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墨書 Inktalez
"You think I'm the one who killed?" Mai Lang looked at me, then glanced around at everyone, pointing to himself as if he had just heard a joke. "Why would you think that? Why would I kill?"
I smiled lightly, not directly answering his question. Instead, I posed a new question to Mai Lang. "Mai Lang, before I explain how you killed and how you created the locked room, I need to ask you something. This question is related to the case, but its connection isn't that significant. Mai Lang, do you love Franco?"
Not long ago, when everyone had left, I had a deep conversation with Mai Lang. At that time, I had a faint suspicion that he was the Killer. I had given him a chance to confess, but he remained silent. Now, I had ample evidence. In fact, my question was about the motive for the crime; it depended on whether Mai Lang would follow his heart's choice.
Mai Lang was silent for a long time because my question was a trap. If he answered yes, it would indicate a strong motive for murder; if he answered no, he would be going against his own feelings. I wanted to give Mai Lang an opportunity to choose in front of Franco.
"I..." Mai Lang finally revealed his true feelings. "I love Franco more than anyone else in the world. I want to be with her forever; I want her to marry me. We will have several children and travel the world together. There are so many things I want to accomplish with her, even if it means losing my company..."
"I'm glad you followed your heart because that's the premise of this case," I sighed and began to speak. "Now I'll tell you the truth about what happened."
"A few days ago, when you woke up, you found that Franco was missing. You didn't know where she had gone, so you took your pet dog to look for her. The Golden Retriever is a very intelligent dog; this loyal companion led you to Franco. However, what you saw was something you couldn't accept: on the basketball court, you saw Franderson, and your heart shattered."
As I spoke, I pulled out a phone borrowed from someone and showed everyone the images on it. The pictures displayed some dog fur found in the corridor of the basketball court and a view looking into the court from the corridor. "This was found on the basketball court; there was only this one dog on the ship. Moreover, that businessman didn't see Franderson with the dog at any time. Your dog is extremely loyal and wouldn't follow anyone else."
"Therefore, it must have been you who took the dog to that place!" I put away the phone and said, "This is your motive for murder!"
"Now that we've discussed your motive for killing, let's talk about your method!" I said with a smile. "After that incident, you planned how to kill Anderson and eventually found a way. Coincidentally, at that moment, Davis and Anderson had a conflict—an excellent opportunity for murder since you could pin it on Davis."
As I spoke, I walked over to the window and picked up the string tied there. "Everyone take a close look at this string; if I'm correct, it's what you used to tie around the parrot's leg. Over these past few days, you've tried many times to use the parrot to help you complete this task."
While speaking, I instructed a bodyguard to go to Mai Lang's current room and retrieve the parrot. Then I continued, "This parrot is clever; it can understand some human commands. So you trained it to carry the room card in its beak and fly it outside Davis's window to drop it inside."
"Our ship's windows open downward; as soon as the parrot releases its beak, the room card naturally slides down through the window into the room." As I said this, I opened a small gap in the window and simulated how the card would slide in from outside; indeed, it fell onto the floor beneath the bed.
"When we found the room card in Davis's room, it was half under the bed and half exposed." With that, I took out my phone and showed everyone photos taken from outside the ship's wall where numerous feathers were stuck.
"This feather is blue and yellow!" I tried to make sure everyone could see it. "And here, aside from your Macaw, there probably won't be any other birds with such feathers. I've seen quite a few of these feathers outside your window and Davis's window."
"Because the sea breeze outside is quite strong, some feathers got stuck to the side of the boat. And you have no way to remove this evidence; you can only pray that no one discovers this feather." I said with a smile, "And you're afraid that if something goes wrong, the parrot will fly away with the room card and land somewhere visible to people, which would expose your plan. That's why you tied a long thin string to the parrot's leg, so if it flies too far or doesn't come back, you can pull it back with the string."
I continued, "This is how you managed to place the room card in a room that was impossible to access! A person can't put the card in there, but with the help of a parrot, it's an easy task. You're clever, and your parrot is even smarter; it accomplished the task for you brilliantly."
"Now that we've discussed how you placed the room card in an inaccessible room, it's time to talk about how you killed someone and fabricated your alibi." I sat down and looked at the attentive passengers. "This part is actually quite simple; you just swaggered in with the room card, committed murder, and then swaggered back out."
"That sounds a bit off!" Mai Lang scoffed after hearing my words. "It was noon at that time, and I was sleeping in my room. I vaguely heard someone shouting outside, so I got up and walked out of my room. If I remember correctly, Anderson wasn't dead yet, right?"
Mai Lang's words were like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples among the crowd. Someone said, "That's right! I remember hearing Anderson say from his room, 'I'm fine; don't worry about me.' Everyone heard that, right?"
Many people nodded in agreement. One person said, "Yes, I remember that too. At first, we thought something had happened to Anderson. After hearing he was fine, not long after that, Mai Lang came out, and then we all went about our business."
"Exactly!" an elderly lady chimed in. "I remember when we were ruling out suspects; you mentioned that Mai Lang always hated being around you. So both of you were cleared of suspicion. Why are you now saying Mai Lang is the Killer? Is there some misunderstanding? Speak up; Grandma will analyze it for you—did you have a fight?"
Mai Lang rolled his eyes as he listened to these people defend him before slowly speaking up again. "Mr. Shao, everyone is right. Almost everyone can vouch for me; when I came out, Mr. Anderson was still alive. Then I was with you the whole time."
"Did you forget?" Mai Lang pulled out a voice recorder and played it back. The recording captured our chess moves during our game together. After listening to it, Mai Lang looked at everyone and then at me and said, "You see? When we came out of the corridor, we found a place to play Chinese Chess together. I lost more than I won; I even recorded what you said to me—listen!"
Playing chess is much like solving a case; first, you have to guess what your opponent is thinking—where they will move next—just like trying to understand a suspect's motive for murder.
Mai Lang then turned off the recorder and said, "Although I know you're a police officer, I understand that investigations require evidence. I have an alibi! There's also a recording from when we played table tennis together until we realized something was wrong—we were together the whole time! So tell me, when could I have killed him?"
As he spoke, Mai Lang looked at everyone and smiled. "I can't possibly have a doppelgänger—one of me playing with you while another quietly kills Anderson!" His words made everyone laugh.
I couldn't bring myself to laugh. I clapped my hands and said, "That's exactly why I think you're too calculating. The reason you have that recording device is so that when suspicions arise later, you can use it as an alibi."
"It was you who kept insisting I learn Chinese Chess, wasn't it?" As I recalled the situation, I continued, "Back then, I had no idea what your intentions were, but now it seems clear that you wanted to use me to prove your absence, to show that you didn't have time to commit the crime. After spending over ten days together, we got to know each other's identities. You must have thought that having a police officer vouch for your alibi would be more convincing than anything else."
I shook my head and said, "But do you know that I genuinely considered you a friend? Are friends meant to be used for such things? Honestly, as a police officer, I've seen too many situations like this, yet I still can't suppress my disappointment. Let me ask you one last time: did you do it?"
Mai Lang fell silent for a moment, just as the person returned with the parrot. After a brief pause, Mai Lang spoke again, "I consider you a friend too. But I have an alibi! Can you explain how I could have killed Anderson at an impossible time?"
I sighed and replied, "The autopsy results show that Anderson died between eleven and two. The reason we believe no one had the opportunity to commit the crime is because he was still alive when we knocked on the door at twelve fifteen. In reality, we only thought he was alive."
Pausing for emphasis, I continued slowly, "Because Anderson was already dead before we knocked!"
"That’s absolutely impossible!"
"Exactly! We even heard him speaking! That voice couldn't have been faked!"
It was my first time out at sea when I encountered a well-known Bengal Aid Worker. Young and impulsive, but too poor to really make a move until the First Mate told me that a bag of instant noodles could get me through the night with a group of women… It was intense and involved multiple partners.
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