Second, where had that pornographic manga come from? And what did it mean?
Tai Wei had the nagging feeling that the manga was not only the most curious part of the case-it was also a way to split it wide open. After considering the matter over and over, he jumped in his car and drove to JiangbinCityUniversity.
Again he found him on the basketball courts, but instead of shooting alone, Fang Mu was now playing in a fiercely competitive game of three-on-three. Tai Wei had to basically pull him aside to get him to talk. He could tell Fang Mu was a little reluctant.
Tai Wei hadn't brought the case files, so he just told Fang Mu a summarized version of what happened. Fang Mu kept his head down the whole time and wiped the sweat from his face. But even though he didn’t look too pleased, it was clear that he was playing very close attention.
When he was finished speaking, Tai Wei turned to Fang Mu and asked him frankly: "What do you think of all this?"
Fang Mu didn't immediately answer, just frowned and stared off into the distance. After a long time, and with a seemingly great amount of determination, he finally said: "What does this have to do with me?"
"Huh?" For a moment Tai Wei was stunned, and he didn't know what to say.
"Officer Tai, I'm not a cop, I'm just an ordinary person. This stuff has already caused me a great deal of trouble. I don't think I can help you." Fang Mu's eyes were on the ground as he spoke, his voice almost a whisper.
Tai Wei stared at him for a long time before saying: "You're not still mad at me because of that other thing, are you?"
"No," said Fang Mu, looking up. "I just feel exhausted, and want to be a normal student like everyone else."
Tai Wei opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. The two of them sat there in awkward silence for a moment. At last, forcing a smile, Tai Wei patted Fang Mu on the shoulder. "I can understand," he said. "After all, you're still too young to be spending all your time dealing with this kind of stuff." He sighed, and then shrugged his shoulders. "It's funny, this whole time I never thought of you as a student, but as a fellow officer." He smiled and patted Fang Mu's shoulder again. "Take good care of yourself." Then he stood up and got ready to leave.
"You know…" said Fang Mu, suddenly opening his mouth.
"What?" Tai Wei immediately sat back down and focused all his attention on him.
"It's probable that the pornographic comic was put there to dishonor the victim," said Fang Mu, his head down, seemingly speaking to himself. "Especially given that she was this nice, upstanding woman. Yeah, leaving something that obscene beside the body, I'd say he wanted to humiliate her."
"So what was the motive? Why would he want to do that to her?"
"I'm not sure. But I'd say it has something to do with sex."
"Are you saying…this was a crime of passion?"
"I'm merely saying it's a possibility. As for the heroin, I have no idea why he used that to kill her. Using a murder weapon like that takes preparation, therefore I believe it has something to do with whatever special need the killer is trying to fulfill. But as for the need itself, I also have no idea."
Seemingly deep in thought, Tai Wei nodded and said, "That's it?"
"That's it," said Fang Mu, before quickly adding, "but this is just my personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Also," and now his face fell, "don't go looking into my past, and don't try convincing me to become a cop. I won't do it."
Then before Tai Wei could respond, Fang Mu stood up and walked away. He didn't look back once.
The police once more investigated the victim and her husband, this time focusing on their relationships with people of the opposite sex. As for the victim, they found that she had almost no male friends whatsoever, and according to her relatives and former coworkers, she had strongly disdained any sort of immoral male-female relations. But while investigating the husband, police made a significant discovery: a number of people they interviewed said that Pang Guangcai had been involved with a 30-something cleaning lady from the JiangbinCityUniversity maintenance department. Police then focused all their energy on this lead, but found themselves greatly disappointed. As it turned out, Pang Guangcai and the cleaning lady did indeed have illicit relations: she had only just gotten divorced at the time, and in her loneliness had seduced him. But three months prior to the murder, she had gotten remarried to the boss of a snack food wholesaler, and her home life could be considered happy once more. She had absolutely no reason to want to kill Tang Yu’e and take her place.
Once more the investigation ground to a halt.
For the first time ever, it seemed to Fang Mu, Du Yu was not eating lunch with his arm draped over Zhang Yao. Instead, he had dragged Fang Mu to the dining hall by himself and had seated them in a very conspicuous spot.
"What's going on?" asked Fang Mu, obviously surprised as he ladled winter melon sparerib soup into his bowl. "Are you and Zhang Yao fighting?"
"No, no, no." Du Yu was clearly not in any hurry to chat. Spooning food into his mouth, he craned his neck and looked all around. After a moment, he spotted Zhang Yao amid the crowd of people lined up to get their food. He waved at her. Beaming, she waved back.
Third wheel again. Irritated, Fang Mu grabbed his tray and stood up. "You guys eat together; I'll go sit over there."
"Hey, don't leave," said Du Yu, waving him back to the table. "She's not going to sit here. It'll just be you and me."
Carrying their trays, Zhang Yao and another girl walked over to a nearby table and sat down. She winked at Du Yu, and then began eating.
"The hell's going on?" muttered Fang Mu, as he hunched over the table and continued to eat.
Du Yu barely paid attention to his food. He and Zhang Yao kept looking over at one other and gesturing back and forth. After a little while, he grinned at Fang Mu and said, "Well, what do you think?"
"What do I think about what?" asked Fang Mu, confused.
"That girl, the one sitting with Zhang Yao." He nodded in her direction.
Fang Mu glanced over. "She's all right."
At that very moment the girl happened to be looking in his direction, but as soon as their eyes met she looked away.
"Look at that dirty smile on your face," said Fang Mu, shaking his head at Du Yu. "You're crazy trying to check out some girl with Zhang Yao sitting right there. Don't come crying to me after she catches you."
"Man, what are you talking about? I was asking what you thought of her."
"Me?" Suddenly Fang Mu understood. When Zhang Yao said she was going to find Fang Mu a girlfriend, she had apparently been very serious.
Zhang Yao motioned for them to come over and join them. Clearly able to take a hint, Du Yu stood up at once. "Come on," he said, "let's all eat together."
"Stop making trouble," said Fang Mu, his face red.
The girl in question, however, looked totally at ease. She moved her tray out of the way so Du Yu and Fang Mu would have room to eat with them.
Seeing that Fang Mu still hadn't moved, Du Yu tried to provoke him, whispering, "Come on, man, you don't even have the nerve to do this?"
After hesitating for a moment, Fang Mu steeled himself, and then walked over with Du Yu and sat down.
"Fang Mu," said Du Yu, motioning at the girl, "this is Deng Linyue, Zhang Yao's classmate. Deng Linyue, this is my roommate, Fang Mu."
"Hello, master sleuth," said Deng Linyue, smiling at Fang Mu. Her voice was a little husky, sensuous.
Hearing the words "master sleuth", Fang Mu felt even more at a loss. Without looking up from his meal, he mumbled a brief "Hi" and then nearly buried his face in his food and continued to eat.
The table immediately fell silent. After a few seconds, Fang Mu felt Du Yu step roughly on his foot beneath the table.