Neverland

"The deceased, Xu Kang, was 28 years old, an orphan, and graduated from the best Yancheng Academy of Fine Arts in China—but judging from his graduation results, he was not considered a high-achieving student." Xu Muzhou said: "After graduation, he came to settle in Shanghai, and he was lonely , the social circle is narrow, and he has maintained a long-term cooperative relationship with Qi Yuan—Shen Shuang."

Shen Shuang, who was called by his name, answered habitually. He stood up, turned back two pages of the notebook in his hand, and added consciously: "Xu Kang took the line of Qiyuan when he came to Shencheng. , the only source of income in recent years is Qi Yuan’s gallery. He probably sends one or two paintings to Qi Yuan’s consignment every month, and these paintings are usually sold within two or three days—but it’s worth noting that, In most cases, the contact between Qi Yuan and Xu Kang is completely based on online operations. Xu Kang sends the paintings directly to the gallery by courier, and the gallery staff receives them. The number of times he meets Qi Yuan is very few. "

"I have a question." A short-haired girl sitting at the front of the conference table raised her hand and asked, "Is the painting a normal price?"

Xu Muzhou understood her meaning, nodded, and made a gesture of calm down.

He took out his mobile phone from his pocket, tapped randomly on the screen, brought up an online auction page, and said, "Qi Yuan's gallery also has an official website for online reservations, and all kinds of sales information are backed up on it. The number of Xu Kang's works is not large, and the price should be considered within the normal range. A painting can range from [-] to [-] yuan, and the amount can range from [-] to [-] yuan. Kang is suspected of cooperating with money laundering."

The girl nodded and stopped talking.

Xu Muzhou picked up two photos from the table, and then used magnets to attach them to the whiteboard.

"Qin Huai." Xu Muzhou clicked on one of the photos with a whiteboard marker, and then on the other: "Qi Yuan."

"These are two atypical informants." Xu Muzhou said, drawing a straight line under each of the two photos, and said while marking: "Qin Huai, a public figure; Qi Yuan, a businessman, with a lot of money—this Both of them logically do not fit into Xu Kang's normal social circle. Moreover, the reporting time is also very suspicious, normal work and cooperation usually meet people at dinner time, how can they come to meet people early in the morning."

"So I'm telling the truth." Xu Muzhou threw the whiteboard marker into the groove casually, and said, "Just listen to Qi Yuan's reasons. Even if he didn't lie, he didn't tell the whole truth. Anyway, I don't believe it."

"As well as Qin Huai, I also checked to see if she really has art hobbies." Xu Muzhou said, "Have you bought Xu Kang's paintings before?"

As Xu Muzhou said, his eyes fell on Shen Shuang who was eager to try, and he nodded casually: "Shen Ergou, don't let me off the chain when you go, chase stars during work hours, and see if I don't break your legs."

"I know, I know." Shen Shuang exaggeratedly wiped his face, forcibly wiped out a standard expression of "sitting upright", and said crisply: "Brother Xu, don't worry."

"Also." Xu Muzhou said, "Xiao Yue'er, do you have any clues over there?"

The girl who was named looked down at the notebook in her hand, and replied: "There are two elevators in the 3rd building, and the elevator monitor in one of them broke down three months ago, and no one has repaired it yet. We copied back another elevator, as well as the 24-hour monitoring content of the front and rear doors of the complex—but Brother Xu, it is very unlikely that we can find clues from the elevator monitoring.”

"What?" Xu Muzhou asked.

"The technical detective found half a shoe print in the elevator that destroyed the monitoring." Zhang Yue took out a photo from his notebook and handed it to Xu Muzhou: "The technical detective gave it to him. The shoe print was stained with rain. muddy water, so it is very clear."

In other words, there is a high possibility that the murderer went upstairs in an unmonitored elevator.

"Check to see how the elevator monitoring is broken." Xu Muzhou said: "Accident or man-made - judging from the circumstances of the crime scene and the specificity of the murder weapon, we have reason to suspect that this is not a crime of passion, but a premeditated murder case."

Xu Muzhou said, arranging and pasting the photos of the crime scene on the whiteboard, including the unimaginable "four of squares".

"This painting was found in the victim's bedroom. It is very likely that it was left by the murderer." Xu Muzhou said: "There is no sign of damage to the door lock in the house. The murderer is probably an acquaintance of Xu Kang—the murderer knocked on the door. Xu Kang's door, and then committed crimes in real time in the living room."

"Traces of a fight were found in the living room." Shen Shuang continued: "There are also traces of dripping blood. Judging from the distribution and quantity of the blood, Xu Kang was injured in the living room, but the murderer didn't know why he didn't hit with every blow. , but waited until Xu Kang fled to the bedroom before finally killing him."

"He's having fun." Xu Muzhou said suddenly.

Shen Shuang was taken aback: "Brother Xu?"

"The murderer is enjoying the process." Xu Muzhou turned his back to the person, leaning his back against the edge of the heavy conference table, and was looking at the photos of the scene on the whiteboard that he placed according to the direction of the room.

"The blood stains started to appear from the center of the living room." Xu Muzhou said: "The living room is not big, so at first glance, it makes people feel that there is blood everywhere."

Xu Muzhou said, and drew an abbreviated floor plan of the house on the blank space of the whiteboard. He drew it very smoothly, even the number and position of the doors and windows were exactly the same.

"There is almost no blood near the door, which means that Xu Kang never had a chance to get close to the door and escape." Xu Muzhou said: "The murderer had the upper hand in a complete sense, but he only injured Xu Kang in the living room."

As Xu Muzhou said, he drew a route in the living room of the floor plan according to the extent of the bloodstains, and said: "Xu Kang hid in the living room for a long time, and finally fled to the bedroom, where he was hit by the murderer and killed him." in this scene."

"During this process, the murderer doesn't seem to be in a hurry to kill Xu Kang." Xu Muzhou said, "It's like—"

"It's like a cat catching a mouse!" Zhang Yue said.

"That's right." Xu Muzhou said, "There is no trace of search at the scene, and no valuables are lost. The possibility of murder for money and murder is ruled out—let's look into vendetta and love murder."

Just as Xu Muzhou was about to end the meeting, Zhang Yue interrupted him by raising his hand.

"What about that poker card?" Zhang Yue asked.

Xu Muzhou pursed his lips, and took a serious look at the playing card.

"Check the social scope and interpersonal relationship first." Xu Muzhou did not answer directly, but ordered: "Shen Shuang went to check the situation of Qin Huai and Qi Yuan, and Zhang Yue took the technical detective brothers to work harder. If you are a suspicious target, check all the monitoring in the community you can find—I will urge the forensic doctor to give a specific time of death, and shorten your work process."

"As for the poker cards." Xu Muzhou said, "Let me think about it—"

Xu Muzhou had a very bad guess in his mind - he thought this playing card was a kind of number.

But if he said this, it would inevitably cause panic, not to mention that he couldn't be sure whether "four" was the last one or the first one.

When criminals commit crimes, they don't care what the weather is like. When there is a case, don't say it's raining outside, they have to run outside even if they are stabbed.

After the second criminal investigation team finished the meeting, they ran away without a trace in less than 10 minutes, and went to perform their duties.

The rain lasted for more than ten hours before it finally seemed to ease.Mr. Zhang of the Forensic Department asked for leave, and only Yan Cen was left in the whole office. It took a whole day to complete the autopsy.

The days in winter are short, and it rains all day long. Before six o'clock in the evening, the sky outside is almost dark.

Yan Cen pushed the corpse into the freezer, took off the dirty disposable gloves and threw them into the recycling bin.

The forensic room is at the end of the corridor on the second floor, close to the shady side, and there is no electric heater, so the room temperature is not much different from that of a refrigerator.

It was already the normal off-duty time, but Yan Cen was not in a hurry to leave.He slowly gathered up the autopsy report, fastened it with paper clips, and placed it neatly on the table, waiting for Xu Muzhou to pick it up.

The sound of pattering water outside the window continued, Yan Cen went to the window and looked out, the two hitchhikers in the parking lot that didn't have police signs hadn't returned yet.

He withdrew his gaze, and subconsciously reached into his pocket to find out, only to remember that "Forensic Doctor Yan" doesn't smoke.

Yan Cen is a person who never wrongs himself when it is not necessary. He glanced at the time, picked up the transparent umbrella Zhang Lao left in the office from behind the door, and prepared to go outside to buy a box.

Go out from the Public Security Bureau and turn right, there is a convenience store less than ten meters away, dealing with people like them all day long, and it seems that it is about to become the Municipal Public Security Bureau with its "Fresh Shrimp and Fish Pan Noodles" and "Mushroom Chicken Noodles" The second canteen.

"Take a pack of cigarettes." Yan Cen said, "Marlboro."

The middle-aged owner of the canteen raised his eyes and glanced at him from the newspaper: "Is it hard or soft?"

"It's hard." Yan Cen said, "Add a lighter."

Yan Cen took out two banknotes from his pocket and handed them in, and took a box of mints from the counter by the window.

After buying the cigarettes, he went back to the City Bureau, and it took him more than four minutes including the time to shake the water and shine the shoes at the door. However, Yan Cen never expected that such a short distance would produce moths—— He was stopped in the stairwell on the second floor.

The one who stopped him was a very young man who seemed to be in his twenties. Judging from the epaulets on his shoulders, he was still a young police officer in training.

"I heard from the technical investigators that the second criminal investigation team closed a case, and it was a painter who died?" the young man asked.

"Yeah." Yan Cen agreed lukewarmly, hung the curved handle of the umbrella on his wrist, opened the pack of cigarettes in his hand casually, rolled up the outer layer of plastic packaging and the torn cigarette paper, Throw it in the trash can next to it.

"Who called the police?" the man asked.

Yan Cen put the unpacked cigarettes back into his pocket, and with a slight movement of his wrist, the handle of the umbrella slipped from his wrist, and he held it in his hand.

The water droplets on the umbrella flowed down the tip of the umbrella, staining a small piece of red carpet under the feet in a deep color.

"It's Qi Yuan." Yan Cen paused, and then said: "——There is also a little star."

"Who?" said the man.

"Qin Huai." Yan Cen said.