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Interviewing Duan - Day Eleven - Morning and Evening

Zhou arrived at the police station at 7:23 a.m. to find Ye already at his desk, drinking strong tea and reading his own report before submitting it to his senior.  He indicated the pot and cups to his friend and continued with his work.  Zhou helped himself and plopped in a chair.  

"I have something to show you," the captain said and led the way to the conference room.  The coroner stared at the boards.  He hadn't realized there were so many victims.  Starting at the first picture, he walked along, reading the notes, case file summaries, and examining each picture.  At the end, he turned back to Ye and swallowed much of his drink.

"Two things strike me," he began.  "Number one, he started out with low-income women, waitresses, maids, women he would see as disposable.  But here in his home grounds he targets more educated women, teachers, office workers.  Women who have people who would miss them.  Then he escalates to someone like Gao.  Why?  Two:  he kills the first group but doesn't even threaten the second group with the knife.  But then Gao comes along, and he kills her.  So maybe she was a crime of passion.  He can't intimidate her; he can't abuse her.  So given the opportunity, he reverts and kills her with his acquired skill set.  And there is a third.  He left no clues for all the murders.  You found nothing that's concrete evidence.  Again, here and with Gao, he leaves a trail a blind man could follow.  Why?  Why become so careless?  What has he said?"  He finished the tea and set the cup down.

"He hasn't.  Told us to fuck off.   We looked for connections but found nothing.  We examined similarities, like work.  Nothing.  Wide age range, different body types.  Maybe something in their personalities triggered something.  Maybe something in their appearance we don't understand.  I don't know."

"Let's ask him again.  Can we do that?  Let me go with you."  Ye considered and agreed.

"Ok, I'll contact the prosecutor for permission.  I'll tell him you want to study a serial killer and his motivation."  Zhou snorted.

"Yeah.  I'm the coroner that missed the clues in this case.  Good thing Qin kept wondering."  That still rankled.

"No, we talked about this.  We all saw the same things, given the information we had.  There are no clues that point to other murders.  You didn't know about the stalking until later.  There are no similar murders or assaults here in Beijing.  It just looked like a strong man against a small woman.  Anyway, are you free to come back later in the day?"

"Yes, after four pm.  I'll get my schedule cleared as quickly as I can.  Yesterday I attended Gao Ziao Lian's will reading with Wen Kexing.  However dysfunctional you think that family is, it's worse.  I'm not at liberty to say more.  But I didn't spend much time at work so I'm behind."

"I'll message you after I contact Mo.  If he says no, that's it.  I'll go with one of my team and let you view the tape after.  Send me any questions you have just in case."  Zhou stopped at the door.

"From now on, I plan to consider if a corpse may be a serial killer victim.  There seem to be more of them these days, worldwide, primarily women.  I wonder how many we missed in the past.  See you later."

After a brisk day of lectures, labs, and conferences with students, Zhou anticipated home and a late meal with his beloved.  But Ye mailed him that Mo allowed him into the interrogation, open to anything that might induce Duan to provide more information.  He instructed Mrs. Liu to schedule students between his duties the next day and he left early enough to reach his destination before the traffic became horrendous.  He texted Xing that he didn't know for certain when he would be done.  Xing responded, 'just text me when you leave the facility and I will meet you at your house, with takeout, unless you want to be alone tonight.'