The young suspect was even more oily than Rio expected. He and Rob had been interrogating him for a whole day. Under the hunger, sleepiness, and strong psychological offensive, the Hispanic boy's complexion began to darken, his spirit gradually became haggard, but his mouth was still as hard as the gravel on the Gobi Desert.
"I don't plead guilty." Lei Zhe's hands were handcuffed to a metal railing on the tabletop, his body slanted, and Erlang's legs were lifted in a calm manner. "You don't have to waste your tongue. Ask the government to send me a lawyer."
"You were caught by us at the scene of the attack. The evidence is conclusive. Even if you hire a prophet to be a lawyer, you won’t be able to help you! I advise you to be acquainted and don’t try to get acquitted. Take the initiative to confess your crime and try to reduce your sentence. If you plead guilty and have a good attitude, say There may be a few more years less sentenced.” Rob once again threatened and lured.
"The evidence is conclusive?" Lei Zhe asked in a mocking tone. "Your arrest can only prove that I attempted to inflict personal injury on Quentin, and it was an attempt. Isn't he still alive? Ah, at most. Illegal imprisonment of others for two hours."
Rob patted the desktop: "In the second homicide case, the DNA tested from the victim's body was compared with yours! As long as this piece of evidence is enough to convict you of first-degree murder!"
"It can only prove that he had sex with me before being killed. It was voluntary, and I am sure that he is 16 years old. This is not rape, right?"
"The murder weapon and the rose petals found in your backpack are all ironclad evidence that you are the murderer of these three serial murders!"
"This really proves that I am an admirer of the Rose Killer, ready to imitate his methods of committing crimes in an attempt to be detrimental to Quentin-but it is only at the stage of planning and has not caused personal injury." Lei Zhe said provocatively: "According to the United States The law, intentional injury attempt and illegal imprisonment add up. How many years can you sentence me? 8 years? 10 years? Maybe you can get bail as long as you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, right?" He put his elbow on the metal table. He held his chin with his fists in his hands, and pulled out a malicious smile at the federal agent.
Rob's face was pale, he grinded his teeth, slammed his chair away, got up and left the interrogation room.
His partner was standing outside the surveillance wall with a coffee cup. Rob grabbed half a cup of coffee and took a gulp and complained: "This guy is exactly—like the Chinese saying you say—a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water!"
His desperate expression did not affect Leo. The black-haired agent sneered slightly, "It's useless. No matter how much he denies, as long as the formal interrogation process is initiated and the evidence is brought to court, three first-degree murders plus one Xiang’s attempted murder and illegal imprisonment were brutal and had a bad influence. He was going to the death penalty stand 100%. No matter how he refused to plead guilty, it would just delay the trial."
"I know, it's just that this kid's attitude is too arrogant and it makes people angry. If the regulations allow, I really want to beat him up-even if the regulations don't allow it, I really want to do it!" Rob said angrily. "I’m sure that he will use human rights as an excuse to play and use legal procedures, arguing with the prosecution in court, repeatedly appealing to waste taxpayers’ money, and even appealing to the governor or the president for administration. Intervention to announce commutation, amnesty or moratorium on the execution of the death penalty may eventually drag on for seven to eight years or even ten years before a formal conviction is officially convicted-maybe by that time, Oregon has officially abolished the death penalty system. When I think of this, I can’t wait to go to this bastard. Put a gun directly in your head, it's a hundred!"
"This is the law-you can be dissatisfied, but you must abide by it." Leo concluded, then took back his cup and drank the rest of the coffee. "Of course, if he is willing to cooperate with the confession, the trial process will be much easier. . But he obviously intends to toss it a bit: Since the result is the same, he must be on the death penalty platform, why do we have to do what we want? It is better to make every effort to disturb him. This guy is 80% of this kind of thinking."
Facing this kind of rogue means, Rob had no choice but to say angrily: "At least I can still vent a nasty anger on two things, not to give him any food for 24 hours, and to adjust the air-conditioning in the room to 10 degrees Celsius!"
Leo couldn't help smiling and patted him on the shoulder: "This time I fully support you."
Two hours later, an agent came out of the interrogation room and said to Leo and Rob who were eating a takeaway dinner: "That guy is too cold. He said that if he can meet his conditions, he will consider pleading guilty."
Rob put down the half-eaten burger, got up and asked, "What conditions?"
"He wants to see someone called Li Biqing."
Leo, who was rubbing his fingers with a tissue, sank his face, "Go and tell him: No way!"
"Wait!" Rob stopped and said to his partner: "It's just a meeting, doesn't it matter? He is handcuffed. This is the police station. There is no danger."
Leo asked him back: "I remember you have a brother named Sivir who is in high school. Would you let him meet a serial murderer?"
Rob was choked by his questioning, and said quizzically: "At least I will ask about his own wishes instead of rudely making any decisions for him."
Leo was silent for a moment, took his cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.
"Yes, I want to see him! Are you in the city police station? I'll be here soon!" The nervous and anxious voice of the Chinese boy came from the other end of the phone.
Leo hung up the call and gave his partner angrily.
Rob curled his lips at him jokingly: "Man, you look like a hen protecting a chick now. Bi Qing is an adult, and he has the ability and right to make decisions about any of his actions. I don't think so. Which 21-year-old youth likes to have a dad eight years older than him?"
"... It's none of your business!" Leo replied stiffly.
"It's just a kind reminder," Rob shrugged. "If you want to develop a further relationship with him, that kind of mentality is not good."
What is meant by "developing further relationships"! Leo was about to question, Rob already wittyly greased the soles of his feet.
Half an hour later, the Chinese boy rushed to the city police station out of breath, and ran over as soon as he saw Leo: "Lei Zhe and Lei Zhe are the murderers of the serial homicide? God, did you really catch the wrong person?" Clutching Leo's arm, he looked at the federal agent with a sad expression longing to be denied.
"Remember your suggestion? We monitored Quentin and caught him at the scene of the attack." Leo answered bluntly.
Li Biqing's expression suddenly darkened, and she bit her lip in despair: "Yes, in fact, I have long been suspicious of him subconsciously, but I don't want to admit it... After all, we are already friends..."
"So I think it's better not to see it."
"No, I want to see him." Li Biqing insisted, "Anyway, we are still friends so far."
Leo stared at him for a few seconds, then turned back to the interrogation room with acquiescence.
Li Biqing followed him and walked into the door of the interrogation room. When Lei Zhe, handcuffed to the metal table railing, saw him at the first glance, a bright light suddenly appeared from the bottom of his tired eyes, and the corners of his thin, frozen mouth were raised, as if he smiled at him for the first time: "Hi!"
"Hi." Li Biqing sat down on the metal chair across from the table and looked at him with a melancholy expression. "You look terrible... Are you cold?"
"It's cold and hungry. But seeing you makes me feel better." Lei Zhe tilted his head, looked at him with almost greedy eyes, and suddenly turned his head to make another request to the federal agent standing aside: " I want to talk to him alone."
"No!" Leo categorically refused, "Don't make an inch!"
"Then I don't have much to say, please continue to adjust the air-conditioning to the lowest level!" Lei Zhe said coldly.
Rob pulled Leo out of the door and whispered: "I think this guy is like an overwhelmed villain going to the church on the weekend to find a priest to confess. He is in urgent need of a person to talk to. If Bi Qing is the one who can relieve him Psychologically defensive person, he will confess the crime completely at this time, just like pouring chocolate beans out of a wide-mouth jar. Why don't we try it?"
"He killed three people with cruel methods!" Leo frowned, staring at his partner sternly, "and you actually want me to agree to let Bi Qing stay in a room with this psychopathic lunatic alone. Do you think I'm crazy too? Use his life to bet on a killer's chance to confess his guilt? If you really think so, then it doesn't matter if this guy confesses guilt or not!"
Rob let go of his hand helplessly, "Well, you won with indestructible stubbornness, again."
"I want to talk to him alone." A voice intervened, "Please, just give me half an hour, no, twenty minutes!"
Leo looked at Li Biqing, who walked outside the door at some unknown time. The Chinese boy looked directly at him resolutely, and his delicate and soft face clearly wrote "I have decided to do this. Even if you strongly object, I will never regress." When the black-haired agent remained silent, he went on to say: "I will be safe. If you are still worried, you can put another handcuff on his feet. But I don't think this is necessary. Lei Zhe just wants to talk to someone. Talk, but don’t want it to be the police."
Leo was silent for a while, and barely spoke: "Just twenty minutes-if he says something that makes you feel uncomfortable, you'd better come out in advance. You know, I have seen a living example: a person who just went to jail. The prisoner of, annoyed the neighbor in the cell next door, was mentally broken by the pervert who was good at manipulating the mind, and committed suicide in the cell that night-the two parties only talked for more than an hour."
Li Biqing nodded: "I will pay attention, you can rest assured."
In order to prevent police surveillance and eavesdropping, Leizhe requested that the place of conversation be placed in Sheriff Trevi’s office—no police dare to install a bug in the Sheriff’s office. And in order to avoid being unable to help but slap the other person in the face when meeting with Leo, the black sheriff deliberately went out on the field today and naturally gave up the right to use the office without knowing it.
The heavy wooden doors of the office closed tightly. Leo put his hands in his trouser pockets, leaning against the wall next to the door, seemingly motionless, but his fingers flicked slightly in his trouser pockets, as if he was beating some kind of hidden anxious rhythm. From time to time, he looked up at the clock on the opposite wall, and when there was a minute before the deadline, he finally couldn't help walking to the office door and reaching for the doorknob.
The wooden door opened silently, and Li Biqing returned to his sight. Leo carefully examined the usual look on his face, and asked uneasy: "What did he say to you?"
The Chinese boy slowly spread out a smile that was almost transparent, and said softly: "Some private matters, I don't think he wants others to know."
Rob also stepped forward and asked, "Does he agree to plead guilty?"
"Yes, but until tomorrow, he said he is exhausted and needs a good rest."
Robb let out a sigh of relief and said, "We have spent the day with him, so don't care if we wait another night." He told a city policeman behind him: "Give him something to eat and drink, put him in a cell, and strengthen guards. We will prosecute him tomorrow. Come here with the officer."
"Yes, sir!" the young man who had just graduated from the police academy replied respectfully.
He drove the tired-looking Li Biqing back to the apartment, a heavy fatigue also overwhelmed Leo.
"Really don't want to say anything to me?" He asked the other party for the last time, but still got a gentle and firm rejection: "I'm fine, Leo, people around me will feel depressed for a while. . I just feel a little tired and want to sleep well."
"Well, you have a good rest," the federal agent said to him in a rare gentle tone, "you won't have to go to class tomorrow, I will ask for a leave for you."
"Good night." Li Biqing smiled at him, walked into his bedroom, and closed the door with his backhand. He walked to the washstand, turned on the faucet, picked up cold water and poured it on his face, then buried his face in the water.
Across the turbulent water, Lei Zhe’s cold voice still echoed in his eardrums. Under the curly dark hair, there were a pair of slender eyes full of murderous desire when the beasts grabbed their prey. They were like snakes’ letters on his skin. An inch by inch licked: "Bi Qing, my dear new friend, you know, my original goal was not Colin... but you! You are the one, making me want to pierce the flesh one by one with branches. , Listening to the charming wailing and moaning, admiring the person whose blood draws beautiful patterns on the skin... I want to fuck your warm, obedient corpse until it comes out contentedly..."
Before suffocating, Li Biqing suddenly raised his head and left the water, and his wet hair on his forehead threw a string of splashing water in the air. A water-stained, panting face was reflected in the mirror, and he stared at it for a long time until the dripping water completely blurred his eyes.
Early the next morning, a bad news came from the city police station: Lei Zhe? Dunn, the biggest suspect in the Portland State University serial murder case, escaped from the police cell.
His escape method was surprisingly simple, but it worked very well. The policeman on duty in the early morning shift was Amanda, and he didn't know how to impress the kind middle-aged policewoman—it was probably because she took advantage of her unconscious pity for him. Amanda once had a son who was about the same age. Apparently this charming curly-haired boy inspired her dying maternal love and made her feel strongly that she needed to nurture and protect him-he persuaded her to open the prison door and walk in, and then attacked her , Knocked her stunned to the ground, took the key, entered the locker room and stole a police uniform, and then went out in such a stately manner.
As soon as Leo received the call, he drove straight to the city police station, and soon Rob also hurried over. The policewoman who made the big mistake is sober, crying guiltily under the comfort of her colleagues.
"Leave the tears of sympathy at the scene of his death sentence. Now is the time to act!" Leo said mercilessly. At home, look for all the clues that may reveal his whereabouts; to check with all his relatives in the city, to see if they can provide possible hiding places; let the traffic patrols cooperate in setting up guards on the highways at various exits in the city..."
The swift orders were executed by the city police and detectives who performed their duties. Leo himself and Rob led the team to the residence where Lei Zhe lived alone to find clues. It was a two-story building on the outskirts of the city. It was painted clean beige. The courtyard was planted with a large field of wild roses, and the dark red and light pink petals exuded a sweet fragrance in the sun.
The police almost turned this small building upside down, and found a lot of "killing memorabilia" in Lei Zhe's bedroom, including sharp wooden stakes that were full of blood and turned black and red, commemorative lighters, etc., even There are also parts of the victim's body. The oldest one is a white bone ring. It is made of the seventh vertebra of the human body. The inner circle is engraved with initials, perhaps the name of a certain victim-from this point of view, The murder case in the Forest Park is probably not the first work of this serial murderer. In a dark corner that the police had never discovered, the corpse had rotted and the bones were dying, and the grievances were still wandering and weeping.
In a hidden drawer, Leo found a small metal buckle box with a polished copper edge, showing that it was often opened by its owner. He opened the lid of the box, and a pile of photos lay quietly inside.
Leo took out the photos and held a lightly pile of seven in his hand. The young and handsome faces of the boys were full of youth in the photos. Leo held his breath and looked down one by one. When he reached the fifth picture, he recognized that it was the boy who died in Forest Park; the sixth picture was a male college student who was found dead in a remote part of the campus; Seventh—
It was a soft lawn dotted with fallen leaves. The sunlight penetrated the verdant green treetops of oak and red birches, splashing a little light on his body. The Asian boy in the photo raised his head slightly, as if staring at a new green leaf on the branch, his mouth was pouting. A lazy and calm smile. His hair was moved by the flickering wind, and the breeze even revealed the surface of the paper, bringing in the fragrance of summer roses.
The boy's familiar face made Leo feel a deep cold.
His heart was frozen by the cold, turned into a lump of dead ice, and every rushing blood vessel was instantly frozen-he felt that he was cold from the inside to the outside.
Bi Qing... Bi Qing! He kept shouting in his heart, but his stiff lips couldn't make a sound, until Rob called him behind him, like breaking the magic of time, pushing him out of the freeze frame, and the shout broke through. Throat-
"—Bi Qing!"
Rob was stunned. He had never seen such a frantic expression on the face of his calm and self-contained partner. It was a kind of extreme anger and deep fear.
"What did you say?" He couldn't help but tremble.
Leo rushed out and dialed out his cell phone. His blue face and trembling fingers made Rob realize that something terrible was about to happen—or was happening! He ran to follow up quickly, opened the door and jumped into the passenger seat one second before the car sped out.
"What the hell is going on?" He asked again.
The black-haired agent looked directly at the front windshield, his muscles tightened like an arrow. "It's Bi Qing! His original target was not Colin, but Bi Qing!"
"What?" Rob was taken aback. "You mean Lei Zhe... God, he just escaped from the police station!"
"We all thought he would hide, or hide his identity, change his name and change his surname to escape Portland, or even fled to other states. But one thing was overlooked—" Leo's deep and mellow voice was as dry as sandpaper at the moment, "Like him This kind of rebellious murderer often chooses not to escape in desperate situations, but to shoot again desperately, as the most powerful and naked counterattack against the police!"
"And his choice of the target at this time must ignore all kinds of interests, just to satisfy the most true and ardent desire in his heart!" Rob finally understood Leo's fear, and said palely: "God, bless us. Before him..." In the second half of the sentence, he couldn't say it after all.
"I can't get Bi Qing's cell phone." Leo threw his cell phone over. "You call Srina, tell her the number and ask her to check it again!"
Rob was making calls in a hurry. Leo stepped on the accelerator deeper and deeper, and the black Chevrolet Suburban ran across the street like a roaring beast, whizzing towards downtown Portland.