Chapter 186: The Cemetery Search (2/2)
I walked to the door and found traces of nail scratches on the door frame. There were nail fragments coated with nail polish on the floor too. Xu Gang probably dragged the rich lady out, but she clung desperately to the door, leaving these marks.
I continued to look around the room, and found a family portrait. Apparently the victim and the rich lady had a beautiful young daughter who seemed to be about seven or eight years old.
“I wonder if the girl is safe?” Xiaotao sighed.
“Let’s hope so!” I replied.
We left the mansion soon after that.
“Leave the task of finding the woman to me,” said Xiaotao. “Both of you should go back and study for your finals now.”
I nodded and said, “I’ve got two suggestions for you. Xu Gang stole 20 million yuan from Chen Da. He could buy a lot of things with that money—a house, for example. You should follow the money and see where it leads you. Also, check whether Xu Gang bought any decoration materials recently.”
Xiaotao’s eyes widened. “Are you suspecting that he’s trapped the rich lady in the walls?”
“It’s highly probable,” I explained. “The rich lady will live for two more years, which means that her body won’t rot until then. Hiding her inside the walls would make it nigh impossible to find her. If I was Xu Gang, this is what I would do.”
“Don’t tell me you’re gonna have to smell all the walls in Nanjiang City to find her!” exclaimed Dali.
“That won’t be necessary,” Xiaotao shook her head. “We can just use an infrared detector or a police dog instead. Anyway, forget about this case for now and leave everything to me!”
For half a month after that, Dali and I were busy with our studies and final exams. I received no news from Xiaotao in the meantime. I would text Xiaotao occasionally to ask her about the progress of the case, but she would always reply that they hadn’t found the rich lady yet.
Then, one day, Xiaotao called and asked me if I had some time to spare. I told her I just had one exam that morning and would be free for the next two days.
“Good,” replied Xiaotao. “We found that Xu Gang used some money to buy some spots in multiple cemeteries.”
“Cemeteries?” I was shocked. Could the rich lady be buried alive?
Xiaotao picked me up in the afternoon. We drove to a cemetery on the outskirts of Nanjiang City. Other police officers followed us close behind. We contacted the person in charge of the cemetery and found an empty vault bought by Xu Gang.
The officers pried the vaults open, but to our disappointment, it was empty. My heart sank. Xiaotao stomped her feet in frustration and cried, “It’s empty! Let’s go to the next cemetery!”
Xu Gang had placed vaults in all cemeteries in Nanjiang City. We checked three cemeteries that day, and found nothing in all of them.
The day was getting dark by then. Everyone was getting discouraged. The murderer was already dead, yet the task force was still kept busy running around in circles looking for the victim. In fact, a few officers approached Xiaotao and suggested that she give it up already. It was just a waste of manpower and resources anyway, and besides, the rich lady would survive for two years, so perhaps the best course of action would be to let the community patrol officers to slowly look for her instead.
I had a feeling that Xu Gang knew this would happen. In other words, we were simply playing into his hands by giving up the search!
Still, the police had limited time and resources. To find the rich lady, Xiaotao had to put aside a few other cases. Captain Lin had spoken to her about it several times, urging her to stop the investigation and close the case.
The officers were beginning to complain now, too. Xiaotao sighed and told me, “I might not be able to carry it out much longer, Song Yang!”
I clapped my hands to get the officers’ attention and announced, “I know everyone’s tired right now, so let’s do this for just three more days! If we don’t find the woman by then, we’ll just end the investigation there.”
My words managed to lift the officers’ morale a little, but Xiaotao smiled wanly and whispered, “Three days is a bit too short, Song Yang…”
“Don’t worry,” I responded. “I’m just trying to keep the officers motivated. By the way, where was Xu Gang’s wife buried?”
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