Lei Mi - Profiler

Fang Mu emptied the bottle in one gulp. He leaned silently against the seat back and stared out the window, still dazed.

"Talk to me," Tai Wei insisted. "Why did you go to Meng Fanzhe's home?"

Fang Mu didn't immediately respond. After a while he said slowly, "Meng Fanzhe's mother called me and said that before her son's incident, he had sent her a letter. In it he mentioned my name, and said that if anything ever happened to him, she should give the letter to me."

"Oh? And what did the letter say?"

"I don't know. You heard him yourself; they didn't find it at the scene."

"Then what were those marks you were talking about?"

"When the police arrested me," Fang Mu said wearily, "I saw what appeared to be symbols written onto the window glass. But now they're gone."

"Symbols? What did they look like?"

Fang Mu thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. They didn't look Chinese. It was almost like…eh…" He thumped his head. "I just can't remember."

"Forget it; don't think too much about this," said Tai Wei as they passed a truck. "And make sure you take it easy when you get back. You're lucky the old lady's death was just an accident or I never would have gotten you out of there so fast."

"It was not an accident!"

"How is a heart-attack not an accident? Or are you saying someone killed her?"

"When I entered the apartment, the door was unlocked. Does that sound normal to you?"

"She was probably just careless, accidentally let in a few rats and then was so startled that she had a heart-attack."

"Not only was the door unlocked, the lights were all off…"

"Maybe she was about to go to sleep?" It sounded more like a question than a statement as Tai Wei said it.

"Are you wearing your daytime clothes when you turn off the lights to go to sleep?"

For a moment Tai Wei was tongue-tied. Then after thinking for a while, he said, "The old lady probably just got back and forgot to shut the door. Maybe she was feeling really tired, so she lay down on the sofa to take a nap. After sleeping for a little while, she suddenly felt something crawl across her body. So, she reached out to see what it was, discovered it was a rat, and then had a heart-attack and died." He looked back at Fang Mu in the rear-view mirror. "Well, what do you think?"

Fang Mu snorted in disbelief at the scenario. "If you don't want to believe me, fine, but don't act like I'm an idiot!"

Insulted, Tai Wei glared angrily at him in the mirror. He continued driving, not saying a word.

After the jeep traveled in silence for a while, Fang Mu suddenly asked, "While going through Meng Fanzhe's things, did you find any hospital receipts or medical records or things like that?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Meng Fanzhe's mother said that in his letter he mentioned a doctor."

"A doctor?" Tai Wei's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "How can there be another doctor?"

"What do you mean another ?" asked Fang Mu immediately.

"Um… Do you still remember the letter that Ma Kai wrote you?" He avoided Fang Mu's eyes. "In it he also mentioned a doctor."

Fang Mu lunged forward. "You read the letter?"

"I just glanced over it," Tai Wei quickly explained, shrugging. "When he gave it to me, I honestly couldn't resist taking a look at it, but before I could actually read it I was ordered to go take care of something else."

"What did it say?"

"Like I said, I only read a few sentences, but basically he was saying that he was not a bad person, and that he had previously gone to a doctor for treatment, but unfortunately this had not gotten rid of his illness."

When Fang Mu didn't say anything for a long time, Tai Wei looked at him hovering at the seat back. "What? Are you thinking that these doctors are the same person?"

Fang Mu shook his head. "I don't know."

For a moment Tai Wei was lost in thought, attention back on the road. "You shouldn't think about this stuff anymore," he said at last. "Meng Fanzhe's case is already closed. Get some rest when you get back and you'll feel a lot better."

"You don't think it's suspicious that the letter has disappeared?"

Tai Wei was silent for a moment. "Fang Mu," he said slowly, "it's not that I don't believe you; it's just that Meng Fanzhe was this woman's only child, and the amount of pain she must have been in would have made it difficult for her to control herself. I'm certain that she was never able to accept that her son could have actually done these terrible things, and was noting every suspicious detail as evidence to help her reverse the verdict. As for that letter, I truly doubt that it ever existed. She probably just wanted you to come see her and used this as an excuse."

"Reverse the verdict? Then why didn't she just call you guys directly?"

"You were his victim. Perhaps what the old lady wanted to know most was why Meng Fanzhe wanted to kill you."

Fang Mu snorted in disillusion this time. He lay down on the back seat again, not saying a word.

Tai Wei looked back at him. "You hungry?" he asked after a few thoughtful moments. "Want me to grab you some food at the gas station up ahead?"

There was a weighty pause, and then he finally heard Fang Mu's muffled voice reply, "I'm fine. Thanks."

Tai Wei just shook his head helplessly, and stepped on the gas.

It was almost noon when they arrived at the JiangbinCityUniversity gates. Tai Wei invited Fang Mu to get something to eat at one of the little restaurants nearby, but Fang Mu stiffly refused, grabbed his bag, and headed into campus without looking back.

Tai Wei watched him disappear into the crowd of people walking through the gate.

"Stubborn bastard," he muttered to himself, and then shut the door, got back in, and started up the jeep.

As the engine idled, he sat with his hands on the steering wheel, lost in thought. After hesitating for some time, he pulled out his phone and dialed.

"Hello? Brother Tai?" Li Weidong's voice sounded over the receiver.

"Yeah, it's me. You guys really didn't discover that letter at the scene?"

Li Weidong laughed. "What is it? You don't believe me?"

"No, no, no. I was just asking."

"Well, we really didn't find it. You want me to send someone over there to look again?"

"Yeah, that would be great." Tai Wei quickly added, "Also, could I trouble you guys to check one more time for any signs that someone else might have entered the apartment?"

"All right. However, we've recently been focusing on gambling and automobile theft, so our numbers are a little limited. When I get a chance I'll definitely send someone over there to check, and if they find anything I'll let you know."

"Thanks a lot. Now I've got some stuff to take care of, so I'll talk to you later." After hanging up the phone, Tai Wei looked back toward the campus entrance. Crowds of students were walking in and out, talking and laughing, their faces free of worry.

Could there really have been a letter?

Could the killer really be someone else?

Could we really have made a mistake?

These were possibilities that Tai Wei could not accept.

Du Yu wasn't around. That was lucky, because otherwise there would have been no end to the questions.

Fang Mu tossed his backpack onto his chair and then lay heavily on the bed.

His whole body hurt and the bruises on his face were still swollen. When he lay against the pillow, the pain made him groan.

With difficulty, he rolled over. He really wanted to go to sleep, but although he closed his eyes, he stayed wide awake. Two vague shapes refused to leave his mind.

The symbols on the window.

He got gingerly out of bed and sat at his desk. Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, he tried as hard as he could to remember what he had seen the night before, and as he thought, he drew.