Case Files 013

Chapter 12: Closing the Net

If human beings were seen as a machine, then emotion was undeniably the fuel that kept us running. Human beings could create spaceships that brought us to space but they could not figure out what was inside the minds of the people beside them. Lin Su murdered for the sake of his grandmother, I believed that even if Lin Su did not tell his grandmother about it, she would have known the truth.

"Therefore, there is no way Lin Su is on the loose, he won't be leaving his grandmother behind." I told Mary confidently, "In other words, Lin Su is still at Long Ze City. When the police stop looking for him, he will surface to come visit his grandmother."

As Mary typed on her laptop, she countered without rais

"That's why I said she is lying." I leaned over to Mary's side and noticed she was still trying to find an online trace of Lin Su. Hearing that, Mary closed the laptop and then asked, "What if Lin Su does not return?"

"How about a bet then? If Lin Su doesn't come back, I will streak and run all over the station." I tapped on the table lightly. "But what will I get if Lin Su does come back? It's not fair to ask for a married woman to do something as inappropriate as streaking. How about this, when Captain Zhao asks for your opinion on whether I should be allowed to join the force, help me put in a few good words?"

"You wish to join the force that badly?" Mary regarded me seriously.

I nodded. "Of course, I don't know what else I can do." I then looked around and questioned, "By the way, where is Captain Zhao and Gu Chen?"

Mary answered, "Captain Zhao went to follow up on a lead and Gu Chen is still on a stakeout at the trash site near the old woman's place."

"But almost half a day has passed already!" I couldn't help but gasp. "He's still squatting there? Has no one offered to take his shift?" Mary shrugged and chuckled helplessly, "I've contacted him through phone messages earlier. Gu Chen said that if there is a shift change, it'll expose the stakeout so he'll only opt for it when he can't stand it anymore. This does remind me of a story about Gu Chen that Captain Zhao told me."

"What story?"

"When Gu Chen was still in the police academy, their instructor had them stand at military salute. However, in the middle of it, the instructor was summoned away by someone else. He had forgotten all about the new recruits. When he passed by the field at night, all the recruits had gone to rest but Gu Chen was still standing there in the most standard posture." Mary shook her head. "One of you suffers from paranoia, the other verges on monomania"

Thus there were not only drifters but also a police officer sleeping at trash sites that week. Gu Chen stayed there for 5 days and saw no one. Gu Chen only requested for a shift change when the compressed biscuits and bottles of water he brought with him had run out. When Gu Chen returned, he looked half his usual size and a haze of stench surrounded him. Gu Chen plucked off a rotten leaf from his neck and reported, "In the five days I've been there, there was not even a dog that passed by, much less a person. Other than the old lady who came to drop off her garbage every day, this trash site has basically been abandoned."

"You mean, in the past 5 days, no one other than the old lady came to throw their rubbish?" I enquired.

Gu Chen nodded. "Yes, I can guarantee that." I took several steps forward and stood right before Gu Chen's face. Gu Chen was startled by the sudden approach. Mary, with her fingers pinching her nose, demanded, "Wu Meng, what are you doing now?!" I picked out something from Gu Chen's shirt shoulder, it was bone. To be more specific, a piece of rib bone. "What kind of rubbish does the old lady dump every day?" I asked Gu Chen.

Gu Chen looked at me and then at the bone I was holding. Then he shook his head. "I don't know. I was only looking for people, I wasn't paying attention to that."

"Come." I waved for them to follow. "I'll bring you to go and find Lin Su."

"You know where Lin Su is?" Gu Chen and Mary asked at the same time. Lee Chunzhuang, the cannibalistic drifter, had told us something interesting. He said in the years of being a drifter, he had enjoyed many good foods. The trash cans at high end neighbourhoods were often filled with delectable leftovers, Lee Chunzhuang had tasted abalone, shark's fin because of this. What this told us was a person's trash could tell us many things about someone.

When we returned to the old lady's place, we did not enter but instead turned directly to the trash site behind it. The trash site wasn't that big. A person's foot was poking out from a tattered cloth. I chuckled within myself as I stepped on the foot. Then a familiar voice yelped, "Ouch."

"At the very least you are Captain Zhao's people, your disguise is so damn bad." I chided. Xiao Liu crawled out from his hiding spot and was startled when he saw us. "Fuck, it was just you guys. I just arrived here a few minutes ago, I haven't even completed the disguise yet. Do you think this is a fun job? Plus, what else do you expect from me? Do you think I'll be crazy enough to crawl deep into the trash pile?" Xiao Liu immediately shut up when he said that because he spotted Gu Chen behind us.

"Thankfully, I worked on the stakeout until the last minute," Gu Chen berated, "Or else we've been discovered much sooner."

"Do you remember where the old lady dropped her rubbish?" I asked. Gu Jun nodded and jumped into the trash pile without much hesitation. He surfaced with a few bags. I shook out the contents of the bags. Many different objects slid out. Then I started to rummage through them. Finally I found the thing I wanted. At that moment, I confirmed Lin Su's location. "Call Captain Zhao, it's time to launch an arrest."

The group was confused. Mary asked. "Kid, what are you up to this time?"

"Just trust me. When he was still in school, Lin Su never once fought back no matter how hard he was bullied, but the moment his grandmother was injured, he went straight to murder." I explained while taking in the pile of trash. "He wouldn't have left his grandmother alone. If he does not return, then it can only mean that he has not left. I was looking for evidence to support that." I picked out another piece of chicken bone from the trash.

"But people will change, much less a drug addict." Xiao Liu chimed in. "When one is desperate for a drug hit, they won't hesitate to harm their closest family."

But was that really true?

The police had already surrounded the old woman's house. The four of us visited the old woman again. She was still sitting on the ground. When she saw us, she turned to us with a big smile. "Oh, welcome back."

Captain Zhao sighed and signalled for me to continue. I studied the old woman slowly and then began, "Granny, do you know why Lin Su killed someone 10 years ago?"

The old woman's body shook as if she had been punched. After a long time, she said, "I have no idea. After he reached age 15, it was like he had changed into a different person. Look at my hand, I would never think he'd be cruel enough to cut it off."

"Please stop lying to us, madam." I challenged, "You know exactly what kind of person your grandson is, you practically raised him. You know Lin Su's personality and you have to know who Wang Liqun is, the person who turned your grandson into a convicted murderer. If not for Wang Liqun, no, if not for you, your grandson would still have a bright future. You must hate yourself, I'm sure you've asked yourself, why must you reach for Wang Liqun's can of drink that night? If you didn't, your grandson's life wouldn't have been ruined." I slowly walked towards the old lady. "It was because of you that Lin Su became a murderer. So you chopped off your own hand out of guilt and as punishment for yourself. It was that hand of yours that ruined your grandson's life."

The tears were turning in the old lady's eyes. "No, you're wrong. It was my grandson who cut off my hand. After that, he never returned to this place." The old lady resisted the tears from falling. Her wrinkled face carried a firm defiance.

"No, I'm sure you have cut off your hand yourself." I countered, "I've visited Lin Su's class teacher. He still remembers that Lin Su is a right-handed person. If your story about how your hand got cut off is true, then Lin Su would be wielding the blade in his right hand when he turned around as you held him back. If he was really your assailant, the direction of the cut would have come from your left to right but look at your wrist, the direction of the cut is the complete opposite." I gently picked up the old lady's broken stump, "The cut went from right to left, the muscle grains show that clearly. Don't tell me your grandson was hugging you from behind before he decided to chop your hand off? That makes no logical sense at all. That was why I started to suspect you after you told us your story." I continued, "Therefore, when I gave you the money, I purposely dropped the coin to see if there was someone hiding under the bed. There wasn't but I did find some spoons and a few cigarette butts. Those in the know would understand that these are necessary tools to take drugs." I smiled weakly, "You said your grandson hasn't been home for 3 years alread..., you were clearly lying. But I didn't point it out at the time, because I knew that since you were lying, you had to be covering for Lin Su. You probably even knew where he was and he would return because everything he needed to get his fix is here." At this point, Mary finally understood why I insisted on having someone watch over the old lady house.

"You purposely vilified Lin Su before us, so that we would be brought to believe that Lin Su is a heartless animal. The worse you described Lin Su, the safer it would be for him to return. I was confident that Lin Su would return but I have missed one crucial detail. When we came to visit you, it was already 2 days after the girl's murder, Lin Su would have returned to see you already."

"He was never here." The old lady levelled her muddy eyes at me. There was pleading in her eyes. "Really." At that moment, I considered perhaps stopping right there and then. What would I gain from taking this old woman's only grandson away from her, that was the only light in her life. Sighing, I resumed. "The rubbish that Gu Chen carried back with him reminded me of my mistake. A drifter's testimony provided me with a direction, a way to prove my hypothesis. Perhaps we can find the evidence among your trash and we did. It is this chicken bone."

"Chicken bone?" Xiao Liu questioned, "What kind of evidence is that?"

"A senior citizen with no teeth can't possibly pick a bone as cleanly as this. Furthermore, a person who survives on garbage won't be able to afford meat every day." Captain Zhao finished for me. "You've noticed such details as well?"

I nodded as I slowly helped the old lady up from the ground. Then I tapped on the spot where the old lady was sitting. It was hollow. "You have a perfectly good bed but you insist on sitting on the cold hard ground." I raised my voice, "Come on out. At the end of the day, the only person you know you can always turn to is your grandmother."

The wooden board moved and I helped eased it open. Lin Su appeared in my view. Inside a hole that was barely big enough for a person squatted a man. From hacking on the walls, the hole appeared to be freshly dug. Other than Lin Su, there were several stacks of money inside the hole. A cursory glance placed them at about several ten thousand RMB. I helped Lin Su up from the hole and replaced the wooden board. "And here is our man."

Lin Su looked at me with appreciation.

"My son" A heart-wrenching wail came from the corner of the room.

Lin Su's eyes reddened and his tears started to flow. Lin Su had only cried twice in his life, the first time was when he saw his grandmother cut her hand off and this was the second time.