Chapter 28.2: Locating and Arresting
So far, Jiang Xia had only drawn six suspect portraits. That wasn’t nearly enough cases to give her absolute confidence. Pressing her lips together, she said,
“The victim’s description was fairly clear, and they confirmed the finished portrait themselves. I’d say the likeness is around sixty to seventy percent. Besides, I drew an actual person. Even if someone out there really does resemble the portrait, there shouldn’t be this many reports, should there?”
“I agree with that.”
Seeing that the conversation was taking a bad turn, Chen Dong quickly stepped in to be the voice of reason.
“This is our first time doing anything like this, and the process really isn’t well designed. Right now, if anyone thinks someone vaguely resembles the suspect, they just call us. We aren’t at the scene, so we can’t verify it ourselves. We have no choice but to take the caller’s word for it when they say, ‘He looks just like him.’ Who knows whether they actually do? If you ask me, quite a few of these people have ulterior motives.”
“I know some of these reports aren’t being made in good faith,” Zeng Jun said, concern evident on his face. “But that’s a separate issue from whether the portrait is accurate. If the portrait itself isn’t reliable, then we’ll have an even harder time finding the suspect!”
That really was the heart of the problem.
Tan Bingyi had his own doubts as well. It wasn’t Jiang Xia’s drawing ability he questioned, but the fact that the victim’s original description had indeed been rather vague. Still, this wasn’t the time to say that aloud.
“Then do you have a better idea?” he replied. “This case has already been stalled long enough. We might as well treat a dead horse as if it were still alive and see what happens. Besides, it’s only been a short while. What’s the rush?”
He had a point.
“Sigh…”
Zeng Jun let out a weary sigh. Just as he was about to speak again, the telephone rang once more.
Almost automatically, his tired hand reached for the receiver and lifted it to his ear.
“Hello, Zeng Jun from the Municipal Criminal Investigation First Squad speaking. What’s the matter?”
A clear voice came through from the other end of the line.
“Captain Zeng, this is the Qingshi Neighborhood Office. We’re over in the Yinxing Neighborhood right now. A resident in our jurisdiction reported that the friend of Hu Jianguo’s third son, Hu Hui, looks just like the man in the suspect portrait. We came over to question the locals and confirmed that the man’s name is Gao Xiaoguang. He’s in his twenties and is the spitting image of the portrait. On top of that, he disappeared on the twentieth.”
“According to the neighbors, Gao Xiaoguang’s parents said he’d gone south, while Hu Hui supposedly went to a neighboring city to visit relatives. Oh, right! Those two have another close friend named Tang Shougang. He also disappeared on the twentieth!”
An exact match to the portrait.
Three close friends.
All of them vanished the day after the murder.
Those three facts together instantly captured everyone’s attention in the office.
Tan Bingyi’s heart began pounding. His instincts as a veteran detective kicked in.
He was certain.
The three of them were highly likely to be involved.
Jiang Xia felt her blood racing as well. Her mind spun rapidly, and the questions came out almost automatically.
“Are there any other suspicious signs? What’s their usual spending like? Did anyone see any of the three of them on the nineteenth?”
“Uh… hold on, let me ask.”
The neighborhood officer on the other end was stumped. Fortunately, she was quick on her feet, and there happened to be a local resident with her who knew the family. After a few muffled exchanges, she came back on the line.
“Actually, yes, there are some unusual things. They’re all unemployed, but they eat meat regularly and often bring ration coupons home. Nobody knows where they get them. They’re also away from home for days at a time. As for whether anyone saw them on the nineteenth… I’ve only asked two people so far, and both said they didn’t notice.”
Unusual spending habits. Frequently away from home.
That was almost enough to confirm them as the prime suspects.
Tan Bingyi stepped forward and took the receiver.
“Comrade, please stay by the phone for a moment. We need to discuss this. We’ll call you back shortly.”
After receiving the other party’s acknowledgment, Tan Bingyi hung up.
“Have we found our suspects?”
Zeng Jun was still a little dazed. He hadn’t expected that right after complaining, a report on the suspects would come in—and the neighborhood officer had even said they looked exactly like the portrait.
Chen Dong nodded repeatedly.
“That’s right! We’ve found our suspects!”
“My God, it’s been almost a month. We finally found them!”
“All right, everyone, calm down.”
Tan Bingyi’s expression turned grave as he tapped the tabletop with his finger.
“We’ve identified the suspects, that’s true. But all three of them have already fled.”
His words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing everyone’s excitement.
There were no surveillance cameras in those days, and train and bus travel wasn’t systematically recorded. Once someone decided to leave their hometown and enough time had passed, it became extremely difficult for the police to trace their movements.
And these three had been on the run separately for nearly a month.
After all that time, they could be anywhere.
“Hu Hui!”
Recalling the information they’d just received, Zeng Jun was the first to speak.
“The neighborhood officer said Hu Hui went to visit relatives in a neighboring city. We can go to the neighborhood office and check the letter of introduction he used. It should have the address on it. Then we can follow the trail, find where he’s staying, and arrest him!”
One of the detectives nodded in agreement.
“I think that’ll work.”
Tan Bingyi didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he frowned in thought.
Hu Hui’s supposed destination was just too obvious.
It was almost as if…
It had been deliberately leaked as a smokescreen.
“No, I disagree. That address is too obvious.”
Jiang Xia had reached the same conclusion.
“The three of them committed the crime together. The other two knew better than to tell anyone where they were going, so why would Hu Hui be the only one careless enough to expose himself? I think that’s just a story his family put out for outsiders to hear—a cover to conceal where he actually went.”
“Well…”
After thinking it over, Zeng Jun had to admit that although Jiang Xia was young, her reasoning made a great deal of sense.
“But if that’s the case, then we have no idea where any of the three of them went.”
“Yeah… where exactly did the three of them go?”
Jiang Xia folded her arms across her chest, one hand cupping her chin as she leaned back in her chair, frowning in thought.
Based on the evidence they had so far, she began to build a profile of the suspects.
“The victim in the robbery-murder case had numerous defensive wounds, which means the three suspects never intended to kill anyone at the outset. They’re relatively conservative in both their thinking and their actions.”
“Judging by their ages, they most likely never went to the countryside as sent-down youths. In other words, they have no experience traveling far from home.”
Tan Bingyi stopped thinking and looked at Jiang Xia in surprise.
Oblivious, Jiang Xia continued her analysis.
“Their motive was obviously money. But there are plenty of ways to make money that carry much lighter penalties. Even black-market trading would earn them more while being less serious than armed robbery. Yet they chose one of the gravest crimes possible. That tells me they had no connections and no one to show them another way.”
“If they know nothing, getting forged introduction letters would be extremely difficult.”
“Without introduction letters and without any experience traveling, fleeing elsewhere would actually be harder for them than staying local. So the smartest option would be to remain in the area and find somewhere safe to lie low.”
“After all, the police don’t solve every homicide. They might figure that if they keep out of sight long enough, the investigation will eventually die down and they’ll be able to go home.”
“And since they never intended to kill anyone but ended up doing so by accident, there’s bound to be a crisis of trust among the three of them. If they split up to hide separately, each would worry that one of the others might turn himself in and lead the police to the rest in exchange for a lighter sentence.”
“To feel secure, they’re very likely to insist on staying together.”
“But three grown men hiding in the city would be far too conspicuous, and even finding food would be a problem.”
“That leaves only one kind of place nearby where they could hide without worrying too much about food—the countryside.”
At that, Jiang Xia looked up at Tan Bingyi.
“Captain Tan, contact the household registration office. Let’s investigate the family networks of all three suspects.”
Tan Bingyi fell silent for a moment.
Jiang Xia’s analysis wasn’t exactly groundbreaking. Given enough time—or with a little more legwork and a few more clues—the rest of them would probably have arrived at the same conclusion.
But that didn’t mean Jiang Xia wasn’t exceptionally sharp. On the contrary, while everyone else was still racking their brains, she had taken only two or three minutes to identify the most likely direction of the investigation. The speed of her thinking was downright frightening.
After all, many outstanding homicide detectives and criminal investigation experts succeed simply because they think a little faster and manage to catch the suspect before it’s too late.
And that was especially true now.
Once the composite sketches were posted, finding the suspects became easier—but at the same time, it also warned them that the police were closing in.
Taking a deep breath, Tan Bingyi grabbed the phone directory. As he searched for the number of the police station in the Qingshi Street district, he said, “That’s a solid line of reasoning. I’ll have someone check immediately to see whether any of the three have relatives living in the countryside.”
With that, he dialed the number.
The officers of the First Investigation Squad couldn’t help stealing glances at Jiang Xia before exchanging looks with one another, their eyes full of astonishment.
Who would’ve thought? Not only could this young woman draw outstanding composite sketches, but her investigative instincts were this quick as well?
The saying was true: the new generation surpasses the old.
Amid the surprise, Zeng Jun shot Jiang Xia several more suspicious looks.
Strange… Why did he feel there was something oddly familiar about the way Jiang Xia analyzed the suspects’ criminal psychology?
Must be his imagination. It had to be. He certainly wasn’t the sort of petty man who’d get jealous because a newcomer was more capable than he was.
Beep… Beep…
After the phone rang a few times, someone answered.
“Qingshi Police Station. How can I help you?”
“This is the Municipal Criminal Investigation Division. I need you to pull the family records for Hu Jianguo and his third son, Hu Hui, as soon as possible. Check whether they have any relatives living in the countryside. Call me back as soon as you have the results.”
“Understood.”
Tan Bingyi then repeated the same process, calling another police station to investigate Gao Xiaoguang’s and Tang Shougang’s family records as well.
Without computers, searching through paper files was inevitably slow. Jiang Xia could only keep glancing at the clock as she waited. More than twenty minutes later, the call finally came back.
During that time, three tip-offs had also come in from people reporting someone in their district who resembled the composite sketch. Tan Bingyi listened to each report briefly before hanging up.
“Comrade, Gao Xiaoguang’s and Tang Shougang’s families have been urban workers for three generations. They have no blood relatives living in the countryside, and neither of them has ever been sent down to the countryside.”
“Captain Tan, Hu Hui has never been sent down to the countryside either. His father’s family has held urban household registration for three generations, but his mother, Yang Chunhua, comes from a rural family. Her parents and relatives all live in the countryside, in Xiao’an Village, Hongqi Commune.”
The moment those words were spoken, everyone in the room became excited.
This was it!
What were they waiting for?
They had to move in and make the arrests!
“Old Zeng, go next door and borrow some officers. We’ll assemble downstairs!”
Tan Bingyi instantly radiated killing intent. “There’s a good chance all three suspects are there. The countryside is wide open—once they start running, they can flee in any direction. We won’t have enough manpower unless we bring more people.”
“Yes, Captain Tan!”
Zeng Jun answered immediately and jogged off to borrow personnel from the neighboring unit.
“Forget lunch—we’re leaving right now. Old Qin, go to the cafeteria and grab plenty of steamed buns and pickled vegetables. We’ll eat on the road so we don’t run out of strength when it’s time to make the arrests.”
Tan Bingyi continued, “The suspects’ families have probably already seen the composite sketches. We need to reach the countryside before they have a chance to run.”
An older officer nodded.
“Got it. I’ll go find Chef Ma right away.”
“Everyone else, bring your sidearms and assemble downstairs!”
With that final order, Tan Bingyi picked up his pistol and strode downstairs.
In the blink of an eye, the First Investigation Squad’s office was empty.
Once again, Jiang Xia wasn’t needed for the operation. All she had to do was stay at the bureau and wait for the results.
The case files still hadn’t been fully organized, so she decided to go back for her mug, pour herself a cup of water, and continue sorting the documents while she drank.
With that in mind, Jiang Xia stood up. The moment she stepped out the door, she saw Section Chief Liao coming toward her, a teacup in his hand as well.
“I saw the entire First Investigation Squad head out, and even quite a few people from the Second Squad left as well.”
Liao Zhongsheng was still looking toward the stairwell. Seeing Jiang Xia come out of the First Squad’s office, he didn’t ask any further questions, only, “Did you identify the suspects in the robbery-murder case?”
“Yes.”
Jiang Xia nodded. “We suspect all three of them are hiding at a relative’s home in the countryside, so the team has gone to make the arrests.”
Wait a second. The composite sketches had only been distributed to the various districts yesterday afternoon. Identifying the suspects by this morning was already remarkably fast. How had the investigation suddenly leaped ahead to making arrests?
He couldn’t shake the feeling that a whole chunk of the process had somehow been skipped.
Liao Zhongsheng paused for a moment before quickly regaining his composure. After a brief silence, he asked, “So, Xiao Jiang, are you nervous?”
“Of course I am. Right now, I’m just worried they’ll get there and find nothing—not even a trace of the suspects.”
Jiang Xia smiled.
“But worrying won’t help. If they don’t catch them, then they don’t catch them. At least we’ll have ruled out one wrong possibility.”
“Oh?”
Liao Zhongsheng raised an eyebrow in surprise.
From the sound of it, was this direction for the arrest operation her idea?
Ordinarily, newcomers were afraid of making mistakes and rarely dared to take the initiative. Veterans, on the other hand, understood the consequences of being wrong and were even more inclined to keep their heads down and avoid sticking their necks out.
It was certainly the safe approach—but it also meant never accomplishing anything remarkable.
Liao Zhongsheng had thought Jiang Xia was talented enough that she wouldn’t spend her whole career merely collecting a paycheck, so he’d come over intending to encourage her—not to worry if she’d made a mistake with the composite sketch, and to do even better next time.
To his surprise, she had far more nerve than he’d imagined. She had even dared to propose the direction of the arrest operation.
What a miscalculation.
Seeing that she wasn’t some reckless hothead who didn’t understand the gravity of the situation, Liao Zhongsheng decided not to dwell on it. After a moment’s thought, he smoothly changed the subject.
“Well, that’s good. By the way, Jiang Xia, how many people are there in your family?”
Slightly puzzled by the question, Jiang Xia answered anyway.
“Four.”
“Hmm?”
These days, what family didn’t have four, five, six, or even seven children? Households with nearly ten people were common, while a family of only four was actually quite rare. Liao Zhongsheng looked surprised.
“You only have one sibling?”
Nowadays, a work unit’s leaders often acted almost like the head of an extended family. It was normal for them to learn about each employee’s family circumstances, and trying to hide them would have seemed more unusual than being forthcoming.
So Jiang Xia answered directly.
“That’s right. Just one. My mother’s health wasn’t very good after giving birth to me, so she didn’t have any more children.”
“I see.”
Understanding, Liao Zhongsheng then asked with genuine concern, “Your family isn’t facing any serious difficulties, is it? Do you need any financial assistance from the organization?”
“Thank you for your concern, Director, but there’s no need.”
Jiang Xia smiled.
“My mother just can’t do heavy physical labor. She doesn’t need medication or injections, and aside from her, the other three of us all have jobs and earn salaries.”
A family of four with three wage earners—that counted as a very comfortable financial situation in those days.
Liao Zhongsheng nodded in satisfaction.
Then there was nothing to worry about.
He glanced at his watch.
“Looks like it’s almost lunchtime. Once you’re done, head to the cafeteria early. They’re serving braised pork today, and if you’re late, there won’t be any left.”
Braised pork?
Jiang Xia’s eyes lit up instantly.
The case files could wait. The pork couldn’t!
…
After enjoying a satisfying lunch, Jiang Xia returned to organizing the case files. It wasn’t until after four o’clock in the afternoon that a burst of commotion drifted up from downstairs.
Walking to the window, she looked down.
Sure enough, the arrest team had returned.
More than a dozen officers surrounded the entrance to the main hall, escorting two handcuffed suspects with their arms pinned behind their backs. One of them bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to the composite sketch she had drawn.
See? She knew her sketch had been accurate.
Feeling thoroughly satisfied, Jiang Xia was about to look away when something suddenly caught her eye.
One suspect was missing.
And one of the officers had a dark stain spreading across the sleeve of his uniform…
Her heart sank.
That was blood!
Had something gone wrong during the arrest?!
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