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Capítulo 9

"Okay." The waiter looked relieved.

****************************

Another wait. Li Hong walked outside the hotel, feeling a bit frustrated. She had nothing to do but wait, which made her feel like she was wasting her life. Today was her third day here, and she had only taken three days off from work. But it seemed that even three more days wouldn't make any progress—finding the witch's name was only the first step; next, she needed to find out what she did in room 104, why she buried the cat, where she died, and how she died. And all of this couldn't be solved with just a name.

Li Hong lowered her head, walking towards the swing by the lake as she pondered. It was a cloudy day, the sun wasn't strong at all, and since the hotel wasn't far from the sea, she could feel the sea breeze blowing from the lake. It seemed like a vacation here wasn't a bad idea, especially if there weren't any ghosts to frighten her.

Sitting on the swing, Li Hong felt a little better and continued to consider the future direction of the investigation. She really didn't know how to proceed with the investigation based solely on names. She had never participated in investigative work before. Perhaps this wouldn't be a problem for an experienced detective, but for her, it was not so simple. She thought about asking Zheng Zhihao for help, but then she remembered that she had promised to take charge of this lead, and she dismissed the idea. She couldn't rely on him for everything! He might underestimate her.

That's right! If the burial scene she saw in her dream actually happened, then there might be clues to follow. Li Hong is increasingly inclined to believe that the scene in her dream was real, and she's also becoming more convinced that the dead woman was the witch herself. Although she doesn't know why she had such a dream, it certainly could bring some progress to the investigation.

If the dead woman I saw in my dream was a witch, then I...

Li Hong suddenly looked up, the horrifying face she had seen after parting the corpse's hair flashing back into her mind. Yes, if the gruesome woman in her dream was a witch, then she could draw her!

34. Check-in Registration Book (2)

Li Hong felt that drawing portraits of the deceased in a notebook with a ballpoint pen was a huge challenge for her, because she couldn't use any of the pencil strokes, and the notebook paper was so thin that she couldn't rely solely on lines to represent light and shadow. "Ugh, this is so annoying," Li Hong grimaced as she drew—she had already ruined several drawings.

She was now back in her room, engrossed in drawing. Although she was hungry, she didn't want to abandon her work to eat. And once she started working, time flew by. Around noon, the portrait was finally finished.

The portrait depicts a girl around 20 years old with a pretty face, large eyes, thin eyebrows, and small lips, giving her a delicate and petite appearance. The only incongruous feature is her nose; it's not high and is somewhat thick and round. Li Hong recalled a previous analysis of female facial features across China, noting that women with these features were predominantly from Sichuan. Young women there are typically fair-skinned and petite, but their noses often have some imperfections. Of course, this was merely a statistical analysis and didn't necessarily mean the woman in the portrait was from Sichuan.

Li Hong stretched, checked her watch, and decided to have lunch at a restaurant. She could ask the owner if he was back while she ate. Zheng Zhihao hadn't shown up yet, which made her very curious about his whereabouts.

Before she even reached the door, Li Hong noticed a white note slipped under the door. She was so focused on her drawing that she hadn't noticed until now that someone had slipped the note under her door. She went to the door, picked up the note, and read the following in crooked handwriting: "Someone died in room 104 before. The boss forbids us to disclose this. This is registered in the storage room."

Someone anonymously provided a clue! Li Hong looked at the note and couldn't help but get excited. Sure enough, someone had indeed died in room 104 before. However, the staff had changed many times, and the new staff wouldn't know about it. Furthermore, the owner tried to avoid assigning guests to room 104 because he considered the room number unlucky. Therefore, only a very small number of people knew about the past of room 104, including the owner and the person who handed her the note.

Li Hong looked at the back of the note again; there was nothing there. The paper was torn from a typical elementary school exercise book. The writing was in pencil, and judging from the handwriting, the person who wrote the note was probably not highly educated, even their handwriting was clumsy. However, it was also possible that they used their left hand to avoid being recognized, but Li Hong wasn't a handwriting expert and couldn't confirm it definitively. Nevertheless, she believed she should be able to find out who wrote the note.

So we now have three clues: first, the register, which is currently hidden in the storage room; second, the note itself, which should be able to find someone who knows the truth; and third, the portrait, which might allow long-time employees to recognize the woman in the drawing. Furthermore, the fact that the register was hidden suggests that the boss must also know something.

"Great!" Li Hong was overjoyed. She had thought the investigation would reach a stalemate, but she hadn't expected such a turn of events. If things continued to go smoothly, she estimated that the truth would be revealed soon. A smile appeared on her face.

***********************

Li Hong still hadn't seen Zheng Zhihao during dinner. Now that she had these few leads, she felt that investigating them all on her own would be a waste of time, so she decided to ask Zheng Zhihao for help. While eating, Li Hong texted Zheng Zhihao, updating him on her progress. She planned to search for the hidden register after dinner.

The hotel owner hasn't returned yet, but that's not a big deal now, as the crucial clue of the registration book hasn't been lost. However, Li Hong begins to wonder why the owner would hide the registration book. Could it contain evidence incriminating against him? What role did the owner play in this incident?

Zheng Zhihao quickly replied with a text message: "Return to the hotel at 2 PM. Be careful when picking up the registration book."

"Okay, then I'll go find the register myself," Li Hong told herself. "Anyway, I have my police ID, so it should be fine."

***********************

The hotel's storage area is located behind the main building, consisting of several small Hawaiian-style cabins. These cabins were likely originally intended as guest rooms, but due to poor business, they were eventually converted into storage. Because few people visit, the hotel has neglected maintenance; tall weeds grow in the cracks of the stone floor, and the cabins are weathered and dilapidated. Beside the cabins stands a tall giraffe statue; Li Hong couldn't discern its purpose, perhaps it was just for children to play with. Now, the giraffe statue has completely lost its luster; large patches of paint have peeled off, revealing the gray cement surface. Its drooping head seems to tell you everything that has happened here.

The cabin had a single door with a glass window, which wasn't locked, and the interior could be seen through the window. Two of the rooms were piled high with sheets and bedspreads, while the other room contained miscellaneous items. Li Hong went straight to the storage room and opened the door with a creak.

35. Storage room

In front of Li Hong was a dilapidated desk with several chairs overturned on it. The desk and chairs were covered in dust, indicating they hadn't been cleaned in a long time. To her right was a row of broken stools, piled with items covered by newspapers. Li Hong lifted the newspapers to reveal a tattered quilt with holes everywhere. Besides these, the corners of the room were cluttered with broken mops, a broken bicycle, broken beer bottles, and many other odds and ends, all covered in a thick layer of dust and appearing to be the same color. A musty smell permeated the air.

"If I need to hide the register, I'll stuff it under the desk," Li Hong thought, then began moving the chair off the desk. She couldn't stand the dust on the chair and began to regret not bringing her gloves.

The room was stuffy and humid, making Li Hong sweat profusely and her clothes stick to her body uncomfortably. She noticed that the three drawers of the desk were unlocked. She opened each drawer one by one to check.

Sure enough, several notebooks were tucked into the leftmost drawer. Although the covers were dirty, Li Hong recognized them as being identical to the front desk registration book covers. She took them all out and flipped through them casually. They were indeed early check-in registration books, the earliest dating back to 2004. Suppressing her excitement, she took out a specially prepared plastic bag and carefully placed the notebooks inside. It seemed the person who wrote the note was either a high-ranking hotel manager who knew the registration book was hidden here, or they had discovered the secret by accident. However, judging from the handwriting, the person who wrote the note wasn't highly educated, so Li Hong felt the latter was more likely.

Unexpectedly, everything went so smoothly that she felt lighter and more agile as she picked up the bag and turned to leave. But the moment she turned, she was startled by the stranger standing in the shadows by the door. The man stood silently, staring at the plastic bag in Li Hong's hand, and didn't say a word after she turned and saw him. Li Hong hadn't noticed his arrival at all, and didn't know how long he'd been standing there, but judging from his clothes, he didn't seem to be a hotel employee. She froze, unsure what to say.

A gentle breeze rustled the tattered newspapers in the small hut, and in that instant, Li Hong realized the man had vanished with the wind, as if disappearing in a phantom. Where he had been standing, there was only a small, dirty bag. Clearly, it had been floating on top of that bag.

Another ghost! Li Hong felt a chill run down her spine, her head spinning. She'd actually seen a strange ghost in broad daylight! It was strange mainly because Li Hong hadn't sensed its presence at all, and didn't even know when it had appeared. However, it was also possible that she'd been too focused on the registration book she'd found. Fortunately, her nerves weren't as fragile as they used to be. Although the ghost had given her goosebumps, it hadn't frightened her.

Li Hong grabbed the bag and quickly ran out of the cabin. The dry air outside made her feel much better. She glanced back at the cabin one last time, but didn't have the courage to go back and close the door properly. She saw the small bag where the ghost had been earlier, and it looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. With the registration book she had just found on her mind, she quickly left.

****************************

Li Hong painstakingly cleaned the register, and now she's lying on the floor, flipping through the pages and taking notes in her notebook. She narrowed her investigation to the period from 2006 to the present, since the witch had only checked into the hotel last year. After some time searching, her notebook now contains the following information:

On June 15, 2007, Ma Guiping/Li Li, ID numbers (omitted)

On May 18, 2007, Zhang Tianhai/Niu Benxin, ID number (omitted)

On December 5, 2006, Liu Huiquan/Zhao Lingling, ID number (omitted)

From August 7th to August 9th, 2006, Wang Ya, ID number (omitted)

From June 21st to June 24th, 2006, Wang Ya, ID number (omitted)

From May 7th to May 10th, 2006, Wang Ya, ID number (omitted)

From April 2nd to April 7th, 2006, Guo Hongwei/Chu Shuzhen, ID numbers (omitted)

On March 9, 2006, Li Chaoyang, ID number (omitted)

Li Hong tilted her head, thinking that last year's Spring Festival seemed to have come quite late; room 104 of the hotel didn't welcome its first guests until March. She casually flipped through the 2005 register and realized that it was fortunate she only recorded guests from 2006 to the present. If she had included 2005, she would have been exhausted, because the hotel's business was booming throughout 2005, with many people coming and going in room 104. It seemed that the hotel's business had been declining since 2006, especially after that woman named Wang Ya stayed there; room 104 suddenly became quiet.

Wang Ya is a prime suspect! She could very well be the witch! Li Hong was delighted with her discovery; she felt she was getting closer and closer to finding the witch. However, besides finding the witch, she also needed to investigate who else besides Ma Guiping had died in 104. Now she needed to contact her police friend Xiao Jia in Beijing.

36. Note

Just after she finished the phone call, Zheng Zhihao knocked and came in. Seeing his travel-worn appearance, Li Hong was very curious about where he had been. However, since she had no reason to interfere, she ultimately refrained from asking.

Seeing her hesitant expression, Zheng Zhihao laughed: "Want to know what I went to do?"

“I know you won’t tell me even if I ask,” Li Hong replied simply.

"Sigh, as you know, I don't have a formal job, so I have to do odd jobs to make ends meet. I just went out to do some work for someone else," Zheng Zhihao said with a touch of bitterness.

"What are you doing? Catching ghosts for others?" Li Hong was a little surprised that he would bring it up on his own.

"Pretty much. There's a row of villas near the beach not far from here that are often haunted. One of my former clients recommended that I take a look."

"And then?" Li Hong's curiosity was piqued.

“There are indeed unstable factors,” Zheng Zhihao said while enjoying the air conditioning, “but they are all old ghosts who have been dead for many years. They have no energy to cause trouble and are of no value to me.”

"So how are you going to handle this? We have to solve it for them, right?"

"It's almost resolved. We used three talismans. If nothing unexpected happens, those ghosts will leave in a few days. The main reason is that the area used to be a cemetery, and the villa was built on top of the cemetery, which released some of the spirit field."

"How much money did they give you?" This was what Li Hong wanted to know most. Although she felt it would be presumptuous to ask directly, she couldn't help herself.

“That should cover about a month’s living expenses,” Zheng Zhihao laughed. “We can’t compare to you; you have a secure job.”

"Why are you dragging me into this again?" Li Hong stopped asking. She took out the register, her own notes, a portrait, and notes, and laid them out in front of him, saying proudly, "Now we have many clues."

Zheng Zhihao immediately became serious and began to listen attentively to Li Hong's report.

"You mean, you're convinced that the corpse in the dream was the witch?" Zheng Zhihao asked, picking up the portrait. He hadn't expected Li Hong to have this skill; the portrait should be quite useful.

Li Hong explained her thoughts to him again, expressing strong faith in her intuition and hoping that Zheng Zhihao would continue investigating the portrait as a clue. She also suggested checking who wrote the note.

Zheng Zhihao picked up the note again and looked at it, then pressed it against his forehead. Li Hong watched his strange behavior, wondering what he was doing.

After a while, Zheng Zhihao opened his eyes and said, "The person who wrote the note is an old lady in her fifties. She wrote this note using her grandson's exercise book and pencil. She is in the vicinity right now."

Li Hong's eyes widened in surprise as she asked, "How did you know?"

"The note told me," Zheng Zhihao said, holding up the note. "Because it wasn't written long ago, it contained a lot of her information, so it was easy to find. Do you want to give it a try?"

"You mean I can do it too? How?" Li Hong found it unbelievable. She took the note and, imitating Zheng Zhihao, pressed it to her forehead. "And then?"

“Close your eyes, concentrate on the paper, and imagine yourself as the paper,” Zheng Zhihao said softly beside her.

Li Hong did as instructed. However, after waiting for a long time, she still didn't sense anything. She couldn't help but feel anxious. How could this be?! If he could find all this information from a single note, then there would be no need for the police to solve cases anymore. How did he manage to do that?

"Don't rush, take your time, you'll succeed," Zheng Zhihao whispered in her ear again. His words seemed to have a great effect; Li Hong felt no longer restless, and her heart was filled with a sense of peace.

Slowly, a strange spot of light appeared before Li Hong's eyes, within which she could vaguely see someone moving, like watching a poorly focused movie—the image was extremely blurry. However, she could still discern an old man's face. She wanted to look more closely to see who it was, but the image vanished.

Li Hong put down the note dejectedly. She opened her eyes and saw Zheng Zhihao excitedly: "How about that? Did you see it?"

"I can't see anything clearly, it's too blurry," Li Hong complained. "It's a waste of time."

“After all, there’s not much information left on the note,” Zheng Zhihao said happily. “You’re really amazing, much more amazing than I was back then.”

"Really?" Li Hong turned to look at him. Receiving his praise made her a little smug. However, she didn't know whether she should be happy or alarmed. "What are you so proud of?" she teased.

"I'm happy for you," Zheng Zhihao said with a grin. "You have a high level of comprehension."

"Alright, alright." Li Hong became a little embarrassed. She handed the note back to Zheng Zhihao and said, "This is yours, along with the portrait. Go check it out. I have to wait for news from Beijing."

“Okay!” Zheng Zhihao took the note and carefully put away the portrait. “Let’s meet again tonight. If the boss comes back, we’ll go find him together.”

37. The witch's name (1)

After Zheng Zhihao left, Li Hong quickly packed her luggage and went to the bathroom to wash clothes, otherwise she wouldn't have anything to wear tomorrow. Just as she finished soaking the clothes, the phone rang; it was Xiao Jia calling.

"Hello, is this Teacher Li? This is Xiao Jia."

"Hello Xiao Jia, this is Li Hong. Have you found it?"

"We've basically figured it out. Do you have paper and pen? Please write this down."

"Okay, okay, just a moment." Li Hong came out of the bathroom, wiping her hands as she looked for her notebook. "Alright, go ahead."

"First of all, Wang Ya, whom you specifically asked to pay attention to, is using a fake ID," the person on the other end of the phone said.

"What? A fake ID?" Li Hong felt her heart sink.

"Yes, the ID card is fake. The ID number belongs to another girl named Hu Lili. This Hu Lili is from Hubei, born in 1986, and is currently studying in Wuhan. There are too many women named Wang Ya. Even if you know she is 20 to 22 years old, there are still thousands of people with the same name, so we have no way to confirm it."

"Alright then." Li Hong made a note in her notebook. "What about the rest of the people?"

"The rest of the people are easy to handle. Remember what I said."

"Okay, go ahead and say it."

"Zhang Tianhai and Niu Benxin are from Shandong Province and were both salesmen at the Yantai Machinery Factory in Shandong. They are still working at the factory and have no criminal record. Liu Huiquan and Zhao Lingling are from Zhejiang Province and were husband and wife. Liu Huiquan was an accountant at 'Xile' Garment Company in Wenling City, Zhejiang Province. He committed suicide on December 5, 2006. The cause of death was a ruptured carotid artery, followed by hemorrhagic shock. The death certificate was issued by the Forest Park Medical Center in Donggang District, Rizhao City, Shandong Province..."

“Speak slowly, I’ll write this down.” Li Hong became excited, her pen flying across her notebook—Liu Huiquan was another person who committed suicide in room 104! But this didn’t attract the attention of the police. “OK, I’ve written it down. I want to ask if you have the contact information for Liu Huiquan’s family.” Li Hong asked, wanting to continue to inquire about further information from the deceased’s family.

“I have his hometown phone number and his wife’s mobile phone number here.”

"That's great, tell me."

"0576-×××××××, mobile number is 139××××××××"

"OK, I've got it. Let's continue."

"Guo Hongwei and Chu Shuzhen, who are behind, are from Beijing and are a married couple. They are both ophthalmologists at Beijing Haidian Hospital and are still working there. They have no criminal record."

"And what about Li Chaoyang?"