Chapter 151: Locked Room Murder (2/2)

“Looks like Song-ge trusts you,” said Baldy with a nod. “Good. I’ll recommend you to join the gang. Come with me!”

Hamster followed Baldy and his group of men out of the police station, and just like that, he was in the Black Panthers gang. This was an eye-opening experience for me. I’d been duped by the movies into believing that one would need to pass several harrowing tests before one could join the triad.

Once they were gone, Xiaotao came to me and commented, “You’re being called Song-ge left and right! That must feel great!”

“It feels weird,” I responded. “I would never have spoken to people like that under normal circumstances.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t get too attached to them,” Xiaotao cautioned. “Don’t forget that they might take advantage of your position and your skills.”

I didn’t have anything else to do after that, so I went back to college. As soon as Dali saw me, he exclaimed, “Dude, where have you been? I just noticed that it was Xiaotao-jiejie’s birthday yesterday! Tell me the truth, did you spend the night with her?”

“What are you talking about?” I retorted. “There’s a new homicide, and this time the underworld gangs are involved!”

“Whoa, the triads?” Dali shouted. “You have to take me with you!”

“Okay,” I promised. “But right now we’ll have to wait for the mole to send us some information before we make a move.”

“There’s even a mole?” Dali gasped. “What an exciting case! I missed so much action last night! Why didn’t you call me?”

“It’s not as exciting as you think it is….” I answered vaguely.

A few days later, Hamster called me and asked to meet at a caf. I went there and saw him completely changed. He was wearing an expensive suit and a chunky gold chain around his neck. He seemed to have fit in well in the Black Panthers gang.

Hamster told me that after snooping around, he’d roughly figured out how the boss had died. He said the boss died in a nightclub called Tianxiang Pavilion, in which many prostitutes were hidden. It operated as a regular business from the perspective of outsiders. No customers were offered the services of the prostitutes.

“Then why hide those women in there?” I asked.

“They’re there for the sole purpose of entertaining members of the Black Panthers gang.”

This was another eye-opener. I’d never realized that such an arrangement existed.

“It was hard work sniffing out these morsels of information, Song-ge!” Hamster complained. “It’s taken a toll on my weak kidneys.”

I thought of Xiaotao’s warning and replied, “Why don’t we switch places, then? Explain to me in detail what you’ve actually been doing these few days!”

“Ah… I was only joking, Song-ge!” he smiled. “I never pay any attention to those kinds of women!”

Hamster went on to explain that the boss died in the nightclub. His body was found in a locked room where no one could’ve gotten in or out after his death. But there wasn’t a single living person found in the room except him. He was found stabbed with a knife more than a dozen times. The surveillance video was checked, and no one went into or came out of the room before and after his death.

Another locked room murder, huh? I thought.

“What was he doing in that room?” I asked. “He must’ve been with a woman considering he was in that kind of place, right?”

“I’ve asked several members of the gang,” Hamster answered, “and they all said the same thing—there wasn’t a single living person in the room except the boss!”

I groaned. Not a single living person. Why did it sound strange? I felt that there could be something between the lines here, but couldn’t figure out what it was exactly.

“What about his body?” I asked.

“It’s being secretly kept in the city funeral home,” Hamster replied. “I’m not sure if it’s been cremated by now. Members of the gang guard it during the day. They’re hell-bent on keeping the death of their boss a secret.”

“They guard the body during the day?” I asked. “What about at night?”

“It’s a funeral home, Song-ge!” Hamster laughed. “Who in their right mind would stay there at night?”

Looks like I’ll pay the funeral home a visit tonight! I thought.

Previous ChapterNext Chapte