Case Files 013

Chapter 149: Happy New Year

The month passed by quickly but the chill remained. The higher up didn't send anyone over. Looks like before Captain Zhao was absolved from his exile, I would remain as the chief of the crime unit at this small town. Life was peaceful and uninteresting. Soon Lunar New Year's Eve arrived.

This was my first time spending the new year away from home. It was quite refreshing but it also made me homesick. I wondered how my prison master father was doing. Theoretically speaking, he should be lecturing the inmates at this moment, either regaling them about his glorious past or talking to them about their future.

This was a joyous holiday. There were red lanterns everywhere and people sat around tables enjoying their reunion dinner except for our team. Because we received a phone call that someone had found a dead body on the frozen surface of the Elm River. We drove to the location given by the caller, it was the part of the river close to Rainbow Bridge. As we drove towards Rainbow Bridge, we saw that the bridge was dressed in colorful lights, it was a rainbow suspended above water. Along the way, all the houses were festively decorated.

Above the bridge, the lights shimmered like a winter wonderland; below the bridge, the darkness was as gripping as the chill.

After parking the vehicle by the bank, we climbed over the rails to reach the riverside. The caller was a street cleaner. On this night of celebration, they still needed to work. The auntie over 50 stood by the bank and pointed at a dead body far on the frozen water surface.

Under the reflection of the lights from Rainbow Bridge, we saw a person lying on the water. From the long hair, I believed this was a woman. She wore a bright red winter coat, so it was hard to miss her. For now, it was hard to tell if she was alive or not. I stomped my feet on the ice. It didn't yield. Looks like the river was frozen solid. I told Gu Chen, "We'll go to investigate, Guan Zhenglin, you should stay here." Guan Zhenglin shook her head, "I'm going to."

"It's too dangerous." I persuaded her. Guan Zhenglin insisted, "Dangerous for me but not for you? Plus the ice layer is so thick. Furthermore, I'm the coroner, I need to be there to examine the body." We were unable to win the argument so the 3 of us moved towards the person. The cleaner auntie told us, "I've shouted at her for a long time already, but the girl gave me no response, I'm afraid she's already dead"

As we slowly approached, the woman's face was revealed before us. She was facing down on the ice, and she was definitely dead. That was because a fan-shaped spatter sprayed out from her skull. Around the woman's head, there were also splinters on the surface of the ice. I had seen many dead bodies but this was definitely a unique one. Her head was basically flattened. One of her eyeballs had rolled out from the socket.

From the overall body, there were multiple fracture wounds on her limbs. She was twisted like a postmodern painting. White bones pierced through her skin. Blood oozed around her but it was hard to tell the difference due to the bright redness of her winter coat. After Guan Zhenglin took the pictures, she put on the gloves and knelt down.

The woman didn't look that old and she was only 1.5 metres tall. Since she was facing down, I couldn't see her whole face. But from the half which was visible, I could not imagine how macabre the other half which was stuck to the ice would be.

Moments later, Guan Zhenglin announced, "The wounds are consistent with falling. All the pressure points on the bone fractures came from the same direction. Based on her head injury, a great pressure had pushed her eyeball out from her skull. Then look at her neck. The spine is snapped, a few segments of the vertebrae are protruding out so much that you can see them with your bare eyes. The blood spatter around the head has a spray pattern, the furthest splatter is more than 10 metres away." Then she lifted her head up, "I believe this woman has jumped down from Rainbow Bridge."

I also lifted my head up. The distance from the Rainbow Bridge to the surface of the ice was about 20 metres tall. Guan Zhenglin continued, "Based on the condition of the body, she fell headfirst. From the amount of blood, it should be an autonomous death from falling."

"What is that?" Gu Chen asked.

Guan Zhenglin answered, "Autonomous death from falling is a Chinese legalese, it means that the jumper was alive when she fell. Take a look at the victim's wrists. There are clear contusions. It means that in the moment of impact, she used her wrist to cushion her fall. That was her body instinct kicking in, and one of the reasons why this is an autonomous death from falling. But" Guan Zhenglin thought to herself, "Why she fell from Rainbow Bridge, that is hard to say. Whether this is a suicide, a homicide or an accident, there's no way to tell for now."

I looked at the Rainbow Bridge. Both sides of the bridge had rails about 1.5 metres tall. The woman was just over 1.5 metres. She looked more like a junior high student so the chance of her accidentally tripping and falling was very low. So either she jumped voluntarily or she was pushed.

Guan Zhenglin said, "Bring the body back. I can't dissect her when she has so many clothes on."

"We're going to use that morgue again?" Gu Chen glanced at Guan Zhenglin and said. Guan Zhenglin shrugged and sighed, "Thankfully after Wu Meng became the chief, the first thing he did was to install the heater or else we'd freeze there."

Guan Zhenglin went back to take the body bag. Gu Chen and I picked up the body. Holding the woman by her arms, it felt like I was holding a puppet. The joints were all broken, her limbs hung in a way that no normal human could. As the woman was peeled off the ice, I was given a full view of her face. Honestly, I felt quite dazed looking at it.

The girl's face was smashed in. She was probably a young girl but her skin was folded together from chafing, giving her an appearance of having heavy wrinkles. The heavy contusions pushed out her other eye as well. The bloodshot eyeball was staring straight at me. After placing the girl inside the body bag, Gu Chen and I carried one side each and headed back. When we reached the bank, the cleaner auntie was still there waiting for us. After placing the body back into the vehicle, I turned back to ask, "Auntie, when did you discover the body? Did you spot anyone else when you saw the body?"

The auntie answered, "I immediately called the police when I saw her. There was no one around. I was responsible for cleaning this area. Think about it, it's New Year's Eve, other than public servants like us, who would be outside? I saw you place the girl inside the bag, is she dead?"

I shook my head. "She fell." And then feeling the need to add something, I added, "And landed on the icy surface."

Hearing that, the auntie didn't show fear but sigh in sadness, "The girl must have been in great sorrow to have committed suicide on New Year's Eve. This is one of the biggest celebrations in the year for us Chinese. I don't get it. Why would she do this? No matter how hard life is, it won't be harder than death."

Then the auntie wandered away on her own.

"Let's go." I shook my head.

When we returned, we had to pass by Rainbow Bridge. Gu Chen drove and I sat at the back, the body bag was right around my feet. As we passed the bridge, I studied the bridge rails. The gap between each railing rod was extremely small. Even a child couldn't have accidentally squeezed through and fell down.

There were not many vehicles on the road. Understandably, most people were at home, enjoying their reunion dinner.

So how did this woman, no, this girl get here? Did she walk or someone drove her? Why would she come here and for what? Was it a suicide or homicide?

Just like that cleaner auntie said, just how big the despair the girl was in that she would choose to die on such an auspicious day, then again how cruel the killer must be to kill on this day as well. Suddenly, firecrackers exploded around us. It jolted me from my reverie. I glanced at my watch, it was already 12 midnight. The New Year had arrived

Then fireworks exploded on both sides of Rainbow Bridge, it was a marvelous sight.

"Happy New Year." I told Gu Chen and Guan Zhenglin. They answered in unison, "Happy New Year."

But we probably won't be having a happy new year. While everyone was enjoying the fireworks and good company, we were on the way back to the station with a dead body. The victim was a young girl, she looked younger than 18. Such was the way of the world, happiness and sadness were mostly in balance. When you were happy, someone would be sad. When a newborn arrived in this world, someone would have left the world. But to die on a day of festival, that was a unique mixture of happiness and sadness.

We were one year old but this girl would forever be frozen at this age.

The car drove down the Rainbow Bridge, the firecrackers and fireworks boomed around us; while the young girl inside the body bag was soundlessly sleeping.

And we were tasked to find the reason behind her permanent slumber.