Chapter 18 — After Doctor Diep Disappeared

Co Han Chau's hand holding the phone was shaking. He didn't say anything, just hung up the phone, grabbed the car keys and rushed downstairs. He pulled the car door open and slammed it shut, the roar of the engine tearing through the garage. He drove from the villa to the hospital. The road that normally takes forty minutes took him only eighteen minutes. Three red lights, pass them all. The intensive care room hallway was deserted. The smell of disinfectant was so strong that it was suffocating. The nurse on duty saw him, stood up, her lips moved, as if she wanted to stop him but didn't dare to stop him. Co Han Chau pushed open the door of the ICU room and strode in. Third bed. The white bed sheet had been pulled up to the very end, covering it flat, with no undulations underneath. The heart rate monitor was turned off, the screen was black. The oxygen tube was neatly rolled up and hung on the bedside shelf. Diep's mother has passed away. Co Han Chau stood at the end of the bed, his chest felt as if it was pressed against a rock. He remembered the last time Diep's mother talked to him before she had a stroke. The old lady sat in a wheelchair, her eyes could no longer see clearly, but she still grabbed his sleeve tightly.

“Han Chau, you promised me, you must treat Nam Sanh well.”

“I promised.”

At that time, he just nodded for formality. Now, that wheelchair is empty, the person is no more. Her daughter was also nowhere to be found. The nurse on duty walked over, holding a bill in her hand.

"Mr. Co, this is the last invoice that Ms. Diep left behind before leaving, all payments have been completed."

“This has her signature on it.”

Co Han Chau received it. The signature at the bottom of the invoice is distorted, the pen strokes are broken, and some words are almost unrecognizable. Write with your left hand. Because her right hand is disabled. The right hand that once held the scalpel on the operating table, with perfect precision, was crushed bone by bone by Tham Moc Ngung's high heels. Now she can only use her left hand, like a child just learning to write, painstakingly signing each stroke of her name. But each stroke of the pen used so much force that the surface of the paper sunk down. Co Han Chau's thumb rubbed over that signature, the tip of his finger felt the bulging mark on the back of the paper. His hands began to tremble, from his fingertips to his wrists. There was something rising in my chest, stuck in my throat, unable to swallow or spit out. He folded the bill neatly, put it in the inside pocket of his vest, pressed it close to his left chest. After that, he called Trieu Minh.

“Airport security camera, extract here.”

Fifteen minutes later, a security camera video was sent to his phone. The frame is black and white, the angle is at the airport security check area, the displayed time is 8:43 this morning. Diep Nam Sanh wore a thin black jacket, his hair tied arbitrarily at the back of his head, dragging an old canvas bag, lining up in line. Her whole body was very thin, her coat was loose on her body. The security officer scanned her documents, she bowed her head, placed her bag on the conveyor belt, turned around and walked into the aisle. In the camera, her back became smaller and smaller, finally disappearing behind the security checkpoint. Co Han Chau stared at the phone screen and looked at it Watch the twelve-second video again seven times. His eye sockets were red, blood streaks from the corners of his eyes spreading to the edges of his pupils.

“Trieu Minh.”

His voice was so hoarse it was formless, like his throat was stuffed with broken glass.

“Even if I dig three meters deep in the ground, I still have to find her for me.”

—

Chapter 12 It rained heavily from midnight until noon.