Su Luozhan was just a child. She didn’t know how many security cameras the youth center had. She’d probably never thought she might be caught on tape, even in the field. When the teacher called her in the middle of the night, would she have panicked and realized the jig was up?
What would she have done?
Most importantly, where was Zhang Yuchen?
Qu Tong had gone missing in the wilderness on the outskirts of town, but whoever took her wore size seven or eight shoes and could drive, so it definitely wasn’t a little girl. That suggested that the mysterious “Dad” Su Luozhan had referred to was an accomplice. Zhang Yuchen obviously wasn’t in this little apartment with its funereal altar…so was she with that accomplice? If so, had Su Luozhan run to find him as soon as the phone call alerted her to danger?
If Chenchen was still alive, would they risk killing her now to get rid of her?
Would she survive till dawn?
✦ ✦ ✦
IN THE MIDSUMMER NIGHT, as thick and syrupy as molten caramel, a girl sprinted down the quiet street. The slapping sound of her shoes against the road followed her like a demon hot on her heels. She seemed spooked even by the occasional noises of stray cats and dogs.
The girl dashed into a neighborhood of old low-rise buildings. Erected some twenty years ago, these buildings stood in rows, just two or three stories tall, each furnished with a yard about big enough for a grapevine trellis. Though the structures looked a bit like villas, the interiors were exceedingly narrow and unpleasant to live in. Each courtyard was shared between several buildings, which was inconvenient when there were a number of residents. In the summer, things were even worse than usual; every possible problem arose, from bad drafts to leaks in the rain. Rumor had it that the whole neighborhood was slated to be demolished.
The girl fumbled twice before finally sticking a key into the lock. She charged inside and grabbed the phone behind the door, then swiftly dialed a number. The phone rang and rang, and the sound of each ring struck her right in the chest. Without realizing she was doing it, she reached out and scratched the mottled wall restlessly with her long nails.
After the dozenth ring, the call dropped.
The girl’s eyes widened in apparent disbelief that the person on the other end had dared to ignore her. She didn’t give up, though. She dialed the number again—to no avail.
The girl was very pretty, with almond eyes, smooth round cheeks, and a pointed little chin—much more doll-like than those cheap plastic toys the police had found. Her innocence and charm blended seamlessly. Now, however, a bitter, terrifying fury overtook her little face. She slammed the telephone against the wall and screamed.
Then a muffled cry echoed through the residence, like the sob of a small animal. The enraged girl whirled around and flipped the light switch expressionlessly.
The person tied up in the corner flinched as the wall light came on, staring incredulously through her tears. It was the missing girl, Chenchen.
✦ ✦ ✦
CHENCHEN’S FAMILY WAS still waiting anxiously at the entrance of the youth center. Tao Ran walked out to pick up a call, then avoided the family as he came back to mutter something in Fei Du’s ear.
“An adult male accomplice? You mean they used the girl to lure Chenchen to the park, and then the man came, attacked her, and kidnapped her?” Fei Du was frowning.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, but…something’s been bugging me for a while.” Fei Du lifted his unfortunate arm in a stretch, pacing in a circle. “It’s so strange,” he muttered. “Mr. Zhang called his daughter at just past five, and her phone was off. That means the kidnapping was already in progress. An hour later, he tried to use a remote app to turn Chenchen’s phone on, but it didn’t work. That means she was already under the perpetrator’s control, but they were still busy cleaning up after themselves. Later—sometime after six—the other girl left Chenchen’s phone behind on purpose. How come?
“One sticking point is that it shouldn’t have taken an adult man a whole hour to subdue someone like Chenchen, even if he’s not particularly fit.” Fei Du’s steps paused. “A second is that, after everything else happened, the girl put the battery back into Chenchen’s cell phone and deliberately left it behind for someone else to pick up. Why would she do that?”
Dismantling the phone and throwing it away piece by piece would have been simple and secure with the battery removed. At that point, not even police dogs could’ve traced it. She couldn’t have done it to distract the police, either; even a child would know from watching TV that police officers didn’t act alone. They wouldn’t lose sight of everything else just because of the phone. Besides, what if whoever picked up or stole the phone happened to see Su Luozhan? Wouldn’t that have been a greater risk?
“Is it possible that the kidnapping in Xiling was done jointly, but this kidnapping was—for whatever reason—carried out by the girl alone, without the man?” Fei Du mused. “Maybe that’s why she needed more time.”
Tao Ran stared at him, shocked. He grabbed Fei Du’s shoulder. “The girl wouldn’t be physically strong enough to go through the whole process of committing a sadistic murder…and making a recording…not all by herself. But she knew that Chenchen had a tracking app on her phone, and that Chenchen’s parents would use it. She was still trying to torture the parents—trying to achieve the same impact as a recording, but in a different way!”
She’d give them hope, let them search frantically for their daughter, then lead them to despair. But with Chenchen, something unexpected happened. Things took longer than she anticipated.
“She couldn’t have dragged off another child her own size all by herself. She must’ve tricked Chenchen.” Fei Du gazed at Chenchen’s wailing mother from afar. “But why would Chenchen go with her when she knew her father was looking for her?”
Tao Ran took a deep breath. “‘I didn’t bring my phone with me today,’” he muttered as if quoting the girl, “‘so I can’t lend it to you. But my place is near the youth center. Maybe your dad’s already there looking for you. When two people are both looking, it’s easy for them to miss each other. You could come over to my place and call him.’ But her home would have to be very close by, much closer than the youth center—a distance that a child would think was convenient and safe.” He grabbed the map. “Within half a mile… No, within five hundred yards…”
Within five hundred yards was an old residential area due for demolition. It was only one street from the other entrance to the park.
“Wait a minute,” said Tao Ran. “Why does this address sound familiar?”
✦ ✦ ✦
HOPING TO FIND A TRACE of this mysterious adult male, Luo Wenzhou’s team ransacked Su Luozhan’s residence for anything that might have belonged to a man.
Lang Qiao opened a drawer and dumped out the contents. She found that it contained official documents: ID cards, a household register, several school admissions letters, and the like. Digging out a medical file, she gave it a quick once-over, then dumped it, letting the pages fall to the floor. Luo Wenzhou’s gaze swept over it, then stopped—something seemed to have occurred to him suddenly.
He crouched down and picked up two property deeds. One was for this very one-bedroom apartment. The other was for a factory’s employee dormitory building, which was older than Su Xiaolan herself; apparently, it had been privately purchased following renovations.
“Xiao-Qiao-er, can you check something for me?” asked Luo Wenzhou. “Twenty years ago, when Su Xiaolan was a child, was she registered as a resident at this address?”
Lang Qiao didn’t know why he was asking, but she automatically looked into it. Before she’d found the answer, though, Luo Wenzhou received a call from the officer he’d assigned to watch Xu Wenchao. “Sergeant Luo, we bugged Xu Wenchao’s room. Two calls came in, and he didn’t pick them up, even though we’re sure he heard them. Do you think he knows he’s being watched? Oh—we have the caller’s number too. It’s for a landline. The address is—”
“Number Three, Youth Street Trading Co. Road.”
The officer was taken aback. “How did you know that, Sergeant Luo?”
Just then, Lang Qiao ran over to him. “Boss, Su Xiaolan was registered at Number Three, Youth Street Trading Co. Road. This is the mailing address that was on her file when she gave her victim’s statement back then!”
“Let’s go!” Luo Wenzhou ordered.