Her lungs burns. There’s too much smoke, suffocating her. There’s fire everywhere. But she can’t leave. She shouldn’t.
Dad told her to hide. Her brother pushed her into the closet. He promised to come back, but they never did.
***
Her eyelids flew open as her senses returned. Scrambling out of her bed, she half expected to step into raging fire,burning her soles, consuming her but the pain never come. Breathing in a gulp of air, she caught a whiff of roses and lemony scent instead of bitter smoke, confirming she was no longer trapped inside the burning room but in the present. It was all a dream.
A memory.
The digital clock on her night stand shows it was 5 o’clock in the morning. It was darn early, and there’s no way she’ll be able to go back to sleep. Not after all that screaming and shouting seared into her mind.
Placing a pillow on top of her face, she forced herself to sleep, thinking of the food that she would want for breakfast. Milk and bread, steamed buns and dumplings. You tiao and egg pancakes sounds good though she kinda craved for something sweeter. And her phone buzzes.
She hates her life.
“What?” she barked into her phone, recognizing the number on the screen.
“Look at this kid attitude. You have less than half an hour to drag your ass down the pier. Later than that, I’ll gave you -470 mark for your upcoming performance evaluation.” the person on the other end of the phone started, sounded delighted to annoy her first thing in the morning. That’s, ladies and gentlemen, none other than her annoying team Captain, and this is not the first time she thought of numerous ways to assassinate him.
Kicking her duvet away, she hung up on the call as she headed for a quick shower. The cold water woke her up though it prickled against her icy skin. That’s what you got for taking a cold shower on a freezing morning, but she can’t risked handling cases half asleep, which pretty much equal to suicide.
Dressing in the first thing she got her hands on, she flitted around her house, switching off all the lights, knowing she won’t be able to return home any time soon before hunting for a piece of bread and her car key.
Relying on the location shared by Ah Sheng, she drove down to the pier, already bustling with workers, cops, forensics and everyone in between. Parking haphazardly next to a cruiser, she jammed her gun into her waistband, forgetting the holster in her haste before making her way toward the yellow tapped area. One of the officer recognizes her immediately, greeted her with a salute as he lifted the tape for her to pass through. Dismissing him wordlessly, she walked toward her waiting team, taking her sweet time despite Captain Zhou making a show that she was late.
Instead of a welcoming greet, she got lashed out the moment she arrived. “You took more than half an hour.” Ignoring him, she waved Ah Sheng to brief her.
“Lee Jiang Guo, 48 years old, divorcee, currently working as a bartender at an underground bar. Time of death, sometimes around 0000. The body was found by a group of crane operator who was clocking in about an hour ago. We found no irregularities in their statement but their alibi are up for further confirmation. No traces of drugs or intoxication. Judging from the lack of struggles sign, the victim seems to be familiar with the killer. Cause of death, excessive bleeding, a single shot to the head. Two shots to the knee. Firearms, NP 22, 9mm caliber.” Ah Sheng started, reading her the initial report.
“CCTV?”
“Under maintenance, and nothing within 20 miles radius. All were either dummy or broken. We’re searching into the freeways CCTV.”
That’s a lot of broken CCTV in one day. She doesn’t have to be Einstein to figure out it was tampered. “The ground was cleared, no footprints, no empty magazines, it’s a professional work.”
Squatting down next to the forensic officer, she examine the body for the obvious physical wounds. Three gunshots.
One to head, with the intention to kill, minimizing any possible chances of surviving. The killer was determined and experienced, and a lefty, judging from the angle of the shot, or very smart. Avoiding suspicion by using his or her non-dominant hand. The other two shots busted the kneecaps, crippling the victims.
Both of his hands was brought to the front and bounded together, his legs angle suggested he was kneeling before he was killed, at the mercy of his killer.
Or, he was in a trial, pleading for his mistakes.
Rolling her eyes, she turned to face Ah Sheng. “Anything that you might have forgotten to tell me about on his background?”
Ah Sheng glances pointedly toward their Captain once, being obvious with where he was looking at. “Captain?” she asked cryptically, raising an eyebrow. He replied it with tuneless whistling as he wandered away. Crazy old man.
“He’s an ex member of the Black Dragon gang. You’ve heard the name before right.” Ah Sheng explained in a low voice. It took her all not to react to the name. It’s been years since the last time she heard of it. “And this is the third bodies that we found, with the same background, similar MO, and similar precision.”
“It’s the case that I got booted out last month isn’t it?” she said accusingly, narrowing her eyes on the approaching Captain Zhou, who immediately turned away again under her scrutiny.
This make a whole lot of sense compared to the petty excuses he gave before, sitting her out of a case that handed to her team since she was ‘pretty swamped’. The consideration was too good to be true but she was too occupied with the high school girl homicide to dwell on that fact.
“It’s Deputy Han isn’t it?” she asked rhetorically, knowing the answer well without anyone telling her. “What with the sudden change, roping me into the case?”
“It’s this or another round of scolding from the higher up. The media are slowly picking up on this case, and that’s without knowing the Black Dragon connection with the case. Once the story is out, things are going to blown out of proportion.” Captain Zhou explained reluctantly, chewing up an unlit cigarette between his lips.
“Fine. But if Deputy Han said anything, I’ll offer your head to him. Don’t worry, I’ll prepare the altar for you after that.” As if she’s going to give up the chance to participate in this case. It’s bad enough for her to find out about it this late.
“Deal. Now tell me what you have you got.”
“I’m like five minutes into the scenes and you already wanted an answer.”
“Don’t you already have them?” Captain Zhou asked her in a nonsensical tone.
“Well, I kinda did. Don’t betrayed, don’t steal and don’t take your brother’s woman, or you’ll be dead or crippled.” she said, recalling the rite’s oath.
“Huh?”
“It’s the common rite and main rules for most gang. He wasn’t killed… technically. It was a persecution. But there’s something that I don’t understand. Had it been the work of a triad gang, it will be less elaborated and a lot more unpremeditated, at least when it was an internal conflict rather than a planned crime, which they get paid for. That’s an entirely different story. It’s rather unlikely for anyone to send a trained hitman against a low time bartender. A simple deliberated fight down the hood would be more than enough to eliminate him for good. Less hassle, the cops won’t even bothered to meddle.”
“Copycat?” Ah Sheng suggested, penning something in his notepad.
“That, or a message. It’s a cat and mouse game. Taunting his or her enemies. Keeping the best for the last, so that they know he’s coming.” The anticipation for the hunt is worst than facing the killer head on. The killer wanted the victim to live in a constant fear, knowing that threat is out there, waiting to kill them. “It was something that I would do out of revenge.”
