Chapter 32 (1/2)

Chapter 32: “Hunter”

He hung up the phone and went quickly to the adjacent office where he found Zhang Chi drenched in sweat, lifting du at himself in a full-size mirror

Little Wu stepped in front of the e and let’s go”

They drove across Shanghai and in an hour arrived at a villa district in the suburbs When housekeeper opened the door and saw police standing there she let them in at once The reeted them when they came in

“I heard it was you who saved hter last month I’ve not had the chance to thank you Who would have thought that now…” His expression was grave, not at all flustered as he calmly asked them to take a seat

“It was our fe Chi said She’s out on a case today How are things going with you all now?”

“Yesterday hter to the metro station I didn’t see any difference in her But that evening she never showed up when I went to pick her up The person in charge at her work unit said she never showed up for work that day I called her cell phone, but she had turned it off”

Little Wu scanned the room out of habit Before they came here he had heard the father was an entrepreneur and the er It was a well-off middle class family

The father was in his fifties, with no beer belly like lasses and his clothes had no brand naos, but from the quality it was clear they cost several thousand yuan He had a calhed down by anxiety every time he checked his phone He looked like a business man who had weathered a lot

Zhang Chi took off his police cap and put it on the table, and sat down “Did she have any s after the incident last time? Did she tell you what it was all about?”

“That girl has a lot of pride and demands a lot of herself We wanted to find an opportunity to talk about it after she caht We just let her take some time off school You all kno it is Her business would be spread all over the school, with all kinds of ruirl’s mother handed them each a sports drink, her face full of anxiety, and she too sat down

“However, yesterday her phone suddenly turned on and the es I had sent her earlier all showed as read And she sent us this suddenChi his phone

“My boyfriend lost gauarantor Now he’s disappeared I’ll take responsibility for my own affairs” There were just those those four sentences

“Her boyfriend?”

“Froo outte Gero to Gery for a relationshi+p”

“She never talks about her friends,” the mother filled in “She has a best friend, who I went to ask when I couldn’t find hter”

“What’s even e is yesterday someone else used her WeChat and sent us voice call”

“When was the call and what did they say?” Zhang Chi wrote in his notebook

The mother opened the voice recorder on her iPad It was a recording of her speaking with a ht and lasted half an hour They talked back and forth, but not matter how much the mother pleaded or reasoned, the person on the other end didn’t acquiesce or give in, only praising the daughter as having a “sense of responsibility”, then threatening that “someone must pay for the uarantee her daughter’s safety in exchange for five million RMB deposited in an appointed account

When it got to that point thedown on a strip of paper, and handed it to Zhang Chi “This is the account number It’s not a small amount He said it all had to be in his account by the end of theso I didn’t have time to record it”

Zhang Chi took the strip of paper, transcribed it carefully in his notebook, and

“Otherwise…” His tone was cruel, cutting off suddenly He didn’t finish the sentence, but he was very aggressive “I know you all have already reported to the police That won’t be of any benefit to your daughter If you want her to remain safe then do what I said Remember, I have ways to monitor your every ret for the rest of your lives”

“I’ll re you said I’ll do my best to meet your dehter You can’t let us lose both her and the hout the discussion, but it seemed couldn’t take the sudden blow and lost control

He refused her point-blank “You don’t get to make demands of me You just follow orders At this tiards on her behalf” Then he hung up

“Officers, right noe’re really… You would understand if you were parents” Theher head and said no more

The father was getting i all that? Officers, we sent news of our daughter roup, and attached a photo of her and my cell phone number If there are any leads you will be the first to know” He didn’t look good, worry and anxiety suppressed under his calm exterior

As they were talking Zhang Chi noticed the father’s cell phone vibrate several ti it off