Profiler (Fang Mu Eastern Crimes Series Book 1) (51 page)

"How is everything going at school?" Mrs. Qiao asked after motioning for him to sit beside the bed.

"Well enough. Makeup classes have begun for criminology."

She sighed softly. "The thing my husband disliked most was delaying his students' education. So even though he wasn't around, I couldn't let them keep missing class. There was nothing we could do for the graduate students, but at least we could schedule makeup classes for the undergrads."

Fang Mu was silent for a moment. Then after summoning his courage, he asked, "Mrs. Qiao, Librarian Sun…also used to be one of Professor Qiao's students?"

"That's right. Let me think for a moment." She lightly massaged her temples. "He was part of the class of '91."

"Then why did he go work in the library rather than become a teacher?"

"
Aye
, that boy has been through a lot." Mrs. Qiao put the bowl of medicine down beside her. "At the time, Sun Pu was the most outstanding student in his class. Old Qiao is rarely the type to praise his students lightly, but back then he would often mention Sun Pu's name at home, and I could tell that he thought very highly of him. After Sun Pu graduated, Old Qiao recommended that the school hire him and arranged for Sun Pu to become his own teaching assistant. Sun Pu has always been driven to excel, and performed superbly in this position. Soon after, before he was even thirty, the school made an exception to their rules and promoted him to associate professor. At the time, Sun Pu was already quite well-known across the province as a very talented young man. Later, however…
aye
…" Mrs. Qiao shook her head and sighed.

"What happened later?" Fang Mu asked hurriedly.

"As you know, the law school sometimes helps the public security bureau work on cases," she continued. "At the time, Old Qiao had Sun Pu assist him in solving several. After they worked on a few together, Old Qiao decided to see how Sun Pu would do solving some on his own. Sun Pu seemed to have a special gift in this area, and he made expert work of several cases in a row. That's when all the honors and praise started rolling in. Sun Pu was still quite young back then, and he had some trouble keeping himself under control. In 1998, several cases of rape-and-murder occurred one after another on the outskirts of the city. At the time, Old Qiao was out of the country doing research, so the police asked Sun Pu to help them with their investigation. Using your guys' criminal profiling techniques, Sun Pu described the general characteristics of the killer. Soon after, the police arrested an individual who matched these characteristics closely. In the end, however, this person died without making a confession. Because the police had no other evidence, they needed this confession to make the case, but the suspect wouldn't own up. At the time this case was a very big deal and the higher-ups were all demanding that it be solved as soon as possible. The pressure on Sun Pu and the rest of the police was immense. I think this is what made young Sun Pu lose his head, because he soon incited the police to make the suspect confess by any means necessary."

She sighed. "In the end, the man was beaten so badly that he gave in and died. To make matters worse, the real killer was arrested a few days later. Many people were implicated in the killing. Some lost their jobs, others were sent to jail. One of the captains of the unit that was handling the crime, I believe his name was Zhao-something, was also transferred to the State Enterprise Investigative Division. Sun Pu was almost arrested himself, but because there wasn't enough evidence and Old Qiao pulled a lot of strings, he was finally let off. However, there was no chance of him returning to his old position. But because Old Qiao spoke strongly on his behalf to the university president, he was eventually given his job in the library."

So that's what happened
, thought Fang Mu. Looking down, he saw the nearly cold bowl of medicine. Hurriedly, he handed it back to Mrs. Qiao. "Why have I never heard about this before?"

Frowning, she drank the rest of her medicine. When she was done, Fang Mu passed her a napkin, which she used to wipe the corners of her mouth. After taking a few deep breaths, she continued.

"You weren't here at the time, and besides, the school did everything it could to keep the incident under wraps. But to tell the truth, it made Old Qiao enormously upset. Ever since then, his temper has been much worse. Sun Pu has come by to see him a number of times, but Old Qiao has always just forced him to leave, even when he's brought gifts with him. And at home, this topic has become absolutely taboo." Mrs. Qiao patted the pillow beside her. "If Old Qiao were at home right now, there's no way I'd dare say any of this to you.
Aye
, for a long time after that, he made sure not to mention any of his students at home. But recently your name has been coming up a lot, and I can tell that out of all the students he's ever had, you and Sun Pu are the ones he's admired most. At first I considered recommending that you teach the criminology makeup classes, but later I decided that you're still too young. Besides, Sun Pu has been doing an excellent job these past few years, and in his evaluations he's received high marks in all areas. The school has even begun to consider rehiring him to a teaching post.
Aye
, I don't think even Sun Pu knows about that. On the surface, it might seem like Old Qiao has never been willing to forgive him, but all along he's secretly been doing everything he could to help him. If he hadn't suddenly gone missing, he was going to recommend that the school rehire Sun Pu to begin teaching next semester…"

Fang Mu was no longer paying attention to what she was saying. He knew there was someone he needed to talk to immediately.

CHAPTER
27
The Great Knight of Hulan

"W
hat did you just say?" cried Tai Wei, leaping up with a start from Fang Mu's bed. "The guy that works in the library? The one in the glasses?"

Fang Mu nodded.

"So this is why Old Zhao was transferred. No wonder the guy flies into a rage at the first mention of criminal profiling." Tai Wei frowned. "But he's such a gentle-looking guy. I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover."

"I never said he was definitely the killer. It's just that according to our analysis," Fang Mu said, "the killer was most likely someone who excelled at criminal profiling. And from the looks of things, the only people on campus who fit that description are me, Professor Qiao, and now Sun Pu."

"Then what should we do? At this point, it doesn't seem like we have any evidence to prove it was him."

Fang Mu thought for a moment. "We both saw the killer, and you even chased him for a little while. So what do you think? Does Sun Pu fit the bill?"

After racking his brain, Tai Wei said, "Their heights are about the same. But that night the killer was wearing a long, hooded windbreaker and the light was very dim. I can't be certain it was the same guy."

Feeling a little disappointed, Fang Mu said nothing.

Seeing the kid's expression, Tai Wei quickly changed the topic. "How's your research going on the passage?"

Fang Mu's face grew even gloomier and he just shook his head.

"You think the passage might have something to do with Professor Qiao's disappearance? I had an idea about this," Tai Wei said. "So the passage was torn out of a school textbook, right, and Professor Qiao's occupation just happens to be teaching. You think it could be hinting that the seventh victim is going to be a teacher?"

"Most likely not." Fang Mu thought for a moment. "When the passage was found, Professor Qiao hadn't yet gone missing. I don't think the killer was expecting Professor Qiao to come visit him, so the seventh victim will probably be someone else."

"So is there nothing we can do then?" cried Tai Wei impatiently.

"That's not true either. Tai Wei, you are an excellent investigator, so right now you need to look into everything having to do with Sun Pu. If he really is the killer, and if Professor Qiao is still alive…" Fang Mu paused and raised his voice, doing his best to appear unaffected by what he was saying, "…then Sun Pu must have hidden him somewhere. If you keep tabs on Sun Pu's whereabouts, perhaps you'll be able locate Professor Qiao."

"All right, I'll go make the necessary preparations." Tai Wei stood up, and then suddenly slammed his fist down on the desk. "No matter if the target is Professor Qiao or anyone else, we won't let him succeed this time!"

He strode to the doorway, but just as he opened the door, he abruptly turned around and said, "Kid, you'd better be pretty careful yourself."

Fang Mu glanced at his backpack which he'd tossed on the bed. The military dagger was still inside. He looked up at Tai Wei and nodded.

The nightmares arrived on schedule.

The shadowy, headless figures crowded quietly around Fang Mu's bed. Without a word, they watched as Fang Mu struggled desperately, and yet couldn't move at all.

Even though he didn't open his eyes, Fang Mu sensed that amid these dead specters, there were a few new members.

Qu Weiqiang, Wang Qian, Tang Yu'e, Jin Qiao, Xin Tingting, Thomas Gill, Meng Fanzhe, Dong Guizhi, Zhang Yao…

All of you…

A hand pressed against his shoulder.

"Actually, you and I are the same."

Suddenly, Fang Mu could move his neck.

He swung his head around.

Sun Pu was smiling at him. 

Over the past few days, that face had appeared in Fang Mu's mind more than any other image. Fang Mu was already more familiar with it than with his own face.

The look in his eyes when he reached a crucial point in class. The way the corners of his mouth curled when he was smiling, or his eyebrows knitted when he was thinking deeply about something. The faint twinkle in his eyes whenever he glanced at Fang Mu.

At this moment, the owner of that face was standing at the lectern and enjoying the worshipful looks of the students sitting before him.

"All right, that's all the new material for today," Sun Pu said, placing the chalk back on the blackboard and then clapping off his hands. "But we still have fifteen minutes until class is over, so let's play a little game."

The students, who a moment before had been packing up to leave, now returned their attention to Sun Pu.

"I have here several questions from an intelligence test. Supposedly, the American F.B.I. gave this test to several dozen psychologically aberrant criminals and their answers were all identical, proving that, mentally, they really were different than the average person. Now listen to these questions, and perhaps we'll find that there's a potential criminal genius sitting among us right now."

Excitement went through the students, as if they all felt that being psychologically aberrant would be
really cool
.

"First question," Sun Pu began. "One evening, an engineer who had once been stationed at a South Pole research station to set up the solar panel array was eating the meat his wife had fixed him for dinner. Thinking that the flavor was very unusual, he asked her what kind of meat it was. 'It's penguin,' she replied. Hearing this, the engineer's face fell, and he stabbed himself in the throat with his fork."

The students all gasped.

Sun Pu continued. "My question for you is: Why?"

So this is what he was talking about
, thought Fang Mu.

One year ago, Fang Mu had happened across these same questions, and out of curiosity, had tried to answer them. There had been seven in total, and he had gotten five right. As a result, the test determined that he had a strong tendency toward psychological aberration.

The other students, however, had never seen these questions before. They soon began calling out theories, and the classroom grew noisy. But when no one was able to get the question right, Sun Pu finally revealed the answer: The engineer had once been stranded, and one of his colleagues was killed. Afterwards, he and several others had been forced to eat what he was told was penguin meat so that they could survive until the rescue party showed up. When he tried the actual penguin meat that his wife gave him, he realized that what he had eaten before was actually the flesh of his dead colleague.

Hearing this, several of the students made squeamish faces, like they wanted to vomit, but most were already waiting excitedly for the next question.

Sun Pu continued the test.

Question Two: A man who had been suffering from a chronic ailment looked everywhere for a doctor who could help him. Finally he found a hospital where he was completely cured. But on the train back home, he suddenly began to cry hysterically, injured several other passengers in his frenzy, and then broke the window and leapt out of the train. As a result, he fell beneath the wheels and was crushed to pieces. Why?

As the students enthusiastically discussed the question, Sun Pu walked leisurely around the classroom, his hands behind his back, stopping every now and then to shake his head at a student's answer.

Finally one of the students answered correctly: the man's chronic ailment was that he had gone blind. After being cured, the man believed that he had permanently regained his sight, but then when the train went through a tunnel, the darkness made him think that he had gone blind again, and in his disappointment he leapt from the train and committed suicide.

"Very well done," said Sun Pu, clapping his hands. "Ten points onto your final grade!"

This development made all the students as excited. As the kid who got it right sat there blushing, his classmates all looked at him, some with admiration and some with envy, while everyone waited anxiously for the next question.

Question Three: A man and his female friend were strolling beside a river when the woman lost her footing and fell in. Although she struggled to stay afloat, she quickly went under. Panicked, the man immediately jumped in, but he was unable to save her. Several years later, while walking past the scene of her drowning, the man saw an old-timer fishing on the riverbank. When the man saw that the fish the old-timer had caught were completely clean and free of seaweed, he asked him why they didn't have any seaweed on them. The old-timer replied that there was no seaweed in this river. Hearing this, the man threw himself in the river without another word, committing suicide. Why?

The answer: When the man had jumped into the river to save the girl, he had grabbed onto something that felt like water seaweed, and so hadn't pulled it up. But hearing the old-timer's answer, the man had finally realized that in fact what he grabbed wasn't seaweed, but his female friend's hair. 

No one got it right.

Question Four: A man was found dead headfirst in the desert. Pieces of luggage of various sizes were scattered around him. In his hand was half of a match. How did he die?

The answer: The plane this man had been riding on had malfunctioned, forcing everyone to parachute off; however, it was discovered that there was one parachute too few. So everyone decided to draw lots, with the person who picked the short match being forced to jump without a parachute. This man had been unlucky enough to draw the short match. 

No one got it right.

Question Five: An older sister and younger sister attend their mother's funeral. While there, the younger sister sees an extremely handsome young man, and instantly falls in love. Unfortunately, this man is nowhere to be found once the funeral is over. A few days later, the younger sister stabs the older sister to death with a knife in the kitchen. Why?

The answer: The younger sister loves the young man, and desperately wants to see him again. But because she knows that she can only see him at a funeral, she decides to create one.

A female student answered this one correctly.

Question Six: A circus troupe has two dwarves, one of whom is blind. One day, the director of the troupe tells them that they only need one dwarf. The two dwarves are both extremely dependent on this job for their survival. The next morning, the blind dwarf is found dead from suicide in his room. The room has wooden furniture and the floor is covered with sawdust. Why did the blind dwarf kill himself?

The answer: While the blind dwarf was asleep, the other dwarf snuck into his room and sawed off a portion of the legs of all his furniture. When the blind dwarf woke up and felt his way around his room, he discovered that all his furniture seemed smaller. Believing that he had grown tall overnight, he killed himself in despair.

No one got it right.

As everyone watched Sun Pu, the sky outside grew darker and darker.

"The final question," said Sun Pu as he held a finger to his lips to demand silence from the eager class, "is also perhaps the hardest. So you must do your best to listen and think it through; don't just start calling out answers."

Everyone held their breath and stared at Sun Pu, listening silently as he read aloud the final question.

"There was a man who lived in a small cabin on top of a mountain," read Sun Pu in a low voice. "One night it began to rain very hard. Then all of a sudden, just as the man was about to go to bed…" his voice rose sharply, causing several girls to cry out softly in alarm, "…he heard a knocking at the door. The man opened it and looked out…" Sun Pu stopped and glanced across the silent classroom, "…but there was no one there."

At this point someone laughed.

"The man then closed the door and went to bed. But only a few minutes later, the mysterious knocking started again."

Noticing that several girls had their hands over their mouths to keep from crying out, Fang Mu couldn't help but chuckle.

"Trembling, the man opened the door again, but still no one was there. That night, the knocking sounded again and again, but every time the man opened the door and looked outside, no one was there. The next morning, a corpse was discovered at the foot of the mountain, covered in bruises."