Xiao Lu looked out at the whiteness outside the window. It snowed yesterday night. Before she slept the night before, she heard a heavy creak, it was probably a branch snapping. She stood on the wooden heated floor of her room and she was appreciative of this simple warmth.
‘What is that?’ Xiao Lu lowered her eyes and saw a woman lying on the ground. The woman was lying face up and there was a red rope around her neck. The woman wore a red and white striped dress and red flower petals were scattered around her. She laid there peacefully like Snow White waiting for her prince. ‘Perhaps she’s a model, and this is a photoshoot.’
Xiao Lu had encountered such people before. They would go around in exaggerated clothing and take pictures, with no concern for others. Xiao Lu had met someone from this circle not too long ago. It was a man dressed in a black cape, he looked handsome and full of character. When Xiao Lu ran into him, he was taking pictures in the back garden.
‘She seems to have fallen asleep.’ Xiao Lu took another glance. Sometimes she envied these people who had no worry in the world, she on the other hand, was an OL who had to work overtime quite often.
‘Hmm, but there’s only one set of footsteps leading to the model, where’s her photographer?’ Xiao Lu looked around with curiosity. The windows on the opposite were all closed. She believed she saw a black figure behind one of the closed windows. ‘That is probably the photographer. Perhaps they want to use the glass for added effect.’ Xiao Lu waved at the photographer but the figure gave no response.
The alarm rang, it was already 7.30 am. Xiao Lu frowned. It was time to go to work. She glanced at her neighbourhood’s back garden one last time. The woman was still lying there, Xiao Lu wondered how long this photoshoot would take. Xiao Lu grabbed her purse and left.
At work, Xiao Lu was scolded again. It was because she made a mistake, the reason she made the mistake was because she didn’t wear her glasses. Xiao Lu enjoyed the blurry world, she didn’t like to see things too clearly, it was why she was averse to wearing glasses.
When she left the company, it was already late at night, because she had to stay back to correct her mistake. The neighbourhood was dark. Everyone was asleep. Xiao Lu was afraid of the darkness, thankfully the neighbourhood guard was kind enough to walk her home.
“I often see you working late until midnight, your boss sure is heartless.” The guard commented. “You have to be careful if you come back so late at night, after all, we have a murder happened at the neighbourhood today. It was a young girl just like you, the police just removed the body this afternoon.”
Xiao Lu’s heart skipped a beat, she was reminded of the model she saw that morning. “What happened?” Xiao Lu asked with fear and curiosity.
The guard was quite a chatterbox. “The police said that the woman was tailed when she took a shortcut home. She was murdered in the back garden. Her blood splattered everywhere, but strangely enough there was only one set of footprints.” Xiao Lu’s heart wrenched even harder.
Seeing how fearful Xiao Lu was, the guard added, “The police said, it was probably because the killer walked over the victim’s footprints and used the same method to leave the crime scene.”
“Then has the killer been captured?” Xiao Lu asked nervously.
The guard shook his head. “They’re still investigating but I hear from the police that the culprit is a psychopath who only targets single women. The police said the murderer probably has been scouting out our neighbourhood multiple times already. Perhaps they have been inside the victim’s home too.”
Xiao Lu shivered.
“The woman wasn’t wearing a white and red striped dress, was she?” Xiao Lu asked with a shaking voice.
The guard waved his hands. “A dress? Who would wear a dress in the middle of winter? She was in a white winter coat and a pair of jeans.”
Then they soon arrived at Xiao Lu’s building.
“Wait, you live here?” The guard suddenly asked.
Xiao Lu looked at the friendly guard and answered, “Yes, what’s wrong?”
“I have to go.” The guard turned and practically ran away. Xiao Lu frowned. But as she approached her home, her heart slowly calmed down. She thought she saw a dead body this morning but she was merely scaring herself. She opened the door, closed the door and switched on the lights.
“There you are.” Xiao Lu stared at the glasses on the shoe rack. She had such a bad memory. She forgot to leave home with her glasses several times already, but she had gotten used to seeing the world through blurry eyes. Xiao Lu crawled in bed, it was very warm. She heard the creaking noise again but it was louder than yesterday. But it was not snowing when she came home earlier. Xiao Lu pondered these things as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
“Such a wonderful sleep.” Xiao Lu pushed open the window and the world outside was still pure white in color. “It’s another new day, I’ll have to work hard!” Xiao Lu cheered.
…
An old man with greying hair sat before me and Captain Zhao sat beside him. From the senior’s presence, I knew he was someone important. The casual way Captain Zhao sat beside him also proved their close relationship.
“If I’m not mistaken, you must be Chief Bai?” I asked.
The senior glanced at Captain Zhao and nodded. “Clever kid.”
I shook my head, “But I still can’t tell why you’ve told us this story.”
The senior explained, “That, you’ll have to ask your Captain Zhao.” Then the old man left the room, leaving only Captain Zhao and myself behind. Captain Zhao began, “When I returned to Dong Xing City, Chief Bai found me. He handed us a case, if we can solve this, we’ll be moved back to Dong Xing City.”
“The case is related to that story?” I asked with shining eyes.
“That’s right.” Captain Zhao answered.
…
One hour later, we returned to Dong Xing City.
Captain Zhao explained in the meeting room. “A few days ago, this story was released online. One day after that, a woman called Xiao Lu discovered a dead body in her neighbourhood’s back garden. A few days after that, someone discovered Xiao Lu’s body. The reason Chief Bai wants us back is because the team led by Captain Lee has come up with nothing after so long.” Captain Lee was the one who squeezed Captain Zhao out of Dong Xing City and now Xiao Liu was working under Captain Lee so we might cross paths.
Captain Zhao continued, “Chief Bai wants both of our units to work together to capture this killer as soon as possible. If we succeed, we’ll stay.”
“A story-writing killer?” I mumbled to myself.
Captain Zhao heard me and nodded. “That’s right. This story was found only after the two females were killed but the strange thing is that the story was released before their deaths. In other words, if someone who knew Xiao Lu in real life had found this story and related it to her, the two women might still be alive.”
“A death predictive story?” Gu Chen concluded.
“Perhaps.” Captain Zhao looked at the few of us. “Since the killer has written the story, then this whole thing is premeditated. Perhaps we can find some clues from the story.”
Guan Zhenglin asked, “Can Sister Mary find the person who posted the story?”
Captain Zhao smiled sadly, “Captain Lee would have already thought about that, if the culprit can be captured so easily, Chief Bai wouldn’t call us back. The IP address was overseas but the killer can’t be so the killer knows their way around computers.”
I said, “The killer has already told us what he looks like.”
“Hmm?” Everyone turned to me.
I pulled on my hair and said, “This story might sound illogical but it contains a lot of useful information. The killer wrote it from the first person view, describing how a young single lady discovered a body. However, Xiao Lu had serious myopia so she thought it was a photoshoot.” I continued, “The white wintercoat was streaked with blood, so Xiao Lu mistook the woman as wearing a red and white striped dress. The red rope around the neck had to be the wound. The caped man in black that Xiao Lu encountered had to be the killer who was there to scout out the crime scene.”
“And then?” Gu Chen asked.
I massaged my temples, “The creaking was not the branch breaking from snow, but someone walking on the wooden floor. The glasses were on the bedside table in the morning but were moved to the shoe rack at night, which meant that someone was inside Xiao Lu’s home.”
Everyone’s faces were heavy.
I continued slowly, “As I said before, the killer has already told us who he is. He told us through this story that Xiao Lu would eventually be killed. The guard didn’t dare to enter her building because the previous victim lived there as well. The creaking Xiao Lu heard the night before was the killer moving upstairs.”
Captain Zhao nodded. “Now you understand why Chief Bai has requested for us to return, we’re not dealing with a normal killer.”
“But how could the killer guarantee everything written will happen in real life?” Guan Zhenglin said in disbelief. “Is there really a killer who could follow every step as written in the story? If Xiao Lu didn’t open the window as described, then it wouldn’t have made sense.”
Looking out the window, I said, “The killer might be someone with mental illness or more precisely, multiple personality disorder.”
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