I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 7: Chapter 5: You Can Go Back Now

Officers from the local precinct arrived quickly.

The medical examiner performed a preliminary autopsy while the forensics team swept the area.

Su Miaoyi was sent back to the municipal bureau.

Zhuang Yanzheng had her describe the killer’s appearance to a sketch artist.

Su Miaoyi was no longer confined to the interrogation room. Instead, she was in a reception room, waiting for the sketch artist.

The sketch artist pushed the door open and entered. Su Miaoyi froze for a moment as she looked at him.

The man was about six feet tall, a stark contrast to Zhuang Yanzheng’s tough, rugged image.

He had very fair skin and hair long enough to fall into his eyes.

He wore loose, casual clothes with an artsy, effortless flair.

He gave off a melancholic yet utterly harmless vibe.

The sketch artist glanced at her, walked to the other side of the table, and set his sketchpad down. He pulled a pen from his pocket and sat down.

”What’s your name?” he asked.

”Su Miaoyi,” she answered.

The sketch artist glanced up at her.

Su Miaoyi met his gaze.

The artist dropped his gaze again, then suddenly introduced himself. ”Lu Zhishen. Sketch artist.”

Su Miaoyi paused, confused.

’What?’

’Lu Zhishen?’

”Zhuang Yanzheng said you’re the eyewitness?” Lu Zhishen asked.

Su Miaoyi snapped out of her daze. ”I guess you could say that.”

Lu Zhishen picked up his sketchpad. ”Start by giving me a general description of his appearance.”

Su Miaoyi thought back. ”A man, around fifty years old. As for his height...”

The man in her memory had been hunched over, but she could still make a rough estimate.

”About five-foot-nine, medium build,” Su Miaoyi said, recalling the details. ”He had a squarish face, a short chin, and... thick lips, though his mouth wasn’t wide. His philtrum was... a little long. His nose...”

Lu Zhishen sketched as he listened. While she paused to think, he glanced up at her.

Their eyes met again.

Without a word, Lu Zhishen lowered his head and continued to draw.

Su Miaoyi continued, ”His midface was long, and he had a high-bridged nose that was slightly aquiline, but not noticeably so. He had large eyes with prominent double eyelids, and the outer corners drooped. His eyebrows were thick, with a mole at the end of the right one. The distance between his eyes was average, he had a wide forehead, and his hairline was starting to recede.”

Su Miaoyi described every detail she could recall.

Lu Zhishen kept sketching the entire time.

Normally, this was the part...

...where Lu Zhishen would ask the questions.

Things like the length of the chin, the philtrum, the size of the mouth, the width of the forehead, and so on.

But now, she had laid it all out on her own.

There was very little he needed to ask.

It was as if she knew exactly what a sketch artist needed to ask.

Lu Zhishen finished the sketch quickly and showed it to her. ”Is this him?”

Su Miaoyi studied it. ”At the time, he was extremely panicked, but also a little... excited.”

Lu Zhishen glanced at her, immediately understanding.

He made a few adjustments to the sketch and showed it to her again. ”Now?”

”That’s him,” Su Miaoyi confirmed.

Lu Zhishen nodded, took the portrait, and stood up to leave.

Su Miaoyi called out to him. ”Um... what about me?”

”What about you?” Lu Zhishen asked, not understanding.

”Am I free to go?” Su Miaoyi asked.

Lu Zhishen looked at her. ”I’ll go ask.”

”Thank you,” Su Miaoyi said. Once he was gone, she leaned back in her chair.

’My life has never been this wretched,’ she thought.

’One meal all day, and I’ve seen two corpses.’

’Detained as a suspect for hours.’

’It’s so late, and I haven’t even slept.’

’And worst of all, after busting my ass for twenty-one days straight, with the end of the month just around the corner, I’ve missed an update on my novel!’

’Goddammit!’

Su Miaoyi leaned back, tilting her head to stare at the ceiling.

’What if this really isn’t schizophrenia, what if I’m not sick... what if I’ve somehow gained an ability that makes the dead seek me out?’

’How could something so ridiculous even exist...’

Lu Zhishen took the sketch to find Zhuang Yanzheng.

Zhuang Yanzheng was in the conference room, analyzing the case.

With two murder cases in one day, everyone was working overtime, despite the late hour.

”Got the sketch?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Lu Zhishen handed him the portrait.

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at it before passing it directly to Qi Feng.

Qi Feng took the sketch and left.

Lu Zhishen asked, ”Who is she? A new colleague?”

Zhuang Yanzheng knew he was asking about Su Miaoyi.

He guided him out of the conference room.

”What’s up with her?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Lu Zhishen leaned against the wall. ”She doesn’t act like an eyewitness. She acts like a new colleague of mine—an experienced one.”

Zhuang Yanzheng took out a cigarette and rolled it between his fingers. ”That’s high praise.”

”An ordinary witness who’d just seen someone kill and bury a body would be in a state of panic. Their memory of the scene would be distorted by emotion,” Lu Zhishen explained. ”And besides... normal people don’t remember a stranger’s face in that much detail.”

By now, Zhuang Yanzheng was past the point of surprise.

”It’s like you,” Lu Zhishen said. ”After so many years as a detective, you can memorize a person’s features in an instant. She’s the same.”

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded. ”How about we make her your colleague?”

Lu Zhishen looked at him and frowned. ”I don’t want any idiots. But her... she’ll do.”

...

Su Miaoyi had fallen asleep in the reception room, her head tilted back over the chair.

The door was suddenly pushed open.

Su Miaoyi shot upright, her eyes darting to the door. She quickly touched the corner of her mouth. ’Thank god, no drool,’ she thought.

Zhuang Yanzheng stood in the doorway, a bit amused at how she was making herself at home. ”You can go now.”

Su Miaoyi immediately scrambled to her feet and headed for the door.

Zhuang Yanzheng handed her the bag.

She took it. ”So, I’m cleared of suspicion, right?”

”Temporarily,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi didn’t say anything.

’Temporary is fine.’

’Better than being stuck here.’

”Let’s go,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi followed him out.

Outside the station, Su Miaoyi glanced at the dark night and the silent street, then said to Zhuang Yanzheng, ”Well, I’ll be on my way.”

”I’ll give you a ride,” Zhuang Yanzheng offered.

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng walked straight to his car. ”Get in.”

Su Miaoyi glanced around. It really didn’t seem like a good place to hail a cab.

She jogged a few steps to the car and got into the passenger seat.

”Jinrong District?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Su Miaoyi nodded. ”Yeah.”

He started the car. She sat quietly in the passenger seat for a moment before pulling out her phone.

She opened her writing app.

Sure enough, readers were already asking why there hadn’t been an update.

Su Miaoyi started replying to the comments.

They drove the rest of the way in silence.

When they reached the entrance to her residential complex, Su Miaoyi was about to get out, but Zhuang Yanzheng spoke. ”Let’s exchange contact info.”

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”If you see anything else in the future, contact me anytime. If you can’t reach me, just call the police directly.”

Su Miaoyi thought for a moment and gave him her number.

’Just in case I see something again,’ she reasoned.

”You’re not completely cleared of suspicion, so don’t leave Jinghai City for the time being,” Zhuang Yanzheng added.

”Okay.” Su Miaoyi was very cooperative.

After all, she had no plans to leave Jinghai anytime soon.

”I’ll get going, then,” Su Miaoyi said.

”Okay.”

Su Miaoyi got out of the car, glanced back at him, and walked into the complex.

Zhuang Yanzheng watched her disappear inside before driving away.

...