Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: The Criminal with OCD

Zhao Qinghe walked in with a nurse. When he looked up and met Jiang Li’s gaze, he saw the lingering panic in her eyes and immediately gave her an apologetic look.

"I’m sorry for scaring you, Miss Jiang. You have a heart condition. I’m your attending physician..."

Jiang Li’s entire body tensed up. Beneath the blanket, she was trembling like a leaf. Her mind was filled with only Zhao Qinghe’s words: ’You have a heart condition. I’m your attending physician.’

Jiang Li’s mind went blank, and a wave of dizziness washed over her.

Zhao Qinghe glanced at the person beside him. "Give Miss Jiang a tranquilizer."

"Don’t!" Jiang Li cried out, struggling free from the nurse who came forward to hold her down.

"Officer Ji! Officer Ji!"

Jiang Li screamed toward the door without a second thought. ’I don’t want to die!’

Zhao Qinghe looked at Jiang Li in confusion. In their few brief meetings, she had always been the picture of composure. This was the first time he had ever seen her like this.

"Miss Jiang, please try to calm down. This is very bad for your heart."

Zhao Qinghe stepped forward, took the syringe with the tranquilizer from the nurse, and slowly approached Jiang Li.

Jiang Li stared at the syringe in his hand, her mind consumed by the scene from her dream—of her murdering and dismembering a body.

"BANG!"

Ji Qinghe and Zhou Tiancheng burst through the door.

"Jiang Li." Ji Qinghe saw the terrified woman on the bed and rushed forward to pull her into an embrace. "Jiang Li, it’s okay. You’re okay."

Ji Qinghe held Jiang Li, patting her back comfortingly.

Zhou Tiancheng, who had followed her in, glanced at Zhao Qinghe. "Mr. Zhao?"

"Officer Zhou," Zhao Qinghe replied with a smile.

Clinging tightly to Ji Qinghe, Jiang Li’s emotions finally began to stabilize. Covered in a light sweat, she sat up straight and looked at the officer. "Officer Ji, can you please ask Doctor Zhao to step out for a moment?"

’Just seeing him makes my chest ache horribly, as if a knife is twisting inside it.’

Zhou Tiancheng looked at Zhao Qinghe. "Perfect timing, Mr. Zhao. I have a few more questions for you regarding your wife’s disappearance."

"Of course. Miss Jiang, if you feel any discomfort, please remember to call a nurse right away."

Zhao Qinghe slipped the syringe into his pocket, then turned and followed Zhou Tiancheng out of the room.

The door closed, and Ji Qinghe poured Jiang Li a cup of warm water.

"Jiang Li, just take a moment to recover. We’re in no rush." Ji Qinghe hugged her, her own heart aching in sympathy. ’What kind of dream could have possibly frightened her into cardiac arrest?’

Jiang Li cradled the warm paper cup. After downing the water, she felt much better.

She looked up at Ji Qinghe, her lips trembling as she spoke. "Officer Ji, I suspect the hotel dismemberment case and the case of the minced body aren’t the same."

"I... I dreamed that I was holding a scalpel... and I cut her up, piece by piece. The pieces were very small... just like... just like those bone fragments from the beginning.

"But her face was disfigured, so I don’t know who she was."

Jiang Li grabbed Ji Qinghe’s hand. "The hand the dog had that day was a whole piece, but Mr. Fan and his team said the other remains were minced. So, could it be two different people?

"And... and the killer in the minced body case is a doctor. A doctor with obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

"Because he cut every piece of flesh to the exact same size and even arranged them like a platter..."

Jiang Li said whatever came to mind, growing more and more certain that the killer in the minced body case was not the same person who committed the dismemberment.

"Okay, I understand. Jiang Li, try not to think about all this for now. Just get some sleep."

Jiang Li shook her head frantically. She would rather not sleep at all than risk closing her eyes only to see another bloody scene.

Outside, Zhou Tiancheng looked at Zhao Qinghe and read off the names of several suspects.

"Mr. Zhao, what was your wife’s relationship with these individuals?"

A look of confusion crossed Zhao Qinghe’s face, and he shook his head in dismay. "I’m sorry, Officer Zhou. I don’t know any of the people you just mentioned.

"My department is very busy. I’m either at the hospital or at home. I have no memory of any of them."

As he spoke, Zhao Qinghe’s eyes reddened, and he covered his face. "It’s probably because I was too busy with work, with no time to spend with her. That’s why when I found out she was having an affair...

"...all I felt was guilt and self-blame. I often think, if I hadn’t been so busy, if I had just spent more time with her, maybe none of this would have happened."

Zhao Qinghe’s voice choked with emotion as he spoke.

"Officer Zhou, it’s been three days now. Do you think Wanwan... she could be... could be..."

Zhao Qinghe couldn’t bring himself to say the word.

"Mr. Zhao, we will do everything in our power. Please, rest assured."

After offering Zhao Qinghe a few more words of comfort, Zhou Tiancheng turned and headed back to the hospital room.

He knocked before entering and found Jiang Li curled up in Ji Qinghe’s arms, trembling uncontrollably.

He closed the door and walked over. "Zhao Qinghe says your heart is very fragile right now. You can’t get too worked up, or you could actually go into cardiac arrest."

Zhou Tiancheng’s thin lips pressed into a firm line. ’Jiang Li is just an ordinary person, after all. She doesn’t have an iron will. This is all clearly too much for her.’

Ji Qinghe looked at her with a pained expression. ’What are we going to do?’

"Jiang Li, you must be hungry. I’ll go get you something to eat."

Ji Qinghe stood up and headed out, and Zhou Tiancheng followed.

"Qin Shu, can you stay with Jiang Li for a bit? We’ll discuss the rest later."

Qin Shu nodded and went inside.

Seeing Qin Shu walk in, Jiang Li let out a sigh of relief. ’Thank goodness they didn’t leave me in here all by myself.’

Once outside, Ji Qinghe told Zhou Tiancheng about the dream Jiang Li had described. Zhou Tiancheng was stunned. "In that case, I need to get back to the station immediately. If these aren’t the same case, then we can’t close it."

Zhou Tiancheng hopped on his electric scooter and sped toward the police station.

Ji Qinghe took out her phone and typed a message into the group chat, urging all departments to accelerate their investigations.

Back in the hospital room, Qin Shu simply watched Jiang Li, not saying a word.

Ji Qinghe had said she was traumatized, and Qin Shu wasn’t sure what to say.

"Forensic Doctor Qin, I want to ask you a question," Jiang Li said, looking up at Qin Shu.

Qin Shu pulled a stool over to the bedside, ready to listen.

"Forensic Doctor Qin, what kind of doctor do you think could be confident enough to cut every piece of flesh with such perfect precision? How meticulous would someone have to be to achieve that level of accuracy?"

Qin Shu looked at her. "Generally speaking, a lead neurosurgeon would have the steadiest hands."

Jiang Li frowned. Clearly, Qin Shu’s answer hadn’t resolved the question nagging at her.

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"

Qin Shu got up to open the door. Seeing Zhang Haosheng standing there, she frowned. ’Him again?’

"Forensic Doctor Qin, I came to see Jiang Li."

Zhang Haosheng stood there with his hands casually tucked in his pockets, looking coolly at Qin Shu.

Jiang Li heard Zhang Haosheng’s voice. As it happened, she had a few questions for him as well.

"Forensic Doctor Qin, please let Doctor Zhang in."

Qin Shu stepped aside, allowing Zhang Haosheng to enter.

"Jiang Li, are you feeling any better? I heard from Qinghe that you’re having some heart trouble. Have you not been resting well again?"

Zhang Haosheng walked to Jiang Li’s bedside and looked at her. ’It hasn’t been long since I last saw her, but she seems to have lost some weight.’

Hearing how casually Zhang Haosheng referred to Zhao Qinghe by his given name, Jiang Li asked, "Doctor Zhang, are you and Doctor Zhao very close?"

Zhang Haosheng smiled and tapped his chest. "Of course! We went to the same university. It’s a shame, though. Qinghe switched his major later on for some reason."

Zhang Haosheng sighed regretfully. "To think, he used to be number one in the psychology department."

Jiang Li’s grip on her blanket tightened as a daring theory began to form in her mind.