Case Files 013

Chapter 101: Caught

Liu Yinyan said he had only done 1 wrong thing in his life but that thing would make his heart bleed whenever he thought about it. 10 years ago, after the death of the gold shop boss, Liu Yinyan started a charity for the uremia patients and he was the charity's biggest donor. In fact, he personally donated 1 billion to help these people. Did he really care about these people or was it just to help him sleep a little better at night? I had no clue, only Liu Yinyan could answer that. But hearing this man talk about his act of charity, I had the urge to punch him.

For his own profit, he made use of a father's love and worked together with the gold shop boss to scam the insurance company. He forced a father to his death, Ren Tian died due to overwhelming disappointment. Liu Yinyan kept that a secret for 35 years. In an ironic twist of fate, 35 years ago, to save his own daughter, Ren Tian was willing to do anything; 35 years later, to save his own daughter, Liu Yinyan was willing to do anything. Honestly, if not for his advanced age, I definitely would have delivered that punch.

Liu Yinyan leaned on the couch and looked at me quietly. Moments later, he said, "Don't look at me with that gaze, I've only done one bad thing in my life! Do you know how many people rely on me for their living, do you know how many children with uremia my charity foundation has saved? Without me, they would have ended up like Ren Tian's daughter!" Could a life really be bought and calculated? Were the lives of many worth more than the life of one? It was undeniable that Liu Yinyan had done plenty of good, his foundation might have saved those who had died but that didn't change the fact that 2 people had died because of him 35 years ago.

"When this incident is over, you'll be punished accordingly." I looked at him and said firmly.

Liu Yinyan looked at me with confusion before he broke into a guffaw like he had heard the biggest joke. "Officer Wu, do you know why I've sent everyone away but you? I've been in the business for decades already, do you really think I don't know law?" He caressed his cane slowly, "I know your single testimony won't amount to any kind of evidence. Everyone who knows the truth is already dead, except you and me, do you think you'll be able to find other evidence?"

"I will." I looked at him and said seriously.

Liu Yinyan glanced at me and eventually said, "Can you earn ten million working under the law for your whole life? I can say confidently that this is the one thing I did wrong my whole life! The kidnappers will definitely call again, if you're willing to help me then say; if you're not, then leave and bring the police away with you. What have you found after so many days anyway?" Liu Yinyan shrugged. "You got nothing, I don't trust the police anymore. I'll place my hope in the kidnappers, they can do anything they want."

Seeing how emboldened Liu Yinyan was, I knew he had already given up. He not only shared with me the secret which he had kept for 35 years, he had given me an ultimatum. 1 finger, 5 days and that was enough to make a man who was famed for his ruthlessness surrender himself for slaughter. The living room was empty, the conversation would forever be kept between me and Liu Yinyan. The night outside the bungalow was still as water, but was the night darker or human heart? Perhaps there was no real saint in this world, who could really say they have not done anything wrong? Some could just let it go easier than others.

"Even though I know you won't find any evidence, I still need to remind you, if I fall, many others will suffer from the domino effect. At that moment, they will blame you and not me. I'm telling you that as a venture capitalist." Liu Yinyan stood up and slowly headed to the stairs. Walking up the steps, Liu Yinyan turned around, "I'm already in my 70s. Confucius said, at fifty, I shall know the decrees of heavens. But at 70, I still can't read human hearts, much less heaven's decrees. If you still intent on creating a big news, I hope you'll do that after my daughter is found." He turned back and uttered as if to himself, "And I'm telling you that as a father."

Liu Yinyan had a point but I couldn't just do nothing with the knowledge that I had. Only oneself could decide one's fate, not anyone else, not even if that someone would end up saving a lot more people in the future. But at the same time, I understood that to bring down Liu Yinyan, to open a case for a man who died 35 years ago wouldn't be easy. But most of the time, we didn't carry on because of hope but it was because we had carried on that we saw hope. I still decided to look into Liu Yinyan's past after this case was over. I didn't choose to stay, I stood up and left.

Early the next morning, Liu Yinyan's call came. He called the police a bunch of maggots who only knew how to feed on the taxpayers' money. He demanded for all the police force to be removed from his estate and he didn't want police intervention in his daughter's abduction anymore. Everyone was surprised by Liu Yinyan's sudden directive. Only I knew why Liu Yinyan was doing this, naturally he wouldn't have exposed the despicable thing that he had done 35 years ago to more people. Captain Zhao sat on his chair and tapped repeatedly on the table. In psychology, that was a sign of anxiety. Soon I heard Captain Zhao say, "Has he lost his mind to do something like this all of a sudden?!"

I wanted to say something but in the end, decided against it. At this moment, no matter what I said, Liu Yinyan would not change his mind. If anything, if I reveal the seedy information, it would only add complications to this already complicated case. So I decided silence was golden. Captain Zhao tinkered with his tea cup and eventually said, "Mary, pull back all the officers for now. In the afternoon, send the plainclothes over to patrol around his bungalow compound."

Mary nodded. She asked, "Then what about the monitoring system?" Captain Zhao sighed. "It'll be easy for him to switch to a new system. Even if he shut us down and refused to let us listen in further, we would be none the wiser. We'll take it step by step then. If he leaves the compound or has any actual interaction with the kidnappers, we'll send people to tail him." Then Captain Zhao turned to me. "By the way, what did the two of you speak of yesterday night?'

I shrugged. "He only scolded me." Captain Zhao sighed. "I guess that's all we can do for now."

At 10 am, Gu Chen walked in the door, or more precisely, a man with male-patterned baldness and bushy beard barged in and then he was followed by Gu Chen. My heart exploded, wasn't this Lin Dafa described by the boss? In less than 24 hours, Lin Dafa had been captured!

"Captain Zhao! Captain Zhao!" I shouted, "See what the cat dragged in." Captain Zhao put down his teacup and looked up, "This is?"

Gu Chen bounced out from behind the man, "This is Lin Dafa, he went to the tobacco shop to make a purchase early in the morning and was captured red-handed. I can confirm that he hasn't contacted anyone on his way here." Bright lights lit up Captain Zhao's eyes. I wanted to kiss Gu Chen at that moment. Then I heard Captain Zhao say, "Well done! Bring him into interrogation! We'll get the location of the others out of him!"

Inside the interrogation room, Gu Chen, Captain Zhao and I ran the interrogation while Mary was responsible for recording everything. "Lin Dafa, with 2 murders and a prison break," Captain Zhao said slowly, "What do you think awaits you?"

Lin Dafa looked at the four of us and revealed his teeth stained yellow by tobacco. He smiled. "In my first 2 times, the police didn't give me such a big welcome. What is waiting for me? Of course I know. Everyone has to die eventually." Before he walked down the criminal path, Lin Dafa was a reticent labor. But now this man was quite chatty. Looks like the 3 years in running had changed him a lot. "Some would run into cars when they were out walking; others choked to death while eating." Lin Dafa laughed. "Such is life. When I was 10, I went for a palm-reading. The sensei told me I'd face a big tragedy at 42. If I manage to overcome that hurdle, my life after that would be smooth sailing, but if I fail, I would be dead or incapacitated. Death penalty huh? Well, I was supposed to have that 3 years ago." We knew that Lin Dafa was purposely wasting our time and messing with our minds.

Captain Zhao slammed on the table and shouted, "Lin Dafa, if you give up the location of your other partners, we will put in a good word with the judge, perhaps we can get you off the death penalty!"

"Get me off the death penalty?" Lin Dafa guffawed. "Now, why would you do that? Do you think that will get me to speak? What is so scary about death, death is the least scary thing in the world. Everyone will die, I will die and you too will die. No one can escape death, so what's so scary about it?"

My heart squeezed, I knew then Lin Dafa would not give up his partners with just our interrogation. Death was not threatening to Lin Dafa, perhaps only by having Lin Rong in the same room with us that Lin Dafa would really speak.

"But what about your daughter?" Captain Zhao switched tactics. "We know why you got imprisoned in the first place. After so many years being a fugitive, have you seen your daughter, do you know how she's faring? You might be fine with dying but what about your daughter? Have you considered her feelings?" Captain Zhao's tone softly, "Your daughter is around the age of an adult now, isn't she?'

Lin Dafa's lips trembled like he was going to say something.