Chapter 6: Julien Five

Chapter 6: Julien Five

TL: cici, Editor: Puissansa, QC: Lady Blue

Synopsis: "Fei Du? I told you before, it's better not to involve him in this kind of stuff."

First Published on Ainushi.

Early the next morning, Luo Wenzhou first returned to the Bureau, spoke to Director Zhang for a bit, then headed towards Huashi District Sub Bureau with Tao Ran. Lang Qiao, who arrived earlier, came out to welcome them as soon as they parked their car.

Lang Qiao passed them two cups of coffee and said in a low voice: "Why are you so late? They arrested Ma Xiaowei and accused him of committing murder. He was stuffed into the police car early this morning and was driven here directly. Cars of online press followed them all the way here, and were scattered just now."

Tao Ran was immediately anxious: "What?"

Luo Wenzhou stretched out a hand and pressed his shoulder: "Did they follow the right procedures?"

Lang Qiao sighed, and said with a voice that was nearly too soft to be heard: "Captain Luo, Wang Hongliang, that old thing, was monitoring. They will not have made this kind of mistake."

Luo Wenzhou asked in a low tone: "What is their evidence?"

"It's a cellphone," said Lang Qiao swiftly. "This is extremely fishy. The cell phone of the deceased, He Zhongyi, was with his roommate Ma Xiaowei. The official story is that the police who were in charge of this case in the Sub Bureau received a report last night saying Ma Xiaowei was seen holding a new cell phone, which seems very similar to the one He Zhongyi lost. The Sub Bureau then summoned him for interrogation immediately, and not only found the cell phone, but also found fingerprints of both Ma Xiaowei and the deceased on it."

Luo Wenzhou frowned.

Tao Ran continued to ask as if he was planning to pursue the root of the issue: "Who reported it? How did the person who reported this figure out that the cell phone Ma Xiaowei carried was He Zhongyi's?"

"It was said that that cellphone is a new model, and the brand is quite expensive. Not many people in this area use it. It seems like this one was given to He Zhongyi by some relative. Everybody here saw it when he just brought it back, so they have a very deep impression of it."

"Who reported it, or why he reported it, is not important. Even if Wang Hongliang and his fellows broke into the room and searched it out by force, they can still make up a non-existent case reporter." Luo Wenzhou waved his hand. "The crux of the matter is that cellphone. Ma Xiaowei being in possession of the victim's cell phone doesn't mean that Ma Xiaowei is the murderer. Using this as evidence is not watertight. Did Ma Xiaowei say anything else that he should not have said? Did anybody extort a confession by torture?"

"You've guessed it," Lang Qiao glanced around like a thief After verifying that there was nobody around, she said: "I think they didn't torture him, but that kid lied about his age in order to start working earlier. I asked somebody to investigate him last night. His ID card has been modified. He just reached 16 recently. I think he confessed when he got frightened. They asked him how he came to possess the cellphone; he hesitated for a while and then said that he picked it up."

"And he picked it up at the crime scene," Luo Wenzhou shook his head. "Then they asked him when did he pick it up? Did he say that he picked it up sometime around quarter past nine, after he heard noises and went downstairs to have a look?"

Lang Qiao threw up her hands.

In the situation where other witnesses have already given collateral evidence of the time and place, he said that he picked up a cellphone at the crime scene at the time.

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Who is the murderer?

I didn't see him.

Luo Wenzhou was speechless. He forcefully rubbed his chin: "It has been years since the last time I saw such an honest 'murderer'."

Tao Ran: "Of course it isn't appropriate for him to come into contact with the case, he's not even a policeman."

Lang Qiao didn't stop there: "Then why did big boss immediately agree with you when he heard that it was his opinion? Is that boy Conan (2)?"

Tao Ran sighed and turned back to look at her. Lang Qiao forcibly opened her already-very-obvious eyes wider. Those flashing eyes focused completely on him.

Tao Ran: "Your stare has produced wrinkles."

Lang Qiao hurriedly stretched out her fingers to support the corners of her eyes and her forehead.

Tao Ran stayed silent for a while, then said briefly: "Fei Du is the... person who reported a case that Wenzhou and I solved together. It was seven years ago."

Both Luo Wenzhou and Tao Ran were one of those newly graduated youngsters who didn't have hair around their mouths and who couldn't do their jobs properly.

These characteristics were especially obvious in Luo Wenzhou. He was the son of a cadre, therefore very arrogant and willful when he was young. He refused to comply or obey others, since he thought himself full of talent and the cleverest person in the world--the second cleverest was that English guy Holmes.

He was always under the illusion that he was not going out to work, but to save the galaxy, therefore he couldn't do his job with proper common sense. During the first days of his internship in the base units, if someone had randomly asked him to mediate a conflict among the community, he would definitely turn the conflict into a fight.

At nightfall of that day, the police in various units united to catch a gang of wandering robbers. People in the Bureau and the Sub Bureaus of all districts went out on the raid. Only Luo Wenzhou and Tao Ran--the two young men who "did not have sufficient successes but more than enough failures"--were on duty.

"A guy who answered the emergency number 110 (3) called in and told us that a child in the area under our jurisdiction reported a case. The boy went back home after school in the weekend, and found the body of his mother at home. That child was Fei Du, a middle school student."

Lang Qiao's mind was empty for a while.

"We then found out that his mother committed suicide. Wenzhou told him personally, but he didn't believe him... they haven't liked each other ever since then." During the course of the conversation, Tao Ran reached the entrance of the Sub Bureau. "You should have already figured out that Fei Du's family is relatively rich. His father is a workaholic who was always away on business trips. Even when that event happened in the family, he did not come back for days. Fei Du was a bit isolated as a child. His father had hired and switched out several housemaids to take care of him, but he couldn't get along with them, so he stayed alone in that house where a death had occurred. This was the first official case that we took care of, so it had special meaning to us. We both constantly think about it. That kid was so pitiful, there wasn't anyone there to take care of him, so I brought him to my home for a few days and during festivals sometimes. In that period of time, we got in touch with him frequently. As time passed, we found that this kid had a very special talent."

Lang Qiao: "For?"

After a while, Tao Ran answered lightly: "Crime."

Lang Qiao immediately noticed that he used the word "crime", instead of words like "reasoning" or "investigation". However, before she could ask further questions, Tao Ran had stopped talking. He waved at her and walked away with hurried steps.

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(1) Xiaoyanzi: The protagonist of both the novel and TV drama series My Fair Princess. Her actor Zhao Wei has a pair of big eyes.

(2) Conan: The protagonist of manga and anime series Case Closed. He is a very smart young detective.

(3) 110: The police emergency number of China.

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