Everyone was guilty — The third body

<The murderer seemed to be standing in the mist before me, but no matter how wide my eyes opened, I could never see his face...>

In June in the south, the weather was so hot that people couldn't even breathe. The air conditioning barely cooled the room. Now we were all sitting in the office and our clothes were soon soaked and sticky with sweat. With a dozen big strong men smoking and yelling in such a small office, I felt that each of my pores was like a volcano that would erupt at any time.

"That's impossible! We've screened all the migrant workers around. There's no way he's just hiding out here. Trust me! He will soon show up again..."

A man announced, spreading his arms wide. He was Carl Lynn, the vice-captain of the criminal investigation team. At this moment, he was standing in front of the whiteboard on which he circled the murderer's area of activity with a pen. It seemed that the discussion was at a standstill. Now, Carl and several men huddled together in a quarrel.

"Enough! It makes no use if you keep having a quarrel here! Go to sort through the victim's social connections and all males living alone nearby. The cuts on the victim were so neat, and obviously, the murderer needed an independent and quiet crime scene. This is the focus of the investigation." Suddenly, a big-bellied middle-aged man stood up in the smoky corner. His hair tumbled and above his lips was his beard, which made him look a little funny. After he opened his mouth, the whole room was instantly quiet and everyone looked at the man, our captain, Harvey Smith.

"Let's go! We don't have much time!" Harvey walked to me and patted my shoulder. I was just ready to stand up when the phone on the table rang! Carl walked over to answer the phone with a bit of indignation.

"What? Say it again? Okay, we'll be right there!" Carl's face changed greatly in an instant. The impatience in his eyes had disappeared while a trace of shock showed. He immediately put down the phone and said, "The third body was found!"

Instantly, everyone in the entire office froze in shock and no one spoke for a time. Only the voice of the air conditioner sounded. After a while, Harvey picked up the cigarette case on the table and shoved it into his pocket. Then, he took the lead out the door.

Sitting in the car, I was still in shock with some disbelief. This was my second year working as a policeman! During my first year, my work was just organizing information or mediating a family dispute. Just three months ago, I considered sending an application to the Anti-drug Group since I felt that life was so boring and my job was not challenging until that day. It was a morning in March. An old man was taking a morning walk along the lake in the park when he found a woven bag floating in the shallows. With poor vision, that old man thought it was just a discarded plastic model. He walked closer and then, he found that it was a floating corpse.

After we arrived at the scene, the court doctor told us that the victim had been soaked in water for four or five days. The body had already become a bloated cadaver and the face was too decayed to identify the victim. Soon the body was transported back to the autopsy room and the court doctor was surprised to find the victim's genitals were cut off neatly. It was hard to make sure what kind of tool the murderer had used. In order to find the identity of the victim, the police combed the area for clues. Soon, a yob, who was always wandering in a nearby Internet cafe, drew the police's attention. According to what the owner of the Internet Cafe said, that yob had disappeared for a long time. Then, through the clues provided by the owner of the Internet cafe, police had now formally identified the man who died was called Alan, but the investigation had not made much progress.

While the case was plaguing the whole police office, in the artificial lake fifteen kilometers from the first discovery of the victim, the second body appeared. It didn't take a long time to confirm that the second victim was a teacher who worked in a nearby disabled school. Same as the first victim, his genitals were also cut off neatly, and there were also many other scars on his body, which showed that the murderer's malice was getting heavier. Eventually, the two cases were determined to be serial killings.

Now, after we got the order to solve the case within a month, someone called to report that there was a third body.

As we arrived at the scene, there was a great group of people surrounding and gathering to gawk. We hastily blocked the scene. The victim was now kneeling on the field in an extremely strange position. From the stiffness of the body, the court doctor was sure that the victim should be killed in the middle of last night, but no one knew why the body was not found until near noon.

"Aaron! Evacuate the crowd, and by the way, ask them if there are witnesses." Harvey squatted in the field and lit a cigarette. Then, he squinted up to look around. Tall telegraph poles propped up wires high, which divided the sky divided into regular parts. In the distance, a few large windmills powerlessly rotated. It seemed like there was no monitor around.

Hearing what Harvey said, I went to form a cordon and forced the crowd back. Naturally, what I did cause a lot of discontent in the crowd.

"Hey! Hey! What? Am I not allowed to be here? I know who the victim is from what he wears!"

"Come on! The police are here! Be careful when you talk!"

"So what? If you ask me, that son of a bitch deserves to die!"

That man wanted to continue, but he was interrupted by the person next to him. Then, he sneered disdainfully and turned around to leave.

I crawled under the cordon and trotted to catch up with that man."Excuse me! I want to ask you some questions."

The man apparently did not expect that I would come to him. He looked around and found the police cars all around. Then, he turned to look at me. His face broke into a wide grin.

"Hi, officer! I just talked at random! Please don't take it personally! I'm a good law-abiding citizen!" the man answered, with another smile as his yellow teeth bared. Then, he hastily put on the mask. His disheveled yellow hair clung damply to his head with oiliness. It seemed like he never washed his hair.

"I heard that you know the dead." I took out the small notebook which came complete with a gold ballpoint pen from my pocket. Then, I snapped the cap off my ballpoint and stared at him.

"Um... Yeah, but we're not very familiar! I just thought that the clothes he wore looked familiar. I live across the street from him. See? The building over there." I followed the man's finger with my eyes to the chaotic urban village with washed white sheets and covers hanging on wires that were pulled up.

"That man called Randy Brown, and he moved here two years ago, with a seven or eight-year-old boy with his wife. They lived in a small house. Oh, wait! There seems to be another son, but he seldom comes back, so I can hardly remember what he looks like. Randy is a gambler. Every night I could hear that he had a quarrel with his wife, slammed the door, and left to gamble. After he got drunk and came back, he would beat his wife."

The man said while glancing at me. After seeing that I had no response. he grinned and continued to say.

"His wife is a shapely beautiful woman! Randy always suspected that his wife was cheating on him. But in fact, as I know, Randy was the one with many affairs. People like him really deserve to die. At least, it's a good thing for his wife..." The man's face changed and he subconsciously covered his mouth with his hand, looking like he had realized that he said something wrong.

"Okay, thanks for cooperating! If you think of anything else, just let me know." I finished the talk when I noticed that Harvey waved at me and motioned me to walk over. The man's mouth tightened into a thin line as if he regretted what he said, but he still nodded at me.

I closed my notebook and walked to Harvey. Harvey raised his chin towards an old man and signaled to me to ask him. The old man took off the hat on his head and spoke with a local accent.

"It's Randy Brown. He lives here! He just moved here a few years ago with his wife and children. He had two sons. The older is about twenty years old, called..." The old man paused to remember the name. "Oh, Danny Davis!"