Case Files 013

Chapter 74: Willing Sacrifice

Everyone had a bit of kindness and sin hidden in their hearts. That day, the sin in Zhang Dequan's heart overwhelmed everything else. After his wife died, Zhang Dequan never looked at another woman again.

Then as his daughter became more like his wife, Zhang Dequan devolved into a creature of baser sin. It seemed evitable that Zhang Dequan would crawl into his own daughter's bed. Every minute after that moment, Zhang Dequan suffered in pain and guilt. He saw his wife in his daughter but he also knew that she was not his wife. He hated himself but he was too weak to do anything about it. He became angry so he lashed out and beat his daughter, turning the fault onto her. At the end of the day though, Zhang Dequan never had a moment of peace since that fateful day.

The ashtray before us already had 7 or 8 cigarette butts. Zhang Dequan pressed another cigarette against the ashtray and puffed out the last bit of smoke. "I guess I'm glad it has ended. I've never felt as at peace as I do now. The time is almost up. If there's nothing else, I wish to spend these last moments alone."

I pulled out a shoelace from my shoes and knotted it before Zhang Dequan. Seeing that, Zhang Dequan asked with confusion, "Hmm, you've been a sailor before? How do you know the sailor's knots?" Hearing that, my brain buzzed. Seeing the change to my expression, Zhang Dequan asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

I nodded. As I laced my shoe back on, I told him, "It's nothing, I have to go now too." I pushed open the door and walked out. My heart was racing all over the place. Perhaps Zhou Guo was just another pawn. From the start, he was never treated as one of the five. In that case, the real mastermind was not him but someone else.

"Gu Chen, bring Zhang Xue to the station for me"

When I finished the pack of smoke, Zhang Xue finally arrived at the interrogation room. When she saw me, she was nervous but moments later, she calmed down. I looked at her, and wondered just what kind of heart was hiding underneath this beautiful yet vulnerable appearance. Zhang Xue said softly, "Why did you ask me here?"

I took several deep breaths and began, "Because we've already found out the truth and realized who the real mastermind is. Zhou Guo was just another one of your pawns. From the start, you plan to sacrifice Zhou Guo.

"Like Zhou Guo, you too take Subway Line 1. But Zhou Guo's place was more convenient. I can't believe I didn't see that. Furthermore, there is one thing that you have which Zhou Guo doesn't, time. Unlike Zhou Guo who attended every class, you, on the other hand, would skip class and leave school early." Zhang Xue blinked innocently and didn't say anything. I continued, "After Zhou Guo stole the cyanide, he first handed it to you and not Lin Rou. After you took a piece, you returned it to Zhou Guo and then had him give the rest to Lin Rou. That way no one would have known you had taken a piece of cyanide, other than Zhou Guo.

"You gave the cyanide to Gao Rui and stole his watch. And then you killed Wang Yiman and took away her puzzle piece." I looked at Zhang Xue and hissed out the words one by one. "You taught Wang Yiman the special knot which could only be untied by someone else because you couldn't afford to give her the chance to have second doubts at the last moment, didn't you? That was wickedly brilliant." Zhang Xue's lips trembled but still she said nothing. I continued, "You said it was Zhou Guo who taught you the knot, it was some African tribal knot. Nonsense! You learned it from your father. He was a sailor when he was young. The knot you taught Wang Yiman was a sailor's knot, the same knot your father taught you." I slammed on the table, "Do you want me to bring your father here to verify that?"

Zhang Xue sighed and then shrugged. "You're right. I was too careless. I didn't even realize that I had accidentally revealed the knot to you. When you asked me about it, I just came up with a random answer. I didn't expect you to suspect Zhou Guo because of it."

I scoffed. "Like you have concern for him at all. After you killed Wang Yiman, the police officially started the investigation and turned the focus on your school. You know that if you left any more trace at the crime scenes, you'd be easily exposed therefore you did not partake in the designs of Ma Liliang and Lee Zhinan's deaths."

Gu Chen nodded. "That was why Gao Rui and Wang Yiman's deaths were so artfully staged while Lee Zhinan and Ma Liliang's deaths were the complete opposite. It was because she had stopped interacting with the latter 2 victims."

I looked at Zhang Xue who decided to clam up again. I proceeded, "You approached these 4 and became their friends. You told them about your background and gained their pity. They promised to help you complete your sinister plan to acquire the 16,000,000 RMB."

I revealed to Zhang Xue. "Actually, that night, I already saw you pass out the bank cards at Yu Cai High School's rooftop."

Zhang Xue said in a tinny voice, "In that case, why didn't you arrest me then?"

I gritted my teeth and said, "Because at the time, I thought if the money was enough for you guys to escape from your original families and crawl out from darkness, then it's all worth it even though the money itself came from darkness. If you have not done that thing, I definitely would have let you go!"

Zhang Xue straightened up. "What thing?"

I stressed it word by word. "During the start of junior high, you encountered Zhou Guo. Zhou Guo was a nave person and everyone in your class liked to bully him. But you found out about his sick mother and you decided to befriend him. It was not because you cared about him, it was because he was an integral part of your plan. After that, you met Gao Rui at school and Wang Yiman, Ma Liliang, Lee Zhinan on Subway Line 1. Within one year, they shared with you their suicidal tendencies one after another." I said, "Mary never found anything online because they never revealed that side of themselves on the internet. But they did, to you on the subway train. You are different, you are charming. There is a flawed yet determined spirit about you. You became their good friends, you persuaded them to commit suicide and they all agreed.

"After you had their agreement, you started to work your wicked magic on Zhou Guo's mother. That was not easy because Zhou Guo's mother still had something to live for, her son. He had always pulled her back from the brink of suicide. Therefore, you had to work extra hard to exact your influence. You left school early and came to Zhou Guo's home daily. His mother welcomed you into her home because you were her son's friend but you had already decided to sacrifice her from the start!"

Zhang Xue started to tremble. Even I had a hard time keeping my voice even. "Just like that, you two became friends across generations. To endear yourself to her, you even picked up embroidery! On the day of her death, you were helping her with the embroidery. The embroidery left on her table, that was not Zhou Guo's mother's work. It was too amateurish, not the work of someone who could sell their embroideries for a living!

"That day, Zhou Guo's mother died. Zhou Guo didn't know anything, he really thought his mother died from suicide, he had no idea you were behind it!" I pushed, "After Zhou Guo's mother died, he had no reason to live anymore. Actually, I was wrong. He had one more reason and that was you, the girl that he loved. From then on, you would have him firmly planted in the middle of your palm." I slammed the table. "This was all your plan. You have Zhou Guo fall in love with you because you needed to use him. You knew that if there was a scapegoat who surrendered, then the police wouldn't continue the investigation anymore because this case would be wrapped up as suicide cases and not homicide cases!" I pointed my finger at Zhang Xue. "You collected the precious items from the victims not because of their memories, it was for you to plant them at Zhou Guo's home. Zhou Guo's family wouldn't be able to afford imported cookies. It's funny because I remember you telling me you would get gifts from your father's managers after you slept with them, I'm sure this tin of cookies was one of them. The tin and everything inside it were your final gift to Zhou Guo. Since you already got the money, you had no need for him anymore, he could die already!"

Zhang Xue nodded. "Yes, but who told him to fall in love with me, a woman with a venomous heart, a person he should stay away from? Only someone as feeble-minded as him would obediently listen to my orders and not run his mouth. I told him that we would die together as lovers and he actually believed me, could you believe it?!" Zhang Xue emphasized. "But was I wrong? I just wanted some money to move to somewhere no one knows me. Was that so wrong? Do I deserve to be raped by my father and his friends repeatedly? Plus, you kept saying it was murder, but did I really kill anyone? They would have died without me anyway! Even Zhou Guo, he was willing to die for me!" Zhang Xue shook. "If anything, I only helped them. From my mother's own experience, I knew how difficult it was to have a presentable death. I didn't want them to go through the same painful path as she did, I only wanted to give them the choice to preserve their dignity in death! Was that wrong of me?!"

I shook my head. "I originally decided to just leave this be but you shouldn't have used Zhou Guo as a sacrifice, no one deserves that fate. He didn't need to die, he didn't want to die. Do you really think Zhou Guo was that dumb? You really think he bought your story of dying together as lovers?" I took out the letter Zhou Guo wrote to us. "Zhou Guo understood all along what his role was in your eyes. So he went one step further for you. He took on all the blame himself voluntarily. He ended himself to bring light to the rest of you. He was not dumb, he was just a boy in love with you."

"Then why. Why would you do this?!" Zhang Xue cried. "Zhou Guo had already chosen to shoulder all the sin for me, then why would you arrest me? Do we not deserve a day of peace? We're so close to climbing out from hell, how could you kick us back down into hell again?!"

Zhang Xue cried until her body shook. Perhaps in her mind, once her father's case closed, she could bring the 4,000,000 RMB to a place where no one knew her and start again. But I would not allow it, a person's life should never be controlled by another person. Zhou Guo might have allowed it, but not me.

"Why, why, why!" Zhang Xue was still wailing.

I looked at Zhang Xue and smiled, "Because people like you deserve to stay in hell and I can't allow myself to see you obtain happiness through the sacrifice of others."