Jiang Zhengkai took note of where the pharmacy was, and then opened a hallway window. He found that right across from the pharmacy was a large tree that offered the perfect vantage point through a window. "Come on, let's move outside!" he said as he jumped out of the hallway window. Seeing her boss jump out, Wei Xin quickly followed suit. Thanks to Hippocrates, the hospital's emergency room wing was located on the first floor.
Soon thereafter, Jiang Zhengkai and Wei Xin both climbed up the tree. The treetop offered excellent line of sight to the pharmacy window, through which they could clearly see everything that went on inside.
At that moment, Yu Di and that female nurse were making out on one of the pharmacy tables. Even though there was a partition curtain in the middle of the pharmacy, it was not fully extended, so from his position, Jiang Zhengkai could clearly see their movements.
Yu Di and the nurse were kissing and teasing one another, and before long were undoing each other's buttons. The nurse wrapped her legs around Yu Di's waist, while he continued kissing her face and body. She kicked off her shoes, and they fell to the floor, revealing a pair of legs clad in white pantyhose. Her legs then started writhing at random, while she made a series of low moans.
Outside the window, Wei Xin had already looked away, turning to face Jiang Zhengkai instead. Although Wei Xin was very tempted by what she saw inside the pharmacy, she was completely devoid of experience in such matters. She had no idea how to control her emotions when faced with such a situation. Jiang Zhengkai stood on a tree branch right next to Wei Xin. His expression seemed very calm, as if what he saw wasn't a man and a woman engaged in passionate lovemaking, but just something that was entirely mundane and uninteresting.
Soon thereafter, a soft "slurping" noise started emanating from inside the room. This sound caused Wei Xin's attention to shift to the window once again. The curtain blocked Yu Di's exact movements, but Wei Xin could make out that he was lying on top of the nurse's body, although she didn't know what exactly Yu Di was doing. However, Jiang Zhengkai knew that Yu Di was using his tongue to do something that most men were not particularly fond of doing. That slurp slurp noise, followed by the woman's uhns and ahs, clearly proved him correct.
"I want you inside of me right now! Uhn! Uhn…" the woman started begging, followed by soft moans.
"You can stop looking now. It's just two people having sex," Jiang Zhengkai said to Wei Xin as he slapped her on the shoulder. Wei Xin was completely transfixed by what was going on inside the pharmacy. When she finally realized Jiang Zhengkai had called to her, her face turned a bright red as she quickly looked away from the window. Jiang Zhengkai saw her expression and thought it was hilarious, so he said to her softly, "If you find it so interesting, we could stick around a little bit longer."
"Okay!" Wei Xin quickly agreed, before she realized he was teasing her, at which point her face grew even redder. "Inspector Jiang… you…"
"Alright, time to return to the hallway!" ordered Jiang Zhengkai as he carefully leapt down from the tree and climbed through the window back into the hospital's hallway. Wei Xin, on the other hand, took another look through the window as she descended the tree. By now, Yu Di's body and the nurse's body had become one. Apparently, sexual desire was an urge that's shared by all human beings, regardless of gender or occupation.
"Come on, let's go back to the surgery wing," Jiang Zhengkai quietly said to Wei Xin as she returned inside. He started walking in the direction of the surgery call room. It appeared that Yin Zhumei wasn't Yu Di's only lover in this hospital. Then again, Yu Di's oral sex skills probably made him quite popular with the ladies, so it made sense that he would have multiple lovers. After all, most Chinese men weren't all that fond of oral, which made Yu Di a bit of an outlier. Perhaps having a Japanese man for a husband isn't such a bad idea after all.
After half an hour, they could once again hear the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. When the footsteps stopped in front the surgery call room, the sound of a man and a woman flirting came from the other side of the door. A moment later, the footsteps picked up again, but this time, it was just one person gradually walking away. Seconds later, the door to the call room opened and Yu Di walked in.
"You… who are you?" Yu Di asked with a start, terror-stricken when he saw Jiang Zhengkai and Wei Xin. "W-what are you doing here?" Clearly, he was surprised by the presence of these two strangers in the surgery call room.
"Hehe, why do you think, Doctor?" Jiang Zhengkai looked at the way Yu Di acted now; the confidence which he'd displayed when he flirted with that nurse had now completely abandoned him. "Obviously we're here to seek medical attention. Why else would we be here?"
"Oh! Well, umm, it's the middle of the night, and when I came in here, I saw two people I'd never seen before, so…" Having heard Jiang Zhengkai explain himself, Yu Di calmed down somewhat. "Well anyway, you scared me half to death," Yu Di said as he picked up Jiang Zhengkai's medical record. "So, what are you here for?"
"Anxiety," Jiang Zhengkai said with a smile, staring intently at Yu Di the whole time.
"Anxiety?" Yu Di looked momentarily dumbstruck by what he'd just heard, before focusing his attention back on Jiang Zhengkai. "Excuse me, but this is the surgery wing, not the psychology wing." His hand that was holding the medical records was visibly shaking as he spoke.
"Doctor, actually, I'm a physician as well: a psychologist, to be exact," Jiang Zhengkai replied as he inched closer towards Yu Di.
"You… who the hell are you?" Yu Di's body reacted like he had just been stabbed. He stepped back from Jiang Zhengkai and leaned up against the wall as his head started shaking ever so slightly. It appeared that this man was having a full-blown nervous breakdown.
"Hehe, I'm here to treat you, Dr. Yu." As Jiang Zhengkai spoke, his body leaned forward onto the chair while his fingers tapped rhythmically on Yu Di's desk.
"You, get out!" Yu Di had completely lost his nerves. He pointed one of his shaking hands at the call room door while using the other to prop himself up. "If you don't get out, I'm going to call the police!"
"Really? Well, in that case, I'll save you the trouble." Jiang Zhengkai leaned up against Yu Di's desk and smiled. "We are the police." He proceeded to flash his police badge at Yu Di.
"Oh… Comrade Police Officer…" Seeing Jiang Zhengkai's police badge, Yu Di lost all semblance of physical control. His legs gave way, and he plopped down into his chair. "I… I didn't kill A-Mei! I swear! I didn't do it! I loved her!" he pleaded.
"Is that so?" Jiang Zhengkai stared into Yu Di's eyes, yet for some reason, it was A-Jiao's voice ringing in his ears. "You love anything with a pair of legs, don't you? I wonder if you're into something with three legs too." Jiang Zhengkai chuckled to himself as he remained focused on Yu Di. "Dr. Yu, how did you know we had evidence implicating you in Yin Zhumei's murder?"
"Lies! You're trying to frame me!" Yu Di fell back into his chair while yelling hysterically at the top of his lungs, "Lies! All lies!" His body started convulsing uncontrollably.
"Dr. Yu, take some time to think it over, okay? It looks like you're a bit stressed out right now, so I'll come back in a few days and chat with you some more," Jiang Zhengkai teased as he stood up to leave. Suddenly, A-Jiao's voice once again spoke in his ear. "That's right! How did they let this retard become a surgeon? Is he here to save people or kill them?"
Jiang Zhengkai signaled to Wei Xin, and the two of them headed for the door in unison. As he reached the door, Jiang Zhengkai smiled, turned around, and added, "Dr. Yu, I suggest you take some nutritional supplements. Working late nights at the pharmacy takes a toll on the body."
The two of them soon returned to the parking lot. "Come on, let's go. I'll give you a ride home," Jiang Zhengkai said to Wei Xin as they reached his car. "Yu Di isn't the killer."
"Oh!" Wei Xin answered. She seemed a bit off. It looked like Yu Di's sexual escapades had really affected her mood tonight. After all, she wasn't A-Jiao, so she wasn't used to seeing those kinds of things.
"Hey, snap out of it! Can you go back home by yourself?" Jiang Zhengkai asked as he parked the car next to the police barracks.
"Yes, Inspector Jiang," Wei Xin smiled at Jiang Zhengkai. It appeared that her spirit had recovered considerably. "So how do you know Yu Di isn't the killer?"
"Instinct," replied Jiang Zhengkai. He recalled Yu Di's bearing, or lack thereof, and added, "He has neither the physique nor the ruthlessness required of a killer."
"I see. Alright, Inspector Jiang, I'll see you tomorrow. Don't go to bed too late!" Wei Xin gently reminded him as she got out of the car.
"See you later. Rest well." Jiang Zhengkai waved at her to go to her dorm room. He then drove away from the police barracks, but he didn't head straight home. Instead, he parked his car outside the gates of Ju'an Estates.
Jiang Zhengkai sat in his car and lit a cigarette. He silently gazed at A-Jiao's window. He hoped with all his heart that the lights in that condo would suddenly turn on, or that A-Jiao would happen to appear at the window. Nevertheless, deep down inside, he also knew that the miracle he so desperately wished for would ultimately not come to be.
Long after Jiang Zhengkai and Wei Xin had left, Yu Di was still convulsing uncontrollably in his chair. He felt like his days were numbered, and that his next stop would be the gallows.
The following morning, he turned himself in at the local police station. He confessed to all of his crimes, including adultery and sexual assault of female patients. Everyone has a weakness, and Yu Di was far from the only person in this world to let his weakness lead to his downfall.
With the leads he uncovered, Jiang Zhengkai was able to successfully apprehend a rather immoral doctor. However, the murder case was still stuck in a quagmire. Yu Di's confession confirmed Jiang Zhengkai's intuition, that he was not the killer. Furthermore, the simple fact was that Yu Di didn't have time to commit those murders. Besides long hours at the hospital and having multiple affairs, he had little time for anything else, much less commit a series of five murders.
It was now two months since the first murder, yet Jiang Zhengkai still had nothing to tie the five murders together, save for the fact that ten people died while having sex.
Another week quickly went by, yet the status of the case was still at a standstill. However, a piece of bad news would soon find its way to Jiang Zhengkai. That morning, Zhang Nan called Jiang Zhengkai over the phone and said, "Inspector Jiang, there's a situation. I don't know how to put it…"
"Don't worry, you can tell me, Zhang." By now, these two had gotten much more familiar with one another due to all the time they spent working together on the murder case. As such, Jiang Zhengkai now dispensed with Zhang Nan's title when speaking to him.
"It's like this. In the past three days, there have been no women working in the alley," Zhang Nan said anxiously over the phone.
"That's great news!" Jiang Zhengkai responded without thinking before the real implication of Zhang Nan's news sank in. His mouth then opened to the size of a chicken egg, "Wait, are you saying they've all quit working?"
"That's right!" Zhang Nan said helplessly over the phone, "I already spoke to A-Shun. He said it's not that the women don't want to work, but rather that they are afraid to work."
"Ah, I see," Jiang Zhengkai said with a wry smile on his face, "Hey Zhang, could you do me a favor and convince those women to go back to work?"
Zhang Nan went silent on the other side of the line for a long time before finally responding, "So yeah… Jiang… I guess I'll give it a shot." Zhang Nan thought for a long while on how to respond. On the one hand, he didn't want to refuse Jiang Zhengkai. On the other hand, there was no way he could do what Jiang Zhengkai asked him to do. How could a police officer possibly go and try to convince a bunch of women to keep working as prostitutes?
Jiang Zhengkai placed the handset back in the receiver and sat at his desk with hands clasped by interlocking fingers. He rubbed his hands together for what seemed like the better part of a day. He knew ordering Zhang Nan to convince the prostitutes to go back to work was a ridiculous request. Ever since the oldest profession in the world came into existence, there probably has never been a constable or lawman who proactively implored prostitutes to continue with their profession.
After pondering over the situation for half an hour, he finally gave up and called the telephone number of Yao Tianyu's assistant. "Hello, Zhang Qian. This is Jiang Zhengkai," he said over the phone.
"Hey, Brother Jiang. What can I do for you?" Zhang Qian cheerfully asked through the telephone.
"Could… could you check to see if Commissioner Yao is available?" Jiang Zhengkai stammered.
"He's available. Are you looking for him? Why don't you just call his direct line?" asked Zhang Qian. She could tell Jiang Zhengkai was acting a bit weird today.
"Oh right. So… umm… how is his mood today?" Jiang Zhengkai probed.
"He's in a pretty good mood today. Hehe, you screwed up again, didn't you, Brother Jiang?" asked Zhang Qian, which was immediately followed by laughter that sounded like silver bells ringing.
"No! I… it's just that… oh, forget it. I'll call him myself," said Jiang Zhengkai.
Although he told Zhang Qian he would call Yao Tianyu right away, he ended up playing with his phone for a full fifteen minutes before he summoned the courage to call his boss and mentor.
"Hello, Yao Tianyu," Yao Tianyu's voice came loud and clear over the telephone.
"Commissioner… Commissioner Yao," stuttered Jiang Zhengkai.
"What's going on? Why are you being so polite today? What is it? Spit it out!" Yao Tianyu roared in rapid fire succession.
"There's a situation I want to report, sir," Jiang Zhengkai braced himself and said to Yao Tianyu.
"Speak!" came the crisp order from the other side.
"The Ju'an Road murder case, I've… I've made some progress," Jiang Zhengkai softly probed.
"Good man! You've finally made progress. Tell me, what leads have your uncovered?" Hearing this from Jiang Zhengkai made Yao Tianyu very excited. After all, this was a big case, and having the lead investigator telling him that progress has been made obviously made him very happy.
"Well… I don't have any leads yet, and… and the prostitutes… they've stopped working…" Jiang Zhengkai practically closed his eyes as he said these words.
Yao Tianyu paused for a long time before finally exploding in fury, "You son of a bitch! How is prostitutes not working my problem?"
Seeing Yao Tianyu's first round of explosion had subsided, Jiang Zhengkai immediately followed up with his question, "So… Commissioner Yao, if… if they don't work, then I'm afraid the local residents… they will end up dying like the last murder, so… do you think we could organize some kind of a sting operation?"
"I'm not organizing shit!" Yao Tianyu yelled into the microphone as he slammed the handset back into the telephone receiver. Jiang Zhengkai knew that Yao Tianyu was probably angrily pacing back and forth in his office right now, just like a caged wolf prowling back and forth at the zoo.
Not ten minutes later, Zhang Qian called, "Brother Jiang, what did you tell the old man? He looks like he's ready to bite someone's head off right now."
"I didn't say anything! What are the boss's instructions?" Jiang Zhengkai knew Yao Tianyu must have thought up of something to help him.
"Commissioner Yao said that he will order all married police officers to report for duty at the alley, starting with dual police couples, no exceptions. He also told me to ask you if he should report there as well?" Zhang Qian unloaded this torrent of information on Jiang Zhengkai.
"No… that's not necessary. The missus is too old to be standing on the street like that." Jiang Zhengkai then playfully said to Zhang Qian, "Haha, thank the old man for me, sister."
For the first time since the advent of prostitution in China, the police has taken the lead spurring on the sex trade. Of course, the only reason why Jiang Zhengkai and Yao Tianyu executed this operation is because they were at their wits' end. After all, the fifth murder involved a pair of law-abiding citizens, not law-breaking prostitutes and johns. If it came time for another murder, and there were no prostitutes and johns on the street, that might just mean the killer would once again target innocent local residents. Anyway, nobody knew what would happen, so the best course of action was to prostitute away!
Seeing the alley was full of staged activity, Jiang Zhengkai and Zhang Nan both breathed sighs of relief. "Are there many johns out there tonight?" asked Jiang Zhengkai. Even though there was plenty of fake activity, there was still the possibility of a very real murder. As such, Jiang Zhengkai needed to be extra vigilant because it ain't no joke to have more people dying.
"Don't worry, there aren't that many," Zhang Nan said with certainty, "We have placed surveillance cameras at each position where our colleagues are stationed. We have also a group of officers assigned to watch over the others."
"Ok, good," Jiang Zhengkai nodded, "In that case, our people will put in the extra shifts during normal times, and then bureau headquarters will swap us out once we think we are due for another murder."
"Ok, no problem, Inspector Jiang," Zhang Nan agreed.
Time flies when you're having fun, and before you knew it, the police had already been playing "prostitution" in this alley for a week. Of course, they weren't really engaged in the business of prostitution. It was more of a "by us, for us" operation. What that meant was husbands would "hire" their own wives. A week went by without another murder occurring. According to the frequency of the previous murders, the alley was already past due for another murder. Jiang Zhengkai was starting to get frustrated. He had to consider the possibility that someone had leaked information on their sting operation.
Nevertheless, not having any more murders was something that he should be grateful for. At the end of the day, it was a good thing to not have to worry about adding two more skeletons to the sub-bureau's morgue.
This morning, Jiang Zhengkai stayed in his office. He went back and reviewed the case files of all five murders. Since there hasn't been a new murder, then perhaps he could find something useful in the old cases. First of all, the pattern of one murder every half month has been broken. The time elapsed since the last murder was well over twenty days.
As of now, the only thing tying all of these murders together is the fact that ten people died while having sex. Otherwise, the first case involved Xiaomei and an unknown male victim, with Xiaomei being one of A-Jiao's friends. The second case involved A-Hua and Yin Tao, with A-Hua being one of A-Jiao's friends. The third case involved A-Li and Liu Nanquan. According to A-Shun, A-Li and A-Jiao were acquaintances. The fourth case involved A-Xiu and an unknown male victim. Although the police was able to confirm A-Xiu's identity, they have still been unable to identify the male victim. The fifth case involved Yin Zhumei and Zhu Yuping, two local residents. All in all, it appeared that the first four cases were all related to the sex trade, and the female victims were all acquainted with A-Jiao, so did that mean A-Jiao was somehow connected to those first four murders?
At this point in his thought process, Jiang Zhengkai plopped back into his chair. He was driving to Ju'an Estates every night for the last few days, waiting for A-Jiao to come back home. He didn't know if he did this out of professional necessity or because he missed A-Jiao. He didn't believe A-Jiao was an active participant in these murders, but evidence showed that she had a personal relationship with four out of the five female victims. Something told Jiang Zhengkai that if he wanted to crack the case, he had to find A-Jiao.
Jiang Zhengkai took note of where the pharmacy was, and then opened a hallway window. He found that right across from the pharmacy was a large tree that offered the perfect vantage point through a window. "Come on, let's move outside!" he said as he jumped out of the hallway window. Seeing her boss jump out, Wei Xin quickly followed suit. Thanks to Hippocrates, the hospital's emergency room wing was located on the first floor.
Soon thereafter, Jiang Zhengkai and Wei Xin both climbed up the tree. The treetop offered excellent line of sight to the pharmacy window, through which they could clearly see everything that went on inside.
At that moment, Yu Di and that female nurse were making out on one of the pharmacy tables. Even though there was a partition curtain in the middle of the pharmacy, it was not fully extended, so from his position, Jiang Zhengkai could clearly see their movements.
Yu Di and the nurse were kissing and teasing one another, and before long were undoing each other's buttons. The nurse wrapped her legs around Yu Di's waist, while he continued kissing her face and body. She kicked off her shoes, and they fell to the floor, revealing a pair of legs clad in white pantyhose. Her legs then started writhing at random, while she made a series of low moans.
Outside the window, Wei Xin had already looked away, turning to face Jiang Zhengkai instead. Although Wei Xin was very tempted by what she saw inside the pharmacy, she was completely devoid of experience in such matters. She had no idea how to control her emotions when faced with such a situation. Jiang Zhengkai stood on a tree branch right next to Wei Xin. His expression seemed very calm, as if what he saw wasn't a man and a woman engaged in passionate lovemaking, but just something that was entirely mundane and uninteresting.
Soon thereafter, a soft "slurping" noise started emanating from inside the room. This sound caused Wei Xin's attention to shift to the window once again. The curtain blocked Yu Di's exact movements, but Wei Xin could make out that he was lying on top of the nurse's body, although she didn't know what exactly Yu Di was doing. However, Jiang Zhengkai knew that Yu Di was using his tongue to do something that most men were not particularly fond of doing. That slurp slurp noise, followed by the woman's uhns and ahs, clearly proved him correct.
"I want you inside of me right now! Uhn! Uhn…" the woman started begging, followed by soft moans.
"You can stop looking now. It's just two people having sex," Jiang Zhengkai said to Wei Xin as he slapped her on the shoulder. Wei Xin was completely transfixed by what was going on inside the pharmacy. When she finally realized Jiang Zhengkai had called to her, her face turned a bright red as she quickly looked away from the window. Jiang Zhengkai saw her expression and thought it was hilarious, so he said to her softly, "If you find it so interesting, we could stick around a little bit longer."
"Okay!" Wei Xin quickly agreed, before she realized he was teasing her, at which point her face grew even redder. "Inspector Jiang… you…"
"Alright, time to return to the hallway!" ordered Jiang Zhengkai as he carefully leapt down from the tree and climbed through the window back into the hospital's hallway. Wei Xin, on the other hand, took another look through the window as she descended the tree. By now, Yu Di's body and the nurse's body had become one. Apparently, sexual desire was an urge that's shared by all human beings, regardless of gender or occupation.
"Come on, let's go back to the surgery wing," Jiang Zhengkai quietly said to Wei Xin as she returned inside. He started walking in the direction of the surgery call room. It appeared that Yin Zhumei wasn't Yu Di's only lover in this hospital. Then again, Yu Di's oral sex skills probably made him quite popular with the ladies, so it made sense that he would have multiple lovers. After all, most Chinese men weren't all that fond of oral, which made Yu Di a bit of an outlier. Perhaps having a Japanese man for a husband isn't such a bad idea after all.
After half an hour, they could once again hear the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. When the footsteps stopped in front the surgery call room, the sound of a man and a woman flirting came from the other side of the door. A moment later, the footsteps picked up again, but this time, it was just one person gradually walking away. Seconds later, the door to the call room opened and Yu Di walked in.
"You… who are you?" Yu Di asked with a start, terror-stricken when he saw Jiang Zhengkai and Wei Xin. "W-what are you doing here?" Clearly, he was surprised by the presence of these two strangers in the surgery call room.
"Hehe, why do you think, Doctor?" Jiang Zhengkai looked at the way Yu Di acted now; the confidence which he'd displayed when he flirted with that nurse had now completely abandoned him. "Obviously we're here to seek medical attention. Why else would we be here?"
"Oh! Well, umm, it's the middle of the night, and when I came in here, I saw two people I'd never seen before, so…" Having heard Jiang Zhengkai explain himself, Yu Di calmed down somewhat. "Well anyway, you scared me half to death," Yu Di said as he picked up Jiang Zhengkai's medical record. "So, what are you here for?"
"Anxiety," Jiang Zhengkai said with a smile, staring intently at Yu Di the whole time.
"Anxiety?" Yu Di looked momentarily dumbstruck by what he'd just heard, before focusing his attention back on Jiang Zhengkai. "Excuse me, but this is the surgery wing, not the psychology wing." His hand that was holding the medical records was visibly shaking as he spoke.
"Doctor, actually, I'm a physician as well: a psychologist, to be exact," Jiang Zhengkai replied as he inched closer towards Yu Di.
"You… who the hell are you?" Yu Di's body reacted like he had just been stabbed. He stepped back from Jiang Zhengkai and leaned up against the wall as his head started shaking ever so slightly. It appeared that this man was having a full-blown nervous breakdown.
"Hehe, I'm here to treat you, Dr. Yu." As Jiang Zhengkai spoke, his body leaned forward onto the chair while his fingers tapped rhythmically on Yu Di's desk.
"You, get out!" Yu Di had completely lost his nerves. He pointed one of his shaking hands at the call room door while using the other to prop himself up. "If you don't get out, I'm going to call the police!"
"Really? Well, in that case, I'll save you the trouble." Jiang Zhengkai leaned up against Yu Di's desk and smiled. "We are the police." He proceeded to flash his police badge at Yu Di.
"Oh… Comrade Police Officer…" Seeing Jiang Zhengkai's police badge, Yu Di lost all semblance of physical control. His legs gave way, and he plopped down into his chair. "I… I didn't kill A-Mei! I swear! I didn't do it! I loved her!" he pleaded.
"Is that so?" Jiang Zhengkai stared into Yu Di's eyes, yet for some reason, it was A-Jiao's voice ringing in his ears. "You love anything with a pair of legs, don't you? I wonder if you're into something with three legs too." Jiang Zhengkai chuckled to himself as he remained focused on Yu Di. "Dr. Yu, how did you know we had evidence implicating you in Yin Zhumei's murder?"
"Lies! You're trying to frame me!" Yu Di fell back into his chair while yelling hysterically at the top of his lungs, "Lies! All lies!" His body started convulsing uncontrollably.
"Dr. Yu, take some time to think it over, okay? It looks like you're a bit stressed out right now, so I'll come back in a few days and chat with you some more," Jiang Zhengkai teased as he stood up to leave. Suddenly, A-Jiao's voice once again spoke in his ear. "That's right! How did they let this retard become a surgeon? Is he here to save people or kill them?"
Jiang Zhengkai signaled to Wei Xin, and the two of them headed for the door in unison. As he reached the door, Jiang Zhengkai smiled, turned around, and added, "Dr. Yu, I suggest you take some nutritional supplements. Working late nights at the pharmacy takes a toll on the body."
The two of them soon returned to the parking lot. "Come on, let's go. I'll give you a ride home," Jiang Zhengkai said to Wei Xin as they reached his car. "Yu Di isn't the killer."
"Oh!" Wei Xin answered. She seemed a bit off. It looked like Yu Di's sexual escapades had really affected her mood tonight. After all, she wasn't A-Jiao, so she wasn't used to seeing those kinds of things.
"Hey, snap out of it! Can you go back home by yourself?" Jiang Zhengkai asked as he parked the car next to the police barracks.
"Yes, Inspector Jiang," Wei Xin smiled at Jiang Zhengkai. It appeared that her spirit had recovered considerably. "So how do you know Yu Di isn't the killer?"
"Instinct," replied Jiang Zhengkai. He recalled Yu Di's bearing, or lack thereof, and added, "He has neither the physique nor the ruthlessness required of a killer."
"I see. Alright, Inspector Jiang, I'll see you tomorrow. Don't go to bed too late!" Wei Xin gently reminded him as she got out of the car.
"See you later. Rest well." Jiang Zhengkai waved at her to go to her dorm room. He then drove away from the police barracks, but he didn't head straight home. Instead, he parked his car outside the gates of Ju'an Estates.
Jiang Zhengkai sat in his car and lit a cigarette. He silently gazed at A-Jiao's window. He hoped with all his heart that the lights in that condo would suddenly turn on, or that A-Jiao would happen to appear at the window. Nevertheless, deep down inside, he also knew that the miracle he so desperately wished for would ultimately not come to be.
Long after Jiang Zhengkai and Wei Xin had left, Yu Di was still convulsing uncontrollably in his chair. He felt like his days were numbered, and that his next stop would be the gallows.
The following morning, he turned himself in at the local police station. He confessed to all of his crimes, including adultery and sexual assault of female patients. Everyone has a weakness, and Yu Di was far from the only person in this world to let his weakness lead to his downfall.
With the leads he uncovered, Jiang Zhengkai was able to successfully apprehend a rather immoral doctor. However, the murder case was still stuck in a quagmire. Yu Di's confession confirmed Jiang Zhengkai's intuition, that he was not the killer. Furthermore, the simple fact was that Yu Di didn't have time to commit those murders. Besides long hours at the hospital and having multiple affairs, he had little time for anything else, much less commit a series of five murders.
It was now two months since the first murder, yet Jiang Zhengkai still had nothing to tie the five murders together, save for the fact that ten people died while having sex.
Another week quickly went by, yet the status of the case was still at a standstill. However, a piece of bad news would soon find its way to Jiang Zhengkai. That morning, Zhang Nan called Jiang Zhengkai over the phone and said, "Inspector Jiang, there's a situation. I don't know how to put it…"
"Don't worry, you can tell me, Zhang." By now, these two had gotten much more familiar with one another due to all the time they spent working together on the murder case. As such, Jiang Zhengkai now dispensed with Zhang Nan's title when speaking to him.
"It's like this. In the past three days, there have been no women working in the alley," Zhang Nan said anxiously over the phone.
"That's great news!" Jiang Zhengkai responded without thinking before the real implication of Zhang Nan's news sank in. His mouth then opened to the size of a chicken egg, "Wait, are you saying they've all quit working?"
"That's right!" Zhang Nan said helplessly over the phone, "I already spoke to A-Shun. He said it's not that the women don't want to work, but rather that they are afraid to work."
"Ah, I see," Jiang Zhengkai said with a wry smile on his face, "Hey Zhang, could you do me a favor and convince those women to go back to work?"
Zhang Nan went silent on the other side of the line for a long time before finally responding, "So yeah… Jiang… I guess I'll give it a shot." Zhang Nan thought for a long while on how to respond. On the one hand, he didn't want to refuse Jiang Zhengkai. On the other hand, there was no way he could do what Jiang Zhengkai asked him to do. How could a police officer possibly go and try to convince a bunch of women to keep working as prostitutes?
Jiang Zhengkai placed the handset back in the receiver and sat at his desk with hands clasped by interlocking fingers. He rubbed his hands together for what seemed like the better part of a day. He knew ordering Zhang Nan to convince the prostitutes to go back to work was a ridiculous request. Ever since the oldest profession in the world came into existence, there probably has never been a constable or lawman who proactively implored prostitutes to continue with their profession.
After pondering over the situation for half an hour, he finally gave up and called the telephone number of Yao Tianyu's assistant. "Hello, Zhang Qian. This is Jiang Zhengkai," he said over the phone.
"Hey, Brother Jiang. What can I do for you?" Zhang Qian cheerfully asked through the telephone.
"Could… could you check to see if Commissioner Yao is available?" Jiang Zhengkai stammered.
"He's available. Are you looking for him? Why don't you just call his direct line?" asked Zhang Qian. She could tell Jiang Zhengkai was acting a bit weird today.
"Oh right. So… umm… how is his mood today?" Jiang Zhengkai probed.
"He's in a pretty good mood today. Hehe, you screwed up again, didn't you, Brother Jiang?" asked Zhang Qian, which was immediately followed by laughter that sounded like silver bells ringing.
"No! I… it's just that… oh, forget it. I'll call him myself," said Jiang Zhengkai.
Although he told Zhang Qian he would call Yao Tianyu right away, he ended up playing with his phone for a full fifteen minutes before he summoned the courage to call his boss and mentor.
"Hello, Yao Tianyu," Yao Tianyu's voice came loud and clear over the telephone.
"Commissioner… Commissioner Yao," stuttered Jiang Zhengkai.
"What's going on? Why are you being so polite today? What is it? Spit it out!" Yao Tianyu roared in rapid fire succession.
"There's a situation I want to report, sir," Jiang Zhengkai braced himself and said to Yao Tianyu.
"Speak!" came the crisp order from the other side.
"The Ju'an Road murder case, I've… I've made some progress," Jiang Zhengkai softly probed.
"Good man! You've finally made progress. Tell me, what leads have your uncovered?" Hearing this from Jiang Zhengkai made Yao Tianyu very excited. After all, this was a big case, and having the lead investigator telling him that progress has been made obviously made him very happy.
"Well… I don't have any leads yet, and… and the prostitutes… they've stopped working…" Jiang Zhengkai practically closed his eyes as he said these words.
Yao Tianyu paused for a long time before finally exploding in fury, "You son of a bitch! How is prostitutes not working my problem?"
Seeing Yao Tianyu's first round of explosion had subsided, Jiang Zhengkai immediately followed up with his question, "So… Commissioner Yao, if… if they don't work, then I'm afraid the local residents… they will end up dying like the last murder, so… do you think we could organize some kind of a sting operation?"
"I'm not organizing shit!" Yao Tianyu yelled into the microphone as he slammed the handset back into the telephone receiver. Jiang Zhengkai knew that Yao Tianyu was probably angrily pacing back and forth in his office right now, just like a caged wolf prowling back and forth at the zoo.
Not ten minutes later, Zhang Qian called, "Brother Jiang, what did you tell the old man? He looks like he's ready to bite someone's head off right now."
"I didn't say anything! What are the boss's instructions?" Jiang Zhengkai knew Yao Tianyu must have thought up of something to help him.
"Commissioner Yao said that he will order all married police officers to report for duty at the alley, starting with dual police couples, no exceptions. He also told me to ask you if he should report there as well?" Zhang Qian unloaded this torrent of information on Jiang Zhengkai.
"No… that's not necessary. The missus is too old to be standing on the street like that." Jiang Zhengkai then playfully said to Zhang Qian, "Haha, thank the old man for me, sister."
For the first time since the advent of prostitution in China, the police has taken the lead spurring on the sex trade. Of course, the only reason why Jiang Zhengkai and Yao Tianyu executed this operation is because they were at their wits' end. After all, the fifth murder involved a pair of law-abiding citizens, not law-breaking prostitutes and johns. If it came time for another murder, and there were no prostitutes and johns on the street, that might just mean the killer would once again target innocent local residents. Anyway, nobody knew what would happen, so the best course of action was to prostitute away!
Seeing the alley was full of staged activity, Jiang Zhengkai and Zhang Nan both breathed sighs of relief. "Are there many johns out there tonight?" asked Jiang Zhengkai. Even though there was plenty of fake activity, there was still the possibility of a very real murder. As such, Jiang Zhengkai needed to be extra vigilant because it ain't no joke to have more people dying.
"Don't worry, there aren't that many," Zhang Nan said with certainty, "We have placed surveillance cameras at each position where our colleagues are stationed. We have also a group of officers assigned to watch over the others."
"Ok, good," Jiang Zhengkai nodded, "In that case, our people will put in the extra shifts during normal times, and then bureau headquarters will swap us out once we think we are due for another murder."
"Ok, no problem, Inspector Jiang," Zhang Nan agreed.
Time flies when you're having fun, and before you knew it, the police had already been playing "prostitution" in this alley for a week. Of course, they weren't really engaged in the business of prostitution. It was more of a "by us, for us" operation. What that meant was husbands would "hire" their own wives. A week went by without another murder occurring. According to the frequency of the previous murders, the alley was already past due for another murder. Jiang Zhengkai was starting to get frustrated. He had to consider the possibility that someone had leaked information on their sting operation.
Nevertheless, not having any more murders was something that he should be grateful for. At the end of the day, it was a good thing to not have to worry about adding two more skeletons to the sub-bureau's morgue.
This morning, Jiang Zhengkai stayed in his office. He went back and reviewed the case files of all five murders. Since there hasn't been a new murder, then perhaps he could find something useful in the old cases. First of all, the pattern of one murder every half month has been broken. The time elapsed since the last murder was well over twenty days.
As of now, the only thing tying all of these murders together is the fact that ten people died while having sex. Otherwise, the first case involved Xiaomei and an unknown male victim, with Xiaomei being one of A-Jiao's friends. The second case involved A-Hua and Yin Tao, with A-Hua being one of A-Jiao's friends. The third case involved A-Li and Liu Nanquan. According to A-Shun, A-Li and A-Jiao were acquaintances. The fourth case involved A-Xiu and an unknown male victim. Although the police was able to confirm A-Xiu's identity, they have still been unable to identify the male victim. The fifth case involved Yin Zhumei and Zhu Yuping, two local residents. All in all, it appeared that the first four cases were all related to the sex trade, and the female victims were all acquainted with A-Jiao, so did that mean A-Jiao was somehow connected to those first four murders?
At this point in his thought process, Jiang Zhengkai plopped back into his chair. He was driving to Ju'an Estates every night for the last few days, waiting for A-Jiao to come back home. He didn't know if he did this out of professional necessity or because he missed A-Jiao. He didn't believe A-Jiao was an active participant in these murders, but evidence showed that she had a personal relationship with four out of the five female victims. Something told Jiang Zhengkai that if he wanted to crack the case, he had to find A-Jiao.
