89 The Call

 

Therefore, when Sister Mao said that, I didn’t reject her kindness. I was reminded of Widow Wang who killed herself due to loneliness. Her main difference between Sister Mao was, Sister Mao still had hope, while Wang Yiman had lost all hope. They were both women who suffered from endless nights. I knew why Sister Mao offered to drive me back to the police station, that way, she had a chance to show herself before the precinct chief. Maybe she could win some brownie points for Brother Huang Er. After Brother Huang Er’s imprisonment, the two things that featured permanently in Sister Mao’s life were waiting and money.

“Xiao Wu, tell me, what is the case you’re investigating this time?” Sister Mao said in way of conversation.

I smiled, “Sister Mao, you know I can’t discuss the details of ongoing cases.”

Sister Mao scoffed, “You think I wouldn’t know otherwise? I’m confident it’s related to the disappearance of that Liu Fei’er. The whole Dong Xing City is talking about it, and naturally I would have heard about it as well. So, am I right?”

I shook my head and didn’t say anything more. It was warm inside the car. Leaning into the real leather sofa, it was curling up with a good book in front of a fireplace. There was no other noise, just the slow humming of the motor. It was quite lulling. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier. Even though technically I had not done much this day, once the relaxation settled in, it was hard to fight the drowsiness. In contrast, I could have run on adrenaline for 3 straight days without sleep.

Sister Mao continued, “You’re quite a tight lip. Okay then, we’ll talk about something else then. At your age, you should be in the season of romance. Do you have any girlfriend? Do you have someone you fancy? Do you want Sister Mao to help you introduce someone?” Honestly, at that moment, I just wanted to sleep. Sister Mao’s words echoed in my mind. Before I drifted away, 2 people appeared in my mind, one was Guan Zhenglin, the other Zhao Mingkun. It felt like they were standing there, looking at me. ‘Are they people I fancy? Am I that shallow that my heart will house 2 people at the same time?’ Sleep claimed me.

After who knew how long, I could feel someone shaking me softly. When I opened my eyes, the sun was already lightening. Sister Mao looked at me with a smile. “You sure have a good night’s sleep. Pity old me have to drive for 2 hours without any company.”

I smiled apologetically at Sister Mao. “Sister Mao, since you’re already here, why don’t you come in. With your help and Sister Mary’s help, we should be able to trace this cigarette’s owner soon enough.” That was Sister Mao’s original intention so she didn’t reject it and followed me into the station. Even though the day was just starting, the station was already bustling with people. I led Sister Mao into the office. After a simple introduction, Mary asked Sister Mao to help with her work.

Captain Zhao was still studying the white board on the wall. In contrast to the first day, the names and pictures on the wall had been removed by aplenty. I walked to Captain Zhao’s side and looked at the people on the wall. Seeing me walk over, Captain Zhao put down the tea cup and said, “Have you found anything?”

I nodded and then shook my head. I said with conflict, “This group of criminals is too vicious. Based on the trace evidence in Liu Fei’er’s room, we were led to the suspect Chen Lin and his identity. Just when we thought that was be our lead, Chen Lin was found dead.”

Captain Zhao nodded. “I’ve already been briefed about that. Chen Lin must have let slip that he used Liu Fei’er’s lipstick when he was inside the room. So for the sake of safety, the others murdered him. The team is incredibly careful. This is already the third day but we still haven’t heard from them yet.”

I sighed. “But we have another clue. Inside the criminals’ getaway car, we found a specially-made tobacco roll. It’s made from Davidoff tobacco, it’s rare in Dong Xing City. It’s why I have asked Sister Mao for help, she’s an expert in this area.” Captain Zhao and Sister Mao shared a nod. I continued, “By the way, Sister Mary, did you find anything on the surveillance video?”

Mary shook her head. “The killers are very cunning, I never saw the car enter or leave through the camera. The only blind spot is that someone used a bunch of balloons to block the camera, I believe that was when the car entered the parking lot.”

“Balloons?”

Mary nodded. “The kind that you can easily find on the market. The person held a whole cluster of them, they blocked the camera and the entire upper body of the person. With just the lower body that had no defining feature, it’s impossible to find him. That’s why I haven’t contacted you guys, I’m still making comparisons.”

“That has to be one of the kidnappers.” I sighed, “These people sure have great imagination when it comes to anti-surveillance.”

Mary concurred, “Indeed, if they had destroyed the camera, they’d risk leaving behind trace evidence. Using this kind of method, it wouldn’t raise the suspicion of the guard and when the car was parked, the person could just walk away. It would leave behind no trace.”

“Indeed!” I grumbled. “They would only need to then give away the balloons to random kids they saw on the streets and the evidence is gone just like that. It’s brilliant.” I turned back to Captain Zhao. “Captain Zhao, what about your side? How is the analysis going?”

Captain Zhao moved over a chair to sit and pointed at the white board. “We started with so many people but after interviews and investigations, we’ve narrowed down the suspect list to 4.” Captain Zhao listed them one by one for me. “Suspect 1, Zhao Dongfa! The Director of Dong Fa Corporation, Liu Yinyan’s old competitor. Liu Yinyan worked under his company before he opened his own. But over the past few decades, Rong Dong Corporation has far surpassed Dong Fa Corporation and knocked Dong Fa Corporation down as the biggest capital venture company in Dong Xing City. More than that, Liu Yinyan has lured quite a few talents away from Dong Fa Corporation over the years and that most definitely has pissed his old boss off. Zhao Dongfa has the money and motif to hire the team of kidnappers because once Liu Yinyan is affected, the stocks for Rong Ding Corporation will fall.” Captain Zhao said, “But we have no concrete evidence. We are still keeping an eye on him.”

Captain Zhao moved to the next one. “This is our suspect number 2, Cao Jie. Cao Jie was the manager who rejected Liu Yinyan in the first place. At that start, Cao Jie only blamed himself for missing out on a talent like Liu Yinyan but unfortunately for him, Liu Yinyan was someone who could hold a grudge for a long time. Whenever a potential client approached Cao Jie’s company, Liu Yinyan would swoop in and steal all of them away. Recently, Cao Jie’s company is facing the threat of bankruptcy. All because of the work of Liu Yinyan. He definitely has the motif to arrange the kidnapping but he has no capital to do so.” Captain Zhao analyzed, “So he’s low on the suspect list.”

“Suspect 3, Hou Yao. She is Liu Fei’er’s classmate and is deemed one of the 4 prettiest girls of their school alongside Liu Fei’er. Coincidentally enough, they are also in the same class.” Captain Zhao tapped on the picture of a young girl. “Hou Yao’s crush, Zhang Yunhu rejected her because he had a crush on Liu Fei’er. Liu Fei’er did date Zhang Yunhu for a while and that incensed Hou Yao.” Captain Zhao sipped on his tea. “She might just be a teenager but you should have heard the things Hou Yao had said about Liu Fei’er at school. She said that she would make Liu Fei’er disappear forever. Hou Yao’s father is 40 plus and is a businessman in the multiweb business at Dong Xing City. He is not as rich as Liu Yinyan but he is rich enough. So this girl has both the means and money to set up something like the kidnapping.”

“What about the last person?” I asked.

“You know the last suspect, why don’t you take a closer look?” Captain Zhao’s eyes settled on the last picture. I leaned over to look and realized the man looked familiar. Eventually it hit me. This was none other than Lai San from Long Ze City.

“Could it really be him?” I breathed.

Captain Zhao was silent for a moment before he continued, “After Lin Su was apprehended, Lai San’s entire drug-trafficking chain was interrupted. Everyone who was part of it escaped at the first notice, even Ol' Zhang who sold dead bodies for a living did as well. It has been a few months since then, so what are these people doing for a living? They’re used to the lavish lifestyle, they can’t just cut it off and slum it out like that. They are fugitives and don’t have normal working experience. They wouldn’t work normal jobs anyway.” Captain Zhao tapped on the table. “So they have the capability and the need to do something like this, to keep the money flowing.”

I nodded, I had considered that as well.

Captain Zhao’s hands circled around the cup. “These kidnappers are ruthless, and cautious. Normal kidnappers wouldn’t kill so easily but now before the first call came, 2 people already died. There’s a high chance that we’re dealing with fugitives. Since they’ve already killed, the numbers don’t matter anymore. From our current information, the only one who can mobilize so many fugitives around Dong Xing City is Lai San. The man might look unhinged at times but he’s incredibly clever. He’s born to walk the path of crime.” I was silent and then asked, “Do you really think people will be born into a criminal life?”

Captain Zhao took an equally long break before answering. “From my years of experience, yes. The world’s huge, anything is possible.”

I sat down and said, “Then we should look into these 4 further.”

Captain Zhao nodded. “Yes, we already have people doing that but if your team wants to be a part of that, be my guest. I’ve already notified the whole force of that. You have been given the qualification to mobilize most of the task force, make good use of them. This is bigger than Liu Fei’er and Liu Yinyan. We’re dealing with a team of professionals, if we allow them to flourish, it’ll be hard for us to deal with them in the future.”

“In that case…” Before I even finished, Mary suddenly shouted. We were all shocked and turned towards her. She said, “An unknown number just contacted Liu Yinyan’s cell phone. This should be the kidnappers. I’ve already notified Gu Chen and we can monitor the conversation from here. Other than that, Liu Yinyan has agreed to let us coach him through the conversation, so think about what we should say on our end.”

We all nodded.

“Hello, good morning.” A shrill voice said.