Chapter 15
“XU WENCHAO REALLY WAS HOME at eight thirty on the night of the twenty-seventh.”
Tao Ran had gone to the hospital to speak to Chenchen, who was slowly coming around. As he sped back to the bureau, he’d received an update, so he’d made a detour to verify Xu Wenchao’s alibi. Now he’d come back to report his findings.
“I even checked his takeout orders from the last six months,” he continued. “They follow a pretty regular schedule, and he usually orders from the same few places. The delivery drivers all know him.”
“Could he have bribed the delivery driver?” asked Xiao-Wu.
“Look briefly into the driver and Xu Wenchao’s interactions, but I think it’s unlikely,” said Luo Wenzhou. “Delivery drivers are usually younger people. There’s a lot of turnover, and drivers tend to switch jobs every two to three months. They might remember customers’ faces, but they’d have no reason to lie for a customer in such a serious case. Besides, not everyone can lie to the police. Also, there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“When Xu Wenchao came in in the afternoon, he was wearing running shoes, and I wasn’t able to get a good look. But judging from the dress shoes he’s wearing now, I think he’s at least one shoe size too small.”
The meeting room fell silent. Then Lang Qiao marched in and threw herself onto a chair. “Boss, send someone else in. I’m at my wits’ end with that kid. She gives me the creeps.”
“How’s Su Luozhan?” Luo Wenzhou asked.
“She’s great. Eats and sleeps normally.” Shaking her head, Lang Qiao accepted a can of coffee from a coworker. “She’s not afraid of adults or police officers. I still don’t know why not. It’s possible she’s just too young to understand the consequences of her actions, or maybe she’s too cunning—she knows she’s young, so she’s not afraid of getting in trouble. If you talk to her nicely, she plays dumb and puts on a cute act; if you try to scare her, she just smiles at you. Oh, right—and she asked for a bottle of sweet milk just now. When she was done drinking it, she said, ‘I’m tired. Can I take a nap?’ And then she really did just fall asleep. Frankly, if I were caught red-handed doing something bad and got hauled to a police station, I’d be scared to death. Sleep? Is this kid even human?”
Luo Wenzhou didn’t respond. With a serious look on his face, he lit a cigarette but then spaced out before he even managed to put it in his mouth. Without a doubt, Xu Wenchao had played some role in all this. There was no way it was all a coincidence. He was the link between this case and the one from twenty years ago. On top of that, he had a strong connection to Su Xiaolan and her daughter. Su Luozhan had called him twice from the crime scene, and when the police questioned her, she’d identified him without hesitation.
Xu Wenchao’s change in attitude between his two visits to the station was noteworthy in itself. The first time around, he’d been gentle and polite, but he hadn’t carried himself with such ease. He might show off his ability to lose his memories at any moment, and Tao Ran had even managed to back him into a corner. He’d acted as though this unexpected police summons panicked him a little. This time, in contrast, he was sharp and calm; his words were measured, and there wasn’t a careless one among them. When the police had barged in in the middle of the night to take him to the station, he’d already been neatly dressed.
During Xu Wenchao’s first visit, he’d also said that he’d heard about Qu Tong’s case on the radio. Of course, they weren’t able to publicize many details of the case, but the call for information had included the words “the night of the twenty-seventh” and “Xiling.” If he had such a solid alibi, why hadn’t he told them then? Had he been completely caught off guard and forgotten in a panic? Or had he not yet realized that the police suspected him? Or…had he been testing the police?
The latter explanation was very disquieting.
Either way, a person couldn’t be split in two. Xu Wenchao couldn’t have been in two different locations at the same time. That was reality.
Luo Wenzhou thought for a moment, then knocked on the table. “Hey, everyone listen up! I need you guys to help me look into something…”
Someone pushed the meeting room door open from outside, interrupting him. One of the security guards stationed at the bureau entrance poked his head in. “Sergeant Luo, did you guys order takeout? It’s here.”
Luo Wenzhou paused. Before he could respond, the team of officers who’d been running around for most of the night swarmed over, eyes gleaming. Then they all froze. The middle-of-the-night delivery wasn’t barbecue skewers, malatang, or even McDonald’s or KFC.
There were two large insulated bags: One was a warming bag, and the other held dry ice. Both sported a luxurious-looking logo, and the utensils were packaged in paper boxes made for that specific purpose. They were all so dainty that they didn’t seem disposable. When the team opened the bags, they found Western food, Chinese food, cold dishes, hot dishes…and a few boxes of fresh ice cream in the cooler bag. It was like a luxury hotel had delivered its dinner buffet right to their office!
Luo Wenzhou choked mid-puff on his cigarette.
Lang Qiao recovered first, grabbing a box of ice cream and clutching it. “Holy shit, Boss! This is too much!”
“What are you doing?” Tao Ran asked him, shocked. “How will you get by for the rest of this month?”
“Did you win the lottery, Boss?”
“He must’ve won big betting on the European Championship!”
“What are you talking about? Our sergeant wouldn’t do that kind of thing. Hey, Sergeant Luo, did your parents suddenly give you some spending money?”
“Why would they randomly give him money? That’d be suspicious… Are they planning to have another kid?”
What lovely coworkers. “Another kid, my ass,” Luo Wenzhou said. “Fuck off!”
He turned the insulated bag over, and his eyes landed on a familiar logo—that of the hotel he’d just returned from. It was obvious what filthy-rich buyer had sent the food. The corner of Luo Wenzhou’s eye started to twitch.