Xu Qiangsheng sat in the interrogation room, wearing a stereotypical black suit. He was in his fifties, with gray hair and red bloodshot eyes. He clenched his ten fingers into tight fists. Lines of tension appeared on his square-shaped face, looking very haggard.
His voice seemed to traverse through dry wood and charcoal when he spoke. As soon as he began, he covered more than half of his face and choked on his words.
“Why did it have to be Yujiao who encountered such a thing!”
Hua Chong sat upright across the table, silent and without any unnecessary movements. He simply watched the middle-aged entrepreneur who had lost his daughter, giving him ample time to sort out his emotions.
A quarter of an hour later, Xu Qiangsheng looked at the ceiling and breathed hard. His eyes were horribly red, and his whole person seemed to be covered with a layer of extremely depressing grayness.
He looked at Hua Chong, and after several deep breaths, he seemed to have finally temporarily suppressed the strong grief and anger. He said slowly, “Yujiao’s mother couldn’t endure the pain; she fainted and was hospitalized. I came alone. Officer, do you know who exactly harmed our Yujiao?”
“The case is still under investigation,” Hua Chong said, motioning for Qu Zhi to pour a glass of warm water and placing it in front of Xu Qiangsheng.
Xu Qiangsheng had worked hard in the business world for most of his life so he was much calmer and more reasonable than the average victim’s family member. Without losing his composure, he didn’t frantically demand justice. Instead, he sighed deeply, his voice trembling: “Officer, please, you must catch the culprit. Whatever cooperation you need from me, my wife, and me, we will do as you say!”
Hua Chong nodded solemnly: “I understand that recalling Xu Yujiao is tormenting for you right now, but the crucial time for solving the case is within 48 hours after the incident. Xu Yujiao was discovered relatively late, so we are already beyond that golden window. We plan to start the investigation by understanding her as much as possible.”
“I understand,” Xu Qiangsheng said with a heavy expression. “Ask away. As long as it’s something I know, I won’t hide anything.”
Hua Chong gave the other party a few more minutes before asking: “Did Xu Yujiao usually live with you?”
“No. A few years ago, her mother and I bought her a house in Luo’an District, a high-end community. It’s not far from where she works and the transportation is very convenient.”
Hua Chong listened while Qu Zhi took notes.
“Yesterday I heard that there was a murder case in Fukang District. The deceased was a young woman.” Speaking of this, Xu Qiangsheng began to choke again. “I even had her mother call her, wanting to remind her to be careful at night, not to go to any messy places. Who would have thought, who would have thought that our Yujiao was the victim…”
“Xu Yujiao was killed on March 13, Friday night. Her body was found on the morning of the 16th, Monday.” Hua Chong asked, “Neither you nor your wife noticed anything unusual during the 3 days she was missing?”
Xu Qiangsheng could not hide his grief, “Yujiao rarely contacts us on the weekends. She has her own things going on, and her mother and I have long been accustomed to it.”
The pen in Qu Zhi’s hand paused as he gave Hua Chong a puzzled look.
Apparently, Hua Chong also heard something fishy in this statement, “Is Xu Yujiao not on good terms with her family?”
“No, no, no, you’ve misunderstood. She has a good relationship with us, especially with her mother,” Xu Qiangsheng clarified. “She often came back to dine with us on weekday evenings, but weekends were her own time. In this regard, her mother and I both respect her.”
“Then do you know how Xu Yujiao usually spent her Friday night to Sunday night?”
“Yes, she told us when she came home for dinner,” Xu Qiangsheng replied, ticking off his fingers. “self-drive trips, shopping with friends, or staying at home reading.”
“self-drive trips? Her car…”
“It’s a Land Rover, I bought it for her. She didn’t usually drive it to and from work, she took the subway, and only drove it when she went out on a self-drive trip.”
“Did she travel alone or with friends? Do you know who her close colleagues were in Xinluo Bank?”
“This…” Xu Qiangsheng hesitated for a moment, seeming reluctant to answer that question.
Hua Chong reminded: “Your answer is very important for us to solve the case.”
“I’m sorry,” sighed Xu Qiangsheng. “Yujiao had a good relationship with her colleagues at the bank and never had any disputes with anyone. But, if you talk about close relationships with colleagues, well, to be honest, she didn’t have any. She studied in another city for college, and her close friends weren’t around here. After starting work, she often told her mother that there were no like-minded people at the office.”
“What do you mean by ‘like-minded’?”
Xu Qiangsheng looked troubled, “She seems to get along with everyone, but in fact she is still a bit reserved. She is quite grown up, and she is also keen on playing games.”
Qu Zhi whispered, “So, she was a closet gamer like me.”
Hua Chong said, “So, she went on self-drive trips alone?”
“Yes.”
“Then, did she have a boyfriend?”
Xu Qiangsheng looked surprised, then calmed down after a few seconds, shaking his head solemnly, “No, she didn’t.”
“You didn’t live together,” Hua Chong said. “Is it possible that she had a boyfriend, but you were unaware?”
“No, Yujiao never kept anything from us. If she had a boyfriend, even if she didn’t tell me, she would tell her mother.”
The interrogation room fell silent. Hua Chong looked at Xu Qiangsheng and then changed the topic “We learned something from Xu Yujiao’s colleagues earlier—she traveled abroad quite frequently each year. Just in the past year, she visited Nepal, India, Pakistan, Greece, and even spent the Chinese New Year in Russia. You also mentioned that she often went on self-drive trips during the weekends. Did Yujiao really enjoy traveling? Would you consider it one of her hobbies in her leisure time?”
Xu Qiangsheng looked unnatural for a moment, “Yes, yes, she had always enjoyed traveling since she was a child.”
After saying that, he deliberately emphasized, “But every time she traveled, she took leave from the bank, and the expenses came from our own funds. It was definitely not a business trip using the bank’s money.”
Hua Chong nodded and asked again, “Do you have any clues about the person who might have hurt her?”
Xu Qiangsheng’s eyes suddenly dimmed and he hit his forehead hard with his right fist: “It’s my fault, it’s my fault! Her mother and I held her in our hand and raised her; what she wanted, we gave her but we forgot to teach her to protect herself. When she first entered college, she went alone to Tibet, trekking all the way to Motuo. Later, she became more daring, claiming that kind people assisted her along the journey, asking us not to worry. I regret it ah. If only I had talked to her more sensibly back then and made her understand the evils of society, perhaps she wouldn’t be harmed by evil people now. She’s only 28 this year, and her mother and I have only this one daughter..”
•
After leaving the interrogation room, Hua Chong lit a cigarette and leaned against the railing on the terrace.
He had just taken off his uniform and was dressed in a smoky gray shirt and slacks. The fingers holding the cigarette were calloused. His shoulders hung loosely, and the hem of his shirt followed the waistline into the edge of his pants, presenting a relaxed and somewhat casual demeanor.
“This family is quite strange.” Qu Zhi asked for a cigarette from Hua Chong, placing it behind his ear without lighting it. “If we say they are close, their daughter went missing for three days and the parents didn’t even know it. If they live in the same city, other children would at least visit their parents over the weekend. But Xu Yujiao, every weekend, mysteriously disappeared. Yet, if we claim they aren’t close, Xu Qiangsheng’s emotions don’t seem like an act. Moreover, the salary of a bank customer manager is tied to performance. Xu Yujiao took leaves frequently, showing little performance, enjoying a good life but with not-so-high income. The regular expenses are paid by Xu Qiangsheng and his wife.”
Hua Chong did not answer his question, “Xu Yujiao liked to travel. Do you think Xu Yujiao preferred cultural and historical aspects of travel, or was she more inclined towards natural scenery?” he asked Qu Zhi.
Qu Zhi was stunned for a moment, “Is this related to the case?”
“I guess it’s humanities and history.” Hua Chong crushed the cigarette butt, “Let’s go, notify the Trace Inspection Detachment and then go to her house to have a look.”
•
Xu Yujiao’s residence in the Yuetu Dance Community was a two-story small villa with a modest garden outside. The forensic examiner thoroughly examined both the interior and exterior of the small villa but found nothing unusual. The house was very clean, without even a trace of unfamiliar footprints. Hua Chong didn’t enter the house; instead, he and Qu Zhi went to check the surveillance footage with the property management.
The community’s surveillance claimed to have full coverage. Seven cameras showed Xu Yujiao leaving the community at 7:52 on the morning of the 13th, and she hadn’t returned since. No other individuals had entered or left the small villa.
In the video, Xu Yujiao was wearing the same clothes she had on when she was found dead, with a Coach bag slung over her shoulder. However, this bag did not appear near the crime scene.
The murderer took the bag, cash, phone, and other belongings but left behind the bank cards and Xu Yujiao’s ID at the scene.
This was also the reason why the sub-bureau had been able to confirm Xu Yujiao’s identity early.
It was also the suspicion that Hua Chong had discussed with Xu Kan.
“Robbery and sexual assault,” Qu Zhi said. “The murderer’s anti-surveillance awareness is quite strong; even now, they haven’t taken the bag to a second-hand luxury store to sell it.”
Hua Chong returned to the entrance of the small villa, wearing shoe covers and latex gloves. His gaze roamed around the tidy living room. “The murderer took the bag but didn’t sell it immediately; indeed, they had a certain level of anti-surveillance awareness, knowing that once such a luxury item is disposed of, we would lock onto it.” Hua Chong paced back and forth. “If that was the case, why did they leave Xu Yujiao’s ID behind?”
“Is it for us to trace the source of the body?” Qu Zhi asked. “With current technology, finding the source of a corpse is not difficult, but DNA matching takes time. Most killers don’t have the luxury of delaying time, so why would he help us?”
“In this case, up to now, it seems there are no leads, but, in fact, there are plenty of them,” Hua Chong furrowed his brow. “However, these leads are like a tangled mess, and they contradict each other. Many aspects defy common sense so it’s difficult to sort out. For example, what you said just now, the murderer has anti-surveillance awareness but left the victim’s ID at the crime scene. This indicates that the murderer is not afraid of us starting our investigation from the victim’s side.”
Qu Zhi followed Hua Chong’s line of thought, “The murderer doesn’t know Xu Yujiao? No matter how much we investigate Xu Yujiao, we won’t find a connection to the murderer?”
“But that doesn’t make sense either.” Hua Chong said, “If neither Xu Yujiao nor her friends and relatives knew the murderer, then there are only two scenarios left. First, when Xu Yujiao appeared on Daoqiao Road, the killer happened to be there too. Xu Yujiao was wearing a designer label and had a pretty face so it might have triggered some malicious intent in the murderer. However, the fact that the murderer carried household tools, knives, and condoms contradicts the ‘crime of passion’ scenario. In addition, if there was no deep-seated hatred, why would the murderer sexually abuse the corpse? Second, the murderer knew Xu Yujiao, but she didn’t know him. In simple terms, he was a stalker. However, if the murderer frequently stalked Xu Yujiao, there must have been traces along her commute route and around her home and workplace. The surveillance on Daoqiao Road may not have been helpful, but the cameras around Xinluo Bank were all high-definition. The technical investigation is still ongoing, and so far, no suspected stalker has been found.”
“That’s weird.” Qu Zhi sighed, “I suddenly have a bad feeling about this.”
“En?”
“This case is hard to crack.”
Hua Chong smiled: “If it were easy to crack, would they still need our Serious Crime Unit?”
Qu Zhi crouched by the edge of the sofa, running his fingers along the coffee table. “Xu Yujiao was quite neat. The residential property management said she never hired a cleaning service, did all the cleaning herself, and never had guests at home. No wonder the forensic examiner mentioned there were no footprints from outsiders. It’s quite unusual. You’d think being a wealthy and beautiful woman, she would hire some help… Captain Hua, why are you going upstairs?”
“To confirm a suspicion.” Hua Chong said.
