126 The Child with One Arm

 

“Kiddo, what’s your name?” I said to the child, “Why did you touch this arm?”

The child pulled on his father’s sleeve before saying, “My name is Sun Kangning, daddy and I went to visit Uncle Lee’s home today. I ran all the way back, on the way, I saw this hand. I was so happy so I went to grab it.” The boy looked at us and his father before he continued, “I always dream of having 2 arms and 2 hands like other people but my parents told me, I was only born with one arm. Mummy and daddy said, I was a superhero in my past life and one of my arms was stolen by the evil villain.” Sun Kangning continued in a joyful tone, “Daddy and mommy told me that as long as I eat my vegetables and study in class, I will eventually regain my superpower from my past life and I can fight the bad guy to get my arm back. Right, daddy?”

Sun Kangning raised his head to his father. Before the crowd, his father appeared quite embarrassed. He was a man around 30. He didn’t look like he was handicapped. He ruffled his son’s hair and said softly, “Of course, be a good kid and the bad people will eventually hand your arm back to you.”

Satisfied with that answer, Sun Kangning continued happily, “I’ve been eating my vegetables and doing my homework. When I saw the hand earlier, I was sure it was the bad guy who came to return my arm to me so I wanted to touch it.” At this point, the boy’s face crumbled. “But my daddy saw me and scolded me. I didn’t know what I did wrong, I just wanted my hand back. Everyone has 2 arms and 2 hands, but why do I only have one?”

The innocence of the child only made the story harder to listen. To protect the child’s heart, to help him accept his difference from others, Sun Kangning’s parents weaved out a dream for him. Perhaps when he was older, he would know the truth but for now, there was no harm for him to live in that dream. “I just want to be like everyone else.” Sun Kangning whimpered under his breath.

I turned to Sun Kangning’s father and saw the man was silently wiping away the tears from his eyes. Everyone stood silently. All of them were handicapped, perhaps they were told the same white lie when they were young. Sun Kangning’s father looked at me, as if worried that I might shatter the little boy’s dream. I smiled and told the boy, “Sun Kangning, you are indeed a superhero, and you have been doing well on your superhero journey. But I’m afraid this is not your hand. Look at how big it is, this hand is not for you but for someone else.”

Sun Kangning nodded with disappointment, “So it’s not for me.”

I said, “Good things take time to make. Your arm will be perfect so they will take longer to arrive. Big brother has a question for you. Did you see the person who put the hand here? The bad guy who has been going around stealing people’s hands, did you see him?”

Sun Kangning’s eyes were practically glowing, “The bad guy was around here? I didn’t see him. If I saw him, I would have captured him myself.”

“So you didn’t see anyone at all?” I asked to confirm.

Sun Kangning nodded. “No, when I came, I only saw the hand and no one else.”

“Then what time did you spot the hand?”

“I don’t know.” Sun Kangning shook his head, he was getting bored of this line of questioning. At that moment, Sun Kangning’s father chimed in, “Officer, we reached here around 1 pm. At the time, he was running too fast for me to catch up. I arrived about several minutes after he did. When I saw him playing with it, I immediately told him to stop… At the time, I didn’t see anyone else.” Sun Kangning’s father added, “But I did notice a set of footprints leading away from the hand to the eastern side of the village. But now that it’s mixed with the others, I can’t tell which one it was anymore. Anyway, after I found the hand, I hurried to the community centre.” Sun Kangning’s father turned to the old village head. “But the village head wasn’t there. Lee Danan told me you’ve been to visit Granny Wang, so I relayed the incident to Lee Danan. Then he asked me to stay here while he went to fetch you guys.”

Even though Sun Kangning’s father did see the killer’s footprints, he wouldn’t be able to discern it among the other sets of footprints now.

“Did you see anything suspicious?” I asked.

“No.” The father shook his head.

Sun Kangning and his father didn’t look like they were lying because their testimonies were easy to verify. We only needed to check with Uncle Lee whom they had visited, so I didn’t suspect them. That meant that the killer hadn’t left the crime scene for too long. However, First Drain Village itself had around 300 people, it would not be easy to single out the killer. While I contemplated, everyone was silent. Suddenly Sun Kangning pointed out, “Look, these brothers and sisters are different from us. They have 2 legs and 2 arms. Unlike Granny Wang, they can hear and speak. Unlike Uncle Lee, they can see. Unlike…” Sun Kangning had more examples but his father stopped him. Sun Kangning looked at his father in confusion. Sun Kangning’s father looked at us apologetically.

“Alright, I have no more questions.” I told the crowd, “If there’s nothing else, please go back home. If you have any clues, please come to us. After all, I believe this will happen again. It’s my advice for everyone to be more conscious of their safety. The killer is an incredibly vicious person.” Then the crowd dispersed. Sun Kangning’s father walked over and bowed to me. He told me seriously, “Thank you officer, you are a good man, Iike Officer Zhou. If there’s nothing else, I’ll have to bring my boy home. If I remember anything, I’ll tell you.”

Soon, we were the few left at the crime scene. I stared at the different footprints and tried to lose myself in their patterns. Guan Zhenglin held the arm like she was shaking an invisible person’s hands. She said, “Wu Meng, even if you stick your face to the ground, you won’t be able to see anything. The killer’s footprint is long gone. The footprints overlap over each other, even the latest technology wouldn’t be able to pick up anything. Just give up.”

I pulled on my hair and sighed, “I know. But I hope we can still find a clue somewhere else. For example, this arm. Clearly the wound is made by some kind of animal, what kind of animal do you think it was?”

Guan Zhenglin nodded. “You’re right about that, from the shape of the wound, these are indeed animal bite marks. Looks, the humerus here has the bite mark of a canine. From the arrangement of the teeth, I believe it’s a large hunting hound.”

I snapped my finger. “The murder weapon is a dog. Today we’ve practically moved around the entire village. Have you guys noticed anything weird about this place?”

“Something weird?” Chief Zhou scratched his head. “I often come to visit this place because the village head is my friend, but other than the handicapped villagers, there’s really nothing too special about this place. There’s nothing unusual or weird too, if you ask me.”

I shook my head. “There’s something very weird. This village has no sign of dogs. We’ve walked for a whole day, have you heard a single dog’s bark?”

If we were at an apartment building, then a ban of pets was understandable, but a village with no dogs? That was unusual.

“Now that you mention it,” Gu Chen nodded. “That is the case. How can this village have no dog?”

The village head smiled, “It’s not that there’s no dog. People used to keep dogs as pets here but eventually we stopped. Our village is different from others. Many of us aren’t physically capable, so we rely on social donation. There has been a case in the past where wild dogs entered the village and injured, even killed some villagers. We were too powerless to stop those beasts. So whenever we spot a dog, we would chase them away now.”

Chief Zhou confirmed, “Yes, I handled that case myself.”

“So it’s not that we ban dogs.” The village head explained, “We’re just conscious of our safety. Think about it, most of our villagers are vulnerable to beasts. So most of us gave up keeping dogs as pets. Life moves on and the influence on the community is really not that big.”

Only then we realized there was such a history at the village. I continued, “If First Drain Village has no dog, then where did this bite mark come from? That is our opening. Once we find this owner, we’ll find its owner.”

Gu Chen chuckled, “So we have to find a dog now?”

I nodded, “And this dog is quite sizable, at least a medium-sized hound. The fact that First Drain Village has no dog has saved us a lot of trouble.”

Suddenly, the village head uttered, “No wait, the convenience store on the eastern path!”