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墨書 Inktalez
"The bathroom has no door and no windows, and both the door and window of the bedroom are locked from the inside," Jiang He said. "This is undoubtedly a Locked Room Murder Case."
"Locked Room Murder Case?" Xu Yiman furrowed her brow upon hearing Jiang He's words. She walked over to the window, pushing and pulling it a few times; it was indeed immovable. She spoke up, "Just now, the Stepmother's door was locked from the inside. Even with a key, it can't be opened from the outside. I thought the murderer must have entered through the window. It's large enough, and there are many decorations on the outer wall, so it's likely that the murderer climbed up from outside."
Xu Yiman shook her head. "But the window is locked from the inside. Even if it was open before the murderer climbed in, they would still need to get out afterward. They can't just lock themselves in!"
As soon as Xu Yiman finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room suddenly dropped to freezing point. At that moment, she wasn't even aware of what she had said, but once she realized it, she shivered.
Everyone's gaze turned to the tall wardrobe against one wall. This wardrobe was so large that not just one person, but perhaps four or five could hide inside. Xu Yiman's unintentional remark reminded everyone that after committing murder, the killer might not necessarily have fled or perhaps didn't have time to escape.
It was very possible that when the murderer climbed in through the window, they silently stabbed Ge Dongyun to death. Just as they were about to flee, security might have appeared downstairs, forcing them to wait. While waiting, the Stepmother came upstairs, and when her phone rang, the murderer was indeed startled. Thus, they locked the window and squeezed into the wardrobe, intending to create a Locked Room Murder illusion and wait for an opportunity to leave after the police departed.
If this speculation holds true, then the murderer must be hiding in that wardrobe right now!
Jiang He looked at the security guard, who handed him his baton. Jiang He nodded and gently stood in front of the wardrobe. The wardrobe was divided into two sections with a total of four doors. Since it had sliding doors, opening one would inevitably block another.
Jiang He stood next to one of the sliding doors near the entrance of the room. Holding his baton in one hand and grasping the handle of the sliding door with the other, he pulled it open forcefully. Aside from numerous clothes, there was no one inside. Jiang He frowned and opened the second door, then the third door, and finally, he reached for the fourth door.
However, after pulling open all four doors, there was still no sign of anyone inside—just a mass of clothing. Since not all doors could be fully opened at once due to their design, Jiang He decided to squeeze inside for a better look. With his baton in hand, he crawled into the wardrobe.
Ge Dongyun's family was indeed wealthy; this wardrobe was filled with high-end clothing. Jiang He noticed that all these clothes were designer brands and quite expensive. Moreover, they were mostly coordinated outfits—shirts matched with pants perfectly. However, among this vast array of garments resembling stars in a galaxy, there were only a few dresses and skirts left untouched by tags.
Jiang He didn't have time to dwell on these details; his goal was to find whoever might be hiding in the wardrobe. But after searching again and again within its confines, he realized there was no murderer hidden there at all. He crawled back out and handed his baton back to the security guard before addressing everyone: "There's no one in the wardrobe."
Xu Yiman sighed and said, "If there's no one in there, then there aren't many places left for someone to hide in this bedroom."
Everyone nodded in agreement except for Old Shao, who looked thoughtfully at all those clothes.
The security guard asked, "Is it possible that this was a suicide? If this room is indeed a sealed chamber, suicide seems most likely."
"Suicide?" Xu Yiman glanced at Ge Dongyun's body and replied, "It doesn't seem like a suicide."
"Shao the Elder said, 'It's not suicide; anyone could commit suicide, but Ge Dongyun wouldn't. Her personality dictates her actions. She wouldn't take her own life, but this is a kitchen knife. Did you lose one of your knives at home?'
'Kitchen knife? Are you saying this knife belongs to my family?' the Stepmother asked.
Old Shao replied, 'That's a possibility.'
The Stepmother scratched her head and said, 'We have too many kitchen knives; I can't tell if this one is ours...'
'Alright, you all can leave now,' Xu Yiman interjected. 'Bring my equipment from the trunk; I need to check for fingerprints inside. You can take the body back.'
'Okay,' Old Shao said as he led everyone out. 'Jiang He, contact the mortuary vehicle and have them transport the body to the morgue for an autopsy.'
'I’ll handle it right away,' Jiang He nodded.
Old Shao settled onto a sofa in the hall, waiting for the police to remove the body.
A heavy silence hung in the air. Ge Dongyun's bedroom was undoubtedly a locked room; how did the murderer enter and exit after committing the crime? The killer couldn't have just crawled out like an ant through a crack in the door. This left Old Shao puzzled about what method the murderer had used.
'This phone belongs to Ge Dongyun, right?' Jiang He called down from the second floor, holding up a phone.
As he descended, he continued, 'Xu Yiman has already checked it; we've collected fingerprints from the back of the case. Guan Deng, unlock the password.'
The Stepmother looked at Jiang He and confirmed, 'Yes, this is Ge Dongyun's phone.'
Suddenly, she seemed to remember something. 'Oh right, come with me.'
As she walked toward the balcony on the second floor, she explained, 'Seeing that phone reminded me of something. On my way back from dropping off the kids at preschool, I went to the market to buy groceries and overheard someone chatting about how someone forgot to unplug their electric kettle, which caused a fire.'
'Last night I did laundry and suddenly forgot whether I had turned off the dryer. If I left it on and it caught fire, that would be dangerous. I know Ge Dongyun doesn't like listening to me, so I sent her a text—"Ge Dongyun, Auntie is at the market buying groceries and won't be back for a while. Can you check if the dryer on the balcony is turned off? If it's not, please turn it off for me."'"
This is a crucial message.
"Did Ge Dongyun reply?" Old Shao asked.
"I remember she replied with a simple 'mm'," Stepmother said.
As they spoke, everyone hurried to the second floor. Stepmother led them down the corridor. Ge Dongyun's bedroom was in the middle of the second-floor hallway, while the balcony was at the end of the corridor. Stepmother pushed open the doors to the balcony, and a wave of heat rushed in.
"It seems it wasn't closed," Shao the Elder remarked, "such a hot draft."
Stepmother hurried a few steps into the spacious balcony. It was a fully enclosed space; the windows were shut but not locked. Stepmother walked over to the dryer and turned it off. The room was stifling, and soon sweat began to trickle down her forehead.
"She didn't close it," Jiang He said.
"But if Ge Dongyun didn't close it, then who replied to me?" Stepmother suddenly exclaimed in fear.
"It could have been her, or perhaps the murderer," Old Shao suggested. "Based on Ge Dongyun's character, she is someone who either doesn't do something or, if she agrees to do it, will definitely follow through. Since she replied to you, it means she intended to check the balcony. This implies that she might not have even left her room before being killed."
However, Old Shao furrowed his brow again. "Could the murderer be a professional assassin? To stab Ge Dongyun fatally while she was already awake is no easy feat. Or perhaps Ge Dongyun was already dead, and the murderer stayed behind to send you a message in her place to avoid raising your suspicions."
"Both scenarios are possible," Shao the Elder said. "So we will have to wait for the specific autopsy results."
"When exactly did you send that message?" Old Shao looked at Stepmother.
Stepmother shook her head as she took out her phone. "I forgot; let me check my messages."
Then, Stepmother pulled out her phone for Old Shao to see. She wasn't lying; she indeed sent such a message. Although some words differed slightly, they were generally consistent. They looked at it together; the message was sent at 8:21 PM, and at 8:25 PM, Ge Dongyun replied with an "mm."
"Do you usually go to the market to buy groceries?" Old Shao asked.
The Stepmother nodded and said, "Yes, the vegetables I buy fresh are better. I'm afraid Ge Dongyun won't be used to anything that isn't fresh. When Ge Dongyun was in school, I would go to the market around six in the morning to buy groceries and cook. After Ge Dongyun stopped going to school, I didn't have to make that extra trip anymore. I could just cook after dropping off the kids."
"What about your son?" Old Shao asked.
"My son is still young; it's not good for him to eat too much oil and salt. He mostly eats bread and milk," the Stepmother replied. "Ge Dongyun is older now and still growing, so I need to make more dishes for her. Anyway, after dropping off the kids, I don't have much else to do, so I might as well stroll around the market."
"Is the market far from home?" Old Shao inquired.
"Not too far; it takes about ten minutes on foot," the Stepmother said. "But I usually like to wander around the market. You know, Ge Dongyun's father is busy with work and never has time to spend with me. Sometimes, when I see old couples or young lovers at the market, I feel a bit envious. Their genuine smiles make me feel happier too."
"It seems you care a lot for Ge Dongyun, but she still can't accept you," Old Shao sighed.
The Stepmother sighed as well. "What good does that do now? Ge Dongyun is already gone; whether she accepts me or not doesn't matter anymore."
The Stepmother murmured, "To be honest, I'm only about ten years older than her. She can't accept calling me 'Mom,' and I wouldn't force her to. But after all these years of being married here, I've treated her like my own sister, even better than my son sometimes. But..."
After that, there was a long silence, and everything turned into two lines of tears in the quiet.
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