Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Taxi's Driver Statement

The inspector was in the observation room observing with a penetrating gaze the white-skinned young man on the other side of the glass, in the interrogation room. The door to the observation room opened and Lieutenant Dark entered, who handed the case report to his boss, who was still there, without taking his eyes off the young man.

“Gave the same answers again inspector.”

“Did they find anyone else in the area?”

“No, the officers who were guarding the place at the beginning didn’t see anyone either.” Lieutenant Khem turned to look at the young man in the interrogation room before sighing. “I don't know, inspector. I think this guy doesn't look like a murderer at all, not only because of his face and appearance, but the evidence he provided is not suspicious. Why would you take a taxi to the scene? In any case, there would be no more witnesses who would see all the corpses. Is that really possible?”

Singha did not respond as he was reading the case report in his hand. It was at the same moment that the door to the observation room opened again, and the young police officer who had recently been transferred entered.

“Inspector, here is the taxi driver's information. They have already issued the order for him to appear to testify. Another thing, Dr. Say has returned. “They have already transferred the bodies of all the victims.”

“Um,” Singha returned to the interrogation room again. As soon as the young man entered he felt so tense that he automatically sat up straight.

"Get up."

“Where will they take me?”

“Back to the cell. “I need to use this room.”

“Can I stay somewhere else? Another cell, a warehouse, whatever, but not that room, please?” The young man immediately became nervous. What's wrong with not being able to go back to that room? “I already told you everything, it's the truth. But no one believes me anyway.”

The young inspector used his tongue to push his cheeks and vent the frustration in his heart.

“Inspector, Doctor Say is calling you.” Lieutenant Khem opened the door and conveyed the message to his boss.

“Okay, I'll go now.” Singha held Thup's shirt collar to make him follow, not caring if the other party was just pretending to cry. “Sergeant, is there another room available?”

“Just the cell at the end of the hallway, Inspector.”

Singha stretched the collar of the young man's shirt, so that he would follow him up the stairs. Although the distance between their steps was not far, it seemed that Thup could not follow the steps of the person in front of him.

“Sorry officer, I can't keep up with you.” But the inspector did not slow his steps or his grip, making it difficult for Thup to breathe.

When they arrived in front of one of the offices there was a sign, apparently it was the inspector's office. Thup immediately pursed his lips. The door to the room opened at the same time as the older man pushed the younger man inside, before walking over to get the key from the desk drawer. This room is a room with only one entrance and exit, therefore being detained here temporarily would probably be enough to solve the problem, at least until the investigation is completed. Thup decided to sit on the long black sofa, and looked around, looking a little paranoid.

“If you want, you can lie down and get some sleep.”

“Thank you,” the young man said. Suddenly the phone that Singha had in his pocket rang, he took it out and answered, without taking his eyes off the young man in front of him.

[Where are you?]

“Upstairs, in my office.”

[Come down, my friend. I have something to show you.]

"Wait a minute." Singha cut the call immediately before walking over to open the small refrigerator inside the room, from where he took out two bottles of water and threw one at the young man sitting on the couch.

“Stay here and don't think about causing trouble.”

“Thank you, Inspector Singha.” The person whose name was called looked around a bit before leaving, not forgetting to lock the room from the outside.

He went down the stairs and went towards the forensic department room, the noise coming from the autopsy room did not cause him any discomfort or fear. Once inside, he met his friend, a young man with red hair that contrasted with the white coat he was wearing. He walked towards him while he finished suturing a corpse, with four other open corpses behind him.

"What do you have?"

“Come closer, take a look, and put on gloves.” Singha picked up the gloves from the box and put them on before walking over and standing next to his friend. “The bodies of the seven victims do not look anything alike physically, this is the corpse of an eighteen-year-old male. As for that one, he was a man of about forty-three years old. There was also a young girl of about fourteen years old.” Say pointed to the figures arranged in order on the autopsy tables, before going to the back. “This corpse is a fifteen-year-old male. Another was a trans, about thirty years old. Another body was that of a nineteen-year-old male, and the last was that of a fifteen-year-old woman.” Singha looked at each of the bodies of the deceased, especially the body of the youngest boy and girl. “I know you think so too. The murderer does not thus specify the nature of the victim. It’s definitely hard work.”

“It is not yet certain that they are not related in some way. Each one must have a story. We will investigate that in detail later.”

"Well I hope so." Say walked back to where he stood from the first corpse once again. “Each corpse was treated the same, in terms of sewing red thread over both eyes. They also sewed their lips until they were completely closed. Look, the victim's neck had a strangulation mark caused by the rope in part, but it had deeper marks.”

"A cable?" Singha bent down to look at the back of the deceased's head. In addition to the marks from the rope that had been pulled taut until it left a bruise, there is still a small cut deeper than the rope can reach.

"I'm not sure yet. But I think that's probably right. This cut is the cause, it was death by asphyxiation. The victim was probably surprised and strangled from behind with a thin wire or cable-like material. The more he fought, the harder he pressed. The cut went deep into the flesh, so I think the killer is probably a juvenile or adult, about sixty inches tall or taller.”

“And what additional things were found at the crime scene?”

“Nothing suspicious, but I will check the photographs again. “There were two prints, one from our police officer, the other from the suspect.”

“That boy is over one hundred and eighty tall,” Singha muttered to himself.

"I don't think the issue of the threads used to sew the eyes and mouth is to try to prevent the victim from screaming for help or trying to escape, but rather it is more likely that the murderer suffers from some mental illness or likes to torture people." victims.

“Check the cut on the neck and the thread in case there is anything. Also, if the victim was strangled and was still conscious, probably trying to fight back, check for tissue under the fingernails. There may be DNA from the killer.”

"Okay, I'll take care of it."

“If you find anything else, let me know. And also send me the results of the autopsies.”

“I will hand them over when I finish them.” Then the two separated to do their own homework.

Singha returned to the interrogation room, because an officer had sent a message informing him that the taxi driver was waiting to give his statement, but the young police officer's feet stopped suddenly, to change direction towards his own office.

…

The young man was sitting in the office of the highest ranking person at this station, he looked left and right before laying down weakly on the sofa. He stared at the white ceiling and sighed. She was missing the amulet necklace that Luang Pu gave her. Probably without it, I would surely have nightmares, or see these things again.

"That I have to do?" Thup muttered softly to himself, but suddenly felt a black shadow pass by the glass door. His heart, which was already calm, began to race again. The young man consoled himself by thinking that he was just thinking too much, or maybe it was just tiredness from not eating, since he had not eaten or slept in many hours. Brandishing her pair of beautiful eyes, she looked straight at the door glass indifferently, until she saw the shadow of a woman, slowly becoming lighter. The shape was on the outside. Thup sat back down and hugged his knees, bowing his head again. If I didn't lift my head, if I didn't look, those scary things wouldn't come back. But then he heard the sound of the doorknob, which made his heart drop to the corners of his eyes: “Don't fool yourself. Do not fool yourself."

“Will there be a time when I will see you in a normal state?” A familiar voice made the young man look up immediately.

“Mr. Inspector.”

“Do you remember the taxi driver's face?”

"Yes Yes." When Singha got the answer he wanted, he showed him the handcuffs.

"What are you looking at?" the inspector asked when he saw the boy in front of him looking at him and the door without blinking.

"Nothing."

“Then get up and follow me.”

"Where we go? You won’t take me to the cell again, will you?”

“If I answer yes, what will you do?” Singha asked in an annoyed tone, when he saw that the young man refused to follow him, then he sighed and rolled his eyes: “Come on, follow me.”

Just as they were about to reach the interrogation room, the figure suddenly stopped walking and turned around. He looked down the hallway that led to the forensics department. He saw a girl standing on the other side, crying, but instead of tears, blood was running down her cheeks, turning completely red.

"What's going on?"

“There's a girl standing there.” Singha looked in the direction the white fingers were pointing, but found only emptiness.

“Tell me how I know.”

“She's still young. Long black hair that reaches the middle of the back. “He wears a yellow t-shirt and overalls.”

Singha frowned, and again took Thup by the collar to follow him. He thought that after all, the young man probably only described one of the victims he saw at the scene. I wouldn't believe their nonsense. The two walked towards the observation room. The investigation that Singha was carrying out also included monitoring the taxi driver. While behind the glass, Singha asked the suspect next to him: “Is that the taxi driver?”

"Yes it's him."

Her name was Danai. “What color was your taxi?”

"Pink." Singha nodded, then stood there next to the young man, looking toward the interrogation room, where an officer began questioning the taxi driver.

“Hello Mr. Danai. “You must have been very surprised when you received the order to report here.”

"Only a little." the man responded.

“Then let's get started, shall we? Would you like to drink some water first?”

"I don't believe it."

“Okay, then I'll start. Today we asked him to come forward to ask about a passenger he transported last night. I'm not sure if you remember it or not, but please tell me everything you remember. You are the driver of a pink Toyota taxi. Registration zero, seven, eight, is that correct?”

"That's how it is."

“His name is Mr. Danai. Is that correct?"

"That's how it is."

“Between afternoon and midnight yesterday, a passenger, a man between twenty-five and thirty years old, got into his taxi and called his taxi from in front of condominium xxx, to take him to a house on the outskirts of the city. , he remembers?"

“I remember that boy.” The taxi driver stopped to think for a moment before responding a little nervously.

“Do you remember what you were wearing?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, he was probably wearing a white t-shirt, and a gray coat. “I’m not sure what pants he was wearing, but he was tall, fair-skinned, and good-looking.” Singha looked with bright eyes at the young man next to him, because the taxi driver uncle correctly described Thup's appearance.

“Can you tell me how you acted before you got in the car? And during the trip, until you reach your destination.”

“When he stopped my car, his attitude seemed very agitated. While we were in the car, we didn't talk much. But I asked him what he was going to do in the woods in the middle of the night, but he didn't say much, just that he thought something bad might happen.”

“And what happened next?”

“During the trip the road was deserted. The atmosphere was very calm, so I put on some music, and that's why we didn't talk much. I drove for a while, and suddenly the guy told me to stop the car. He paid me and asked me to wait. Then he went down and walked towards the forest.”

“Did he have anything with him? Or did he go into the forest with someone?”

“I remember going empty-handed, and there was no one, but…”

"But what?"

“Well, my friends often tell stories and say that that part of the forest is dangerous. I was afraid that something would happen to me, so when I felt very alone, I decided to leave.”

“Where did he go after that?”

“I parked my car at a store about two kilometers away, because I wasn't sure if I should go back and wait for him or not.”

“Talking about stories. Can you tell me what they say about that area?”

“They say that in that area someone saw an old woman, others say that it is a young woman, who is always standing in the forest, next to the road. She wears a blue sleeveless blouse and a green floral print sarong and likes to carry an old-fashioned lantern. Some friends have seen her suddenly appear walking in front of their cars. And if someone passes by, they often encounter other people who, they say, have died from accidents. That's why no one likes to pass by there.”

“Did you ever see any of those people?”

"No. But they say they are the owners of the mountain, and the forest.” The taxi driver recalled, with a fearful expression, as he rubbed his arm.

Singha sighed before turning to look at the young man next to him who was already standing looking at the inspector.

“I didn't really lie,” Thup said.

“I haven't said anything yet.”

“I don't know what to say to you, Inspector. But I didn't actually kill anyone. “I already told you that it is the work of a ghost.”

“Ghosts don't use wires to kill people, nor do they sew people's eyes and mouths shut, so stick to your theories about ghosts.”

It seems that this case is not going to be easy at all.