Chapter 13 (1/2)
Killer Nights
Chapter 13: A Dispute Between Two People
”Have you found something, Inspector Jiang?” Zhang Nan asked Jiang Zhengkai, still sitting on the floor.
”Ah, no, nothing,” Jiang Zhengkai shook his head. He looked up and glanced at the ceiling. ”Find a ladder! See if there's anything strange up there,” he ordered, pointing at the part of the ceiling above the bed.
Several local police officers quickly brought in a ladder. While two officers supported the base, a third climbed up the ladder to the ceiling. ”It's hard, Inspector Jiang. Nothing out of the ordinary,” the officer on the ladder stated.
”What about the temperature?” Jiang Zhengkai asked, looking at the ceiling but still seated on the floor.
”It's about normal, I think,” the officer on the ladder answered with a certain degree of uncertainty. Then he rubbed his hand against the wall. ”Yeah, it's normal, Inspector Jiang. The temperature on that spot is the same as the walls.”
”You, you, and you, come with me upstairs!” Jiang Zhengkai stood up and gestured for three or four officers to follow him up. He stopped at the door of the upper room, where he halted the others from entering. He squatted down and carefully observed the dust on the floor of the room. Other than his own footprints from a few minutes earlier, no other person had entered the room.
”Okay, you guys can go in now,” he said while leading the group inside. ”Do a complete search of this room and see if there is anything out of the ordinary.” He returned to the side of the bed, heart racing in his chest. That scene from a moment ago was now firmly etched in his memory. Anybody, no matter how tough they were, would likely break down after having faced two such traumatic experiences of that magnitude in such a short period of time.
One, two, three! Jiang Zhengkai counted silently to himself before he pulled the sheet off the bed. ”Phew…” He let out a long sigh of relief as he saw nothing on the bed. Then he got down on one knee and placed his arm underneath the bed. Nothing. The floor was room temperature, not freezing. Had that feeling before, with the floor bone-cold to the touch, also been just a figment of his imagination?
”Inspector Jiang, we didn't find anything.” The police officers who accompanied Jiang Zhengkai to the room returned to his side one after another. Was it really because I was too stressed out? He smiled bitterly at the thought. I guess I've been working too hard lately.
”Alright, everyone go back to what you were doing before!” Jiang Zhengkai dismissed the officers with a wave of his hand. All of them filed out of the room together. Darkness once again shrouded the room; no one could say for certain what might happen here later on.
The police picked through the crime scene until midnight, when most of them returned to the station, save for two officers a.s.signed to guard the crime scene as per police protocol. Even though they'd made a bit of progress on the case, the fact remained that useful evidence was still quite scarce. Meanwhile, there were now two more dead bodies taking up two more s.p.a.ces at the sub-bureau's morgue.
”Oh right, Wei, were you wanting to tell me something just now?” Jiang Zhengkai asked while pinching his brow. The two of them were sitting in the backseat of his police cruiser, on their way back to the sub-bureau. He had a.s.signed another officer to drive tonight, as he felt his current emotional state made it somewhat unsafe for him to operate a motor vehicle.
”Yes, Inspector Jiang.” Wei Xin thought for a moment and then continued. ”We have already identified the female victim. Her name was A-Xiu. She recently arrived from another one of the city's red light districts. However, according to the pimp A-Shun, she used to work in this alley before, but then for unknown reasons relocated to another part of town. When we shut down all of the city's other brothel areas, she had no choice but to come back here for work.”
”Do you have more specific information on her?” Jiang Zhengkai asked, still pinching his brow.
”No, sir,” Wei Xin replied. ”But A-Shun did say that she was on pretty good terms with A-Jiao before she left. Perhaps A-Jiao can tell us something about her.”
”A-Jiao?” Jiang Zhengkai suddenly felt his stomach drop at the mention of her name. A-Jiao was still being hospitalized, which meant if the killer tracked her down… ”Take me to the hospital!” Jiang Zhengkai clapped the driver on the shoulder and anxiously exclaimed, ”Hurry!”
Inside her hospital room, A-Jiao was pa.s.sing the time by watching TV. There wasn't anyone around tending her to her at the moment, and walking even a hundred meters made her uncomfortable, so the best thing to do was to just stay in her room. Naturally, the TV in the room soon became her best friend.
”A-Jiao?” Jiang Zhengkai stormed into the hospital room in a hurry.
”What?” A-Jiao lay on her bed and tilted her head towards him. ”What are you doing here so late? Is this payback for me c.o.c.kblocking you earlier?”
”Hmph!” Jiang Zhengkai saw that she was alright and felt a wave of relief pa.s.s over him. ”That's right, I'm here for my payback!”
”Aiya! Big uncle police officer, you can't be serious.” A-Jiao propped her arms up on the bed and strenuously pushed herself into a sitting position. ”I'm afraid you came all the way out here for nothing,” she said while gently placing her hand on her chin. ”I ain't all there down there yet.” As she finished speaking, she looked at Jiang Zhengkai with resentment in her eyes. Then she pursed her lips lightly, batted her eyes, and said, ”But I can give a b.l.o.w.j.o.b.” She smiled provocatively, and those slight dimples of hers once again appeared on her face.