The first time Li Zhenliang heard Jiang Ling speak so gently, he was momentarily stunned, then smiled and said, “I didn’t expect Xiao Jiang to be so patient with children.”
There was something he didn’t say aloud if you ever become a mother, you’d definitely be a good one. After all, Jiang Ling was still unmarried, and saying that might be a bit premature.
Thinking about Jiang Ling’s background, Li Zhenliang pedaled his bike hard and rang the bell.
“Ding-ling-ling…” The crisp sound of the bell rang out.
Through the ringing came Li Zhenliang’s voice: “Next weekend when I’m on duty, I’ll bring Yanyan along.”
“Okay.” Jiang Ling couldn’t help but smile.
Although she didn’t have children of her own, playing with other people’s well-behaved kids was still a happy thing.
Soon, the four of them arrived at the Red Star Market that Wang Cuimin had mentioned when filing the report.
Wang Cuimin was a worker at the Textile Factory. Her husband was a technician at the Machinery Factory. They usually lived in the Machinery Factory’s family housing area. During work, her bicycle was parked in the shed beside the Textile Factory’s locker room.
After work, she parked it in the shed in the Machinery Factory’s residential area. On her way to and from work, she would stop by the Red Star Market to buy groceries, parking her bike right at the market’s entrance.
The bell had been stolen at the market.
In broad daylight, yet no one knew who was so quick-fingered.
The Red Star Market was the largest vegetable market in the east of the city. Workers from the nearby Sewing Machine Factory, Machinery Factory, and Blower Factory all came here to shop. It was always crowded, and bicycles were parked everywhere around the market entrance.
Because space was limited, no dedicated bike shed had been built, and there was no one assigned to look after the bikes.
Liu Haoran had an inherently likable round face. When he and Zhou Wei investigated, he usually spoke while Zhou Wei took notes. They had been handling the bicycle bell theft cases together, so Liu Haoran took the lead in the on-site investigation, questioning buyers and sellers at the market.
One vegetable vendor said, “I think just now someone shouted that a bicycle bell was missing. I was busy with business and didn’t go out to check.”
A passerby waved his hand: “No idea. I just got here. If the bell got stolen, it got stolen. Just go to the repair stall and get a new one. What’s the point of reporting it?”
An old man selling magazines and newspapers at the market entrance had witnessed Wang Cuimin shouting about the theft and pointed to the small grove beside the market: “The bike was parked right there. People come and go all the time, no idea who stole the bell.”
The owner of a convenience store sneered: “Kids run around here every day, and many like to press bike bells just for fun. Stealing? Who knows.”
The small grove was all dirt, trampled with footprints everywhere. Two hours had passed, making it very difficult to collect useful evidence on site. There was simply no valid clue to be found.
The four of them circled around the area, but didn’t get any useful information.
Liu Haoran felt a bit dispirited. He bought four lollipops with his own money and handed one to each of them. “Sorry for making you all come for nothing. Here, have a candy and take a break.” He didn’t smoke but loved candy, so he bought candy instead of cigarettes.
The lollipops were wrapped in transparent paper with strawberry prints. Jiang Ling held the white plastic stick and stared at the flat, round red-and-white spiral lollipop in her hand for a long time without taking a bite.
When she was a child in the Welfare Institute, candy was a luxury—only occasionally brought by adopting families or volunteers.
And Jiang Ling, because of her introverted and unlikable nature, was usually the child who didn’t get any candy.
Li Zhenliang noticed Jiang Ling’s daze and exchanged a glance with Liu Haoran and Zhou Wei. The three silently thought of Jiang Ling’s past and felt a pang of sympathy—poor thing, she must have eaten very little candy as a child, now reluctant to even eat the lollipop in her hand.
Seeing the lollipop he had already licked a few times, Li Zhenliang thought it wasn’t appropriate to give it to Jiang Ling, so he generously took out more money and told the grocery store owner, “Three more lollipops, please!”
When he got them, Li Zhenliang thrust them all in front of Jiang Ling. “Here, all for you.”
Jiang Ling looked up, a faint smile appearing in her eyes at Li Zhenliang.
If it had been in her previous life, she might have awkwardly refused. But this time, she carefully took each lollipop from Li Zhenliang’s palm and solemnly put them into her pocket. “Thank you.”
Back at the office, Liu Haoran still looked a little downhearted. “Sigh! All this effort for nothing. We won’t crack this case.”
Zhou Wei was more composed. “Don’t rush. Let’s investigate further, ask around some more. Maybe we can find a clue.”
Li Zhenliang said, “The bells aren’t worth much. Some people just think it’s bad luck and don’t report the theft. Even those who do report usually come to the station hours after the incident, and by then the scene has been disturbed. If we could investigate the scene immediately, we might find something.”
Jiang Ling sat in her chair, calm and composed. “I have a way.”
All eyes turned to her.
Liu Haoran eagerly dragged his chair opposite Jiang Ling. “What way? Tell us!”
Zhou Wei and Li Zhenliang also looked at her expectantly. Having worked on a case with her before, they had seen Jiang Ling’s impressive investigative skills; she had already earned a collective third-class merit. If she said she had a way, she certainly did.
Sunlight filtered through the window lattice, illuminating Jiang Ling sitting by the window.
In her past life, she had been like a snail retreating into its shell, unwilling to engage with others. Even her colleagues were just acquaintances, with very little heart-to-heart.
Now that she had stepped out of that self-imposed shell, she realized the world was actually very beautiful.
Li Zhenliang wasn’t wrong—Jinwu Road Police Station was a warm community.
Jiang Ling reached out and tidied the desk, clearing a large space to start directing her colleagues.
“Liangzi, get me a copy of the jurisdiction map.”
“Haoran, you have all the reports for bicycle bell thefts, right? Bring them over.”
“Dawei, push the mobile blackboard closer. You’ll be taking notes.”
The three colleagues were all mobilized by Jiang Ling. Normally, as the youngest and least experienced member of the case team, she wouldn’t have the authority to give orders, yet none of them felt awkward at all. They all felt happy inside and quickly set to work.
Before, Jiang Ling always politely addressed them as “Officer Li,” “Officer Liu,” “Officer Zhou.” Now, the tone was much more familiar, showing she no longer saw them as outsiders.
Though young, Jiang Ling’s professional skills were outstanding. Her psychological assessment files were recognized by the bureau leadership and used as models by the technical squad. She had earned a third-class merit on her very first case. Listening to her was definitely the right choice.
Li Zhenliang and the others thought this as they completed the tasks Jiang Ling assigned.
Li Zhenliang pinned a brand-new map of Yan City’s East District firmly to the blackboard.
Liu Haoran returned with a thick stack of case reports, placing them neatly on Jiang Ling’s tidy, empty desk.
Zhou Wei took a piece of chalk, stood before the blackboard, and earnestly asked, “Xiao Jiang, what should I write down?”
The rectangular blackboard was covered over half by the map, leaving about a third of the space blank. Zhou Wei held the chalk, eyes fixed on that empty spot like a soldier preparing for battle.
Jiang Ling nodded slightly. “Haoran, arrange the reports in chronological order. Liangzi, give Dawei the time and place of each case. Dawei, you’ll record everything.”
At Jiang Ling’s command, the three responded simultaneously and set to work.
Soon, all 12 incident times were recorded on the blackboard, with 12 red circles marking the locations on the map.
Jiang Ling said, “For serial cases like this, because the criminal repeats offenses, they develop habitual behaviors. Although there is no physical evidence at these bicycle bell theft scenes, we can analyze the offender by looking at time and spatial patterns.”
She walked to the blackboard, pointing at the 12 incident times Zhou Wei had written down. “What do you notice?”
Liu Haoran, responsible for this case, quickly spotted a pattern: “They mostly happen before 8 a.m. and after 6 p.m.”
Jiang Ling nodded. “Right. Now, let’s look at the days of the week.”
Liu Haoran’s eyes lit up. “All on Sundays and Mondays!”
Jiang Ling asked, “What does that mean?”
Liu Haoran frowned, thinking, and Zhou Wei soon answered: “Our jurisdiction includes many large state-owned factories. The thief might be a factory worker, stealing bells on their way to and from work.”
8 a.m. and 6 p.m. were exactly the start and end times of factory shifts.
Reminded, Liu Haoran added, “They rest on Sundays, and are energetic on Mondays, so the thief chooses those times.”
Li Zhenliang, new to the case team, saw everyone’s serious engagement and got excited, thinking quickly: “Could the offender be a student? Nearby schools start at 8 a.m. and finish at 5 p.m. If they’re on duty to clean up, that could stretch to 6 p.m. They might be bored on their way to and from school, and stealing bells could be a fun prank.”
Once said, Liu Haoran and Zhou Wei nodded in agreement. “Good point. Bicycle bells aren’t worth much, so kids playing pranks is very plausible.”
Jiang Ling said, “Yes, both factory workers and students are possible. Next, let’s look at the locations.”
Everyone followed Jiang Ling’s finger, carefully studying the 12 red circles drawn with a marker on the map, lost in deep thought.
The crime spots were scattered. Zhou Wei had marked numbers beside each circle to indicate the order of the crimes.
The latest was at Red Star Market; the earliest was at the Textile Factory’s family housing area. Others included the convenience store at the intersection of Gongren Avenue and Guangming Road, the bike shed beside the Machinery Factory’s boiler room, and so on.
The red circles looked scattered and disorderly on the map. Was there any pattern to be found here?
Jiang Ling didn’t rush anyone.
She knew the answer but couldn’t just give it away directly.
Jiang Ling’s undergraduate major was criminal psychology. She had an excellent memory and a solid professional foundation.
As a prison file administrator, she didn’t have to travel for fieldwork and had plenty of time to read specialized books.
Though she hadn’t pursued a master’s or doctoral degree, her theoretical knowledge of criminal psychological evaluation and profiling surpassed that of many experts.
To solve the bicycle bell thefts, criminal psychological profiling was a highly suitable technique.
Unfortunately, it was still 1993, and profiling research had not yet been introduced domestically. The term wouldn’t be standardized academically until 2004, and the Criminal Psychological Profiling Association wouldn’t be established until 2007.
Introducing the new profiling technique into criminal investigation was a challenge for Jiang Ling.
She had to make a name for herself in one decisive battle.