Chapter 4

Tu Luong suddenly screamed as though he had lost his mind.

He crouched, clutching his head.

“I didn’t want this. I really didn’t. She was so good to me, treated me like her own son. She even went to a postnatal care center to learn how to look after babies, so she could help with ours. But now… now…”

His voice broke.

I knew he didn’t want to tell the truth.

What came next might explain the whole series of “accidents.”

But I dared not press him. Pushing too hard might make him wary.

“There’s something… I’m not sure I should ask.”

I crouched and patted his shoulder.

“Trieu told me things between you and Huyen haven’t been good these past two years.”

I wanted to give him an opening, let him unburden himself, and gradually draw out the truth.

Instead, he sprang to his feet.

Those knowing eyes chilled me again.

He gave me a thin smile.

“Uncle Lam, you didn’t come just to drive me home, did you?”

I forced a smile and searched for an explanation.

He laughed coldly.

“If you’re comforting me for old times’ sake, I appreciate it. But if you suspect me and want to trick something out of me, you can leave.”

He shrugged contemptuously.

“I knew you suspected me from your first visit.”

“My meddling father-in-law came to you, didn’t he?”

“He said Huyen’s death wasn’t an accident?”

“He said I was the killer?”

“Heh. Where’s the evidence?”

“You work in criminal investigation. You know everything depends on evidence.”

“If I killed her, why didn’t you open a case when she died?”

“It’s been five months. You still don’t even have enough to open one. Why keep probing me? What’s the point?”

His smug certainty that we had nothing finally angered me.

I had intended to use the setting to stir his emotions and coax him into talking.

Now it was out in the open.

I looked straight into his eyes.

“Do you dare say their deaths had absolutely nothing to do with you?”

For an instant, panic crossed his face.

Then indifference returned.

“Evidence. Where is it? You know I was in detention when they died.”

“Enough!” I shouted. “You think I found nothing?”

“I checked your driving route that day.”

“Shall I show you the footage?”

I held up my phone.

“You’re allergic to alcohol. You never drink a drop. Why suddenly drink an entire bottle of baijiu?”

“I was in a bad mood. Is that forbidden?”

“I knew you’d say that.”

His answer matched my prediction exactly.

“All right. A bad mood. Then explain how someone with your allergy lasted until the police caught you, before the reaction became unbearable.”

I didn’t work in traffic policing, but I knew our system.

These days, alcohol checkpoints were rarely set up in the city center.

How could a random check catch him at exactly the right moment?

The cameras showed him circling in and out of the city for more than two hours before he was stopped.

It made no sense.

Unless he had done it deliberately.

Unless he only drank after spotting the checkpoint, ensuring he would be arrested before the allergy overwhelmed him.

That would give him the perfect alibi.

But I still couldn’t understand how he had carried out a murder disguised as an accident from inside prison.

I watched him and waited.

On the balcony, he glanced at the footage playing on my phone, then turned toward the broken rack.

“So… that’s why you suspect me?”

“If you don’t want people to know, don’t do it. Secrets get out.”

He burst into laughter.

“Ha! Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.”

His sudden, uncharacteristic laughter gave me a bad feeling.

Before I could speak, he lifted his head and stared at me.

“Want to hear a story, Uncle Lam?”

“Go ahead…”

I stepped forward as though casually, preparing to restrain him at any moment.

He didn’t move.

He merely spoke quietly.

“My marriage was such a failure.”

“We were so right for each other at first. How did we end up living in such a mess?”

“After the wedding, I soothed her, indulged her. I didn’t dare raise my voice.”

“And her?”

“Once she was comfortable, she began demanding more.”

“Everything I did gradually meant nothing. My efforts became things she was simply entitled to, things she could accept without a thought.”

“People should trust their instincts. When someone no longer loves you, that’s all there is to it.”

“Not knowing how to comfort you, being too tired, too lazy to move or talk… In the end, it means you don’t matter enough. They could take you or leave you.”

He began to cry.

I thought I understood and asked why he hadn’t divorced her.

His answer struck me like a blow.

“Divorce isn’t something one person can decide.”

“She was an only child, spoiled beyond belief. She thought the world had to revolve around her.”

“All that willfulness and domineering behavior had become a twisted way of thinking.”

“Either she became a widow, or I left with nothing. Otherwise, we could keep tormenting each other.”

Then he smiled strangely.

“Originally, I was the one who wanted to die. If I hadn’t found a checkpoint before the allergy struck, I would have been the one dead.”

What more did I need to understand that the “accidents” were his traps?

“So you deliberately exposed the gas hose to prolonged heat to age it?”

“And that ring was deliberate too!”

“You knew Huyen’s habits. You were killing through probability. You knew that during those sixty days in custody, without you looking after her, she would have to do everything herself. Sooner or later, the odds would kill her. Isn’t that right?”

He offered no explanation.

Only that strange smile.

“But you have no evidence. You can’t open a case. Correct?”

Confidently, he walked toward the door.

Before I could turn after him, he opened it and spread his arms as though embracing freedom.

He looked back with a faint smile.

“Give up, Uncle Lam. You’ll never find your evidence.”

“Because it doesn’t exist.”

“Really?”

I had no patience left for his refusal to repent.

Trieu had appeared in the doorway.

His face was vicious, wholly consumed by rage.

“You… What are you doing here?”

Before Tu Luong’s terrified shout was finished, the watermelon knife in Trieu’s hand drove into his abdomen.

He screamed.

With a desperate burst of strength, he kicked Trieu away and staggered toward me, blood pouring from him.

“Uncle Lam, save me! You’re a police officer…”

Trieu pursued him, hacking wildly.

He had lost his mind.

He was fulfilling the vow he made while begging for my help.

If the law couldn’t punish Tu Luong, he would cut him down himself.

Now he was doing it.

Right in front of me.

When Tu Luong collapsed at my feet, Trieu roared and tried to charge again.

I blocked him.

“Enough! Trieu, that’s enough!”

I seized his wrist.

His strength was astonishing. The fury in his eyes seemed capable of burning everything away.

“Let go! I’ll chop that animal to pieces! He killed Huyen! He deserves to die!”

He struggled madly, still shouting that he would dismember the man who had killed his wife and daughter.

I looked at Tu Luong on the floor, breathing barely at all.

After a moment’s conflict, I threw Trieu down and pinned his arm behind his back to calm him.

I was a police officer, after all. I had brought Tu Luong here.

If he was killed before my eyes, I would bear responsibility too.

Just then, hurried footsteps and a shout came from the corridor.

“Police! Don’t move!”

Ly rushed in with officers from the station.

They all stopped at the scene.

“Lam? What… happened?”

I drew a deep breath and forced myself to be calm.

“Tham Tu Luong, suspect in two murders disguised as accidents, is injured. Call an ambulance immediately!”

I looked down at Trieu, then finally forced out, “He’s… suspected of assault with a weapon. Restrain him first.”

At those words, Trieu stopped resisting.

He let the officers take him away.

By the time Tu Luong was lifted onto the stretcher, he had stopped breathing.

Ambulance and police sirens mingled, tearing through the quiet night.

I stood in the wrecked living room, staring at the glaring pool of blood, anger and helplessness churning inside me.

I knew he had been right.

I had no evidence.

My deductions alone would never stand up in court.

Unless he confessed himself, the law could never punish him.

Now, at least, he had met a fitting end.

Only…

There were no winners.

Because the person who called Trieu and had him hide outside the door to listen—

Was me.

14

That evening, after reporting the whole incident, I saw Commander Chu’s cold expression and hurried to explain.

“Believe me, I only wanted him to hear the truth. I didn’t know he had a knife. It happened so suddenly, I couldn’t react. As soon as I recovered, I restrained him. Who knew Tu Luong would die?”

Chu said nothing at first.

He took two long drags on his cigarette.

While I waited anxiously, he finally exhaled and narrowed his eyes.

“Your friend killed a man with a knife. The evidence is clear, and he admits it. As for you…”

He paused.

“You’re suspended pending investigation. Cooperate fully.”

I looked up at once.

“But Tu Luong was the killer! He admitted it!”

“Admitted it?”

Chu suddenly shouted.

“Where’s the recording? The written statement? Who heard him besides you and Trieu?”

“He’s dead. He can’t be questioned. What can you produce to prove he was the killer?”

I had no answer.

He was dead.

Every lead had broken.

Perhaps the case could never be cleared up now.

Seeing my silence, Chu softened his voice.

“I know you feel wronged. But rules are rules. You’re a police officer, not an avenger. This has become a serious matter. The higher-ups have sent investigators. You’d better…”

He left it unfinished.

The meaning was clear: watch what I said.

I nodded.

“All right. I’ll think of it as a break.”

He waved me out.

But just as I stepped through the office door, his voice came from behind me.

“Remember what you just told me. I don’t want to hear a second version.”

The End

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