7 Tête-à-tête

Zhaohui leaned against the door as he saw Xiajun search every corner of the room. Though from his perspective, it may have seemed that Xiajun was focusing on finding any unfound details, he was really just thinking of a way to get Zhaohui out of the room.

A chat was due with Ms. Ghost.

"Detective Zhaohui," Xiajun bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls of the tiny room. "Go get me my black briefcase from the car's boot." Xiajun reluctantly chucked him his car keys.

Though Zhaohui had been ordered to not leave Detective Jun alone even for a second, he gladly complied if it meant getting out of the stuffy room.

As Xiajun heard the door shut after his fellow detective, he opened the door to the bathroom and called in, "Come out. I want to talk."

It was a full minute before the ghost decided to walk through the wall and came to stand in the middle of the room, right on her death spot. She didn't say anything for the longest of whiles and Xiajun had started to worry that Zhaohui would return, so he decided to initiate conversation.

"Your name is," Xiajun remembered from the file he had read, "Miss Zeng Suyin?"

The ghost nodded and stared wide-eyed at Xiajun. "Y-you can see me?"

Her voice was a hoarse whisper, one that suited the dead. Xiajun tried to hide the shiver that went down his spine.

"I can. Infact, I may be the only one to do so. My confrere will be back any moment now, so we must get this done with. There are some questions I'd like to ask you," Xiajun said as he pulled a pad and a pen out of his pant pocket. Miss Suyin remained silent.

"First of all," he said as he glanced over the ghost of the woman once, "who killed you, Miss Suyin?"

The woman flinched.

"How..." she faltered. "How did you know I was killed?"

"I know a lot and most of it my schedule disallows me from explaining, so if you could just answer the question, that would be appreciated." Xiajun was getting impatient now, his feet tapping on the carpet, creating a series of low 'thup, thup' sounds.

Though it seemed that Miss Suyin wasn't in any hurry to answer. After all, she had been holed up in this place all alone for 5 stretched months. A little human interaction was exciting.

"Are you an investigator?" she asked as she leaned in closer to Xiajun. "The other ones didn't know I had been killed at all and you have no idea how infuriating that was."

Xiajun muttered a curse under his breath. "Yes, I'm an investigator. So please, just answer the ques-"

"It was my brother," the ghost broke in, her eyes wide. "It was my brother..."

Xiajun paused. Had the victim had a brother? Xiajun didn't remember reading about it in the files he received from the police station. Xiajun scribbled it down.

"And this brother of yours," Xiajun started as he continued scribbling on his little notepad. "Have you any idea why he stabbed you?"

Miss Suyin noticeably flinched at the word 'stabbed' but recovered rather quickly.

"Yes..." she whispered. "He told me, before he came after me, that he was in dire need of money. Apparently, some loan sharks were after him and he needed the cash to clear off his debt. He begged me to spare some for him although I kept telling him I was broke myself too."

Xiajun cocked an eyebrow as he wrote everything down. "And?" he prompted.

"He killed me with a chopping knife," the woman said, her mouth curled up in something that wasn't a smile. "He stabbed me in the heart and I bled all over...." If she had still been alive, tears would have spilled over her eyelids. But she wasn't human and ghosts didn't cry.

Xiajun tried to console the soul so she could keep talking. "It's alright. Then what happened? What did you see him do after he had done the deed?"

The woman sighed sadly. "He rambled on about some insurance money and then left me for the dead."

Xiajun looked up from his notepad. "That's it?"

"That's it."

Xiajun put the notepad back in his pocket along with the pen and then put his hands over his hips. "Listen, Miss Suyin. I'm going to help you, alright? I'm going help you get the justice you deserve, that is, if you want me to."

Miss Suyin nodded solemnly.

"Tell me," Xiajun said as he leaned in real close to the ghost "Tell me where that bastard lives."

****

As Xiajun looked upon the scenery from the little terrace, Zhaohui arrived with a black briefcase clutched to his chest.

"I'm sorry it took me so long," he wheezed. "I ran into some men on the way and it didn't seem like they were there to chat. I got your briefcase though."

Xiajun nodded. "Hold on to it," he said as he started towards the stairs. "We're leaving."

"What?" Zhaohui asked incredulously. "We're done already?"

"Don't question it." Xiajun smirked as he beckoned to Zhaohui to follow him.

****

"Where are we off to now, Detective?" Zhaohui asked when they were back on the road.

"Wende," Xiajun answered nonchalantly.

Zhaohui wanted to ask why, but he stopped himself in time, remembering that Detective Jun hated to be questioned about his decisions. He was a great detective in demand, after all.

Wende Road was just a 10 minute drive away from Baiyun, 7 minutes in Xiajun's speedy car. Xiajun parked outside a bookstore and got out at the same time Zhaohui did.

Both of them nodded at each other before going in the direction wherever Xiajun took them to.