Chapter 13 The Mystery of the Secret Room

"Killing is not like long-distance running or riding a bicycle, and there is no such thing as preserving physical strength. Unless the murderer is a professional assassin with extensive experience in killing people, who can accurately grasp the timing of his attacks, and is fully mentally prepared for the target's various reactions... Otherwise, the perpetrator will definitely use all his strength to tighten the target until the victim completely loses resistance," Feng Bujue explained, "Then the murderer's palm will inevitably leave some cuts or contusions. " He gestured with his hand, "The location of the injury should be roughly at the edge of the palm, below the base of the little finger. Even if the steel wire is wrapped around the hand several times to increase the force-bearing area of ​​the palm, during the actual attack, Most of the force will still be borne by this part.”

"Then this case is solved, isn't it?" Schofield said excitedly, "Forget about the secret room, Dumpdy, hurry up and gather everyone in this villa and check their hands..."

"Don't worry yet, detective." Feng Bujue interrupted the other party in a feeble tone, "Don't forget the premise I said...'if protective measures are not taken.'" He shrugged, "As long as the murderer Wearing a pair of slightly thicker gloves can solve this problem. Moreover, if the gloves are long enough, the probability of scratches on the hands and forearms will be greatly reduced. "

This basin of cold water immediately extinguished the exciting light in the eyes of Scofield and Dumpty.

"But your idea is right." Feng Bujue said, "The inspection still needs to be done, but we have to be clear that even if there is no injury on the hand, it may not prove that someone is not the murderer." He also added, "In addition, you have also seen that the deceased bled a lot of blood, and his hands were also stained with a lot of blood. If the murderer did not wear gloves, his/her hands were likely to be stained with a lot of blood, and then he/she would have died when he/she escaped. There will be bloody fingerprints everywhere...although I think this is unlikely...but it cannot be ruled out that the murderer went to the bathroom to wash his hands before fleeing."

Schofield nodded and said: "Well...then, in addition to the murder weapon, what we need to pay attention to now is a pair of bloody gloves."

"It's impossible to find it." Feng Bujue revealed another piece of bad news.

"Ah? What did you say?" Schofield asked suspiciously.

Feng Bujue replied directly: "After the murderer finished killing the people and arranged the room into a secret room, the location he/she was in was outside the window...that is, outside the villa. He/she only had to walk a short distance and point the murder weapon and gloves toward the valley. If you hit it...who can find it?"

"Uh..." Schofield didn't dare to answer any more. The famous detective in front of me can point out a clue as soon as he opens his mouth, but within two sentences, he cuts off the clue again.

Feng Bujue turned around and walked towards the door. "When I was investigating the crime scene before, I checked it very carefully...except around the body, the only blood stain I could find was the very faint blood stain on the window sill. Therefore...my guess is as follows..." Here, he had already arrived at the door of the room, locked the door of the guest room, and continued, "After the murderer finished killing the person, he first wiped the murder weapon. Wipe off the blood on the line as much as possible and put it aside for later. Then, he/she took off the gloves, turned them inside out and put them aside for the time being. Then, the murderer came over and locked the door. Of course, I think there is a 70% chance that he is the murderer. The door was already locked when the murder was committed."

Brother Jue said, then turned back and walked towards the window, "After making sure that the door was locked from the inside, the murderer took his gloves and came to the window and tied the steel wire to the window."

Suddenly, Feng Bujue stopped in front of the window with a confused look on his face, "Uh... two police officers, which one of you knows how to tie a slipknot?"

This guy's weakness in knitting was exposed again... although it doesn't matter.

"Well... what kind of slip knot do you need?" Dumpty came over and asked.

"What... are there so many ways to play..." Feng Bujue's expression was as dull as ever before, because the conversation had entered an area that was like a blind spot for him...

"That's right." Dumpty lifted his police hat with his hand and scratched his hair. "I have an uncle who is a sailor. He taught me many kinds of knots when I was young, such as the double bar knot, the fisherman's knot, the shrink knot, and the splice knot. , Eight-character knot..."

At this moment, Brother Jue looked at the other person as if he was saying - "So you are the legendary super high school-level knotter who has broken through the art of tying shoelaces."

"Anyway..." Feng Bujue simply changed the subject, "Listen to me and you should know what the knot is."

The window of this room is a traditional casement window. There is a rake-shaped window latch in the middle of the left and right window leaves. Feng Bujue pointed at the handle of one of the window latch and said, "The murderer is... One end of the steel wire is tied to the handle. Then he/she goes outside the house, first closes the window on the other side, and inserts the window bolt, and then keeps the window bolt horizontal. , slowly close it from the outside."

"Oh! I understand." Hearing this, Dumpdy already knew what Feng Bujue meant. He took the string from Brother Jue's hand, tied it to the handle of the window latch three times, five divided by two, and then Quickly turn to the window, hold the other end of the steel wire in one hand, and slowly close the window with the other hand. Then, he pulled the steel wire out from the crack in the window.

"Yes, that's it..." Feng Bujue said to Schofield beside him, "Look, the position of the thread must be stuck in the gap at the lower edge of the window, so that when the murderer pulls the thread, the window latch will Turn it down until it is in place.”

Scofield also understood when he saw this, "When the window latch is inserted, it will be in an upright state. If you continue to pull, the knotted loop of the steel wire will fall off from the end of the latch handle. At this time, the slip knot will unravel, Then just pull the thread out in the end." He pointed to the window edge, "During this process, the thread body left blood marks on the window edge due to friction."

"Yes, although the murderer has wiped the blood on the murder weapon to prevent the design from being exposed, it is still very difficult to leave no traces." Feng Bujue continued, "After killing someone, most people will think about it. Escape from the scene as soon as possible." Brother Jue said as he opened the window and helped Dumpdy climb back into the house. "Although the murderer in this case had a plan in advance, his mentality would not be consistent when it came to implementation. There is a huge difference between ordinary people.”

Feng Bujue left the window, walked around the room and said, "If he/she had prepared another steel wire in advance specifically for layout, or went to the bathroom to carefully clean the murder weapon with water after the murder... Then it may be more difficult for us to crack this secret room."

"Normally no one would do this..." Schofield continued.

"Haha..." Feng Bujue smiled. This laughter was so meaningful that it made the two police officers' hair stand on end.

"Okay, the basic techniques of murder are now clear." Brother Jue stretched and winked at the door, "Next... let's go talk to the suspects in this case." ( To be continued.)