Thirteen prisons

Chapter 5 Portrait
"The seventh witness?!"

When Zhou Yuan heard this sentence, his whole body trembled, and he stood there in a daze.

Seventh?Did this happen more than once?He was keenly aware that perhaps it was not accidental that the man named Liu San was burning.He lowered his head to hide his panic, and swallowed hard. This matter seemed to be more complicated than he thought.

Seeing Zhou Yuan lowered his head and remained silent, with a pale face, the middle-aged policeman thought that he had just been sprained and hadn't recovered, so he couldn't help but turn around and reprimand the young policeman: "How hard are you? Do you want this year's bonus again?"

Just as Xiao Wang hung up the phone, he was aggrieved by the talk, but he still reached out to help Zhou Yuan up, and asked angrily, "Is there anything wrong?"

Zhou Yuan rubbed his arm, shook his head, it was nothing but a little pain.He didn't care about these things, and couldn't help asking: "Brother, you just said that I was... a witness to the seventh case, what does that mean?"

The young policeman ignored him, and the middle-aged policeman didn't answer Zhou Yuan's question this time, but just said: "Let's go." Turned around and left.

"Where are you going?" Zhou Yuan realized as soon as he said that, since he was said to be an eyewitness, he probably had to go back to make a statement.Sure enough, the young policeman pushed impatiently: "Nonsense, where else can I go?"

Most ordinary people in China are naturally in awe of uniformed policemen, and Zhou Yuan is no exception.In addition, not long ago, I saw that Liu San was burned to death strangely in front of me. Although it had nothing to do with me, I still felt guilty, so I had to follow them back honestly.

When he was about to reach the Internet cafe, Zhou Yuan remembered something: "Both officers, my car is still parked outside the Internet cafe..."

The middle-aged police officer didn't look back: "Okay, you drive us there, we just didn't drive."

Zhou Yuan subconsciously interjected, "Isn't it the Town Public Security Bureau? It's in the government compound, not far from here. Just charge you five yuan as the starting price..." The young policeman next to him gave him a push, and only then did he realize the situation. It's not the usual job, so shut up in embarrassment

When he walked to the back door of the Internet cafe, Zhou Yuan saw the kid who had shown him the way just now was looking out the door, and seeing him coming back with two policemen downcast, he shouted excitedly: "The bad guy has been caught."

Zhou Yuan didn't mention the depression in his heart, thinking that most people would think that he was a fugitive, and before entering the Internet cafe, he covered his face with his hands and walked through the room with his head down.After going out the front door and getting into the car, I realized that I hadn't committed a crime, so why did I feel so guilty? It's really embarrassing.

Still the same sentence, today is too fucking unlucky.Sighing, Zhou Yuan started the car and went straight to the Public Security Bureau.

Beiyang City is only a county-level city. Because the territory is not large and the level of administrative agencies is not very high, generally several government departments are gathered in the same place. Naturally, the Public Security Bureau is also like this. The units are in the same compound.

When he arrived at the gate of the government compound, Zhou Yuan was about to turn around and drive in. The middle-aged policeman sitting in the co-pilot pointed to the convenience store on the roadside: "Stop here, I'll go buy a pack of cigarettes. Just stop your car Here, there is no need to drive into the courtyard." Of course Zhou Yuan had no objection, he turned off the engine and got out of the car, and followed him in when he came out after buying cigarettes.

The Public Security Bureau was in a building at the gate of the courtyard, and they took Zhou Yuan straight to a large room on the second floor.

As soon as he entered the room, Zhou Yuan saw a few young men squatting against the wall, their heads were dyed in various yellow and red colors, and two of them had blood on their faces. They could smell alcohol from a long distance away, probably from drinking. Wine fights were brought over.A policeman was standing in front of them and reprimanding them. There were two or three policemen sitting in other seats busy. A middle-aged woman was sitting on a chair and was crying and talking. Opposite her was a female policeman who buried her head in recording.

It was not the first time Zhou Yuan came to the Public Security Bureau, but it was the first time he came in the middle of the night. Seeing this lively scene, he thought that the work of the police is really hard. Things come to the police day and night, no wonder there are not many people doing this Good tempered.

The two policemen exchanged a few words in a low voice, the young policeman pointed to a few hard plastic chairs in the corner of the hall, asked Zhou Yuan to sit down first, and then entered the back of the hall with the middle-aged policeman.

Zhou Yuan was sitting in the corner with his head downcast, and he was still a little dazed. Everything this night was beyond his expectation. Before he went out, he never thought that he would stay in the police station at three o'clock in the middle of the night.

"Why do you see you here again? What happened to you kid? Haha!" A voice suddenly rang in his ears, but Zhou Yuan didn't pay attention.It wasn't until a pair of big hands patted his shoulder heavily that Zhou Yuan realized that the other party was talking to him, and when he raised his head, he saw a bold and unshaven face.

"Old Hu?" Zhou Yuan recognized who it was, a little surprised and a little surprised.

Lao Hu is the deputy captain of the city's criminal police team. Zhou Yuan knew him precisely because of the case three years ago.

At that time, he was still working in a taxi company, but he ran into a group of robbers who robbed him and got into his own taxi after robbing him.Although he was coerced and was in a state of ignorance at the time.But after all, the robbers escaped from the city because of him and disappeared without a trace, which led Zhou Yuan to be considered as one of his accomplices, causing a big trouble for no reason.

Lao Hu was the person in charge of the case at that time.He is tall, has a fierce appearance, and speaks in a rough voice, but he is careful and sensitive that does not match his appearance, and he is also very upright.When Zhou Yuan first came to Lao Hu, he thought he was terrible, like the kind of rude policeman who would beat people up if he disagreed with him, but in the end he found that the one he should be most grateful to was Lao Hu.

This robbery case of a gold store in a busy city has had a great impact, the robbers have been unable to catch it for a long time, and the pressure on the police is also great, and most of these pressures have been passed on to Zhou Yuan.At first Zhou Yuan only felt that he was unlucky and was frequently questioned to testify, but then he gradually felt fear because he found that he seemed to be regarded as a suspect.

After all, he was the only witness, or suspect, in the case at the time.However, the nature represented by these two words is very different.Afterwards, Zhou Yuan found out that Lao Hu was also under a lot of pressure at the time, and some leaders even said at the meeting that "the taxi driver has a big problem" such a clear hint.

After all, no progress in the case and a breakthrough mean a completely different situation for the leader.But even so, Lao Hu still withstood the pressure, not only did not torture to extract a confession, but also quickly and resolutely ruled out Zhou Yuan's suspicion.Fortunately, the robber was caught in another place three months later, otherwise Zhou Yuan might really be regarded as one of the accomplices who responded to the robber, and it would probably be more than just being fired from the taxi company.

Because of this incident, Lao Hu can be regarded as Zhou Yuan's benefactor, and Zhou Yuan also took the initiative to cooperate with Lao Hu after contacting the suspect. Some clues he provided finally provided clues for Lao Hu to catch the robber.The two became friends after this incident, but Zhou Yuan left Beiyang City shortly thereafter, and had never contacted Lao Hu until he came back not long ago.

Seeing Lao Hu who is also an acquaintance in the Public Security Bureau, Zhou Yuan was also a little excited, and quickly explained: "I didn't do anything wrong, I just came to testify."

Lao Hu held an iron plate in his hand, and it was piled up with freshly grilled skewers. He handed Zhou Yuan two skewers: "It's midnight, what's the matter?"

Zhou Yuan was full of resentment, and bit the skewer hard: "Old Hu, you said I was unlucky. I drove around doing work as usual, but I got a strange guest who said I was going to Shibaligang .When he got there, he ran up the mountain. I was afraid that he would chase after him if he couldn't think about it, and he would catch himself on fire!"

What Zhou Yuan said was a little vague, and he didn't say that the person was burned to death, because he subconsciously was still unwilling to believe this, and wanted to disassociate himself from this matter.

"I was a little confused at first, and then I called 110 from a public phone. After a while, I was found by the police and brought back to make a record or something."

"Old Hu, you can trust my character. Tell them later that I really bumped into each other and didn't do anything. As soon as I entered the police station, I felt a little panicked."

Lao Hu sat down beside Zhou Yuan, and only nodded in the middle to signal him to continue talking.It was just that when Zhou Yuan said that someone was burned, he frowned, but he didn't ask much.Seeing Zhou Yuan waiting here leisurely, he thought it was an ordinary security case like burns.

After Zhou Yuan finished speaking, Lao Hu didn't answer directly, but smiled self-deprecatingly, and then pointed to his clothes: "I'm not a policeman now, come and chat with my old colleagues. But I'll ask you later It should be fine to ask what's going on."

Only then did Zhou Yuan realize that Lao Hu was wearing an ordinary shirt, not a police uniform.He was a little puzzled, because Lao Hu, both in appearance and manner, was the typical image of a policeman that was often seen on TV.

Zhou Yuan still remembered that when he was involved in the robbery incident, he was interrogated by Lao Hu.He is the same as now, never interrupting other people's narration, he seems to be absent-minded, but in fact he is very thoughtful, and when he asks, the questions are also erratic. made a conclusion.That's why, before the robbers were caught, Lao Hu was under a lot of pressure as the person in charge of the arrest, but under tremendous pressure, Zhou Yuan was released as a suspect in advance.

These were all after Lao Hu led the team to capture the robbers with his own hands, and the information was gradually released, and Zhou Yuan gradually learned about it. He was grateful and at the same time admired Lao Hu's professionalism.So when he suddenly heard that a person like Lao Hu, who was born to be a policeman, did not work, Zhou Yuan was in a mixed mood for a while, both surprised and regretful. He didn't understand what happened in the middle, but it was difficult to ask.After all, this time and this place are not the time to exchange pleasantries.

Just as he didn't know what to say, the young policeman named Xiao Wang came over and greeted Lao Hu first. He seemed to respect Lao Hu very much.Then he waved to Zhou Yuan, signaling him to follow.Zhou Yuan had no choice but to give Lao Hu a wry smile, stood up and walked through the hall to a small room behind.

The room was small, with a table in the middle and three chairs on both sides of the table. Thick curtains hung on the windows, giving people a depressing feeling.

Zhou Yuan was a little apprehensive when he saw the situation, wondering if this was the legendary little black house.The young policeman sat down behind the table, seeing Zhou Yuan still looking worried and standing at a loss at the door, he couldn't help laughing: "Come in, it's too noisy outside, I just want to ask you to understand the situation and make a record."

Zhou Yuan was still a little hesitant, and the policeman knocked on the table: "What are you dawdling about, why don't you hurry up? If it weren't for you, I would have gone home to accompany my wife."

After talking about this, Zhou Yuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to the table and sit down.

"Tell me first, what is your occupation?"

"It's like this. I drive a taxi. Apart from running around the city, I also occasionally act as a tour guide..."

The young policeman interrupted him with a smile: "Just your van, is it still for rent? Is it a black car?"

Zhou Yuan felt a headache when he heard this.He hadn't thought about this before, and thought to himself, could it be that he just ran for a while, and was planning to take the opportunity to repair himself?Quickly explained with a bitter face: "It's really not a black car, I just serve the people..."

The young policeman had no choice but to interrupt his nonsense: "Okay, okay, I'll leave other things alone for the time being. Please explain the things in the police call carefully."

Zhou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, but he was still a little nervous.The policeman was also understanding and pushed the cigarette and lighter off the table.Looking at his action, Zhou Yuan felt that he was more like the suspect caught in the movie.However, after taking two puffs of cigarettes, I felt much more relaxed, so I collected myself and basically told everything from the time I received the man at the entrance of the bathing center until I was finally caught by them.

Although the policeman is young, he should also be an experienced interrogator. He seldom interrupts Zhou Yuan's words. He just asks one or two questions from time to time, or asks him to explain a certain point more carefully. He asks very skillfully.Zhou Yuan could feel that the rhythm of his narration was completely controlled by him, but with such a question and answer, the narration gradually became smoother.

In fact, from the moment he picked up Liu San to seeing him burn, Zhou Yuan and him only had contact for an hour or two at most.But the record was very detailed. For example, Zhou Yuan did not remember the time when Liu San got into the car. In order to confirm this, the young policeman would carefully ask Zhou Yuan about his previous itinerary, and then reverse it to determine a precise time period. .

After asking and answering like this, after about an hour, Zhou Yuan honestly told all the things he saw after contacting Liu San.But he still kept an eye out, Liu San hit him with a wallet before he died, and he deliberately omitted the paragraph that the money was picked.

Zhou Yuan didn't intend to spend the money, but he found that the police didn't seem to treat him as a criminal suspect, and if he explained the source of the money, he worried that his suspicion would increase.For this reason, he also omitted the part about changing money in the Internet cafe.

Finally, the cross-examination came to an end. The young policeman didn't ask any more questions, and lowered his head to sort out his notes.Seeing that the atmosphere was relatively relaxed, Zhou Yuan finally couldn't help asking: "Brother Police Officer... who the hell is that guy?"

The young police officer raised his head and glanced at Zhou Yuan. Zhou Yuan boldly continued to ask: "Is he really a criminal? He really doesn't look like one, otherwise I would have called the police..."

"Okay, stop guessing." The police officer interrupted him and stood up: "Wait a minute, I'll find someone to help you make a portrait of him." After speaking, he walked out of the room.

Sitting alone in the small dark room, Zhou Yuan felt the sweat dripping from his forehead.It's not because of fear, but because the room is too small and not ventilated, it's really stuffy and hot.I was very focused when I was taking notes, but now that I'm relaxed, I can't stand it.

Luckily, the cigarette was left on the table, Zhou Yuan lit a cigarette, and before half smoked, a policeman came in.This policeman looks younger, wearing a pair of high-prescription glasses, he looks like the kind of clerical worker, but more like an otaku.His hair was messy and oily, his police uniform was wrinkled, and the two bottom buttons were not buttoned properly. He was rubbing his eyes. He must have just woken up not long ago, and he was probably on duty all night.

Zhou Yuan flatteringly took out a cigarette from the cigarette box on the table and handed it over. He didn't have much airs, so he took it casually, and waved: "Let's go." In many detective movies, experts make portraits of suspects. Zhou Yuan didn't expect that one day he would have the opportunity to try it himself, so he couldn't help being a little curious.

When we arrived at the portrait room, there was a machine the size of a printer on the table, with a small screen attached to it and a projector.It was the first time Zhou Yuan saw this kind of device. He originally thought that portraits made in a small place like Beiyang City were mostly the kind of cards with various facial organs painted on transparent paper. He didn't expect the equipment to look advanced.

The police officer with glasses adjusted the equipment for a while, and the projector projected a lot of facial contour lines on the wall: "Let's start. Describe what he looks like, mainly the features of the facial features and the shape of the face. Try your best to recall it." As he spoke, he pointed to the projection on the wall, and reminded: "Well, let's talk about the face shape first."

Zhou Yuan recalled it for a while, and said with some uncertainty: "It seems to have a square face."

The glasses hummed and clicked a few times, and many models with square faces appeared on the wall.Zhou Yuan remembered the appearance of that man at first, but after all, the time he had been in contact with him was too short, and with so many similar square faces there, he was not sure.After hesitating to change a few pages, he reluctantly pointed: "It should be the third one in the second row." The machine moved a bit, and the other outlines disappeared, and the designated one was enlarged, occupying a small half of the wall s position.

After looking at it, Zhou Yuan was a little embarrassed: "This... doesn't seem to be so square, it should be a little rounder."

The eyes did not modify it: "It's okay, let's draw the whole thing first, and then gradually modify it."

Zhou Yuan heard that there was no impatience in his tone. Thinking that this job was to take his time, he relaxed a little, and began to try to recall the man's face, but found that there were no particularly obvious signs, such as the birthmark. Category.Fortunately, this happened today. Zhou Yuan described it from memory, and quickly added the eyes and nose, and now roughly spelled out the outline of a portrait.But after looking carefully, Zhou Yuan couldn't help but frown, because there was still a big gap between the face he found and the face he remembered.

After hearing Zhou Yuan's doubts, the police officer pushed his glasses and said slowly: "It's okay, it's all like this, let's change it little by little."

Repeatedly describing it like this, I worked on it for another 10 minutes, and managed to change the eyes, but Zhou Yuan always felt that something was wrong. I remembered it clearly, but after looking at this half-like portrait for a while, my memory became blurred. blurred.I thought this matter was very interesting before, but now the interest has passed quickly. I didn't expect it to be so boring.I peeked at my watch, it was almost morning, when would it be the end of this?

So Zhou Yuan thought for a while, and asked hesitantly: "Can I draw by myself?" Afraid of his misunderstanding, he quickly added: "I used to learn to draw for a while, so the effect might be better." It’s not a lie. Zhou Yuan was obsessed with comics for a while when he was a child. He wanted to be a cartoonist for 3 minutes. He often copied some characters in comics, such as Dragon Ball and Saint Seiya. Although he didn’t learn formally, he directly Draw an outline, which will definitely be more efficient.

The policeman didn't care, just took out a drawing board and pencil and put it in front of him.

Zhou Yuan tried his best to think back, and then copied a few strokes on the face that was already facing each other, drawing the line of the neck first.

"Not bad. It seems that I have some skills." The four-eyed policeman praised.

Zhou Yuan gained confidence, and then drew the line little by little. In about 5 minutes, he also drew the outline of the face.

The four-eyed policeman saw that he was drawing very slowly, and reminded him: "You don't need to draw too much detail, the general shape is fine." Zhou Yuan smiled awkwardly, and continued to draw with his head bowed.His painters are self-taught by copying comics, and they only know this way of slowly drawing lines.

The police officer probably stayed up late on duty for more than a day, so he didn't urge him any more. He leaned back on the chair, fell asleep within 2 minutes, and snored slightly.Zhou Yuan was a little amused. He was always worried when he saw the police when driving a black taxi on the street. At that time, he was very envious of their profession. Now it seems that it is not easy for everyone.

With no one around to disturb him, Zhou Yuan's attention gradually became concentrated, and the man's face kept flashing across, and his appearance gradually formed a clear image in his mind.Zhou Yuan found that the biggest problem with this matching face was that it was too rigid. Even though every part was similar, there was always something missing when put together. It should be the lack of tiny details such as eyes and expressions.

After figuring out what the problem was, Zhou Yuan began to recall Liu San's expression, but what impressed him the most was his appearance before burning. At that time, his back was facing Zhou Yuan, but Zhou Yuan seemed to be able to imagine the expression on his face. His desperate expression, screaming silently, turned into a bright fireball in the dark night...

This cruel scene stimulated Zhou Yuan, he seemed to have returned to his boyhood, indulged in the state of painting, completely lost the concept of time.

Suddenly there was a bang beside him, pulling him out of the state of ecstasy.Zhou Yuan was startled, turned his head to look, it turned out that the police officer fell asleep and lost his balance, almost fell off the chair, and woke up with a start.The sound came from the chair falling to the ground.After waking up, he smiled shyly, pulled up his chair and asked, "How's the painting going?" He looked at the drawing board and laughed, "Are you drawing a Super Saiyan?"

On the drawing board is a bust of a human figure surrounded by a circle of flames.Zhou Yuan just subconsciously drew the appearance of that man when he was burning, his whole face was a little distorted, but the combination of nose and eyes is really quite similar, at Zhou Yuan's level, it is also It can be regarded as lifelike, but for the police, I don't know if this kind of picture with effect is still useful.

Zhou Yuan was a little embarrassed: "How about I draw a new one?"

The four-eyed policeman didn't answer. He stared at the portrait, waved his hand to stop him from speaking, looked at it for a few more seconds, and said, "Wait for me here." Then he rushed out.

Zhou Yuan was a little puzzled. In less than 2 minutes, he opened the door and rushed back with the middle-aged policeman. Holding a few pieces of paper in his hand, he threw them on the table: "Look, is it this person?"

Zhou Yuan picked it up and found that the three sheets of paper were all drawn with portraits, all of which were simple lines. The facial details of each portrait were slightly different, but when put together, Zhou Yuan could still see it immediately. It's the same person who painted it: Liu San.Immediately nodded.

The middle-aged policeman immediately patted the table: "Damn it, hell!" His tone was very surprised.Then he immediately realized that he had lost his composure, and smiled at Zhou Yuan: "It's not about you."

Seeing that his reaction was exaggerated, Zhou Yuan quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

"This is the portrait drawn by several other witnesses, and it seems that they are indeed the same person."

Zhou Yuan let out an oh, but he reacted immediately in the next second.

A wave of fear mixed with absurdity suddenly hit his mind, because he remembered that the young police officer had called earlier and said that he was a witness to the seventh incident.

In other words, there were six spontaneous combustion incidents before, and different witnesses saw the same man.

In other words, the man in his car today died seven times?
Looking at the familiar faces on the portraits, Zhou Yuan suddenly felt an indescribable weirdness, and he only had one thought in his mind: What the hell!

(End of this chapter)