I nodded. As I used the water to wash my face, I asked her, “Did you find anything here?”
Guan Zhenglin answered, “There’s no sign of the killer in the house but there are traces of rope bound around the balcony rails. The bodies were probably lowered down that way. However, that didn’t really mean much. The killer is very cunning. I believe his stories are the only way for us to capture him.” Guan Zhenglin sighed, “This will be a hard case. By the way, where is everyone else?”
I then explained to Guan Zhenglin the adventure that I had inside the hole. Guan Zhenglin gasped. She expressed genuine surprise at the killer’s ability to remain calm in pure darkness and his ability to see through the darkness. Guan Zhenglin looked at me and explained, “As non-nocturnal creatures, human beings are practically blind in darkness. Animals though have tapetum that enables them to see in the dark. If our killer is able to do that, then his eyes would be green in color…”
I shook my head. “I couldn’t tell.”
Guan Zhenglin scratched her chin. “At least, we can confirm this killer must be used to living in the dark.” I sighed, I didn’t know what to say.
As the sun almost set, Gu Chen finally called me. But the content was rather disappointing. Gu Chen said the team had searched for a long time but they couldn’t find anyone in full black, be it male or female. I closed my eyes and pinched my nose. When I couldn’t breathe anymore, I only let go.
Guan Zhenglin asked, “What are you doing?”
I answered, “Someone said that when the brain is lacking in oxygen, it will work overtime. I was going to give it a try.”
Soon Gu Chen came back with the team but unfortunately, they didn’t have the killer with them. I was feeling regret, if I had held onto the killer at first notice inside the hole, then they wouldn’t have gotten away. The killer was just before me but I let them go.
Gu Chen cursed, “Damn it, he has disappeared down some kind of small alley or we would have caught him.”
I sighed and comforted, “The killer probably has been banking on that. Never mind. Have we moved the bodies out from the hole? It’ll be harder when night comes.”
Gu Chen said with some annoyance, “Xiao Liu has crawled into the hole. The officer told us there are 3 bodies inside?”
I nodded.
Half an hour later, all 3 bodies were moved out. Xiao Liu did everything himself. When the last body was carried out, Xiao Liu collapsed to the ground. Based on the paleness of his face, I knew he was given quite a fright. Guan Zhenglin handed him some bandages to wipe his face. Xiao Liu commented, “I had never experienced something like this before, I knew you guys are just outside, but once you’re in there, it’s like you’re in another world, and you’re all alone. It’s so scary.”
I smiled. I knew that Xiao Liu was not a cowardly person, after all, he did volunteer to head into the factory during the Liu Yinyan case. However, with the knowledge of the bodies inside the hole, the fear factor had been lowered a lot. At least, he was not going in blind like I was. I also knew why Xiao Liu was saying this, it would look good on the case report. I didn’t expose him.
I turned to look at the 3 bodies placed in the middle of the road. Everyone felt quite saddened while I felt helpless. I let the killer escape and that meant there would be a next story, at least another person would die and that was on me.
I couldn’t look at the girl’s body for too long. She looked younger than 13, she was about to venture into the outside world and she was killed. Her body was desecrated with the killer’s message.
Gu Chen cursed, “Motherfucker, he even went after a young girl. He should be shot!”
Captain Zhao studied the 3 bodies and massaged his temples. After some time, he said, “The best way to help the victims is to capture the killer. And to do that, we’ll need their help. Let’s go. I, Zhao Silin, swear on these 3 bodies that I will never rest until their deaths are avenged!”
One hour later, when we returned to the station, the sky was already dark.
Before the bodies were moved to the morgue, Guan Zhenglin gave me a lupo shot. I was probably the first officer to get scratched by cats on duty. I wondered if this counted as work trauma.
Captain Lee sent over a coroner to help with the autopsy, it eased the workload on Guan Zhenglin. The doctor’s name was Zhang Qinrui, he was rather fat and tall. He looked quite shy too. The two started with the bodies of the 2 adults, the 2 bodies which looked more like skeletons.
The most important bone for autopsy was the pelvic bone because much information could be derived from it. For these two bodies, their flesh, fat and even internal organs were shattered like they had been hit by a running vehicle.
The two bodies’ skulls were extremely clean like someone had scraped away the tissues and muscles. Other than the bits of hair on the scalp, there was nothing else. From a distance, it looked like 2 white skulls wearing wigs. It was just macabre.
The two adults’ stomachs were slashed open. Even standing to the side, I was assaulted by the stench. The bodies’ fingers and toes were picked clean of flesh too. The genitalia were heavily damaged.
The only relatively unharmed locations were the arms and inner thighs. But even so, there were holes where one could see the red muscles inside. The fatty layer had all gone. Based on the small holes, I believed the wounds were caused by tearing. And the answer already appeared in my mind.
After some time, Guan Zhenglin announced, “The woman died from asphyxiation. Her palms and feet are curled up in a claw. That suggests peri mortem struggle. I also found black fibres in the victim’s nail. In other words, the victim had struggled against the killer! And the black fibres probably came from the killer’s clothes.”
Zhang Qinrui added, “It’s the same on the male adult but I also found traces of sevoflurane in his blood.”
“Huh?” Gu Chen and I looked at each other.
Guan Zhenglin explained, “It’s a kind of sedative. A normal adult will lose consciousness in 5 to 10 minutes after being injected with this component. It has a light fragrance, and colorless, making it hard to detect. If one is not a professional, one might not realize one has been drugged.”
I nodded. “You mean, the killer sedated the father, killed the mother and then came back to kill the father?”
Guan Zhenglin thought about it. “I think so. I didn’t find any sevoflurane on the female body. But this does suggest that the killer knows chemistry. He has to be quite a genius. During the previous case, Sister Mary also said that he is a computer expert. And now he is shown to be a chemistry genius too!” Guan Zhenglin glanced at Zhang Qinrui. The latter added, “Also, we found pieces of paper in both of their mouths.”
“Paper?” I asked.
Zhang Qinrui said, “Have you heard of the ancient chinese torture called water torture? Basically the killer dampened pieces of paper and laid them piece by piece on the victims’ faces. Slowly the victims would drown from the lack of oxygen. The woman wasn’t made unconscious so she could still struggle but the man was not so lucky.”
I shook my head. “No, in the killer’s eyes, the man was lucky because at least he died in his sleep, but the woman had to struggle for a long time before she died.”
Guan Zhenglin sighed, “Thankfully the killer didn’t use toilet paper or else we wouldn’t have found even bits of paper in their mouths.” Guan Zhenglin continued, “The victim’s time of death is around 12 midnight. The story was written around late afternoon and the killer made his move at night.” She turned to Zhang Qinrui. The latter nodded. “Same with the male.”
Guan Zhenglin added, “With regards to why the bodies are in the state they’re found, the answer is quite horrifying but it’s clear.”
I frowned, “Would the strays really feed on the dead bodies?”
Guan Zhenglin and Zhang Qinrui said at the same time, “Yes.”
1 comment:
What if the online story is like an instruction for the killer
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