After dinner, we rushed back to the station. It was already past eight o'clock. Left in the interrogation room, Qin Aonan wasn’t given any food. Cursing, he lost his temper, "Fucking cops! Let me go or I’ll make your lives miserable!"
I went in with Xiaotao holding a takeaway box in my hand. At the sight of food, Qin Aonan hungrily gulped. "If you confess, you will have food. But if you don’t, you’ll continue to go hungry," I threatened.
"Confess? Fuck you!" yelled Qin Aonan. "I don't know what you’re talking about. I confess to taking drugs but that’s about it. Don’t try to pin some other crime onto me!"
Xiaotao and I exchanged a knowing look. Taking out her cell phone, she pulled up a photo of the owner of the breeding compound. "Do you know this man?" she asked.
Qin Aonan's pupil contracted, "I don't know who this is."
"You don't know him, but he certainly knows you. Did you settle his debts for him?" questioned Xiaotao.
"Do I look like I’ve nothing better to do?" he snorted.
"On the evening of July 12th, a brutal murder occurred in Nanjiang City,” I began. “We found this breeding compound and the owner is the man in the photo. This compound has been confirmed to be a crime scene."
When I mentioned crime scene, I was alluding to the kidnapping and rape, which would have more of an effect.
"We found your DNA at the crime scene. How do you explain this?" I added.
"That’s impossible!” he exclaimed in shock. “It’s another one of your tricks!"
Xiaotao slammed the table, sending the teacups bouncing. "Qin Aonan, you better come clean. Your DNA has been found at the scene and the evidence is conclusive. Unless you have a twin brother, I think you need to explain yourself!"
Qin Aonan lowered his head, his eyes shifting as he endeavored to fabricate a lie. "I know the person in the photo," he calmly answered.
"Oh, so now you’re changing your story?" sneered Xiaotao.
"I just recalled him. I only went there to purchase a Tibetan Mastiff,” he continued. “I might have had food poisoning at that time so I took a shit. But that doesn’t mean anything."
"Oh, what a coincidence!" quipped Xiaotao.
"It’s up to you to believe it or not. Anyway, it's a fact," Qin Aonan looked away.
"I didn't mention anything about finding your DNA in feces. How can you be so sure?" I retorted.
A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as he rolled his eyes at me.
"Tell me, what did you and your little friends do on the evening of July 12th?" I asked.
"The usual–we were drinking."
His statement matched Zhao Dapeng's to a T, apparently having arranged their confessions in private. There was confidence in Qin Aonan's eyes. He knew that we had no conclusive evidence since the DNA found in the dog's intestines was only indirect at best and not enough to convict him.
Opening the recording app on my cell phone, I prepared to use extreme measures. I took a deep breath and activated the Eyes of Yama. "Tell the truth!" I roared.
With a scream, Qin Aonan leaned back, inertia making his chair move back a few inches. After torturing him for about thirty seconds, I disengaged and quickly opened a bottle of milk to drink.
Appearing as if he had just finished a bout of strenuous exercise, Qin Aonan’s chest vehemently heaved up and down as cold sweat covered his skin. "We were drinking at the Mars Bar that night," he said, trembling.
"Can anyone prove it?"
"The bartender and boss can prove it," answered Qin Aonan.
"What did you drink?" I sped up my questions.
"Cocktails!"
"Which ones?"
"I drank a Hiroshima, Four Eyes drank a Blue Lagoon, Lao Zhao had a bomb shot, and Xiao Bai had a peach cocktail..."
"What did Zhao Dapeng drink again?" I fired away.
He answered without a second thought, "Bomb shots!"
"What did Bai Xiaowei have?"
"Peach Cocktails!"
"What time did you guys start and stop drinking?" I increased my speed of speaking, not wanting to give him time to make up any lies.
"We started at 7:30 and ended at 11:00. Then we went home."
"So you had one cocktail for more than three and a half hours?" I sneered.
"We ordered whiskey and fruit platters afterwards. Xiaobai even vomited!" reported Qin Aonan.
I secretly gritted my teeth at his answers. When he was speaking, I could clearly sense he was lying. Those words had obviously been prepared beforehand. Most people couldn't even remember what they had for breakfast two days ago. How was it possible they remembered the details of that night clearly after so many days?
While I drowned in the feeling of helplessness, Xiaotao asked, "Why is the owner of the breeding compound missing?"
"How should I know that? Maybe he’s hiding from his debtors!" Qin Aonan seemed to think he passed and was more relaxed than before.
"Who taught you to say all this?" I growled.
Qin Aonan spread his hands, "No one."
"Who taught you to say it?!"
"No one!"
"Who taught you to say so?!!!” Upon striking the table, I activated the Eyes of Yama once more. Qin Aonan’s screams filled the interrogation room. After torturing him for more than a minute, I felt a morbid sense of pleasure listening to his tormented screams.
Right then, Xiaotao tugged my sleeve, "That’s enough, Song Yang. He’s about to go mad."
Qin Aonan was shivering all over, his pants wet and a small pool of yellow liquid under his chair. I took the opportunity to gulp down my milk and asked, "What's his name?"
"I don't know. He calls himself the Dog–"
Realizing his indiscretion, Qin Aonan immediately shut up. His words reminded me of Kong Hui's confession. Staring into his eyes, I said, "The Dog Trainer?"
His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, suggesting I was right.
According to Kong Hui, the Dog Trainer was a mid-level leader of the Jianbei Daggers in Nanjiang City and his only contact person. This man was extremely elusive and an expert at making people disappear. Until now, he had never been photographed or left any fingerprints and DNA.
I never thought that the organization would send one of their superiors to help the four second-generation rich kids get away with crime. No wonder we were thwarted each time.
At the thought of this, I suddenly had a bad feeling. I rapped my knuckles against the table several times, gesturing for Xiaotao to leave the room.
By now, Qin Aonan was probably starving. As he reached for the takeaway box on the table, I noticed his actions and pushed it down onto the floor. Qin Aonan flashed me an angry glare but soon turned away, too afraid to look me in the eye again.
As soon as we left the room, Xiaotao appeased, "Don't be so impulsive!”
I shook my head, "The thought of what he did makes me sick. To be honest, I’ve never hated a criminal so much."
"It’s completely understandable!" agreed Xiaotao.
"Let me ask you something. When the four suspects were detained, did they mention anything about calling their families or lawyers?"
"No," replied Xiaotao.
Sure enough, it was as I had expected. The arrest of the four suspects was much too coincidental. I frowned, "We were tricked! There’s bound to be another murder tonight!"
When Xiaotao asked what was going on, I sighed, "It's too late to explain. Call all the precincts and get the officers to go out on patrol, especially in inaccessible and uninhabited areas. If we’re lucky, maybe we can stop it from happening."
Xiaotao nodded, "I will inform them now!"