208 The Missing Piece

 

The rest nodded, and we moved towards the lab. The sack of stuff Xiao Liu brought was still sitting at the office. The corridor was quiet, except for the sound of us moving. When we opened the lab, we saw the stuff had already been separated into different evidence bags. The key evidence, the broken bowl was placed inside a bag. From the size and shape of the pieces, they would make up more than one bowl. I looked at them and then glanced at the pieces. “We should get to work. Perhaps we might piece out a clue.”

We put on gloves and carefully took out the pieces. I took the pieces and matched them with the patterns on each piece. Thankfully the pieces were rather large. There were no small pieces, or else we wouldn’t get a complete bowl no matter how hard we tried. Due to the sizes of the pieces, we didn’t need glue to make out their bowl shape. Without too much motion, the bowls could even stand upright. We completed 3 bowls, but as we moved to the 4th bowl we noticed a piece was missing. We were certain that we had removed all the pieces from the evidence bag, but one piece was missing. There were only 2 possibilities. 1, Xiao Liu didn’t collect the last piece from the sewer; 2, Xiao Liu did collect the last piece, but he had taken it with him.

Gu Chen looked at the bowls, and he didn’t even dare to speak too loud lest the vibration in his voice shattered the bowls again. “I say, what is so special about these bowls? They look normal to me, just a bit old. Perhaps some of them are as old as me.”

I held my breath and studied the bowls carefully. From their appearance, they did look normal. Despite their age, I could make out the shapes of animals on the bowls. I was reminded of the bowls I had back home. I looked around and realized they should form a set. There was a picture of a cock, mouse, dog, and pig. Four animals, one for each bowl. The missing piece was from the cock bowl.

I looked at the edge of the missing piece. I noticed the trace of the edge was new, and the oxidation was not clear. It meant that this piece was just broken. The bowls had evidence of being worn. I looked inside the bowl and saw the dirt. Then again, that was to be expected since they were salvaged from the sewer. However, as I looked closer, I realized that was not the truth. The dirt inside the bowl could be wiped off easily. They were not there for a long time. This meant that they were used recently. Xiao Liu probably realized these bowls were left behind by the killer based on this.

Zhao Mingkun and I surprised the killer under the sewer, so the killer didn’t have time to pack away all of his stuff. One hour after that, Xiao Liu swarmed into the sewer. His team was there for hours. Even if the killer wanted to return to grab his stuff, he couldn’t.

I picked up one of the bowls gingerly to see what was underneath. I saw the date of manufacture. It was 2002. The bowls were made more than a decade ago. But they were still so well-preserved, there was only one explanation, someone had taken good care of them. The bowls belonged to the killer. I believed I could see what was on Xiao Liu’s mind.

These bowls must have meant something to the killer, or else he wouldn’t have kept them for so many years. Plus, based on our observation, the killer kept these bowls on himself, or else they would have been far dirtier.

I turned to Mary. “Sister Mary, can you find the place of production for these bowls?” I passed the bowl to Mary. She looked at the word under the bowl. “Moulin Rouge Production? That sounds like an old place. I’ll try my best, but I doubt the factory is even still running.” I massaged her shoulders. “Sister Mary, thank you. The killer kept these bowls for a reason. They might mean a lot to him. If we can find out who bought these bowls, then we would find the killer.”

Mary turned to glance at me. “Kid, don’t you worry about this. This is work, so I will not disappoint you. But I need time. I need to check from Dong Xing City and then branch into other cities.” Mary nodded and told us, “If that’s the case, I’ll go to investigate that first.”

At that moment, we heard footsteps coming from outside the lab. Soon the familiar faces appeared before us. They were none other than Captain Lee, Xiao Liu, and their men. I looked at Captain Lee, and Captain Lee looked at me. Eventually, Captain Lee said, “You people sure are so hardworking to be studying the evidence instead of sleeping at night.”

I looked at Captain Lee. “The same can be said of you, Captain Lee. I believe you must have reached some breakthrough, or else you wouldn’t be here in person. But if you ask me, it’s still too early to close the case.”

Captain Lee scoffed. “Don’t you worry about us. Xiao Liu, go and verify your findings. If it’s correct, then we’ll start the operation now. When the killers make their moves, we’ll capture them.”

Xiao Liu nodded. He walked past us to study the four bowls. Then he nodded seriously, “I’m right. The killers are most likely those people. But to capture these people, it will take time.”

“As long as you’ve confirmed the murderers.” Captain Lee smiled, but that smile disappeared when he turned to me. “Okay, we’ll go initiate the planning. By the way, it’s already 4 am. Kid, you are not needed anymore, so go back to sleep. When your Captain Zhao wakes up, we would have captured the killers already.” Xiao Liu looked at us. He didn’t say anything and followed Captain Lee and left.

I said, “Xiao Liu, there is one thing that I need to tell you. If my suppositions are correct, then your speculation is wrong, so you have to answer me honestly.” Captain Lee and Xiao Liu stopped and turned around to look at me. I was familiar with Xiao Liu. He was a very careful person. He needed to tie up all the loose ends in a case. Even though Xiao Liu might not believe me, he would hear me out.

“A key piece on one of the bowls is missing.” I began. “You took the piece. Since all the other pieces are here, except one, you must have taken it for analysis.”

Xiao Liu didn’t say anything but Captain Lee looked at me with interest. “The piece has been given to the lab for analysis. Is there a problem with that?”

I shrugged, “Then my first supposition is correct. My second supposition is that you took the piece for analysis because the killer has left a trace on it. The killer is a very cautious person, that can be seen from the first case. If we weren’t observant, we wouldn’t have noticed the semen on the bed. So the trace on the piece isn’t a fingerprint, right?”

“Lucky guess.” Captain Lee placed his hands behind his back.

I nodded. “Then, that’s the second supposition I got right. Then for the third, the piece that you took for analysis must have the killer’s blood. The killer clearly didn’t expect someone would chase him into the sewer. He panicked and accidentally cut himself.”

Captain Lee frowned deeply. He didn’t expect me to guess all of their ‘secrets’ so easily.

“How did you know all that?” Captain Lee demanded seriously.

I tapped my head. “I used this! Not only that, but I also know what you’ve managed to analyze from that piece of the broken bowl.”

“Oh?” Two people questioned in unison.