Chapter 57.2: Suspect Identified!
The map was almost finished when the rumbling sound of a motorcycle came from outside the glass windows.
Jiang Xia looked through the window and saw another motorcycle with a sidecar.
An older community police officer was driving it, with an elderly woman sitting in the sidecar.
Her hair was completely silver, neatly combed back into a bun and secured with a wooden hairpin. She held a paint-chipped tobacco pipe in one hand, a red cord wrapped around its stem and three rusty copper coins dangling from it. Several bracelets of varying thicknesses encircled her wrist.
Jiang Xia fell silent for a moment.
How was this woman supposed to have quit being a fortune-teller?
She had clearly picked the whole business right back up again!
Quickly finishing the final stroke, Jiang Xia picked up the two completed landscape sketches and hurried outside.
The fortune-teller, Granny Yin, had already entered the lobby.
And to be fair, the woman stood ramrod straight, her bearing solemn and dignified. Her eyes weren’t cloudy in the slightest, as one might expect from an elderly person. Instead, they were remarkably clear, and when she looked at someone, it seemed as though she could see straight through them.
She certainly had the air of a “master.”
But on closer inspection, it became apparent that the expression on her face was a little less than willing.
“Your station chief, huh.”
Seeing Granny Yin’s expression, Xu Changsong couldn’t help pointing toward the older community police officer who had brought her there. He didn’t say anything more, instead turning directly to Granny Yin.
“I have a case here. The killer is a man with a limp who somehow learned some kind of evil ritual. He believes in using one part of the body to replenish another. We’ve confirmed that he’s already killed one child, and he’s currently holding three more. I need you to take a look and tell us what kind of ritual this person might be using, and where he would most likely perform it.”
“What?”
Granny Yin was completely stunned.
Her family wasn’t well-off. Her husband had died young, leaving her with only one daughter, and her grandchildren were still young enough to be constantly crying for food. They could barely make ends meet. In recent years, with the authorities no longer cracking down as strictly, she hadn’t been able to resist secretly picking up her old trade again.
She’d only done it to swindle a little money here and there. How could she have imagined that the police would come knocking on her door?
And then, without even saying another word, they’d brought her straight to the city bureau, where the person she’d seen arresting her back then was waiting for her—and now they were asking her about something like this.
Once she understood the connection between the murder of a child and using one part of the body to replenish another, Granny Yin’s face turned deathly pale. She took two steps back and shook her head so hard it looked like a rattle drum.
“I don’t know anything! I’ve never heard of any evil ritual for harming people like that! This is the kind of thing that would rack up enough bad karma to damn someone completely! Aren’t they afraid of being struck dead by lightning?!”
‘Don’t even think about trying to trick me into admitting anything. I don’t know a thing!’
Jiang Xia wasn’t surprised that she didn’t know. She handed over the drawings she was holding and asked,
“Granny Yin, take a look at this.”
“This is where the first victim’s tibia was buried, next to the Xiao Wang Village wasteland. Take a look. Is there anything unusual about this terrain according to the traditions you know?”
Granny Yin looked at Jiang Xia, then at Xu Changsong, gradually regaining her composure.
‘Good heavens. This is actually real?’
“How would I know something like that?”
Since they weren’t arresting her, Granny Yin relaxed a little. But thinking about what Xu Changsong had said still made her uneasy, so she emphasized again,
“I’m a poor peasant! I’ve never heard of any evil ritual like that!”
“Yes, yes, we know.”
Jiang Xia said, “Just use your experience and make a guess.”
“All right, then.”
Granny Yin took the sheets of paper from her. Her first instinct wasn’t to examine them closely. Instead, she pulled three copper coins from her pocket. She was just about to begin chanting when Xu Changsong cleared his throat.
“Ahem!”
Xu Changsong said, “Don’t put on a show. This is a matter of life and death. Just tell us the result directly!”
“Ah, force of habit, force of habit.”
Embarrassed, Granny Yin stuffed the coins back into her pocket and carefully examined the two drawings.
They were almost as detailed as photographs. One showed the surrounding area from a viewpoint at ground level, even including the distant horizon. The other was a bird’s-eye view, clearly marking the gullies, mounds, and the exact location where the remains had been discovered.
“This place actually looks pretty good. It’s open and spacious, with running water and willow trees to the southeast. It has the appearance of wind bringing prosperity and water bringing fortune. And the burial site is in the qian position, slightly to the north. Qian represents Heaven and is a place where yang qi rises and flourishes. It’s supposed to bring health and longevity to one’s descendants. It’s a good location for a yin residence.”
Granny Yin shook her head repeatedly, utterly baffled.
“But this kind of protection is supposed to benefit your own bloodline. What’s the point of putting someone else’s remains there? And only part of a leg bone at that… Taking someone apart so they can’t pass on peacefully after death—aren’t they afraid of being possessed by the ghost? They must have something wrong with their head!”
Everyone present actually agreed with that last part.
“A normal person couldn’t do something like this either,” Zhu Weijun, who had come along with them, said. “But now that you’ve mentioned it, I remember something. That wasteland used to be an ancestral graveyard belonging to a wealthy landlord. The people of Xiao Wang Village always considered the place unlucky, which was why they never cultivated it.”
“You said this location is associated with health and longevity, right?”
Xu Changsong didn’t get sidetracked. He immediately seized on the key point and continued questioning her.
“That explains part of it. Now tell me, are there any days recently that would be particularly suitable for performing a ritual?”
“Let me think…”
Granny Yin lowered her head, repeatedly counting on the four sections of her fingers with her thumb. After a good while, she finally looked up.
“There really are a few. The seventh day of the seventh lunar month isn’t just the Qixi Festival; it’s also one of the Five La Days. On that day, the Five Emperors gather in the Seven Su Heaven to inspect and record the flourishing or decline of the bones, as well as a person’s virtue. It’s considered an auspicious day for releasing spirits, praying for blessings, and warding off calamities.”
“And then there’s the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. That’s the Ghost Festival, isn’t it? People make offerings to their ancestors and appease wandering spirits to avert disasters.”
“But both of those are days for helping spirits pass on peacefully. Neither has anything to do with performing a ritual, does it?”
As a supposed expert, Granny Yin had already been thoroughly indoctrinated with conventional folk beliefs. She simply couldn’t imagine what any of this could be used for.
Jiang Xia, however, immediately caught on to the words ‘inspect the flourishing or decline of the bones.’
There was a good chance that was related.
“How is it not related? Didn’t you just say that the Five Emperors gather in the Seven Su Heaven to inspect the flourishing and decline of the bones? Doesn’t that connect it to bones again?”
Forensic Doctor Hu had come downstairs at some point without anyone noticing.
She was holding a sheet of paper and speaking as she hurried down the stairs. In the blink of an eye, she had reached them.
She nodded toward Xu Changsong.
“Chief Xu.”
Xu Changsong grunted in acknowledgment and said, “Anything that has even a slight connection can be included among our possibilities for now. But just because Qixi is still a long way off doesn’t mean we can let our guard down. Who knows if there might be another date before then that we don’t know about, but that the killer considers suitable?”
Granny Yin kept her mouth shut.
She genuinely couldn’t figure out what on earth this killer was trying to accomplish.
Amid the silence, Forensic Doctor Hu handed over another sheet of paper.
“Granny Yi, these are the birth dates and times of the three children. See if you can find any connection.”
Granny Yin took the paper and began calculating again as she examined the times.
“June 20, 1976, born at 6:31 a.m….”
She calculated the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
“The Heavenly Stem is Wood, the Earthly Branch is Fire. Born during the Mao hour, which belongs to Wood. It’s an image of scorched earth where Wood and Fire generate each other. It corresponds somewhat to the Di lunar mansion among the Twenty-Eight Mansions. That’s the third of the Seven Mansions of the Azure Dragon, and it governs injuries and fractures.”
“This child’s Heavenly Stem is Earth, and the Earthly Branch is Metal. Born during the Zi hour, it’s Metal draining Water, making this a Water fate, associated with drowning.”
“This child was born around the Start of Autumn. The Heavenly Stem is Fire and the Earthly Branch is Metal. Born during the Chen hour, which belongs to Earth, it forms an image of Fire generating Earth and Earth generating Metal—a heavy, substantial configuration.”
After hearing that the first child was associated with injuries and fractures, everyone’s hearts began beating a little faster. But after hearing about the other two, the excitement of having finally found a clue diminished considerably.
The connection with the first child had been obvious. The other two seemed almost arbitrary, as though the interpretation could point to anyone.
There was simply no way to use this sort of metaphysical reasoning to determine who the next victim would be.
But this information was still enough.
At the very least, they could confirm that these three children were the ones the killer had abd*cted.
Once she realized that the metaphysical angle wasn’t going to work, Jiang Xia quickly switched perspectives.
“Wood, Water, Earth. At the very least, the killer is using the Five Elements as a reference. We can now confirm that he specifically selected these three children. Asking around about their birth dates would be far too conspicuous. The killer should have access to something containing the birth dates of a large number of children. Most likely, household registration records. He then used those records to select his victims.”
As she spoke, she looked up at the young community police officer again.
“Which precinct did the third child go missing from? Is it close to your precinct? Do the three families work at the same factory?”
She was drawing on her experience from the case involving the discarded remains.
“Not close. There’s another police station between our two precincts.”
The young officer thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“I don’t know about the family in the Xianghe precinct, but the two families in our jurisdiction don’t work at the same factory.”
“Then it isn’t a factory records leak. And there’s no way the police station would leak that information.”
Jiang Xia thought about what other possibility there could be. Almost instantly, a word came to her lips.
“The hospital!”
“The hospital!”
Forensic Doctor Hu had thought of the same thing and blurted it out at exactly the same time.
Forensic Doctor Hu continued thinking aloud.
“Xianghe Police Station is to the north. You were…”
The young officer quickly answered, “We’re Guangming Police Station.”
“Then they’re both in the northern part of the city. If I remember correctly, there are two hospitals over there.”
Forensic Doctor Hu began listing them off from memory. “There’s the Maternal and Child Health Hospital, and the Workers’ Hospital. Both handle childbirth, and newborns are registered and their records stored after delivery. We just don’t know which hospital this killer got the information from.”
“He abd*cted all the children by himself, so he probably doesn’t have an accomplice. That means he’s very likely still at one of the hospitals!”
Xu Changsong was instantly energized.
In such a short amount of time, they might not only solve a year-old cold case, but also rescue all three children. It was incredibly exciting!
“I’ll call them right now and ask whether either hospital has any employees with a limp.”
As he spoke, Xu Changsong had already walked over to the service desk.
He had brought his briefcase down with him, and inside his personal address book were the private office numbers of the two hospitals’ deputy directors.
Once they heard that it concerned a major case, neither hospital wasted any time. They immediately sent people to investigate.
It wasn’t long before the Maternal and Child Health Hospital called back, saying they had no employees with leg disabilities, including temporary workers.
The Workers’ Hospital, however, came back with news that was both good and bad.
“We have a temporary worker who was responsible for guarding the morgue at night. His right lower leg suffered a severe fracture. He was actually treated at our hospital before, but he resigned about a month ago. We only know that his surname is Zhao, his name is Zhao Youde, and he’s around thirty-two years old.”
“He resigned?”
Xu Changsong felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over him.
They had only just found the man! How could he have resigned and disappeared? Tracking him down now was going to be a huge headache!
Jiang Xia, however, remained completely calm.
They already knew where he’d worked. With her human-camera-and-printer abilities, was there any reason to worry about solving the case?
“So that means quite a lot of people have seen him and know what he looks like, right?”
Jiang Xia confidently said, “Chief Xu, have someone take me to the hospital. I’ll draw his portrait right away!”
Hearing this, Xu Changsong immediately looked up at her, his expression almost as though he were looking at his own savior.
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