Case Files 013

After dragging Zhang Xue along for a while, and ensuring that the group of men had lost us, I stopped. After placing Zhang Xue down, she looked at me and I looked at her. There was a mutual admiration of the opponent's bravery and determination. Zhang Xue was the first to speak, "How do you know the streets here so well? This should be your first time here."

I shook my finger at her. "The moment I stepped in here, I knew the general layout. Plus I see a lot of motorists in the alleys, that can only mean that the alleys are mostly interconnected. As long as I heed a general direction, I'll eventually get to where I want."

"Impressive." Zhang Xue said as she cupped her left hand over her right fist just like how you'd see in a wuxia movie. Then it was my turn to ask, "When did you notice I was following you?@ Zhang Xue mimicked me and shook her finger at me. "Don't you know the windows of the subway are reflective? A girl will know when someone is constantly watching her. Furthermore, I've seen you before. So why are you following me anyway?"

"Impressive." I returned her the same praise. "But when a girl does the holding hand salute, it should be the reverse of the male version, your right hand should be above your left." Zhang Xue rolled her eyes as she wandered off. "Boring! You're as fuddy-duddy as my teachers." After walking for a distance, she stopped and then turned around to ask, "Well, are you going to walk me home or not?"

Since my operation had been exposed, why not just do it openly? I shrugged and walked towards Zhang Xue. Zhang Xue's gait was slow like she was purposely buying time. I already noticed that when she left school. But why?

"Zhang Xue, I have a question for you." I asked. "Why did you walk so slowly even after you found out I was following you? If you had walked faster, you could have lost me in the crowd."

Zhang Xue didn't answer but she changed the subject, "I know why you're following me. You're with the police so you're not doing this for fun. I heard that Teacher Gao Rui is dead and he died from cyanide poisoning so you suspect the few of us who stole the cyanide had something to do with it, correct?" I'm greatly impressed. This 15 years old girl not only had great anti-surveillance ability, she also had great deductive skills.

I didn't answer. As Zhang Xue continued to walk, she said, "Teacher Gao Rui was a good man. Last year, we had extra biology tuition classes from him and he never charged the class anything. He even gave us a lot of encouragement. If we could pass the exam to continue at Yu Cai High School, he'll be our biology teacher."

"He had given you guys extra tuition?" I asked.

Zhang Xue nodded. "I ran into him on the field one day when it was my second year in school. He asked me why I was there during class hours. I ignored him, assuming he was another teacher up on my business. I'd assumed he would send the discipline teacher my way like all the other teachers had but he didn't. He just asked me what my favorite subject was.

"Now that I think about it, I had no idea why I said biology but it made him so happy. He said he would gladly teach me in the future because he was a biology teacher." Zhang Xue's voice lowered like she was choking. "At the time, I thought he was the kind of teacher I had not encountered before. Therefore, when he opened his free tuition, I went to attend it. He was a very good teacher, he made the subject fun somehow. And he was so polite and kind." Indeed, Gao Rui was a kind man.

Zhang Xue continued, "His tuition classes were always fun. He was like our big brother, and he didn't judge us like some of the other teachers. Time passed by so fast in his class because it always felt like we were playing. Even Zhou Gou, the kid who didn't actually need any more tuition came to the class. So tell me, why would someone harm a good man like him?" No one wanted to harm him, Gao Rui chose to end his own life, he merely had outside help. I sighed, "Where did you hear about his poisoning?"

Zhang Xue lowered her head. "The whole school is talking about it but I'm sure it's not one of us. The 5 of us were very good friends with Teacher Gao Rui, why would we do something like that? I hope you'll soon find his killer." Looking at Zhang Xue, I didn't know what to say. It sounds like she didn't know Gao Rui died from suicide and believed that he was poisoned. However, I couldn't tell whether she really didn't know the truth or was just trying to confuse me. After all, deception was human nature.

I nodded and said, "Of course, I'll find justice for such a good man. He deserves that much."

Zhang Xue stopped and then lifted her head to look at me. "Thank you, I know you're one of the good guys too." Then she pointed at an old apartment building beside us, "This is why I stay. The unit without any lights is my home."

"Isn't your father home?" I knew she lived with her father since she was young. Hearing that, Zhang Xue smiled and then shook her head.

"Alright, go on back home then. I'll leave after the lights in your home come on." I ruffled her hair. Zhang Xue nodded and then walked up the stairs. Suddenly she stopped and turned around. The weak moonlight meant that I could only see her silhouette in the dark stairwell. I had a feeling that she was crying… "Do you want to come up for a drink? It's the least I could do to thank you for walking me home." Zhang Xue said. A strange emotion rose within me then. It felt like a part of my heart softened and I accepted Zhang Xue's invitation. After all, it was just a drink of water. I was indeed tired from following her all afternoon. As I walked up behind Zhang Xue, neither of us spoke. The stairwell's lights were broken. The moonlight casted in through the window and pulled our shadows long. They moved on the wall alongside us like two dancers.

"If it can be built, one should accept that

It can also be demolished

In reality, there isn't a continual happiness

That will remain the same forever…" That was the ringtone from my phone, a song called Wedding Street Invitations. I turned to look at the caller id which said Sister Ornery. "Hello, Sister Mary, how can I help you?"

Mary appeared to be eating because I could hear her munching. "Didn't you tell me to add another victim to the case? When I looked through his info, I found something interesting. Our four victims should know each other, or at least they must have met each other."

"What do you mean?"

Mary cleared her throat. "We'll go one by one. First, do you remember I told you that Zhang Mingliang sold his old house and left his money for Gao Rui? Guess who managed that sale? The jumper, the Ma Li something, the one that had the name like mine."

I was speechless. Then Mary continued, "Right, Ma Liliang. After he sold the house, he wired the money into Zhang Mingliang's account, but at the time, Zhang Mingliang had already decided to die. He didn't wire the money to Gao Rui because he was afraid that might cause the police to suspect his good friend so he found a third person."

"Do we know this person too?"

Mary said, "Yes, it's that widow, Wang Yiman. Wang Yiman said yes but she didn't keep the money in a savings account but instead gave it to Lee Zhinan. Lee Zhinan worked at a financial company, he was an investment manager. In the short amount of 3 months, he turned Zhang Mingliang's 1,500,000 RMB into 20,000,000 RMB!"

"How did he manage that?"

Mary answered, "He used the 1,500,000 RMB to set up a scheme and used that to approach a bank to make a loan of 20,000,000 RMB." I was suddenly reminded of the documents inside Lee Zhinan's briefcase, there was a piece of paper that had XX Bank on it.

"I still don't get it."

"It's okay if you don't, it involves highly complicated manoeuvring of the economics and financial system. You wouldn't get it even if I explained it to you." Mary grumbled with annoyance. "In any case, Lee Zhinan created a false proposal to make the bank buy his credibility. Eventually his scheme would be exposed but since he was already planning to die, it didn't matter to him anymore." With that new info, things strung together in my mind but something was still missing. The four victims appeared unconnected but there was now this tenuous connection. Ma Liliang sold the house, Wang Yiman set up the account, Lee Zhinan manufactured the scene. However, in Gao Rui's will, he only mentioned 1,500,000 RMB. Did he not know about the 20,000,000 RMB?

"Then where is the 20,000,000 RMB now?" I asked.

"Big brother, we're here." Zhang Xue said. I nodded.

Mary on the phone continued, "We're still tracing it, the money has basically gone through all the big banks in the nation before going overseas. It'll be hard to find it now. We don't even know if it's inside or outside the country. Do you know why internet scams are so hard to crack? It's because technology is too good now and they're moving so fast…"

I shook my head and told Mary, "It's wonderful that you manage to get this far. Just keep chasing that money. Okay, I'll have to go now, bye!"

"I will do that even without an order from you! I'll inform you if we get any update." Then she hung up.

Zhang Xue stood in the door and readied the slippers for me to change into. "Come in, Brother Wu. So did the police find any new clues?"

I changed into the slippers. As I took in Zhang Xue's home, I said, "Yes, we did find something."