It’s past midnight. There has been misty rain all night.
Bo JinYan comes out from the bathroom in his black pyjamas. His hair, still damp, is combed behind his ears. He takes a look at the bed. Jyao is sleeping with her head buried in the pillow. Her long hair scattered on the white bed sheets.
He looks at her for a while. Then he walks over to the window. Drops of water forms and drips down on the window as the soft rain hits the gla.s.s. He gives Fu ZiYu a call.
Fu ZiYu does not sound pleased: “Do you know what time it is? I have to perform an operation at 9am tomorrow!”
Bo JinYan looks at the clock on the wall, and answers accurately: “1:20am.” He says without any guilt or shame in his voice.
But Fu ZiYu knows he is calling for a reason at this hour, so he asks: “…. What’s bothering you?”
“We’ve lost him.” Bo JinYan says in a low voice, “He vows to commit more serious crimes. He might be targeting people who are close to me. Please be careful.”
Fu ZiYu is quiet for a while, then he says: “Ok. I will. Don’t worry about me. How are you and Jian yao doing?”
Bo JinYan answers: “I am fine. But Jian yao…. one of her good friends may have become the Flower Cannibal’s victim.”
Fu ZiYu gives a small sigh: “Please send my regards.”
“Will do.”
Fu ZiYu says to him: “I know you are preoccupied with the case. But as a boyfriend, make sure you spend more time with her and comfort her.”
His words are what Bo JinYan has in mind. He frowns.
Fu ZiYu waits for a response. But whenhe doesn"t get one for more than a minute, he ask: “What is it?”
Bo JinYan asks faintly: “What should I do to comfort her?
He sees her grieving for her best friend. But this genius/natural born lover is running out of ideas.
Fu ZiYu smiles. He thinks for a while, then says: “Simple. When she is feeling down, sing to her. I guarantee she will laugh.”
Bo JinYan shows disbelief on his face: “No way?!” Then he hangs up.
Jian yao pushes herself to sit up on the bed. She is awake. Her eyes are still swollen from all the crying she did yesterday, her face looks pale under the light.
“Jinyan.” She calls him softly.
Bo JinYan walks over and sits down beside her.
He is as handsome as ever. His black eyes looking gently at her. He is concerned about her.
“Are you feeling better now?” He asks with a warm voice.
Jian yao nods: ‘Yes, better.”
“Then give me a kiss.”
Jian yao’s voice is still a little coa.r.s.e: “Are you a kid?”
Bo JinYan looks at her: “Yesterday, you left at least one litre of tears on my s.h.i.+rt - who’s the kid?”
She remembers Li Xun Ran. The crime scene. Li Xun Ran’s empty house, his police uniform hanging in his room….
Her heart aches again. She tells herself to be brave. There is still hope. They didn’t find a body.
She lifts up her head to look at Bo JinYan: “Have you never cried in your life?”
“No.” He replies: “Ever since I was a child. As far I can remember, I have never shed a tear.”
Jian yao looks at his face. She tries to imagine Bo JinYan as a kid, never shed a tear.
A lot of old memories suddenly come back to Bo JinYan. He frowns and and continues: “But the tragic thing is, a lot of people cried in front of me.”
It took Jian yao a moment to understand what he is trying to say.
So, the man that can’t cry, don’t like to see other people shedding tears in front of him either.
But….
Except for the tears of joy from those whom were saved by him, the others probably cried because of his sharp inconsiderate comments.
But of course she wouldn’t tell him that. She reaches out her hand to hug him from behind.
Bo JinYan obviously enjoys the intimacy. She sits quietly, with her face lightly touching his back.
Jian yao asks softly: “Those six month…. how did you survive it?”
Bo JinYan pauses for a while, then he lies down on bed and scoop her into his arms: “Just.. a day at a time, according to my plans. Nothing special about that. As for the injuries, that’s just a price that I had to pay.”
He says it so lightly. Jian yao knows it must have been very difficult. She is both sad but proud of him. No matter how rough it was, he can dismiss it, just like that.
————————
It’s almost dawn. The rain is getting heavier. The quietness is broken by rolling rumbling sound of thunder from afar.
Bo JinYan opens his eyes. The room is still dark. Jian yao is resting in his arms, sleeping soundly. Her face seems more relaxed. She is not frowning anymore. And the puffiness around her eyes has faded too.
He looks at her quietly, and the question she asked earlier comes back to him: “Those six months… how did you survive it?”
Lots of unimaginable and dreadful scenes come to mind: pools of blood everywhere, dismembered body parts, trays of human flesh, blood that flows down along his back and drips into a gla.s.s everyday…
He closes his eye and leans to sniff her hair. The fresh fragrance helps to clear his mind. He goes back to sleep.
He doesn’t want to tell her about his past. The truth is too painful for her to bear. There’s no need for her to know.
——————
The next morning. Police conference room.
It’s more than 24 hours since the disappearance of Li Xun Ran. The police have deployed a large number of officers to search the neighbouring cities. Highway checkpoints are set up, and there’s an alert for all police offices across the country.
The text message Bo JinYan received traced back to a mobile phone that is left in the rubbles of the firework factory. It was installed with a program to automatically send out the text at a preset time. As expected, there’s no fingerprint. It’s another dead end.
Around the conference table, everyone looks concerned. The team leader of the special team asks Bo JinYan: “Professor Bo, what do you think his next step will be?”
Bo JinYan is wearing a black suit with a while s.h.i.+rt. He stands up and says: “There is no such thing as a perfect crime. There are only evidences that we have not discovered. It’s the first time he is personally committing a crime. He will need time to plan and prepare. I guess that take between ten to twenty days.”
One of the officers asks: “Professor, why is it between ten to twenty days?”
Bo JinYan answers calmly: “ I did an estimate. If it was me who was planning a complicated and sophisticated crime, it would take ten days.”
Jian yao is probably the only person there who don’t doubt Bo JinYan’s estimation. She writes down the numbers in her note book: “10 to 20 days.”
Then, Anam, who is quietly sitting at the corner of the room working on his laptop suddenly speaks: “I found something.”
Anam picks up the remote. The projector shows an image on screen.
It shows the back of a black SUV driving on the road. Anam explains: “I managed to enlarge the image to give us a registration plate - T05893.”
All the police recognise the background of where the car is as well: “It’s on the road to the fireworks factory.”
Anam nods: “There are three other surveillance cameras on that road. All were damaged.” This is an old camera installed many years ago. It’s hidden behind a tree, in a secluded location. But because of its age and location, the images are quite blurry. It took me a while to sharpen the image.’
“I have checked out the car.” He continues: “It belongs to a local car rental company. The person who booked it used a false name to register, and he never showed his face to the staff.”
Bo JinYan looks at Jian yao. He seems to have thought of something. Jian yao seems to understand what his train of thought….
One of the old officers says: “Perhaps Li Xun Ran lured the criminal to the factory. The fireworks factory, old train station… During the “Killer Machine” case, Li Xun Ran was in charged of recording the locations of all the surveillance cameras. He knows where every camera is…”
Everyone is quiet. Jian yao’s heart is still aching. She sits down quietly.
He is in the hands of a cunning criminal. His life is in danger. And he is trying his best to leave clues for them.
Bo JinYan turns to ask Anam: “Where is the car now?” He says calmly. He seems to be sure that Anam has found the location of this car.
And Anam doesn’t disappoint him. He gives his first smile since Jian yao and the others have met him. When he smiles, two adorable dimples appear on each cheek.
He shows the next image.
It’s the entry to a highway. It’s late at night. There are not a lot of cars in the picture. And it is dark, they can’t see who the driver is. But the signboards are bright. They can clearly read it’s the highway that leads to the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal. The route to get to Hong Kong.
Everyone is stunned. If ‘he’ has thrown down his challenge to war, why is he going to Hong Kong?
—————-
Fifteen days later.
Cresent City, California. USA. Pelican Bay Prison.
At twilight, the fields and forest look like they are covered by a grey veil. The prison are dotted with guards patrolling the prison that holds some of the most notorious criminals in the US.
Jyao and BJY are standing on the lawn outside the prison. There are a few representatives from the Chinese emba.s.sy and the FBI with them - they are waiting to see Tommy.
Since ‘he’ ‘disappeared’ to Hong Kong, it’s even harder to track him. Two weeks has pa.s.sed. Little progress has been made.
It is likely ‘he’ will commit a crime anytime. It’s like time bomb waiting to explode.
The night winds are brisk and cold. Jian yao zips up her jacket. Bo JinYan has a long black trench coat. He looks at her: “Wait outside when I talk to Tommy.”
Jian yao nods: “Be careful.”
The guard opens the gate for Bo JinYan.
—————
A room without window. Thin concrete walls. A metallic yellow door with a series of complex locks on it.
Jian Yao and others stands inside the room next to this cell. There is a one way gla.s.s so they can observe the interactions between Bo JinYan and Tommy.
Bo JinYan is sitting alone under a blazing white light. He looks calm and collected. Two guards are standing at the door.
Then slowly, a young white man in yellow prison uniform shows up.
He is not how Jian yao has expected. He looks more ‘gentle’ and cleanly shaven than that in the pictures in Bo JinYan’s files at home.
But when you look into his eyes, your heart will be startled.
Those blue eyes, is the colour of a still blue lake. There is a smile on his face, like he doesn’t care about anything in the world. His gaze is completely cold. It’s a pair of eyes that belong to a serial killer.
Tommy sits opposite Bo JinYan. The guards leave and close the door behind them. Only Bo JinYan and Tommy are left in the room.
Bo JinYan looks at him: “Hi.”
Tommy shows a smile: “Hi.”
The two of them then keeps quiet. Bo JinYan don’t seem to be in a hurry to ask him any questions.
“You are different.” Tommy says to him.
Bo JinYan looks at him. He remains quiet.
Tommy laughs: “There’s a scent of a woman on you.”
On the other side of the gla.s.s, Jian yao’s heart tightens. Then she hears Tommy says: “I want to see her. If she shows up, I will tell you the ident.i.ty of the person you are looking for.”
(Extra story - His voice 1)
In the two weeks that Li Xun Ran was missing, Jian yao found it hard to sleep sometimes. She would toss and turn all night, thinking about her good friend. When her fidgety woke him up, he looked gently at her frowned brows. He wished there were something that he could do to make her feel better.
One night, Jian yao was half asleep when she heard some voice. It sounded like someone singing. It’s a popular song. She was not fully conscious, and she can’t really remember what’s the name of the song, even though it does sound very familiar. But she also thought the tune sounded funny. It’s like every note was sung wrong. She subconsciously wanted to tell the person that his singing was off, and that it’s almost painful to listen to his singing….
The next morning, when Jian yao woke up, Bo JinYan was already out of bed and changed. He was in his white s.h.i.+rt and trousers, looking smart standing beside the bed. He smiled at her: “Did you sleep well last night?”
Jian yao sat on bed, and shook her head: “No. I dreamt of the Flower Cannibal.”
Bo JinYan is startled. He looked concerned. Then Jian yao continued: “I dreamt that he was singing in my ears.”
Bo JinYan has no expressions on his face: “Oh, how was it?”
Jian yao looked like there’s still lingering fear in her: “To use the term you say all the time - it was a disaster.”
Bo JinYan kept quiet for a while. Then with a slightly blushed face, he started to walk out of the room. Jian yao heard his voice coming from the corridor: “I a.s.sure you. You will never hear him sing again.”