Wang Meng asked in astonishment, "Why didn't you mention such an important piece of information earlier?"
Huang Ji answered blankly, "Sorry, I've got a slow reaction. I just thought of it.."
"Uh…" Wang Meng was speechless, this was after all a kid with an intellectual disability.
Right when he was about to go question Li Fan, the village chief had also walked out earlier and overheard Huang Ji's words. Puzzled, he asked, "You're talking about Lil' Li's son?"
Huang Ji nodded his head.
The village chief sighed, "I talked to their family already, they all said they haven't seen her." Based on his reaction, it didn't seem to Huang Ji like the village chief had any plans to question them again. Wang Meng had also stopped in his tracks upon hearing the village chief's words.
Staring again at the old tree by the road, he was certain that Dr. Liang had been taken away by four men and that Li Fan was right by the old tree when it happened. He should have witnessed everything.
"He didn't see? No...he's definitely a witness." Huang Ji thought to himself. But this was just Huang Ji's feeling, there was no way to explain himself. Plus, as a person with an intellectual disability, even if he spoke up people would just think he was acting up.
An idea came to Huang Ji's mind. He looked at the village chief and remarked innocently, "I saw Li Fan at seven 0'clock, so Dr. Liang went missing that early huh."
The village chief nodded his head. Li Fan said he hadn't seen anything which meant Dr. Liang must have already gone missing before Li Fan had started playing behind the tree. But Wang Meng did a double take upon thinking of the time; it was way too early. The clinic opened at around seven o'clock and Dr. Liang had only gone missing after unlocking the door; and yet, here was Li Fan saying he hadn't see her even though he was here playing at seven o'clock?
Wang Meng couldn't help asking, "Uncle, what did Li Fan say exactly?"
The village chief answered, "Ain't that complicated. I asked if he'd seen her, he said no."
"Forget it, I'll ask him again. Lil' Li! Where is he? Get your son over here!"
With the information provided by Huang Ji, the two of them felt prompted to ask again for more details. Soon, Lil' Li had brought his son, Li Fan, over. Li Fan was only twelve years old, seeing so many people surrounding him he was a bit nervous.
"Did you see Dr. Liang this morning?" Wang Meng queried.
Li Fan quickly shook his head, "I didn't see her."
Wang Meng asked again, "Were you playing at the clinic entrance this morning? Was it open yet? What time were you here?"
Li Fan was surprised and asked, "How did you know?"
"Huang Ji saw you. Was it at seven o'clock?" Wang Meng pressed further. He didn't suspect Li Fan of lying, he just wanted to confirm the time that Dr. Liang went missing.
But in a turn of events, Li Fan answered, "What's an idiot like him know about anything! It was already 7:30 by the time I got here."
"What?" Wang Meng raised a brow.
"Seven." Huang Ji said calmly.
"You're wrong!" Li Fan shouted, "It was 7:30!"
Huang Ji stared into Li Fan's eyes and stated calmly, "Seven."
Li Fan pointed his finger at Huang Ji, "See, all he knows is how to repeat one word. This idiot's got it wrong!"
Wang Meng asked, "Huang Ji, how are you sure it was seven?"
"My grandpa told me to head out to Dr. Liang's clinic at seven o'clock. I left early but didn't want to get checked so I went back home after I had almost arrived. At that time it must have been seven o'clock when I saw Li Fan." Huang Ji lied as naturally as he breathed.
That's right, Huang Ji was lying. It was true that he had left at seven in the morning, but not for the clinic, instead he had gone to the fields and took a stroll before going back. Huang Ji hadn't seen Li Fan, but at this moment he was certain about his gut feeling. He felt that Li Fan was right behind the tree when Dr. Liang was taken away, that's why he purposely said he saw him.
"I have to admit, after lying once it seems to be a lot easier to lie again," Huang Ji thought to himself, "as long as there aren't any loopholes and it can't be disproved, a lie is no different from the truth."
Wang Meng patted Huang Ji's shoulder and then turned towards Li Fan, "Huang Ji isn't an idiot, he just has a mild intellectual disability. He's got no problem remembering something as simple as this. You on the other hand, learning to lie at such a young age. Tell me the truth!" He was after all a cop. It was easy for him to notice Li Fan's nervous reaction against Huang Ji's 'dull' account. Li Fan was only twelve years old, he couldn't hold a secret in his heart. He immediately panicked upon being pressured by Wang Meng and his sharp gaze, his eyes darting from side-to-side.
Upon seeing his reaction, how could his father not recognize that he'd lied. He shouted furiously, "Is your skin itching, boy! How dare you lie about something so important! Have you seen Dr. Liang or not!" After he finished yelling, he gave Li Fan a kick that made him immediately start crying.
Under everyone's repeated pressuring, Li Fan knew that he couldn't hide it any longer. Reluctantly, he finally said, "I s-saw...saw her get dragged away by a group of people. They were super mean, and they had knives. They said they'd kill me if I ever told anyone. I was scared..."
"What!" Wang Meng was horrified. Everybody realized that Dr. Liang had probably been kidnapped. Huang Ji was the only person here to maintain a calm expression. Without a doubt he already knew this. Luckily everybody was already used to Huang Ji's "dullness". They just treated him as though he didn't understand the meaning behind Li Fan's words.
"You moron! A little scare's got your knickers in a twist? You chickshit!" Li Fan's father stamped his feet in a fit of rage.
Li Fan cowered in fear, "It's true! He wasn't lying to me, and I talked...Dad! They're going to kill me and you..."
"You chickenshit!" Li Fan's father cursed.
Wang Meng wore a grave expression on his face. If they weren't sure about whether or not she was even missing before, they could probably treat this as a full blown criminal case now. To be able to frighten Li Fan to the extent of not saying a word until now, it was evident that everything from their tone of voice to their expressions and actions were no joke. Only a completely authentic threat would be able to make Li Fan too scared to tell the truth. After all, Li Fan was already twelve years old, an average joking threat wouldn't have been able to silence him.
Wang Meng hastily called the police station to report the situation. With a witness they were now able to initially rule it as a kidnapping case.
On the other side, the village chief had already gotten all of the details out of Li Fan.
Before seven o'clock, Li Fan was on his way to school. But he was in a playful mood and didn't go straight to the village. Instead, he stopped by the old tree in front of the clinic at the village entrance, feeding the ants with a steamed bun and playing around for quite some time.
At around 7:05, a group of people driving a van entered the village. Coincidentally there was no one else on the road other than him, a child headed for school. There were a total of four people in the van. They got out and entered the clinic, dragging Dr. Liang straight out of the clinic. The entire process was extremely bold and well executed.
Before leaving, the only man with a knife caught sight of Li Fan; but seemingly due to being in a rush to leave, all he did was give him a quick threat. Terrified, Li Fan agreed without a second word, and then he went off to school. For the entire day he was extremely well-behaved at school. In his mind he told himself, "I didn't see a single thing, I was already at school." After repeating it for an entire day, he himself probably believed in it too. If not for Huang Ji, he might have kept this to himself for the rest of his life.
"Kidnapped...but why? Money?" The village chief was puzzled. A kidnapping case in a remote village like theirs?
Wang Meng carefully recorded Li Fan's account and then picked up another call. He then said with a similarly puzzled expression, "It's not money, her mother hasn't received a ransom call."
"What! Could it be revenge?" someone guessed.
Another person remarked, "That's impossible. Dr. Liang is such a great person."
"Then what else could it be? Could they be after Dr. Liang herself?" someone else guessed. It was worth mentioning that Dr. Liang was quite beautiful and had the fair skin of a city dweller. She stood out a lot in this remote village.
Listening to the guessing grow out of hand, Wang Meng shouted, "Stop making wild guesses. The police station will take care of this, you guys don't need to get involved. Go on home everybody."
Twenty minutes after everybody had left, a police car arrived at the scene. The cop that was driving got out of the car while on the phone and exclaimed with a shocked expression, "What? They're gone?"
Wang Meng asked in confusion, "What do you mean 'they're gone'? We got them, and then they got away ?"
The driver cop shook his head and put down the phone, his face filled with disbelief, "It's not the criminals that ran away, it's...it's Liang Yuan's family that ran..."
"What?" This time Wang Meng was truly stunned. Liang Yuan was Dr. Liang's name. What the hell was up with the victim's family running away?
"What's going on, be clear."
The driver cop furrowed his brow, "We contacted the house Liang Yuan's mother was renting in the city and told her about how her daughter might have been kidnapped. We also asked her if she'd received a ransom call, but she said she hadn't. Soon afterwards, officers from the city had arrived at her home to monitor the phone line and await any potential ransom call from the criminals. But to their surprise...when they arrived they were greeted by an empty house. Liang Yuan's parents had collected all of their wealth and belongings and left. We checked the surveillance and discovered that their car had entered the interstate highway! They were headed towards Shandong."
Wang Meng was baffled, what was going on? The victim's family was escaping like they were criminals?
"Something's definitely wrong here!" Wang Meng remarked.
"No shit, but that's not our responsibility. Our job right now is to take note of the crime scene and to find that kid to draw a facial composite." the driver cop said.
Wang Meng felt powerless. He was just a small community cop, criminal cases were none of his business. The only reason he was sent to take care of the crime scene was because they didn't have enough people.
They recorded the crime scene and took a lot of photos, but there was evidently nothing of value at the scene. A whole day had passed and the villagers had walked all over the place, there was no need to protect the scene anymore. But they still did their jobs dutifully, reporting everything back to the county. Right as they were about to get in the car and go look for Li Fan, Wang Meng saw a piece of paper stuck between the windshield wipers.
"They've got parking tickets out here in the middle of nowhere?" the cop who drove here saw it too and was surprised. It had grown dark and he couldn't see it clearly.
Who would give a police car a parking ticket in a place like this? After getting a closer look he saw that it was just a flyer covered in writing. The writing was very clear and tidy, it said, "We have Liang Yuan. Bring her parents to us for an exchange." Signed, Lu Zongmin!
Wang Meng and his colleague exchanged looks, a chill running down their spines. This was a letter from the criminals? They looked around but the village entrance was pitch black, not a single person in sight.
In the short period of time that they were in the clinic taking photos, they came out to be greeted by a note stuck to the police car. To think that the criminals were so close to them! Not to mention how obnoxious they were. Instead of sending their demands to the kidnapped person's family, they delivered the ransom letter to the cops and demanded an exchange for the victim's mother?
"They're nearby...They haven't left yet!"
Wang Meng and his colleague combed through the surrounding area and then searched the inside of the police car, but they came away empty handed. The person who'd placed the note was probably long gone.
Wang Meng immediately reported the new intel to the chief, "...That's how it is. We have the note and there's even a signature. Even though it might be a fake name, we should still investigate it right?"
The chief was also astonished upon hearing the report. A kidnapper that wanted the cops to help them capture people? And they even left a name! How arrogant were they, they practically had balls of steel! Even stranger, Liang Yuan's mother had run away for no apparent reason. For this remote village, Liang Yuan's kidnapping case was definitely the most bizarre case they'd ever encountered. There was something much bigger at play behind the scene..
......
A strange case, indeed. Also, what's with the kidnappers leaving a witness behind? It's either they intend to inform the police or they're dumb enough to leave a person who witnessed their crime. *Ehem* Anyways, thanks for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting! Glad you're enjoying the novel. I'm surprised at how much you've thought about the chapters. My take is that they left the witness so as not to escalate the situation. A child going missing would have caused a greater commotion. What do you think?
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