Chapter 3

Back at the scene of the crime, grief overwhelmed me.

My adoptive parents had treated me like their own daughter. We weren't rich, but they'd never begrudged spending money on me.

Especially when I developed depression in high school. Without hesitation, they'd arranged for me to take a whole year off and rest at home.

Plenty of biological parents wouldn't have done that.

"The dead can't come back." Sheng suddenly put a hand on my shoulder and patted it gently. "Try to let yourself move on."

My eyes widened.

So he knew how to comfort people too.

Before I could react, he withdrew his hand and walked to the wardrobe.

I tensed.

I'd seen a film where an ordinary-looking wardrobe in the protagonist's home led into a secret room.

Could ours be the same?

Was there a hidden space behind the back panel?

Was the killer in there?

"I'll climb in and check."

Sheng took off his suit jacket and casually handed it to me.

As his body disappeared into the wardrobe, I held my breath.

Please, don't let anything happen. Please...

"Hm?"

He seemed to have found something.

"Careful! Is there a secret passage in there?"

My nerves stretched taut. I tightened my grip on the fruit knife I'd prepared.

"What's this?"

He backed out holding a black plastic bag.

Its open mouth revealed the contents.

I leaned closer.

A pack of nappies and a baby bottle.

"Why do you have these?"

Baby supplies clearly didn't belong in my parents' bedroom.

I lowered the knife and shook my head.

"I don't know. The police found that bag when they searched the house. They photographed it for evidence, but didn't take it."

He looked thoughtful.

"My adoptive mother couldn't have children," I added. "I don't understand where these came from."

"Never mind. Let's keep looking."

He shut the wardrobe.

"There's nothing else in there."

I breathed out and put the knife away.

No secret passage. For now, this room was safe.

He checked the bedside cabinets and drawers, finally finding a booklet.

My adoption registration certificate.

He already knew about my background.

I was a little curious myself. I'd heard that most of the women in my adoptive mother's generation of the family couldn't have children.

Did that include Sheng's wife?

Did they have a child?

I'd never heard my parents mention it. Now they were dead, I could hardly ask the man himself.

We weren't close enough for such private questions.

"Zhou Ning."

He opened the adoption certificate and suddenly called my name.

"Yes?"

"Your biological father. Why have I never heard your parents mention him? Could this case... have something to do with him?"

I'd never considered that angle.

"How could it? I was adopted at seven. I've forgotten what he looked like. I don't even know if he's alive."

From the day the police took him away in handcuffs, I'd stopped being his daughter.

Then, at nineteen, I lost my adoptive parents.

I was truly an orphan then.

"What's his name?"

"Don't remember that either."

"All right. Show me the other rooms."

Next was the bathroom.

I was a bit of a clean freak. I always kept it tidy and spotless.

But after the fright last night, I'd forgotten to put away a piece of underwear.

A black lace bra lay draped beside the bathtub.

Sheng clearly saw it. He glanced once, then immediately turned his head away, looking determined not to intrude.

My face heated. I hurried to collect it.

Perhaps I imagined it, but when I turned around, I thought I caught a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

I must have been mistaken.

He couldn't be that frivolous.

"How big is this bathroom?"

He looked around as he asked.

"About ten square meters. There's another upstairs, smaller than this."

He tapped and examined everything, finding nowhere a person could hide.

Only the bathtub area remained.

He walked over.

"Do you use this tub?"

"Yes. I love soaking in it."

He bent and knocked on the wall beside it.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A heavy sound.

"Solid wall. No secret room."

He crouched, sliding his palm lightly over the side of the tub.

"Do you lie all the way inside?"

"Huh?"

I didn't understand at first.

"I mean, do you immerse your whole body when you bathe?"

"I... suppose so. But what does that have to do with finding the killer?"

"Nothing. Just a reminder that if he really is hiding here, bathing is extremely dangerous."

He picked a long hair from the tub and gently rolled it between his fingertips.

"Be careful."

"Thank you for reminding me."

"Okay. Then we..."

He stood. Before he could finish, his phone rang.

He answered and walked out.

I faintly heard a young child's voice on the other end.

Whatever the child asked, Sheng said, "Dad's busy. Ask your mom to take you to buy it."

So he did have a child.

A minute later, he finished the call and returned.

I couldn't help asking, "Was that your child?"

"Yes."

"A boy or a girl? How old?"

"Ten. A boy."

"Oh! Such a lovely age."

His lips curved slightly.

"He is lovely. Very clingy, though."

The subject made him much more approachable. After a few words, I seemed less afraid of him.

"What about you? Do you like children?"

The question came suddenly.

"Yes," I answered without hesitation. "Very much."

He nodded approvingly.

Just as I thought he might say more, he walked out.

"Come on. We've confirmed there's nothing unusual in the bathroom."

I hurried after him.

Another room eliminated. Still not a glimpse of the killer.

Seeing how much time had passed, I made a simple lunch for Sheng.

When I carried the freshly cooked noodles into the living room, he was on the sofa looking at his phone.

"I'm not much of a cook," I said awkwardly. "I hope this is all right."

He put on no airs. He rolled up his sleeves and ate.

During lunch, he asked what I'd do if we couldn't find the killer.

After hesitating, I answered honestly.

"I'll probably move out. After something this strange, I don't dare live here anymore."

"Where will you go?"

"I don't know. Wherever it is, I'll probably never come back."

His chopsticks paused.

He frowned slightly.

"I'll help you find him."

I lifted my bowl and drank the broth, saying nothing more.

We were nearly finished when my phone rang.

Officer Liu.

He was the police captain in charge of my parents' murder case. He'd kept in regular contact all these years.

I put down my bowl and chopsticks, stepped outside and answered.

His familiar voice came through at once.

"Xiao Ning, do you know Cheng Haisheng?"

"Cheng Haisheng? Who's that?"

"Your biological father."

I went still for a moment, quietly tightening my grip on the phone.

"That bastard? I think that was his name. Didn't you ask me about this three years ago?"

"Yes. We've been looking for him these past two years."

I was puzzled.

"Why? Do you suspect him of killing my adoptive parents?"

"It's just part of the investigation. Twelve years ago, he was arrested on suspicion of harassing a girl. After he went to prison, you..."

"Officer Liu." I couldn't help interrupting. "I don't want to hear about that animal. I only have one father. Zhou Yu."

"You..." He sounded helpless. "All right. I won't say any more. Are you home?"

I glanced inside.

Sheng was looking toward me.

He still held his chopsticks, apparently tracing gestures in the air.

Our eyes met.

I gave him a polite smile.

He smiled back.

"No," I told Officer Liu coolly.

"Let me know when you're back. I'll come and see you."

After hanging up, I was about to return to the living room.

But as I turned, a dark figure flashed through it.

"What's wrong?"

Sheng noticed something was off.

I pointed behind him and stammered.

"Just now... I think someone went past."

"Which way?"

He sprang up.

I pointed toward the spare bedroom.

Strangely, although we turned the room upside down, we couldn't find anyone.

Instead, the bedside cabinet yielded a baby bib and another bottle.

"What is this? More baby things?"

Looking at them, I began to doubt myself.

"Did my parents secretly adopt another child? Didn't they like me?"

"Of course not." He dismissed the thought. "I never heard them mention adopting again."

Things were getting stranger.

Sheng was thorough. He searched the spare bedroom a second time, even lifting the mattress.

This time, he finally took the knife as a precaution.

After all that searching, there was still no sign of the killer.

Between the bed slats, I found a damaged marriage certificate.

My adoptive parents'.

The cover had been gnawed ragged. Probably the rats' handiwork.

I picked it up and carefully brushed away the dust.

"What sort of person do you want to marry?"

The question came unexpectedly from beside me.

"Huh?"

"What kind of man would you like to marry?"