Guan Zhenglin opened her toolbox and lifted her head to look at the metal pipe Gu Chen was holding. She concurred, “I don’t think this pipe is sold commercially. No manufacturer will sell them. In other words, this metal pipe was made by the killer. They know metallurgy.” We nodded.
“How did the killer puncture two people at the same time?” I frowned and asked.
“That can’t be right.” I shook my head. “Gu Chen, you used a lot of force to pull out the metal pipe, didn’t you?”
Gu Chen shook his head. “Actually, it was quite smooth.”
I chuckled and said, “But not everyone is muscular as you. From all the physical evidence and witness statement, the killer is a person with a small and weak body. For such a person, it wouldn’t be easy for them to pierce the pipe through two people’s bodies.”
Xiao Liu widened his eyes and argued, “Do you still think the killer is singular? The killer is sometimes male and then female. Perhaps you’re wrong this time. I think there is a killers group. And their motive is the key to solving this case.”
I looked at Xiao Liu. I had no concrete answer. I said slowly, “In that case, we’ll split up our investigation. In my study of criminology, I’ve not seen a murderer’s group work like this before! A team wouldn’t gather without a unified goal and benefit! So the killer cannot be more than one.”
Xiao Liu shook his head vehemently.
Guan Zhenglin coughed and said, “I don’t know criminology but I do know medical science. The killer made the pipe this way. Other than to expedite the victims’ death, the other purpose might be to make the piercing process easier.”
“What do you mean?” We turned to Guan Zhenglin. Guan Zhenglin explained, “Gu Chen has mentioned something important earlier. When a person is still alive, their muscle will contract. It is how the body could grab onto a pierced knife. This is why it is better to leave the weapon in for puncture wounds.” Guan Zhenglin pointed at the blood grooves on the pipe. “The grooves are very deep. When it is pierced through the body, the muscles can’t close around the wound because of the grooves. Thus the pressure and resistance will be weaker. It’ll be easier to push the metal pipe through the bodies.”
This was indeed something to consider. But how much easier it would be to drive the pipe in? Would it be enough for a weaker individual to commit this crime? I believed it would be enough, and Xiao Liu didn’t.
Guan Zhenglin looked at us and then at the bodies. “Regardless, help me extricate the bodies first.” Gu Chen and I held one of the bodies each, then we pulled them apart. Guan Zhenglin studied the bodies and began her preliminary autopsy. I walked around to study the house. The bedroom was quite huge compared to the rest of the house. Those who had big bedrooms enjoyed the better things in life. This was something Sister Mao told me. And I believed that did describe Zhou Yufeng.
There was a partition screen at the side of the bedroom. It was around 1.5 metres tall. Based on Zhou Yufeng’s height, when she changed behind the screen, her shoulders would be exposed. That was probably part of her seduction skill. It was entirely possible for the killer to hide here and not be seen. Of course, the killer had to be certain that the woman would not come back here when she had ‘guests’ around. Or else she would have notified the killer, and the man, who was 1.8 meters tall and quite muscular, could have easily overcome the killer. In other words, the killer knew the woman would not come back here. It proved that they had been stalking her for a long time already.
I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the situation.
In bed, a pair of hungry couple was ‘exercising’. They didn’t notice a killer, holding a metal pipe, had walked out from behind the screen. The killer slowly made his way to the bed. The two didn’t notice the killer at all. The killer then jumped up and propelled the metal pipe through the woman’s back. The woman’s fair skin immediately ruptured with a giant wound. Blood gushed everywhere, including on the man and killer’s faces. The man had no idea what had happened. He saw the hole on the woman’s stomach and then a pipe coming through.
Before he could react, the pipe ate into his stomach. Their blood got mixed together. Creating life or life itself was always bloody.
The woman wanted to turn around and the man wanted to lift his head, but they couldn’t do it. A single pipe had joined them together. The smallest movement would cause great pain. The killer clapped their hands and then walked away. The couple died in extreme pain, connected to each other.
Guan Zhenglin broke my reverie. “From the appearance, both of them only have one single wound. From the location of the wounds, the woman’s kidney, intestines, and liver were all punctured while the man only had his stomach and intestine punctured.” Guan Zhenglin pointed out the wound for us. “There is a lot of cellular activity around the wound, so this has to be fatal. The cause of death is organ failure due to loss of blood, but I can’t be sure until further examination. There is a trace of semen inside the woman’s body. Comparing that with the rigidity of the body, the time of death is 10 pm yesterday.”
“10 pm?” Everyone asked.
Guan Zhenglin nodded seriously. “Don’t be surprised. This means that the killer killed this couple and instantly went to kill that child.”
I asked, “How is the investigation into the child? Did we know when did he go missing?”
An officer walked forward. “We’ve asked the neighbors. They said the boy never came home after he went out to play after 8 pm. Gao Ze was a playful boy but he would always come home on time. He was never late. His parents came down to find him but they couldn’t. They started to get desperate around 10 pm. Then the whole building helped them to look for the boy.” The officer scratched his head. “Some of them thought the boy just forgot about the time, others thought he had been kidnapped by human traffickers. However, the boy was already six, and traffickers wouldn’t be interested in children so old. In any case, they searched for a long time, but no one called the police.”
At 10 pm, this couple was dead. If I was not mistaken, the boy was already captured by the killer then. The couple could probably hear the boy’s parents calling for the boy, but they ignored it because they were too busy exploring the union of life.
The officer continued, “They kept searching until 1 am. Someone said the boy might have fallen asleep at Ol’ Wang’s place because Ol’ Wang was a good person. Whenever a kid went to visit him, he would offer them sweets and money. So the kids like to stay around Ol’ Wang. Therefore some of them went to find Ol’ Wang who lived on the 2nd floor while others remained.” The officer looked out the window and said, “When they walked in, they saw Ol’ Wang hanging in his balcony. At that moment, the drying rack snapped and Ol’ Wang fell. He injured himself. At the same time, Gao Ze fell from the roof.”
We knew what happened next. Both Ol’ Wang and the child were sent to the hospital, but the boy died in the ambulance. What the people didn’t know was that before all that happened, this couple had already died at 10 pm. The killer was already inside the building. Since the search was going on for the boy, the killer couldn’t escape. Furthermore, the killer had to stay with the boy to detain him.
Then it hit me. It was not just the killer who was behind the screen. There were both the killer and the boy. The killer brought the child here because he wanted to expose the boy to the obscene activity. After killing the couple, they led the boy to the roof.
The people would never imagine that the boy they were searching for was actually inside the building all along.
“This is not good!” I suddenly exclaimed, “The killer was killing according to Ol’ Wang’s imagined scenario. The widow and the boy are dead. If the killer continues to kill, then they will do it at the factory and…”
“Someone will be dragged into the machine?” Xiao Liu widened his eyes.
“That’s right.” I said, “Contact that factory now and send our people there. The killer must have shown up at there before.” I turned to tell the other police. “Send the bodies back to the morgue. Guan Zhenglin, you’ll handle the autopsy. The rest of us will move to the factory.”
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