Suspicious People (2)

06:00 AM. The fire at Greenlight Kindergarten was extinguished, moving the disaster relief into its second phase.

A burly, middle-aged man named Wang Dalong had been hauled into the Major Crimes Unit’s interrogation room.

On the monitor, Wang Dalong sat with a buzz cut and his handcuffed hands resting on the table. He had slanted eyebrows, a long midface, and a bulbous nose—the look of a typical, middle-aged man out of shape.

“Officer, why did you grab me? I haven’t broken any laws!”

Opposite him sat the interrogation team: Liu Huisheng, Zhao Yu, and Vice-Captain Qin Song.

Zhao Yu’s face was grim as she questioned him:

“If you didn’t break the law, why did you run the moment you saw the police?”

Wang Dalong refused to give in. “That lady officer asked me to come help with an inquiry and then started chasing me. Of course I was scared. If I’m scared, I run!”

Zhao Yu continued, “What were you doing when the fire broke out?”

Wang Dalong flicked his eyes toward the upper right. “Sleeping.”

“Liar.” Liu Huisheng’s sharp voice cut through the air, pointing out the reason. “When Captain Qin asked you, you looked toward the upper right. For genuine recall, the eyes usually look downward. You glanced up because you are constructing a lie; your gaze is drifting because you’re searching for a story.”

Zhao Yu repeated, “I’ll ask one more time. What were you doing at the time?”

Wang Dalong swallowed hard, still refusing to concede. “I was sleeping! What, do the police control the heavens and the earth now? You going to tell me when I’m allowed to sleep?”

Beside her, Qin Song finally lost his patience. His face darkened completely as he barked:

“Wang Dalong, you can choose not to cooperate, but do you realize the nature of this arson? One hundred and twenty-four children were trapped in that fire. Right now, forty-eight are injured, thirty-nine are in critical condition, and twenty are dead! There are seventeen more lying in those ruins that we haven’t even found yet! Because of this fire, 124 families have been torn apart!”

Qin Song loved his profession and respected his badge. It was that very respect that fueled his heavy sense of responsibility to protect the people.

Wang Dalong flinched, his voice rising in pitch:

“What does that have to do with me?! I didn’t set that fire! It has nothing to do with me!”

Knock, knock.

At that moment, Chen Doudou knocked and entered, handing Zhao Yu a file.

“Captain Zhao, the preliminary disaster investigation report.”

After a brief hand-off, she retreated.

Zhao Yu scanned the text while Qin Song continued the interrogation to her right:

“Let me tell you, Wang Dalong, the only reason we brought you in is because we have leads. If you’re smart, you’ll confess now for a chance at a lighter sentence. If we have to find it all out ourselves, the situation changes!”

Wang Dalong licked his lips and lowered his head, remaining silent.

Zhao Yu placed the report back on the table. Liu Huisheng picked it up and read:

• [Accelerant identified as gasoline.]
• [Kindergarten surveillance failed to capture any suspicious persons.]
• [Two points of origin discovered: one at the 2nd-floor dormitory entrance, one at the kindergarten’s main gate.]

Two points of origin. One was to ensure the crime—killing the sleeping children. The other was to block the main exit, cutting off the escape route.

Liu Huisheng’s brow furrowed. A memory flashed back to the moment the glass exploded—Wang Dalong had made a gesture of guilt.

She sat up straight, leaning her upper body forward with her elbows on the table.

“I know the person who actually wanted to kill those children wasn’t you.”

Qin Song was stunned. He turned and glared at Liu Huisheng past Zhao Yu. Zhao Yu was also surprised, but she didn’t stop her. After a quick glance at Huisheng, she looked back at the suspect, her expression unreadable.

Liu Huisheng stated her reasoning:

“The arsonist set fires at both the dormitory and the main gate. This shows that from the start, they intended to kill those children and leave them no possibility of escape. A criminal filled with that much hatred would only feel excitement or satisfaction as the flames grew. They wouldn’t feel guilt, as you did. Therefore, you aren’t the mastermind of this arson. Or at least, you didn’t directly participate in setting it.”

Wang Dalong’s hands slid off the table. He remained silent.

Liu Huisheng continued:

“When you said you didn’t set the fire earlier, your hands were on the table, and you even confidently formed a ‘steeple’ gesture with your fingers. That showed you felt secure. But when I pointed out that you weren’t directly involved and that you feel guilty about the children, your hands dropped. This indicates my guess is close to the truth, and you are trying to hide it.”

Wang Dalong’s lips thinned. He lifted his head to look at Liu Huisheng.

“I didn’t set the fire.”

“I know.”

“But I don’t know who did.”

“That sentence is a lie. Your right shoulder twitched when you said it.”

Seeing him waver, Liu Huisheng pressed on:

“As Officer Qin just told you, twenty children are dead, and thirty-nine are fighting for their lives. They are four years old, some only three. They understand nothing, yet they have to pay for an adult’s hatred with their lives. That’s monstrous, isn’t it?”

Qin Song clicked his pen against the table, wanting to intervene. No one interrogated like this—believing the suspect’s claim of “I didn’t do it” before they had even confessed anything.

The words were at the tip of his tongue, but Zhao Yu gave him a silent, warning look to stay quiet.

In his chair, Wang Dalong instinctively covered his eyes again—a gesture of shame. This time he wasn’t as resistant. Perhaps thinking of his own children, his Adam’s apple bobbed. He put his hands back on the table and lowered his head to confess:

“I had… a bit of a grudge against the director of that kindergarten.”

Zhao Yu’s eyelids flickered. She signaled Liu Huisheng to continue.

“What kind of grudge?” Liu Huisheng asked.

Wang Dalong let it all out:

“In the first half of the year, my kid was in full-time care there. When he came home, his backside was covered in red welts. It had to be that teacher. I went to confront them, but they said there was no surveillance and denied everything. They even turned it around and said I beat him, that I was framing them.

Later, the director paid two big influencers on Douyin to blow the story up. They said he was the one who found the injuries and saved my kid from my domestic violence. After that, the kindergarten’s business boomed, while I got fired from the chemical plant.

Since then, I’ve held a grudge. I went to see a Master… to have him cast a spell for me.”

“A spell for what?”

“Anything that would work. Recently, the Master said the director’s fate was crossed with the Fire God—Zhu Rong, I think. So I paid a huge sum to make sure his ‘backyard caught fire’.”

“Is this Master accurate?”

“Very! Before, he said I’d have a ‘bloody disaster,’ and the next day at work I tripped and lost a front tooth!”

“So, you weren’t at the scene?”

“No, no, truly. Th-that’s why you can’t arrest me. The one who cast the spell was the Master, not me!”

****************************************

The interrogation room door opened and closed. A high-stakes arrest had ended with a story about ghosts and gods, leaving everyone frustrated.

Zhao Yu went to the hallway to take a call from the hospital. Qin Song, full of indignation, erupted in the office:

“You let him go? Liu Huisheng, you just believed whatever he said? That ‘Master’ is probably a cover-up. This man was acting suspicious at the crime scene, he was uncooperative from the start, and you’re just going to take that string of nonsense as truth? How do you know he isn’t playing you!”

Liu Huisheng was analyzing the case on a white board. She answered him without looking away: “Expressions don’t lie.”

“We solve cases based on evidence, not expressions!”

“Scientific research shows that micro-expressions in a quarter of a second cannot be faked. When Wang Dalong spoke of the Master, his expression was sincere.”

“So you just believe him? How many criminals have you interrogated? These people can spin tales better than anyone. What about psychology? Criminology? I’m asking you, do you have evidence? We work on evidence!”

The argument grew heated. Chen Doudou risked her life to step in as a peacemaker:

“Um… the Vice-Captain has a point. He has much more experience in interrogation. But, Sheng-jie has deep research in criminal psychology, so she has her own views. How about we grab some water and analyze this slowly?”

Liu Huisheng put down her marker and turned with a faint, calm smile. She allowed people to question her seniority, but never her professional expertise.

“Fine. Let’s analyze the case.”

She then spoke from her years of experience as a profiler:

“Most arson is meant to cover up a crime. For example, killing someone and wanting to obscure the time of death or destroy evidence. Some do it for profit, like insuring a house and burning it for the payout.

But in this case, the target was a dormitory for toddlers, with two separate ignition points. Therefore, I conclude this is an act of malicious, anti-social revenge. And arson driven by social revenge usually follows a pattern: it starts with small fires and escalates to large ones. I predict that before this fire, there were other, similar kindergarten fires. It doesn’t matter if the surveillance missed the culprit this time. We go back to the previous incidents, and we will find a trail.”

Qin Song couldn’t listen anymore. “The first part makes sense, but that bit about the fire escalating? That’s just your guess.”

Liu Huisheng nodded. “You don’t have to believe it. But I guarantee my reasoning is sound.”

“Do you have evidence?”

“And you, Vice-Captain Qin… do you have evidence to disprove me?”

“You—!”

Tap, tap, tap…

Footsteps echoed in the hallway. It was Zhao Yu, returning from her call. She had actually stood by the door and listened to the entire argument. She waited until the tension was about to boil over a second time before entering the room.

“Captain Zhao.”

“Captain.”

Everyone looked at her like a savior, letting out secret sighs of relief.

Zhao Yu walked quickly past the fuming Qin Song and the silently brooding Liu Huisheng. She dropped a file onto the long table and glanced at Liu Huisheng’s handwriting on the whiteboard.

“Discussion of the case is fine,” she said coldly. “Don’t waste time on anything else.”

Qin Song, intimidated by Zhao Yu, snapped to attention. “Yes. I got carried away.”

Zhao Yu leaned one hand on the table. “The municipal bureau held an emergency meeting this morning. This case is ours. We have a one-week limit to make an arrest.”

“One week?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No… no, Captain.”

“Head to the hospital. Get statements from the teachers, the security guards, and any children who are conscious. Pair up. We’ll use the usual groups.”

“Yes, Captain!”

Just then, at the back of the room, Chen Doudou tremblingly raised her right hand:

“Um… one month ago, a kindergarten in Penshan District also had a fire.”