Chapter 10: The Twisted Ones 2

  "Yes. The murderer obviously came prepared. He didn't want to leave any clues related to himself."

  "Please note this photo marked as No. 2," said Wang Yan, stretching out her hand to pull the No. 2 photo from the edge of the whiteboard to the center. The photo showed some blurry handwriting drawn on the ground with stones. Faintly visible was a sentence: "Zhang Qiu's disappearance is related to Mei Mei and Chen Haijun."

  Li Ju couldn't help but ask: "Who is Mei Mei?"

  "The name 'Mei Mei' has been mentioned several times in this case. Before I came to the meeting today, I had a conversation with the father of the victim, Guo Gui Xia. He remembered a girl named Mei Mei. Her full name is Chen Dong Mei. Her father's name is Chen Hai Jun. He works in the medical system in Tianchang City and is a well-known neurosurgeon. His wife passed away unexpectedly at a young age. Mr. Guo has a good relationship with Chen Hai Jun, and the two families are very close. Before Chen Dong Mei went abroad with her father, she attended Tianchang City First Primary School (now known as the First Experimental Primary School) together with the victim, Guo Gui Xia. The victim's father, Mr. Guo, repeatedly mentioned that the relationship between the two children was very good. I connected the 'Mei Mei' in Zhang Fa's sister's murder case to this Mei Mei because they share common characteristics: both have poor eyesight and wear thick glasses, and are relatively introverted."

  "There's something else. I remember that Dr. Zhang asked me to investigate the whereabouts of a person some time ago. That person was Chen Haijun. She also showed me an old photo, which was a picture of Chen Haijun and her father. According to her recollection, Chen Haijun had a very good relationship with her family and they usually called him 'Uncle'."

  "I originally wanted to have a face-to-face talk with Chen Haijun, but he is now an American-Chinese and this time he returned to China to attend a seminar. I went several times, but all ended up hitting a soft nail at the people in their seminar. As an outstanding Chinese-American scholar, he has been traveling frequently between the US and China for over 20 years. It's said that he will return to the US again in ten days. Director Li, can you think of a way on your side?"

  Director Li thought for a moment and then nodded vigorously: "Alright, I'll take care of this. I'll contact them right after the meeting."

  At this time, Xiao Zheng from the homicide unit hurriedly pushed open the door and handed a report to Wang Ya Nan.

  Wang Yan opened it and immediately showed a happy expression. She handed the report to the person next to her, indicating that he should pass it on so that everyone present could see it. Then she said: "I think the murderer left behind a fox's tail."

  "How to say."

  Wang Yanan gestured for Little Zheng to come closer, then stretched out both hands and pressed them against his chest, making a pushing motion: "When the murderer pushed the deceased into the cold storage with force, due to the reaction force, palm prints were left on the body. Under normal temperature conditions, the palm prints wouldn't be very clear. However, because of the environment at minus 30-40 degrees Celsius at the time, the skin on the surface of the human body became extremely fragile. Therefore, after the corpse thawed out for a certain period of time, two very clear handprints would appear on the chest of the deceased."

  "That's not right. Before Zhao was pushed into the cold storage, his body temperature was normal and his skin was fine. He was also wearing clothes. It wasn't like he was frozen first and then pushed in. How could there be palm prints left behind?" Li's face showed a puzzled expression. "Even if his clothes were thin, it wouldn't be that obvious."

  Wang Yan nodded: "In a professional large cold storage like this, the temperature is extremely low. Under the premise that our body's skin cells rapidly change in the surrounding environment, they will quickly enter a dormant state to maintain the body's own temperature as much as possible. In such a special environment, once a person dies, blood stops flowing, and various injuries received before death, even just a small fingerprint, will appear with the stop of blood flow. The premise is that the environment is stable, there is a certain time span, generally two hours after death. Speaking of which," she raised her right hand, "look, human palms have various sweat glands distributed on them. Different sweat glands have different temperatures, accelerating the legacy of traces. So if our hands forcefully contact the opponent's body through clothes, it will leave palm prints, and it is more likely to leave palm lines. The deceased only wore a thin cotton undershirt, so after death, there would be handprints on his chest."

  "I understand now. So that's how it is."

  "It seems that the killer's left hand is missing a ring finger." At this time, someone noticed the close-up photo of the deceased's chest in the autopsy report attachment.

  "Yes. What we are looking for is a left-handed person missing one index finger."

  When Zhang Tong woke up, everything in front of her was still pitch black. She tried to open her eyes wide, but there was nothing on them. However, she still couldn't see anything.

  "Is anyone there? Is anyone there? Help! Chapter Tong shouted for help desperately. But all she could hear was a faint echo beside her ear."

  Where am I? Why can't I see anything? Am I blind? Zhang Tong's mind was a mess. She forced herself to carefully recall the scene before she lost consciousness. But, except for a few fragmented pieces, she couldn't remember anything else.

  A faint stinging sensation spread through her arm. Before Zhang Tong could react, she suddenly felt her hands and feet becoming numb as if they were being frozen. A sense of indescribable fear arose in an instant. Zhang Tong's heart skipped a beat. She was certain that she had been injected with some kind of biological alkaloid-like drug. It wouldn't be long before she would become completely paralyzed, unable to make any sound, just like a dead person.

  Due to fear, Zhang Tong's breathing also became rapid. She opened her mouth in vain, but only let out a hoarse "ah" sound. She became even more desperate because what followed was the feeling of being unable to breathe. The oxygen inside her body was gradually disappearing...

  The moment consciousness was lost once again. Zhang Tong let out a soft sigh, slowly closed his eyes, and allowed himself to fall into the boundless darkness.

  Liu Chunxiao felt the key on the top of the door frame and then opened the gate of Zhao Junjie's rental house. Since seeing Zhao Junjie's body being carried out of the morgue, it has been three days now, but Liu Chunxiao still can't accept the fact that his old classmate is gone.

  Looking at the room in front of her, it was still a mess. The dirty clothes were still piled up on the bed she jokingly called "dog den". Next to the computer was half-eaten spoiled instant noodles. Stinky socks were stuffed into slippers by the window. Of course, there was also that ashtray that seemed impossible to clean. Every single thing in this room was so familiar to Liu Chunxiao.

  Zhao Junjie and Liu Chunxiao were university roommates for four years, and they were also close brothers who could talk about anything. This house, known as the "dog den", was also a place where Liu Chunxiao would often visit when he returned to Tianchang in a bad mood. Zhao Junjie even told Liu Chunxiao where he kept his door key, saying: "I'm afraid you'll be shut out, after all, I'm your brother."

  Thinking of this, tears had already silently fallen on her face. In the future, she may never find a bosom friend like Zhao Junjie again. Liu Chunxiao cried sadly.

  "Are you okay?" came Wang Ya Nan's concerned inquiry from behind.

  Liu Chunxiao hastily wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes with the back of her hand. Turning around, she forced a bitter smile and said: "I'm fine. I can hold on. You come in quickly. The house is a bit messy. Can't be helped. All bachelors are like this."

  Listening to Liu Chunxiao's forced laughter, Wang Yanan felt a pang of heartache inside. She secretly sighed and changed the subject.

  "You said that every time he encounters an important and valuable news event clue, he will have a special notebook to record important events. But we've searched the scene and his office, all in vain." She looked around the room. "Now it's just here. Where do you think he would put it?"

  His job was to investigate those unsolved old cases, so he was also very clear that one day he would get into big trouble. I asked him why he didn't store the information on a computer, and he said that computers are now easily hacked, so using the most primitive method is the best. Liu Chunxiao looked around the room while thinking carefully, when suddenly his gaze fell on the unusually clean air outlet of the central air conditioner.

  "It should be here. The house is a mess everywhere, full of dust. That's because he hasn't bothered to clean for years; but only this place is spotless. If I'm not mistaken, it should be inside." He pulled over a stool and placed it under the air conditioning vent, then stood on it and carefully inserted his right hand into the vent to search around. Before long, a smile appeared on his face as he turned to Wang Ya Nan standing beside him: "I think I've found it." As he withdrew his right hand, it was holding a thick black notebook.

  This is Zhao Junjie's diary, in which he detailed the process of investigating Zhang Tong's sister's disappearance case and the clues he obtained. As soon as Liu Chunxiao opened the first page of the notebook, Zhao Junjie's neat handwriting appeared before his eyes. He suddenly had a feeling that although he had known Zhao Junjie for many years, he actually didn't really understand him at all.

  In the diary, Zhao Junjie recorded everything from the first day he knew about the case until the night before he was murdered. He almost didn't miss any clues. Liu Chunxiao read it carefully word by word. The small room was silent.

  Wang Yanan sat nervously across from Liu Chunxiao, time ticking away second by second. But on Liu Chunxiao's face, not a single expression could be discerned.

  Finally, Liu Chunxiao closed her diary and put it into a plastic evidence bag brought by Wang Yanan.

  "How is it? Is there any useful clue?" Wang Yan asked anxiously.

  He also mentioned the name "Chen Dongmei". Through inquiring about previous missing person reports in the area of Hu Yanglin, he noticed that most cases had a girl with very similar characteristics appearing. After Zhang Famed disappeared this time, he received news that Chen Dongmei's father, Chen Haijun, was having an academic exchange in Tianchang City. He contacted a staff member of a seminar through connections and wanted to interview Professor Chen Haijun. He finally wrote that the staff member named Apan had responded, saying that Professor Chen agreed to meet and be interviewed soon.

  "So he went to see Chen Haijun, Chen Dongmei's father." Wang Yanan's expression was serious.

  Liu Chunxiao nodded. In fact, he didn't tell Wang Yannan everything that was written in the diary. Especially when Zhao Junjie recorded this case, he also wrote down his own love for Zhang Tong between the lines. Liu Chunxiao finally understood why every time he drank and chatted with Zhao Junjie, as long as they talked about Zhang Tong, Zhao Junjie's expression would always become thoughtful. He also understood the true purpose of his friend's unusual behavior, staying in the cold autopsy room every day with a willing heart. It turned out that he had someone he belonged to.

  His full name is Pan Wei, but his colleagues prefer to call him "Ah Pan". Because his appearance really resembles that of Peter Pan. Ah Pan's daily work at the conference is to sort out incoming and outgoing mail, arrange accommodation for foreign exchange scholars, and take care of all sorts of miscellaneous tasks. In short, he is a "general helper".