CH 4

Su Hui’s words were different from what Lu Junchi had expected.

Therefore, he glanced at the man in front of him suspiciously.

He didn’t know what Su Hui had learned and experienced in the past. In Su Hui’s words, he faintly sensed the other party’s dispute about the criminal psychology portrait.

Lu Junchi regretted bringing up this topic, but he still wanted to justify that type of criminal investigation method. “Teacher Su, you’ve been in the academic field, so you might not be clear about it. Criminal psychology portraits are very important to our police, it also gives us great help.”

Su Hui shook his head with a serious expression. “I can’t explain my viewpoint in a short time. Profiling is to used the profiler’s thinking to infer the murderer’s thinking. Different profilers will draw out different conclusions, among which a lot of it is useless information, and sometimes, the information is wrong.”

Lu Junchi tried his best to wrangle calmly, “Teacher Su shouldn’t cover the entire thing like this. I’ve witnessed the magic of profiling. A good profiler is like a key that can solve the case.”

“No one can make sure that the profiling result is 100% correct. With limited knowledge, the profiling accuracy is even more difficult to guarantee, and wrong profiling will lead you into confusion.” Su Hui picked the water glass and took a sip, then placing it down, he asked, “Captain Lu, have you ever been in touch with the Behavior Analysis Team that was disbanded?”

Lu Junchi nodded.

Su Hui leaned his back against the sofa and continued, “The police in many cities used to have profiling teams, but they are called differently, some known as the Criminal Psychology Research Teams, and some are called Behavior Analysis Teams. However, combining the theories when putting the criminal psychology portrait into practice has always been the most difficult point. Huadu’s Behavior Analysis Team helped the police to solve the case, yet at the same time, also revealed a big problem. In my opinion, it’s not a bad thing for the Behavior Analysis Team to disband.”

Maybe it’s because Su Hui was a teacher. He spoke clearly in a polite and reasonable tone. His voice was slightly hoarse, but his words carried the kind of intolerance that couldn’t be questioned.

Lu Junchi realized that after the Behavior Analysis Team disbanded, some conservative people in the police also had this same idea.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t imagine the criminology teacher in front of him was so traditionalist.

Su Hui knew he was here to ask Director Liao for advice, but the other party kept on pouring cold water on him.

The most crucial thing was Su Hui’s words were just mentioned casually, yet it was as if some people had been exploring and struggling throughout their life…

Seeing Lu Junchi’s eyebrows wrinkled deeply, Su Hui gathered his words back. “Captain Lu, don’t take offense. Profiling can still be used as a reference within a certain range. However, compared to this, I think the police need evidence and realistic ideas to solve the case.”

Those words could be regarded as pertinent. Lu Junchi felt Su Hui probably had some prejudice against criminal profiling. What’s more, this Teacher Su didn’t know the predicament that Lu Junchi was facing now. If there were other directions in investigating, he wouldn’t have come here.

Thinking about this, Lu Junchi pushed the information forward. “If Teacher Su has signed the confidential agreement between the General Bureau and the academy, you can also learn about the case we are encountering right now, and give some advice on how to find a feasible idea to solve the case.”

Su Hui didn’t hesitate to pick up the information in front of him and flipped it over carefully.

Lu Junchi said, “We found the dismembered limbs in different scrap cars. The murderer is very careful without leaving any evidence behind, let alone a witness, and the identity of the victim hasn’t yet been determined.”

“There is also foot?” Su Hui blinked, then explained, “I saw a post on the internet before, but it only said a pair of dismembered hands was found…”

“What the media knows isn’t entirely everything.” Lu Junchi said, “At present, these limbs belong to different victims.”

Su Lin took those photos and looked at them one by one, each of which paused for a moment in front of his eyes as though the camera was focusing. When he saw the surroundings of the photos, his expression changed slightly. “The murderer makes full use of the city scrap cars. Have you done an investigation?”

“It’s done. In addition, a microchemical test has been applied for the dismembered limbs, and I hope to find some clues.”

Su Hui listened quietly and nodded. “Victim study, the more we understand the victim, the better we understand the murderer. This idea…” He then asked, “Has the white powder been tested?”

“A mixture of boric acid, alum, and camphor. It’s quite easy to obtain.”

Su Hui put down the information and said, “Rough antiseptic powder.”

He began to arrange the three photos that were hands and a foot with his slender fingers, then he looked down carefully.

As could be seen from the photos, the dismembered limbs have been abandoned in different periods, and the level of decomposition was also different.

Those scrap cars…what did they represent?

The two fell into silence, and the room was awkwardly quiet.

Lu Junchi felt that Teacher Su seemed to be at a loss what to do. Furthermore, he had already made an appointment with Director Liao. And if Teacher Su couldn’t analyze it, the other party would be embarrassed.

He was thinking about how to end the conversation when he heard Su Hui ask, “You said, the cars where the limbs were found are very clean?”

Lu Junchi made a sound as a response.

Su Hui frowned, thinking this was a bit unreasonable. He pondered for a while and looked at several other photos, those scrap cars were in groups…

Su Hui’s brows smooth out. “Although I can’t help Captain Lu with the profiling process, I still hope to provide you some help.”

Lu Junchi paused, looking sideways at the man’s beautiful eyes. Facing the sunlight, his eyelashes were obvious.

Su Hui squinted his eyes slightly, his right-hand swirling around the scepter. “I discovered that the dismembered limbs you found in several scrap cars are used as a ‘showroom’ but you didn’t check the other scrap cars on the scene. I suggest you bring the physical evidence and carefully search for all the scrap cars within the same location.”

City scrap cars were also known as zombie cars. Many car owners would rather throw their car away than send it to the Department of Motor Vehicles because of its age and the incomplete procedure.

Like the Broken Window Theory, those scrap cars didn’t appear alone all the time. As long as a person abandoned the car in one place, a new scrap car would soon appear as if they had increased on their own.

The same was true for other scenes. At each scene, there were a few scrap cars parked around, and it was the police force problem that they only searched one among them

What Su Hui said was the place where the physical evidence hadn’t been investigated, and it was also the police blind spot.

Listening to Su Hui’s suggestion, Lu Junchi nodded thoughtfully, then he said, “Thank you, Teacher Su, I will ask my colleagues to check those cars again and collect all the evidence.”

Su Hui nodded. “You have to hurry, the murderer may commit another crime sooner.”

When the words were said, the door of the office opened as Director Liao walked in.

Director Liao’s full name was Liao ChangEn, he was in his forties this year. He wore glasses, looking like an amiable middle-aged man. When he laughed, a dimple appeared on one side of his face. He smiled upon seeing Su Hui and Lu Junchi. “You two have been waiting for too long. After class, there are still one or two students asking me some questions.”

Lu Junchi said, “It’s fine, it’s not too long.”

Su Hui stood up. “Director Liao, I came to get the stamped document.”

“Wait a moment, Teacher Su. I’ll take it for you right away.” Director Liao waved his hand to the inner room. “Captain Lu, we will go in and talk.”

Liao ChangEn rummaged through the things on the table and took out a document with a red stamp on it, then he walked out while handing it to Su Hui. “Teacher Su, this is what you want.”

Su Hui reached over to take it.

Director Liao was not in a hurry to give it to him, he retracted his hand and warned, “Teacher Su, don’t say that I didn’t persuade you. This is a bit dangerous, although you are doing research, you don’t have to work so hard. What’s even more serious is this matter has overstepped the boundary, our academy is at most assisting the police.”

Su Hui’s eye color appeared very light under the sun. He turned his head and frowned slightly as if he didn’t hear clearly. “What?”

Director Liao wanted to beat this obedient teacher on the spot. However, he felt stifled, and couldn’t tell whether Su Hui did it on purpose or he really didn’t hear clearly.

He didn’t want to be like Lu Junchi, lowering himself to a deaf person. Besides, he didn’t have the patience to say those long words again. In the end, he gave the thing to Su Hui. “I said…forget it. Teacher Su, take care of your own safety.”

Su Hui took it and thanked him. He folded it over in layers and put it in his pocket before walking out of the door.

Lu Junchi turned his head, looking at Teacher Su. When he was thanking him earlier, the other party’s body turned to the right involuntarily. Perhaps, his hearing on the right ear was better than that of the left.

From Director Liao’s assistant and Director Liao’s reactions, it could be seen that there was some problem with his hearing.

Only Lu Junchi and Liao ChengEn were left in the office, hence Lu Junchi started the conversation, “Director Liao, that Teacher Su…”

Liao ChangEn forced a smile without concealing. “He’s a bit strange, isn’t he? He looks quite docile, but…” Director Liao hesitated a second, probably thinking that Lu Junchi was an outsider, yet he still couldn’t help complaining a few words.

“Young teachers nowadays don’t know the ways of the world. His experience isn’t high, yet his eyes already notice heaven. He didn’t care much about teaching and always used his crooked brains every day. To be honest, I’ve taught for many years but I’ve never met such a teacher…Recently, he insisted on going to the Baihu Mountain Prison, saying he was doing a thesis project. He doesn’t teach criminal psychology, isn’t this equivalent to asking for danger? I kindly reminded him. However, he pretended to be deaf and dumb…”

Lu Junchi was quite surprised. He didn’t expect Director Liao’s impression about Teacher Su was like this, and unexpectedly, this Teacher Su even went to the Baihu Mountain Prison, which was the place for the heavily sentenced criminals. Lu Junchi himself had sent a lot of criminals there, the light punishment would be at least five years, and the severe one would be executed with a death penalty.

The atmosphere became a bit embarrassed for a moment, thus Lu Junchi said, “Perhaps, capable people are generally a little arrogant.”

“Capable?” Director Liao chuckled. “I hope he can at least have one article to publish for the core journal this year. Otherwise, the teachers’ reports during the summer vacation might not be easy for him. However, the person himself isn’t at all in a hurry while I’m the director worrying about him.”

The academy had always required the teachers’ teaching and research results, and the annual meeting would be held to do reviews. The rigid rule was to publish three average journal articles every two years. The teachers would voluntarily raise the requirement to a high level as they struggled to get the core journal.

There weren’t many professional journals in China. Only nine in total, which was also known as the Nine Journals. The teachers could be said to have sharpened their minds and were striving to go through it.

As far as Director Liao knew, the name Su Hui had never appeared in those journals.

From Director Liao’s tone, Lu Junchi seemed to hear him gloating over other people’s misfortune. Looked like this academy wasn’t a pure land, and there ought to be no less struggle.

“Let’s not talk about it.” Director Liao took off his coat and hung it on the back of the swivel chair. He then turned around and said, “Xiao Zhang had told me about it. Captain Lu, please show me the information.”

Lu Junchi handed over the information in his hand but he was still thinking about what Teacher Su had said before. Furthermore, he was also worried about Teacher Su’s safety.

Director Liao put on the glasses and looked through the information. His expression gradually became solemn…

An hour later, Lu Junchi was hungry when he came out of Director Liao’s office. He unlocked the car and received a call from Qiao Ze.

Qiao Ze’s voice was very loud. “Captain Lu, I’m investigating the scene with the physical evidence.”

Then he lowered his voice. “Three scrap cars have already been checked. The physical inspector said they didn’t find anything new. All the information was left by the car owner, and they are now a little impatient…”

The information that the physical inspector found were fingerprints, bloodstains, footprints, and so on. This was a physical and technical task.

It was already very troublesome to check one car. And now they suddenly had to check several cars without knowing exactly what to check, so it was natural for them to complain.

Lu Junchi wasn’t there and Qiao Ze was too young to keep them under his control.

“Is Old Han leading the team?”

Qiao Ze made a sound as a response.

Lu Junchi told Qiao Ze, “You try to persuade them, buying some drinks, cigarettes, and alcohol or maybe invite them to a meal together at noon. I’ll pay you back later.”

Qiao Ze took a few steps to the side. He asked in a low voice, “Right…Captain, is this the result you obtained from Director Liao? Are you sure that we can find something?”

What Qiao Ze was most afraid of was when Lu Junchi came back empty-handed…

“No, it was a suggestion from a criminology teacher…” Lu Junchi suddenly thought Teacher Su didn’t explain to him the specific reason for doing this.

“Captain Lu, is there any helpful information from Director Liao?” Qiao Ze asked.

Lu Junchi was a little disappointed by the conversation just now. “I had a careful chat with Director Liao, and felt some of his suggestions were a bit idealistic and not easy to implement.”

The conversation earlier was very long. However, there weren’t many useful results. Lu Junchi had already deduced what Director Liao had said since the beginning.

Director Liao also analyzed that the murderer may have been abused and bullied in his childhood. There was a possibility that his family was terrible, which made him like to be alone. This sounded reasonable but it didn’t allow the police to pull out helpful information, let alone help them catch the murderer.

There was also some data about these groups of people related to the academic thesis…

Lu Junchi became more helpless. Those data couldn’t help them screen out the man among millions of men his age.

At the end of the topic, Director Liao seemingly mentioned casually about the Major Crime Unit selecting an adviser…

Although Lu Junchi respected Director Liao, he felt Director Liao wasn’t a good candidate, so he hurriedly changed the topic.

Just as he was recalling this, Lu Junchi heard the physical inspector’s voice come through the phone. “Officer Qiao! This is the last car that hasn’t been checked.”

Qiao Ze quickly responded, “Chief Han has worked hard. I’ll come over right away!”

Lu Junchi thought about it again and felt his previous decision was a bit arbitrary.

If he couldn’t find anything this time, everyone’s search was wrong, he estimated that he had to go to the physical identification center to apologize.

According to ordinary thinking, it wasn’t easy to find a scrap car that had something inside. How could the murderer be related to the other cars? However, a moment ago, it was unreasonable for him to believe Teacher Su’s words…

Facing Teacher Su, Lu Junchi had an inexplicable sense of familiarity and trust. It was as if what the other person had said was reasonable…

Lu Junchi was in a daze when he heard a commotion coming from the other side of the phone. Qiao Ze said in a hurry, “Captain Lu, I’ll talk to you later…”

The commotion on the opposite side suddenly became noisier, yet it was vague, and he couldn’t hear what was being discussed.

Lu Junchi faintly felt something was wrong. He became nervous, sat up straight, and then tightened the phone in his hand.

Soon afterward, he heard Qiao Ze’s voice trembling with excitement. There was a hint of disbelief in his tone.

“Captain! We found a lot of traces on the last car!”

It turned out what Teacher Su had suggested was right.

The scrap car they found before was the showroom while the one next to it was the playground…
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