87 Rolled Tobacco

 

To find 1 car among 100 cars, that shouldn’t take long. In less than 20 minutes, one vehicle appeared before us. This was an old van, it had no license plate and was parked at the most secluded corner. It could be very easily missed. “This is it!” Xiao Liu said confidently, “The car’s old and it’s purposely parked at this dark corner, clearly it doesn’t want to be found. Plus, the trunk is large enough to fit 2 people. Therefore, I am 100 percent certain this is our criminal’s getaway car!”

Seeing how hyped he was, I was a bit hesitant to tell the truth. This was definitely not our criminal’s car because this car was too old and poor. It was probably the poorest vehicle at the parking lot. A vehicle like this would not attract attention on a normal street but at a private compound like Liu Yanyin’s bungalow where every vehicle was modern and of the latest model? It would stick out like a sore thumb.

“This is definitely not the vehicle we’re looking for.” To my surprise, both Jessie and I said at the same time. We shared a look. This Jessie was a good detective, no wonder he could operate his own PI agency at Nara. I bowed and said, “In that case, why don’t you point out the criminal’s car for us?”

Jessie smiled at me. He walked away and said, “In such a large parking lot, this old van stands out the most. It’s probably a smokescreen by the kidnappers, so that we’d waste our time on this van. Perhaps they had even planted evidence in there to lead us down the wrong way.” Jessie stopped before a black Audi and said, “In contrast, what do you think about this?” The Audi A6 was parked not far from the van and it looked like it had been on the road for years already. It was not old but not particularly new either. If there was a term to describe it, it was low profile. At a small city, an Audi would grab eyeballs but at Dong Xing City, no one would have batted an eye.

“This one?” Being corrected in front of so many people, Xiao Liu was quite embarrassed, “No matter how you look at it, this doesn’t look like the criminal’s car. Look at the model, the license plate, everything’s normal. What’s so special about it?”

“Wu Meng.” Jessie turned to glance at me and then continued, “Since I’ve found the car, why don’t you explain the rest?” Jessie looked at everyone else and then at me. His brow raised in a taunting manner. Looks like Jessie wanted to test me. In that case, I would step up to the plate.

“See the scratch on the side door?” I pointed at the line. “That is the suspicious part.” Everyone turned to the body of the car. On the outside of the right door, there was a long scratch. It was probably the work of some kind of metal. The scratch looked new. I said, “Pay attention at the scratch’s height and size.” Then I leaned my hand forward and compared the crown of my watch with the scratch mark. “I believe the kidnappers shoved Liu Fei’er into the car through the right door. But her hand dragged on the door, and the crown of her watch accidentally left this mark on the paintjob.”

Jessie shook his head but didn’t say anything. Clearly he didn’t agree with me. Even though Xiao Liu had his hesitations, he didn’t say anything either. I knew he was looking out for me, even if I was rambling nonsense, he wouldn’t counter me before others. But that didn’t mean others would pay me the same respect. For example, Vivian scoffed, “What, that’s your reasoning? What a load of bullshit. We should hear what Jessie has to say.”

I shrugged and then continued, “That is just one of the speculations. But the most important clue is on the tyres, am I right, Jessie?” I bent down and picked out a small piece of leaf from the tyre tread. I sniffed at it. The onset bouquet was a light fragrance but it was followed by a unique stink. It was hard to describe. “Even though I don’t know what plant this is,” I stood up and showed it to others, “But at Dong Xing City, I’ve only seen it once and it’s at Liu Yinyan’s bungalow compound. In other words, this car must have been there before to track this leaf in its tyres.”

Guan Zhenglin walked over and gave the plant a close inspection, “This is Chinese Mahogany, or Toona Sinensis. At Dong Xing City, it’s only grown around the bungalow compound! You have such a close observation.” I shrugged and turned to Jessie, “Is there anything you would like to add?”

Jessie guffawed. “No, you’ve said everything that’s on my mind! It’s now autumn, the season of falling leaves. I’ve inspected the area around the bungalow compound. If a car has been there, they would carry this kind of leaves in their tyre threads. It was why I zoomed in on this car, I’m surprised you noticed it as well.”

I was about to speak when my phone rang. It was Gu Chen. “I’m at the parking lot already but I can’t find you guys. Never mind, I can hear you now, I’ll be there in a minute.” Gu Chen followed the sound of my ringing phone and eventually he appeared with Doggie Wang Er. Doggie Wang Er and I hadn’t met for months already. Seeing him, I was quite happy. Doggie Wang Er was overjoyed, like a dog seeing its master. He raced over on 4 feet and brushed against my leg. My heart broke slightly seeing him like this, after all, he was still a human. But then again, if Doggie Wang Er really remembered everything about his past and became a human, would his life be better?

Sometimes, people couldn’t be happy because the burden of knowledge was too heavy. If there was a choice, what was wrong being a happy little doggie?

Jessie was clearly frightened by this, that a man was behaving like a dog. I ruffled Doggie Wang Er’s head and said, “Don’t look so shocked, the world is big enough that there’s many things you haven’t seen before.”

Jessie responded with a gentleman's smile. It was Vivian who squealed, “Oh my god, he is so cute. I love him so much, can you give him to me?” Now it was our turn to be shocked. I coughed. “No! Let’s focus back on this car.” I stood at the door and frowned, “But how are we supposed to open it?”

At that moment, Mariko walked over and bowed at me. “Let me.” She took out a square item and placed it on the driver seat door. The rectangle lit up and then moments later, the door clicked on its own. The alarm sounded but the door was already open. “Go ahead!”

Everyone put on their gloves. Vivian took out a magnifying glass from her pocket and handed it to Jessie while Guan Zhenglin took out her toolbox. The procedure on both sides was the same, looking for fingerprint, footprint, DNA evidence like saliva, sweat and so on. These would be direct evidence. If these were not found, then we would turn to look for things the culprit might have accidentally left behind like tissue paper, lighter and so on, these were called circumstantial evidence.

The result was disappointing but expected. There was no direct or circumstantial evidence on the car. Mary was still scanning through the surveillance video but since she hadn’t called us, I believed her progress was not going so well either. I led Doggie Wang Er by his collar and leaned against one of the pillars.

All of a sudden, Doggie Wang Er pulled on the rope. I loosened the grasp and he crawled towards the car. His nose twitched like he could smell something. “What did you find, Doggie?” I asked.

Doggie Wang Er crawled to the front passenger side and then sniffed for a long time around the door handle.

“What is it?” I asked Doggie Wang Er. He barked twice and said happily, “I smell tobacco, white sugar and wine.”

Tobacco, white sugar and wine, that reminded me of something a mafia boss told me when I was in prison. For some traditional smokers, they would often roll their own cigarette to acquire that exquisite taste. They would buy commercial cigarettes and cut the tobacco leaves out. Then they would mix the leaves with some white sugar, some wine and even honey. The mixture would be placed inside an oven to bake for 24 hours. The finished product would be rolled in cigarette paper and enjoyed. This self-made cigarette had more olfactory layers than commercial cigarettes. They might even carry a hint of sweetness which would enhance the flavor of tobacco. Honestly, this was not a widely-practiced habit, because a faulty concoction would produce a horrendous product. With that in mind, I had a few people whom I believed we could approach to push this case forward. People who knew how to make such cigarettes and people who had a penchant for them.

“Doggie, well done.” I praised Doggie Wang Er lavishly.

“Of course, I’m the cleverest doggie in the world.” He was very happy too.

Hearing our conversation, Jessie offered, “This gentleman is amazing. He can pick up such subtle scents?”

“I’m a doggie!” Doggie Wang Er growled at him. I ignored Jessie and told Guan Zhenglin, “Since Doggie can pick up the scent, then the source might still be here. They might have fallen into a gap or something. Try to find it, this is crucial.”

Half an hour later, Guan Zhenglin used a tweezer to pick up some tobacco leaves from between the gap of the car window. It still had cigarette paper stuck to it.