004. Tom and Roy

After leaving the church.

Du Wei wrapped the silver cross dagger in white cloth and secured it close to his body, then drove back in his newly purchased Subaru Impreza.

Upon arrival, he parked the car opposite the street from the psychological counseling clinic.

He didn't choose to get out, instead, he lit a cigarette and slowly started smoking.

Normally, Du Wei never smoked in the car, but today was different.

His gaze calmly passed through the car window, landing on the psychological counseling clinic across the street, as he recalled the advice Father Tony had given him before sending him off.

"At first, the Evil Spirit will only appear at night, so the daytime is essentially safe, but not precisely."

"Don't delude yourself into thinking that moving will rid you of it; it's futile."

"The longer you are in contact with the Evil Spirit, the more easily you'll be able to see it; you must stay calm."

...

After exhaling a smoke ring and taking a deep breath.

Du Wei stubbed out the cigarette, the experiences from yesterday to today playing through his mind like a movie.

"I should never have boarded that plane!"

Du Wei took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

As a psychologist, he should always keep his mindset in check to avoid making mistakes.

At this moment.

A blond Caucasian in a police uniform came over and knocked on the car window.

He wore a smile on his face, looking quite familiar.

"Hello, are you Dr. Du Wei?"

Du Wei pressed the window switch, looked at the police officer outside, and asked with curiosity, "Hello, I am Du Wei. May I help you?"

The other shrugged and said, "As you can see, I'm Officer Tom, in charge of security around here. I'd like to ask you about some matters regarding Miss Aisha. Is it convenient for us to sit down and talk?"

Du Wei paused for a moment, matters concerning Aisha?

"Let's talk in the car."

"Alright, if you insist."

Tom chuckled casually and then came over, opened the passenger door, and sat down.

"Hey, this car is pretty cool, did you just buy it?"

As soon as he got in, Tom started making conversation as if he was quite familiar, yet his eyes were fixed on Du Wei, observing his every move.

Du Wei looked at him calmly and said blandly, "The second generation Subaru Impreza just hit the market, 2.5T engine capacity, all-wheel drive, 19,600 dollars. I bought it last Friday from the downtown Subaru dealership. But compared to that, I think you're more interested in matters regarding Aisha, aren't you?"

"Ahah..." Tom gave an awkward laugh and then covered it up, "If you insist, then let's talk about Miss Aisha."

While speaking, Tom took out his New York police badge and search warrant, and a photo of Aisha, and handed them to Du Wei.

"On May 15th, at 6:08 PM, Miss Aisha came to your psychological counseling clinic and stayed for about an hour. During that time, did the two of you have any close contact or do something?"

Looking at the photo of Aisha, Du Wei confirmed Tom's identity, checked the search warrant...

He looked up at Tom and didn't answer the question but said with an exceedingly calm tone, "Your words carry a very obvious leading nature; you want to find out something from me, yet you can't ascertain it, so you are probing because you know that actually, between Aisha and me, there is only a normal patient-doctor relationship."

Tom lost the smile on his face, nodded and said, "That's why I don't like dealing with psychologists. It makes me feel as if I have no privacy before you folks, like I'm naked."

Du Wei neither agreed nor disagreed as he continued, "After Miss Aisha arrived at the clinic yesterday, her emotions were very unstable, so I spent ten minutes trying to counsel her. Then she told me about her experiences and some of her thoughts, after which I performed an analysis of her condition, but clearly, she didn't accept my opinion."

As he spoke, Du Wei asked, "And now, Mr. Tom, if I'm not mistaken, something has happened to Miss Aisha, right?!"

Although it was a question, there was a tone in his voice that suggested he already knew the answer.

Tom nodded, "She's dead, around 10:20 last night, um... her death was very strange."

At this point, Tom's expression turned odd, as if he were trying to suppress the urge to vomit.

Seeing this, Du Wei spoke thoughtfully, "She must have died a terrible death, and you've ruled out the possibility of homicide?"

"Yes, Dr. Du Wei, our surveillance revealed that when she was leaving the rental house, the door suddenly closed in a bizarre way, snapping her head off in an instant, very... very..."

Tom stumbled, using the word "very" twice without being able to finish his sentence.

Du Wei, however, gave him a deep look, the image already forming in his mind.

And he made a bold guess.

After her encounter with him yesterday, the Evil Spirit, for some unknown reason, had set its sights on him, and perhaps its power had accumulated to a critical point, so it had started to act.

The likelihood of the Evil Spirit changing targets was high, but it largely depended on the premise that the previous victim was already dead.

At this moment, Officer Tom paused and then, looking at Du Wei, asked, "Getting back to our earlier conversation, what exactly did Miss Aisha talk to you about?"

Du Wei looked at him and said, "Do you believe in the existence of Evil Spirits in this world?"

Tom shook his head, "Dr. Du Wei, you must understand that I'm trying to investigate the cause of Miss Aisha's death, not to hear you tell bedtime ghost stories."

Du Wei smiled, "That's precisely what she and I discussed."

...

Tom chose silence...

Soon after, both men got out of the car, ending the rather unpleasant conversation.

"Alright, regardless, thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Du Wei. By the way, are you really not going to invite me to sit at your place?"

"It's still inappropriate."

Before leaving, Tom left his business card.

Du Wei casually stuffed the business card into his wallet and, as usual, walked up to his own front door.

Just then, the neighbor next door happened to open their door and step out; seeing Du Wei, they seemed startled, their body going rigid.

"Uh... Hello, Dr. Du Wei, your dark circles are quite severe. Did you not sleep well?"

Du Wei turned to look at the neighbor, a girl of mixed Caucasian descent, with smooth skin, a petite but curvy figure, and very refined and distinctive facial features. By his standards, she was undoubtedly a beauty.

"That's right, Miss Roy, are you going on a long trip?"

Du Wei's gaze lingered on the black suitcase that Roy was dragging. The suitcase was large and could hold many items, but its size also meant it was presumably quite heavy.

However, if it was just clothes and similar belongings, an adult woman should still be able to manage it.

Roy nodded with a smile, her moist blue eyes sparkling, "You guessed right. I've bought a ticket to Scolyn and I'm supposed to stay there for about a week. I need to go now, else I'll catch the big storm that's about to hit the city, which wouldn't be good for traveling."

After speaking, Roy struggled with the black suitcase as she got into a taxi.

Du Wei watched her leave, then his expression turned pensive.

That suitcase seemed a bit too heavy...