Based on what the village head told us, this Er Xiao was 30 and he was not handicapped. Er Xiao arrived at First Drain Village when he was 20. At the time, the village head was confused. Since he was perfectly healthy, why would he come to this village? Then the village head found out that Er Xiao came here for business and not to settle. One day while Er Xiao was driving down the highway, one of his friends commented, this place had nothing, they couldn’t even stop for a toilet or smoke break. Er Xiao was inspired by this random comment. When they got home, Er Xiao suggested that they open a convenience store here. After about a decade of hard work, they should be able to save enough to own a home in Dong Xing City. The place might be in the middle of nowhere but it was right next to the highway. The traffic was common and it was not a bad choice to open a shop. But no one got on board with Er Xiao’s crazy suggestion. After all, they all already had white collar jobs at Dong Xing City and had 6000 RMB salary per month. Why would they move to a backwards place to risk a business venture?
In any case, Er Xiao still quitted his job and came here to set up a small convenience store using the savings he had collected over the years. To open a shop here, Er Xiao only needed the approval of the nearest village head, who was Wei Shengfeng. And thus Er Xiao’s convenience store came into being. Er Xiao would drive his truck into the city every month to restock his store. It was unknown how much Er Xiao had earned from his investment but the village head confirmed that Er Xiao had already owned a house at Dong Xing City. Actually, 1 or 2 years ago, Er Xiao already considered selling this store but he didn’t have the heart to leave this place even though he didn’t have much interaction with people from First Drain Village.
The village head sighed, “I’ll be frank, the majority of Er Xiao’s income is from his sales of counterfeit alcohol and cigarettes. He won’t earn much from just selling the everyday necessities to the villagers. The nearest rest stop is about more than 10 km away and Er Xiao’s main customers are the truckers. As you know, these people often take alcohol and cigarettes on the road as company. So Er Xiao bought the counterfeit products cheaply and sold them for the real price, after all, these truckers might not even come back to this place ever again. However, the alcohol and cigarettes he sells to us villagers are always authentic, or else we would have chased him away already.” The village head rolled his wheelchair to the door and pushed the door open.
Before we even entered, we heard a man’s voice say, “Yo, yo, yo, isn’t this Master Wei? It has been so long. You shouldn’t have come in such weather. Just give me a call and I would have sent people to drop off the things you need at your house. But this proves that Master Wei is still incredibly young and so hale.” I had to admit that Er Xiao was quite a salesman. The few of us walked in after the village head.
The store had no heater but it had a large stove. I noticed there were several red balls of coal inside. Even though it was not as warm as the heater at the community centre, it was better than standing in the cold. Seeing us, Er Xiao shook his head. “Master Wei, do you need to bring a whole army with you? You’ve basically surrounded my entire store. Hey, how did I miss such a beautiful lady? Do you care to try on some of our selection of bras?”
I studied this Er Xiao, he was a man around 30. He had long hair which looked oily and unwashed. His beard was stubbly and needed a good shave. The black woollen shirt that he wore was fraying. This was someone who needed to pay more attention to his personal hygiene.
The village head scoffed, “If back then I knew you’re such a pervert, I wouldn’t have agreed to let you stay here.”
Er Xiao countered while pouring us some warm water, “If you stay here alone for 10 years all alone, you’d hump anything that moves. And it has only been getting worse. This snow is freezing up my heart. There is not one vehicle on the road and I’m bored out of my mind.”
The village head picked some woollen gloves for us. “Keep these on my tab.”
Er Xiao shook his head, “It’s just a few gloves. Master Wei, they’re on the house. But you’re not here with so many people just to buy some gloves, are you? You didn’t bring the police here to arrest me for sales of counterfeit alcohol and cigarettes, right?”
The village head spat on the ground, “Do you think I’m that free to meddle in your business? Where is your Bei Bei, how come I don’t see him around? Have you sent him for breeding?”
Er Xiao scoffed, “I wish. For breeding, there has to be a female dog around. The entire First Drain Village doesn’t even have a single dog. I guess he finally had enough of the loneliness and ran away from home. I am also looking for him.” My heart shook when I heard this. There couldn’t be such a coincidence, could there? We came looking for the only dog around the village and it had gone missing? Was the dog the murder weapon who bit off the victim’s arm?
The village head frowned, “Wait, Bei Bei is missing?”
Er Xiao slammed on the table and grumbled angrily, “That’s right, he’s been missing for 2 days already. I was wondering if it’s because someone has taken back a female dog in the village. The kid will sometimes wander off on his own but he has never been MIA for so long before. After so many years of being together, I can’t believe he’d just abandon me like that. It’s truly saddening.”
We were all silent. Er Xiao’s dog went missing 2 days ago and that was the day our victim died. Was this a coincidence or was the theft premeditated?
I asked, “Did your dog wander off on its own or was it stolen, can you be sure of that?’
Er Xiao became serious when he heard that. “So you’re here to help me find my dog. Thank you so much. My Bei Bei is a german shepherd with black and yellow fur, when it stands up, it’s about 1.8 meters tall. Normally, I let him just sit outside. There is no one else on the road and he will normally just stay there. But 2 days ago, when I woke up, he was gone.” Er Xiao sighed, “And he has been missing since. I’ve already warned the villagers to be careful around him. My dog can get quite aggressive, I don't want people to get into trouble.”
Guan Zhenglin glared at him. “If you know the dog can get aggressive, why didn’t you collar him?”
Xiao Er countered, “Animals deserve freedom too. Furthermore, no one really comes here after the shop is closed. When it’s open, I’ll be here to watch over him, and nothing like this has ever happened in the 10 years I’ve been here.”
“Do you have a picture?” I asked.
“Of me or the dog?” Xiao Er asked.
I rolled my eyes at him and said in a deadpan voice, “Of course of the dog, why would I want your picture?”
“Got it!” Er Xiao rummaged in his drawer before he handed me a picture. I took a glance at it. The dog was a large german shepherd, german shepherd was the quintessential police dog. They were loyal, confident and could perform tasks dutifully. They were helpful in drug busts, takedowns, patrols and so on. Their loyalty was famed, a trained shepherd dog would always return to its owner, they would not wander off for no reason, unless they were stolen.
Bei Bei was indeed large enough to bite off a person’s arm. But german shepherd wouldn’t heed a stranger’s order. So if Bei Bei was really the murder weapon, how did the killer manage to get Bei Bei to bite off the victim’s right arm?
Guan Zhenglin looked at the picture and told us, “German Shepherd, 42 teeth in total, 20 on the top and 22 on the bottom. Amazing bite force, small gap between teeth. From this picture, I believe the bite marks left on the bone came from this dog.” After a pause, she continued, “Find the dog’s fur or something that belonged to it. Has the officer from Elm Town arrived? Tell him to take these back as evidence to analyse as well. Then we’ll know for sure if the bite mark matches or not.”
Er Xiao was totally confused. “What bite marks, what analysis?”
Guan Zhenglin said coldly, “We need the dog’s fur, you should have that, right? If not, at least you should have its dog’s bowl or the blanket it uses.”
Er Xiao was cowed and instantly went out to the doghouse and plucked off a few dog’s fur. He came back and handed them to Guan Zhenglin, “Here.” She placed them inside the evidence bag.
I cut in to ask, “Did any stranger come here in the afternoon 2 days ago?’
“Strangers?” Er Xiao shook his head. “This is the back exit of First Drain Village, there is not even a single tree around. If someone was here, I would have seen them. Plus the snow has blocked the road since that day. You’ve been here for so long already, have you heard or seen any vehicle pass by?” Xiao Er continued, “Even the villagers have stopped coming thanks to the damn weather, much less strangers. 2 years ago, I should have sold this place. I have already bought a house in Dong Xing City, I really have no idea why I’m still staying here…”
Indeed, from where we stood, we could see far into the distance. 2 days ago, if the killer left through the highway after dumping the body, Er Xiao would definitely have seen them. In other words, the killer was most likely still in the village. The snow had not only trapped us here but the killer as well.
Then again, we couldn’t go house to house, searching for dead bodies without reasonable cause.
So who could be the killer?
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