Death Notice by Zhou HaoHui

Author:Zhou HaoHui [Haohui, Zhou]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2018-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Pei was struck by the sparse tidiness of Mu’s room. A book titled Beyond Freedom and Dignity lay on the side of her reading desk, next to a neat stack of folders.

After removing her shoes, Mu sat down cross-legged on her bed. “Bring that chair over,” she said, motioning toward the chair at the desk. “And those files.”

Pei did just that, and Mu spread the contents of the folders across the bed. The documents were filled with information Pei had never seen before, including written records and analyses concerning his involvement in the case.

The more he read, the lower his mood sank. Once he felt he had already hit an emotional bottom, he shut his eyes and began rubbing his cheeks, gradually working his way to the back of his head. To Mu, it looked as if he were trying to squeeze something out from inside his brain. Or perhaps trying to keep something in.

He turned back to the files, slowly flipping through them. When he reached a certain page, he stopped. A look of astonishment spread across his face.

“What is it?” Mu asked, the hair on the back of her neck prickling.

“Unbelievable. It’s unbelievable!” His eyes were gaping wide. “How could they ignore such an important discrepancy?”

“What discrepancy?”

“The time! The time is wrong!” Pei pointed to the time stamp on one page. “Look right here. The file records the time of the warehouse explosion as 4:13 in the afternoon. No. I clearly remember telling the police that the explosion happened at 4:15! It even says so here in my statement!”

“It’s only two minutes. But still…”

Mu cut herself off with a gentle shake of her head. She, too, had noted the differing times, but it had not seemed important enough to consider as a significant clue. The police recorded the explosion at 4:13 p.m., based on data recorded by the city’s environmental department. The accuracy of this information was beyond question. Pei’s testimony was off by two minutes; what was so strange about that?

“No, you can’t doubt me here!” Pei said vehemently, as if anticipating what Mu was already thinking. “I was watching the clock on my wall the whole time I was talking to Meng. When the explosion cut the signal, the time was 4:15. I can tell you everything about that moment—the two birds chirping outside my window, the empty Coke bottle on my desk, the crackle from my radio. And the clock said 4:15. That was the time, right down to the second!”

“So your clock was fast.”

“I used to wind that clock every single night. I’d double-check it against the time announced on the radio. It was a habit of mine; as long as I was staying in my dorm, I never broke it. That clock was extremely precise. It would keep perfect time for up to two weeks at a time.”

“For argument’s sake, let’s say you are right about the time.” Mu decided to try and accept Pei’s explanation, if only temporarily. But she was still skeptical.

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