176 Second Story

 

“I’ll do it.” I volunteered.

Gu Chen chuckled, “Normally you would have pushed me to do such a job, so how come you’re so willing this time? Is it because you get to do it with Guan Zhenglin? Is there something between you two? Kid, if you like her, then do something, don’t come and regret it later.”

With other people there, I was quite embarrassed. I quickly explained, “Based on my understanding, the killer stepped on the victim’s footprints to follow after her and walked away wearing her shoes. So I believe they are almost of the same height.” As understanding settled on the other officers, I continued, “The size of a person’s feet is proportional to their overall height, but of course there are exceptions to the rules.”

Gu Chen urged, “In that case, let us begin.” We nodded and started the simulation.

Guan Zhenglin chose a path that was free of footprints so that her trail could be seen more clearly. She hurried home like she didn’t notice the man following behind her. She was just desperate to get home to rest after a long day of work.

I followed behind Guan Zhenglin. Honestly, it was not that easy. It reminded me of walking on those pebbled paths meant to massage one’s feet. I had never felt so uncomfortable.

Guan Zhenglin’s gait was small yet quick. I had to match her gait to fill in her footprints or else there would be additional prints in the snow. For that, I had to walk on tip toe. This was a very tiring way to walk and it was hard to do that while making sure Guan Zhenglin didn’t notice me. After around 20 steps, I felt like my calves were leaden. If I continued to do this, my legs might convulse. I could barely walk normally after this, much less commit to a clean murder. Guan Zhenglin clearly had noticed me, the clumsy man, but for the sake of simulation, she had to pretend otherwise.

After another stretch, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I rushed towards Guan Zhenglin and pretended to slice her neck. Guan Zhenglin immediately tumbled to the ground. I used Guan Zhenglin’s body to wipe away my nearer footprints and then removed Guan Zhenglin’s heels. When I put the heels on, I felt like a woman from Ancient China who had to go through foot binding. My feet definitely could not fit into the small heels and when I stood up, I realized the challenge was only beginning. Holding my own original shoes in one hand, I slowly retraced my steps. It was no different from walking on tightrope. My feet hurt and the heels didn’t help with balance. I didn’t take many steps before I fall face first to the ground. The other officers hurried over to pick me up.

Gu Chen said, “That’s weak, let me try.”

Then Gu Chen stuffed his feet into the heels. Gu Chen was 1.8 metres tall, he was at least 1 head taller than I was so his feet were larger as well. As I saw him stuff his feet into the heels, I was reminded of girls forcing themselves into dresses too small for them. After a long time of trying, Gu Chen gave up, “I don’t think the killer is my size. The heels are too small. It can only fit half of my foot. Plus I don’t think I can even walk in heels.”

I patted away the snow on my body. I looked at the heels Gu Chen kicked to the side. “If a person with a martial arts background like you can’t do it, then I doubt a common man can do it either. In other words, the killer is smaller than you and might be even smaller than me and the victim.”

Guan Zhenglin observed, “There are biological differences between males and females. If both are of the same height, a male’s feet will be larger than his female counterpart. So what you mean is that the killer might be smaller than Zhao Kaifang because his feet fit Zhao Kaifang’s heels quite snugly. Or else he would have tumbled and fell like you and Gu Chen did.”

I found Guan Zhenglin her shoes. While I helped tie her laces, I said, “That’s right.” After I was done, I stood up. “To be sure about that hypothesis, we’ll need to examine the victims’ bodies.”

Everyone nodded.

As we returned, I pondered about this killer who was only 1.65 to 1.7 metres tall. I was curious about this man. How did he manage to follow the victims soundlessly like a shadow in the dark?

In the darkness, a pair of eyes appeared to open. A shadow lurked behind, following you silently. He wore an entire outfit in black, black clothes, black shoes and black night. You ran faster and faster but the shadow was catching up as well. You couldn’t resist turning back and you saw a face. A smiling face. There was a glint and then you felt warmth around your neck. The warmth spread through your body and he kept on smiling at you. Your body got warmer but your heart got colder. You wanted to scream but not a word came out. You collapsed to the ground. As you bade farewell to this world, the killer slowly removed your high heels. He put them on and slowly retreated into the darkness. You saw the pair of legs slowly disappear into the road and then everything ended.

…

At the city morgue, we decided to see the bodies. Even though the autopsy report was already out, I still decided to see if we could find any clues from the bodies’ wounds.

Both of the women were garrotted. When the bodies were shown before us, we could see clearly that the directional force of the neck wound was different. Zhao Kaifang was 1.7 metres tall, the wound on her neck went from right to left, the wound going lighter along that direction. The wound turned downwards.

Luo Xiao Lu was only 1.6 meters tall, similarly her wound went from right to left but the wound curved up towards the left end. Similarly, the wound was deeper on the right.

These two bodies told us an important detail, the killer was not left-handed and the killer was around 1.6 to 1.75 metres tall.

I placed myself in his shoes. “The killer is a man around 1.6 to 1.7 metres, he should be younger than 25. When he was young, he might have been sexually harassed. Due to some kind of external trigger, the psychopathy within him awakened and he finally took up the knife.”

Guan Zhenglin scratched her chin and asked, “How did you tell he is between 1.6 to 1.7 metres.”

I pulled on my hair and then pointed at the wounds. “Look at their wounds. One is titled upwards, the others tilted downwards, this points towards two directional forces.” I used one of my fingers to act as a faux danger and then made a vicious cut. “This was how he killed Zhao Kaifang. Since she was taller, the killer had to raise his arm to reach her neck. Then he cut downwards, forming the wound that we see.” I lowered my finger around my chest. “But Luo Xiao Lu is shorter than the killer. If he used the same posture, he would have hit her hair and not her neck. Therefore, the cut around Luo Xiao Lu’s neck is straight before curving upwards at the end. His hand naturally lifted when he was near the end, that is common human behavior.”

Gu Chen praised, “No wonder you’re a criminal profiler. Just with these bodies, you can tell how the killer acted during the moment.”

I was silent before adding, “if the killer only targets females less than 1.7 metres tall, then I believe he might have been humiliated by someone of that description, but then again, this is just his first kill, he might go after a male next.” We pushed the bodies back into the freezers. “But so far, this is the profile I came up with. Since this is a psychopathic killer, I am confident I am correct.”

At that moment, an officer rushed in and told us, “Sister Mary had me come and get you guys. She said she found something important.”

“Something important?” My eyes glowed.

The officer nodded. “After this case was reported, someone also found the story of Xiao Lu that we saw on the internet. However, the difference is, the story the netizen found has a continuation following Xiao Lu’s, a new story!”

“A new story?” Everyone gasped.

The officer nodded vehemently, “That’s why Sister Mary had me come get you. If we can find the characters in the story before the murders, we might be able to save their lives.”

“Let’s go!”