Silent Bones (Part 3)
Gloria nearly buried her head in her chest. "He tried to—he was trying to take my pants off... Justin beat him up and locked him in the cage. Then you showed up. I'm telling the truth, I swear. You said someone died? I don't know anything about that. I just wanted money. How could I kill anyone? I wouldn't have the guts in ten lifetimes!"
No matter how we questioned her, Gloria couldn't provide anything of substance—just tears.
Leaving the interrogation room, Old He asked for my assessment.
I scratched my head. "She's uneducated, passive, easy to push around. We need to catch Sean."
Yang disagreed. "She's smart."
Just then, the fingerprint results came back from the cement. The partial print matched Justin Zhou. And the man who'd accompanied Derrick Tian to transfer the property a month ago? Also Justin Zhou.
Yang grabbed the files and headed back to the interrogation room.
Justin was still playing the tough guy, denying everything.
Yang tossed the crime scene photos on the table. "Let's skip the dance. You don't have time. DNA matching is in progress, and the victim's identity will be confirmed soon. I'm giving you one chance to come clean. If you keep playing games, based on Gloria's testimony alone—murder, disposal of a body, fraud, aggravated assault—none of it sticks to you."
Justin blinked. "Gloria?"
Yang told him that while he'd been stonewalling, Gloria had confessed to everything.
Justin sneered. "Don't try that on me. Sanmei wouldn't sell me out. And even if it's my mother's body—so what? I didn't even know my mother was dead. You found her, I should be thanking you."
Yang said, "Careless of you—the body took three years to be discovered. But careful enough to leave a fingerprint on the cement."
Justin's expression shifted.
Yang produced two photos. The first, the fingerprint match: "The dead can't speak, but heaven spoke for her. You didn't know your mother was dead? Then how did your fingerprint end up on the cement that entombed her?" The second, the small cross-hatch pouch: "You should recognize this. There are only two in the entire world. It didn't protect her, but it led us to you."
At the sight of the pouch, Justin's breathing quickened.
Yang slammed the photos down. "Your mother poured her whole heart into you. She sewed you a talisman, called you her blessing—and this is how you repay her? Are you even human?"
"I didn't kill my mother!"
Yang ignored his outburst, pressing harder. "You really think Gloria would protect you? She was protecting Sean! She tipped him off right in front of us. What makes you think she's on your side? Loyalty?"
"I didn't kill my mother!" Justin's voice cracked with hysteria, nothing like the defeated man from the neighborhood interviews. "Even if my fingerprint is there—I didn't kill my mother! Sanmei wouldn't betray me. Don't try to pin this on me!"
Yang sighed and produced the housing authority surveillance still, looking at Justin with something close to pity. "Evidence convicts. The person who impersonated Maya was you. The person who staged the debt collection was you. The person who pressured Derrick into selling his home was you. The person who beat people and locked them in cages was you. And the person we caught red-handed is you. Gloria is a weak woman. Sean, at most, is an accomplice. Have you ever wondered why every witness and every piece of evidence points to one person?"
He set a pair of police gloves on the table.
"Most importantly—why is there only your fingerprint in the cement? And no trace of anyone else?"
"Someone else..." Justin murmured, eyes fixed on the gloves.
Then his whole body jolted. "Gloria made Sean wear gloves!"
Justin had taken the bait.
When trust collapses entirely, all that's left is self-preservation.
From Justin Zhou's mouth, the grotesque truth finally surfaced.
Three years ago, Maya did owe Gloria two thousand yuan in gambling debts. But when Sean showed up at the door, the IOU had ballooned to twenty thousand.
Maya refused. Sean and his thugs beat the couple senseless. Then, while they were recovering, Sean and Gloria moved into the Zhou apartment and held the entire family hostage through violence and intimidation.
Maya eventually capitulated, promising to "repay" the debt. But by then, Gloria's appetite had grown. She didn't just want twenty thousand—she wanted Maya's properties, her car, her savings.
Gloria's weapon wasn't her fists.
At the time, Grandma Zhou and Maya were locked in a bitter feud over whether to have children. Justin, as the live-in son-in-law, had no standing in the household. He couldn't even speak up for his own mother.
The Zhou family had been fracturing for years. Gloria saw the cracks and wedged them wide open.
She convened "family meetings."
At these gatherings, she encouraged them to accuse, berate, and attack one another. She established strict rules: confiscate all phones; no one leaves the apartment; meals, water, bathroom breaks, and sleep were permitted only at designated times and places. Infractions were punished. Compliance was rewarded.
And the number-one way to earn a reward was to inflict suffering on your own family.
For food, for water, for the right to sleep in a bed instead of on the floor, the three Zhous began turning on one another. Grandma Zhou, old and frail, fell ill quickly. Justin begged Gloria to let him take his mother to a doctor. But Maya, in exchange for a single slice of bread, suggested locking Grandma Zhou in the bathroom without food or water.
"That's what she said," Justin said, his eyes red, laughing in a way that held no humor. "She said, 'We can't let her infect us.' She wasn't human. Even if my mother did something wrong—she was still my mother! She wanted to live, so she'd let my mother die?"
Grandma Zhou died in squalor. Justin was on the verge of collapse. He tried to steal his phone back to call for help, but Sean caught him. He thought he was going to die. But Gloria intervened.
"I did something wrong," Justin recalled. "I deserved to be punished. For a day and a night, I couldn't sleep, eat, or use the bathroom. I had to stand and face the wall. Sanmei—Gloria—pitied me. She told me not to do anything reckless. She said my mother's death was on Maya's hands as much as mine, and if we were exposed, neither of us would escape. But she wouldn't let anything happen to me. She had a way to make it all go away."
Desperate, Justin followed Gloria's instructions. He and Sean placed his mother's body inside the iron barrel and filled it with cement.
He hadn't known she was still clutching her protective charm. And in his grief, when he reached for his mother one last time, he'd pressed his hand into the wet cement—leaving behind his only piece of evidence.
After that, Gloria sold Maya's home. To avoid detection, she and Sean forced the couple out of the city.
By now, Maya realized she'd outlived her usefulness. Terrified of becoming the next victim, she tried to escape on the road. But Justin caught her.
"If you'd lived what I lived, you'd have done the same," Justin said through clenched teeth. "I wasn't letting that woman go!"
Grandma Zhou's death had unhinged him. Maya's attempted escape severed his last emotional tie. He dragged her back and handed her to Sean, who beat her to death. Justin wept in shock and despair.
Gloria comforted him. She gave him hope.
"Gloria wasn't like Maya. She understood me. She said we were the real family—Maya was the outsider. Outsiders deserve to die. She'd protect me. She'd never let anything happen to me."
Again under Gloria's guidance, Justin dumped Maya's naked body in the mountains.
Once a life derails, it can never get back on track.
Justin fell for Gloria—hard.
To prove himself, to win her favor, to show he was as capable as Sean, Justin transformed from victim to perpetrator.
He decided he could control everything.
Just as Gloria controlled them—he would become a god who controlled others.
A god needs disciples. Justin needed Derrick Tian.
Gloria explained that while they had a sizeable sum, three people would burn through it quickly. She didn't want to live poor again. They needed a new household to exploit.
The ideal target met several criteria:
First, the household had to include more than one person. This allowed for "family meetings"—encouraging victims to attack and punish each other. As long as the abusers weren't Sean, Gloria, or Justin, nobody could pin a murder charge directly on them.
Second, the target needed savings and real estate. Cash was petty change. The real money was in property—sell the house, and you had a windfall. The car, with switched plates and basic modification, became their next getaway vehicle.
Third, the target had to have simple social ties. If they suddenly stopped appearing, a single text claiming they'd emigrated or moved away for business would delay any alarm. By the time someone grew suspicious, Sean, Gloria, and Justin would be long gone.