Skinner's Box (Fang Mu (Eastern Crimes))

by Lei Mi

  The labyrinth had been reopened, and business was surprisingly good. Apparently the discovery of a dead body in the underground maze had given the place a certain mysterious allure. Glancing at the long lines at the ticket windows, Fang Mu smirked and headed toward the information desk.

  A deputy director of the amusement park carried over a huge pile of papers and plopped them down on the counter in front of Fang Mu. Wiping sweat from his brow, he said, "Here you go, Officer Fang; take your time reading through this stuff. I'll be over there if you need me." He pointed at the throng of tourists scrambling head over heal to beat each other to the labyrinth. He grinned. "Duty calls."

  The pile of documents included design blueprints, construction plans, tourist help request records, and some photos. Fang Mu lit a cigarette and sat down on a couch in a small room the deputy director showed him to before leaving. Fang Mu patiently leafed through it all, one page at a time. He had a nagging suspicion that the labyrinth was somehow a key to understanding the case, or that it at least had something to do with the killer's motive. He had therefore requested access to all the park's materials on the labyrinth in the hopes that he might discover something.

  The blueprints told him that the labyrinth's tunnels ran a total length of nearly 1,500 feet and most of them were underground. There were two entrances, one on the east side and one on the west, but no matter which entrance a person used, there was only one correct route to get to the other exit. The room in which the body had been found was located in the central section of the labyrinth and could be considered a midway rest stop. Visitors that were able to make it that far still had a choice to make; only by selecting the correct route would they be able to find their way out. This was the deepest area of the maze.

  Due to the intricacy of the maze's passageways, it was quite easy to lose one's sense of direction. Adding to that, the dim lighting and oppressive atmosphere made it so that very few tourists actually made it all the way through the labyrinth; most of them tended to give up long before they ever got to the midway rest stop. Assistance boxes and surveillance monitors had been installed in each of the tunnels so that lost visitors who wished to leave the labyrinth could, at the press of a button, summon a park employee to lead them to an exit.

  A photo caught Fang Mu's eye. In it a smiling youth was holding a small box and holding his fingers up to the camera in a V-shape. At the bottom of the photo was some writing: Tan Ji, June 25, 2004, first visitor to make it out of the labyrinth without assistance.

  "Tan Ji?" Fang Mu frowned. He had seen the name before. Rifling back through the documents, he found the list ranking the people who had made it through the labyrinth the fastest, and sure enough the name Tan Ji was on it; he had placed first. It only took him 57 minutes to get through the labyrinth, while the person in second place had taken a full two hours and 47 minutes to complete the same task.

  The deputy director pushed open the door and placed a bottle of mineral water in front of Fang Mu.

  "Still reading?" He leaned over to have a look at the photo in Fang Mu's hands. "Oh! That little guy."

  "It says he's the fastest person to have gotten through the labyrinth."

  "Correct." The deputy director sat heavily on the sofa. "To this day no one has beaten his time. That kid's pretty interesting, too; he comes here a lot. You could call him a regular patron of ours."

  "Oh?" Fang Mu stared for a moment before hastily opening the photo album he had just closed. He took a closer look at the photograph of Tan Ji. "You say he comes here a lot. Did he do so before he set the record? Or do you just mean ever since?"

  "Ever since." The deputy director chuckled. "I suppose he wants to break his own record, right?"

  Fang Mu continued staring at the photo for a long time before finally asking, "Is that a prize he's holding in his hand there?"

  "Sure is."

  "What is it?"

  "A compass."

  When Tan Ji had collected his prize, the park had recorded his ID number, so he was not hard to track down. The very next day Fang Mu met with him in a room adjoining an advertising company's reception lounge.

  He was a young 23-year-old with multi-colored hair. He wandered into the conference room with a mouthful of chewing gum, picked a chair up, turned it around, and straddled it as he sat down. He crossed his arms over the top of the back and rested his chin on them, expression nonchalant. "What's up?"

  His unperturbed attitude caught Fang Mu off-guard. He decided to get right to the point. "My name is Fang Mu, and I work for the Public Security Bureau. I wanted to ask you a few questions. Here's my badge."

  Without even glancing at the police badge Fang Mu was holding out for him, Tan Ji scratched his head and said, "Is this about the murder in the Carnival Grounds’ labyrinth?"

  Fang Mu looked at him steadily and said, "It is."

  Tan Ji snorted and shook his head, then suddenly laughed. "I guess asking a question like that didn't do me any favors, right?"

  Fang Mu tapped his cigarette ash but remained silent.

  "I thought you'd say something like, 'How did you know?'" Tan Ji chuckled. Upon seeing that he had not gotten any response whatsoever from Fang Mu, the smile on Tan Ji's face abruptly disappeared and was replaced by a lethargic look. "If you've got questions, go ahead and ask."

  Fang Mu stubbed his cigarette out in the ash tray. "Do you go to the Carnival Grounds' labyrinth often?"

  "Yeah. I set the record for the fastest person to make it through the maze."

  "Have you been there since you set that record?"

  "Yeah."

  "If you've already made it through that fast, why keep going?"

  "Constant self-improvement." Tan Ji yawned. "I want to see if I can do it even faster."

  "Well?"

  "Huh?" Tan Ji looked a bit startled. "No, I still haven't beaten my record."

  "How far off are you?"

  "Not far."

  Fang Mu stared at him for several seconds. "Where were you after 9:00 p.m.. on September 27?"

  Head down, Tan Ji stared at the table for a while before answering. "I—I think I was at an internet café playing games. Yeah; I was playing a game in the Lucky Internet Café, down below where I live."

  "What game?"

  "CS."

  "Can't you play online at home?"

  "Yeah, I can."

  "Well then why go to an internet café?"

  "It's more fun playing CS at the café. Besides, their internet's faster."

  "What time did you leave the internet café?"

  "Probably around three in the morning. I don't remember."

  "Did you go there alone?"

  "Yeah."

  "Was anyone there who can confirm that what you say is true?"

  Tan Ji lifted his head and rolled his eyes. "No." When he noticed Fang Mu still staring at him, he sighed impatiently. "Who'd have thought you all would pick me to investigate? I guess there's no way I could've done anything or been anywhere unless I can find a witness to prove it, right?"

  Fang Mu laughed and stood up. "Okay, that's all for today. But if I have any further questions, I'll come look you up again."

  "Whatever." Tan Ji got up, stuck his hands in his pockets and marched out of the room, jaws still working on his chewing gum.

  Fang Mu felt sure that Tan Ji had prepared himself for a visit from the police. During the interview, the nonchalant attitude, the deliberate avoidance of Fang Mu's gaze while answering questions, and the constant chewing of gum had all been part of an intentional performance by the young man to resist Fang Mu's efforts to guess at his thoughts from his facial expressions.

  But the results of the Municipal Bureau's investigation left Fang Mu greatly disappointed. Tan Ji had indeed been playing games at the internet café that evening, and an employee at the café had remembered him quite clearly. After ordering some computer time at the counter, Tan Ji had asked the employee to bring him a bottle of water. The employee had brought over a bottle of Wa
haha Mineral Water, but Tan Ji had then said that he wanted a bottle of Nongfu Mountain Mineral Water instead. The employee had returned with a bottle of Nongfu Mountain Mineral Water as requested, and then Tan Ji had complained that it was not cold enough. And at three in the morning when Tan Ji was back at the counter to settle up, he again argued with the employee over an item on the bill.

  In other words, it was impossible for Tan Ji to have been at the scene of the crime when it was being committed.

  "So that means the kid's been cleared?" Bian Ping blew the floating tea leaves away from the edge of his cup and took a frugal sip.

  "Not necessarily, in my opinion." Fang Mu shook his head. "He was definitely lying to me about something." Tan Ji's multiple trips into the labyrinth could not have been done to beat his record; otherwise he would certainly have kept a record of his times. What sort of need could a person satisfy, alone in a dusky and oppressive underground maze?

  "Consider for a moment the possibility that he wasn't working alone." Bian Ping lit a cigarette. "This kid's purpose in going down into that labyrinth over and over could have been to draw a map."

  Fang Mu stretched out on the sofa and yawned. "I've already given the Municipal Bureau the heads up to check out anyone with whom Tan Ji has come in contact recently."

  "You look exhausted. Why don't you head home early and get some sleep?"

  Fang Mu laughed, forced himself to his feet, and reached out to pilfer a cigarette from Bian Ping's pack of Chunghua. "Okay, I'm out of here then."

  "Hey, off you go." Just then the phone rang. Bian Ping waved at Fang Mu as he picked up the receiver.

  Fang Mu nodded and turned to leave, but no sooner had he walked out the door than he heard Bian Ping shouting his name from the office. He quickly turned around and opened the door.

  "What's happened?"

  The expression on Bian Ping's face startled Fang Mu. Whereas just a moment ago it had been relaxed and amiable, now the brows were knitted together in a look of grave solemnity.

  He hung up the phone and appeared to be mulling something over. After a while, he looked up at Fang Mu and spoke in monotone.

  "Luo Jiahai has escaped from prison."

  CHAPTER

  9

  Prison Break

  Changhong City Intermediate People's Court, second floor landing.

  Jiang Dexian leaned against the railing in the stairwell, a stern expression on his face as he listened to something a judge was saying to him. The judge remained cool and professional, even as so many sobering phrases seemed to slide effortlessly from his tongue; phrases such as "death penalty."

  It was a brief conversation, and soon the judge left. Jiang Dexian remained standing there like a statue, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. After a long time the statue finally came to life, turned, and hurried back down the steps.

  Half an hour later, Jiang Dexian's black Audi could be seen speeding into the Changhong City No. 1 Detention Center parking lot.

  The detention center employees seemed quite familiar with the lawyer; after filling out a few simple forms, they led him straight to a visitors' room. Jiang Dexian placed his briefcase on the table and stared into the corner of the room, lost in thought. A few minutes later, a guard brought in Luo Jiahai.

  He looked haggard. A shadow of bristly new hair had grown through the skin of his shaved head, giving him a dispirited look resembling a limp cactus.

  After making Luo Jiahai sit in a chair across from Jiang Dexian, the guard then stood with an exaggeratedly stout posture behind the prisoner with his legs wide, feet firmly planted, and his arms akimbo. Jiang Dexian took one look at the guard's needlessly taut features, as well as the corporal's chevrons on his shoulders, and smiled to himself.

  He turned to face Luo Jiahai. The latter returned his gaze and made an attempt to squeeze his lips into a grin.

  "Any news?" Luo Jiahai wore a mask of indifference, but his voice trembled slightly and he stared hard into Jiang Dexian's eyes.

  "They still haven't announced the verdict yet. However..." Jiang Dexian took a deep breath. "Some of the information I've gleaned from my inside sources are...less than ideal."

  "What do you mean by 'less than ideal'?" Luo Jiahai promptly asked.

  Jiang Dexian lowered his eyes and did not answer.

  Luo Jiahai looked away and stared with hollow eyes at the blank white wall. After a while, he asked, "Am I getting a deferred death sentence or an immediate execution?"

  "An immediate execution."

  Luo Jiahai erupted laughter and shook his head. "No surprise there. No surprise there..."

  "We can still appeal."

  Luo Jiahai stopped laughing and focused on his metal handcuffs. "Forget it. It's no use. I'd rather just get it over with. Waiting to die like this…I can't take it anymore. I only have one request." He lifted his head and glared at Jiang Dexian. "Can you make it so that my ashes are placed together with Shen Xiang's?"

  Jiang Dexian did not answer at first. He simply fixed his gaze on Luo Jiahai's face, knitting his brows tighter and tighter, his eyes set in determination. "Okay, well, it looks like we have no other choice."

  Jiang Dexian retrieved a pack of cigarettes from his briefcase while fumbling through his pockets with the other hand. A few seconds later he turned to absent-mindedly look at the guard. "Hey buddy, do me a favor and go get me a lighter, okay? Captain Tian's here, isn't he? Baldy Tian, I mean. Tell him it's for Attorney Jiang."

  The young corporal seemed reluctant, but Jiang Dexian's having mentioned his direct superior and even called him by his nickname made it hard for him to refuse. After hesitating a moment longer, he turned and left the visitors' room, his legs stiff from having maintained the forked posture for so long.

  As soon as the guard walked out the door, Jiang Dexian jumped up to pull an envelope out of his briefcase. He whipped out two stamped photographs and tossed them on the table in front of Luo Jiahai.

  Looking puzzled, Luo Jiahai subconsciously lowered his head as he glanced at the photographs. As soon as he saw what they were, his face went white. "You... How did you...?"

  "Don't say a word," Jiang Dexian interrupted Luo Jiahai, his bloodshot eyes suddenly menacing behind the delicate gold rims of his glasses. "From now on, you do as I say!"

  As the young guard walked along the corridor, rubbing the lighter between his fingers, he thought again of the captain's bald head and could not help but chuckle out loud. But no sooner had he rounded the corner than the smile froze on his face.

  In front of the door to the visitors' room, Luo Jiahai was holding his left arm and the chain of the cuffs around Jiang Dexian's throat. With his right hand he was digging the sharp end of a metal fountain pen into the skin of Jiang Dexian's neck, right against the jugular.

  "Get back!" Luo Jiahai shouted between gritted teeth.

  "Don't... Please don't do anything rash." Jiang Dexian's glasses were about to slide off his nose and his legs dangled limply with his upper body locked in Luo Jiahai's tight grip.

  The young guard drew a baton from his belt, as well as a whistle which he began to blow in desperation.

  A moment later a dozen or so policemen rushed into the corridor. When they saw what was happening, they all panicked and began shouting at once.

  Luo Jiahai's shrill voice pierced through the clamorous echoes in the hallway. "Everyone get back or he's dead!"

  "No one... Please, no one do anything rash." Jiang Dexian waved his arms feebly. "Do your jobs. Take it easy." Upon hearing this, a few young cops who had been about to charge in, hesitated. Luo Jiahai dragged Jiang Dexian along, and the two of them staggered past the ranks of tense policemen itching to act, yet unable to do so. Soon they were outside.

  As they entered the courtyard, Luo Jiahai swung around so that Jiang Dexian's body was shielding his and began to walk backwards in the direction of the parking lot. Helpless, an armed policeman on a nearby watchtower lowered the muzzle of his gun and spoke into a walkie-talki
e. "No good, no good. He's got himself completely blocked by the hostage; I can't get a clear shot."

  Luo Jiahai dragged Jiang Dexian closer and closer to the black Audi, but the parking lot exit was blocked by several tightly packed police cars.

  "Move those cars out of the way!" Luo Jiahai demanded.

  "Luo Jiahai, immediate surrender is your only—"

  "Move them!" Luo Jiahai exerted pressure with his wrist, causing the sharp tip of the fountain pen to dig even deeper into Jiang Dexian's skin. He blurted out a muffled cry and blood trickled down his neck.

  Captain Tian gritted his teeth. "Get those cars out of here!"

  Luo Jiahai and Jiang Dexian finally made it to the car. Luo Jiahai bellowed, "Open the door!"

  Hands trembling, Jiang Dexian pulled out his electronic key and opened the car door. Luo Jiahai pushed Jiang Dexian's head down and shoved him into the driver's seat.

  A few seconds later the black Audi was flying out of the front gate of the detention center, trailed closely by several squad cars with sirens blaring.

  Jiang Dexian gripped the steering wheel with both hands, suddenly appearing very alert and very capable; his helpless and battered demeanor from moments ago had completely vanished. The automobile darted in and out of traffic like a shark. Behind it, the police cars followed closely, but were unable to close the distance between themselves and the Audi.

  Now and then Jiang Dexian glanced at the rearview mirror. When he turned his head, he flinched at a sharp twinge in the side of his neck. Sweating profusely and staring straight ahead, Luo Jiahai was still holding the pen against his neck, his countenance every bit as rigid as before.

  Jiang Dexian glanced to him. "Hey, you can relax now."

  "Oh, sorry...." As if waking from a dream, Luo Jiahai shook his head and quickly withdrew the pen from Jiang Dexian's throat. Jiang Dexian gasped in pain as a rivulet of blood ran down his neck. Seeing this, Luo Jiahai went into a panic and began searching around for something to give him to stop the bleeding.