Chapter 6

13

The next day, once we had confirmed that Yongdong was completely sober, we took his statement again.

Next was the principal offender, Zhou Jianhua.

We sent officers up the mountain with Dr. Zhong.

They were to bring Jianhua to the unit for questioning. Dr. Zhong also wanted to examine the basement for clues.

It was a long shot, after so many years.

Meanwhile, Xu and I sat down to go over the case again.

My greatest worry was the lack of evidence.

We had a body that had spent years in salt.

We now knew who the victim was, but we still couldn't prove a connection to Jianhua.

Yongdong's accusation could only be treated as indirect evidence.

If Jianhua confessed too, and his account matched Yongdong's, things would be much easier.

As the legal formulation put it, the witnesses' statements could corroborate one another and establish the facts of the crime. Criminal law allowed that to serve as a basis for conviction and sentencing.

But if we mishandled this, Jianhua might walk free.

Xu was supremely confident.

“Not a chance! He won't confess? I'll twist his fucking head off!”

In the end, my fears were justified.

Jianhua was remarkably calm.

We hadn't even had a chance to put pressure on him before he announced:

“I don't know anything about this. I've got nothing to say.”

“If you have evidence, convict me. If you don't, you'll have to let me go sooner or later.”

“You can beat me, but you can't make me talk. I'm innocent anyway.”

Where did he get that confidence?

He was cut from the same cloth as that old hag Ma Qiulian.

Both could spout their excuses with such conviction that you'd think we really had arrested the wrong people.

Xu was beside himself. He very nearly tried to twist Jianhua's head off for real.

I kept patiently trying to coax a confession out of him, while staying in close contact with Dr. Zhong.

At last, she sent a photograph.

In a crack in the wall, in one corner, there were traces of blood.

I showed Jianhua the photograph.

“This is the corner where Xie Miaomiao was tied up, isn't it? We found blood in the crack. Still going to deny it?”

He nearly jumped out of his chair.

“Impossible! I cleaned that up ages ago!”

Then he froze.

Xu slapped him and pushed him back into his seat.

After that, everything became much easier.

Jianhua's confession matched Yongdong's account and established that both had committed crimes.

Miaomiao had died in July 2013.

The reason?

“She was too disobedient.”

Three or four years, and she still “wouldn't learn.” So Jianhua had beaten her to death.

Even as he told us, he put all the blame on her.

“Too disobedient.”

It wasn't just Xu. My own fists clenched in rage.

When we asked why he had preserved her dismembered body in salt and put it in Yongdong's old house, his answer left us torn between fury and disbelief.

He had resented Yongdong for stabbing him all those years ago.

He wanted to curse him.

Yes.

Preserving the body in salt was meant as a vicious curse.

That absurd, malicious act was the very reason the murder had come to light.

But...

If Jianhua had simply found a spot in the mountains and buried Miaomiao there, who would ever have known?

The thought chilled me.

14

When we stepped outside, we could all breathe a little easier.

We had finally got Jianhua to confess.

“Could they really extract anything from blood on a wall after all those years?”

“Extract, my ass.”

“All right, never mind. He's going to die either way.”

I knew Jianhua would be executed.

But what about Yongdong?

He would be convicted, though probably not sentenced to death.

And Ma Qiulian?

She wasn't directly implicated in this murder.

Neither were the villagers who had kept silent.

But did that make them innocent?

I didn't think so.

Xu seemed to sense the anger still smoldering inside me.

“Don't dwell on it,” he said. “You have to believe we can make a difference.”

I nodded without speaking.

For a long time afterward, I concentrated on the follow-up work.

Contacting Miaomiao's family. Investigating the various details of what had happened all those years earlier.

And helping Li Shihao.

He was held for only a few days, then released after a warning and a talking-to.

He promised me he would try to start a new life.

Xu, meanwhile, did something unusual.

The case was so appalling that the mere account of it was enough to horrify people.

He used that opportunity to submit a report to our superiors, asking for a thorough investigation into the trafficking of women in the village, with everyone responsible held to account.

He deliberately had Chief Zhou pass that news back to the village.

The body in the jar had already unsettled everyone.

Now the place was in an uproar.

Some of the villagers were growing anxious and restless.

That was what Chief Zhou reported back.

A few days later, Ma Qiulian hanged herself at home.

In fact, our superiors had never approved Xu's proposal.

When they heard that another person had died, they immediately stepped in and ordered a halt.

It made no difference to Xu.

How could he stop something that had never started?

At first, I didn't understand.

Why would Ma Qiulian—a woman in her seventies who seemed afraid of nothing—take her own life?

Later, I understood.

Perhaps she hadn't killed herself.

Perhaps it was the X family.

Or the XX family.

Ma Qiulian was dead.

Did that mean it was all over?

No.

The village was still there.