Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder

by Xiaolong Qiu

  ‘Well, to make a long story short, I happened to have a talk with Huang as I had to sell some antique books left by my father. I had to pay for my mother’s nursing home, you know. Nothing to do with the case. Huang was well connected in the antique business. So we met for breakfast in an old restaurant a few days ago. He gave me suggestions and introduced me to an auction house. Of course we talked about some other things. And we found we had one thing in common – to our surprise – a passion for Shanghai street food.’

  It was not exactly true. He had contacted Huang because of the Min case. On the other hand, it was with the very pretext of antique books that he had approached Huang, and it was also true that they had talked a lot about their common passion for street food.

  ‘It must be a very long story indeed,’ Detective Xiong interrupted in spite of himself.

  ‘Detective Yu’s father, Old Hunter, has a favorite Suzhou opera saying: “You have to tell a Suzhou opera story from the very beginning.” Indeed, it’s the things of seemingly little relevance that make up a real story. During the breakfast, Huang mentioned, among other things, his partiality for an inexpensive rice ball stuffed with fresh fried dough stick at a side street stall in Yangpu District.’

  ‘Why on earth should Huang have discussed with you about all that?’

  ‘I am just another impossible gourmet like him, as you may know. Birds of a feather,’ he said with an apologetic smile, patting at a pillow for Jin, who moved to perch herself on the couch beside him.

  ‘But what’s so mouth-watering about a rice ball for a rich old man like Huang? You may easily find such a cheap snack on many street corners in the city of Shanghai.’

  ‘You should have listened to his lecture about the sentimental value of a soft, warm rice ball on a cold morning after the night shift. He used to work at a neighborhood production group in Yangpu District. After the first bite of the rice ball more than thirty years ago, he kept on going to the street stall regularly, regardless of his huge fortune made in the antique business. He did not share this secret with many people, as he believed that “Once such a street corner stall becomes known, the rice ball will no longer be made with the same quality.” And he made sure that he would not be recognized as a Big Buck there. Not that he was unwilling to pay a bit more.’

  Detective Xiong kept shaking his head, opening his mouth yet without saying anything.

  ‘Now back to the Min case. I happen to have a capable secretary in Jin, who manages to keep me updated about the most-talked-about cases in the city with a lot of detailed info from her web surfing. When I first learned about Huang’s death, it did not even occur to me that it could have any bearing on the Min case. As far as Huang’s case was concerned, I did not think it a case of robbery gone wrong. Why? At such an early hour, and in such a poor section of Yangpu District, no one would have carried much money. I suspected that the murder had been committed by someone knowledgeable about Huang’s wealth, and possibly about his peculiar passion for the rice ball too, but it was not my case. I had to be responsible for the work at my new office, like the office statement about the Judge Jiao scandal, you know. So it was just a thought flashing through the mind. I did not discuss it with you, nor with anybody else.

  ‘Then at the Moller Villa Hotel, we discussed Wanxia’s case. Not as an inspector any more, but as a former colleague of hers, I felt really obliged to do something for Wanxia.’

  ‘Your colleague was hurt or killed, Director Chen?’ Jin cut in.

  ‘It’s another long story, which I will tell you later,’ Chen said, turning to Detective Xiong again. ‘Like you, I also believed that her death was related to the Min case. In fact, it was your talk about the hotel surveillance facilities that prompted me to talk to Jin about some possible scenarios. Mind you, neither Jin nor I was doing any investigation into the case.

  ‘So it’s to Jin’s credit. She followed the Min case as part of the office responsibility. She went to the neighborhood committee for the background checkup, such as the list of people at her dinner table that night, and then the video of Min’s guests leaving the lane—’

  ‘But Director Chen—’ Jin said, sitting up in haste.

  ‘It’s truly to your credit, Jin. No question about it. You’ve been working so hard in the office, and I, on leave at home most of the time. And the video you obtained there confirmed the guests had their chauffeurs pick them up around eleven, except Zheng, who left for his car parked in the garage of the Pacific Ocean Shopping Mall. And about an hour later, the camera registered several people entering the lane through the back entrance, quite possibly the lane residents, with one man lagging behind by himself, who struck me a bit like Zheng, in a white shirt with a jacket draped over his arm. With the poor light and the angle of the camera, I was not too sure about it. It could have been another lane resident coming back late with the others.’

  ‘So you were not sure,’ Detective Xiong said.

  ‘As luck would have it, a friend of mine happened to have access to the surveillance system at the garage of the Pacific Ocean Shopping Mall. The video there showed the man in question reaching the garage around eleven ten, but instead of getting in, he turned and walked away. The next time he appeared on the garage camera again was about one fifty-five. This time, he walked straight into the garage without looking back, and about five minutes later, a black BMW drove out. I copied the license number. Earlier this morning, I got the confirmation that Zheng’s car was a black BMW, and the license number matched too. I was just about to call you about all this when I got a message from Jin.

  ‘Here it is, Jin’s message,’ Chen said, showing the phone to Xiong. ‘It’s cryptic. And I had to read it several times before it hit me that she was going with Zheng to Huang’s place. Jin has been doing a lot of research for the office, as I’ve told you. So it was logical for her to contact Zheng. But why should she have chosen to go in the company of Zheng? I got panic-stricken about the possibility of Zheng leading her into a deadly trap. That’s why I texted you for support. And I too hurried over here.’

  Zheng’s body began stirring a little on the floor. Detective Xiong moved over to squat down at his side and touch his pulse before he said, ‘I think he’s fine. Please go on, Director Chen.’

  ‘At the same time, something else came flashing across my mind. As Huang’s assistant, Zheng was the one knowledgeable about Huang’s passion for the rice ball in Yangpu District, and capable of ambushing the old man there that early morning—’

  ‘Hold on, Director Chen. What could possibly have been his motive for attacking Huang?’

  ‘I believe he will have to tell you. For all I could guess, he was paranoid that Huang might talk to me about his infatuation with Min.’

  ‘What? Zheng had never seen Min before that dinner party.’

  ‘He had not seen Min in person before, but a lot of her pictures are online. Huang had not talked to me that much about Zheng, just mentioning that Zheng had jumped at the opportunity, and saying, “He’s so impressed by the stories about her beauty and grace.” After his leaving with the other guests at Min’s dinner party, he could not have helped turning back and sneaking into the shikumen house again—’

  ‘But in accordance with your theory, how could he have sneaked back in with the door locked?’

  ‘Min was wasted that night, and he helped her into the bedroom, remember?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘He could have taken her keys in the bedroom without her knowledge. It’s just my guess, I have to say.’

  ‘Min could have told us about the loss of her keys, but she never said anything about it.’

  ‘It was too chaotic the next morning for her to instantly become aware of it. Besides, it’s not unusual that keys are misplaced somewhere for a day or two before being recovered, but by then she was already put into the secret detention place.’

  ‘So you think he had planned it all along despite being a first-timer to her shikumen house?’

 
‘No, it came to him on the spur of the moment, I mean the key part, when he laid her down on the bed. They were alone in the room, but he did not have the time to do anything else with her as other guests were waiting outside. Then he caught sight of the keys—’

  ‘Cut it here, Director Chen. You mean Zheng sneaked back into the shikumen house with the key to attack Min, and he ended up killing Qing? It does not make any sense. He murdered Qing because Min had been so upset with her?’

  ‘He sneaked back into the shikumen house without knowing Qing was still there. He killed Qing for some reason still not yet known to us, but more often than not, what a murderer thinks is not known to us.’

  ‘It’s so beyond me.’

  ‘For a possible scenario, he could have been so freaked out when Qing caught him in the act of attacking Min. Anyway, he will make his confession about what really happened that night. I don’t think he went to the shikumen house because of Qing, the way the murderer went to the Moller Villa Hotel because of Wanxia.’

  ‘Murder in the hotel?’ Jin chipped in again, looking up at him in confusion.

  ‘Anyway, I got here just a few minutes earlier than you, Detective Xiong,’ Chen went on without responding to her question. ‘I heard Jin screaming inside, so I broke in through the French window door. In panic, Zheng jumped up and knocked over the Ming dynasty vase, which fell crashing hard on his head. It was then you came in and you saw the rest.’

  ‘But for Director Chen’s arrival in time,’ Jin said, with tears in her eyes, ‘what could have happened to me there, I shiver to imagine.’

  ‘What the devil made Zheng bring you to Huang’s place, Jin?’ Detective Xiong said, still with a dubious edge to his voice.

  ‘He told me that he had some intimate pictures of Huang with Min – nude pictures. I thought this could turn out to be some clues—’

  ‘Hold on, Jin. You mean Huang was killed because he was a secret lover of Min’s?’

  ‘I don’t know. To tell the truth, I did not have my wits about me when he suggested, out of the blue, that we go and get hold of the pictures at Huang’s house.’

  ‘But how could Zheng have learned about such a secret? Even if it were true, how could he have taken you into Huang’s house?’

  ‘He said he had worked closely with the old man, with a key duplicated in secret.’

  ‘So he took the key …’ Chen too cut in, nodding, yet without finishing the sentence.

  ‘I, too, had doubts about it, but he practically dragged me into his car. That’s when I managed to send out a message to Director Chen. Zheng was driving in the front, keeping me under watch through the rear-view mirror. My hands trembling, I had to do it quick – without being detected. Luckily, Chen got it and came to the rescue here.’

  It sounded plausible enough, Chen reflected, that statement of hers. She surely had her wits about her. Detective Xiong could not have done anything about it.

  Once again, Detective Xiong was turning to Chen with even more questions in his eyes. He shook his head instead.

  In the short spell of silence that ensued in the room, a faint moan was heard escaping through Zheng’s lips, though he still lay on the floor, barely moving. He opened his eyes, blinking in disbelief.

  It was at this juncture that another siren came tearing through the air to a sudden stop in front of the door.

  Probably the ambulance Chen had called for.

  To their surprise, two Internal Security officers came bursting upon the scene. They must have hurried over in extreme haste, both panting with flushed faces. One rather tall, one really short, the pairing of the two could have added a comical touch to the uncanny scene.

  ‘Oh, we’ve got Zheng here, the suspect in the Min case,’ Xiong said to the two officers in haste. ‘Possibly in the Huang case, too. He was caught in the act of attacking Jin.’

  ‘But why is Inspector Chen – oh sorry, Director Chen here?’ the tall one asked, seemingly more and more stiff, like a weather-beaten bamboo pole.

  ‘His secretary Jin was attacked by Zheng,’ Xiong said. ‘Director Chen got the message from her and rushed over to the rescue.’

  ‘Yes, Director Chen saved my life. But for him—’

  ‘It sounds like a long, long story indeed, but we don’t have the time for it right now, I’m afraid,’ the short one cut in, with more authority in his voice. ‘We’ve got to take it over from here, Detective Xiong.’

  ‘We have to question Zheng first,’ Detective Xiong said with a long face, his hairline receding further. ‘If he was truly involved in the Min case as well as the Huang case, then—’

  ‘Don’t bother, Detective Xiong. We’ll do all the questioning, and—’

  ‘Sorry, whatever you’re going to do,’ Chen said, cutting in too, ‘I think I’d better accompany Jin home.’

  With the arrival of Internal Security at the scene, it was a matter of course for them to take over. The ex-inspector was in no position to say anything about it. It would not do him any good to be seen as one actively engaged in the investigation – in the midst of his own political trouble.

  ‘It was a horrible experience for her,’ Chen went on. ‘She was just doing some research for the office. Neither she nor I know anything about your investigation.’

  ‘Of course, you should take her home now, Director Chen,’ the tall Internal Security officer readily agreed. ‘Sorry for your bad scare, Jin.’

  ‘Thank you, Director Chen,’ the short one echoed. ‘You surely have helped.’

  ‘Yes,’ Detective Xiong said, nodding, without saying a word more.

  As Chen and Jin got into a taxi, he felt worse about her dreadful experience, for which he could not but hold himself responsible.

  He had not mentioned anything specific for her to do regarding the investigation, but it was also a fact that he had made no effort to stop her when she’d reported to him, again and again, about the ‘research’ for the office – for him. There had been a tacit understanding between the two of them. She had gone through all this because of him, which he had to admit to himself.

  For the first two or three minutes, he could hardly look her in the eye, nor did he know what to say.

  Not just because it was difficult for them to talk about the murder case in a taxi, with the driver stealing looks back to them in curiosity. She still appeared to be terribly shocked, and with a couple of her shirt buttons torn off, the bruise more pronounced above her collarbone under his gaze. The two of them were now sitting close to each other on the back seat.

  She turned out to be more resilient, however, than he had imagined, meeting his concerned look with a light smile, saying in a low voice, ‘Don’t look so miserable, Director Chen. I’m just fine.’ Then she leaned slightly over – almost nestling against him – and started whispering into his ear, off and on, about what had happened before his arrival at Huang’s, as the taxi labored through the entangled traffic with constant jerks.

  It turned out to be pretty much as she had depicted to both Chen and Xiong – except for some minor details she knew better than to give out in Xiong’s company.

  Aware of Chen having his hands tied, she’d tried to take the initiative herself. That morning, she’d visited Zheng. He appeared nervous, even panic-stricken, though she declared her visit as just part of the routine office research. After she raised no more than two or three questions regarding Min’s private kitchen dinner party, he asked her whether she worked for Chief Inspector Chen. She said yes, and out of the blue he made an offer to show her intimate pictures of Huang with Min as possible clues for the investigation. The pictures were still kept in Huang’s residence, Zheng said, but no one could tell what would happen to them when his nieces or nephews moved in. She had read blog posts about the relationship between Huang and Min, and it sounded not that unimaginable. So he dragged her into his car, and she decided to send the message to Chen. The moment they got into Huang’s house with the key, he turned abruptly to attack her. It was at that crit
ical moment that Chen came bursting in upon the scene.

  ‘I’m so sorry for having dragged you into all this, Jin.’

  ‘Nothing really happened. It’s not your fault, Director Chen. Don’t be that hard on yourself,’ she said in a comforting tone. ‘But for you, what could have happened?’

  ‘But you could have told me earlier about the visit to Zheng.’

  ‘As a secretary to the legendary Chief Inspector Chen, I have to learn to take the initiative myself.’

  The taxi was slowing down and coming into view of her apartment building. The driver turned back to her with a simple question, ‘Here?’

  Chen got out, holding the door for her as she stepped out, turning to him with a smile, ‘Would you like to come in for a cup of tea with me?’

  He was surprised at the invitation, tongue-tied. Before he could answer, however, a text message came in with a dull ding. It was from Party Secretary Li of the Shanghai Police Bureau.

  ‘Go back home immediately, Director Chen. A bureau car is waiting there for you in front of your apartment building. An all-inclusive vacation arranged for you in the Yellow Mountains – in recognition of your excellent work …’

  ‘Another vacation out of the blue!’ he said, murmuring to himself, without the time to read the message closely.

  ‘Another vacation,’ she repeated after him, leaning over to take a look at the message.

  A cicada started screeching, unexpectedly, for the time of the year. It was early May, though fairly warm.

  The vacation in the Yellow Mountains must have been arranged in extreme haste while they were on their way to Jin’s home. ‘In recognition of your excellent work.’ The message did not specify what he had done, possibly in implicit recognition of his help in the investigation of the Min case. As for the abruptness of the vacation, it was said to be because of an unexpected vacancy in the most luxurious mountain hotel. A high-ranking Party official could not make it there at the last minute for a special package already prepared for him.

  ‘Would you like to come in for a cup of tea,’ she said again. ‘Your hand is still bleeding a little. It needs to be taken care of.’