Chapter 85 (1/2)
Killer Nights
Chapter 85: Silent Night
Jiang Zhengkai dropped off A-Jiao in front of the preschool. He climbed out of the car and gently wrapped his arm around her waist as she was stepping out of the car. “Honey, I can’t stay with you when you teach your evening cla.s.ses tonight. I’ll come pick you up when you’re done, alright?”
“Sure, that’s fine!” replied A-Jiao. She batted her eyelashes as he held her in his embrace. “Don’t work too hard! And be careful on the road!”
“Hehe, I’ll be quick,” Jiang Zhengkai chuckled at A-Jiao’s concern. He was only going to the alley to meet up with Lu Xiaoqiang so he could ascertain information on A-Di’s hometown. It wasn’t hard work by any definition, but he knew A-Jiao’s concerns came from her feelings for him. She really did love Jiang Zhengkai with all her heart.
“Okay, that’s good! Just be careful.” When she saw him chuckle, A-Jiao clearly knew that he didn’t take her concerns seriously. She simply pursed her lips and said, “Promise me you’ll be alright, I don’t… never mind! Just go and do your thing!”
“Oh? Miss Ren doesn’t have any other instructions for me?” Jiang Zhengkai thought A-Jiao was going to say something along the lines of “Take care of yourself, you’re the only person I love, etc. etc.” You know, the standard things that women prattle on about. But when A-Jiao suddenly stopped talking, Jiang Zhengkai actually became somewhat worried that she was unhappy with him.
“Actually, I do!” When she saw that Jiang Zhengkai had changed his mind and decided to take her seriously, she burst into another smile. “Just to be clear, you’re the one that wanted me to nag you this time around, hehe! But seriously, Honey, Sister Xiu really might be from Guangxi. After I’m done with my evening cla.s.ses, could you come with me to the new condo? Maybe I’ll be able to dig up her address in Guangxi from one of the old letters she wrote home.”
“Really?” asked Jiang Zhengkai, looking at her in amazement.
“Yeah!” A-Jiao nodded. “Even though I don’t know when Sister Xiu left, I do have an extra set of her house keys, so I was able to retrieve everything from her apartment after she left.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” asked Jiang Zhengkai as he playfully squeezed her nose. “How long were you planning on hiding this information?”
“Hmph! So what if I didn’t tell you!” said A-Jiao with pouted lips. “Go ahead and charge me with obstruction of justice! In any case, being with you is like serving a life sentence. What else do you want from me? Going to upgrade me to a death sentence?”
“Alright, you!” Jiang Zhengkai looked at A-Jiao’s expression and roughly placed his lips on hers. Needless to say, what followed was another pa.s.sionate make-out session. “I’ll eat you up, that’s what!” Jiang Zhengkai said softly a few minutes later as he gently raised his head and looked at A-Jiao’s glowing red face.
“You won’t! You wouldn’t!” A-Jiao warmly replied as she placed her head on his chest. If they had the power to stop time, then they would definitely make this moment last forever.
After Jiang Zhengkai left A-Jiao, he drove to the alley. Inside the surveillance room, he very quickly got a hold of Lu Xiaoqiang. These days, the alley’s surveillance room was like a second home to Lu Xiaoqiang. He spent most of his after-hours time there.
“You’re writing a report?” Jiang Zhengkai quietly asked when he saw that Lu Xiaoqiang hadn’t realized his boss was standing behind him. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Oh hi, Inspector Jiang!” Lu Xiaoqiang raised his head when he realized that someone was talking to him. “They all went to grab dinner. It’s just me holding down the fort until they come back.”
“Well, how nice for them,” said Jiang Zhengkai as he pulled up a chair and sat next to Lu Xiaoqiang. “How’s the report coming?”
“I’m still in the process of writing it,” said Lu Xiaoqiang as he smiled at Jiang Zhengkai. “Inspector Jiang, the other guys have actually been working really hard,” he explained. “They’ve been here all day, and it’ll still be a few more hours before the sub-bureau officers take over for them.”
“Hehe! I see you’ve learned how to plead others’ cases,” Jiang Zhengkai laughed. He didn’t mean to blame Lu Xiaoqiang, nor did he mean to blame the officers manning the surveillance room. He knew they were only human as well, and it was very difficult for a human being to keep staring at the same screen for hours on end. What’s worse was that these officers felt all of their efforts were for naught, since none of the murders had ever been caught on tape.
“It’s not that!” Lu Xiaoqiang said awkwardly as he became tongue-tied. “Inspector Jiang, did you… need anything?”
“Oh!” Jiang Zhengkai said. “I came here to confirm something with you.” Since Lu Xiaoqiang wanted to change the subject, Jiang Zhengkai saw no need to keep nagging about the absence of the surveillance room’s on-duty officers. Besides, wasn’t Lu Xiaoqiang still here? That meant the surveillance room was manned after all! “Where is A-Di from? Were you able to find out that information this afternoon?”