Today was my first day on a vacation to this area. It was only a few dozen kilometers away from Hanoi, yet it felt so far. For the night, I rested in a place near a lake. After all, the scenery and cool wind of the lake was calming enough to make a self-awarded vacation worth it, in this midst of hot June.
I was wandering the lake neighborhood during the night.. As all goes asleep, the full moon shines down on the clear lake. I was too drunk, and I needed a place to rest. But I came to the sudden realization that I had forgotten to book a hotel, and this place was far from any of them.
CHAPTER 1.1: MURDER OF THE HATRED
I stopped in front of a collective zone, these contain small living spaces, akin to “apartments” that are rather narrow, tight-knitted, and have so many people from lower working classes living in them. The stairs are made of hard concrete, lichens covering steps, and the dust-filled handle that could fall any moment. The concrete walls are filled with paint deteriorated to the point even one tiny flick could make the layers of it fall out. I have never thought of living in these kinds of places for weeks, let alone generations, yet many consider this as their only choice. From the second floor where the shout originated there were puddles of blood, and smells of flames. The door seemed to had been locked from the inside, but later a fire knocked it down. ”Be careful! Everyone evacuate!”, and as I showed the people my fake police card, they quickly followed my orders.
Inside, the “apartment“ was in flames, and an about-50-to-60-year-old man lay dead on the sofa in his apartment. On his bald head, and the wooden chải near his place was filled with blood. His neck has a big cut, and under the ground are large pieces of glass, one of them is blood-covered as well. I noticed that his hands seem to hold a piece of paper, containing the kind of writing that is in those writing textbooks for children. It was written on one side:
“
You who had been stuck in misery shall be killed by the misery itself.
Alice.
“
All the other rooms were empty, and there was no sign of anything being messed up. There was a safe that looked completely untouched. Without much thinking I grabbed the letter and put it in a pocket, then picked up my camera and captured several pictures of the case. I was then called from behind with a calm voice: “Who are you? Go back home young man, it’s late. What are you doing here?”. I turned to see who was the person calling, and I saw a woman that reeked of alcohol.
-“May I ask, what is your name, and do you know about this man?”
-“I’m Hiền, his wife. He is Long, a builder. Got retired for his old age”
-“You look pretty uncaring for someone whose husband has just been killed.”
-“He is uneducated, stupid, addicted to alcohol, and terrorizes children and teenagers. And I didn’t even love him in the first place, it was that his family ”paid“ me using huge amounts of money.”
It was late at night, and the crowd slowly went back to their homes for the next workday, yet this granny here seems not to be sleeping anytime soon. She told me that she would explain further, but now I needed to follow her outside, because she didn’t want to wake anyone. We walked down the stairs without trying to make noise, and I followed her into a place with a tea set, some chairs and a table. The woman put out a mattress and hung it on top of us.
-“Honestly I didn’t even think he would die anytime soon. But kid, if you really want to search for the true killer, you have to search at least this entire block. Everyone here wants him dead, they just don’t admit it.” said the old lady as she was making tea.
-“You don’t have to make me tea-”, I replied, but by the time I could utter those words from my mouth, the old lady already had her tea ready.
-“You don’t like it?”
-“Yes I do, but no one drinks tea this late. Don’t you have to sleep?”
-“Not until I get rid of this corpse first and cleanse everything. You have observed the full situation. Allow me to take the corpse away.”
-”Stop. Under any circumstances you are not allowed to alter a crime scene.”
-”I wouldn’t like the smells of a rotting corpse and blood inside the apartment!”
-“Us officers have a specialized crime scene cleansing team, they will do everything for you. And all about the man, do you recall anything that happened up to the moment you saw him dead?”
-”While I was ready to go out for the elder’s exercise session near the lake, the man asked me to buy some alcohol. However, when I was standing in front of home, I slipped on something and broke all his wine bottles. That's it. He then proceeds to beat me but his yelling got so loud someone upstairs took me up. The moment I returned was the moment I saw his corpse."
-”Is there anything else before that?”
-”No.”
I spent the rest of the night trying to prevent the woman from entering, but it was too late. My eyes were blurry, my mind was dark, and my consciousness slowly left me. She allowed me to take pictures of the case, and the last thing I remembered, I passed out on the floor with a camera full of case photos.
CHAPTER 1.2: THE POSSIBLE CULPRITS
The next morning, I found myself already lying in the bed of the dead man’s home. The grandma was nowhere to be found, and the house was clean except for some burn marks from last night. It was 5 in the morning but the place was awakened already, contrary to the lazy and tired atmosphere at my office even at 7. Below the road were loose markets, with traders that sell either food or cheap toys. Long's killer should be somewhere within this site. I began looking for someone who knew the block, and I asked around and finally met Lương, the manager of the place and several others around it. As we walked through the streets into a cafe, he introduced me to everyone living in that narrow space.
-“About whoever lives there, there’s a few families. Let me see… There are only five apartments here.
On the first floor there is a guy named Minh, who is a factory worker. He is outside a lot. No one cares about him, he cares about no one. He hides all his feelings, and no one really knows what and whatnot goes inside that lonely mind.
On the second floor consists of Long and Hiền, who just told me about you, and their son Huynh who is currently serving in the military; plus a home with 2 young girls, An and Linh; and their parents Ly and Sang. Linh has been studying in a university in the mainland Hanoi for 2 years now, is famous for being too nice she wouldn’t hurt a fly, and An, currently in the last year of high school, is expected to follow suit. Sang has a reputation of being abusive
On the third floor resides Tú, a well-rumored scammer, and the reason he was not arrested yet is because there was no evidence of his wrongdoings. He lives with his grandson Thành, who recently won a prize in a very prestigious national team science contest with An and some other kids, and he knows his way around machinery and helped fix things in the marketplace. They run a photocopying shop and share the floor with the recent young couple Hương and Vinh, and their son Bi”.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
-”So that’s everyone living there? According to Hiền everybody straight up despises Long, so these people are all potential culprits”.
-”Minus the newborn Bi, yes.”
When I came back from Lương’s office, word had already been spread in the market about the murder and about me. Hiền was right about this, I asked and everyone felt much more relieved. Again, I met her by following word of the traders, but this time I asked her to take me around so I can know everyone well enough.
CHAPTER 1.3: THE LONE CHILD
I decided to visit everyone from the ground up. I visited Minh’s current dorm, but the moment I clicked on the bell several mosquitoes flew out, and by the moment Minh opened the door, I was more than shocked. The wall paint was completely destroyed, pieces of it are full in the floor. Trash was rather easy to see, beer cans and cigarette packs are almost everywhere. Minh himself looked like someone who hasn’t showered in days, his hair quite literally became a bird’s nest. His factory jobs don't pay him well, and he doesn’t have much time to care for himself since it was late by night when he returns. I thought a little bit and decided to ask him:
-”Do you know anything about Long?”
-”He’s reliant on others and gambles a lot.”
-”Do you recall the sequence of events leading to Long’s death?”
-”I had some beer with my friends, that’s it. I wasn’t here until the night came when I saw him die, and I was too sober to even care.”
It was when I noticed among the beer bottles lying as traps on the floor, which looked suspiciously similar to the one at Long’s scene.
-“The beer bottles in your room looked similar to the one seen in Long’s. Care to clarify?”
-“There is only one shop selling one brand near here.”
-”
I started searching his place, and heard something among the walls, and tried to check, but Minh brushed it off and said it was the result of a paranormal activity despite all my concerns. There was nothing I could do, so I waved goodbye to the apartment and rushed to the stairs.
CHAPTER 1.4: THE BROKEN FAMILY
An’s apartment was a real change from Minh’s. Not only was it wider, it also felt much brighter and lively. An amputated man yelled:
-“An…make…the…tea…for…the…visitor…you…don’t…need…to…study…just…marry…into…someone…”
A beautiful girl came out. She has the long hair of fairy-tale princesses, and her short height makes her look like a little doll. She barely speaks with us, and doesn’t even seem to listen to anything; she seems stuck in her own world most of the time.
-“You are in grade 12, right?”
-“Yes.”
-"What university do you plan to go to?"
-"You…will…not…be…able…to...I…will…lock…you…at…home…"
"Open University. That's what my sister was in.", An spoke. “And even if you lock me, I have several ways to open the door by force. Also try to lock me if you are basically locked for life and have no one at your side.”
-"What…do…you…say…" Sang attempted to raise his voice, and take the metal stick nearby ready to hit his daughter. But he was too weak to the point that lifting it became a task of impossibility. He asked his wife to help, only to witness her yelling in one place and do practically nothing. “An you're disrespectful …” ended up with the little girl just ignoring them altogether.
"Are you listening to us?", said Ly. This personality-less mother seemed to exist only as a housewife, a maid of some kind. She had to take after him and join him in 'nurturing' An, which didn't help.
-"I won’t come back to listening to you like a dumbo similar to how your walking ability won’t. Do you think he cares? You are straight up delusional at this point. Go papa, I will take you to a mental hospital. Call me one, Mr Detective."
An doesn't bother to care for her father or mother, just do things alone most of the time. She was ignorant to all their words, which was rather unseen due to this individualism culture being rather new. I asked them about Long. Both of them seem not to reply until the third time. As it turned out they DID offer An to Long's son who took an interest in her, but she denied all his requests. "That little brat should die alone, 14 was the golden age to marry someone and she did not". At this point I was surprised, and told them about how girls of that age can be easily manipulated and controlled, but then Sang said loudly:
-”SHE WAS THE ONE WHO MANIPULATED AND CONTROLLED ME!”
Sang then proceeds with a lot of ramblings about some conflict between him and Long, but it was too long.
-”Fine”, I interrupted him.
-”Up until the moment of his death, Ly, Sang, what have you been doing?”
-”I was at home. There was a mysterious phone number that wanted to call me, stating that it was from the police. I called it back, nothing happened, no one answered, then I closed the phone.”
-”I couldn't have killed him, can’t you see walking is an impossibility for me now?”
-”I can not rule out anyone or anything. Please be truthful, Sang.”
-”I lied like a dead corpse in this bed until death!”
-”That’s for Sang. Ly, what were the contents of the phone call?”
-”It was a service subscription reminder. Oh I have to burn incense sticks now.”
Despite researching materials before, I know nothing about religion. People seem to do this monthly, to wish for pretty much anything.
An was then outside. She fled up to the third floor, and I followed her into an apartment that looked as if it was a mystery. I checked Lương’s documents and it seemed An suffered from abuse, neglect until she was 13, when Thành and Tú moved here. “What did they do?”, I wondered. The stairs that lead to the third floor were filled with darkness, but the people up there may have the answer.
CHAPTER 1.5: THE WIZARDS OF THE THIRD FLOOR
On one side of the third floor lies a hallway that was bigger than the one below it, or at least so that seems. Revealed in the light were mystery notes, weird chemicals in bottles, a photocopying machine, and a lot of weird notes all over walls, written in some foreign language. I pressed the bell and a teenager introduced himself as Thành quickly jumped out of nowhere and gave me navigation instructions, so as not to mess up anything around this witch's lair. We sat down on a much more polished table than Hiền's, and Thành answered my inquiries with a simple "I don't know anything about him". An had been sitting there for longer.
I saw from far away a mysterious old man that wears some sort of a black vest. His face really looked similar to those wizard characters I read in children’s stories. I turned around and saw she just sat directly by Thành, and had her head lean on his shoulders. “At least this is what Sang and Ly wanted, so I’ll tell them later. They would just love to see An with a boy anyway”, I thought. I was stuck for a while until I remembered that he might be Tú, so I asked.
-”Aren’t you Tú?”
-”Yes, are you Tiến the detective?”
-”Yeah... and that boy is Thành, right?”
-”Yes he is.”
I looked around this mysterious home. It seems that aside from them, no one seemed to have even come inside for years. Thành and An were nowhere to be seen. I asked Tú about Long, again receiving the simple “I don’t know” as my answer. But I knew I had to take this man with several cups of salt. I asked him about everything he knew, and that “I don’t know” persists. There was definitely no way to force them to answer without making me look weird. But I need to keep this conversation ongoing, but I felt a strange aura around these people, so I pushed the main question quickly:
-”What happened during the course of last night, up to Long’s death?”
-”Thành and An had a date, I was sitting at home testing new printer features.”
-”The moon last night was beautiful," An added.
There was something in that house that felt just suspicious, but there is no way I could accuse them of Long’s death or anything. However, when I looked out their balcony, I saw a banner, and when I went outside to check it, it was hanging between the two balconies of this and Hương’s apartment, but it looked slightly out of place, lower on the side of the other balcony. They should have been hanged carefully, and thus both sides should have the perfect equal height.
Honestly, I couldn’t come up with something else. After all, the man was abnormally hated, what if the entire plan of them was hoaxing to me? Then the shout last night was either a trap to allure me here, or if that person is genuinely in shock?
There was only one home left. I decided to give them a visit, before going back to Hiền’s tent and recalling my events.
-”Welcome! Who are you?”
-”A police officer was tasked to investigate the murder last night. I hope you cooperate.”
-”Come in!”
CHAPTER 1.6: THE DETECTIVE’S HOPE
Inside that home gave a being so much more different than any of the others, because for once the people are somewhat decent. I didn’t have much time left, so I was quick for the questions.
-”Welcome, so I need you to answer something. What happened last night?”
-”Last afternoon, Thành bragged to us about a magnet device that he spent weeks making. On the night there were sounds from their family which woke our baby. While we were trying to put him to sleep, we heard weird sounds of things being broken and the sounds of something being locked and something being torn under us. We had no idea of what else happened. We were too tired and next morning everyone just passed by that house as if nothing happened. We just don’t like that man because of his violence.
-”Can I check your balcony? I feel like they may be relevant to the murder.”
-”Sure, go ahead”.
When I checked their balcony, it was the same that I had expected when observing it from Thành’s home. Indeed, there was the magnet hanger that was used loosely to hang the banner, while the banner itself was hung using a weak mechanism that allows itself to be clinged onto the fence, and if looked from an outside angle or even looked briefly there would be no oddities at all. There was no sign of anything else. Not even a knife. However, those devices when rehung would make a loud metallic sound, and the baby should have been aware of the loud sound.
-”We heard the sounds and it indeed woke up the baby. But none of it was sounds of metal crashing into each other.”, Hương replied.
I don’t want to wake up the baby, so I asked Huong and Vinh to go outside for a bit. Huong looked excessively tired, as she had to constantly keep track of the baby.
There were so many ideas I have right now. How could someone briefly change the location of the banner, without… Wait, have they used it to jump down Long’s room? It would make total sense, after all. The culprit hung on the banner, causing it to be pulled down, and jumped to the balcony of Long. The case was now complete, it would only be the matter to figure out who did it. Or so I thought.