Chapter 3 The Investigation
Chapter 3 The Investigation For some reason, I felt uncomfortable the minute I saw her. It may have been instinct or something about her. “Why didn’t you leave, or turn on the light?” I asked casually, as if I was just going through the motions. Ling didn’t hesitate this time. “I was too scared, and I wasn’t sure If I really saw it. I just wanted to turn on the light, maybe it’ll be better with the light on.” She spoke quickly and calmly, not like Zhou Nan, who seemed to be trying to control her emotions. “Did you see the ghost after you turned on the light?” Ling shook her head while biting her lips. “No, the female ghost was gone when the light went on.” “If so, how did you know you didn’t make a mistake?” I looked at her meaningfully. “At first I did, but everything seemed so real when I remembered it, it was definitely not a hallucination. A girl jumped from this room five years ago, so I thought it must be that girl back for revenge.” Ling’s voice was hoarse but surprisingly clear. “Who told you about that? Someone jumped from here five years ago? Why would she want revenge?” When it comes to things like this, schools usually blocked any information for fear of bad press. She was just a freshman, how would she know about this old incident? Ling’s expression seemed unnatural with my questioning, she replied that she heard about it. That it was absolutely true. She wasn’t sure why the ghost would want to come back. I had an instinct that she was lying, though I continued to question her. What she said was similar to Zhou Nan’s account; both women believed that the pen oracle whom they didn’t send away came to seek revenge. When it came to the relationship among the four of them, it was supposedly very good. After we finished processing the scene, and took photographs of the room, we left the dorm. Teng told Nan and Ling not to worry, that there were no ghosts in this world, and that they needed to cooperate when we had more questions. We visited the school administration and learned that five years ago, a sophomore did commit suicide by jumping. The girl came from a disadvantaged background. While she was admitted to the school with her good grades, she couldn’t really become part of the school, some people actually bullied her. After a while, the girl developed low self-esteem, and eventually jumped out of her building, however, nothing happened for years after that incident. The school administrators were certain there were no ghosts. Before we left the campus, we also talked to some classmates of Lin Xiao and Zhao Qi, and learned the four roommates got along quite well. The two victims also had no enemies. While Teng took notes, we headed out. By the time we got back to the precinct, the autopsy report would be available. The autopsy report said Qi died around two am, and there were no signs of struggle before she jumped. There were no injuries on her besides those from the fall, and suicide was suspected to be the cause of death. Since Zhao Qi’s case was the same as Lin Xiao from seven days ago, and both jumped to their death around the same time, the ME estimated the causes to be suicide, and the cases would be investigated together. Haoran also arranged for some discreet protection for Zhou Nan and Li Ling, which was also a form of surveillance. Around dusk, we sat around at a table and discussed the cases. Teng spoke first. “Zhao Qi and Lin Xiao had a lot of similarities, both were popular, and had guys who pursued them. Both were the only child in their families, had good grades, and seemed to have a charmed life growing up. They have had no big setbacks. Based on these conditions, they didn’t have any reason to commit suicide.” I had considered the same things. “What about Li Ling and Zhou Nan?” I have seen the files, but I wanted to hear the information again, sometimes inspiration came this way. Teng looked over his file before continuing. “Nan’s family is a little less comfortable, ordinary family, not rich but not poor either. Ling is not from this city, she’s from the countryside. Her grades aren’t bad. She can be introverted, and has no friends other than her three roommates.” Haoran, who has stayed silent until now, spoke up. “So, the dead girls, Lin Xiao and Zhao Qi, were from affluent families, pretty, and popular, while Zhang Nan was average, and Li Ling was not as advantaged?” Teng nodded without comment, confused why such simple facts needed to be repeated. I thought back to what I saw in the room. “It’s pretty obvious. Zhao Qi’s bedding and all the stuff she had weren’t cheap. Her cell phone was at least six grand, her makeup and clothes were probably high-end too. Zhou Nan’s clothes looked average-priced, not particularly expensive. And Li Ling’s clothes and things were cheap and you can tell she had little money.” “Are you saying Li Ling or Zhou Nan were jealous, and that’s why they hurt the other girls?” Teng raised his brow, doubt in his eyes. I was silent for a few seconds. “It’s not impossible. People’s real thoughts are always hard to guess.” Teng didn’t seem to accept this deduction. “No. Nan and Ling were both young women, how did they get this done?” “We have to keep investigating the four girls’ background, and the relationship between the two victims. Was there anything out of place or any signs before they died? Any information could be useful.” Haoran said, interrupting the confrontation between me and Teng. What followed was the tedious part of any case. I thought of a few things, which clarified after I reviewed the file a couple of times. Li Ling was the one who wanted to play pen oracle and the one who allegedly saw the ghost. After the light was turned on, no one else saw anything, yet she still stuck to her story, and she was the one with the nightmares. I circled her name. She was the odd one out among the group, as far as social-economic background went, how did she get along so well with the rest of them? Was it simply because they were roommates, and the other three seemed to be easy-going? If we used the timeline as is, everything started with the pen oracle game from two weeks ago. It was common for college students to play this game, and the daring ones would play the game around midnight, but rarely did things like this happen. Most people thought this was a silly game. Why did Li Ling bring up the game? If it wasn’t because of the pen oracle, what made two girls who were asleep, get out of bed, get up onto the windowsill, seemingly unconsciously, and then jump? This was the key to the investigation.