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墨書 Inktalez
That evening, Mary finally found the original appearance of the shoes. They were a pair of simple and elegant Snow Boots. Mary said, "These boots are from PLAYBOY, with a high shaft and round toe, lined with plush. The price should be between five thousand and seven thousand yuan. Just like the German suit from before, this Killer must be a wealthy person."
"Wearing a ten-thousand-yuan suit and leaving behind five-thousand-yuan shoes?" Yan Junde remarked. "I've never seen such a rich murderer before. If he has everything he wants, why would he kill?"
I shook my finger and replied, "Your perspective is too narrow. Whether rich or poor, old or young, anyone with evil thoughts can commit murder. There’s a well-known case in America called the Texas Murder Case. The Killer was a wealthy man who disguised himself as a mute woman and killed his wife and neighbor, but there was no evidence, so the case became a cold case."
"Do you know how he was caught?" I asked, raising a finger.
Everyone exchanged glances, and I continued, "For thirty years, there was no evidence to indicate who the Killer was until a director wanted to make a documentary based on the case. During an interview, this wealthy man forgot to turn off his microphone while using the restroom and muttered to himself, 'What have I done? Of course, I killed them all.' Just like that, after thirty years, the case was solved."
"This..." No one expected the story to end this way.
"Surprising, isn't it? So never do bad things because no matter how long it takes, the truth will eventually come to light. Even if you can temporarily escape police investigation, you cannot escape your own conscience. A criminal will always be caught." Just as I was speaking, an Investigator from the Police Department rushed in and said, "The third body has appeared!"
From the discovery of the third body that morning to now in the evening—a mere day had passed—and unexpectedly, the Killer had struck again. We hurried outside while asking for details about the situation. I glanced at my watch; it was nine o'clock in the evening. The Investigator said, "Around eight o'clock, someone saw a figure sitting on the edge of the rooftop of a department store in downtown. It looked like they were about to fall at any moment."
The four of us followed the Investigator into the car as he drove and explained, "Initially, comrades from the Substation went there without notifying us. They thought someone might want to jump off and tried to communicate with them. But that person just sat on top of the Department Store without saying anything. Just as they were about to approach him, he suddenly jumped down. The scene was gruesome; however, strangely enough, there was no blood flowing out."
"So that means this person was already dead before jumping!" Juan Juan interjected.
The Investigator nodded.
We arrived at the scene almost simultaneously with Captain Gao from the Police Department. The Substation personnel had already secured the area, but there were still many onlookers outside the cordon. This was downtown; it wasn't late yet, so there were quite a few spectators.
I said to Juan Juan, "There are too many people here. After a quick examination, let's move the body back to avoid unnecessary trouble." Juan Juan nodded in agreement. I then told Captain Gao and others, "Let's go up to the rooftop of the department store and see if we can find any clues."
This place was Beiyu City's shopping center—considered the most prosperous area in this third-tier city—with a large central plaza surrounded by Department Stores, cinemas, hotels, snack streets, KFCs, McDonald's—everything for entertainment and dining could be found here. The Beiyu City Department Store had six floors; below were mobile phone shops and parking lots.
We hurriedly made our way to the top floor. I noticed that there were two entrances to access the rooftop—one on the east side and one on the west side. After checking around, I found that both doors were unlocked; this meant that if someone took advantage of others' inattention, they could easily access the rooftop without any problem.
At this moment, police officers from the precinct were already on the rooftop. We arrived at the spot where the body had been placed and noticed a thick Elastic Rope tied to the railing. I put on gloves and gently tugged at it; it was very elastic. It was clear that this was only half of the rope, with one end cut cleanly and the other end frayed.
After a brief moment of thought, I could envision a scenario: the Killer had brought the body to the rooftop, tied it to the railing with the Elastic Rope, then tilted the body to create the illusion of someone sitting at the edge of the rooftop. The Killer then used a small knife to cut through the middle of the Elastic Rope before leaving.
Due to gravity, the Elastic Rope began to slowly fray from the cut end. This must have happened around eight o'clock, when people first noticed "someone" sitting on the rooftop. By the time the police arrived, the Elastic Rope could no longer support the weight of the body and snapped, as if that person had jumped off the building.
The forensic expert who came up with us began examining any remaining traces at the scene. I said to Captain Gao, "I noticed that there are no surveillance cameras on the rooftop, but there are cameras downstairs. If someone came up here, they would definitely be caught on tape. Let's go check the surveillance footage."
In the surveillance room, the security guard pulled up footage from seven to eight o'clock. We observed that no one had entered the rooftop from the Department Store. Could this person have teleported? Captain Gao remarked, "That doesn't make sense; there are only two entrances. If someone were to come up, it wouldn't be logical."
"Is there a service passage for cleaning staff in the building?" I asked. With such a high foot traffic in the Department Store, there would naturally be a lot of garbage generated. If cleaning staff had to carry large bags of trash through the store, it would surely affect shoppers' experiences. Therefore, many such stores have dedicated passages for cleaning staff—this not only maintains a tidy appearance but also provides convenience.
The security guard slapped his forehead and said, "I would have forgotten if you hadn't reminded me! There is indeed such a passage; cleaning staff have their own elevator that goes directly from the underground parking lot to the rooftop entrance without needing to go through the store."
The surveillance footage from the underground parking lot wasn't very clear, but it captured an exciting scene. At 7:40, we saw a man about 5'8" tall and weighing around 180 pounds pushing a garbage cart into view. He was wearing a down jacket and round-toed Snow Boots that matched those found in school footprints. However, he kept his head down under the hood of his jacket and never revealed his face.
"The Killer must have conducted thorough research and analysis before disposing of each body," I said. "Whether it's at school or in the Department Store, they almost always exploit timing gaps. However, with an approximate height and weight for our Killer along with other clues, we should be able to find someone who fits these descriptions soon." I added, "Copy this surveillance footage and send it to officers at Substation so they can look for someone matching this height and weight—focusing especially on hospitals, schools, and chemical plants."
"Understood," Captain Gao replied.
Once we finished copying the data and left the surveillance room, we found that Juan Juan and her team had already removed the body. Back in the Police Department's autopsy room, Juan Juan was busy piecing together fragments of what had been shattered remains. She said, "Fortunately, this is just a body, and since Beiyu City has low winter temperatures, we've managed to recover all broken parts; reassembling them shouldn't be an issue."
As Juan Juan worked diligently, she spoke to us: "This body is similar to the previous two; it's made up of six parts as well. This is already our third body; it seems like it won't be long before we find three more bodies. Thankfully this time, our Killer hasn't continued killing; otherwise, who knows how many bodies we would have..."
I nodded and handed over half of the Elastic Rope we found on the rooftop. Juan Juan took it and produced another half of an Elastic Rope from her findings. She said, "We found half an Elastic Rope on this body; I assume this half was discovered on the rooftop? There are no fingerprints or traces left on it."
Following her lead, one of our trace evidence specialists mentioned, "We found footprints on the rooftop that match those on the school's fence; we can confirm they were left by the Killer."
At that moment, Captain Gao, who had gone out to distribute materials, returned and said to us, "The video materials have been distributed to all the substations and our investigation team members. We have been visiting for three days now, and we should be able to find the suspects soon since the scope has been narrowed down significantly."
I nodded and patted Captain Gao on the shoulder, saying, "There's no need to rush with this kind of thing."
As I patted him, I noticed a tear in Captain Gao's coat, with the cotton inside exposed. I chuckled and said, "Captain Gao, you've been running around a lot lately; your clothes are getting torn. Juan Juan, come help Captain Gao sew it up."
I had a hidden agenda; as soon as I finished speaking, everyone exchanged knowing glances between Juan Juan and me. Juan Juan took off her work gloves and walked over to me with a blank expression. She pinched me hard from behind before turning to Captain Gao and saying, "Captain Gao, let me help you with that."
Captain Gao waved his hand and replied, "No, no, it's just a small matter. I can handle it myself."
"You can sew clothes too?" I asked in surprise.
"Just a little bit, just a little bit, haha!" Captain Gao modestly replied.
"You think everyone is like you!" Juan Juan chimed in, turning to me and saying, "Some people are as dumb as pigs."
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