The moment the skinny guy got the names, he nearly cried with joy. Even the fat guy let out a long breath, grinning from ear to ear. The two of them hurriedly called Xiao Gu, and the skinny guy even waved a hand with grand generosity. "No need to look for Duan Shishi anymore!"
But when Xiao Gu entered the names into the database, dozens upon dozens of pages of results popped up.
There were 938 people named Ye Qing in People's Celebration City, and 471 named Liu Miao. We didn't know whether the Greenleaf member was local, though. Across the whole country, there were over twenty thousand people with each of those names. Even if we narrowed it down by age, there would still be plenty.
The skinny guy had only just started celebrating, and now he was back to pulling at his hair. The fat guy looked just as troubled.
I remembered the list of seven thousand people Greenleaf had screened during the "New Year's Day Ghost Fetus" case. Now that was dedication to the job! I couldn't help looking down on the two of them. Then, a flash of inspiration struck, and I slapped my forehead.
Junli Hotel!
The people from Greenleaf had checked in at Junli Hotel, hadn't they? They'd even booked Room 809 for several years!
I hurriedly told the skinny guy and the fat guy.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" the skinny guy shouted excitedly.
"I didn't remember until now, did I?" I said with a shrug.
The skinny guy and the fat guy were full of energy again.
They'd made some headway, but Guo Yujie and I were stuck in a dead end. Old Wang wouldn't yield to either force or persuasion. He refused to agree to the demolition unless he saw his wife, which left us in a real bind. Guo Yujie went to contact Old Wang's daughter. I asked my former boss for permission and found two psychologists who were registered with the government. One specialized in post-disaster psychological intervention, while the other worked at the police station, providing therapy to officers and victims. After I explained Old Wang's situation, both said they could cooperate with the demolition office, but disguising their identities would be different from ordinary therapy and would require careful planning. I couldn't help with the professional side of things.
With nothing to do that afternoon, I took out Greenleaf's files.
Case No. 035
Case Alias: Death of a Stray Cat
Clients: Su Zhuoqin, Fei Wen
Gender: Male
Age: 27, 33
Occupation: Laborers
Family: Parents
Address: Room XXX, No. X, Fuchuan Third Village, People's Celebration City
Phone: 187XXXXXXXX, 188XXXXXXXX
Case Details:
April 2, 2006: The clients' first visit. Audio file: 03520060402.wav.
"We'd like you to find a friend of ours."
"We're roommates, too."
"Yes, there are three of us sharing a place. His name is Kong Rongde. Here's his photo and his ID card."
"Did neither of you report this to the police?"
"We did, but the police have been looking for him for a while and still haven't found him. And... and the way he disappeared was really strange."
"Please tell me exactly what happened."
"Of course, of course."
"..."
"Then I'll explain. We haven't seen him since last month."
"The eleventh of last month."
"Yes, the eleventh. He worked as a cashier at a supermarket. That day, he was supposed to work the day shift, from around seven in the morning until three or four in the afternoon. One of us is a chef and the other delivers packages. We both leave for work earlier than him. He was still asleep when we left that morning. When we got home, he still hadn't returned. We called him and found his phone at home. The supermarket had called him several times, saying he hadn't shown up for work."
"We waited a few more days, but he still didn't come back, so we reported him missing."
"So Kong's been missing for less than a month?"
"It hasn't been long, but this is really strange."
"Exactly. He doesn't have many friends here. He's from a farming village. His parents wanted him to work the land, but he refused, and they fell out before he ran away. There's no way he'd go back."
"Besides us, he really doesn't have any friends. He wasn't particularly close with his coworkers at the supermarket, either."
"When you say 'strange,' do you mean the circumstances of Mr. Kong's disappearance? I'm sorry to be blunt, but we're a supernatural affairs office, and what you've described doesn't seem to have anything to do with the supernatural."
"..."
"Mr. Su? Mr. Fei?"
"Uh... It's not... unrelated..."
"..."
"Then could you tell me more?"
"Well... the three of us have quite a few cats, and we feed some strays, too."
"Oh."
"Those cats haven't been acting normally since Kong Rongde disappeared. How should I put it... They've been really aggressive and started fighting. The ones we kept in cages have been getting out, and the whole place is a mess."
"There's something else. On the eleventh, I got a call from Kong Rongde around noon. He didn't say anything, though. I could only hear... the cats at home. It sounded like they were fighting, and they were fighting really fiercely."
"When we got home that evening, there was a huge pool of blood inside. The cats had a lot of blood around their mouths and on their bodies, too. We..."
"When you reported this to the police, did you tell them about it?"
"We did! The police investigated, too, but the blood wasn't Kong Rongde's. It was the cats'!"
"If they were fighting that badly, one of the cats must have died, right?"
"Ah..."
"Well, um... yes, one of the cats died. We... we threw it away. We didn't think much of it at the time, so we just tossed it."
"'You didn't think much of it at the time'? Then what have you thought of since?"
"Huh? Well... we..."
"Uh... about that..."
"Are you hiding something? If you don't tell us the whole story, it'll be difficult for us to find out what happened."
"Can you turn off the recording?"
"Recording is one of our investigative methods. It also protects both parties, so I hope you understand. Our office handles unusual cases, and they can sometimes involve a lot of different issues. Without a recording as evidence, our office could get into trouble."
"But..."
"What trouble could you possibly get into? We're only asking you to find someone!"
"But Mr. Kong's disappearance appears to be unnatural, and you've already reported it to the police. They're investigating, so our work overlaps with theirs. To avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, it's better to have a recording as evidence, right?"
"That's just sophistry! Fei Wen, let's go!"
"Okay."
April 2, 2006: Analysis of the clients' recording. Audio file: 03520060402G.wav.
"We'd like you to find a friend of ours... We're roommates, too..."
Click!
"Did you hear anything?"
"It's so noisy. There are so many cats meowing."
"Cats meowing?"
"Yeah, there are so many of them. They're giving me a headache."
Click!
"...Yes, there are three of us sharing a place. His name is Kong Rongde..."
"The cats haven't stopped meowing once. Whew—this is really going to be a hassle."
"Boss, did you hear them, too?"
"Yeah. There are a lot of cats following those two."
"Could it be..."
"What?"
"Animal abusers."
"Huh?"
"Yeah."
"Boss, are those cats... suffering?"
"Yeah."
"So, was Kong Rongde killed by the cats' ghosts?"
"I don't know. But once there's a first, there'll be a second, right?"
"You mean those two..."
"They'll probably be back before long."
"Mushroom, did you hear anything unusual besides the cats meowing?"
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