Memory Lost (美人为馅): Chapter 68

Chapter 68: A Profile within the Profile Part 1

The Land Rover is on its way to the suburbs.

Han Chen has both hands on the wheel with his eyes looking straight.  After receiving the call about another female victim’s body has been found, he has been carrying a grim expression on his face.  Bai Jin Xi is sitting in the passenger seat with her arms crossed and also has an indifferent expression.  After a while, she notices Han Chen moving with the corner of her eye.

She shifts her gaze and sees that he still has a stark expression on his face.  One of his hands is on the steering wheel while the other is reaching into his pocket.  He fetches for a while and then pauses.

He then puts his hand back onto the steering wheel.

Watching these subtle movements of his, Jin Xi smiles slightly.  She tosses the troubling case to the back of her mind for the time being and asks while looking at him from the side, “You want a smoke?”  She empathizes him.

But he glances at her and answers, “Yes, but not as much as you do.”

Jin Xi hums, “…..hmph!”

She lowers her head and starts flipping through the things in her bag.  Her eyes gleam——she fetches a pack of betel nuts.

She puts one in her mouth and starts chewing on it enjoyably.  Although it’s not as satisfying as smoking a cigarette, at least it helps decrease her cravings a bit.

The interior of the car is soon permeated with the smell of betel nuts.

“Give me one,” Han Chen says.

Jin Xi holds onto the pack of betel nuts tightly and crosses her legs, “You wish!  You snatched my cigarettes yesterday and now you want to eat my betel nuts?”

Han Chen smiles seeing her like this and doesn’t insist to eat them.

After driving for another while, he asks suddenly, “Can you take a look at the rear mirror for me?  Is it slanted?”

Jin Xi gets serious upon hearing him.  She pokes her head around to examine the right back side of the mirror, “It’s not slanted.”

“How about this side?”

The car slows to a stop as the traffic lights turn red.  Jin Xi stretches over to his side to look.  Her face is very close to his, “Let me see……”

Before she finishes her sentence, Han Chen lowers his head and kisses her.  Without taking half a second break, his tongue pries into her mouth as he sucks her lips vigorously.

“Mm……” Jin Xi realizes his motive, so she smiles and attempts to push him away, “How can someone be like this?  Just because I don’t let you have any, you want to take it by force?…..”  She feels him grabbing onto her waist tighter.  She also can’t dodge away from his lips and is being sucked on even harder.

“Focus on driving!” she scoffs.

“It’s fine……” he says biting on her lips, “Aren’t I Brother Thirteen?  I can close my eyes driving on this kind of road.” (Chp 13– a poetic name that stands for being able to finish a lap on the Second Ring Road in thirteen minutes, passing two-hundred cars a minute.)

“I’m wrong!  I’m wrong!” Jin Xi says helplessly, “I’ll give you the betel nuts!”

Han Chen releases her finally and puts his hands back onto the steering wheel looking straight.  The lights turn green at the same time and the car starts moving forward.  Jin Xi lets out a loud “Hmph,” but he has a smile on his face.

Jin Xi peels a betel nut and stuffs it into his mouth.  They each chew on their betel nuts quietly.  The intense mood in the car from before has loosened up a bit.

Han Chen’s phone rings suddenly.

Jin Xi holds it up, “It’s Cold Face.”

“Pick it up.”

Cold Face is calling to report on his findings of last night’s case: It turns out that the two officers who were responsible for keeping an eye on Situ Yi were fed some sleeping medicine causing them to fall asleep until the next morning.  Therefore, Situ Yi possessed enough time to commit a crime without an alibi.  Additionally, the delivery boy from the farmhouse was knocked out unconscious right after stepping out of the restaurant, which gave the criminal the opportunity to add medicine and deliver the food instead.  It was dark at night and he was wearing a cap walking quickly, so the surveillance cameras in the area only caught his back view.

They hang up the phone.  Han Chen is expressionless while Jin Xi is deep in her thoughts.

The Black Shield Team is now faced with this situation:

Situ Yi is still the only suspect who fits the profile.  Furthermore, the way he expresses himself and his behaviors also make him very suspicious.

However, he passed the reputable lie detector test.

And on the night he was released, a new incident appeared.  Every clue seems to point towards him again.

……

It seems as though the truth is within reach.  The police are simply missing the one key piece of evidence and they’ll be able to lay charges on Situ Yi and solve the case.

But at the same time, there is still a heavy fog separating them from the truth.  There is still a deeper secret hidden underneath all of this.

After a moment of silence, Jin Xi tosses another betel nut into her mouth and says, “You told me to stand by my own judgment and do as I wish to find the truth.  After we take a look at the crime scene, I want to go through the case and my profiling again.  I don’t believe I won’t be able to find out the truth this way.”

_____

At the location of the fourth dead body.

It’s also in the woods beside the main road.  It’s just that this time, the body is left even nearer to the road.  When cars pass by, it’s very easy to spot a body lying in the wooded area.  Therefore, the body was discovered by someone early in the morning.

Everyone in the Black Shield Team has a gloomy face.

Xiao Zhuan has just obtained some information and says to everybody, “The deceased is Zhao Hao Hao, 25 years-old, and also a white-collar in CBD.  According to the IDs found on her, we have verified with her workplace that she hasn’t been to work for the past three days.”

“This means that she has been missing since four days ago,” Chatterbox says with animosity, “It’s just the day before we took Situ back to the station.  Therefore, he had time to commit the crime.”

Xu Si Bai is wearing a mask and gloves and is examining the body.  Jin Xi squats beside him and watches without budging.

This body doesn’t seem to be any different than the ones they found before.  The wounds are alike: bruises all over, hit with a bat, cuts, and the fatal wound on the chest caused by being stabbed with a knife.  The victim’s clothes and belongings have been dumped inside a black plastic bag.  Just like before, her purse is missing.  She has been changed into a nurse’s uniform.  It’s just that Zhao Hao Hao is rather tall, so the same sized nurse’s uniform looks tighter on her.  But she is still wearing her own high heels.

“Are her wounds deeper compared to the others from before?” Jin Xi asks.

Xu Si Bai lowers his head and looks at her, “They don’t look much different on the surface.  We’ll need to dissect the body to conclude the degree of the wounds on the inside.”

Jin Xi nods.

After a while, she hears someone behind her.  She turns around and sees that it’s Qin Wen Long and Xu Nan Bai.

Jin Xi understands that she and Xu Nan Bai are having a debate within their discipline and there are no hard feelings, so she greets him like she usually does.  Xu Nan Bai smiles as well and greets her with “Junior (female) Classmate” in a crisp voice.  He asks her a few questions about the scene and seems just as gentle, elegant and well-mannered as usual.

“Here, Forensic Investigator Xu, let me introduce to you,” Qin Wen Long smiles and says towards Xu Si Bai who’s still squatting, “this is Professor Xu Nan Bai from Beijing.  Professor Xu, this is our most well-known forensic investigator in the province——Xu Si Bai.”

Xu Nan Bai smiles politely.

Xu Si Bai stands up, takes off his glove and the two of them shake hands.

Qin Wen Long says proudly, “Our Black Shield Team now has the best criminal investigators, forensic investigator, and criminal psychologist and professor.  We’re finally complete as a team!  But although we must continue our work in solving the case, we must also feed ourselves.  Since we didn’t get to treat Forensic Investigator Xu to a welcome meal last time, and now that Professor Xu is here, let’s have lunch today.  We’ll reserve a section at our station’s cafeteria.  It’ll be my treat.  Let’s all have a meal and then go back to working on the case!”

He speaks in high spirit, and everyone around is smiling.  Chatterbox becomes talkative right away, “Yeah!  Yeah!  Captain Qin is treating us.  I should not have eaten breakfast!”

Xu Nan Bai smiles and nods, “I might as well accept the offer.”

“I’ll have to decline,” a crisp and calm voice says.

Jin Xi is a bit stunned and looks over like the others.  Xu Si Bai has already taken off his mask and is looking towards Qin Wen Long, “I have quite a few things on my plate, so I’ll be leaving now.”  He then looks at Jin Xi, “I’ll send you guys the autopsy report later.”

Jin Xi responds, “Oh, okay.”

He has always been an introvert, so Qin Wen Long doesn’t pressure him.  He smiles and pats Xu Si Bai’s shoulder, “If you have time, please come join us.”

“Mm,” Xu Si Bai hums.  He then turns around to leave with Xiao Yao.

The scene returns to normal as everyone gets back to work.  Xu Nan Bai and Qin Wen Long are standing on the side chatting while the other investigators are walking around the area.  Jin Xi watches Xu Si Bai’s back as he walks farther and farther away.  She knows very well that he’s just using ‘busy’ as an excuse.  When they were in Jiangcheng, no matter how busy they were, he would still find the time to cook and deliver lunch to her.

As she watches him, an image floats into Jin Xi’s mind.  It was when she was working on the Chen Li Jiang case in Jiangcheng.  Xu Si Bai came all the way to bring her a cold drink and fruits walking in the scorching sun.  And now, he’s leaving by himself like this.