Hong Kong Detective [90s] Chapter 49

As they got into the police car, Liu Jiaming pointed to a window in the old residential area and asked:

“Can you see that figure?”

Moonlight bathed the scene, illuminating an old, fat lady in a white nightgown who stood in front of the window, making her unmistakably visible. With police cars and ambulances rushing to and fro on the main street, and crowds bustling about, anyone who hadn’t fallen into a deep sleep would come out to see what the fuss was about.

Yi Jiayi of course saw the old lady too, but seeing Liu Jiaming’s doubtful expression as if he had seen a ghost, she calmly said:

“No, isn’t that just a white curtain?”

Liu Jiaming stared at Yi Jiayi incredulously for a moment. Seeing her still serious, he rubbed his eyes and looked again, still seeing the fat old lady. The white robe shimmered with a cold light, as if it would swoop towards him any moment.

The police car started and didn’t stop until it turned off Tai Koon Street and onto Tai Kok Tsui Road, with Liu Jiaming still craning his neck backwards, worried something might be chasing him.

Fang Zhenyue nudged Yi Jiayi’s foot, and the young policewoman chuckled, “Everyone can see it, an old fat lady enjoying the commotion.”

Confused, Liu Jiaming turned around, and then, infuriated, quickly punched Yi Jiayi on her forearm.

The atmosphere on the way back was finally not so heavy.

Upon arriving at the police station, they temporarily placed Zhang Dafu in the interrogation room. Under the harsh lights and sitting on a cold bench, he sat there alone, waiting.

Fang Zhenyue led the team to sort out the follow-up matters. About thirty minutes later, just as he was about to talk to Zhang Dafu, Chen Guangyao called from the dilapidated residential area.

“Zhang Dafu’s home is the scene of the first murder. All the victims were confined here and abused here before being strangled by the murderer.”

“Different colors and lengths of hair have been collected as evidence. It’s feared that so far, the murderer has killed more than six people.”

“Inside the main house’s wardrobe, they found nine sets of neatly folded clothes, ranging from underwear to outerwear, socks, and shoes, all complete. These clothes, ‘trophies’ stripped from the victims and unwashed, should yield DNA and other information… This wardrobe is the neatest and cleanest part of the entire house…”

In order to support Fang Zhenyue’s interrogation, Chen Guangyao reported as many clues and hypotheses as possible, his tone growing heavier as he spoke.

They had seen many bad people, but such a twisted individual was truly unprecedented.

“Human blood and some human tissues were collected from the cart of Zhang Dafu’s mother, initially deduced to be used for dumping bodies.”

“There are a total of four cleavers in the house, each with a curled blade…”

“Sir Xu is leading a team with spotlights, digging up corpses in the wasteland of the courtyard. They have already found 2 heads and some fragments of bodies. The murderer didn’t bury them deep, likely doing it quietly at night. The neighbors are mostly poor elderly people who sleep early… There should be more findings later.”

“Hmm,” Fang Zhenyue nodded and responded in kind:

“Zhang Dafu’s mother has confessed. After her son graduated, he found jobs twice, quitting or being fired within a month each time, and since then has been living off his mother. She supports her son by selling fruit, and dumping bodies on Ferry Street was just on the way to the fruit wholesale market across the street.”

“In the murder cases, she was responsible for luring victims by asking them to help her pick oranges, or to push her cart up a slope, using women’s empathy and kindness to draw the victims into a deep alley or corner prearranged with her son.”

“After her son killed the victims, she followed her son’s instructions to scatter the bodies. Various wastelands and garbage dumps in Sham Shui Po have been used for dumping bodies.”

“I’ve sent people to search for the bodies, and I’ll notify you as soon as there’s a discovery.”

“How could this be, not only failing to control her son but also…” Chen Guangyao took a deep breath to calm himself before saying: “Thank you for your hard work, Sir Fang, I’ll continue gathering evidence.”

“Right, you’ve been working hard too.”

After hanging up the phone, Fang Zhenyue was silent for a while before he stepped out of the office.

In the confession of Zhang Dafu’s mother, she described her husband as violent and temperamental, initially only beating her and her son when drunk, but later even when sober, he was merciless.

In this family, the father played the role of a violent abuser, and the mother that of a numbed enabler.

Extreme growing environments, difficulty adjusting to society, and over a decade of mooching off his parents gradually destroyed Zhang Dafu.

In the second year of living off his parents, he and his mother together killed his drunken father.

A few months ago, because of inhumane treatment during solicitation, he had a severe conflict with a prostitute, killing a woman and violating her corpse for the first time.

After that, things spiraled out of control.

As this story gradually came together, everyone’s mood was heavy.

In another interrogation room, Zhang Dafu had yet to confess. He sat there like a log, head bowed, silent, not uttering a word.

Gary and the others had no way with him. The police had long banned torture; even if you know someone is the murderer, if they don’t speak, you can’t use force.

Facing such a person, one can only wear them down. I’ll take over after you’re done. Wait until he’s exhausted and lowers his guard, then use interrogation techniques to slowly extract a confession, digging for the truth.

Fang Zhenyue saw Yi Jiayi leaning against a small window, frowning and watching the interrogation, “Didn’t I tell you to go home? Why are you still here?”

Looking at the clock, it was already the wee hours.

“Brother Yue, a smart, insecure, and cynical person can be quite frightening.”

According to the murderer’s mother, Zhang Dafu was a very clever man; he understood things others didn’t, and he could learn anything new just by studying it for a bit.

Once, Zhang Dafu was the good boy who helped the neighbors solve all sorts of complicated problems, and everyone praised him, confident he would succeed in life. He believed it too.

However, once he entered society, the easy success he had imagined became difficult to achieve. The beautiful future suddenly seemed distant. His sensitive, fragile, and extreme personality traits began to show, eventually becoming even more sinister and frightening than his abusive father.

Reflecting on these changes, the young female officer became deeply saddened.

Fang Zhenyue approached, put his arms around her back, and led her out of the interrogation area, saying as they walked:

“Not every insecure person completely gives up on themselves. Not every cynical person seeks revenge on society. Not every smart person uses their intelligence for such things. These are just individual cases. There are many more who continue to struggle in difficult situations, refusing to give up. Focus on these, go home, get some sleep, and forget about Zhang Dafu.”

It sounded as if he was saying ‘forget about that jerk’.

At that moment, everyone else was busy at their posts. Before returning to the police station from the forensic and medical examination at the scene, he had a moment of free time.

“I’ll take you home.”

The streets were quiet in the late night, and even the city that never sleeps was asleep now.

Because it was very late and after such a long day, Fang Zhenyue accompanied Yi Jiayi all the way to her doorstep.

Yi Jiadong was still awake, fighting sleep while waiting for his sister, until he received her from Fang Zhenyue and finally succumbed to his sleepiness, bidding Sir Fang goodbye.

After closing the door, his eyes shut instantly, and he stumbled back to his room, falling into a deep sleep.

He didn’t even have the energy or spirit to say goodnight to Yi Jiayi.

The next morning, he didn’t have to work, so he could sleep in.

Yi Jiayi turned off her alarm clock, left a note for her brother saying not to worry about waking her up or making breakfast, and then went to bed after washing up.

The person in the bunk above slept soundly, but Yi Jiayi tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

It wasn’t until she remembered the soft words Fang Zhenyue whispered to her as they climbed the stairs that she finally calmed down and gradually fell asleep.

In her dreams, a deep and reliable voice still comforted her heart, with those same words:

【Perhaps even without the key points you mentioned, we could still solve the case, but without the idea of linking cases, without moving the bodies north to Sham Shui Po, we might not have captured the old lady selling oranges so quickly.

A few days later, or even just a few hours later, the victims we rescued today would have died. Even if we had solved the case a week later, there would have been more than one victim dead, and more than one family destroyed.

Eleven, it’s tough in this line of work, I know you’re feeling heavy-hearted right now.

But you also need to understand the good you’ve done. The victims rescued tonight will emerge from this nightmare, humans are sometimes stronger than you can imagine, and whether she gets married, has children, or succeeds in her career in the future, in those long existences, you have played a part.

This is also the benefit of our line of work that others can’t see. You should appreciate this sense of purpose, this sense of achievement, this strong sense of self-identity and self-awareness, and even consider yourself great.

Consider it a secret, quietly enjoy this special spiritual reward of being a police officer, then sleep well and have sweet dreams.

You’ve worked hard, great little detective.】

In her dreams, bitterness was diluted, and a sweet smile finally graced the lips of the young policewoman.

She was useful, she had helped people, saved people…