Chapter 47: Humbert Humbert Fourteen

Chapter 47: Humbert Humbert Fourteen

TL: QuantumC 08-03-2019

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"Hello?... Hi, is it Su Luozhan speaking? This is Miss Wang from the YMCA. I was at the registration desk in the beginning of the summer semester, remember?"

"Of course. How are you, Miss Wang? What can I do for you?"

"Sorry to call at such a late hour - did I wake you from bed?... Are your parents home? Could you please get one of them on the phone? There is actually something that I need to ask you , but I'd like to get your parents' consent first."

"My dad isn't home yet. My mom is sick in bed and I can't wake her up. It's Okay, you can ask me directly."

"I see... alright. I'm trying to gather some information here. You see, there is a student in the art class named Zhang Yuchen. She had gone missing since after school today, and someone saw that she was with you guys this afternoon. Do you remember where you last saw her?"

Silence

"Hello? Su Luozhan? Are you still there?"

"Yes... I am sorry Miss, the reception is poor. You were saying...a girl in the art class?"

"Yes. Zhang Yuchen, the short one, with a ponytail."

"Oh I see. We went to the nearby park after school today. There was a big group of us, some from the other classes too. We hung out there for a little while, then went home separately. I don't know where she went afterwards."

"Is that so? I see. Thanks young lady. Now you go back to bed and don't be late for class tomorrow, alright?"

"Yes Miss. When you find her could you let us know? I am worried for her too."

Lang Qiao turned off the telephone recording: "since there weren't adults around, and since what she said was very similar to the other girls, the teacher didn't take special notice. What do you think about this conversation? I am still in shock to be honest. But I mean, if you really think of it in this way, it makes sense: if the culprit were really a kid, that explains why Qu Tong would trust a complete stranger and get on his car in spite of what just happened, and why Tao Ran and I couldn't isolate a single suspicious vehicle from the security footage... This is so... freaky."

Luo Wenzhou pushed some paper in front of her: "Here is something freaky-ER."

It was Su Luozhan's YMCA registration paper. Under "emergency contact" she put: mother, Su Xiaolan.

The police cars bolted towards the registered address of Su Luozhan. It was located in a rather neat residential area. In the middle of a silent night, the guard -- freshly awakened from his nap, stared at the papers in Luo Wenzhou's hand in confusion.

"Is there a Su family in this building? A single mother with her daughter?"

The guard stared so closely that he became cross-eyed: "N...no no, not really. I....I..I'm quite new here."

"Go find the renter's registration book from the management." Luo Wenzhou gave orders quickly, "Be very careful. If the girl IS the suspect, then it complicates the situation because she will likely be more unstable and unpredictable than adults. Pay special attention not to instigate her. We definitely don't want to escalate the situation in case the victim is still alive."

"Captain Luo, they are in Apartment 401!"

"All clear? Let's move."

In the fourth floor hallway, a SWAT team had finished hiding in the corners. Luo Wenzhou raised his chin to signal Lang Qiao to knock.

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Lang Qiao massaged her hard face -- which was so stiff that it seemed to have suffered from an unsuccessful botox -- and forced out the kindest expression that she could manage. She stepped up and knocked: "Anybody home?"

No one answered.

Lang Qiao felt very uneasy -- she was used to being the ferocious one and was not professional at playing nice.

She squeezed out a soft and gentle question: "Anyone home? I am the new renter upstairs. My bathroom had been leaking today. I'm so sorry...I hope the water didn't leak to your apartment?"

Still no response.

The technical crew member passed her a reverse peephole viewer. Lang Qiao placed it on the peephole and looked inside.

No one was at the entrance. She could see all the way across the entrance hall and into the living room. The room was very dimly lit and the only light source came from the middle of the room. Lang Qiao looked more closely -- it was from an alter. Two red electric candles flanked a black and white portrait.

The somber face of the woman reflected the faint candle light and stared back at Lang Qiao spookily. A chill ran down Lang Qiao's spine. She stepped back.

Luo Wenzhou looked at her inquisitively.

Lang Qiao shivered. Then she quickly shook her head and knocked on the door again: "Hello? Anyone home? If you can't open the door that's fine. I just wanted to ask if water seeped through my floor to your bathroom."

The girls eyes widened in dismay: how dare him not to pick up her call! She tried again, but still no one answered.

She was a very beautiful girl. Her eyes were shaped like almonds; her face was ripe like an apple; her chin was small and delicate like that of a sculpture. Compared to the cheap plastic dolls, she was the one that's more like a doll: the innocence and the glamour reached a perfect balance on her. However, in the next moment, the balance was shattered. Ghastly enmity crawled onto her pretty face as she threw the telephone onto the wall and started screaming hysterically.

At the same time, some noise came from a corner of the pitch dark room, like the whining of a small cub.

The girl in rage abruptly turned around, and flipped the light switch.

Through her teary eyes, the girl in ropes looked up in dismay.

It was the missing girl, Chen Chen.

Meanwhile, Chen Chen's family was waiting anxiously in front of the YMCA building.

Tao Ran stepped aside to take a phone call. Afterwards, he whispered something to Fei Du's ear so the family wouldn't hear it.

"An adult male culprit?" Fei Du's brows tightened, "You mean, the little girl lured Chen Chen into the park. Then, the man appeared, attacked her, and took her away?"

Tao Ran: "What do you think?"

"No...something feels off to me." A silly arm hanging in front of his chest, Fei Du paced around and murmured to himself: "Something isn't right --- Mr. Zhang called his daughter at a little past five, and her phone was off. That means that at that time the abduction was already taking place. One hour later, he tried to locate Chen Chen's phone through the tracking app, but failed, meaning that Chen Chen was already in the hands of the abductors, but they haven't had the time to throw the phone out to distract the police yet --- that happened at least well after six. Why?"

"An adult male -- even if he was handicapped -- shouldn't need that long to seize a little child like Chen Chen." Fei Du's pacing slowed down, "Then, after Chen Chen's in control, the girl put the phone battery back on and purposefully left it for taken --- Why?"

Since they've already removed the battery, it'll be easy to just take the phone apart and throw the pieces away separately. It'll be convenient, and effective too -- even the police dogs wouldn't have a chance to collect all the pieces in such a short time.

On the contrary, leaving it whole and functioning in order to distract the police is a far more dangerous move. Even for an inexperienced kid, as long as she's watched some TV dramas, she should know that there would be more than one police officers in a chase and it would be hard for them to miss.

What's more, what if whoever picks up -- or steals away -- the phone happened to see her face? Wouldn't that be too risky?

"What if... in the Xi-ling abduction case there were two culprits but this time, for whatever reason, the man wasn't on scene and there was only the girl, so it took longer?"

Tao Ran was completely shocked by this idea and what it implied. He grabbed on Fei Du's shoulder: "And the girl wasn't strong enough to complete the killing... and record it on her own, but she knows the tracking app on the phone and she knows the parent will definitely fall for the bait to look for her. She was doing it to torture the parents -- just like sending the recordings!"

To give you some hope and lure you to keep pedaling, only to fall back down into desperation.

However, the timing didn't work out for her this time: she took longer than expected.

"If so, since she wouldn't be able to drag someone unconscious who's her own size, she must have tricked her into following." Fei Du stole a peek at the wailing mother in the distance, "For Chen Chen, who knows that her dad must be looking for her, under what circumstances would she be willing to follow?"

Tao Ran took a deep breath, then whispered: "I don't have my phone with me today. But my home is just around the corner. Your dad is probably looking for you in the campus right now. If you go and look for him too without a call first, it'll be easy to miss him. You could come to my home to make a call."

"Then it must be very close. Much closer than the YMCA. It must be within a short distance that feels safe and comfortable for the child."

Tao Ran snapped the map: "Within one kilometer...no...five hundred meters..."

There was an ancient residential complex about to be torn down. It was merely one block away from the other entrance of the park.

"Wait." Tao Ran said, "The address sounds familiar."

Luo Wenzhou and his team turned Su Luozhan's apartment upside down. The search was focused on any item that could possibly belong to a male -- anything that could lead them to that mysterious man.

Lang Qiao pulled out a drawer full of papers like the ID, the Hu-kou booklet, and various school and hospital registrations. She was flipping through the medical records, while the other files were piled on the floor.

Luo Wenzhou quickly skimmed through the mess. Suddenly, an idea flashed through as he spotted something. He bent down to pick up the apartment deed --- two deeds.

One of them was the deed of this 1B1B apartment. The other one was of some ancient staff dormitary older than Su Xiaolan herself.

"Little Qiao-er, confirm this one for me:" Luo Wenzhou asked, "Twenty years ago when Su Xiaolan was young, was this her registered address?"

Lang Qiao didn't fully understand why he needed it. But, out of her absolute faith in him, she went to verify the address immediately. Before she had made any solid progress though, Luo Wenzhou received a call from the tail that he sent after Xu Wenchao: "Captain Luo, we tapped Xu Wenchao's apartment: there were two consequtive calls that came in just now. He absolutely heard them, but didn't pick up either of them. Could it be that he had noticed us? Oh, and we tracked the incoming number too. Both were from a residential phone. The address is..."

Luo Wenzhou: "Shaonian Road, Trade company building, Unit 3."

The tail was dumbfounded: "My my, Captain! How do you know?"

At the same time, Lang Qiao barged in: "Boss, this WAS the address provided by Su Xiaolan back when she was interviewed as the victim years ago!"

Luo Wenzhou: "Let's move!"