Chapter 1 Late Summer
In Dongzhou City No. 1 Prison, prisoner Tu Guoan was taken to the reception room by prison guards.
As soon as the door opened, he saw someone with his back to him. The person had short hair, a slim , and an upright posture. In his memory, there was no such acquaintance.
Chi Xia turned around when he heard the noise, nodded to the prison guard, and then looked at Tu Guoan: "Hello, Mr. Tu."
Tu Guoan sat down and looked around: "We are meeting here. Are you from the police or the procuratorate?"
"Is there any difference?" Chi Xia asked him.
Tu Guoan sneered: "I hate these two types of people."
Chi Xia followed his words and asked: "Why?"
Tu Guoan raised his hand and shook the handcuffs: "What do you think?"
"Then introduce yourself."
Chi Xia handed over a business card: "I'm a graduate student in criminal psychology at Dongzhou Police College. My supervisor is doing a study on criminal psychology. We are working with the prison to collect some sample data."
Tu Guoan wanted to take the business card, but Chi Xia took it away again.
"Criminal psychology?" Tu Guoan pointed at himself and said, "A murderer like me? A sample?"
“That’s understandable.”
Tu Guoan snorted and laughed: "Kill people. If you want to kill, kill them. If you are desperate, kill them. If you hate them deeply, you will kill them. If you love them deeply, you will kill them. What kind of psychology is needed? What kind of bullshit is that?"
"If you want to kill, you kill. If you have no other options, love and hate are what we think are the motivations. What we want to study is the source of this motivation. There is so much resentment in the world, but I have never seen anyone kill people just because they are angry."
Chi Xia chuckled: "You said so, Mr. Tu."
Tu Guoan stared at her with a half-smile: "There are so many death row inmates in the prison, why did you choose me?"
"We need a lot of samples. Mr. Tu is not an exception."
Chi Xia opened the notebook: "Of course, if you are very resistant, I can also change someone."
Tu Guoan was silent for a moment, then leaned back and said, "Since we're here, we have to say a few words. Otherwise, it would be such a shame."
Chi Xia leaned forward slightly: "Five years ago, Dongzhou, No. 346 Pingjiang Road, the Zhou family was massacred."
Tu Guoan glanced at her and didn't take it seriously.
"You had no grudges against the deceased's family. You were just cleaning the air conditioner that day. Later, you had an argument and accidentally killed the owner. Then, fearing exposure, you killed the deceased's wife and children, causing the sensational Pingjiang Road tragedy..."
Chi Xia kept staring at Tu Guoan: "I want to know, your motive for killing the deceased, was it just because the deceased insulted you? Do you have any other motives?"
"I didn't think too much when I killed someone. I was angry and just killed him." Tu Guoan seemed to have thought of the scene at that time, and his expression was still indifferent.
“But there is one detail.”
Chi Xia still stared at him: "On the youngest dead body at the scene, the police found a kitten carved out of soap. Does this thing have any special meaning to you?"
Tu Guoan looked at her and sat up straight: "No."
"You are not telling the truth."
Chi Xia shook his head. "The police later found a box in your home. The box contained many similar kitten carvings. Among the five victims, only the child had this thing."
Tu Guoan suddenly became excited: "So what? If I say no, then it means no!"
"I know that the child likes cats very much, but because his father and sister are allergic to cat hair, their family does not allow them to keep cats. On the day of the incident, he took a stray cat home, but the police did not see the cat during the investigation."
Tu Guoan looked at her angrily: "Why, you're asking me for my cat even though it's gone? It doesn't have legs, can't it run away by itself?"
"So, cats have a special meaning to you, and they may even be the direct motive that induces you to kill, right, Mr. Tu?"
Tu Guoan's chest rose and fell, and he sneered: "It's funny, I killed someone for a cat? Are you talking nonsense?"
Chi Xia didn't care about his ridicule and continued, "Moreover, from the beginning, I said that you killed someone because of a dispute with the owner, and you didn't deny it. But in fact, the conclusion given by the police and the procuratorate is that you were caught stealing by the owner, which led to the murder."
"Is there any difference?" Tu Guoan leaned forward, his eyes red: "They are all murders, what's the difference?"
"Of course."
Chi Xia leaned back and stared into his eyes: "Theft is just your behavior to cover up the real motive of the crime. What prompted you to kill must be related to the cat."
"You're talking nonsense!" Tu Guoan sat back down and looked at the prison guard: "Boss, I want to go back to prison! I want to go back to prison!"
The prison guard looked at Chi Xia.
Chi Xia raised his hand: "Sorry, please give me a few more minutes."
The prison guard was a little embarrassed, but because this person was arranged by Director Qiao, he agreed: "Time is running out, Officer Chi, please hurry up."
Chi Xia nodded.
Tu Guoan's face changed and he stood up: "Are you a policeman? You are not a student!"
The prison guard immediately stepped forward and pushed him down.
"In order to ensure the smooth progress of the conversation, I just made up a white lie temporarily."
Chi Xia smiled and said, "Let's talk about something else."
"I've told you before, I hate the police." Tu Guoan said, "No way!"
"It's a personal question." Chi Xia said, "It's an unexpected surprise."
Tu Guoan sneered: "Answer you questions and give me a surprise?"
"Today is your birthday. You will have an extra cake for dinner. I specially requested it from the prison. "
Tu Guoan's face changed several times and he took a deep breath.
"Why not, why not give it a listen?"
Tu Guoan gritted his teeth and said, "Ask!"
"Five years ago..."
Chi Xia said: "Before you do the cleaning work for the Zhou family, you will go to work for the Lin family next door. According to your work schedule, after the Zhou family, you will also go to the Liu family in the north of the city."
"It's been five years. How do I know about the Lin and Liu families?" Tu Guoan frowned. "What do you want to ask?"
"On the third day after the Zhou family tragedy, the Lin family couple also died."
Tu Guoan was stunned, then said speechlessly: "You don't suspect that I killed him, do you? If it was me, the police would have found it out. Besides, I'm going to die anyway, so I don't mind taking a few more lives."
"I know you didn't kill him." Chi Xia said, "What I want to know is, did you find anything special at the Lin family that day?"
"I'm just a repairman, what can I find out? Since I didn't kill the man, then you can go ask the murderer. What's the point of asking me?"
Tu Guoan stood up and said, "Leader, is it time to go back?"
"Really? Mr. Tu?"
Chi Xia also stood up: "The hostess of that family saw that you were efficient that day, so you chatted for a while. She hoped that you would leave your contact information so that she could contact you next time."
Tu Guoan's back froze, and he turned around: "Is it wrong that I did a good job?"
"You wrote down your contact information. The hostess didn't expect your handwriting to be so good. She was so happy that she gave you a pen as a gift."
Tu Guoan looked at her irritably: "I forgot, I said, I forgot, don't you understand what I'm saying?"
Chi Xia took out a photo and said, "In return, you gave her a carved kitten, and she liked it very much."
Tu Guoan was stunned when he saw the engraving in the photo.
But after a while, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Officer, go find whoever killed them. I'm a death row inmate? Should I find the murderer for you?"
The prison guard glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "Officer Chi, the time is up."
"Yeah." Chi Xia took a breath and said, "Mr. Tu, if you think of anything, you can contact me through the prison."
Tu Guoan snorted coldly: "I have nothing to say."
"Maybe, there will be." Chi Xia said.
She came out of the prison, looked up at the sky, exhaled slightly irritably, closed her eyes in the glaring sunlight, and calmed herself down.
Just then the phone rang. She lowered her head and frowned, then answered the phone: "Yes, Director Chang, I can come and report now."
