Liam and his party first came to the Haobao Hotel. There were countless crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the lobby, and countless crystal balls hanging from each lamp, like countless curious eyes. When the golden lights shone, these eyes all reflected strange and magnificent light, just like the all-encompassing and omnipresent universe.
Grace's room had been cleaned once. "Walking Garden" Zhang Lei and his apprentice from the Trace Inspection Department were busy in the room. Liam and Torry took a quick look and followed the hotel manager to watch the surveillance video of that night.
The day before yesterday, around 7:50 p.m. on April 29, Grace and the young man registered as Blake entered room 808 of the hotel one after another. At 8:35, Blake went out to answer the phone. Combined with the surveillance in other areas of the hotel, he hurried out of the hotel door after answering the phone. At 8:39, the cleaner, who was most likely the murderer in disguise, pushed a cart to the door of room 808 and used the universal door card to directly open Grace's door, and then the door was closed. About a minute later, the door opened, and the "cleaner" came out and pushed the cleaning cart in. At 8:46, the door was opened again, and the "cleaner" pushed the cleaning cart out, and the originally deflated black cleaning bag swelled up. There is reason to infer that Grace was inside.
"This man is obviously not a cleaner. How could there not be items for guest rooms to change on the cleaning cart? He must have cleared them out to make room for Grace." Torry sneered.
At this time, Zhang Lei ran over panting, holding a piece of paper in his hand.
"I found this in the room's Service Guide," Zhang Lei said. "All other traces were destroyed during the last cleaning, but the cleaner probably didn't open the Service Guide carefully."
"The murderer must have known that the cleaner wouldn't open it, so he put the paper in it." Liam said as he put on gloves, took the paper and placed it in front of himself and Torry.
This is an ordinary A4 paper. Torry exclaimed as soon as he saw it: "Su Dongpo!"
"Um?"
"It's outrageous, outrageous! This guy imitates Su Dongpo very well!" Torry also wanted a pair of gloves. After putting them on, he picked up the paper and studied it carefully. "Based on the murderer's artistic attainments, he should not use A4 paper to write. This is not particular. He should at least use flowery paper produced by a large manufacturer. He did this just to tell us not to waste time investigating the source of paper. This ink is obviously not ground from expensive ink blocks. But the murderer dislikes cheap ink like Yidege. Judging from the color of the ink, it should be a brand like Xuanzong, or at least the high-end Yuntouyan. But these are all common brands on the market. And this imitation of Su Dongpo's small regular script is more like the murderer changing the font to print information for us."
"After all, the murderer left no clues."
"right."
"It's different when you solve a case. We would definitely look at what the murderer wrote first, but you study the materials first."
At this point, the three of them hurriedly began to read the contents of the paper. After a simple punctuation, Torry discovered that this was a modern poem:
I would rather cry for a truly withered flower in spring
I would rather thank spring with a fake rose
The four seasons are composed into a sad song by a sentimental hand
You trade its melodies for jewels and happiness
The mist of long summer fills the changes of the universe
My clumsy writing is powerless to imitate the birth and death of destiny
I can't find my destiny in this painting.
But to the hypocritical living
Draw a cold, real grave
After listening to Torry's reading, Zhang Lei got goose bumps all over his body, and even Liam felt himself frightened by a cold murderous aura.
"He's actually a poet." Torry said, "To be honest, if he wasn't the murderer, I'd like to be his sworn brother."
"Don't talk nonsense. What do you think of this poem?"
Torry tilted his head. "I can think of three points for now. First, it is obvious that the murderer thought that the victim Grace was a hypocritical person, and he also told us that this was the reason why he wanted to kill Grace, at least it can be understood literally. But killing a person just because of hypocrisy seems a bit far-fetched. I wonder if there are other possibilities, such as her hypocrisy leading to some unfortunate incident. I think that Grace's teeth were knocked out, maybe the murderer was punishing her for lying. Of course, the above is purely speculation. If there are similarities, it means I am awesome. Second, the poem mentions "qiyun", which means destiny and fate. This is in line with the previous inscription "Painting also has Feng Shui in it", which shows that the murderer has some research on Feng Shui. He either really believes in Feng Shui, or he is like me, and is very interested in ancient Feng Shui. The murderer is interested in the philosophy of modern art. Thirdly, "I can't find my own destination in this painting", which means that the murderer is likely to be very confused in real life. He insists on something, but doubts his life and values. This may help to portray the murderer. By the way, "painting" is the four steps of traditional landscape painting. Considering that the murderer's "Fuchun Mountain Dwelling" is so good, I suspect he is a painter specializing in landscape. "Torry held his cheek and read the poem again, "In addition, I feel that the murderer seems to have a special liking for the concept of time such as seasons. Not to mention the direct mention of seasonal images in many places in the poem, even the word "luck" actually has the meaning of the flow and change of seasons. "
Liam digested the information given by Torry and thought about the characteristics of the murderer. At this time, Owen called: "Captain Lu, the suspect who appeared in the surveillance of Binhu Park has highly similar appearance characteristics to the suspect who appeared in the basement of the museum. They should be the same person. At about 3:50 a.m. on the day of the crime, he used a knife to knock out the driver of the sand truck who was about to start work, and then mixed Grace's body with sand and transported it to the park for burial. The surveillance showed that the suspect arrived at the park at 4:30 a.m. and left at 4:50 a.m. After committing the crime, he did not drive the car back to the original place, but drove it to a complex under construction outside the West Second Ring Road and abandoned it. Due to the limitation of surveillance, the last time we saw the sand truck was on the auxiliary road of Liuyu Road, 500 meters away from the construction site. There was no footage of the suspect parking and abandoning the car, and no suspicious person was found to enter the surveillance area again."
"Just say you lost me again."
"It's easy to tell that this guy is not easy to deal with. I've never seen anyone go through so much trouble to kill someone."
"Have you contacted Blake, who checked into a hotel with Grace?"
"I got in touch with him. He is a junior student majoring in basketball at the Provincial Sports Institute, 21 years old. He was recruited by the crew to be an extra, and because of his good image, he was given a small role opposite Grace. He is now in the film and television city, staying with Grace's agent."
"Okay, we'll go right over there." Liam winked at Torry and Zhang Lei. The group went to the address Owen gave them.
Blake and Grace's agent Zeng Hong were questioned separately.
"Tell me, what happened with Grace?" Liam looked at Blake. The young man was about 1.9 meters tall, with fair skin, three-dimensional facial features, and clear muscle lines on his arms, chest, and calves.
"I didn't kill her." Blake looked terrified.
"Did we tell you that you killed him? There are surveillance cameras, don't be afraid."
When he heard that he was not suspected, Blake suddenly turned from a frightened clam into an octopus stretching its body freely in the glass tank. "Which eye of yours saw that I was scared? My specialty is hiding in graves and scaring ghosts!" He relaxed, crossed his legs, and smiled meaningfully, "This Grace is really a 5lut."
"Um?"
"Everyone says she's pure and innocent, so when I came, I never thought about how I could hit on her. But guess what? She actually took the initiative to seduce me both on and off the screen, sometimes she flirted with me, sometimes she pretended to touch me accidentally. I thought, since she offered herself to me, I shouldn't refuse her! So, we went to get a room that night."
"You're not in a long-term relationship?"
"No, we just met because of this drama. On the way to the hotel with her, I thought, she was so skilled in flirting with me, she must have flirted with many people in the same way. Haha, she is definitely not a virgin."
The young man had delicate skin but spoke rudely, which made Torry very uncomfortable. However, Captain Lu was a worldly-wise man and went straight to the most critical academic question: "Did you wear a c0ndom when you had s3x? Let me be clear, we found semen residue inside her body."
Blake smiled disdainfully: "I wore it at first, because she asked me to. I don't like wearing it anyway. But later I changed my posture and took it off when she wasn't paying attention, and she didn't notice. I was still very excited when I thought about leaving seeds for Grace."
"You guys are such a mess!" Torry couldn't help but speak out and make a complaint.
Seeing the young man's half-surprised and half-mocking expression, Liam almost rolled his eyes. Torry was too impatient, and with one sentence, he destroyed the powerful aura he had painstakingly created. He didn't create momentum, but instead felt that he was forcibly pulled into the "Pure Yang Body" camp by Torry.
Hearing Blake's burst of laughter, Torry realized that he had lost face. He wanted to say that he had also seen that "action movie", but all his excuses were like paper tigers in front of a practitioner.
Liam ignored Torry and asked with a righteous look on his face: "You received a call that night. Who called you? What did they say that caused you to leave the hotel halfway?"
"Is it that important?" The tall young man wanted to avoid these questions, but when he found that the policeman opposite him was not willing to give in, he had to say unhappily, "I don't know who that man is. He used a voice changer and his voice was very rough. He asked me to go out to answer the phone, so I went to the corridor. He also said that he had s3x videos of me and three women, and asked me to meet him in the grove of the park outside the hotel to discuss terms. I did have s3x with many women, and I didn't keep it a secret. I just played with it. But I'm not sure if he really got any videos or was just trying to trick me. I also had s3x with the wife of a famous entrepreneur in the city, and we took a short video. There's nothing else to worry about, but I'm afraid that the video will be spread, and I will definitely be killed when I go back. After thinking it over, I still went. But when I went to the place he said, I didn't even see a ghost, and I waited for a long time."
"When you came back and found Grace missing, why didn't you call the police?"
"Am I stupid? I was already disturbed by the phone call, and I called the police? What? I had an affair with a female star and was cheated by a stranger? Besides, when I came back and found that she was gone, the first thing I thought of was that she had gone out for something. I am just a commoner, born under the red flag and raised in the spring breeze. I have never even seen a car accident with my own eyes. How could I associate it with murder?"
"The surveillance showed that you stayed in the room for a while. What were you doing?"
"I didn't do anything, just lay there and waited for her."
"You two have already had s3x, why are you still hanging around in there?"
"I originally planned to stay overnight, but that's not okay?" The young man felt that he was impressed by the policeman, "But later I called her and found that she didn't even take her phone with her. I waited for a long time but she didn't come back, so I thought it was pointless and left."
"When you entered the room again, did you notice anything unusual? For example, were there any signs of a fight, or anything being turned over?"
"No, it's basically the same as before I left. Besides, with Grace's delicate appearance, if she really met a murderer who killed people without blinking an eye, wouldn't she be knocked out in minutes? She wouldn't have a chance to struggle at all, okay? I still have the right to say this, because I pressed her on the bed at that time..."
"Okay, stop!" Liam cruelly suppressed the young man's desire to express himself. "Thank you for your cooperation. Before you leave, let my colleague extract your DNA sample. Keep your phone open during this period. If we have any more questions, we will call you at any time."
After seeing Blake off, Grace’s agent Zeng Hong was invited in.
Zeng Hong couldn't help sobbing when talking about Grace, which made her eyes, which were already swollen like rotten peaches, look as if they had experienced another round of heavy rain.
"I have always known about Sasha's private life, but we need to package her image, so..." Zeng Hong hesitated, "This Blake is an extra we just found. I can see that Sasha is interested in him, but I can't control this matter. I can only remind her to be careful."
"There is a suspicious point here. You and Blake both said that they just met. If the murderer's target was Grace, how could he know Blake's phone number so quickly? If they were in a long-term relationship, the murderer would have had plenty of time to investigate after knowing about it. But they just met, and the murderer immediately knew Luo's phone number, and then called him to divert him and committed the murder. This is incredible."
At this time, Torry, who had been silent for a long time, spoke up: "It is also possible that the murderer has been secretly following and investigating Grace. He chose to take action today, but after discovering the relationship between the two, he simply took advantage of the situation."
"By the way, our assistant said that she lost her actor contact list and is borrowing my copy now." Zeng Hong said.
Following her words, Liam asked: "Have you spotted any suspicious people these days?"
"The crew is always busy, and the latest drama uses a lot of extras..."
Liam pushed the surveillance camera photo of the suspect in front of her: "This is him, wearing a hat and a mask."
"There are many people like this in the crew."
Liam asked a few more questions, and Zeng Hong provided far less information than Blake. They collected their notes and set off to return to the team.
The interrogation was over and it was almost noon. Liam thought the hotel buffet was too expensive, so he found a restaurant nearby and asked for a private room.
"While the food is being served, I will sort out the information I have so far." Liam looked serious, as if he was visiting a grave while others were serving the food.
"I was wondering, Captain Lu is so extravagant that he even asked for a private room. It turns out he wanted to discuss the case." Torry didn't even raise his head as he wiped his bowl and chopsticks with a napkin.
"Now I will summarize the murderer's trajectory based on the surveillance and the situation at several scenes." Liam pretended not to hear Torry's words and continued, "On April 29 or earlier, the murderer sneaked into the crew where Grace was, waiting for an opportunity to commit the crime, but accidentally discovered her relationship with Blake, so he tried to get Blake's contact information, and may even have learned about this person's work style by browsing his social platforms or asking people directly, and used this to branch out Blake at 8:35 pm on April 29. At 8:39, he disguised himself as a cleaner and went directly into Grace's room. He knocked Grace unconscious in the room, put her in a black garbage bag, and put away the handwritten poem he had prepared in advance. He opened the door and went downstairs at 8:46. Then he drove a fake license plate car towards the city center, passing through the urban-rural junction and green belts, Leaving the surveillance range. We found that the murderer knocked out the sand truck driver at around 3:50 a.m. on the 30th, which means that it took only 7 hours for the murderer to contact Grace, kill her, paint "Fuchun Mountain Dwelling", and deliver the body to the sand truck. Excluding the necessary time for driving and moving the body, it would not take him more than 6 hours to handle the body and paint. At 4:30 a.m. on the 30th, the murderer entered the park to bury the body, left at 4:50, and escaped from the surveillance near the West Second Ring Road. At about 8 o'clock, he knocked out the cleaner in the men's restroom on the first floor of the museum, changed clothes and lurked somewhere in the museum. At 10:39, he entered the basement of the main building, took out the blood painting from the garbage bag and placed it on the ground, left the basement at 10:41, left the museum at 10:49, then crossed the willow embankment and disappeared into Zhongxiang. "
After reviewing the case, Liam asked everyone what they thought.
"There is one detail that can be further clarified," Noel cleared his throat, "The first scene can be basically confirmed to be somewhere at the junction of urban and rural areas, not in a hotel or near a hotel, let alone in a park. First of all, we have speculated that she was buried alive. Secondly, Grace's hands and feet have antemortem restraint injuries, and there are signs of life in her tooth sockets. It can be seen that the murderer restrained Grace's hands and feet while she was still alive, and then forcibly knocked out her teeth one by one."
Speaking of this, everyone can't help but feel a toothache.
"Yes, it's impossible to have done all of this in a hurry in the hotel, and there was no blood or even signs of fighting in the hotel. Uh... let me just talk about my expertise." Torry motioned Liam to take out the photo of the blood painting of "Fuchun Mountain Dwelling". "This guy is really amazing. He knocked out Grace's teeth in six hours, buried her alive with a sense of ritual, and then copied a "Fuchun Mountain Dwelling" with her blood. What a huge workload! Although his painting is a copy of the general trend and brushwork, and does not require details such as trees, moss spots, houses, and characters, it also shows that he has a deep foundation in painting and is skilled in technique, even to the point of being unbelievable."
"After saying so much, what kind of person do you think the murderer, this 'great painter', is?" Liam asked.
"From the surveillance footage, he's a man, not too old, probably in his twenties or thirties. He's agile, thoughtful, and calm," said Noel.
"The level of calligraphy and painting is very high, or the ability to copy is very strong; he has studied Taoism to a certain extent; he has a deep literary foundation and can write poetry; he is a perfectionist who pays attention to the sense of ritual; his life is not going well, he has doubted himself, and he wants to prove himself through exaggerated show-off; he may have had negative experiences, hate evil and have a distorted sense of justice." Torry paused here, raised his glass and drank a sip of water, and wondered, "The other characteristics can appear in the same person, but there is one thing that seems contradictory: how can a young man be so sophisticated in painting? As we all know, the attainments of Chinese painting are not based on talent and inspiration, but on cultivation and accumulation. Those who paint well are generally octogenarians. This case is so incredible that I wonder if there is more than one person who committed the crime."
Liam immediately said, "You mean, the young one is responsible for running errands, and the old one is responsible for painting?"
"It's just that based on my common sense judgment, I can't rule out the possibility that this 'great painter' is truly gifted."
"Okay, then we'll determine the scope of the investigation based on this analysis." Liam ignored the already full table of food, "Focus on investigating professors and lecturers at the Provincial Academy of Fine Arts, independent painters and calligraphers with more reputations in the city, and students of the Academy of Fine Arts who are similar in height and build to the murderer. We'll try to complete the investigation within three days. In addition, we'll continue to follow up on clues such as the fake license plate car used by the murderer, and don't miss any clues."
"Also, when checking, we should pay attention to those teachers and students who have copied Huang Gongwang, Shen Zhou, and Su Shi at the same time, although these are compulsory courses for art students..." Torry added.
"Who, who, who?" Liam suddenly realized that his cultural level seemed to be comparable to that of chimpanzees.
Torry looked at him with the pity of a tourist watching a chimpanzee.
"Finish the meal in five minutes!" Liam was sure that Torry could never eat better than him.
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