Chapter 241
My intimidation did nothing to frighten the old man. "I already said I don"t know him!" he grinned.
I pointed to the drawing, my voice grave as I stated, "In truth, we’ve managed to determine the exact design for these three contraptions through certain channels. The design you drew is basically the same as the murderer’s. Do you still insist that you have nothing to do with him?"
The old man lit another cigarette and exhaled a cloud of white smoke. "Do you know why?" he asked.
"You’re asking me?"
"Excellent engineers have similar ideas,” he slowly explained. “We use the simplest and most effective way to achieve our goals. I guess this is what they call, ‘Great minds think alike!’"
I hadn’t expected such a reply. Logically speaking, there was nothing wrong with his statement but my intuition told me there was a connection between the two.
Seeing my silence, the old man arrogantly c.o.c.ked his head. "Kiddo, you’re still a bit wet behind the ears. You won’t get any information from me because there’s nothing you could possibly tempt me with,” he stretched his legs, pleased with himself. “I’ve already been sentenced to life imprisonment. How many years do you think I have left to live? Why should I help you?"
I stood up and looked him in the eye, "So you do know something!"
A hint of panic flashed across the old man’s face, confirming my speculation that he knew something. But he soon regained his calm. “If I don’t say anything, what can you do?” he mocked. “This uniform I’m wearing means that I’m protected by law. If you lay a finger on me, you’ll be locked up!"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" I cursed through gritted teeth.
What else could I do but resort to the most contemptible method–bribery?
"You don"t live very well, do you?” I asked. “Why don’t I bring you some of your favorite food and two packets of Chunghwa cigarettes next time?"
Many prisoners on death row and those serving life sentences were willing to give up evidence for a good meal. Criminal investigation films often had such pa.s.sages–when the police bring a plate of dumplings to the criminal, they would drop all defenses and come clean. That wasn’t artistic exaggeration. After all, prisoners were also human and had their own desires.
"Who cares about food?” smiled the old man. “Maybe if you let me spend a night with your mum, I"ll tell you!"
I knew he was deliberately provoking me. As long as I got rough with him, today"s meeting would be over and I would lose the chance to visit him again. My hands trembled with anger, but I refrained from acting.
The old man pointed to the clock on the wall and said, "It’s already time. I think we’re done here."
He got up, ready to leave. I had to think of something. As long as he was human, he must have a weakness!
Just as he was about to open the door, I suddenly cried, "But the man didn’t play by the rules!"
The old man paused, turned around and asked, "What did you say?"
"He didn’t let those who pa.s.sed the trial go!” I continued. “He murdered them instead!"
I explained that the first victim had successfully escaped but was killed in the end. And the second victim was placed in an unfair trial, deliberately causing him to fail.
The old man stood unmoving for five seconds. "You are lying,” he enunciated each word. “Show me proof."
"Fine, that’s easy!" I replied.
I immediately dialed an officer’s number. Aside from Xiaotao and w.a.n.g Yuanchao, I had more than 20 numbers belonging to officers who I usually cooperated with stored in my cell phone. I spoke to one of the technical officers and asked for a screenshot from yesterday"s autopsy video which showed the victim"s back.
A minute later, a picture was sent to my cell phone. I handed it to the old man and summarized, "This man obviously escaped on his own, but he was attacked from the back so the murderer is not a true judge of h.e.l.l."
The old man gnashed his teeth and swore, "That motherf.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d! He’s certainly no apprentice of mine..."
As soon as the words left his lips, the old man realized his slip up and his face turned pale instantly.
It suddenly dawned on me. "He’s your apprentice!"
"I didn’t mean that,” he quickly refuted himself. “I mean, he inherited my mission so he’s just like an apprentice."
Knowing that it was useless for us to continue, I stood up and said, "Take care of yourself, old man. When I catch him, I’ll send you a pack of cigarettes."
The old man suddenly charged at me, startling the daylights out of me. The guards responded quickly, breaking into the room and pressing the old man"s head against the table. Despite repeated instructions for him to behave, the old man shouted at the top of his voice, "Give him a chance! Leave him a way out!"
However, I ignored him and quietly exited the room. Outside, Dali was happy to see me after waiting for some time. He immediately rushed up and asked me if I had obtained any clues. "Let’s go to the university to investigate."
The old man used to be a professor and his students’ files should still be in the school. From his reaction, it was clear that the murderer was very close to him. The relations.h.i.+p between them seemed closer than teacher and pupil, perhaps even father and son.
It was impossible to hail a cab at the gates of the prison. After waiting for what seemed like forever, we finally got lucky. We managed to carpool with a gangster who came to pick up his boss. During the journey, the cheerful gang boss chattered loudly without end, describing how he would find some beautiful ladies to sleep with and beat his enemies to death. He even smoked and spat in the car, making for a terribly uncomfortable atmosphere. Dali and the driver were scared into silence.
Having obtained an important clue, I was in a better mood. "Watch carefully. I’ll show you how to put on a good act!" I whispered to Dali.
I pretended to drop my consultant badge when I pulled out my cell phone, then turned to the gang boss and said, "Excuse me, I dropped something. Can you help me pick it up?"
Just a moment ago, the gang boss was giddily prattling on about which nightclub had the most tender and charming ladies. But upon looking down, he suddenly froze. Then, he looked timidly at me and gulped.
"Boss, I know a new place that’s filled with young students,” his ignorant subordinate continued to jabber on. “I"ll get you a little virgin. You can pop her cherry and have a good time tonight–”
Before he could finish speaking, the gang boss slapped him in the face and glared, "What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? I have to turn over a new leaf after getting out of jail or else I’d be letting the government down!"
Then, he respectfully used both hands to pa.s.s me my badge and smiled from ear to ear. "Excuse our rudeness. We were just fooling around. We don’t mean anything we just said. Please don’t take it seriously."
I took my badge back, patted him on the shoulder and lectured, "You"re finally leaving prison in a car but you don"t want to come back in a prison bus, do you?"
The gang boss nodded fervently. "Yes, I will definitely turn over a new leaf. I’ll never repeat my past mistakes! How should I address you, sir?"
I ignored his question and warned, "I remember you so don"t let me see you in an unlawful situation, okay?"
The gang boss obediently nodded, his att.i.tude a complete 180 from before.
Throughout the rest of our journey, they sat in utter silence, behaving as meek as two students who had just received punishment. "Dude, your acting skills are textbook level!" whispered Dali.
We soon arrived at the mechanical engineering school where the old man used to teach. With my consultant badge, we managed to obtain access to the archives to look for files. The entire process was easy as pie.
The head of the archives department was a middle-aged woman who brought out a whole storage box of student files. "There’s so many?" asked Dali in surprise.
"This isn’t a lot to be honest,” said the person in charge. “A professor usually teaches five or six cla.s.ses a semester. Qi Sheng taught for more than 30 years so you can count for yourself how many files that would be."
It was undoubtedly a huge project to check the files one by one. "We’ll take these files with us first, screen though each of them and return them in two days," I said.
The head of the archive department was somewhat reluctant at my request. But seeing that I worked with the police, she eventually agreed. After I thanked her, she asked, "Isn"t Qi Sheng already in prison? Why is the police still investigating him? Did he commit another crime?"
"I’m sorry but we can’t reveal that information,” I replied. “I’d also like to speak to the teachers in the school who were close to Qi Sheng."
"You should speak to his ex-wife. She was also a teacher at this school."
I was pleasantly surprised. "Where can I find her?" I asked.
“You’re looking right at her!" She pointed to herself.