Chapter 24 (1/2)
Killer Nights
Chapter 24: Cops on the Street
With the leads he uncovered, Jiang Zhengkai was able to successfully apprehend a rather immoral doctor. However, the murder case was still stuck in a quagmire. Yu Di’s confession confirmed Jiang Zhengkai’s intuition, that he was not the killer. Furthermore, the simple fact was that Yu Di didn’t have time to commit those murders. Besides long hours at the hospital and having multiple affairs, he had little time for anything else, much less commit a series of five murders.
It was now two months since the first murder, yet Jiang Zhengkai still had nothing to tie the five murders together, save for the fact that ten people died while having s.e.x.
Another week quickly went by, yet the status of the case was still at a standstill. However, a piece of bad news would soon find its way to Jiang Zhengkai. That morning, Zhang Nan called Jiang Zhengkai over the phone and said, “Inspector Jiang, there’s a situation. I don’t know how to put it…”
“Don’t worry, you can tell me, Zhang.” By now, these two had gotten much more familiar with one another due to all the time they spent working together on the murder case. As such, Jiang Zhengkai now dispensed with Zhang Nan’s t.i.tle when speaking to him.
“It’s like this. In the past three days, there have been no women working in the alley,” Zhang Nan said anxiously over the phone.
“That’s great news!” Jiang Zhengkai responded without thinking before the real implication of Zhang Nan’s news sank in. His mouth then opened to the size of a chicken egg, “Wait, are you saying they’ve all quit working?”
“That’s right!” Zhang Nan said helplessly over the phone, “I already spoke to A-Shun. He said it’s not that the women don’t want to work, but rather that they are afraid to work.”
“Ah, I see,” Jiang Zhengkai said with a wry smile on his face, “Hey Zhang, could you do me a favor and convince those women to go back to work?”
Zhang Nan went silent on the other side of the line for a long time before finally responding, “So yeah… Jiang… I guess I’ll give it a shot.” Zhang Nan thought for a long while on how to respond. On the one hand, he didn’t want to refuse Jiang Zhengkai. On the other hand, there was no way he could do what Jiang Zhengkai asked him to do. How could a police officer possibly go and try to convince a bunch of women to keep working as prost.i.tutes?
Jiang Zhengkai placed the handset back in the receiver and sat at his desk with hands clasped by interlocking fingers. He rubbed his hands together for what seemed like the better part of a day. He knew ordering Zhang Nan to convince the prost.i.tutes to go back to work was a ridiculous request. Ever since the oldest profession in the world came into existence, there probably has never been a constable or lawman who proactively implored prost.i.tutes to continue with their profession.
After pondering over the situation for half an hour, he finally gave up and called the telephone number of Yao Tianyu’s a.s.sistant. “h.e.l.lo, Zhang Qian. This is Jiang Zhengkai,” he said over the phone.
“Hey, Brother Jiang. What can I do for you?” Zhang Qian cheerfully asked through the telephone.
“Could… could you check to see if Commissioner Yao is available?” Jiang Zhengkai stammered.
“He’s available. Are you looking for him? Why don’t you just call his direct line?” asked Zhang Qian. She could tell Jiang Zhengkai was acting a bit weird today.
“Oh right. So… umm… how is his mood today?” Jiang Zhengkai probed.
“He’s in a pretty good mood today. Hehe, you screwed up again, didn’t you, Brother Jiang?” asked Zhang Qian, which was immediately followed by laughter that sounded like silver bells ringing.
“No! I… it’s just that… oh, forget it. I’ll call him myself,” said Jiang Zhengkai.
Although he told Zhang Qian he would call Yao Tianyu right away, he ended up playing with his phone for a full fifteen minutes before he summoned the courage to call his boss and mentor.
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“h.e.l.lo, Yao Tianyu,” Yao Tianyu’s voice came loud and clear over the telephone.
“Commissioner… Commissioner Yao,” stuttered Jiang Zhengkai.
“What’s going on? Why are you being so polite today? What is it? Spit it out!” Yao Tianyu roared in rapid fire succession.