Chapter 3

In fact, that reason became clear as soon as we stepped through my front door.

Or perhaps he never meant to hide it.

He knew I lived alone.

So when I went into my room to pack clothes, he said:

“I’ll have a look around.”

It was obvious enough. He had no search warrant.

But he wanted to see whether he could find any clues in my house.

That was why he had made a point of bringing me home.

I did not stop him. I really had nothing to do with the case.

I had nothing to hide.

But after packing my clothes, I found a note on my desk.

I always kept the desktop tidy, so the note stood out.

It certainly wasn’t mine.

I stepped closer and saw four Chinese characters printed on it:

“Best of three.”

I stopped short.

That was the classic way to play rock, scissors, cloth. Best of three.

But I had not played it with anyone in over ten years.

Yes, those four characters brought back the past.

My childhood. A friend I had known then…

Was that why I had been dragged into this?

“Officer Li! Come here!”

I shouted toward the door.

Hurried footsteps sounded outside, and seconds later Officer Li rushed in.

“What is it?”

I pointed at the note on the desk.

“Look at this. I didn’t put it here.”

Officer Li hurried over, taking tweezers and a plastic bag from his pocket.

“Best of three? You haven’t touched it, have you?”

I shook my head.

“We’ll check it for fingerprints and anything else later…”

He carefully lifted the note into the bag, sealed it, and put it away.

“It also tells us that the serial killer isn’t just targeting you. He can get inside your house…”

As he put his things away, he turned to ask me, “Are you packed?”

I nodded and picked up my backpack.

“Let’s go. Don’t come back for the next couple of days.”

We hurried out.

Only after the car had started did Officer Li ask, “What does ‘best of three’ mean?”

He was a policeman, all right. He did not waste time asking whether I knew what the phrase meant.

If the suspected killer had written it for me, it must have been meant to remind me of something.

Just then, we passed the abandoned mud-brick house where the body had been dumped, a hundred meters from mine.

I pointed out the window and asked Officer Li, “Have you found out who that house belonged to?”

He frowned. “We checked. It’s been abandoned for more than ten years. Back then, there weren’t any ownership papers…”

As he said that, he suddenly turned to look at me.

Then he asked, very seriously, “What happened to that family?”