‘But where are the so-called signatures?’ Qin said incredulously. ‘For a possible profile, we may say he’s not someone old, he’s capable of moving around quickly, and of striking out forcibly.’
‘And of observing the background minutely. In spite of all the surveillance cameras in those central locations, there’s no picture of a suspect near the crime scene.’
‘That’s true.’
‘As for the possible signature, I think I would begin by studying all the pictures of the four victims at the crime scenes.’
‘Of course you may have all of them. In addition to the pictures we have taken, I’ve already requested pictures and tapes from the surveillance cameras in those areas. Some of them may be stored in the evidence room.’ Qin then added, ‘In the meantime, I’m going to have another discussion with Internal Security.’
The high-speed train was incredible, even more so in the first-class car.
With the train tickets sold out at Wuxi Station except for the first-class seats, Inspector Chen had not hesitated to purchase a first-class one back to Shanghai. The car was clean and comfortable, sporting leather-cushioned seats, free Wi-Fi, TV in front of each seat, and ample space for him to stretch out to sleep, though that was something perhaps furthest from his mind.
Sipping from a bottle of water, he found himself to be the only passenger in the car, which was helpful. He could do some quiet thinking by himself without having to talk to any other passengers.
The trip to Wuxi had actually yielded more questions than answers.
Still, one of the answers meant a lot to him – the reason why Shanshan had decided to leave Jiang.
As for her subsequent choice of Yao, Chen did not want to speculate. Yao was a successful businessman, capable of providing for her things like a vacation at a picturesque seaside resort in the United States. And for that matter, a high-end office for her in Shanghai too.
So why not? For years, things had been hard enough on her, and she deserved a change for the better.
And those pictures also posed questions for him to ponder over. They’re not irrelevant, not like the way Huang brushed them off: ‘They have nothing to do with us.’
Who took the pictures?
For what purpose?
What’s more, how did they come into net cop Bei’s computer?
Zhao might not have been the only one who had been paying more than serious attention to Shanshan.
And then the offhand comment about the pictures made by net cop Bei – ‘Who could tell they may pop up online one of these smoggy days?’
It was out of the question for her to have put them online. If so, who else?
These questions proved to be overwhelming. He was hardly aware of the scenes receding and changing so fast out of the train window.
He became increasingly positive about one thing. Zhao’s assignment would turn out to be far less ‘simple’ than he had said to the inspector in the Hyatt Hotel.