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"Chaos?" Yuan Jun was puzzled by what Jiang He meant. He spoke up, "Stop beating around the bush. How did the murderer escape? Just tell me directly."
Jiang He nodded and looked towards the distant Ge Family direction. He said, "I believe everyone has noticed that Ge Dongyun's bedroom is in complete disarray. However, Ge Dongyun is not an untidy person. The last time we visited Ge Dongyun's room, it was impeccably clean."
"That's right," Yuan Jun replied. "It is indeed like that."
Jiang He raised his index finger. "So this is the premise. With this in mind, when we look at Ge Dongyun's bedroom now, we find it excessively messy."
"If it wasn't Ge Dongyun who made the mess, then it must have been the murderer," Yuan Jun stated.
"Exactly, it was the murderer," Jiang He said, looking at Yuan Jun with a completely expressionless face. "Moreover, it was done intentionally by the murderer. I carefully examined the room and also looked at Ge Dongyun's body. Ge Dongyun barely had time to struggle before being stabbed in the heart by the murderer, dying almost within a minute."
"The bed and desk are quite far apart. Even if Ge Dongyun had struggled during that minute, he wouldn't have knocked everything off the desk onto the floor, and the chair wouldn't have fallen over to the side. If Ge Dongyun had staggered towards the door while struggling, there would definitely be blood footprints left behind."
Jiang He calmly shared his thoughts. "So statistically speaking, Ge Dongyun couldn't have created this environment. If it wasn't Ge Dongyun, then it must be the murderer. But why would the murderer do this? There are two possibilities: either the murderer was searching for something or trying to cover something up."
"That makes a lot of sense; please continue," Old Shao nodded seriously.
Jiang He continued, "If it was to search for something, then surely the contents of the drawers would have been rummaged through as well. However, when I opened the drawer, I found everything neatly arranged inside; even the clothes in the wardrobe were orderly. The murderer only scattered items from the desk onto the floor."
"Therefore, after ruling this out, I am eighty percent sure that the murderer did this to deliberately conceal something," Jiang He concluded.
Yuan Jun scratched his head. Throughout Jiang He's explanation, he had been deep in thought but couldn't figure out what exactly the murderer was trying to cover up.
"So what is it that the murderer wants to hide?" he asked.
Jiang He replied, "A plastic cup filled with water."
"In fact, when I saw that cup by the bedside, I sensed something was off," Jiang He recalled the scene from Ge Dongyun's bedroom. "The cup had fallen on the bedside next to the window, while both the nightstand and the desk were quite far from that spot."
"The murderer tried to obscure the importance of this cup by scattering books, pencil cases, and even chairs on the desk, attempting to mislead our investigation."
Yuan Jun couldn't recall anything about the cup; he hadn't paid attention to those details. He asked, "Are you saying the murderer used the cup to escape?"
Jiang He nodded.
"The kind of cup we drink from?" Yuan Jun asked, still unwilling to accept it.
"Yes," Jiang He confirmed.
"How could a cup help the murderer get away?" Yuan Jun pressed further.
Jiang He placed his right thumb against his index finger, forming a crescent shape. "I carefully observed the lock on Ge Dongyun's bedroom window; it’s a Crescent Lock like this. When the handle is facing up, the lock is open."
He then grasped his right index finger with his left hand and pulled it down. "When the handle is facing down, the window is locked. However, it doesn’t necessarily require someone to turn this handle, and it doesn’t need to be perfectly vertical either. Based on my observations, as long as the angle with the ground is within twenty degrees, it will lock."
As he spoke, Jiang He seemed to embody the murderer as he simulated:
"By chance or through careful planning, the murderer entered Ge Dongyun's bedroom. They stabbed Ge Dongyun in the heart with a Western Chef's Knife. The murderer must be familiar with this type of knife; they likely use it regularly. Afterward, they chose to leave through the window and staged a Locked Room Murder scenario."
"Before leaving, the murderer scattered various items from the desk onto the floor to prepare for their escape. First, they created a space for themselves to exit by adjusting the Crescent Lock to be parallel with the ground and then hung a filled cup with a strap on top of the lock handle."
"Then, she quickly crawled out of this space and closed the window," Jiang He continued gesturing. "After that, there was no more mention of the murderer. The cup filled with water would inevitably exert a downward force on the lock handle due to gravity. This downward force replaced human strength, pulling the lock handle down."
"In the end, under the influence of gravitational potential energy, as the lock handle was pulled down, the cup also slipped off the handle and fell to the ground." Jiang He lowered his hand and said, "At that moment, the window would have been locked. This is also why there is an angle between the lock handle and the ground; if it were human intervention, I would be sixty percent sure that the lock handle would have been turned all the way down."
Jiang He had basically narrated the entire process of the crime: "After that, he crawled down from the windowsill. Based on my physical capabilities, it would take about three minutes."
After listening to Jiang He's account, Old Shao fell into deep thought. After a moment, he spoke up: "This person must be very familiar with the Ge Family. Whether it's the time taken to climb down from the second-floor window or using a cup to lock the window, this is not something an outsider could devise and execute."
"I only have a question about the cup," Elder Shao said. "If there was too little water, then gravity wouldn't be enough to pull down the lock handle. When the police intervened, the cup might still be hanging above. But if it was filled too much, it would pull down the lock handle in an instant, leaving no time for the murderer to escape through the window."
Old Shao nodded to himself: "Exactly. From how swiftly the murderer struck to how calmly they used the window to escape, if there wasn't a comprehensive plan and long-term observation of both the Ge Family and even Longling District, they wouldn't have been able to escape or evade surveillance."
"This murderer must be a regular at the Ge Family," Old Shao asserted.
"A familiar face from the Ge Family?" Yuan Jun asked. "Could it be that this murderer knew Ge Dongyun beforehand?"
Old Shao paced as he replied: "The murderer likely killed under the guise of someone who left a note; this is what major media outlets are speculating as well. Committing murder during such chaotic times can indeed confuse law enforcement, especially since after committing the crime, the murderer actively sought out reporters, further complicating matters for the police."
"The murderer is..." Old Shao had yet to voice his suspicion when a voice came from behind.
"Excuse me, officer, my son Dong Ai's access card is lost." The speaker was Stepmother.
The group turned around to see Stepmother holding Ge Dongai's hand, who appeared to be sobbing and looking quite pitiful.
"So I still need another access card," Stepmother said.
“Did you lose Dong Ai's access card?” Old Shao looked at Ge Dongai, who was still wiping away tears.
The Stepmother felt a bit embarrassed. “Yes, just now when I got home and was about to open the door, I asked Dong Ai to get his access card. But Dong Ai searched his backpack for a long time and couldn’t find it. That’s when I realized he lost his access card.”
With that, the Stepmother turned to Dong Ai and said angrily, “You can’t even do something so simple.”
Hearing her criticism, Dong Ai burst into tears, his sobs flowing like a waterfall, unstoppable.
Old Shao squatted down and gently picked Dong Ai up, speaking to him with a grandfatherly kindness. “Don’t cry, Dong Ai. Can you tell Grandpa when you last saw your access card?”
Through his tears, Dong Ai replied in a tender voice, “I don’t know. I usually keep it in my backpack, but it was gone when I got back. I didn’t lose it, waah!”
“If you didn’t lose it, did it grow legs and run away?” The Stepmother couldn’t help but scold again.
Dong Ai cried even harder, unable to be comforted no matter what they tried.
“It’s possible someone stole it,” Old Shao said while stroking Dong Ai’s head. “After all, a child’s access card is much easier to steal than an adult's.”
“Stole?” The Stepmother found this hard to believe.
Old Shao nodded. “The access system keeps simple records. At eight eighteen, someone used an access card to open your front door, and shortly after that, a murder occurred.”
“So that means the murderer still has our access card? He could come back to our house at any time?” The Stepmother suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of terror and trembled as she spoke.
Shao the Elder replied, “Yes…”
At that moment, Old Shao suddenly thought of something and spoke up, "No, this matter has caused quite a stir. So many eyes are on your family. Even if the murderer had twenty times the courage, he wouldn't dare to come. Don't worry, we have people in the shadows protecting you."
"When your husband returns, we will question him according to procedure, and then he will be allowed to come back and be with you. After that, you can move out," Old Shao said as he handed the access card to Stepmother.
Old Shao set Ge Dongai down and nodded at Stepmother, "In a little while, we will bring your husband to the police station, and then he will return. There's no need to worry."
"Okay," Stepmother nodded.
Watching Stepmother leave, several people fell into contemplation.
"Where should we go now?" Yuan Jun asked.
Old Shao looked at Yuan Jun and smiled, "The timing is just right; let's go get something to eat."
"Sounds good," Yuan Jun said as he licked his lips.
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