Chapter 78: Split Personality (1/2)

Xiaotao asked Shopkeeper Tang for the abattoir’s contact information. I suspected that there wouldn’t be much to follow up on there since it would be impossible to supply human meat at such an industrial scale every day unless we were talking about an operation that rivaled the Nazi concentration camps.

“Is the meat delivered by the same person every time?” I asked.

As I expected, Shopkeeper Tang nodded immediately and answered, “Yes!”

“Do you know his name and where he lives?”

“I don’t know where he lives,” Shopkeeper Tang admitted. “But I know his name is Ma Jinhuo. He is dark-skinned and very thin. He’s a man of few words and he doesn’t seem very friendly at all. But he’s the one who’s been delivering the meat for the past six months.”

The name struck me as strange. I borrowed Xiaotao’s notebook and told him to write the characters of the name down. The ‘Jin’ in the name meant gold, while the ‘Huo’ meant fire.

Xiaotao took a look at the name and remarked, “What’s strange about this name?”

“People are traditionally named to complement the elements that they lack according to numerology,” I explained. “The average person usually only lacks one of the five elements, but this man seemed to lack two. Hence the name.”

“He lacks one more thing,” Xiaotao added. “Morality!”

“He doesn’t just lack morality if he’s killing people and turning their flesh into minced meat,” I sneered. “He lacks basic humanity!”

Shopkeeper Tang didn’t have the address and contact information of Ma Jinhuo. All he knew was that the man would deliver the meat to him every three days. He came here this morning, so he would be coming again in three days.

Once the police officers collected enough samples, both Xiaotao and I felt that there was no need to bring Shopkeeper Tang back to the station to record his statements. Xiaotao asked me what we should do next.

“This man named Ma Jinhuo is suspicious,” I replied. “That gives us three possible investigation lines: first, we could go to the abattoir and get more information about this person, but my hunch is that we won’t achieve much this way. Second, we could investigate missing person cases from the last three months in Nanjiang City. Third, and this one is the most time-consuming and requires the most manpower, we could comb through this whole city to find if there are any discarded human bones or body parts.”

Xiaotao folded her arms and stared at me with a curious smile on her face. I asked her what was wrong.

“I was just wondering if the person I spent time with this morning and the person I see in front of me right now are really one and the same.”

“It’s possibly what they call split personality,” I smiled shyly.

“Really?” Xiaotao was shocked. “Do you have a split personality?”

“I was just joking,” I replied. “In fact, everyone acts differently when they are in different roles, so their personalities might seem to differ in different circumstances. But the pathological split personality behavior as described by psychiatrists is totally different. That is when the personalities of a person is completely separate from each other, often times each personality isn’t even aware of the other’s existence…”

Xiaotao smiled and said, “You really do know everything, don’t you? You look really cool when you explain things like that!”

When I mentioned the words ‘split personality,’ I noticed that there was a minute sign of nervousness in Shopkeeper Tang’s facial expression, but I didn’t think much of it at the time, believing that it was insignificant. Little did I know that this oversight of mine almost cost me Xiaotao.

“Oh, by the way,” I added, “I think Shopkeeper Tang should be allowed to operate his business normally today.”

Xiaotao’s eyes widened. “What?! You want him to continue selling the human meat buns?”

“No, of course not,” I replied. “But he can start selling ordinary buns with pork meat instead. I don’t want to alarm the criminals who might be lurking in the dark, observing what is going on here. Do you think we’d be able to lure them into our trap if they notice the shop is closed and cordoned off with police tape?”

“You’re right!” Xiaotao snapped her fingers. “We’ll fine him for bad hygiene as a cover-up. I’ll get the ticket from the food inspection department.”

Shopkeeper Tang heard this and exclaimed, “No, please, I’ve always used fresh and clean ingredients and never added any preservatives in my buns! You can’t punish me for that!”

“It’s good enough that we’re allowing you to operate your business normally!” snapped Xiaotao. “But don’t worry, the ticket would just be for show. You don’t need to pay any fines and your business license won’t be revoked.”

Shopkeeper Tang was relieved to hear that, and he finally relented.

Xiaotao ordered the officers to return to the police station, where they would have a meeting for the case and formally start the investigation. Just then, Dali finally arrived soaking in sweat.

“Here you go, dude!” he said, handing me a bag. “Goddammit, it was a pain in the ass getting on the bus during peak hours when people are going home from work! You have no idea how tightly packed the bus was!”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I didn’t need the stuff he brought after all, so I just thanked him.

Xiaotao glanced at Dali and said, “You’re just in time! Let’s go to the police station now. We’re going to have a meeting.”

“Meeting?” Wang Dali looked around at the bun shop. “What kind of case is it?”

“You’ll know when you get there.”