The 80s Female Detective's Guide to Self-Preservation [Criminal Investigation] - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Tan He’s house sat by a small stream in Shangyao Village. Hollowed stone slabs bridged the water, making it extremely convenient for household use. Because of his skilled trade, his house featured green tiles, white walls, and gray bricks—standing out sharply against the rest of the village.

On the way there, Xia Qiuyuan and the other two had gathered a comprehensive profile of the Tan family.

As they neared the house, Hou Ming signaled to Xia Qiuyuan and Xia Sui. They split up: the two women went to the front to knock, while Hou Ming circled to the back to prevent Tan He from fleeing.

“Stay safe.”

The villagers held Tan He in high regard, but no one knew what an “honest man” was capable of when pushed to his limit.

Just as Xia Qiuyuan and Xia Sui reached the entrance, the door opened. They locked eyes with a man about to step out. The middle-aged man’s eyes widened; he immediately shifted his weight, trying to slam the door shut. Before the iron bolt could lock, Xia Qiuyuan kicked the door open. The force was so great that the bolt scraped a piece of flesh off the man’s rough finger.

Xia Sui rushed in, grabbing the man’s arm and pinning his lower back with her knee, forcing him to his knees on the ground.

“Are you Tan He? We are police. We need your cooperation in an investigation. If you resist, we will take mandatory measures.”

Seeing only two female officers, Tan He’s face turned beet-red as he struggled violently to break free. Xia Sui, originally intending to be polite, nearly lost her grip. She threw her entire weight onto him, but his elbow caught her sharply in the right cheek, the pain forcing her eyes shut.

Xia Qiuyuan grabbed a length of rope used for hanging sausages from a nearby pole. She expertly lashed Tan He’s hands together with a dead knot, helping Xia Sui subdue him. Only when Hou Ming rushed in from the yard did the three of them finally manage to tie the strong, hardworking artisan to a chair.

Xia Sui hissed, rubbing her aching jaw. “I feel like my mandible is out of alignment.” She glared at the ashen-faced Tan He. “We haven’t even asked a question and you’re running? Guilty conscience? Talk!”

Tan He sat in silence, staring at the gray floor tiles like a puppet.

“What happened between your daughter and Jin Wu and Zhao Yuanming?” Hou Ming pulled up a stool. “They are missing. We found a slaughtered pig at Liang Chunhua’s house with human intestines in its mouth. Did you do it?”

At the mention of his daughter, Tan He took a ragged breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were filled with hatred. “You useless fools only know how to bully honest people! If it weren’t for your inaction, how could my daughter be bullied over and over? Those two animals… they should have been strangled at birth. Harming her once wasn’t enough; they targeted her a second time!”

“Beasts like them deserve to be fed to livestock! In their next life, they should be pigs and cows, raised just to be slaughtered over and over!” He roared, the veins in his neck bulging like a cornered beast.

Xia Qiuyuan stood aside. Since entering, she had noticed a familiar woody scent—the same one from the pigsty. She remembered the village gossip: Tan He was famous for “Spirit Incense” used in funerals.

Incense is made by grinding wood into powder, mixing it with binder, and extruding it. Because Tan He used high-quality wood, the scent had seeped into the very fabric of the house. To those living there, the smell was invisible, but to an outsider, it was unmistakable.

Following the scent, Xia Qiuyuan pushed open a firmly closed door. Inside were stacks of textbooks piled high near a bed. Clothes, cups, and pencil cases hung from ropes stretched across the room.

On the bed sat a girl. Her expression was cold and full of hate. Beneath the quilt, her legs lacked a normal shape—they were shriveled and thin, looking more like two hollow pillars than limbs.

“Get out!” The girl threw a small wooden bed-table at Xia Qiuyuan. Xia Qiuyuan dodged just in time.

“Tan… Liu, right?” Xia Qiuyuan tried to be gentle, but the girl began hurling everything within reach.

Realizing they couldn’t move Tan He and the disabled Tan Liu alone—and knowing this was likely the primary crime scene—Hou Ming called for backup from the Second Team and the forensic unit.

When they tried to move Tan Liu, she fought like a feral cat. Her nails raked Xia Sui’s arm, and she tried to bite Xia Qiuyuan’s fingers. Xia Qiuyuan had to firmly grip the girl’s jaw to restrain her.

Wei Min, the forensic doctor, arrived with a heavy scowl. She was already irritable from a long shift, and seeing her colleagues’ scratched arms didn’t help. She eventually used a piece of clothing to gag the girl so they could safely move her.

“If I’d known, I would have brought an anesthesiologist,” Wei Min grumbled.

Xia Qiuyuan looked at the trembling Tan Liu and leaned in close, whispering: “You’ve already tortured and killed them yourself. You’ve slept every night to the sound of their screams. What is there left to be unsatisfied with?”

Tan Liu froze. Her bloodshot eyes curved into crescents. Her thin chest heaved as she began to laugh hysterically behind her gag—a terrifying, muffled sound.

Xia Qiuyuan calmly lifted the skeletal girl into a wheelchair and tied her in for safety. Then, she stripped the bedding and lifted the wooden bed boards.

Beneath the bed lay the entrance to a cellar.

“What is that smell? It actually smells… good,” Xia Sui said, taking a breath. A deep, soulful sandalwood scent filled the room.

“Sandalwood incense. To lead the way for the dead,” Wei Min said, helping Xia Qiuyuan move a heavy stone.

As the passage opened, a stench of rot and blood—which even the incense could no longer mask—surged upward. Xia Sui, who had been breathing deeply to catch the sandalwood, nearly gagged.

Xia Qiuyuan’s expression turned grim. “Go get Captain Hou. We found the primary scene.”