Chapter 17 – Caught You

Editor: mako

Proofreader: kllua

Huo ZhenYe rushed to various churches. After all, the clue has not been completely unraveled, and perhaps there might be a connection between them.

When he asked what joint activities were held between churches, the priest told him that each church had its own activity time, so the congregation usually did not come into contact with each other.

They would always be in the church with the specific priest whose preaching they listened to and the one they joined.

After that, Huo ZhenYe headed to the second church. Father Brown was more enthusiastic than Father John. After listening to Huo ZhenYe say that the only connection between the three families was their religion, he said solemnly, “This must be Satan’s scheme.”

Hearing that, Huo ZhenYe almost sighed. Father Brown was even a devil theorist.

Father Brown raised his cross as the dusk sunlight fell from the colored glass of the church dome. With the holy light reflected on his face, he said to Huo ZhenYe, “Satan is the source of all evil. Countless evil spirits work for this winged devil, and he will lure mankind to evil…”

Huo ZhenYe listened till his teeth ached.

Just as he was about to interrupt Father Brown, a middle-aged man with a dispirited expression came forward. His clothes were made of exquisite materials, but they looked huge, indicating he had lost a lot of weight in a short time and had no time to make a new suit.

The man’s expression was very bad, and it seemed that he had not been able to sleep well for months. He whispered, “Father.”

“Mr. Song, is your wife getting better?”

“Father, please give me some more holy water.”

Huo ZhenYe raised his eyebrows and watched Father Brown scoop some water from the baptism pool before putting it in a glass bottle.

Father Brown handed the holy water to the man and made a cross. “God bless you. Your child must be around God at this time.”

This sentence attracted Huo ZhenYe’s attention. After waiting for the man to walk away, he asked, “What happened to his child?”

Father Brown looked sorrowful. It turned out that Mr. and Mrs. Song were a very loving couple, and they had an adorable boy. As devout believers, they donated a lot of money to the church every year.

However, last year, their son was kidnapped. Despite paying a large ransom to the kidnappers, the child failed to return alive, and since then, Mrs. Song has been ill.

“What is the child’s birthday?”

Father Brown shook his head. He only knew the names of the three members of the family.

Huo ZhenYe wrote down the names. As if he had thought of something, he looked up and asked, “Does Mr. Song only donate to this church?”

Father Brown replied, “Mr. Song’s family are very devout believers and are very generous. During Christmas, they will even distribute the gifts to the children themselves.”

This meant that it was more than just donating.

Huo ZhenYe drove back to the precinct and said to Da Tou, “About a year ago, there was a comprador businessman named Song FuSheng whose son was kidnapped. You go and check how old and when his child was born.”

Da Tou flipped through the old case file of a year ago and was stunned. Song FuSheng’s son was Song MingJie, who was ten and born on September 9th.

He was abducted when he went to buy birthday gifts with his mother. It was also on his birthday that the kidnappers “returned” him.

Da Tou’s mouth was agape. “Does this have anything to do with it?” The birth dates of these children were too coincidental.

Although Huo ZhenYe felt that it was too early to make such a conclusion, it was still a clue. “Let’s go to the Song family.”

Meanwhile, Song FuSheng had taken the holy water home. As his driver had already resigned, he drove the car himself and parked it in the garden.

A year ago, this garden was still his wife’s treasured place. She would grow flowers and rear dogs here while their son played badminton and rode his bicycle.

However, now the garden was overgrown with weeds. While the afterglow of the setting sun grazed their house and shone on other buildings, their building happened to be shrouded in shadow.

Song FuSheng stepped into the shadows, and it was as if he had suddenly walked from warm autumn into severe winter. He tightened his suit and pushed the door open before entering.

The female servant was craning her head into the foyer. She has been waiting for Song FuSheng to come back.

“How is the madam?” Song FuSheng asked as he handed his leather bag to the servant.

The maid gave him a quick glance. “Madam has been upstairs all this while and did not come down.” She had been better some time ago, but during this period of time, her illness has worsened again.

“Has she eaten?”

The female servant shook her head. “No.”

Just as Song FuSheng was about to head upstairs, the female servant said to him, “Mister, I will be working until the end of today and will not be coming tomorrow. When will the people you invited come?” It was only when they arrived that she could leave properly.

Song FuSheng waved his hand. “There is no need for you to care about that. I will pay you an extra month’s worth of salary.”

The servant knew how to behave in such a delicate situation. After hearing that, she withdrew into the kitchen and prepared dinner for Song FuSheng. Not willing to wait too long, she intended to leave right after she got her salary.

Three servants have already left this month. Including this one, there would only be him and his wife left in this building.

As Song FuSheng climbed up the stairs, he saw that the servant did not even deliver the food to the door and just placed the tray at the entrance of the stairs. He could not help feeling furious. All the servants said that his wife was crazy, and with him not at home, they did not even dare to deliver the food to her.

However, his anger soon dissipated, and he gently pushed open his wife’s door. “YingYing, I am back. How are you today, do you feel better?”

In the room, the curtains were tightly pulled, and only a faint yellow light appeared from the gap. A woman sat by the baby crib and gently shook the small bed while humming a lullaby.

Towards her husband, she paid no heed to his appearance or call.

Without waiting for his wife’s response, Song FuSheng took out some bread and milk, putting it on the table at the door. “If you are hungry, eat something.”

The milk in the bottle was mixed with the holy water he asked for from Father Brown. Last time when she drank the holy water, she had spoken to him. So, as long as she drank more, she would definitely recover.

The woman continued to smile and sing to the crib, but she did not even glance at Song FuSheng.

Song FuSheng went downstairs dejectedly and handed the money to the servant, who left immediately with her bag. On the table, there was only a piece of toast.

When Huo ZhenYe and Da Tou knocked on the door of the Song family, Song FuSheng was a little flustered. “Who… Who are you looking for?”

Huo ZhenYe took out his consultant certification and handed it to Song FuSheng. “Three children have gone missing recently. We are here to find out about the situation.”

The muscles on Song FuSheng’s face trembled a few times before answering in a lowered voice, “Sorry, my wife cannot stand stimulation, so let’s go to the garden to speak. I do not want us to be heard by her.”

Before Huo ZhenYe arrived at the house, he had checked last year’s old newspaper, and the case had caused a huge sensation at that time.

After taking the hefty ransom, the kidnappers returned the child’s body in a wooden box on the child’s birthday. The wooden box was even tied with ribbons so that the child’s parents could open the box containing the body of their own child like a gift.

Up till now, this case has not been solved by the police yet.

In the end, the three of them ended up in the garden.

Song FuSheng was very anxious, as if he was afraid of his wife finding out. From time to time, he would also look up at the building.

“The family of the three lost children has not received any letters or phone calls from the kidnappers asking for ransom.” While Huo ZhenYe said that, he examined the house. Why was it so cold here?

“Then-then what is the purpose of meeting me?” Song FuSheng looked pale, but he seemed relieved to hear Huo ZhenYe’s words.

“Well, the birthdays of the three lost children are the same as yours.”

Song FuSheng was extremely shocked. He stammered and asked, “Really?”

His surprised expression did not seem fake, so Huo ZhenYe continued to ask, “Do you have any clues regarding this?”

At this moment, the curtain of the second-floor window was drawn open a little, and a pale woman’s face appeared. Her eyes looked down laxly as if she had seen Huo ZhenYe and, at the same time, did not.

Huo ZhenYe looked up quickly. In her arms, was a child?

Song FuSheng also saw it. He lowered his head and seemed to find it hard to explain, “That is a… doll. My wife cannot stand the blow, and she thinks that the doll is Xiao Jie…”

As Song FuSheng found him unable to continue, Da Tou sniffed loudly.

With such a situation, even Huo ZhenYe could not ask any further. “If you have any clues about the kidnappers, I hope that you can contact us.”

Song FuSheng shook his head. “I do not have any clues, but if I do, I will call you. I hope that the three families can… find their children.”

Huo ZhenYe was about to leave, but he turned around and said to Song FuSheng, “Mr. Song, holy water would not have an effect on mental diseases. You should take Mrs. Song to see a western doctor.”

Song FuSheng smiled bitterly. “Thank you, Mr. Huo.”

Meanwhile, after blowing his nose, Da Tou even wiped his tears with his sleeves.

Although this trip did not yield any valuable clues, Huo ZhenYe felt that something was wrong. When he reached his car, he looked up at the small brick western building. “Do you feel that this house is particularly cold?”

Da Tou looked at the house immersed in the shadow. “A little. It may be because it’s almost night.”

Huo ZhenYe took a final look towards the house. Mrs. Song was still standing there, and it was uncertain whether she had seen them like before. She was patting and pacifying the doll in her hand.

Just as Huo ZhenYe was about to lower his head, he caught a glimpse of the doll’s head moving in the diminishing light.

When he looked again, the curtains on the second floor were moving slightly, and Mrs. Song was already gone.

After sending Huo ZhenYe and Da Tou away, Song FuSheng was just about to return to his room when his wife’s door opened a crack, revealing an eye.

That eye stared at Song FuSheng without blinking. “Who was that?”

Her voice was sharp and thin, like a razor shaving someone’s scalp.

Song FuSheng trembled. “It is two policemen who came to ask about the three lost children.” At this moment, his hope was raised that his wife would wake up to reality and they could return back to their original life.

However, after that, the door slammed shut.

Song FuSheng walked into his room dejectedly. His room was once the study as he dared not step into their room. He sat by the window and watched the sun slide down slowly under the horizon.

Before the last ray of light disappeared, Song FuSheng tightly locked the door of his study. He burrowed himself into the blanket and held the cross he was carrying in his hand.

As soon as the sun set, the original quiet house suddenly became noisy. From the corridors came the sound of toy cars, and one could also hear the sounds of a child running up and down the stairs.

In the end, the door of Song FuSheng’s study was knocked on.

Du-Du-Du-

Song FuSheng shuddered with fear. All the lights in his room were on, but he still dared not lift his head out of the blanket. He said in a muffled voice, “Xiao Jie, Father is busy, and he needs to work. Can you play by yourself?”

The small leather shoes that stopped right in front of the door did not move, and the sounds of rustling could be heard across the door.

It sounded as if the person outside the door was squatting down before lying on the ground and peering in through the crack at the bottom of the door.

There was no one at the desk.

“Xiao Jie” was angry. His father had lied to him!

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The door was knocked on till it shook, and every sound was like a complaint made in anger! As Song FuSheng refused to open the door, “Xiao Jie” refused to give up and knocked on the wooden door every few minutes.

He even let the toy cars hit the door of the study and meddled with the door lock.

Song FuSheng was so frightened that he trembled and begged intermittently, “Xiao Jie, Father really needs to work. Father needs to work hard to buy gifts for Xiao Jie. Doesn’t Xiao Jie want birthday gifts?”

Xiao Jie stopped as if he was thinking.

After that, the sound made by small leather shoes gradually moved away. As soon as it was a distance away, Song FuSheng gave a sigh of relief. However, not long later, his nerves tightened.

The sound had slowly returned, and this time, the noise made by the leather shoes rang especially slowly.

“Xiao Jie” was no longer anxious to ask him to open the door. He stood in front of the door, and with a jingle, he twisted the key in his hand.

With a click, he inserted the key into the door lock and turned it gently.

The door was pushed open slowly.

“Xiao Jie” stood at the door. While grinning at Song FuSheng, he tilted his head to the side.

Caught you! Why are you not working?