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墨書 Inktalez
The detective quickly sealed off the house and began searching for clues inside. Xu Yiman had returned with the team for further autopsy, while Jiang He and Old Shao stayed behind to continue looking for useful evidence.
"What have you found?" Old Shao asked as he stood in front of a wall that was almost splattered with blood.
Jiang He stroked his chin. "The elderly neighbor heard a loud argument coming from the apartment next door last night, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass. Although she has trouble hearing and may have misunderstood some details, she definitely heard the noise, right?"
Old Shao nodded. "And it seems that the argument must have been quite loud; even with two wooden doors in between, she could hear it."
"Someone cleaned up the glass shards afterward." Jiang He picked up a bag from the trash can. "The sound the old lady heard was likely from this glass cup shattering. But there are no bloodstains on these shards, which means the murderer didn't use this glass cup to attack Wang Ziyi. The question is, after the heated argument, who swept the glass shards into the trash—Wang Ziyi or the murderer?"
Old Shao watched as Jiang He picked up a piece of glass from the trash bag. "Take it back and check for bloodstains. If it's linked to the murderer, then this shard could be the weapon. Even if the murderer cleaned off any blood, forensic techniques can still detect traces."
Jiang He nodded at Old Shao. "I think we need to simulate the crime scene."
"First, Wang Ziyi's wound is on the right side of her neck." Thanks to Jiang He's remarkable memory, he quickly recalled the characteristics of Wang Ziyi's neck injury: "The wound is about five centimeters long and vertical from top to bottom. The upper part is slightly shallow while the lower part is deeper, indicating that the murderer stabbed Wang Ziyi from below."
Old Shao nodded as he stood where Wang Ziyi's body was found, slightly bending down. "This indicates that the murderer must be taller than her. Wang Ziyi is about one hundred sixty centimeters tall; it's normal for a male to be taller than her, which aligns with human biomechanics."
"But here's where the problem arises," Jiang He shook his head. "From this wall covered in blood, it’s clear that after stabbing her carotid artery, the murderer quickly pulled out the knife. The wound is short, yet a large amount of blood sprayed out from such a narrow opening, causing almost all of this wall to be covered in blood..."
Old Shao turned to look at him. "Indeed, arterial pressure can be astonishingly powerful; under certain circumstances, spraying four to five meters isn't an issue."
"Therefore, I can conclude that Wang Ziyi's neck wound must have been directed at this wall; otherwise, blood would have sprayed to the other side." Jiang He explained to Old Shao: "In other words, when entering through the door, Wang Ziyi was facing away from it and towards the window."
Old Shao nodded. This old-style building had an area of about fifty square meters—one living room, one kitchen, and one bathroom—with a rather small living room. The entrance hall was at the southern end of the right wall; upon entering through the door, there was a row of sofas against the right wall while the left wall had doors leading to both the bedroom and bathroom. In a small space on that wall stood a modest television.
The south wall had a door leading to the kitchen, next to which stood a refrigerator and a water dispenser—one of those purification types that don't require buying bottled water. Interestingly, the living room window wasn't on the south wall but on the north wall, which faced away from sunlight.
Thus, at that moment, Wang Ziyi should have been facing away from the front door and directly towards the window.
"Exactly," Old Shao pondered for a moment. "She was indeed facing towards the window."
Old Shao understood Jiang He's meaning: "So, the murderer likely attacked Wang Ziyi from behind when she was unguarded?"
Jiang He nodded, then shook his head. "It depends on two aspects. First, if Wang Ziyi had her back to the murderer, then the murderer could have stabbed her in the neck."
With that, Jiang He walked behind Old Shao and lightly poked his neck with his right index finger.
"If that's the case, it clearly shows that Wang Ziyi was not on guard against the murderer; she didn't expect an attack. Alternatively, the murderer could have pretended to leave but quietly returned and struck fatally. Perhaps there's a scenario where the murderer was cleaning up the glass shards behind her, and Wang Ziyi, not wanting to look at them, faced the window."
Old Shao considered several possibilities. "But this indicates one thing: Wang Ziyi had a good relationship with this person."
"There's another possibility," Jiang He said as he moved to face Old Shao directly. "If the two were facing each other, then the murderer would have been leaning against the window, keeping their distance."
"No one would stand too close to someone they were arguing with; that would feel more like flirting," Old Shao remarked.
"Then the murderer must be left-handed," Jiang He lightly poked Old Shao again with his left index finger.
At that moment, Old Shao straightened up and said, "Exactly. The force would have been applied vertically from above; it couldn't have been a reverse stab from the other side. The resulting wound should be relatively horizontal."
A scene flashed in Old Shao's mind: after the glass had shattered, there was a moment of tension between the two. The murderer leaned against the window while Wang Ziyi bent down to pick up the shards. When Wang Ziyi approached the murderer, they unexpectedly slashed her carotid artery.
Afterward, just as that old lady had said, silence fell; everything returned to calm.
The carotid artery spurted blood, leaving Wang Ziyi only a minute or two before fear likely engulfed her. She didn't even have time to call for help before collapsing in a pool of blood.
"Both scenarios are possible," Old Shao said. "However, if the murderer is Lu Zhengye, wouldn't Wang Ziyi have been on guard? Lu Zhengye has been in prison for ten years; whether he was a victim or deserved it, Wang Ziyi should understand that she had preserved evidence that sent him to jail. Let's check if Lu Zhengye is left-handed; if he is the murderer, facing each other becomes more plausible."
After a pause, Old Shao continued, "After all, there had already been a fierce argument between them, and everyone knows what often follows such disputes. Especially when dealing with someone who holds a grudge against you—how could you possibly trust them with your back?"
"I'll call Captain Liu," Jiang He said. "I'll ask him to find out if Lu Zhengye is left-handed..."
At that moment, Old Shao looked out the window and noticed that the curtains in the living room were not drawn. He focused on the building across the street; if there were people there at night, they might have seen what was happening in Wang Ziyi's home. But no one had called the police, and clearly, no one had witnessed the murder. Even so, if someone had seen who visited Wang Ziyi's house, it would be a significant lead.
“Jiang He!” Old Shao pointed to the building across the street and said, “Take some people to inquire if anyone has seen anything at Wang Ziyi's place. It doesn't have to be about witnessing the murder itself; after all, that happened in an instant. The killer turned off the lights when leaving, but during their argument, it certainly wasn't pitch dark.”
“Understood,” Jiang He nodded.
Shao the Elder added, “I also need to confirm the old lady next door's testimony. After that, I will come find you.”
With that, Old Shao pushed open the door and walked to apartment 601. He knocked heavily on the door and heard a voice from inside asking, “Who is it?”
“It’s me! Old sister,” Old Shao called out. “We met just now.”
“Oh, what a loud voice!” As soon as the old lady’s words reached Old Shao’s ears, she had already opened the door for him. This made Old Shao wonder if she had been standing behind the door eavesdropping on the commotion from across the street.
“What’s going on?” the old lady asked.
“I need to ask you something!” Shao the Elder replied.
“Do you want some tomatoes?” The old lady nodded and said, “Come in, come in; I have plenty of tomatoes.”
With that, she leaned on her cane and walked into her home. Despite her unsteady legs, she moved quickly with small steps. Before long, she returned with several washed tomatoes for Old Shao. “You eat these; I have no teeth left to bite into them.”
Old Shao nodded and accepted them without hesitation. Although he was sixty years old, in front of this eighty-year-old lady, he felt like a child.
“About that person you saw last night,” Old Shao said while eating a tomato. “Did you notice if there was blood on his clothes?”
Regardless of how it happened, just looking at that wall of blood made it hard to believe that the murderer hadn’t been splattered with blood as well. Since the old lady came out to check when their argument stopped, it meant that the killer had no time to clean up or hide any bloodstains on themselves.
“Blood?” The old lady finally understood clearly. “At my age, if I eat a piece of blood tofu, how could it possibly get on me?”
"Are you saying you didn't see any blood on him?" Old Shao asked.
The old lady nodded and said, "My eyesight isn't very good, but he was wearing a white short-sleeve shirt. If there was blood, I would definitely have seen it. However, I only saw his back, so I didn't notice if there was blood on the front. Look at you, such a grown man, and you still get tomato juice on your clothes when you eat."
"Let me wipe it for you," she said, using her handkerchief to clean the tomato juice off Old Shao's clothes.
Old Shao smiled and asked again, "So was it just that man who came by? Did anyone else come?"
"Well, I only heard that couple arguing," the old lady replied. "I don't know if anyone else went there."
"How do you know they were a couple?" Old Shao couldn't help but ask.
"It's just a guess. Do you understand what a guess is?" The old lady looked at Shao the Elder. "They were arguing about food, so they must be husband and wife."
Old Shao couldn't help but laugh.
"You still have a lot to learn!" the old lady said. "I'm eighty-two years old and have seen a lot. Have you read 'Criminal Psychology Simulation and Research' by Shaoshilin? That's where I learned this."
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