Odds

At a time when Inspector Wang was berating the couple in his mind, he got another phone call. This time it was from the police officer tracking the trails of the couple after they left the coffee shop, "Sir, this doesn't look too good. After they separated outside the coffee shop, Weihan Lin directly went to the airport and got on a plane to Lyon, France. I checked with his company, and this is definitely not a business trip. He shouldn't have enough savings to make a personal trip, but when I checked his bank account, I found he cashed a large cashier's check two days ago, withdrew all his money and closed his account. He even deactivated his cell phone."

"You mean to say this is all premeditated, but what for?" Inspector Wang frowned. "Have you figured out where the wife went? What about his affair partner? Is she sponsoring his trip and supplying the ideas?"

"This...well," the officer on the other end stammered, "Well, I checked... no, I tried to look up the affair partner, but someone blocked my search. There was no information at all. With my level of authority, I can't do more. You know how these things go... with those people above, my hands are tied."

Inspector Wang's frown deepened. "Okay, leave that b*tch alone. What about the other one? I mean, the wife. Did you find her?"

"Yes...no," the officer replied with hesitation.

"So which one is it- yes or no?" Inspector Wang was running out of patience.

"After separating from Mr. Weihan Lin, Mrs. Mei Lin got into a cab parked nearby- a dark blue Toyota Prius V Hybrid. It apparently headed towards their apartment, but never made it to their destination. We got the license plate of the car. Only that license number never existed; it's a fake license plate. No idea who the driver is. We know the car made it to N highway through satellite imagery, but there's a secluded stretch of road with dense tree canopy after that. We don't know what happened after. No car, no driver, no passenger. Everything seems to have disappeared into thin air," the officer rushed to report all in one breath.

At the same time, Inspector Wang got another call. He saw that the number was from his supervisor. He took the call, and put the field officer on hold. His supervisor was sparse with words as usual. He said only three things: "Drop this case. You will be assigned to another case in M city. Don't meddle in what's not your business." That was it. Inspector Wang knew this case was over. He still had to call Gao Han. That was the last thing he could do. Even though he knew that his action would be of little consolation to the other party. Not for the first time in his life, Inspector Wang felt inadequate with regard to his job. It had once been his dream job- redressing injustice and helping commoners. But since he got the job, he never once lived his dream.