Bab 44: Chapter 44
Daisy's mind raced as she tried to process Yan Su's words. She felt a surge of anger and panic, reflexively slamming the door shut.
But Yan Su reacted quickly, slipping into the room just in time.
Fuming, Daisy lunged for her phone. "I'm calling the police!"
Yan Su, hands in his pockets, looked at her coolly. "Oh, let's send Kerry to jail then!"
Daisy froze.
Yan Su continued, "You don't want to implicate Qi Mo or wrongfully accuse him. That's why you called him when you found the body and later tried to testify in his favor. If you don't want to harm him, why would you help Kerry cover up the body?"
Daisy trembled, her eyes wide with fear, but she refused to turn around. How did he know all of this, as if he had been watching the entire ordeal?
Still, she remained silent, resolute.
Yan Su stepped closer, showing her his phone. "This was found on the ceiling fan's blades."
A thick layer of dust revealed a clear handprint.
"Clothes and ropes don't easily hold fingerprints, and you would've been careful when cleaning up. But when tying the rope to the fan, it's easy to overlook the top blades. This is a man's handprint; he wouldn't let you climb that high. Right, Daisy? He took care of you."
Daisy stared at the phone screen, biting her lip as tears welled in her eyes.
Yan Su took back his phone. "Kerry is at the police station now. With this evidence, even if it's not a death sentence, he'll be in prison for over a decade."
At that, Daisy finally broke down, closing her eyes in anguish. Tears streamed down her face like beads from a broken string. "I killed Anna; it wasn't Kerry's fault. He's not an accomplice; he wasn't even there. He just treated me like a friend; he's so loyal. I'm the one who hurt him. It's my fault."
Yan Su stood quietly, letting her words hang in the air.
He had come precisely because he understood Daisy's goodness wouldn't allow her to let Kerry suffer for her actions.
Daisy slumped onto the sofa, sobbing. "Anna and I were supposed to meet at five. I was nearby, so I went early. Then I saw Anna in the school garden putting something in a Coke bottle. I had no idea that bottle was meant for me.
"We talked about our dead friend Lola and some old times. Maybe the pressure got to us, and we had a big fight. She found some rope from who knows where, and we ended up wrestling. I don't even know how it happened. When I came to, she was lying there, lifeless.
"I was so scared, I ran. But the police will find me. I didn't know what to do, so I called Kerry. He said even if I confessed, I'd go to jail.
"He said I was too weak and would be bullied in prison. He wanted to help me clean up the scene and make it look like a suicide. Since I had no motive, the police wouldn't suspect me. It would be just like two years ago—an unsolvable case."
Yan Su listened quietly, expressionless. "Next, you both returned to the scene and moved her to the second classroom."
"Yes. The first classroom had no curtains; Kerry was afraid of being seen. In the second classroom, we found a lot of dry ice and water. Kerry said it was great for cooling the body and confusing the time of death. He also said—"
Daisy pressed her forehead, her lips trembling. "He said Anna must've been planning to kill me."
Her voice trembled, barely forming words. "But I don't know why. I just told her I might…"
She covered her mouth and fell silent.
Yan Su observed her without pressing further.
Daisy, realizing her slip, quickly changed the subject, looking at Yan Su. "How did you figure it out? Why did you suspect I killed her?"
"Miss Daisy," Yan Su replied calmly, his eyes deep like the night, his tone flat but laced with faint regret, "though I don't want to say this, your kindness has betrayed you."
Daisy looked confused.
Sunlight poured in through the window, casting a soft golden glow on Yan Su's black coat.
"After Anna died, you combed her hair and folded her clothes. When I questioned Qi Mo, you defended him, blurting out something unexpected: 'It's not Qi Mo. It can't be him!' You were so certain. But he's mentally unstable—how could you be so sure?"
Daisy paused, looking down with a pale smile. "Anna loved beauty; I didn't want her to look messy. Qi Mo is timid; I was afraid you'd scare him."
Yan Su quietly concluded, "So, Miss Daisy, you're a terrible murderer. Without leaving evidence, you still led me right to you."
"Yeah," she bitterly shook her head, "I'm not cut out to be a killer. I really am not."
Yan Su said, "That's exactly why I came to persuade you to confess. I'm more than willing to help you convince the police that Anna had the intent to harm you—that the rope and dry ice were her preparations."
"Thank you," Daisy covered her face in shame. "Don't call me kind. I'm not anymore. I've become a monster. God, when I left, I looked in the mirror and saw a stranger. I looked so terrifying, like a ghost."
Yan Su furrowed his brow. "What mirror are you talking about? Which classroom?"
"The second one."
Yan Su remained silent; the mirror in the second classroom was shattered. Daisy didn't know this because the police had already sealed off the scene when she arrived.
He didn't want to explain it now, holding his tongue for a moment before asking, "Was a bottle of nail polish missing from Anna's bag? Did you and Kerry take it?"
Daisy was completely bewildered. "What nail polish? Maybe she just forgot it. How do you know she had it with her?"
Yan Su continued without elaborating, pressing on. "After you ran out, when did you come back with Kerry?"
Daisy strained to recall. "I was really agitated, almost six o'clock. I remembered Kerry was supposed to meet Anna and would definitely find out, so I told him the truth then. We went back about an hour after it happened. We took some time to clean up the scene. It was getting dark, and I was afraid Anna would get cold, so I turned off the fan and left immediately."
Who turned on the fan and lights?
When did Qi Mo start having mental issues?
Yan Su pondered for a moment and then said, "Let's not discuss this anymore. I have one more thing to ask: about Sindy Lin and Lin Xing."
Daisy suddenly looked up, her expression wary. "So you understood that message?"
"Are you afraid I'll trick you into talking?" Yan Su smiled, a hint of disdain in his tone. "That was the signature of a love letter written by Lin Xing to Parker in high school, which later ended up in Lola's hands. Only a few of you knew about that love letter. And after she died, you all became fearful upon seeing that line. Why?"
Daisy kept her head down, fingers clenched, saying nothing.
Yan Su continued, "Three years ago, Lin Xing died from an asthma attack in the same classroom where Anna was hanged. Oh no, the very classroom where Anna intended to kill you and hang you—why is that?"
Daisy surprisingly calmed down, letting out a cold laugh. "Ha! What gives her the right to kill me?"
"Why doesn't she have that right?" Yan Su quickly seized on the chill in her words. "Because Lin Xing's death wasn't an accident; it was caused by you all?"
Daisy opened her mouth to speak but held back. She desperately wanted to confess the sins and secrets she'd buried for years, but she couldn't—just as everyone said, she couldn't ruin their futures.
She lowered her voice, speaking slowly as if trying to convince herself. "That was an accident; it has nothing to do with the current case."
Yan Su silently watched her for a while, his tone cold. "How foolish."
Daisy was taken aback, surprised he would insult her—so ungentlemanly.
Yan Su didn't care about that. He coldly swiped his screen to show a photo of the blood message on Anna's back. "Did you and Kerry carve that into her?"
"Of course not," Daisy nearly jumped up.
"Then who do you think did it? Are you still sure this case has nothing to do with Lin Xing's death?" Yan Su disregarded Daisy's gradually paling face, speaking faster, "Turning on the lights, moving the fan, carving words into the dead girl's back—he holds Anna's life in utter contempt. He's threatening you; he wants revenge for Lin Xing. Daisy, Ivy, use your brain and think! If this isn't brought to light, someone else among you will die!"
Finally, he added in a bad mood, "Don't blame me for being unsociable; humans are so foolish that communicating with you is simply a waste of time."
Daisy was shocked for a long while, feeling hit by his last words.
She slumped her shoulders, listlessly hanging her head. "Lin Xing was a typical Asian girl—studious, hardworking, traditional, and gentle. Many boys liked her, but many girls didn't. At first, she was very close to me, but Lola and Anna isolated her from their circle. If I continued to be her friend, I'd be isolated too."
Yan Su raised an eyebrow. "Ha, such a close friend!"
After saying that, he suddenly felt a shiver down his spine and glanced back nervously. Zhen Ai was certainly not there, so he wouldn't be poked fun at for his sarcastic tone.
Daisy blushed from his words, feeling guilty as she lowered her head. "You don't know how terrifying and lonely it is to be isolated from your peers in middle school. I... Anyway, later, when Lola and the others bullied her, I said nothing. They even spread rumors that she was promiscuous and had an abortion. Eventually, everyone stopped liking her."
Yan Su replied indifferently, "Middle school students are such a boring species!"
His words sounded as if he had never experienced middle school himself...
Daisy took a deep breath, staring blankly at the ceiling. "It's strange, though—Parker didn't dislike Lin Xing. When Lola and the others bullied her, he even saved her once.
One day, Lola told us she found out Lin Xing liked Parker. Everyone thought it was funny. Kerry said she must think she was Cinderella.
We wanted to prank her, so we secretly arranged for her to meet Parker at an amusement park and tricked her into thinking she'd taken K. We just wanted to embarrass her, to make her sleep at the amusement park and then laugh at her, to show her how deluded she was. But that day, she was attacked by unknown men..."
Daisy held her forehead with her hand. "But it didn't end there. Perhaps everyone didn't want to admit that the prank turned into a crime. So we all said Lin Xing was lying, that nothing happened that night, that she was just playing the victim.
Then one day, Lin Xing suddenly confessed her feelings to Parker and wrote him a love letter. In that letter, she mentioned she missed her first night with him. Lola read the letter out loud at the squash club. Parker got furious, saying he had never touched Lin Xing; she insisted he had raped her. Kerry and the others were furious with Lin Xing for slandering Parker, saying she was just dreaming. Lola and Anna were sharp-tongued, cursing her for being shameless.
While everyone was accusing her, she suddenly turned pale and collapsed, clutching her chest. She said her asthma medication was in her bag. But... I don't know what everyone was thinking. Lola said she was faking it."
"We really went insane; she was crawling on the ground, and we laughed at her for acting, kicking her little medicine bottle around like a ball," Daisy sobbed, covering her face, tears streaming down. "Until later, she suddenly stopped breathing..."
"Oh God, even now I can't believe it. We weren't vicious people, but in that moment, why did we all turn into demons?"
Yan Su remained silent. It was a simple principle of social psychology, but at that moment, he didn't want to say anything. He suddenly recalled Zhen Ai's words: "She kills, and everyone watches; I don't want it to be this way."
Daisy reminisced about the past, crying for a long time. After regaining her composure, she was still troubled by the current case. "I really can't think of who would carve words on Anna's back. Qi Mo wouldn't; Tony wouldn't; Harvey? He must know something from Qi Mo, but he's a good person, just like Harry, and he wouldn't do it. Who could it be?"
Yan Su looked at her indifferently. "I've asked everything I needed to ask." He slowly put his hands in his pockets as a gesture of farewell.
Daisy was taken aback, tears still marking her face. She hurriedly stood up from her chair and bowed sincerely. "Thank you. I'll get myself together and I will turn myself in."
Yan Su nodded slightly. "Mm." With that, he straightened his back and walked out the door.
After getting into his car, Yan Su felt satisfied with his performance. For Daisy to turn herself in was the best outcome. A good person who made a mistake could only release the burden by facing it honestly and confessing.
If he could save a wayward heart, then his trip was not in vain.
The work ahead still needed to continue. The missing nail polish, the shattered mirror, Qi Mo, Harvey, or Tony? Everything would have to wait until the forensic team pieced that mirror back together.
Perhaps in the final moments, the situation would take a turn.
As he approached a red light, Yan Su slowed down, absentmindedly touching his phone. He typically didn't rely on electronic devices, but at that moment, he suddenly wanted to call Zhen Ai.
He was very curious about what she was doing.
But then he thought, if she were really at work, she probably wouldn't have her phone with her.
He took a deep breath and looked out at the azure sky; this feeling of emptiness, like the blue sky, was truly… strange and absurd.
As he pondered, his phone vibrated. He pulled it out and saw a message from Officer Jones: the mirror had been pieced together.
As he had anticipated, there were traces of nail polish on the mirror.
Beneath the image, Jones had sent a line: "Lost the target."
Yan Su stared at his phone, furrowing his brow for a moment, when suddenly a thought slid through his mind.
The green light turned on.
He quickly turned the steering wheel, the car skidding as he accelerated in the opposite direction.
With one hand on the wheel, Yan Su dialed Jones's number. "Get ready to find Daisy. Someone is going to kill her!"
#
Daisy sank into the water, bubbles slowly escaping from her mouth and nose as the sink gurgled. She needed air; her lungs felt like they were about to burst, her mind foggy.
Air!
She suddenly lifted her head, staring at her red, damp face in the mirror. Was this what suffocation felt like? An anxious, maddening desperation to die?
She took several deep breaths and wiped her face dry with a towel.
Just as she finished tidying herself up, the doorbell rang again. Had Yan Su returned?
Without looking through the peephole, Daisy opened the door and froze at the sight of the pale face in front of her. This was...
The girl before her had dark eyes, deep like a well. She looked at Daisy, the corners of her crimson lips curling into a quiet smile. "I'm here to take you somewhere."
Daisy watched her warily, showing no intention of letting her in. "Yan Su has already left."
The girl paused slightly, then quickly returned to her cold demeanor. "I'm here to find you. But first, I need you to explain to me what the last line of Lin Xing's love letter means."
Daisy frowned; this was downright rude—more so than the socially inept Yan Su. "What gives you the right?"
A few sharp mechanical clicks sounded, and Daisy looked down, icy dread creeping up from her feet as she froze in place.
Zhen Ai's finger moved, and the magazine slid into the chamber of the gun.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone