Death Notice

by Zhou HaoHui

  “You’re saying that he killed Sergeant Zheng knowing that the police would re-form the task force?” Zeng asked.

  “Look at what happened at Dongming Gardens,” Pei said, his voice rising in excitement. “It was a test. He intentionally left a trail that led us straight to Sun Chunfeng. He even timed us.”

  “Incredible,” Xiong muttered. “This is just unbelievable!”

  “No, Captain Xiong,” Pei said with confidence. “It fits the facts. And I have to wonder, did our performance meet his standards?”

  “Indeed,” Mu said, biting her lip. “If we analyze Eumenides’s behavior from this perspective, there’s no contradiction in his actions at all. On the contrary, they display a very distinct objective.”

  Yin wiped a layer of sweat from his brow. He didn’t know whether to think or to simply take notes.

  “It’s as absurd as it is disturbing,” Han said. It wasn’t clear whether this was in response to Pei’s analysis or to their now-redefined opponent. “If he wants to play, then by all means, we’ll play!” His fist slammed against the table, spreading a chill throughout the room.

  “Some game,” Zeng said bitterly. “So when do we start round two?”

  “Show everyone the death notice,” Han ordered Yin.

  Finally, Yin thought. This was familiar ground. Taking a deep breath, he tapped the laptop’s right arrow key, and a scan of a handwritten note replaced the image of the transmitter.

  “This note,” Han explained, “was found inside the bomb casing at Sun’s apartment.”

  “October twenty-third,” Zeng read. “Tomorrow.”

  “Yin,” Han said. “What do we know about this ‘Ye Shaohong’?”

  Yin tapped a button, and a photograph of a woman appeared on the screen.

  “Ye Shaohong. Female, thirty years old, married without children. A resident of Chengdu, she currently resides in the villa development located in the Jinding Center in the south of the city. Mrs. Ye is a businesswoman. Wealthy. She’s the general manager of Duhua Imports and Exports, Limited. The company specializes in high-end clothing—the kind of stuff that costs a few months’ salary when it’s on sale.”

  Zeng suddenly interrupted. “There are plenty of women named ‘Ye Shaohong’ in this city. How can you be sure she’s the right one?”

  “She also received the death notice.” Yin displayed the next image as he spoke. “These are the replies to the manifesto Eumenides posted on the forum. Ye Shaohong’s name appeared in the third reply. More than seven hundred users replied to that post expressing their agreement. It’s likely that this victim was selected by the forum’s users.”

  “A true people’s choice,” Zeng said under his breath.

  “But what exactly did she do?” Mu asked.

  When she looked at Ye Shaohong’s picture, she felt something like sympathy stir within her. The woman was attractive, yes, but “beautiful” was not the first word that came to mind when she saw Ye. “Disciplined” was much closer. The woman sported a short, stylish haircut, and makeup had been expertly applied to the taut skin around her jaw and cheekbones. Even if the men in the room couldn’t see it, Mu recognized the tenacity that surrounded the woman like an impervious shell. It was the same way that Mu had shielded herself from the double standards and snide remarks that came part and parcel with being a professional woman in modern-day China. Something else lurked beneath the woman’s toned exterior. It was pride, Mu thought.

  Noticing Mu’s and Pei’s puzzled looks, Yin explained her crime.

  * * *

  On the fifth of April two years earlier, while on her way to work, Ye Shaohong drove her brand-new red BMW into a roadside vegetable stand owned by a farmer surnamed Wang. The stand had overturned, and a dispute had then broken out between the two. Wang demanded that Ye compensate him for the damage she had caused. Ye, on the other hand, insisted that Wang’s stand had been blocking the road—although a dozen other fruit and noodle vendors had also lined the downtown street right alongside Wang—and she refused to discuss the matter any further.

  To stop Ye from driving away from the scene, Wang planted himself in front of her car. According to witnesses, Ye’s BMW suddenly shot forward and struck Wang. The man was taken to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

  There was no shortage of witnesses to the incident, and news of what had happened quickly spread both online and by word-of-mouth. Despite the local government’s recent crackdown against outdoor vendors, many people sided with Wang, and a narrative was quickly spun: a wealthy, privileged businesswoman had killed a poor street vendor in cold blood. Ye explained that she had intended to shift the car into reverse and drive around Wang, but her nerves, exacerbated by her argument with the merchant, kept her from shifting to the proper gear. It was all a terrible and unfortunate accident, she insisted, and she was in fact a victim herself. The subsequent judicial process accepted her explanation, and she was set free after paying a hefty fine. This slap on the wrist stirred up a tidal wave of controversy; cries of blame and condemnation soon filled the media. People accused Ye’s husband, a prominent diplomat based in Europe, of using his influence to make this case go away.

  “In the end,” Yin concluded, “Ye returned to work at Duhua, where she was quickly promoted from assistant manager to her current position of general manager.”

  Xiong shook his head in sharp disapproval. Similar emotions appeared on the other team members’ faces.

  “Now I remember hearing about this,” Zeng said, raising his index finger. “So Ye was behind the wheel of that car. Yeah, I heard that the driver was extremely well-connected.”

  “I also believe it was intentional,” Yin said, finally injecting his own opinion into the conversation. “Witnesses at the scene stated that Mrs. Ye had verbally assaulted Wang before starting the car, even threatening to run him over if he did not step away. If you ask me, her excuse that she accidentally put the car into the wrong gear isn’t very convincing.”

  Han cleared his throat. “The law says that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. If you want to convict someone of second-degree murder, you need legitimate evidence to back it up.” He shot Yin a stern look. “Heated words said during a dispute are not enough.”

  “So if I go out and run someone over with my car, am I innocent too?” Zeng retorted. “We’re the police. Why are we trying to keep this quiet? Look, if you want to know why they let her off so lightly, there are only two explanations: either the size of her bank account, or her husband!”

  Pei glanced at Zeng with increased respect.

  Xiong cleared his throat. “Back to the matter at hand. What’s our next step?”

  Everyone’s eyes darted to the head of the team. Fortunately for them, the captain had already formulated a plan.

  “Eumenides claims he’ll deliver his so-called justice upon Mrs. Ye tomorrow. Seeing as he’s already presented us with such a blatant challenge, our best option is to spread a wide net and lie in wait.”

  “Have we contacted her husband?” Pei asked.

  Han grimaced. “It took us a while, but we finally managed to get in touch with his personal secretary, who told us that he’s currently on a three-day ski trip in the Swiss Alps. She promised that she would leave a message with his hotel, but I don’t think we can count on a quick response. In the meantime, we need to take action.”

  That was Yin’s cue. As the captain continued, Yin clicked through a series of locations that displayed on the screen.

  “Since Eumenides has already revealed his planned time and victim to us, he must be anticipating that she’ll be under police protection. That leads us to conclude that he’ll try to carry out his assassination attempt in a well-populated area. Somewhere with complicated geography, where it’ll be hard for us to be aware of everything that’s going on at every moment. We think he’s going to try t
o slip in and out under our noses.”

  A new image appeared on the screen—an imposing building made out of industrial glass and steel.

  “Mrs. Ye’s office is located in the Deye Building downtown. She leaves her house every day at nine to drive to work. The Deye Building is an older building, and it isn’t equipped with an underground parking garage. This means that Mrs. Ye has to park her car at the nearby Citizen Square before walking to her office. At approximately four in the afternoon, she punches out for the day and goes home.”

  Now the team members were looking at what seemed to be a small mansion. Spilling out from it was an elaborate lawn ornamented with trees, hedges, and a miniature fountain.

  “The villa where she lives is well maintained. It’s under video surveillance twenty-four hours a day. Security at the Deye Building is also very tight. All entrances and exits are well guarded. It’s very unlikely that the attempt will happen at either location.”

  Han paused and made sure that he had everyone’s undivided attention. He pointed to the screen, which was showing a large square plaza that appeared to be several hundred feet across.

  “Here,” he said. “This is Citizen Square. It’s a wide-open public space with heavy foot traffic and immediate access to each of the nearby main roads. It will be relatively easy for our guy to hide in plain sight, and it will be just as easy to flee. This is where he will try. Our top priority tomorrow is to secure the square.”

  Han glanced at Xiong. “Naturally,” he added, “we still need to take precautions against any unconventional methods that may be used to commit the murder. Gas, an armed attack from long range, a hit-and-run, or an explosion. Captain Xiong, you’re going to handle this side of things.”

  Xiong disapproved. “You’re saying that we’re supposed to guard Mrs. Ye for the entire day, then move in to capture the suspect when he attempts to carry out the murder?”

  Han nodded. “Precisely,” he said, his voice rising. “I refuse to believe that anyone is capable of committing a murder in plain sight of the police.”

  Xiong took a moment to collect his thoughts. “This is not the right approach. If there’s one thing we can be sure about after today, it’s that Eumenides is no idiot. He has to know that a public execution of Mrs. Ye is suicide for him. He’s baiting us. Don’t you see? This is all part of the game. We should restrict Mrs. Ye’s activities tomorrow and prevent her from leaving her home. That would give us the best chance of guaranteeing her personal safety.”

  “And then what? Do you really believe we can keep her holed up in her house forever? Let’s suppose Eumenides can’t strike tomorrow. Do you think he’ll just give up? What if he attacks Ye some other day when we’re not around? How can we pass up our best chance to catch this killer?”

  “I don’t believe that Eumenides is going to show himself while Ye’s home is full of police officers. He’s going to wait until we’re moving. When we’re starting to get tired,” Pei said.

  Xiong scrunched his forehead. “I cannot approve of a plan that uses the person we’re supposed to be protecting as bait.”

  Frustrated, Han mulled it over for several seconds. Rather than let the others think that their leader had reached an impasse, he decided to put it to a vote.

  “Majority rule. We’ll take a vote to decide which plan to use.”

  Xiong nodded. “I can accept that.”

  Zeng raised his hand first. “I’m siding with Captain Han. Besides, Ye’s no model citizen. Why should she deserve such special treatment?” With a sly glance at Mu, he adopted a mocking tone. “Although, it would be a shame to let such a gorgeous woman die.”

  Mu met Zeng’s gaze. “She’s not beautiful enough to affect my judgment. Captain Xiong is right. Protecting Ye Shaohong’s life is more important than anything else.”

  “That makes it two against two,” Han said. “Captain Pei?”

  All eyes darted to Pei.

  “I vote for Han’s plan.”

  “That’s settled.” Flashing a pleased smile, Han made a sweeping gesture to include everyone in the room. “Now let’s talk strategy.”

  * * *

  By two in the afternoon, they had formulated a plan to protect Ye Shaohong. The crack officers in Han’s criminal police squad and Xiong’s SPU team would provide the manpower to secure the square, and keep Ye under constant protection.

  Pei was not surprised when Han told him that he had been relegated to a peripheral role. In theory, he would help monitor the police who were carrying out surveillance of Citizen Square. However, Han had no qualms about informing Pei that he would be an observer only. He did not complain.

  They only had one day to prepare, so Han and Xiong immediately got to work. Zeng rushed back to his own room in the guesthouse in hopes of catching up on sleep. This left Pei and Mu, who had both been assigned “monitoring” duties, as the last team members remaining in the conference room. Even with Captain Han gone, Mu was still not willing to let go of her objections to the team’s current plan.

  “Captain, you realize that when we voted just now, your decision went against every one of the principles a police officer is expected to abide by. You’re supposed to prevent crimes from happening, not bait a killer to act first.”

  “Do you honestly think Eumenides has a chance of succeeding under such tight police surveillance? Han’s right. There’s something else going on here.”

  Mu refused to be deterred. “To be honest, I don’t give a damn about what happens tomorrow. My concern is what goes on in people’s minds. Xiong and I are the only ones here who have upheld our professional and moral duty. Han is too eager to capture this killer, or perhaps is driven by his need to avenge Sergeant Zheng. Or maybe this is a manifestation of an overzealous love for his work. Zeng lacks both experience and the maturity that comes with it. Whatever the case, their reasons are compatible with their personalities. But what about you? You seem more levelheaded than Han, and you certainly aren’t as shallow as Zeng. Why did you choose to put Ye in harm’s way?”

  Pei shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Everyone’s aware of their own thoughts to some degree or another,” Mu said with a wry grin. “You’re just unwilling to confront them. Today you pinpointed Eumenides’s motive for killing Sergeant Zheng. Your theory was bold and piercing. While your explanation was quite rational, it followed an unconventional line of thinking. How did you get there?”

  “Simple,” Pei said. “I looked at the problem from another perspective.”

  Mu shook her head. “From the killer’s perspective, you mean? That’s the kind of thing they teach in basic classes at the academy. But you thought of something that none of us could. What does this mean?”

  Pei squinted at Mu, waiting for her to finish.

  She laughed again. “Out of all of us, your mindset is closest to the killer’s. The two of you are very similar, in a way.”

  Pei stiffened in his seat. “I suppose I can’t really refute that.”

  “The idea of matching wits with him appeals to you, doesn’t it?” Mu’s eyes twinkled. “Both of you crave the thrill of the game.”

  Pei paused, and then chuckled. Now that Mu had presented him with such a clear version of his thought process, he felt a kind of relief. “They say that to be a great cop, you need to be a great criminal.”

  “Professor Yang used to say that in his criminal investigation classes, didn’t he? He said that a good police officer and a good criminal share quite a few common traits—a sharp mind, a meticulous nature, a natural inclination toward risk-taking, a craving for knowledge. Two sides of the same coin, in other words. What they both desire the most, and what is hardest for them to achieve, is to see the world through the other’s eyes.”

  “Indeed. I owe a great deal to Professor Yang.”

  Mu observed Pei closely. “It’s lucky for us that
you ended up on the right side of that coin. If you’d chosen the path of a criminal, it would be a terrifying thing.”

  Pei shook his head. “I can think of at least one thing more terrifying.”

  “What’s that?” Mu asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “A female psychologist.”

  Mu froze. “So you can crack jokes, too?” she said with a scowl. “For the record, I still haven’t changed my opinion about men. You really can be scum.”

  OCTOBER 22, 6:23 P.M.

  CAPTAIN HAN HAO’S OFFICE

  “Well, I can forget about getting any shut-eye today.” Zeng stifled a yawn. His bloodshot eyes were wide with excitement.

  “What’ve you found?” Han asked curiously.

  “The bastard posted Ye Shaohong’s death notice online about half an hour ago.”

  Han turned his attention to the computer. Just as Zeng said, a post titled “Death Notice,” authored by a user named Eumenides, was currently the subject of heated debate on the forum.

  The post was identical to the letter they had found in Sun’s apartment. Han scanned the replies, which already numbered in the dozens.

  OP is bonkers, said one.

  His eyes went to the comment below it. Why’d he choose Ye Shaohong? Why not my wife?

  You might call him insane, another user had posted, but he’s just doing what everyone else is too afraid to.

  “Have you pinpointed the IP address he posted this from?” Han asked. “If you can, we might be able to track him down.”

  “He’s an arrogant bastard, all right. He knew that we’d be monitoring the internet, and still he went ahead and posted this. He’s using a proxy server, but we traced his actual IP address without much difficulty. It’s assigned to a commercial user—a public relations company. Here’s the business’s registered location.”