Chapter 61: The Lonely Killer – 10
Before Tang Yingli ran out of the shop, Cai Yuwei was looking up at the storefront of the townhouse.
“Teacher?” She slammed the car door with great force, and he jumped, covering his radio microphone. “Did you find any clues?”
“He could have stopped her, and kept her.” Yingli crossed her arms. “But he didn’t. He just let someone who was devoted to him, who had placed all her hopes on him, slip away.”
“What… who and who?” It was all “he, she, it,” and he couldn’t figure it out. (T/N: In Mandarin Chinese, “he,” “she,” and “it” all have the exact same sound, tā, but are written with different characters: 他 (he/him), 她 (she/her), and 它 (it/its))
Zhou Jinglin hurried back to the driver’s seat, her voice softening. “Don’t be angry. Although I’m a little angry too, but…”
“You saw it. They’re not a couple. It would have been better if they were.” Yingli pointed to the main door. “I-f o-n-l-y t-h-e-y w-e-r-e.”
“I know, I know.” She sighed, suddenly feeling like their roles had been reversed. “Calm down. Getting angry is bad for your brain… you said so yourself.”
“I did say that…” Zhou Jinglin put a hand on her shoulder, and she turned her head away. “Alright, I’m fine. The serotonin will kick in soon.”
She’s still so angry. Zhou Jinglin suppressed a laugh and tactfully didn’t call her out on it. “So where should we go next?”
“How should I know? Ou Anpo isn’t a criminal. Profiling won’t work.” Yingli pulled her coat tighter, took off her high heels, and crossed her legs. “He must have the answer. I’m sure he missed something. After Ou Anpo left here, she wasn’t at home, she didn’t go to her biological mother’s place, she didn’t go back to school, and she’s nowhere to be found…”
“What about the tutoring center? Maybe there are other clues there.”
“Uh, Jinglin, Teacher.” Cai Yuwei awkwardly popped his head in. “You two didn’t have your radios on just now. It seems like… something big happened at the office.”
“What big thing?” Zhou Jinglin asked.
“Ou Anpo’s biological mother came, and she got into a physical altercation with the director’s wife.” He stammered, “I should say… she attacked the wife with a knife.”
**
Of all the investigators, they had undoubtedly made the most progress. After the sudden incident, Fang Zijun immediately requested Yingli to return to the station to explain the situation to the parties involved.
The director’s ex-wife attacking the director’s wife with a knife was indeed a major incident. To avoid further conflict, the police had already separated the two and had taken appropriate measures.
When they arrived at the station, Ou Yaoguang was with his injured wife.
She was terrified, and her coat sleeve was stained with blood, but she only had a minor cut on her finger. Tao Qianya had given her a basic bandage, and her condition had stabilized.
“Ma’am, are you okay?”
“That woman suddenly rushed over… she kept cursing me and said it was my fault Anpo was missing.” She ignored the newly arrived Zhou Jinglin and the others, huddling in her husband’s arms, her emotions running high. “I treated her daughter as my own… even better than Xinrui. What did I do wrong? What does she have to be dissatisfied about?”
“I know. You rest first, calm down.” He stood up, and Mrs. Ou immediately grabbed his sleeve.
“Where are you going? You’re not going to see her, are you?”
“Of course not. There’s an emergency at the bureau. I came here specifically to see you. There are people here to protect you. She won’t do anything to you again.” Ou Yaoguang nodded to Zhou Jinglin and handed his wife over to her.
As soon as Zhou Jinglin mentioned news about Ou Anpo, Mrs. Ou’s eyes instantly lit up. “How is she? Have you found her?”
“We already know where she went after she left school, but we haven’t fully grasped her specific whereabouts yet. Come over here, and I’ll explain it to you slowly…”
After Zhou Jinglin had led Mrs. Ou away, he finally met Yingli’s gaze. “You must be the scientist Chief Fang mentioned. I’m Ou Yaoguang. A pleasure to meet you.” He smiled and held out his hand.
Yingli had her hands in her coat pockets and had no intention of shaking his hand. “To come all this way for a dispute between your wife and ex-wife, you’ve really worked hard, Director.”
Facing this obvious sarcasm, Ou Yaoguang smiled faintly. “It is indeed a headache. By the way, about my daughter, is there any further news?”
“She went to find someone who is very important to her.” She frowned. “Do you usually have any interaction with Ou Anpo, Director?”
“I’m ashamed to say, I’m usually busy with work, and my wife takes care of both our daughters. When I was the head of the Criminal Investigation Division, I would sometimes find time to play with Anpo’s models, but after I was transferred to be the deputy director of the precinct, I became even busier.”
“I see,” she said, completely absolving him of the responsibility of raising his children. “What a good father.”
Ou Yaoguang frowned. “Miss Tang, I don’t understand what you mean.” His tone was tinged with displeasure.
“Director, Teacher, so you’re all here…” Fang Zijun hurried over and unexpectedly found Ou Yaoguang’s face tense. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I was just asking about the investigation of my daughter. Miss Tang may have some reason why she can’t say.” He smiled to dispel the awkwardness. “How is my ex-wife?”
“Mrs. Deng is temporarily in the interrogation room. Regarding her attack on Mrs. Ou, the director intends to…”
“Even if she is my ex-wife, attacking someone with a knife is wrong, not to mention she did it in front of everyone. Chief Fang, please handle this according to the law.”
His cold tone sent a chill down the listeners’ spines. “Understood.”
“Then that’s all for now. I still have duties at the bureau. Excuse me.” He nodded to the two of them, put on his hat, and left with composure.
“According to the law… that’s at least assault.” Fang Zijun’s tone was not without sympathy. “In any case, Mrs. Deng only came because she was worried about her daughter.”
“I’m not surprised he would say that at all.”
He turned in surprise and saw Yingli smile. “His leather shoes and uniform are so shiny and neat, and he’s wearing an expensive watch… from the way he puts on his hat, it feels like he’s particularly concerned about his own image, and he seems to have signs of a narcissistic personality. The characteristic of this type of person is that they are very concerned about their own possessions and have a strong desire for control, but once it has nothing to do with them, they don’t care at all.”
If that’s the case with his ex-wife, could it be the same with his older daughter, Ou Anpo? Yingli couldn’t help but think of the skeleton models on the top shelf of the bookshelf.
“Teacher, you can’t say things like that.”
“Ha, just kidding.” She pushed up her glasses. “By the way, can I see his ex-wife?”
“You can… but she’s not directly related to the case.”
“I know. I just want to confirm a few things,” her gaze shifted to Zhou Jinglin and Mrs. Ou, who were sitting on the other side, talking in low voices.
“And to comfort a distraught mother.”
While Zhou Jinglin and Tang Yingli were busy, Cai Yuwei went to the monitoring room alone.
He was going to help with the case investigation in the way he was best at.
“The location of the violin workshop…” Spreading out a map, he first confirmed the target, then circled the important intersections and streets nearby, and selected the appropriate surveillance camera numbers.
“The time is from eight in the morning to noon yesterday… okay.”
Let’s begin.
**
When Yingli walked into the interrogation room, the person sitting inside was a tearful woman in handcuffs.
“Where’s Ou Yaoguang?” Deng Suqin shouted.
“He’s gone back to his precinct.”
As if she had been hit hard, she slumped back in her seat and sobbed. Yingli saw a small cut on the web of her hand, probably from the attack.
“I should have known he was such a heartless person… otherwise he wouldn’t have insisted on divorcing me for his career.”
“Even so, when you first met, he must have been very good to you, right? Whether it was material comforts or emotional support, he even doted on your newborn daughter.”
“Yes, that’s right… I don’t know how he changed into a different person later.”
It was a standard trait of narcissistic personality disorder.
The handcuffs were an eyesore. Yingli took out a handkerchief and covered them. “Wipe your tears.”
“Thank you, but no need…” she wiped her tears with her bare hands. “Excuse me… who are you?”
“My name is Tang Yingli. I’m here to assist the Criminal Investigation Division with a case. Regarding Ou Anpo, we have already grasped her whereabouts after she left home.”
“Where did she go?”
“She went to meet the person she admires.” Yingli paused, at the same time paying attention to her reaction. “A violin maker.”
Deng Suqin let out a long sigh, her face filled with sorrow. “So she’s still playing the violin. I only found out she got into the First Girls’ High School by searching the list of successful candidates. That bastard Ou Yaoguang deliberately cut off my contact with Anpo.”
“So you don’t know anything about your daughter’s situation?”
She shook her head in grief. “It’s been years since we’ve had direct contact. So after Officer Lu told me the news yesterday, I was so upset that I called Ou Yaoguang, but he didn’t answer. After a night of struggling, I decided to come up and ask him myself.”
And then she had met Mrs. Ou and had gotten into a heated argument. In a fit of rage, she had taken out the utility knife she was carrying and had cut Mrs. Ou.
“I understand how you feel.” But it had to be said, it was wrong to hurt someone.
“That woman… she kept saying it was for Anpo, but in reality, she was just planning her future according to her own ideas.” She sobbed, her words filled with worry for her biological daughter. “I’m just afraid that even if she’s in pain, she won’t know how to say it, and by the time she really can’t take it anymore, it might be too late.”
Yingli was stunned for a moment, and she suddenly remembered her conversation with Mrs. Ou—
‘Her notes are very special. There are more drawings than words. Is she particularly interested in math and science?’
‘Yes, she said she could do something similar in the future, although I still think art is more suitable for her.’
“You were the one who found her interest in music, weren’t you?”
“I was. But Anpo’s talents are not just in music. Do you know what she liked to play with when she was little?”
“Skeleton models?”
“Anything related to puzzles and mechanics, she liked. The most classic thing she ever did was to take apart all the locks in the house. She was only five at the time.” Thinking of her daughter’s “masterpiece,” Deng Suqin couldn’t help but smile. “She’s just smart and focused, which makes her excel at everything she does. She cares a lot about what other people think, and she has high standards for herself, so once she sets a goal, she pushes herself forward until…”
Until she can’t take it anymore.
When she went to Gong Junsheng, besides confessing her feelings, her real purpose was not to make him proud of her, but—
She finally understood everything.
“Teacher.”
Zhou Jinglin and Cai Yuwei burst in, their faces filled with terror.
“What’s wrong?”
She nudged Cai Yuwei with her elbow. “You say it.”
“I’ve seen the surveillance footage.” He took a breath. “Ou Anpo was filmed going into the workshop yesterday morning, and she never came out.”
Never came out… “So she’s still…”
“Still in that shop.”
“Ah Wei told me about this, and I was so scared.” Zhou Jinglin’s face was tense. “We have to go back there immediately.”
“Let’s go, right now.”
