Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Mary's words made everyone feel a bit awkward, and no one knew how to respond. Could it be that someone inside our team had leaked information? I recalled the previous Five-Pointed Star Murder Case, where the mastermind was one of our own, Captain Gao. The situation then was similar to now; we were always one step behind the Killer, always missing a crucial detail. Now that Mary brought this up again, it left an indescribable feeling in the air.
Captain Li, unaware of the cases we had experienced, said, "Are you suggesting that someone from our team did this? That seems unlikely. So, is it the Kaiyang Police or the Blue Capital Police involved? Since it involves two cities, even if someone from our team knows our movements, they can't possibly know both police forces' actions. If that's the case, who would know about both sides?"
Before we could ponder further, Dezi had already parked the car. Looking out the window, I saw several police cars parked downstairs; they had arrived. As we got out of the car, a few officers descended from the building above. While they walked down, I took a moment to observe the surroundings.
This area could be considered suburban; there weren't many buildings along the road, and this small two-story structure seemed somewhat out of place. It had a small yard in front with low walls. From a distance, one could see directly into the second floor. The yard gate was open as we entered just as the group of officers came down from above.
The Squad Leader glanced at us briefly before saying, "You must be Captain Shao. Zhao Huanghe's body is upstairs. We've secured the scene, but the neighbors haven't reacted at all. This is Zhao Huanghe's ancestral property; he rarely comes back here. He died here, and the neighbors had no idea. No one knows when Zhao Huanghe returned; so far, no one has seen or heard anything."
I nodded and replied, "Continue investigating Zhao Huanghe's neighbors while we go upstairs to take a look."
"You can see the body from the innermost window!" the Squad Leader nodded.
Earlier, he had mentioned over the phone that they hadn't yet managed to ascertain details at the scene. We headed upstairs and found it to be true. Turning the doorknob revealed that it was locked from inside; there was no way to open it from outside. Moving to check the window, I found it also securely locked from within. I pushed and pulled on it from outside; it was indeed locked tight. It appeared to be a locked room; surely the Killer hadn't passed through the walls.
I turned to Juan Juan and asked, "Can this lock be opened from outside?"
Juan Juan was not only a forensic expert but also a skilled trace evidence specialist. If she retired, she could easily work as a locksmith. She nodded and approached to examine the door and lock closely. Holding onto the doorknob with one hand, she pressed her ear against the door to listen for any sounds inside. After twisting it slightly, she shook her head and said, "This type of lock can't be opened from outside; it's an old lock. Sometimes older things are harder to crack. I doubt anyone could enter without damaging the lock."
With that said, Juan Juan moved over to inspect the window carefully. She informed us, "From what I can see on top of the window, there are no signs of tampering with the lock." Saying this, she opened a large case and took out a small brush. We watched as she began dusting left and right on the glass.
Previously at crime scenes, Juan Juan had always been busy with fingerprinting and trace evidence work. However, I hadn’t paid much attention before; I was too focused on examining the body since it was locked inside now. We had no choice but to wait outside for Juan Juan while we could still see the body hanging inside through the window.
When we reached the corner of the window, we could see someone hanging in midair within the bedroom. It was unmistakably Zhao Huanghe's face staring back at us. At that moment, Juan Juan called out from outside, "There are no signs of footprints on the windowsill; there’s no indication that anyone has removed or tampered with this glass—meaning no one has entered through here."
"Look!" Juan Juan pointed at the dust accumulating in each corner of the glass and continued, "The dust indicates that it hasn’t been cleaned in a long time. If someone had removed this glass to enter, all that dust would have fallen off. But since that hasn’t happened, all this dust is consistent."
Juan Juan packed up her things and stated firmly, "This indicates that it's a locked room scenario. The door lock and window locks are secured from inside. It could either be suicide or perhaps the Killer is still inside. However, I doubt any Killer would be foolish enough to lock themselves in here—it's like they think they're in a movie trying to escape amidst chaos."
I chuckled lightly and then said to Yan Junde, "Since this type of locked door can't be opened from the outside, Dezi, it's up to you."
Dezi nodded, and from his expression, I could tell he understood my meaning. He took a few steps forward and approached the door. Then, he lifted one foot and kicked the door open with force. There was a loud crack, likely the sound of the lock breaking inside. With such an old-fashioned door lock, if it couldn't be opened with finesse, brute force was the only option left.
We donned gloves and shoe covers as we entered, heading straight for the bedroom. Standing at the doorway and looking inside, we saw Zhao Huanghe hanging from a rope. At the same time, a foul odor wafted out. Looking down at the floor, we noticed a yellow puddle beneath him, emitting an unbearable stench.
We all covered our noses, but Juan Juan stepped in first. After observing for a moment, Juan Juan said, "The deceased appears to have died by hanging. There is bleeding around the eyes and signs of incontinence. Zhao Huanghe was fifty years old; it's quite possible that his sphincter had relaxed. Moreover, judging by the shape of the feces scattered on the ground, it seems to have splattered from a height."
We nodded in agreement. Juan Juan continued, "You've all seen hanging corpses many times; you should be able to deduce the cause of death without further explanation. Dezi, bring down the body. Even so, we still need to examine the ligature marks to confirm whether it was suicide."
Dezi nodded and stepped onto the bed in the bedroom to grab Zhao Huanghe's body and pull it down. We noticed that there were also traces of feces on Zhao Huanghe's pants. Furthermore, there were no signs of struggle on his body, which allowed us to rule out homicide; it was undoubtedly suicide.
However, we couldn't completely dismiss the possibility that like Ma Youshan, he hadn't intended to commit suicide but had been forced into it. But Zhao Huanghe wasn't bound all over; if he had struggled violently, there would have been marks left behind. Moreover, both doors and windows were locked from the inside; even if it were murder, the killer wouldn't have been able to escape from this locked room.
Additionally, examining the rope used for hanging revealed that it was similar to the one used by Ma Youshan and the one that strangled Xiao Jingguang. This point raised significant suspicion against Zhao Huanghe. But why would he want to commit suicide? Did he somehow sense that we were coming to investigate him?
This made no sense at all; if Zhao Huanghe was indeed a murderer, it would imply that he killed more people to cover up his crimes. If Zhao Huanghe was capable of killing repeatedly, it indicated that he valued his life and didn't want to be caught. Given our current situation where we lacked substantial evidence, why would Zhao Huanghe choose to take his own life?
Shaking my head, I said to Juan Juan, "You check the body while I look around in other rooms."
With that said, I turned and entered another room. From what I could see in this room, there were basically no suspicious points. As I pondered this thought, I walked into a room that should have been a bedroom but had been converted into something resembling a storage area; a large bag appeared before me.
I approached it and opened the bag only to discover it was filled with nylon ropes. Pulling out some of the ropes revealed various tools inside as well. They seemed like "tools" used for collecting protection money—could all of this belong to Zhao Huanghe?
I sat down on the sofa and carefully reflected on everything; now the question was whether Zhao Huanghe had committed suicide out of guilt. Just then, my peripheral vision caught sight of something in the living room trash can. The trash can contained no fruit peels or scraps but rather crumpled pieces of paper.
These papers weren't tissues but letter paper—if there were only one or two sheets it might be understandable; however, this trash can was completely filled with them—this raised some concerns. Thinking this over, I walked over and tipped the trash can upside down directly onto the Tea Table.
The trash can contained nothing but sheets of letter paper. Upon closer inspection, there were at least ten sheets, or rather, ten crumpled bundles, as the papers had been tightly clenched by someone's grip. I carefully smoothed them out and discovered that they were written on. Picking one up to examine it, I was startled by what I saw.
The writing on the letter paper appeared to be from Zhao Huanghe. I hurriedly unfolded the sheets and found one that bore the three large words: "Confession Letter."
Just as I was about to read it closely, I heard Juan Juan calling from inside, "Shaoshilin, I can basically confirm it was a suicide. The time of death should be around early this morning; to get an accurate minute, we would need to return to the autopsy room. However, this already tells us a lot."
I replied, "Have the Police Department send the body to the morgue first. You all step outside; I've discovered a clue."
Everyone stepped out, and Captain Li asked me, "Captain Shao, what did you find?"
I ignored him and turned to Mary, saying, "Immediately check Zhao Huanghe's handwriting for comparison. I've found Zhao Huanghe's Confession Letter here; I need to know if he wrote it himself or if it was forged by someone else."
Soon enough, Mary brought over a sample of Zhao Huanghe's Handwriting Data. We compared this data with the handwriting found on the letter paper in the trash can and confirmed that the writing truly belonged to Zhao Huanghe. If it was indeed a Confession Letter, did that mean he was murdered?
"I think these people might really have been killed by Zhao Huanghe," Captain Li remarked.
An Unsolved Mystery: A mysterious 21st-century Airborne Troops unit appears in North America, rescuing an Indian Red-Haired Beauty, enjoying the company of a Blue-Eyed Busty Blonde, dominating Wall Street, amassing wealth across America, and initiating a Han Ethnic Colonial Global Model.
Comment 0 Comment Count