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墨書 Inktalez
After dinner, we realized that Anderson had not come out of his cabin for an entire day, which was clearly abnormal. There was no food in the cabin; how could he possibly stay there for a whole day? This thought struck me as quite unbelievable. With this in mind, I immediately gathered a few young men and began pounding on Anderson's cabin door.
I knocked and shouted, but there was no response. After several minutes of silence, I felt a surge of alarm; something might have happened. I kicked the door, but it was firmly locked. The door was reinforced with several thick alloy bars, and without a key card, we couldn't get in.
Some crew members had already been summoned, including Zhao Mingkun, who approached and asked, "What’s going on?"
"Anderson hasn’t come out of his room for a whole day. He hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday afternoon, and we suspect something might have happened," I quickly explained. "So hurry up and get the key card; we need to check on Anderson!"
The crew member replied, "Key card? Only the room owner has that. We can't keep it. If someone loses their key card, we have to unlock all the rooms through the control room to find it! But this isn’t something I can decide on my own; I need to consult with my superiors..."
"No need to consult," Zhao Mingkun said as he pulled something from his pocket and showed it to the crew member. "Do as this gentleman says immediately."
The crew member dashed away, and within a few minutes, we heard a loud "click" in the hallway as all the doors swung open. Without hesitation, I pushed open the cabin door. This ship was quite luxurious, resembling a hotel room.
Inside, Anderson lay motionless on the large bed. The VCR was in standby mode, indicating that he had been watching a tape before he died. I rushed over to check Anderson's pulse and breath. But it was clear—Anderson was dead.
As others attempted to enter the room to help, I waved them back and said, "Don’t come in! Anderson is dead. From what I see, this is likely a murder. I’m a police officer; please follow my instructions. Call for the ship's doctor immediately!"
Upon hearing this, everyone stood outside in the hallway and did not enter further. It then struck me that I had instinctively referred to myself as a police officer; in reality, I could no longer claim that title. I wondered about the situation back home; perhaps it would be difficult for our special task force to survive this incident.
Sighing, I realized now wasn’t the time for such thoughts—the priority was to investigate what had happened. The doctor arrived shortly after with Zhao Mingkun and began a series of basic examinations on the body. However, this doctor wasn’t a forensic expert, and there were no facilities available for an autopsy.
Nevertheless, the doctor provided a preliminary conclusion: Anderson did not appear to have committed suicide. There were slight marks on his wrists and neck suggesting he had been restrained by someone who likely forced him to ingest poison or something similar. However, this was merely speculation; we couldn’t even identify what kind of poison it might be until we reached land for a detailed autopsy.
The estimated time of death seemed to be between eleven in the morning and two in the afternoon based on rigor mortis and corneal conditions; however, pinpointing it down to the minute would require an autopsy onshore.
The doctor's findings were essentially inconclusive; no one expected such an incident would occur on a ship. I nodded while carefully observing my surroundings and the condition of the body. It truly didn’t seem like suicide—who would commit suicide while watching a video? That seemed absurd.
I recalled that we had gone to call Anderson around twelve fifteen; at that time, he was still alive and had even snapped at me impatiently. This meant that someone must have entered his room after we left and killed him; thus, we could narrow down the time of death between twelve fifteen and two o'clock.
There were seven or eight of us who could confirm this timeline. However, after we left, who else had entered? That was the crucial question. I turned to Zhao Mingkun and asked, "Is there surveillance in the hallway?"
"No," Zhao Mingkun said decisively.
I nodded and looked at Zhao Mingkun seriously for a moment. Initially, I suspected her, but upon further reflection, I realized there was no need for that. If Zhao Mingkun were the one who committed the murder, she would likely tell me, as I was well aware of the kind of person she was and the organization behind her.
In this regard, there was no reason for Zhao Mingkun to lie to me, so she should not be the Killer. If she remained silent, her bodyguards, who never left their posts, were certainly not Killers either. Thus, I could rule out their suspicion. The main task now was to eliminate all alibis, leaving only those without proof of their whereabouts as potential suspects.
To this end, I gathered everyone on the deck while leaving Zhao Mingkun's people to guard the entrance of the corridor, preventing anyone from taking advantage of the chaos to tamper with the scene. The captain and crew had alibis; they were all working, and many could vouch for each other.
Moreover, analyzing their motives revealed that these individuals had little reason to commit such an act. This left us passengers as the remaining suspects. A few people clarified their whereabouts: the Fat Man and the African American Girl were playing on the deck and even encountered the Brazilian Girl walking her dog; several businessmen were chatting in the restaurant; Mai Lang and I were playing Chinese Chess; Davis had just received an injection and found his room card locked inside his cabin, so he went to find the captain, who told him it would be dealt with in the evening. Consequently, Davis spent time chatting with the captain. Zhao Mingkun's subordinates worked alongside the crew and could also be ruled out.
With these individuals eliminated from suspicion based on their timelines, only a few remained who had potential opportunities to commit the crime. This included Zhao Mingkun and a middle-aged man posing as her father—let's refer to him as Middle-Aged Man. There was also an elderly woman in her seventies and a businessman sleeping in his cabin.
Aside from these individuals, everyone else had alibis proving their innocence.
I furrowed my brow. Could it really be Zhao Mingkun? I addressed everyone: "Until we clarify this matter, I kindly ask that you do not return to your cabins. The ship is large and has more than one deck. Soon, I will discuss with the captain about arranging for everyone to stay on an upper deck; this is for Anderson's sake and to ensure no one gets implicated."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Mai Lang said, "I need to get my cat and parrot! Otherwise, they'll starve."
I nodded apologetically and replied, "That’s certainly fine, but we need someone to accompany you. You don’t mind that, do you? Although you’re not a suspect, we still need to protect the scene from being disturbed."
Mai Lang nodded and said, "I understand, and thank you for understanding my situation."
Mai Lang retrieved her cat and parrot. By now it was evening; with a murder having occurred, no one was interested in staying on deck to enjoy the night view anymore. One by one, they cooperated with the captain to move into rooms on the upper deck. Of course, I needed to question the remaining suspects carefully.
I first called Zhao Mingkun out and got straight to the point: "I'm not going to waste time with pleasantries. Just tell me if it was one of your people who did this. I know what kind of person you are and that you've killed many before. If you killed one more person, you shouldn't mind telling me about it."
Zhao Mingkun replied firmly, "No! Since you've asked so directly, I can answer: it wasn't me. My subordinates couldn't have done it either; they wouldn't act without my orders. Unless they wanted to throw away their lives—and as for that old woman and the American businessman, I don't know about them."
"Are you sure?" I couldn't help but ask further.
Zhao Mingkun said, "Do I really need to? With something like this happening, do you think our organization is all-powerful? We can just kill without considering the consequences? This situation is troublesome for us as well! If we were such an organization, we would have conquered the world long ago instead of hiding away!"
With that, Zhao Mingkun left. His words were not without reason.
The middle-aged man echoed this sentiment, insisting that they would never take the risk of exposing the organization by committing murder. If they were to kill someone, they would certainly find a better excuse than simply doing it outright.
As for the old lady, I couldn't believe that she could be capable of murder. The doctor had previously mentioned that Anderson showed signs of having been controlled by someone. It was hard to believe that an old lady could accomplish such a feat. Although she was quite spry for her age, she still couldn't possibly overpower a middle-aged man in his forties. If Anderson were that weak, he might as well be dead.
Then there was the businessman from America, who appeared to be in his fifties, with a paunch and a balding head, just like any ordinary middle-aged man. He claimed to have been sleeping in his cabin but provided no proof whatsoever. Could this man be the Killer?
Despite being another businessman from America, this individual had no prior acquaintance with Anderson; they had only met on the ship. In fact, compared to these people, there was one person who should have had a strong motive for the crime, yet this person lacked the opportunity to commit it. Conversely, this businessman had the opportunity but no apparent motive, which was rather intriguing.
It seemed that simply asking questions would not lead us to the true Killer. To uncover the truth, we needed to thoroughly search for evidence left behind in this section of the ship's cabin. I ordered the bodyguards to keep an eye on these individuals, including Zhao Mingkun and the middle-aged man, to ensure fairness and justice; when the case was solved, someone needed to be watching them.
Next, I instructed the remaining bodyguards to search this level of the ship's cabin for something specific: a room key card!
On my first voyage at sea, I encountered a well-known Bengal Aid Worker. Young and impulsive, but too poor to really make a move until the First Mate told me that a bag of instant noodles could get me through a night with a group of women...
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