Chapter 13: Rescued

“Could you step outside, please?” Lu Xiujuan asked Fatty Xu. He hesitated, then reluctantly left the room.

Embarrassed, Lu removed her outer clothing and took a sheet of paper wrapped in an oilpaper packet from inside her underwear. She dressed again and handed it to Lin Ying.

Lin read it. Her head buzzed and her mind went blank.

It was a copy of a postmortem examination report. The words were horrifying: Gao Lan, Gaoshan County chief, age thirty; multiple fractures, tearing below, clear signs of assault, and three samples of bodily fluid from different men detected inside her.

Lin stared at the words. Suspected assault. Three different samples. Had three men assaulted Chief Gao in her own quarters?

She could hardly believe her eyes. Shock gave way to overwhelming fury. Breathing rapidly, she looked at Lu, her gaze sharp as a knife. Lu trembled. She had never seen such a terrifying look.

Sweat covered her forehead. “Director Lin, you…” Her voice shook.

Realizing she had lost control, Lin looked away. When she turned back, her gaze was softer, though still sharp.

“Where did you get this report?”

“I wrote it.”

“You were the examiner assigned to Chief Gao? Did you perform an autopsy?”

“No. I never got the chance. The body was cremated. I only performed a routine examination. Director Liu ordered me to print another report immediately and sign it, so…” Lu didn’t dare continue. She knew what each report meant.

Lin was devastated. A county chief had died so horribly, assaulted before death by three men. Her anger threatened to burst out of her. Who had dared touch a county chief? Had they known who Gao Lan was?

This could not have been a spontaneous crime. They had gone to the chief’s quarters. It was premeditated.

“Tell me everything. Describe the examination from the beginning.” Lin forced her expression toward calm, though fire still burned in her eyes.

Lu described the process. Her voice rose with anger as she told how she had been forced to sign the false report. Liu Yixiong’s threatening look had told her she would not leave the examiner’s office if she refused.

Lin’s chest nearly burst with fury. Gaoshan was rotten beyond belief. The deputy police chief had forced an examiner to sign a false report and taken Gao’s body for cremation without following even basic procedure. How lawless were these people?

When Lu finished, Lin was close to exploding, but she remained silent. Lu watched her with concern; she could sense the new chief was on the edge of rage.

“You did well. Leave the rest to us. I’ll send you somewhere safe. Your mother should be here soon.” Lin appeared calm, but Lu knew a fire was burning inside her.

As she finished, someone knocked: one knock followed by several more.

“Come in.”

The door opened. Duan Fei stood there with an elderly woman on his back. Lu screamed, “Mom!” and rushed over.

“Juan!” Her mother struggled down and embraced her, sobbing. Both women trembled. Lu was astonished and delighted that the new chief had acted so quickly.

“Mom, are you all right?” Her father had died early, and mother and daughter had depended on each other. Her mother had been ill since giving birth, but had endured hardship to raise her and send her to university. Years of labor had worsened her health, and now, in old age, her life had been threatened.

Overcome, Lu turned and knelt before Lin. “Director Lin, thank you! Thank you on my mother’s behalf!”

Lin quickly helped her up. “You don’t need to do that. This is our duty. I arrived too late and let you both suffer.”

Lu’s tears spilled again. After days of fear, hiding and humiliation, she finally saw a glimmer of hope.

Duan quietly closed the door and stepped out.

The old woman also tried to bow to Lin, but Lin stopped her. “Please, ma’am, don’t.”

“Thank you, Director. Thank you!” Lu’s mother wept. Having survived, she was still frightened. She didn’t know who Lin was, but could see that she had sent someone to rescue her.

“You raised a good daughter. She’s a hero who dared stand against criminal forces. She’s an example to us and a good police officer.”

The old woman looked at her daughter with relief. Lu blushed, unsure what to do, but felt a quiet pride.

“Ma’am, did you see who took you?” Lin asked. Lu’s mother nodded, then shook her head.

Lin understood. She turned to Duan. “Make one more trip. Take Lu Xiujuan and her mother to the base and arrange protection. Write me a detailed account of what happened.”

“Yes.”

At the prospect of leaving, Lu looked at Lin reluctantly. “Director, I hid the original report somewhere. If you need it, I can take you to get it.”

“Not yet. Get settled first. When the time is right, I’ll send someone with you.”

Lu nodded, took her mother’s arm and followed Duan out.

At the police bureau, meanwhile, all hell was breaking loose.