicious to me,” Lin said later, gradually recovering from his initial surprise.

  “I would give them full marks for their acting skills,” Yan said, making a face. “The accomplice taught them some very effective tactics. Even when I made everything obvious, their expressions didn’t change at all. If we brought them to the police station, it would be useless.”

  “But I think they’re innocent,” Lin said. “If anything I think Mr. Zhu is a bit suspicious. He looked apprehensive the minute we stepped into his restaurant.”

  “He’s not even remotely related to the case,” Yan said unequivocally.

  “Why not? Ms. Zhu and Mr. Guo are calm and collected, but you think they are the ones who did it. Meanwhile Mr. Zhu seems to have a guilty conscience, but you say he doesn’t have anything to do with the case. It doesn’t make sense!”

  “Do you remember when you asked about the knife, how Mr. Zhu said he had never seen it, but Ms. Zhu found it immediately and showed it to you? Ms. Zhu wanted to show you the knife to prove her innocence. I think Mr. Zhu was worried, and the fact that he was trying to cover up something as trivial as the knife shows that he’s not very intelligent. I’m sure he’s not involved,” Yan concluded.

  “By the way, how did you come up with so many specific details about the killer? It sounded like you had been to his house!” Lin asked.

  “Oh, I was just guessing,” Yan said with a smile.

  “You guessed that he was in his forties, drove a luxury car, and lived in an expensive apartment? How?” Lin asked.

  “I invented it. I just wanted to see how those youngsters would react. I told you already, I don’t have evidence yet. When I do, you’ll be the first to know,” Yan said.

  Lin raised his eyebrows at the professor.

  Chapter 53

  It was still light out, just past six, even though the sun had already set behind the mountains.

  Luo wore his bag, his hands at his sides. He leaned slightly forward and walked along the river, calmly and slowly.

  He was keenly aware of what the police were up to. Lots of people gossiped about the search for fingerprints in west Hangzhou. They were going to every house and ensuring that they didn’t miss anyone. Still, they weren’t going as fast as Luo had anticipated—at least, nobody in his neighborhood had been fingerprinted yet.

  This wasn’t very surprising, considering that over eight hundred thousand people lived in the district. On top of that, the police had to compare every fingerprint and keep track of the information. The workload was staggering. The Hangzhou census was easier, because the government hired an army of people to do it in a few days. But fingerprinting was sensitive; only the police could do it.

  Luo lifted his head and looked into the distance. “Hypothetically it wouldn’t be difficult to avoid getting fingerprinted,” he muttered. He pressed his lips into a line and kept walking.

  Yan had invited him to meet at the park by the river today. That clever fox just wouldn’t give up. But Luo wasn’t the slightest bit nervous. He held all the aces. Even if Yan could guess some of the cards that Luo was holding, he couldn’t predict what Luo’s next move would be.

  Then again, even if Yan would never beat him, did that necessarily make Luo the winner? Luo sighed and shook his head, a bitter smile on his face.

  In a way, he was actually competing against himself.

  How was it going to end?

  He kept walking at his usual slow pace. A young woman walked past, probably on her way home from work. She wore an elegant platinum necklace with a sapphire pendant.

  Luo stopped suddenly, his eyes fixed on the pendant as he was immediately dragged into the past.

  He remembered that evening, one of the last nights he was in Beijing while his family was still in Ningbo. He couldn’t recall the exact date because he had no idea that it would be the last conversation he would ever have with his wife.

  “Did you have dinner already?” Luo had asked.

  “Of course. It’s nine o’clock. Did you just finish yours, then?” she asked.

  “Yeah, just now,” Luo said with a laugh.

  “You only think to call us when you’ve had your dinner and you don’t know what
to do,” she complained.

  “I’m really busy; I couldn’t call more even if I wanted to,” Luo said sweetly.

  “That’s no excuse!” She raised her voice. “How many times have you called in the last two months? You’re not even thinking of us.”

  “I’ll try to be better, I will. I’ll make sure to call you more and think of you more,” Luo promised.

  “You’re so quick to apologize!” she said mockingly.

  “It’s good to humbly accept criticism.”

  She tutted. “Listen, our little angel isn’t feeling very well,” she said in a more serious tone.

  “She’s sick?”

  “She’s got a cold and a fever.”

  “Did you take her to the hospital?”

  “I gave her a fever reducer and she felt better after that. Tomorrow I’ll take her to the hospital—I’ll need to take a day off work.”

  “Good,” Luo said. “Try to get some medicine but not antibiotics. Taking too many antibiotics isn’t good for her immune system—”

  “I know, I know,” she said, interrupting him. “Stop nagging! You’ve told me all this medical stuff ever since the baby was born. I know it backward and forward.”

  Luo laughed. “I’m getting old, honey; it makes me talk too much. Please forgive me.”

  “When are you coming home? Our little angel used to ask about you all the time, but lately she hasn’t been talking about you at all.” Her teasing was gentle, but it still hurt.

  “Really?” Luo felt a bitter taste of guilt in his mouth. “I’m coming home next week, but I’m not sure which day. I’ll call you as soon as I know. Talk about me to her, OK? I don’t want her to forget who her father is.”

  “If you wait too long she really will forget. The puppy is all grown up and won’t recognize you. He might even bite you when you come back!”

  “Oh no! I’ll be careful when I open the door, then,” Luo said, feeling his heart grow warm.

  “So have you bought a gift for her?”

  “Not yet,” Luo said, feeling guiltier. “Hmm, I could go shopping this weekend. Where do you think I should get presents in Beijing? People go to Wangfujing, right?”