Chapter 26: Capturing the Murderer (1/2)
When I thought of how the murderer was right outside the door, possibly with a weapon in his hand, my back was soaked with cold sweat.
I swallowed a lump in my throat and forced myself to think fast. Deng Chao was waiting for me outside the room, so if I popped out my head to check, he would definitely slit my throat with a knife in a heartbeat.
But I couldn’t just stay inside the music room either. It would take him no more than a few steps from the door to get to me before Huang Xiaotao could even get near the room.
The window was open, so I did have a choice of jumping out and escaping, but that would defeat my purpose of capturing him!
So, I put my hand into my pocket and secretly called Huang Xiaotao.
“Please don’t scare me like that, Miss Xia Mo,” I said loudly, pretending to be scared while dialing the phone. “If you don’t like me here, then I’ll leave instantly.”
Then I took two steps forward before circling back to hide behind the piano. If Deng Chao rushed in, I could just shove it towards him to buy me some time.
Just then, Deng Chao appeared at the door. When he saw how I was hiding behind the piano, he laughed.
“Stop pretending, bastard!” he barked.
I could clearly see that he was holding a dagger, and those hands were white and slender, just as I expected.
“Who are you?” I asked, feigning cluelessness. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“Still not dropping the act?” he asked, then he began to walk towards me. “Where is that letter?”
“The letter said…” I stepped to the other side of the piano. “… that you’re the real killer.”
“I shouldn’t have trusted Zhang Kai!” he snapped. “And here I was regretting killing the bastard!”
He took another step towards me. I was bathing in cold sweat by then, and my heart almost jumped out of my throat.
“You only have yourself to blame,” I said. “If you didn’t kill him, the letter wouldn’t have found its way into my hands.”
“Stop blabbering! Give me the letter now!”
“The letter’s not with me,” I told him. “I gave it to the police a long time ago.”
“Fuck you! You tricked me!”
Deng Chao rushed towards me, but a few milliseconds before he reached me Huang Xiao kicked open the door while holding a gun with both of her hands and pointing it straight at Deng Chao.
“Freeze!” she roared with an authoritative voice. “Drop down your weapon!”
Deng Chao’s jaw dropped. But he soon regained his senses, he rushed towards me. He must be planning to take me as a hostage! I ran to the back of the music room, but he was on my heels. Huang Xiaotao shot her gun, and the deafening bang echoed throughout the building.
Nothing was hit by that shot. Police officers would usually shoot blanks the first time, just as a warning. But the loud bang of the shot did have an effect, because it frightened Deng Chao so much that he bolted out the door. He was in such a hurried state that his wig and costume fell off his body.
Huang Xiaotao followed him out the door and into the hallway. I followed them too. Although the end of the hallway was a dead end, there were classrooms on both sides — Deng Chao could easily sneak into one of them and hide there.
We lost sight of Deng Chao. Huang Xiaotao called told me to catch up to her then she kicked open the door of a classroom and pointed her gun into it while I scanned the room.
“He’s not here.”
We checked three rooms without success, then I suddenly heard the sound of someone opening the window.
“Quick!” I exclaimed. “He’s going to jump out of a window!”
We hurried to a classroom where the sound came from, and saw Deng Chao standing at the window about to jump out.
Huang Xiaotao stood very still and held up her gun with both hands aiming at Deng Chao, ready to shoot.
Right at that moment, Deng Chao shouted and fell from the window.
“Please don’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!” he pleaded.
Huang Xiaotao immediately rushed forward. She kicked the knife in Deng Chao’s hand away, pulled his hands behind his back and handcuffed him.
“You’re right, Song Yang,” she said. “He really did have a hand surgery.”