Chapter 15 Missing Young Men “Zhuxuan, that was a long line for coffee today. Am I late?” Teng’s voice reached us before he did. I ran to the door and whispered, “be serious, Old Peng is here.”
“Oh no!” Teng wailed.
Lao Peng snorted at the sight of Teng and surprisingly didn’t do a lecture. He opened the file. “I have no time to educate you today. I got a new case this morning, and it’s a complicated one. Take a look. Our bosses say we have to solve this in five days.”
I realized the reason for the deadline when I read the file; the case involved Little Hui, the son of some important bureaucrat. The case surprised me with its type, however, four men, including Little Hui, had gone missing in the past month.
The victims’ ages ranged from 28- to 30-years-old and they were all married. Usually, men of this age were more mature and had good self-protective ability.
“Four people missing in a month? That’s a lot of pressure.” Teng mumbled, probably feeling like this was a hairy case.
Lao Peng nodded at his words. “Right, since the victims were all young men, we didn’t take it seriously at first. We a.s.sumed they were traveling or doing something and didn’t tell their families, that they’d be back in a few days. It wasn’t until the third man went missing that we put a priority on it. After the initial investigation didn’t turn up anything, the family for the most recent victim, Little Hui, came to us. Their files are all here. Take a good look.”
First victim: Wu Jun, 28-years-old, married, has a six-year-old son. Works as a doctor. Wife called police after she couldn’t reach him after work. Missing for twenty-seven days. After investigating his workplace, the hospital, nothing unusual came up. He worked normally the day before, and no one knew where he went after work. His wife said he always went home after work and if there was an event, he’d let her know. His few friends didn’t know anything.
Second victim: Zhao Yu, 30-years-old, married, has a nine-year-old daughter. Operates a skincare clinic. His wife called the police after two days of no contact, since he was always very busy. Missing for nineteen days. Wife said the second clinic was opening soon, and thought he was just busy working. His employees and friends didn’t know anything.
Third victim: Zhou Liang, 29-years-old, married, has a 6-year-old daughter. When he didn’t come home one night, wife contacted the police. Operates a restaurant. Missing for eleven days. He always left work after the restaurant closed, and didn’t get home until midnight sometimes. His wife saw he was not home, calls to him went nowhere, and his employees said he left the afternoon before. Friends had no information.
Fourth victim: Little Hui, the son of some VIP politician, 28-years-old. Has a 2-year-old daughter and an one-month-old son. Operates a TV and film company. Wife called the police after not reaching him for three days. Missing for three days. He was usually very busy and rarely came home at night, which was why his wife wasn’t alarmed until three days later. Supposedly left work at two PM the day before he went missing.
All four men seemed accomplished. They’ve had some experience by this age, and probably had some charisma too. All of them were local, and they didn’t know each other.
“I don’t get it. Did they go missing for the same reason? There’s four of them, and they’re pretty healthy and young. What would make them go missing? If the cases are not related and we investigated them together, it’d be a waste of time.” Teng frowned.
He was right. If some of the cases were not missing-person cases and just the men not contacting their families, it’d be hard for us to investigate. My instinct, however, told me the same reason made them go missing.
“Let’s split up, we’ll interview the families and work people. Make sure to find out if there’s any interaction among them. We have to go over their online and real life presence. Check their phones, computers...” Haoran ordered as we all rushed to follow his direction.
After one day of investigation, we confirmed there were no bodies of unknown males in the city, nor any clues from missing people notices. As we continued to search, we did find some similarities among the men.
Since the first three victims have been missing for longer, interviews with their social contacts, work people, and families were more complete. The victims seemed like family men on paper, but they all had lovers, and none of their wives knew.
The victims all had children as well; they were the kind of men who had families and mistresses. The last victim, Little Hui, was even more blatant. He had several lovers, which his wife knew and couldn’t control.
From these obvious clues, I was more sure than ever of my guess. The cases could definitely be combined into one investigation. There was no record of them leaving the city, and their cars were all found near their workplaces. It was as if they went missing without any signs at all.
The five days we were given to solve the case was not enough time. We all worked late until midnight that day to organize the information and interviews, but we got nothing.
“Any ideas after today?” Haoran asked with red eyes as he stood in front of the blackboard.
I looked at the blackboard which was covered with everything about the case and could feel a headache. Yawning, Teng asked, “First of all, none of the four men had any interaction or knew each other. There were no male bodies found lately, so we won’t consider their being dead for now. There’s no record of them leaving the city from train stations, bus stations, airports, etc. They had families, and lovers. They didn’t seem to have enemies, or debts, or owed people money, so we can ignore financial conflicts.”
As I listened to Teng’s a.n.a.lysis, I read the blackboard. It was very bizarre that four men would go missing in one month and there’s nothing suspicious. Their families and friends didn’t know anything. Their workplaces were no help. It was really strange.
If the same person did all four cases, how did they manage to be so quiet and not leave any clues? The first victim has been gone for twenty-seven days, and he may be dead already.
“Zhuxuan, what are your thoughts?” Haoran stared at me as he interrupted my musing.
I pursed my lips. “There must be something we’re overlooking. There’s so many victims here the investigation would be too scattered, and the first few victims have been gone for so long, it’d be hard to search now. How about this... let’s start with Little Hui, the most recent victim?”