Profiler

CHAPTER 23

Shortly after falling asleep at around three in the morning, Tai Wei was woken by the ringing of his cell phone.

Stumbling out of bed, he grabbed for his phone and flipped it open, his eyes still closed. "Hello?"

"Is this Officer Tai?"

"Yeah. Who's this?"

"I apologize for waking you," said the voice over the phone. "I'm Li Weidong from the Baita PSB substation in SuijingCity. Do you remember me?"

Li Weidong? Tai Wei did remember him. Once when Tai Wei had gone to SuijingCity to arrest an armed fugitive he had made contact with the Baita substation. As he recalled, Li Weidong was quite a drinker.

"Oh, it's you, Weidong. Nice to hear from you."

Li Weidong gave a slight, embarrassed laugh. "I know it's very late, and I really am sorry, but there's something I need to discuss with you. Do you know a Fang Mu?"

All of Tai Wei's sleepiness immediately disappeared. "Fang Mu? Yes, I know him. Why?"

"At this moment he's in our custody."

"In your custody? What happened?"

"An old women died in our district last night, and he was found at the scene."

"Are you saying…?"

"No, it's not that. The results of our medical examiners just came back, and at this point there's no evidence that he was involved. However, when we asked him what he was doing there, he said he was investigating a crime and asked us to call you."

"Oh, I understand." Tai Wei knew exactly what had happened. SuijingCity was Meng Fanzhe's hometown, and the dead woman was most likely his mother. "Weidong, tell me if this sounds acceptable. For now, don't interrogate him. I'd stake my life on Fang Mu not having had anything to do with the woman's death. I'm going to head over there right now. Once I'm there we can figure all this out."

"Fine by me," said Li Weidong, without hesitation.

Tai Wei rushed over to the Suijing City Baita substation. By the time he arrived it was already 6:30 a.m. Li Weidong was waiting for him in the courtyard.

With no time for proper greetings, Tai Wei got right to the point. "Where's Fang Mu?"

Li Weidong led him to the entrance of the detainment room. Through the small window in the door, Tai Wei could see Fang Mu curled up asleep on one of the benches, a police-issue sleeping bag wrapped around him. Part of his face was bruised.

"You guys hit him?" Tai Wei asked, frowning.

"Yeah," said Li Weidong, laughing with embarrassment. "He was struggling like crazy at the scene last night. He probably got struck a few times."

When they were back in Li Weidong's office, Li Weidong politely handed Tai Wei a cigarette.

The cigarette burned away between Tai Wei's fingers, his impatience growing. "So what exactly happened?"

"It's like this," Li Weidong said. "Last night we received a call from a resident of the Golden Pedestal residential area on North Riverbend Street. He said that while making a call out on the terrace he happened to notice someone standing in front of an apartment on the fourth floor walkway across from him. The man continued to watch this person as he made his call, and saw that after knocking a few times, the person walk inside the apartment. The caller said he was surprised to see that the person did not turn on any lights. Then, when he saw a small flame appear inside, and noticed that the intruder had pulled out a knife, he was so startled that he called us immediately. Because some of the men from our substation happened to be in the area breaking up a gambling ring, they were able to quickly swing by." He paused for a moment. "When we arrived at the scene and saw the dead woman, we realized that the situation was very serious, so we brought the kid back here."

"Was the dead woman named Dong Guizhi?"

"Yeah," said Li Weidong, surprised. "How'd you know?"

"She's the relative of the suspect in a case we were investigating recently," said Tai Wei simply. It was clear to him Fang Mu had gone to SuijingCity because of Meng Fanzhe.

"Did he say anything about what he was doing at the crime scene?"

"At first he didn't say, just kept telling us that we needed to go back to the scene and look at the marks on one of the windows," Li Weidong said, "saying it was extremely important. So while we questioned him, we notified one of the officers at the scene to check the window for any marks."

"Marks? What marks?"

"Who knows? The officer inspected the window that Fang Mu was talking about. The inside of it was covered in water droplets and was marked by nothing, and the outside had already been wiped clean by all the neighbors who pressed against it to see what was going on. The officer didn't find a thing."

"Then what happened?"

"Then Fang Mu told us to look for a letter at the crime scene and told us the date it was sent. I relayed this information to the officers at the scene. They searched through a huge stack of letters, but didn't find anything from the day Fang Mu was talking about. After that, he gave us your number and told us to contact you."

Tai Wei didn't say anything further, silently smoking. When his cigarette was gone, he looked at his watch. It was almost seven. "Can I take him back with me now?"

"I'm afraid not," said Li Weidong. "As of right now, Fang Mu is still too tied up in the case. However, my fellow officers are working as fast as they can, and if all goes well, we should reach a preliminary conclusion on the case soon."

At that moment a young policeman walked into the room, carrying several large plastic bags. Some were filled with soybean milk, others with deep-fried twisted dough sticks and stuffed steamed buns.

"Put them in here," said Li Weidong, indicating several stainless bowls on the desk. He motioned to Tai Wei. "Why don't you have something to eat? You must be hungry, too." He turned back to the young officer. "Take several steamed buns to Fang Mu and give him some hot water, too."

While they ate, Li Weidong asked Tai Wei about the case he had mentioned. Since it was already closed, Tai Wei decided there was no harm in talking about it, so he briefly described the particulars to Li Weidong.

"No wonder," Li Weidong said with a smile. "Yesterday when we were about to question the kid, he quickly listed all his rights before we even had time to read them to him. He sounded like he was even more familiar with criminal procedure than we were. It figures that he's a grad student."

As he finished speaking, an officer with heavy bags under his eyes opened the door and looked to him. "Weidong, can I have a word with you?"

Wiping his mouth, Li Weidong turned to Tai Wei. "You keep eating. I'll be back in a little bit."

Li Weidong was gone for more than an hour. When he returned, it was with Fang Mu.

When they entered the room, Fang Mu continued to ask Li Weidong his most-pressing questions. "Did you find the letter? What was written on the window?"

Ignoring him, Li Weidong turned to Tai Wei and said, "Everything's been pretty much straightened out. In a moment I'll need you to sign a few forms and then you can take him back."

Fang Mu's dissatisfaction with the matter was still evident on his face, but Tai Wei gave him a glance that told him not to say anything else. He tossed Fang Mu a cigarette. Fang Mu caught it, looked over at Li Weidong, and then sat reluctantly in one of the chairs and lit the cigarette..

"So there's no problem?" Tai Wei asked Li Weidong.

"Nope. Our medical examiners worked through the night to make an autopsy of the corpse, which confirmed that the woman died of a heart-attack," Li Weidong said. "As it turned out, the old lady had a serious case of rheumatic heart disease. We found a number of rats while investigating the apartment and believe that one of them probably scared her to death. Also," he said, pointing at Fang Mu, who was sullenly smoking, "we found a train ticket and taxi cab receipt in one of his pockets. We contacted the cab driver and he remembered Fang Mu well because he had given three renminbi more than the fare. The driver confirmed the time he had dropped him off, which was over an hour after Dong Guizhi had died."

Not seeming to care that he had just been freed of suspicion, Fang Mu asked again: "What about the letter? And the marks on the window?"

Li Weidong looked at him. "We couldn't find the letter you were talking about, and as for that window, there were no marks when we checked. Take a look at this picture if you don't believe me." He took a picture out of the folder he was holding and handed it to Fang Mu.

Fang Mu studied the picture for a long time, turning it in every direction. At last, without saying a word, he placed it on the table and stared unhappily at the floor.

"Although we still don't understand why you were at the crime scene, we have determined that this was merely a coincidence," Li Weidong said. "Therefore, once we take care of a few formalities, you'll be free to go."

"It wasn't a coincidence!" Fang Mu suddenly yelled in agitation.

"Keep quiet!" Tai Wei roared. He turned to Li Weidong. "In that case, let's take care of this stuff so I can take him back."

Li Weidong nodded and left the office.

Tai Wei looked back to Fang Mu. "You want them to keep you locked up in here? If not, then the less you say, the better!"

Fang Mu didn't reply, just took a deep drag on his cigarette.

After the paperwork was finished, Tai Wei and Fang Mu were allowed to leave. While retrieving his personal belongings, Fang Mu discovered that his dagger was no longer there, and when he asked the policeman in charge, he was told that the knife had been confiscated. Finding this unacceptable, Fang Mu demanded that they return it to him, refusing to leave if they did not.

Seeing no other choice, Tai Wei went to find Li Weidong again, and at last they got the dagger back.

After politely refusing Li Weidong's invitation to get something to eat, Tai Wei took Fang Mu to the jeep and they headed back to JiangbinCity. As soon as Fang Mu was inside, he lay down in the back and fell into a gloomy sleep.

Seeing the exhausted expression on Fang Mu's face, Tai Wei sighed and turned up the heat in the jeep.

After driving for over an hour, Tai Wei saw in the rear-view mirror that Fang Mu had sat up and was drowsily licking his cracked lips.

"You're awake?" Tai Wei noted. He passed Fang Mu a half-full bottle of water.

Fang Mu emptied the bottle in one gulp. He leaned silently against the seat back and stared out the window, still dazed.

"Talk to me," Tai Wei insisted. "Why did you go to Meng Fanzhe's home?"

Fang Mu didn't immediately respond. After a while he said slowly, "Meng Fanzhe's mother called me and said that before her son's incident, he had sent her a letter. In it he mentioned my name, and said that if anything ever happened to him, she should give the letter to me."

"Oh? And what did the letter say?"

"I don't know. You heard him yourself; they didn't find it at the scene."

"Then what were those marks you were talking about?"

"When the police arrested me," Fang Mu said wearily, "I saw what appeared to be symbols written onto the window glass. But now they're gone."

"Symbols? What did they look like?"

Fang Mu thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. They didn't look Chinese. It was almost like…eh…" He thumped his head. "I just can't remember."

"Forget it; don't think too much about this," said Tai Wei as they passed a truck. "And make sure you take it easy when you get back. You're lucky the old lady's death was just an accident or I never would have gotten you out of there so fast."

"It was not an accident!"

"How is a heart-attack not an accident? Or are you saying someone killed her?"

"When I entered the apartment, the door was unlocked. Does that sound normal to you?"

"She was probably just careless, accidentally let in a few rats and then was so startled that she had a heart-attack."

"Not only was the door unlocked, the lights were all off…"

"Maybe she was about to go to sleep?" It sounded more like a question than a statement as Tai Wei said it.

"Are you wearing your daytime clothes when you turn off the lights to go to sleep?"

For a moment Tai Wei was tongue-tied. Then after thinking for a while, he said, "The old lady probably just got back and forgot to shut the door. Maybe she was feeling really tired, so she lay down on the sofa to take a nap. After sleeping for a little while, she suddenly felt something crawl across her body. So, she reached out to see what it was, discovered it was a rat, and then had a heart-attack and died." He looked back at Fang Mu in the rear-view mirror. "Well, what do you think?"

Fang Mu snorted in disbelief at the scenario. "If you don't want to believe me, fine, but don't act like I'm an idiot!"

Insulted, Tai Wei glared angrily at him in the mirror. He continued driving, not saying a word.

After the jeep traveled in silence for a while, Fang Mu suddenly asked, "While going through Meng Fanzhe's things, did you find any hospital receipts or medical records or things like that?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Meng Fanzhe's mother said that in his letter he mentioned a doctor."

"A doctor?" Tai Wei's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "How can there be another doctor?"

"What do you mean another?" asked Fang Mu immediately.

"Um… Do you still remember the letter that Ma Kai wrote you?" He avoided Fang Mu's eyes. "In it he also mentioned a doctor."

Fang Mu lunged forward. "You read the letter?"

"I just glanced over it," Tai Wei quickly explained, shrugging. "When he gave it to me, I honestly couldn't resist taking a look at it, but before I could actually read it I was ordered to go take care of something else."

"What did it say?"

"Like I said, I only read a few sentences, but basically he was saying that he was not a bad person, and that he had previously gone to a doctor for treatment, but unfortunately this had not gotten rid of his illness."

When Fang Mu didn't say anything for a long time, Tai Wei looked at him hovering at the seat back. "What? Are you thinking that these doctors are the same person?"

Fang Mu shook his head. "I don't know."

For a moment Tai Wei was lost in thought, attention back on the road. "You shouldn't think about this stuff anymore," he said at last. "Meng Fanzhe's case is already closed. Get some rest when you get back and you'll feel a lot better."

"You don't think it's suspicious that the letter has disappeared?"

Tai Wei was silent for a moment. "Fang Mu," he said slowly, "it's not that I don't believe you; it's just that Meng Fanzhe was this woman's only child, and the amount of pain she must have been in would have made it difficult for her to control herself. I'm certain that she was never able to accept that her son could have actually done these terrible things, and was noting every suspicious detail as evidence to help her reverse the verdict. As for that letter, I truly doubt that it ever existed. She probably just wanted you to come see her and used this as an excuse."

"Reverse the verdict? Then why didn't she just call you guys directly?"

"You were his victim. Perhaps what the old lady wanted to know most was why Meng Fanzhe wanted to kill you."

Fang Mu snorted in disillusion this time. He lay down on the back seat again, not saying a word.

Tai Wei looked back at him. "You hungry?" he asked after a few thoughtful moments. "Want me to grab you some food at the gas station up ahead?"

There was a weighty pause, and then he finally heard Fang Mu's muffled voice reply, "I'm fine. Thanks."

Tai Wei just shook his head helplessly, and stepped on the gas.

It was almost noon when they arrived at the JiangbinCityUniversity gates. Tai Wei invited Fang Mu to get something to eat at one of the little restaurants nearby, but Fang Mu stiffly refused, grabbed his bag, and headed into campus without looking back.

Tai Wei watched him disappear into the crowd of people walking through the gate.

"Stubborn bastard," he muttered to himself, and then shut the door, got back in, and started up the jeep.

As the engine idled, he sat with his hands on the steering wheel, lost in thought. After hesitating for some time, he pulled out his phone and dialed.

"Hello? Brother Tai?" Li Weidong's voice sounded over the receiver.

"Yeah, it's me. You guys really didn't discover that letter at the scene?"

Li Weidong laughed. "What is it? You don't believe me?"

"No, no, no. I was just asking."

"Well, we really didn't find it. You want me to send someone over there to look again?"

"Yeah, that would be great." Tai Wei quickly added, "Also, could I trouble you guys to check one more time for any signs that someone else might have entered the apartment?"

"All right. However, we've recently been focusing on gambling and automobile theft, so our numbers are a little limited. When I get a chance I'll definitely send someone over there to check, and if they find anything I'll let you know."

"Thanks a lot. Now I've got some stuff to take care of, so I'll talk to you later." After hanging up the phone, Tai Wei looked back toward the campus entrance. Crowds of students were walking in and out, talking and laughing, their faces free of worry.

Could there really have been a letter?

Could the killer really be someone else?

Could we really have made a mistake?

These were possibilities that Tai Wei could not accept.

Du Yu wasn't around. That was lucky, because otherwise there would have been no end to the questions.

Fang Mu tossed his backpack onto his chair and then lay heavily on the bed.

His whole body hurt and the bruises on his face were still swollen. When he lay against the pillow, the pain made him groan.

With difficulty, he rolled over. He really wanted to go to sleep, but although he closed his eyes, he stayed wide awake. Two vague shapes refused to leave his mind.

The symbols on the window.

He got gingerly out of bed and sat at his desk. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, he tried as hard as he could to remember what he had seen the night before, and as he thought, he drew.

In fact, he wasn't even sure whether what he saw was man-made or just random smudges in-between the droplets on that window. Bit by bit, as his memory grew, the symbols took shape.

There was a total of two shapes. The one on the left looked a little like a "9" with a short horizontal line through the middle, while the one on the right sort of resembled the letter "A".

Fang Mu picked up the piece of paper and looked at it from every possible angle, but he still couldn't figure anything out. He tossed it aside, took out a cigarette, and glumly smoked it.

Someone had reached Meng Fanzhe's house before him, snatched the letter, and killed Meng Fanzhe's mother. From this he could deduce two things: First, this person knew about the letter and knew that Fang Mu was going to the house as well. Second, he knew Meng Fanzhe's mother had heart problems and was scared of mice.

Fang Mu thought back to when he had received Meng Fanzhe's mother's call in the library. Had there been anyone else around? Who were they? But he couldn't remember a thing. At the time he had been so engrossed in what she was saying that he hadn't paid any attention to the scene around him.

At the time he had considered having Meng Fanzhe's mother read him the letter over the phone, but fearing that this might get her too excited and worsen her heart condition, he'd decided against it. In the long run, however, it seemed that this decision had cost her life.

Exhausted, he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes.

Meng Fanzhe had raised a cat, which meant that he was probably scared of rats. In fact, people's fears were mostly acquired from experiences earlier in life. So Meng Fanzhe's fear of rats probably came from his mother. Perhaps when he was young he saw his mother become terrified of a rat, and as a result, gradually developed this fear himself.

In which case, someone who knew that Meng Fanzhe's mother was scared of rats would also be someone who deeply understood Meng Fanzhe.

And the only person who could have gotten Meng Fanzhe to reveal such personal information was probably that doctor.

If this person really existed, then Fang Mu's initial deduction was correct: At first, this doctor had given Meng Fanzhe a certain amount of psychotherapy, helping him to overcome his fear of roll call, and probably also his fear of rats; it had been he who suggested Meng Fanzhe get a cat. In this way, Meng Fanzhe would have begun to deeply trust and rely on this doctor, even to the point where he would do whatever he was told.

In which case, beginning with the 7/1 double homicide, had Meng Fanzhe carried out all these murders under this doctor's control?

Most likely not. Fang Mu rejected this possibility almost immediately. First, although Meng Fanzhe had a weak personality, he was still a law graduate student and would have never agreed to kill someone. Second, even supposing that the doctor hypnotized Meng Fanzhe, the likelihood was still very low. Although movies often depicted hypnosis as being almost supernaturally powerful, from a criminal justice standpoint, it had never been proven that a person could be hypnotized into committing a murder; not to mention that no one under hypnosis could be capable of planning and carrying out crimes as detailed and meticulous as these.

In which case, could this doctor have been responsible for all the murders?

Fang Mu couldn't help but shiver.

What kind of person is this, and why is he after me?

Someone knocked on the door, jolting his thoughts. When Fang Mu opened it, Deng Linyue stood there.

He subconsciously turned his head as soon as he realized it was her, but she had already seen the bruises on his face.

A small gasp escaped her. "My God, what happened?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing," he mumbled, waving her into the room.

But she wouldn't let up so easily and insisted that he tell her what happened.

Unable to dissuade her, he had no choice but to explain everything.

When he had finished, Deng Linyue didn't say anything in response, just wordlessly sat beside his bed.

After a long silence, she asked, "Is this…really what you want to do?"

"What do you mean?"

She looked up. Placing her hand on his knee, she looked into his eyes and said, "You don't want to just be an ordinary person? Studying hard, graduating, and then going abroad with me? That's not good enough for you?"

Fang Mu looked down and said nothing. He gently moved her hand away and shook his head.

"Why?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears. "Do you think your life is normal? Do you think you're happy like this?

His voice was soft as he spoke. "No."

"Then why are you doing this?" Deng Linyue suddenly jumped to her feet. "Are you a policeman? Is this your duty? Or is someone forcing you?"

When she saw that he wasn't going to respond, she bit her lip in an attempt to calm down. "Fang Mu, I admit that the reason I love you is because you're someone who has experienced a lot. There's an indescribable sort of force around you, and this made me curious. It also captivated me, and made me feel secure. But after I fell in love with you, I found that this force also scared me." The questions seemed to come tumbling out. "Why does so much death always seem to follow you? Why must you always place yourself in such dangerous situations? After what he did, that boy Meng deserved to die, so what does that have to do with you? Why do you have to get yourself tangled up in it? Why do you have to cause so much pointless trouble?" She paused. "When you were doing all this, did you ever think of me?"

Fang Mu looked up. "Meng Fanzhe isn't the killer. The killer is someone else."

"Then so what? Why don't you just not worry about it? Why don't you just let the police do their jobs? Why don't you just be a normal student?"

He smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Impossible." He held her attention. "There are so many things… You just wouldn't understand."

"What wouldn't I understand? Tell me!" She sat down beside him and wiped away the tears forming. Her eyes never leaving his face.

He looked steadily into her bright and innocent eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but all he managed to say was, "You…don't need to know."

She stared at him until he looked away.

After a few long moments, she dried her eyes and slowly stood up. She walked to the door. "No matter what," she said in a quiet, soft tone, "I hope you know that regardless of what happens, I will always be by your side."

She opened the door and left.

For an instant Fang Mu wanted to call her back, hold her close, and whisper to her, "I'm sorry… forgive me."

But he didn't do a thing, just sat there and watched her disappear.

A few days later, Tai Wei called to say that Li Weidong had sent police to recheck the apartment, but because the scene had already been fairly heavily disturbed, it was impossible to determine if someone had been there before Fang Mu arrived. Additionally, interviews with the neighbors had turned up nothing of value. The police also searched through the apartment several times, and were certain that the letter Fang Mu mentioned was not at the scene.

Although Tai Wei didn't offer any official opinion over the phone, his position was already clear: the letter did not exist. Someone had to be lying, but whether this was Fang Mu or Dong Guizhi, he didn't know.

Fang Mu didn't feel like arguing with him, so after saying a few brief words, he quickly got off the phone. Sensing that Deng Linyue had been listening in to his conversation, he said without looking over at her: "That was Tai Wei. He called about the SuijingCity investigation."

Sure enough, Deng Linyue had been true to her word. For the past few days, she had stuck close to Fang Mu at all times, except when they were asleep. No matter what time he left his dorm, she was always waiting for him outside.

But she was also speaking less and less. Even when they were eating, she often wouldn't say a word. Many times, Fang Mu would happen to look up at her and find that she was staring back at him.

The look in her eyes was no longer the warm, soft gaze from when they first got together; now it carried the hint of a close examination. It made him nervous when she looked at him like that, and when their eyes met he often had to look away in defeat after a few seconds.

At night, when he would walk her back to her dorm, Deng Linyue would always stand silently outside of it several minutes. He stood beside her, smoking or just looking off into the distance, not saying a word either. Often, she would turn and walk into her dorm without the least bit of warning, and though Fang Mu waited for her several times, he never saw her turn and come back as she had that one night before.

They hadn't kissed in a long time.

At one point Zhang Yao came to talk with Fang Mu. She told him that over the past few days Deng Linyue had been acting very strangely. Often Zhang Yao wouldn't see her all day, and then when Deng Linyue returned to the dorm at night, she would go straight to bed. One time, Zhang Yao woke to find Deng Linyue crying under her covers late in the night. When she asked her what was wrong, Deng Linyue just answered that she'd had a nightmare and wouldn't say anything else.

With the hint of a threat in her voice, Zhang Yao told Fang Mu that Deng Linyue had once asked her if she had made the right choice in being with Fang Mu. "If you don't start acting a little nicer to her," Zhang Yao said, "I'm afraid she might dump you!"

Fang Mu didn't really care whether Deng Linyue dumped him or not, but hearing how sad she sounded, he couldn't but feel a little sorry. When she invited him to a Christmas party, he immediately said yes.

For JiangbinCityUniversity students, Christmas was easily one of the best-loved holidays. Even though it was a foreign holiday, these black-haired, yellow-skinned students celebrated it with even more fervor than Chinese New Year. By mid-December, all the restaurants, flower stores, and gift shops around the school had begun promotional activities, the campus was covered with over-the-top advertisements and posters, and everywhere one looked was the image of that red-hat-wearing, white-bearded old man. Girls began looking forward to the gifts they would receive, while boys began saving their money, either for a gift that would make their girlfriend smile or one that would capture the heart of a girl they'd long admired.

Despite the festive atmosphere, Fang Mu hardly caught the Christmas fever. Previously, when he had been single, he had never given any thought to the holiday. But although he still felt the same way, when Du Yu asked him if he wanted to go shopping for Christmas gifts, he forced himself to tag along.

Du Yu strolled around the Guomao shopping mall as patiently as a girl, frequently stopping to ask Fang Mu what he thought of some item or whether another was actually so nice. Each time Fang Mu just shrugged and said: "It's all right." Soon Du Yu began to feel that having Fang Mu help him choose a gift hadn't been the smartest idea in the world, so he ignored him and kept looking on his own. Freed from his duties, Fang Mu walked leisurely along after him, hands in his pockets.

He may have been bored, but this kind of relaxed afternoon was hard to come by. After being so tense for so long and after all the terrible things that had happened, he found it truly satisfying to stroll around, with a light heart and an empty mind.

While passing a counter covered with little knick-knacks, Fang Mu happened to catch sight of a small glass globe. The glass gleamed so brightly that he stared at it for an few extra seconds. Noticing this, the young saleswoman immediately called him over in a warm and enthusiastic tone. Seeing no reason not to, Fang Mu walked over to take a closer look.

The globe was actually a music box, or at least made up the upper half of one. Underneath it was the musical portion, a small and square box made of plastic. Inside the glass globe was a scene in miniature: a young man and woman standing side by side under a streetlight, with her leaning happily against his shoulder. Small white flakes were scattered around inside the globe, looking much like snow.

The saleswoman flipped a switch on the bottom and at once the miniature scene came to life. The streetlight inside switched on, the snowflakes swirled through the air, and tinkling music started to play. All the while, the two sweethearts were pressed close, snow floating all around them.

A ghost of a smile crossed Fang Mu's lips. It was snowing.

He thought of the smell of bare branches in the cold air.

… of the crunch of feet walking through snow.

… of a long ponytail tickling his face.

He then thought of two new sweethearts under a streetlight, first standing apart, and then pressing together.

"It's even prettier if you look at it at night," said the saleswoman, interrupting Fang Mu's thoughts.

"How much is it?" he asked, taking out his wallet.

By the time he finished paying, Du Yu had emerged from the crowd, a small plastic bag in his hand.

Seeing Fang Mu, he smiled. "So you bought something, too. What is it?" He grabbed the paper box out of Fang Mu's hand and opened it. "A music box? Where's your creativity? This kind of thing hasn't been popular in years."

Fang Mu laughed. "How about you? What did you get?"

Du Yu chuckled. "Actually, mine is a little over the top." He carefully removed a small, exquisite-looking box from the plastic bag. "It's Poison perfume by Dior, four-hundred-fifty renminbi."

"You sure got some deep pockets, huh?"

"I'm positive Zhang Yao is going to like this," said Du Yu, beaming with joy.

12/24: Christmas Eve.

The foreign languages grad school class of 2003 had rented a large conference room in one of the downtown hotels for the Christmas Eve party. Everyone was splitting the bill. The only requirement was: If you were in a relationship, you had to come as a couple.

Dinner was buffet-style, and while everyone ate, people took part in various skits and performances. Having no interest in this, Fang Mu sat at a table beside the window, quietly eating a plate of fried chicken and fruit salad and looking at the heavy car traffic outside.

The room was very hot and the window beside Fang Mu was covered in water droplets. Bored stiff, he used his finger to draw a design on the glass. After a little while, he realized that he had been drawing the two strange symbols he had seen that night at Meng Fanzhe's house.

What did they mean?

From the start, Fang Mu had been certain that Meng Fanzhe was not the killer. In which case, if it really was the doctor who had arrived at Meng Fanzhe's house before him, then whatever he had written on the window must have been meant for Fang Mu to see.

Could it have been a clue to the next murder?

He looked at the symbol on the left, the "9" with a line through the middle, and shook his head.

If Deng Linyue had been six and he had been seven, then there was no way the next one could be "nine". Therefore, the symbol before him most likely wasn't nine.

Besides, this 9 had been written very strangely. Not only was there a line through the middle, but also, unlike the way most people write 9; where the bottom half slants slightly to the left, this one ran straight down, almost perpendicular to the ground.

Rather than a 9, could it instead be the letter q?

As for the one on the right, no matter how he looked, it appeared to be an A.

Then if they were both letters, why was one uppercase and the other lowercase?

While Fang Mu was racking his brains over this question, Deng Linyue's reflection suddenly appeared in the glass.

She had been dancing for a while, and now her face was red from the heat and she kept fanning her neck with her collar. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing really."

"Why aren't you over there having fun?"

He laughed. "I can't dance. You should go enjoy yourself; don't worry about me."

She covered his hand with her own. "Then I won't go either," she said softly. "I'll stay here with you."

At that moment, the student who was emceeing the party called loudly, "Next we're going to exchange presents. Time to show your S.O. how deep your love goes!"

Taking her hand away, Deng Linyue rifled excitedly through her bag. In the blink of an eye, she was holding a small gold-colored metal box.

She presented it to Fang Mu. "This is for you! Merry Christmas!"

"Oh, thank you." Taking the beautifully-made box from her, Fang Mu saw that the word "Zippo" was written on the side. He understood: It was a lighter.

"Open it up and took a look." Deng Linyue's chin was resting on her palms, her elbows on the table, an expectant look in her eyes.

He opened the box. Inside was a limited-edition Eternal Star Zippo. He knew its market price had to be over 1,200 renminbi. Lifting the cover, he flicked the flint wheel, and a flame whooshed out of the top of the lighter.

"Like it?" she asked, winking at him. "But I still don't want you to smoke too many cigarettes. Now, how about mine?"

Fang Mu hesitated for a moment, then handed her the wrapped box.

Beaming, Deng Linyue undid the wrapping paper. As she took out the box, a boy at the next table noticed it and snorted derisively. Looking over, Fang Mu saw that the boy was just placing a ring on his girlfriend's finger.

"Wow, how beautiful," Deng Linyue said, ignoring the boy. She smiled and held the music box to her heart. "Where's the on switch? Oh, don't tell me; I want to find it." Reaching under the box, she flipped it on and the music began to play.

The streetlight glowed. The snowflakes whirled.

She set the globe on the table and resting her chin on her crossed arms, watching the two sweethearts press together at the center of the snow globe. She watched all the way though, until the song ended.

"I love it," she said, carefully placing the music box in her bag. She looked up at Fang Mu and smiled sweetly. "Thank you."

At the next table, the girl was complaining that the ring was too small. Sweating, the boy there finally managed to squeeze it onto her pinky.

Seeing this, Fang Mu and Deng Linyue couldn't help but look at each other and laugh.

Du Yu and Zhang Yao walked over, arm in arm. She had given him a pair of Nike basketball shoes and he already had them on.

"What do you think? They're Scottie Pippen Nike Air Throwbacks. Slick, huh?" Du Yu smiled with pleasure.

"Enough," said Zhang Yao with a smile. "Look how pleased you are with yourself." She nudged his head playfully, and then turned to Deng Linyue. "Linyue, we're going to go do karaoke soon. You guys should come!"

Deng Linyue looked at Fang Mu, as if waiting for his approval.

Du Yu pulled Fang Mu over to him and said, "You don't need to ask — he's coming for sure!"

Three cabs pulled up out front of the Night Flyer karaoke club and let out more than a dozen young people. Before Fang Mu had even gotten out, he saw Du Yu emerge from the cab ahead of him talking on his cell phone. A few seconds later, however, whoever he was speaking to must have hung up, leaving Du Yu staring at the screen with a baffled look on his face. When Zhang Yao walked over to find out what was going on, the phone suddenly rang again. Although Du Yu picked it up and said "Hello" a few times, it seemed as if the person on the other end wasn't saying a word, so he hung it up and shrugged at Zhang Yao. She just stood there, a suspicious look on her face.

Everyone else then filed into the club, leaving only Fang Mu, Deng Linyue, Du Yu, and Zhang Yao outside. Gesturing wildly, Du Yu was trying to explain something to Zhang Yao, but she just smiled coldly, as if she didn't believe anything he was saying.

Deng Linyue walked over and said something to Zhang Yao, and then clasped Fang Mu's arm and led him into the club.

"What happened?" he asked her.

"I don't know; probably some kind of misunderstanding. We should just go inside and let them be for now," she told him. "Zhang Yao said that she'd come in soon."

After renting two private rooms and ordering beer and snacks, everyone began belting out the karaoke tunes. Unable to withstand the peer pressure, Fang Mu joined in and sang I Haven't Loved You Enough with Deng Linyue.

Du Yu and Zhang Yao never came back inside.

Eventually, Fang Mu called Du Yu, but he didn't pick up. Deng Linyue then called Zhang Yao, but she didn't answer either. Beginning to worry, Fang Mu grabbed his coat and said he was going to look for them. When some of the other boys heard this, however, they all sat him back down on the couch, laughing.

"Come on," one said. "Those two have been together for a long time. It's Christmas Eve; why do you want to disturb them tonight?"

Thinking it over, Fang Mu had to agree. If the two of them had gone to a hotel together, then he would clearly just be spoiling the fun.

By 3 a.m., everyone was exhausted. Unable to hold out any longer, several people had already fallen asleep on the couch, slumped at odd angles. Those who still hadn't had enough were singing tiredly or sitting around the table, drinking beer and chatting.

When someone suggested they tell scary stories, the others immediately agreed.

So people began regaling each other with tales of mountain village zombies and haunted offices. A few of the more cowardly girls hid behind their boyfriends' backs, revealing only their eyes as they listened in abject terror.

"Aw, that's all a bunch of bull," said one of the boys. "If you want to hear something scary, you'd better listen to him." He clapped Fang Mu on the shoulder, who had fallen asleep. "And everything he says will be true."

At once everyone perked up.

"That's right. Didn't you help the police investigate a bunch of cases, Fang Mu? Let's hear some stories."

"I heard you helped them solve those murders that the law school student committed. You have to tell us what happened."

"Yeah, I heard the murderer almost killed you, too. You've gotta tell us the story."

As Fang Mu looked around at all the curious faces, he suddenly remembered the scene before him when the provost had called him up onstage during the assembly.

They didn't care at all about the pain of the victims, or about the fate of Meng Fanzhe. To them, other people's deaths were nothing more than an exciting topic of conversation.

"There's nothing interesting to tell," he said pointedly.

Having been all set to hear some behind-the-scenes stories, the listeners groaned with disappointment. Unwilling to give up, several of the girls who had been hiding behind their boyfriends tried to provoke him, saying, "Don't be so selfish, tell us something." One of them even grabbed Fang Mu's arm and, ignoring her glaring boyfriend, swung it back and forth. "Come on, handsome," she said. "Let us hear one. Crime stories are my favorite; they're so exciting."

Fang Mu stared right into her eyes until she sensed his mood. Feeling a little frightened, she let go of his arm.

"Exciting?" He laughed, and the corners of his mouth curled into a faint smile. "If someone peeled off all your skin and then sewed it into clothing for a mannequin to wear, would you think that was exciting?"

The girl covered her mouth, her face paling at the description. "What's your problem?" her boyfriend yelled angrily. "You don't want to talk about it, fine, but what? Are you trying to threaten her?"

As the others quickly tried to smooth things over, Fang Mu grabbed his jacket and backpack and stormed out of the room.

When he was only a few steps down the hall, he heard Deng Linyue call his name. She quickly caught up to him.

"Don't be angry. They didn't mean anything bad by it." As she took his arm, a pleading look flashed through her eyes. "Why don't you stay for a little while?"

He lightly pushed her arm away. "I can't. You guys have fun. Don't stay too late."

He turned and walked away. He didn't look back once.