9 - This person was a thief

Zhao Xintao was very dissatisfied: “What’s wrong with it?”

“You’re saying that this middle school teacher is Xiao Quan’s teacher just because they’re both from Tongzhou? Were you paying attention when you checked her file?” Wu Fengrong said: “You’re a student, and your teacher catches you at an internet cafe. Is your normal response to immediately assault your teacher? And your attack was so vicious that your teacher has to pick up a pipe to defend herself? Did this teacher publicly curse 18 generations of his ancestors or did the student have a psychotic break? You have this type of mind that thinks about terrible events that are unlikely to happen, and then you think it smart to ask if your logic is sound.”

“As a matter of fact, I’m just stating the most likely possibility. You suppose an elderly lady went to an internet cafe? I guess playing mahjong is not enough for her.”

“It’s possible for all these people, except for that elderly lady, to have gone to an internet cafe. A female teacher could go there to catch students; young lovers could go there to game; Huang was a migrant worker, so it’s likely that with his finances he doesn’t own a computer and went there to make use of the computers; Sun Xu lost his job last month and people who are unemployed like to stay at internet cafes because they’re cheaper than renting an apartment. However, the injury on the elderly lady’s neck is the one that most resembles a scratch mark.”

If this internet cafe was not next to a school and if it wasn’t a small inexpensive shop catering to students, but was instead run like a regular chain store, this case would be a lot less complicated. One could simply call the internet cafe to check their records and see who had been inside the cafe on that day. However, this place was next to a school, making it very difficult to investigate. They didn’t register ID cards, they didn’t log their customer’s first and last names. They just directly charged a fee by the hour so it was not clear who had visited to the shop. Even if there was evidence to be collected inside, there wouldn’t necessarily be surveillance footage, and, regardless, right now they were on a train.

Zhou Yanling suddenly interjected: “It’s not the teacher. Her reason for going to Baihe should have nothing to do with this case.” He simply turned his head. Wu Fengrong looked at him with an innocent expression, looking like a lovable student. Zhou Yanling couldn’t stop himself from smiling: “As can be seen from looking up her information on this computer, Cao Min bought her ticket on August 23 rd. There’s no record indicating that she’d made changes to the departure time or that she had asked for a refund. This is proof that she made arrangements for this trip before the murder even happened. She’s going to Baihe for some other reason.”

“Then what’s she doing here alone with her leg like this, and so anxious?” Zhao Xintao asked.

Zhou Yanling couldn’t help but shake his head, shooting Wu Fengrong an expression of helplessness: “Maybe there’s some secret trouble, ba. While her injury is inconvenient for long trips, she’s without any family members. At this age, there are usually school-aged children. Perhaps she’s divorced and there’s no one at her side, or maybe the relationship between spouses is distant. Perhaps it was necessary for her to travel such a great distance, not for the sake of some triviality but for some significant event, like a major illness, a funeral, a great loss of property…..yet on the train she still has a diligent and attentive work ethic. She’s still marking essays, so she has a strong sense of responsibility. However her personality is of that of someone shy and self-abasing, and she’s so terrible under pressure that even a small mistake can immediately cause her to cry. It must be that, at home, she repressed a lot of anger to be like this. You can’t just describe other people as appearing to be deceitful, so be mindful in your speech, ba.”

Zhao Xintao signed: “Pitiful, how pitiful.” It took a while for what was said to sink in. Just then the conductor and Zhou Yanling winked at each other. Angry and indignant, Zhao Xintao 1 said: “What do you two mean, a? The two of you are making fun of my lack of consideration, aren’t you?”

Wu Fengrong couldn’t stop laughing. He hurriedly patted his shoulder.

Zhou Yanling said: “I investigated the last few people, all of whom bought tickets after the 27 th . At the moment there are still five on the list: the elderly lady, Liu Xiangqun; the pair of young college-aged lovers, He Youan and Shi Xiaoran; the migrant worker, Huang Ye; and the stock broker Sun Xu. Huang Ye’s ticket was bought the latest of all of them, today at 4AM. I’m quite skeptical of interrogating him alone. It’d be too much like an informant leading the police to a criminal hideout, or rather to a murderer. RongRong, you can talk to him, ma?”

Wu Fengrong responded very quickly: “It’s not that I want to question you, but aren’t you judging him because he smells like dirt? There are a lot of agricultural workers on this train and the one who knocked into you may not be injured. If you want to investigate on this basis, then we should check all of the laborers at least once. Also, I’ve been paying attention to people’s luggage and Huang Ye was only carrying buckets of paint and tools, nothing else. You’d told me about a black suitcase but I didn’t see one.” Zhou Yanling was silent. Wu Fengrong asked again: “Xintao, I asked you to take note of the passengers’ luggage. How did it go?”

Zhao Xintao had originally wanted to talk about this exact matter but, because of these two people, he’d nearly forgotten his original intention. He twisted his hands in response and, with a clatter, opened his work notebook to read: “I patrolled once. Uh…..you were a bit vague about the circumstances and weren’t clear when describing the luggage so I wasn’t sure what to look out for. Anyway, quite a few of the male passengers had black suitcases. Just in car 10, there were five people. The person most in line with your requirements was a little short, not as tall as you, and wearing a blue jacket. He kept a thermos wedged between his arms for warmth and was sitting in the window seat. He hadn’t placed his suitcase in the overhead bin. He just kept if on his legs, guarding it quite closely. The suitcase was about half as tall as he was. I asked him whether he would like me to put it in the overhead and he said that that wasn’t necessary since he was getting off at the next stop.”

“Which car, row and seat?”

“Car 10, row 7, seat A.”

Wu Fengrong nodded: “I’ll go and take a look. Zhao Xintao, you can help me by keeping an eye on Huang Ye for a while.”

At this time it was nearly ten o’clock. Wu Fengrong exited the car. Outside, the sunlight was a bright dazzling white, the outlines of the clouds were faint, and the whole sky was a deep yellow, flushed with humidity 2 . The sky’s appearance resembled the watermarks left by rain on an old rooftop tarpaulin. In the front of the train was a reservoir, the largest of its kind in Baihe. Some used to say that inside was a jiao 3 . Ducks didn’t go into that water and fish weren’t known to spawn there. They also used to say that there was an underground river that lead to an estuary, so the fish had migrated. However, even after drawing water several times, no one had seen anything uncanny in the water. It was deemed unprofitable, and gradually it was left abandoned. Now, the water’s surface was covered in a green coating, peppered with wooden branches and a layer of soft mushy leaves. Underneath, the water was stagnant, unmoved by the wind. At its center, it had already died.

Wu Fengrong walked quickly to car 10. The small man wearing a blue jacket was towing his suitcase behind as he walked by the hot water dispenser. Wu Fengrong immediately took out his job ID and spoke in his official tone of voice: “Official conductor’s business. I need to inspect your luggage, sir.”

The man jumped, frightened. He drew his suitcase close, not willing to let it go: “Inspect what? Why……Why do you need to inspect my luggage, ne? Let me tell you, this is my personal property and you have no right to inspect it!”

Wu Fengrong did not mess around with him. He knocked his elbow out of the way and strode forward to seize the suitcase. The two people were standing at the back of the car, so the sound of this activity didn’t disturb the other passengers. The suitcase was a simple zippered Oxford trolley 4 with neither a lock nor a key-code. The outside pockets were quite shallow and were all empty. Opening it, the inside contained mostly articles of clothing and other personal items along with some food. There was also a digital camera, two batteries and a pair of sneakers. Wu Fengrong didn’t find anything strange and had no other choice but to first close the suitcase before gesturing for the man in the blue jacket to sit.

“Where to?” Wu Fengrong passed over his cigarette case: “Have one.”

Blue Jacket lit up a cigarette and smiled: “I’m going to Wancheng. I didn’t have enough time to buy a ticket. I was just wondering if I should buy one. You came straight here; there’s nothing illegal, ba? You scared me.”

Wu Fengrong said: “It’s alright. Just understand that there are things that must be done to ensure the passengers’ safety, so it’s important to go along with these requests.”

Hearing these words made Blue Jacket uncomfortable: “What safety? There’s something unsafe in my suitcase?”

“I didn’t mean that. I was just explaining. What type of work does a gentleman like yourself do? From your accent, it doesn’t sound like you’re from Wancheng. Is it for business or pleasure?”

“I’m taking a vacation. I have my camera, obviously. But I’m also going to do a side-job.”

“Oh, didn’t buy tickets in advance for travel? Or did you decide on a whim to go and enjoy yourself?”

“That’s right. It was a last minute decision. If I stayed at home I would have nothing to do. I figured that I should travel as I please.

“I still haven’t asked, what’s your name, sir? Could I take a look at your ID?”

Blue Jacket looked quite unhappy at having to look for his ID card, his mumbling and pouting displaying his impatience. Wu Fengorng looked down to see his soft leather shoes. The toe tip was frayed. Through the small hole he could see his socks. His feet were pointed towards each other, moving restlessly, resembling a pair of timid animals conversing in whispers. Wu Fengrong was already certain that this wasn’t an honest person, but he wasn’t sure whether it was really like Zhao Xintao had said. On the train, there were many people who didn’t want to pay for a ticket. If that was the case, the most severe punishment would be that he’d have to buy a ticket and pay a fine, then the matter would be dropped.

After searching a long time for the ID card, Wu Fengrong waved his hand, telling him that it wasn’t urgent.

“In a while, you’ll have to follow me to the transit police. Not having your ID is a relatively inconvenient matter, so we’ll first have to make a temporary one and then get your ticket. If you don’t, then you won’t be able to disembark at the next station.” Wu Fengrong said.

Blue Jacket’s face was a little stiff and he didn’t speak for a while. Wu Fengrong confiscated his suitcase then began to walk towards the conductor’s office. As he walked, he said: “It’s like this. We’ve received information that there’s a passenger with a black suitcase who has brought a knife onboard the train. This person is a criminal and may be a threat to the safety of the other passengers. In order to ensure everyone’s safety, your luggage needs to be inspected. Don’t get excited; we’re not accusing you. I’m just asking this in passing, but have you recently seen anyone suspicious on the train? If you haven’t, then you haven’t. This suitcase is quite big. It might even be a little taller than you.”

“Not that I saw…..what criminal? What crime did he commit?”

The corner of Wu Fengrong’s mouth curled slightly, his smile was scornful: “Don’t pry. I can’t tell you. It’s a confidential topic.”

Blue Jacket’s mouth curled and he steadfastly followed at his heels. Wu Fengrong didn’t hear him respond so he continued, asking: “After you boarded, did you stay in the same place? Apart from sleeping, did you do anything else?”

There was still no answer. Wu Fengrong turned around. Just now, where had Blue Jacket gone? His heart sank.

–How terrible. He fled.

Wu Fengrong put the suitcase down and hurriedly ran in the opposite direction, chasing him. The sounds of his running steps alarmed the passengers along the way. While he was running, he shouted for Zhao Xintao over the handheld transceiver. However, the voice that answered was not Zhao Xintao but Zhou Yanling.

“RongRong, where are you?”

“The connection between 9 and 10. That little shit ran. Fuck!”

Wu Fengrong chased him to car 10 but where was Blue Jacket? He gruffly asked the surrounding passengers, but no one was able to tell him. The handheld transceiver at his waist let out a crackling sound as though there was a loose electrical connection. Zhou Yanling’s voice sounded far away one moment and very close by the next. Wu Fengrong’s body was feverish, his mind returning to the suitcase he’d just left and suddenly understood everything clearly.

There was an urgent yell from behind him: “RongRong!” It was Zhou Yanling.

Wu Fengrong turned just in time to take his outstretched hands, his pitch-black eyes bore into the depths of the other’s eyes: “It was a thief. I was careless. Originally, I thought he was simply someone trying to evade the fare. As a result, he was able to escape. This suitcase is probably one that he’d stolen. There probably wasn’t enough time for him to buy a ticket, and it was impossible for him to be carrying an ID card. I thought that it was a little strange when I saw that there were holes in the shoes he was wearing but that he had a new pair of size 40 sneakers inside the suitcase. In this cold, a normal person would have already changed…..”

“Unless his feet were too big and he couldn’t wear the sneakers.” Zhou Yanling offered: “He was a thief so neither those shoes nor that suitcase were his. You told him that you wanted to take him to the transit police, so he got scared and immediately thought to slip away.”

Wu Fengrong was very annoyed: “I was too careless and lowered my guard. Why did you come? Where’s Xintao?”

Zhou Yanling kissed his forehead: “There was someone who was sick in car 2. Zhao Xintao took that person to see the medical staff. I think he has his hands full. The two of us can split up. You take this side and I’ll take the other. This person is definitely still on board, so don’t worry.” Before leaving, he again dragged him back and warned: “If you find him, tell me. Don’t act recklessly and go off on your own. If he has a weapon, he might not be afraid to kill.”

While he spoke, the worry reflected on his face stirred Wu Fengrong’s heart.

T/N:

added for clarity Thank you to @gearbox for the help! a legendary dragon with the ability to control rain and cause floods