The first time Li Zhenliang heard Jiang Ling speak so gently, he was momentarily taken aback. Then he smiled and said, “I didn’t expect Xiao Jiang to be so patient with kids.”
There was one thing he didn’t say—if you become a mother in the future, you’ll be a good one. After all, Jiang Ling was still unmarried, and saying such a thing might be a bit much.
Thinking of Jiang Ling’s background, Li Zhenliang pedaled his bicycle harder and pressed the bell.
“Ding-ling-ling…” A crisp bell sound rang out.
From within the ringing came Li Zhenliang’s voice: “Next weekend on duty, I’ll bring Yanyan over.”
“Okay.” Jiang Ling couldn’t help but smile.
She didn’t have children of her own, but amusing someone else’s well-behaved child was a pleasant thing.
Soon, the four of them arrived at the Hongxing Market that Wang Cuimin had mentioned when filing her report.
Wang Cuimin worked at a textile factory, and her husband was a technician at a machinery plant. They lived in the machinery plant’s residential area. During work, her bicycle was parked in the shed next to the textile factory’s locker room; after work, she parked it in the machinery plant’s residential shed. On her way to and from work, she would stop at Hongxing Market to buy groceries, parking the bike at the market entrance.
The bell had been stolen there.
In broad daylight, by someone whose hands were astonishingly quick.
Hongxing Market was the largest in the eastern part of the city. Employees from nearby sewing, machinery, and blower factories all came here to shop, and it was crowded. Bicycles were parked everywhere outside the market.
Because space was limited, there was no dedicated bike shed, and no one was assigned to guard them.
Liu Haoran had a naturally likable round face. When he and Zhou Wei investigated, Liu Haoran usually spoke while Zhou Wei took notes. Bicycle bell thefts were their responsibility, so this time Liu Haoran led the on-site inquiry, asking people buying and selling at the market.
One vegetable vendor said, “I think someone shouted earlier that a bike bell was missing. I was busy with my business and didn’t go check.”
A passerby waved his hands. “No idea. I just got here. If the bell got stolen, it got stolen. Just get a new one at the repair stall. Why bother reporting it?”
An elderly man selling magazines and newspapers outside the market actually witnessed Wang Cuimin shouting about the theft. He pointed to the small grove beside the market: “The bike was parked there, people were coming and going. Nobody knows who took the bell.”
The owner of a small convenience store shrugged. “Kids run around here all the time. Many just press bike bells for fun. Stealing? Who knows.”
The grove was just dirt, with footprints everywhere. Two hours had passed, making on-site investigation and evidence collection very difficult; no useful clues were found.
The four of them walked around in circles and came up empty-handed.
Liu Haoran felt a bit dejected. He bought four lollipops and handed one to each of them. “Sorry, everyone, for the wasted trip. Come on, have a candy and take a break.” He didn’t smoke but loved sweets, so he bought candy instead of cigarettes.
The lollipops were wrapped in clear plastic, printed with strawberry patterns. 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.
As a child in the orphanage, candy was a luxury. Only occasionally would visiting families or volunteers bring sweets to share.
And Jiang Ling, being introverted and not particularly likable, was usually the child who didn’t get any candy.
Li Zhenliang noticed her pause and exchanged a glance with Liu Haoran and Zhou Wei. All three recalled Jiang Ling’s past and felt a pang of sympathy—poor thing, probably didn’t have much candy as a child and now hesitated even holding a lollipop.
Seeing the lollipop he had already licked a few times, Li Zhenliang didn’t want to give it to her. So he generously pulled out money and told the convenience store owner, “Three more lollipops, please!”
When he got them, he handed them all to Jiang Ling at once. “Here, all yours.”
Jiang Ling looked up, and a faint smile appeared in her eyes.
In her previous life, she might have awkwardly refused. But this time, she took each lollipop from Li Zhenliang’s hand and carefully placed them in her pocket. “Thank you.”
…
Back at the office, Liu Haoran was still a bit down. “Sigh! All for nothing. This case is going nowhere.”
Zhou Wei stayed calm. “Don’t worry. Let’s investigate a bit more, ask around—maybe we can find a clue.”
Li Zhenliang said, “The bell isn’t valuable. Some people, after it was stolen, just considered themselves unlucky and didn’t report it. Even those who did report, they usually came to the station an hour or two later. By then, the scene had already been disturbed. If we could investigate the scene immediately, we might have found something.”
Jiang Ling sat in her chair, calm and collected. “I have an idea.”
All eyes turned to her.
Liu Haoran eagerly pulled his chair opposite her. “What idea? Tell us!”
Zhou Wei and Li Zhenliang looked at her expectantly as well. They had just worked on a case with her and had collectively won a third-class merit award. They could tell her criminal investigation skills were exceptional. If she said she had an idea, there had to be one.
Sunlight streamed through the window, shining on Jiang Ling sitting by the edge.
In her previous life, she had been like a snail retreating into its shell, avoiding contact with others. Even with colleagues, she maintained a distant, minimal connection. Now, having stepped out of that shell, she realized the world was actually beautiful.
Li Zhenliang had been right: Jinwu Road Police Station was a warm, welcoming team.
Jiang Ling cleared a large section of the desk and began directing her colleagues.
“Liangzi, get me a jurisdiction map.”
“Haoran, you have all the report records for the stolen bicycle bells, right? Bring them over.”
“Dawei, move that mobile blackboard over a bit. You’ll be in charge of taking notes.”
Jiang Ling had all three colleagues mobilized. Technically, she was the youngest and least experienced member of the case team, so it shouldn’t have been her place to give instructions. Yet everyone she called on didn’t feel awkward at all; in fact, they were secretly pleased and moved quickly to follow her directions.
—Before, Jiang Ling had always addressed them politely as “Officer Li,” “Officer Liu,” and “Officer Zhou.” Now she spoke in a much more familiar tone, which showed she didn’t see them as outsiders.
—Although young, Jiang Ling’s professional abilities were exceptional. Her psychological evaluation files had impressed the bureau leadership and had been taken by the technical division as templates. She had received a third-class merit award for handling her first case. Following her instructions was always reliable.
As Li Zhenliang, Liu Haoran, and Zhou Wei thought this, they carried out Jiang Ling’s orders efficiently.
Li Zhenliang brought over a brand-new map of Yan City’s East District and fixed it firmly to the blackboard.
Liu Haoran returned carrying a thick stack of report records and placed them neatly on Jiang Ling’s clean, empty desk.
Zhou Wei took a piece of chalk and stood before the blackboard, asking earnestly, “Xiao Jiang, what do you want me to record?”
The square blackboard was mostly covered by the map, leaving only about a third of the surface visible. Zhou Wei held the chalk, eyes fixed on the blank space, looking like a soldier about to march into battle.
Jiang Ling nodded slightly. “Haoran, arrange the report records in order. Liangzi, give Dawei the time and location of each incident. Dawei, you’ll record them.”
At Jiang Ling’s instructions, the three responded in unison and got to work.
Soon, the times of all 12 incidents were recorded on the blackboard, and the map was marked with 12 red circles indicating the locations.
Jiang Ling said, “For series cases like this, because the criminal repeats their actions, patterns emerge. Even though there’s no physical evidence for these stolen bicycle bells, we can deduce information about the perpetrator from the temporal and spatial patterns.”
She moved to the blackboard as she spoke, pointing to the 12 recorded incident times. “What do you notice?”
Liu Haoran, in charge of this case, quickly identified a pattern. “Most incidents are clustered before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m.”
Jiang Ling nodded. “Exactly. Now let’s look at the days of the week when these incidents occurred.”
Liu Haoran’s eyes brightened. “All on Sundays and Mondays!”
Jiang Ling asked, “What does that suggest?”
Liu Haoran frowned, thinking. Zhou Wei quickly answered, “There are many state-owned factories in our district. The thief might be a factory worker, stealing bells while commuting to or from work.”
Before 8 a.m. and after 6 p.m.—those are the exact commuting hours for factory employees.
Prompted, Liu Haoran added, “Sunday is a day off, so the criminal is well-rested on Monday and chooses that time to strike.”
Li Zhenliang, new to the case team, was excited to see everyone discussing the case so seriously. His mind raced. “Could the perpetrator be a student? Nearby schools start at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. If they have cleaning duties, it might extend to 6 p.m. A student, bored on the way to or from school, might steal bells for fun—that also makes sense.”
At this, Liu Haoran and Zhou Wei nodded. “Liangzi is right. Bicycle bells aren’t valuable; it’s plausible that children would do it for amusement.”
Jiang Ling said, “Yes. Both commuting workers and students are possibilities. Next, let’s look at the locations.”
Following her finger, everyone studied the 12 red circles on the map carefully, lost in thought.
The incidents were scattered. Zhou Wei had numbered each circle to indicate the sequence of events.
The latest occurred at Hongxing Market, the earliest at a textile factory’s staff residence, with others near a small shop at the intersection of Gongren Avenue and Guangming Road, and by the bicycle sheds next to the mechanical factory boiler house.
The red circles on the map looked chaotic, showing no obvious pattern. What could be deduced from them?
Jiang Ling didn’t rush anyone.
She already had a sense of the pattern but couldn’t reveal it directly.
Her undergraduate major was criminal psychology, and she had an excellent memory and solid professional foundation.
Working as a prison archivist allowed her plenty of time to read professional books since she didn’t have to go out for fieldwork. Although she hadn’t pursued a master’s or doctoral degree, her theoretical knowledge in criminal psychological evaluation and criminal profiling exceeded that of many experts.
For cracking the bicycle bell case, criminal profiling was particularly suitable.
Unfortunately, it was 1993. Criminal profiling research hadn’t yet been developed domestically. The academic field wouldn’t standardize the term until 2004, and the Criminal Profiling Association wouldn’t be established until 2007.
Introducing brand-new criminal profiling techniques into criminal investigations was a challenge for Jiang Ling.
She had to make a name for herself in one decisive case.
…
Author’s Note:
Professor Li Meijin of the Chinese People’s Public Security University points out in her article “The Essence and Value of Criminal Psychological Profiling in Investigations” that criminal psychological profiling involves analyzing an unknown suspect’s behaviors, motives, psychological processes, and personality traits based on the information already available during the investigation stage, and then using this analysis to create a written description of the suspect’s character and psychological profile.
…
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