Case Files 013

Chapter 146: Motive

I was very unwilling to make this choice but when Luo Sumei's body was laid there right before me, I felt like she deserved justice. At least I didn't think Luo Sumei was so evil that she deserved to die like this. I shared my suspicion with the group of five.

When I was done, the group had no expression. Human being's biggest shields were their emotions. Sometimes, I envied those who could read people's thoughts from their expressions.

When you are happy, you laugh; when you're sad, you cry. Everything was so simple when we were kids but we lost that ability as we grew older. When we cry, it might not mean that we are happy and vice versa. Everything had to be read in context and life became so much more complicated. If we could trust what we see, wouldn't life be so much easier?

The group didn't speak, argue or shout at me. It was how I knew I was right. I continued to lay out the truth. Actually when Chief Zhou saw that leg, he already knew it was Luo Sumei's leg, because when Chief Zhou went to fetch Luo Sumei, she just finished a pedicure. But it confused him because why was the body found at the eastern village entrance when he committed the murder at the western end of the village?

Fear and curiosity battled within Chief Zhou. He knew that this case would fall into his hands and he would have to solve this murder. But to Chief Zhou's surprise, the body was not complete, there was only a leg. Chief Zhou was afraid, because it wouldn't be a normal person who could be behind something like this. Right then Chief Zhou's sense of responsibility took over and he knew he had to solve this case, even if it would expose himself. It was the reason behind Chief Zhou's passion for this case, he had to know the truth.

However, the case was so complex and confounding that he knew he wouldn't solve it on his own, so he placed all his hope on me. That night, Chief Zhou told us about Luo Sumei. There was a moment where I believed Chief Zhou almost wanted to confess everything. But at the time, Gu Chen and I assumed Chief Zhou was only being affected by the recent' discovery of the victim's identity. Once the moment passed, Chief Zhou shut down.

I looked at the five and asked, "The biggest problem here is, what is the secret that Luo Sumei knew about Chief Zhou that he had to kill her?"

Er Xiao finally couldn't hold it in anymore, "All these are your speculation. Tell us, why did Chief Zhou have to kill his girlfriend?"

I nodded. "As I expected, none of you know the truth either. Luo Sumei didn't tell you so until now you have no idea why Chief Zhou committed the crime, right?"

I took their silence as admission. I looked up the stairs and then said, "Chief Zhou told me that he has two younger siblings who will attend university soon. Chief Zhou had nothing when he was small, so he wanted to give his family everything. It sounds shallow but money brings Chief Zhou some semblance of security but Luo Sumei intended to take that away from him." I sighed, "At the same time, Chief Zhou told me that he loved his job too much, he couldn't imagine being anything else. Furthermore, this career provides him with a stable income. Luo Sumei threatened to take that away from him as well." I shook my head, "Chief Zhou couldn't give Luo Sumei the money and he couldn't lose his job either, so what could he do? Chief Zhou chose the extreme route, he wanted to have the cake and eat it too. So he chose to kill this person who forced him into this spot."

Er Xiao said with agitation, "Stop talking in riddles, just come out with it!"

I nodded. "Chief Zhou is color blind and based on our country's law, a color blind person cannot be in law enforcement. Chief Zhou told me that Elm Town's citizenry database was only getting digitized when he was a police officer. Many people edited their personal information and so did Chief Zhou. It was how he managed to slip through the system. After he became the leader of a unit, the city had no reason to believe that an experienced detective would be color blind." I said confidently, "It is the reason why Chief Zhou comes here often to help out because to him, he is no different from all of you."

When I said these things, a bitter feeling flowed through my heart. Chief Zhou had been a cop for 20 years and he had not committed a single mistake due to his colorblind. But such were the rules, just like I could never be an official police officer. But interestingly enough, I was conscripted into this special task force because of my unique state but Chief Zhou would be kicked out because of his.

"Chief Zhou is color blind?" The group said in unison, refusing to believe me.

I nodded seriously and elaborated, "Yes, he is indeed color blind. In fact, it was you who helped me discover that fact." I looked at them. "You didn't know that Chief Zhou was color blind so you wrote down the taunting message on the brick wall. When we discovered the message, the blood was already dry. Dry blood is almost black in color. The brick wall the message was written on is grey in color." I shrugged, "Normal people like us will be able to tell the difference in hue and notice the blood message immediately but not Chief Zhou. Grey and deep red were the same in his eyes. He was shoveling snow the whole morning, so it was impossible for him to not notice the message if he was not color blind. It was then that the answer came to me.

"Luo Sumei, who was Chief Zhou's girlfriend, probably found out this truth some way or another." I continued, "Before she discovered this secret, she perhaps did consider spending her life with Chief Zhou but after she found out the secret, Luo Sumei changed." I sighed and chuckled mirthlessly, "People are like that. When a relationship is even in power, they can be together blissfully but when the scale tips, people will change. Luo Sumei knew that as long as she held the secret, she would have complete control over Chief Zhou's life. And thus tragedy happened." I opened my hands as if showing the truth.

Chief Zhou didn't marry despite his age, probably because he had this innate fear. Chief Zhou probably did love Luo Sumei or else why would he let his guard down around her? He had hidden the secret for decades already but not for a few months? It was just his rotten luck that the secret transmuted their love. Humans are afraid of loss but once that fear is gone, so is the decency and bottomline.

Just like how teenagers would yell at their parents, give them cold shoulders because they knew that their parents would always forgive them. A girl would make horrid demands after she knew that her boyfriend would never leave her. In a relationship, the party who sacrificed more would always be the party who got hurt, that was always the truth.

But one could only take so much abuse. When your parents decided to disown you; when your boyfriend decided to move on, only then you would see your mistakes. When Luo Sumei saw her mistake, it was already too late. Chief Zhou was always impressed by the tactical brilliance of our team and wanted to see us in action, it was just ironic that we were solving the case where he was the killer.

"But you have no evidence." Er Xiao claimed calmly.

I shook my head. "You're right but the evidence will come soon. Chief Zhou has given all of his money to Luo Sumei and he wouldn't have any money left for his siblings. Money transfers can be easily traced. Furthermore, raping before and after killing a person is different." I looked at Luo Sumei's body and said, "Don't think that you can fake a rape by shoving a penis up a woman's vagina. But most importantly," I said in a sad whisper, "Chief Zhou will surrender himself, I know that, like how I knew that you wouldn't kill me. Chief Zhou is a good man, he is a kind person; you all are good people and know how to repay his kindness. But many things in this world cannot be solved with a good intention.

"You need to stop now." I said, "All Chief Zhou wanted is to solve this case on his own before he surrenders."

The group looked at me in silence, I could feel the sadness in their eyes. Were they good people or bad people? Was Luo Sumei a good person or a bad person? Was Chief Zhou a good person or a bad person? Was the delineation between the two so clear?

"Why, why does it have to end like this?" Er Xiao wept. "We have done so much, come up with so many plans, so why does it still end like this?"

I had no answer. Perhaps the world was such, certain things were not meant to be understood.

First Drain Village was a good place, the villagers here were down to earth and always eager to help, but First Drain Village was also a bad place because it had shown its kindness so brilliantly that the sin and evil were often overshadowed. Was this place really Shangri-la?

I climbed up the ladder slowly and no one stopped me. I had just woken up Chief Zhou and Gu Chen when the siren came from outside. A person burst through the door and it was Guan Zhenglin.