Evil and punishment [criminal investigation]

As soon as the wind chime rang on the door, Nie Cheng and Jiang Zhun entered the hotel with a cold air.

There are green plants inside the door, small string lights in warm colors, advertising racks on the rustic wooden stools, and accommodation prices written on the fluorescent blackboard next to them. These arrangements make the small hotel very warm in the cold winter, and there is still a bit of Christmas. atmosphere of.

"Didi—" The electronic clock on the wall announced the hour on the hour, and the hour hand pointed to 5 o'clock.

They stepped on the mats to dry the snow under their feet, and then glanced at the wind and snow whizzing outside the door.

"Are the two staying for accommodation?" The male clerk nestled behind the front desk raised his head and asked, but his eyes were still glued to the game interface of the mobile phone.

"Yes, a double room." Nie Cheng said.

"ID card." The male clerk said, he insisted on taking the ID card at the last moment before putting down the phone, and had to check them in. "Go upstairs and turn left to 201, the one on the right at the end of the corridor."

Usually the one on the far side of the hotel is taboo, and there are many evil things, but they are two people, or two policemen, so they don't care about it.

"Are there toiletries in the room?" Nie Cheng took the room key and asked.

"There are toothbrushes, small toothpaste, small soap and bath towels, and towels must be purchased separately." The male shop assistant raised his head and gestured to the price list next to him with his chin.

"Two towels."

"it is good."

"Do you have hot water? It's drinkable." Jiang Zhun asked.

"Yes, it's in the hall, next to the entrance of the restaurant. There is also an electric kettle in the room." The male clerk said.

Jiang Zhun took the thermos in Nie Cheng's hand and went to the side to fetch water. He didn't want to use the electric kettle in the room, and he didn't bother to scrub it.

The main entrance of the hotel is on the far right of the entire building, facing the forest path; after entering the door, the front desk is directly opposite, and a one-meter-long porch wall barely separates the front desk from other spaces, and both the public hall and the restaurant are on the left; leading to The stairs on the second floor are opposite to the side of the entrance wall at a certain distance, between the reception desk and the public hall.

After scanning the QR code to pay, Nie Cheng went to find Jiang Zhun and found that there were other people in the hall.

A man in a light gray sweater, a baseball cap, and a sleek fur coat on his knees was reading a magazine with his back to the stairs. He was facing Jiang Zhun and Nie Cheng sideways, his eyes rolling between them.

The other is a man in a short blue down jacket, revealing an old dark green sweater and a red autumn collar. He is squatting in the corner smoking a cigarette, staring at the flickering red light of the cigarette butts.

For the convenience of passengers, the water tank is placed in the hall, against the wall separating the kitchen.Jiang Zhun took some water first, felt the water temperature with his lips, then filled it up, and shook the glass gently.

Nie Cheng waved the key in his hand to him, signaling to him that the formalities had been completed. Seeing Jiang Zhun screw on the lid of the water cup and walking towards him, he turned around and went up the stairs first.

Before reaching the third level, an angry shout came from behind: "What are you doing!"

Nie Cheng turned his head, and the harmonious situation just now disappeared like a dream.

Jiang Zhun grabbed the fur man by his collar and threw him onto the armrest of the sofa, pointing his other hand at his forehead, without saying a word, his eyes full of threats.

Nie Cheng quickly grabbed him, "What's the matter, what's going on?"

Jiang Zhun listened to persuasion and let go of his hand, and the warning did not diminish in the slightest.

"Sorry, there may be some misunderstanding." Seeing that he refused to speak, Nie Cheng said politely to the fur man, and then dragged him upstairs to his room.

Jiang Zhun followed him upstairs without any intention of explaining, and Nie Cheng looked at him several times without getting any feedback.

Corridors have wooden floors, old creaking in places, but not disturbing.In addition to the standard open-air balcony, the room at the end also has a small window in the bathroom. The sunlight should be good on sunny days, but it is a bit cold now.

Turn on the light, and you can see everything in the room, the floor is covered with gray carpet, the open space is like a kitchen knife, the straight entrance is like a knife handle, the long table is placed against the wall along the back of the knife, and there are retro-style desk lamps and An old 32-inch TV; the head of the two single beds is facing the wall, and the pillow is on the blade; there is a wardrobe with two doors at the bottom of the blade; the toilet and bathroom are on the left hand side of the entrance.On the whole, the room is a neat rectangle.

The glass door separating the bedroom and the balcony was cold, and there was a thin layer of dew on the side of the house. Nie Cheng looked at the white snow on the balcony and drew the curtains.

As soon as Jiang Zhun came in, he sat on the edge of the bed, resting his head in frustration.

Nie Cheng understands that he is in a bad mood. It is rare to have a rest and he has to go on a business trip with him. It is also a snowstorm and it is difficult to find a hotel. What's more, he fell asleep on the way. Jiang Zhun drove alone for more than two hours. Now Anxiety is also normal.

He turned on the warm air, adjusted the temperature, brushed two cups, and dried the hot water.

"I didn't expect to stay for another night, and I didn't bring anything to eat. I see that he has a restaurant here. Would you like to go down and have something to eat?" Nie Cheng asked.

Jiang Zhun shook his head.

He patted Jiang Zhun's shoulder comfortingly, "Then I'll bring it up for you, you go to sleep first, I'll bring the key."

Jiang Zhun nodded, and lay down to rest in relief.

Nie Cheng put the blanket at the corner of the bed on him, and went downstairs alone.

The vertical air conditioner in the hall downstairs was warmed up, which was warmer than the dimly lit corridor. The fur man was still pretending to read a magazine on the sofa. He glanced at him when he heard the movement, muttered something, and pushed down his baseball cap again. Press it, the fellow smokers have already gone upstairs.

Nie Cheng asked the male clerk at the front desk if he had dinner, and the male clerk offered him instant noodles, bread, biscuits, and pickles.

He bought instant noodles, biscuits, ham sausage, and milk, went to the restaurant to soak instant noodles in hot water, and poured hot water into the milk bag, so it was not so cold.He didn't carry the instant noodles upstairs, but ate at the table next to him.

The dining room is separated from the hall by a wall, the length is the same, and the width is halved. A dining table and a few wooden chairs are placed vertically between the wall and the window.

Nie Cheng sat at the head of the dining table with his back to the wall, in the same direction as the male clerk at the front desk. He could see the movement of the stairs and the wind and snow outside.

While waiting for the instant noodles, the male clerk went upstairs and came down quickly. Not long after he sat down, the doorbell rang, and a young couple came. I can feel the fatigue of their journey.

When they went upstairs, Nie Cheng saw through the dining room door that they were walking up with big bags and small bags. He sighed and said that he was going to stay outside for a night when they were almost there.Obviously, he and Jiang Zhun were also the ones who were stopped by the wind and snow.

After he finished his meal, he checked the time. At 5:45, he bought another dinner at the front desk, soaked instant noodles in hot water and brought them upstairs.

After turning on the warm air in the room, it was much warmer than outside.Jiang Zhunza was sleeping soundly in the pillow. Nie Cheng thought about it, but didn't wake him up, and put the food on the long table opposite the bed.

He charged the phone, helped Jiang Zhun back on, took off his uniform, took out the cigarettes and lighter in his pocket, made sure to lock the door, and went to take a shower.He was worried that the noise of the hair dryer would be of no use in waking Jiang Zhun up, so he lay down under the quilt to watch the video, and only lay down to sleep when his hair was not too wet.He glanced at the time, 8:25, this may be the earliest day he slept in the past six months.

There is a button to switch all the lights in the room on the bedside table in the middle. He only left a small light in the entrance, and the room darkened, and he fell asleep quickly.

Nie Cheng suddenly remembered the kraft paper bag he saw at Wei Yuan's house, and he stuffed it into the briefcase before he had time to look at the document confirming Jiang Zhun's information.

Now that Jiang Zhun fell asleep and slept soundly, he should take advantage of this time to study the clues left by Wei Yuan.Nie Cheng struggled to get up, but his eyelids seemed to be glued shut.He was cruel to himself, sat up hard, walked to the briefcase and took out the file bag from it, his arms unconsciously wound around the string, a few sheets of thin paper weighed heavily on his wrist, and he took the printing paper a little bit. After pouring it out, I saw Jiang Zhun's one-inch photo again...

"Ahh-!"

There was a scream, and the fear in the voice could be heard through the door.

Nie Cheng woke up immediately. He was lying on the pillow, still in the posture of drying his hair, and he didn't search for the documents at all.The bed next to him was empty, and Jiang Zhun didn't know when he woke up. He glanced at his phone, and it was 10:35.

He immediately sat up, went to the bathroom to look but found no one, hurriedly put on his clothes and shoes, pulled his uniform jacket over his body, and ran out.

In the corridor outside Room 204, there was a woman kneeling and sitting. She was shaking with fright, struggling to back away, her eyes full of horror.

The situation was not good, Nie Cheng rushed to her side in two steps, and followed her gaze to see an astonishing scene.

The door of room 204 was open, and the dim light from the orange wall lamp could barely illuminate the man lying on the long table.He took a few steps closer and recognized the fur man who was sitting downstairs just now based on his clothes and body shape.He was already dead, his head was facing the bedroom door, his eyes were wide open, his tongue was sticking out, there was a hint of coquettishness in the room, and the deceased was incontinent at fault.

What surprised him the most was the man standing in front of the dead man majestically. He was tall, male, and physically strong. When Nie Cheng arrived, his hands hadn't been removed from the neck of the corpse. This man was his roommate Jiang Zhun who had gone somewhere.

The woman who fell to the ground in fright was the wife of the young couple who came to stay with Nie Cheng when he was eating. She obviously regarded Jiang Zhun as the murderer who was committing a crime.

"Look at this strangle mark." Seeing Nie Cheng coming, Jiang Zhun pointed to him sideways, and gave him one of the thin rubber gloves that he carried with him.

Nie Cheng felt the temperature of the corpse, and turned his head slightly. There was no blood, and no trauma was found. After a brief inspection of his limbs, he was roughly sure that he died of mechanical suffocation and should have been strangled.

During the time he was examining the body, people from other rooms rushed over in pajamas or overcoats.

"Don't come in." Jiang Zhun raised his hand towards them, "There has been a murder case, please cooperate with us. We are the police."

The woman kneeling on the ground was obviously not convinced. She grabbed the hand of her husband who had just arrived, pointed at Jiang Zhun excitedly and said, "It's you, it's you, I saw it!"

"We are indeed the police," Nie Cheng said.He came in uniform, took out his police card from his pocket and showed it to them, and recognized the male clerk who had rushed over when he heard the noise, and said to him: "Call everyone, go downstairs Gather in the lobby, a homicide has occurred."

He and Jiang Zhun walked out of the room, closed the door, confirmed that everyone had gone downstairs, closed the door of Room 204 and went to the lobby.

Now in the entire hotel, including Nie Cheng and Jiang Zhun, there are a total of 8 people, 6 men and 2 women.

The young couple, Feng Yongqing and Hu Wen, were sitting on the two-person leather sofa that the deceased had sat on before his death. Hu Wen was already much better, but the hand holding Feng Yongqing was still trembling.

There is a single leather sofa on each side of the two-person sofa, the one near the fireplace is empty, and the other is sitting on the hotel owner Qian Tong. He is in his 50s, has strangely long eyebrows, and wears pajamas and slippers. He was very angry about this matter, and behind him stood Wang Xiaozhi, a male clerk at the front desk.

The fellow villager Xu Jianjun they had met before was squatting in a corner and smoking a cigarette, standing near the water tank, keeping a distance from everyone, watching everyone's every move with his hands in his pockets.

Standing against the wall on the other side was a middle-aged woman wearing a fur shawl, with slender fingers and straight hair. Her name was Pan Hongyue, and her eyes were always on Jiang Zhun.

"Everyone is here?" Jiang Zhun asked.

"It's all set, everyone in every room has been called down." The male clerk Wang Xiaozhi said.

"Everyone reported their names just now, and let's introduce ourselves. I am the captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Haidong District Bureau, surnamed Jiang, and this is my colleague, Officer Nie. We happened to live here in a snowstorm during a business trip. Before the district police arrives, the two of us will be in charge temporarily." Jiang Zhun said with a cold face while showing his police ID in the demeanor of a criminal investigation captain.

Nie Cheng went downstairs and went to the front desk. There was no signal on the mobile phone. He tried to use the landline to try, but he couldn't make a call. He just took copies of everyone's ID cards and went back to the lobby to shake his head at Jiang Zhun.In this kind of weather, the line is prone to problems, which is also expected by them.

He handed Jiang Zhun a copy of the deceased's ID card, which said his name was Zhen Sizhe, he was 39 years old, and he was not from the city.

He stood beside Jiang Zhun, and heard Hu Wen who was frightened just now said to Jiang Zhun: "You can't, you can't be responsible! I saw you holding his neck with your hand just now, and you are also suspected!"

The eyes of the others all shot at Jiang Zhun, Jiang Zhun sighed: "I have explained it just now, I am going to confirm the situation."

"Then why did you close the door?" Hu Wen asked, then turned her head and said to her husband and everyone as if confessing, "I want to go downstairs to buy something to eat. When I passed by 204, I saw the door was ajar. I was just curious. Take a look inside."

"You, the captain, are suspected. I saw you fighting with the dead one. I don't listen to you." said Xu Jianjun, a fellow villager who didn't say a word after reporting his name.

"Have you ever fought?" Qian Tong, the hotel owner, was surprised, and glanced at Wang Xiaozhi again.

"I didn't really do anything, but the dead one said something, and he threw him on the sofa, that's all." Xu Jianjun said.

As soon as this remark came out, many people nodded slightly, not quite believing Jiang Zhun.

Jiang Zhun rubbed his brows and said, "Okay, since you don't believe me, then my colleague will be responsible. He was the former criminal investigation captain, and he is still my old superior."

Everyone agreed, saying that it should have been hosted by the "official university", completely unaware that Nie Cheng is just an ordinary policeman now.

Jiang Zhun made a gesture of invitation, walked into the other people, hesitated for a moment and sat down on the single sofa near the fireplace.

Nie Cheng reluctantly motioned everyone to be quiet, and repeatedly said that since he took over, everyone should follow the arrangement and command. Although Jiang Zhun is suspected, he is a criminal policeman after all, and everyone should try his best to cooperate with his arrangement.

He stipulated that from now on, the mobile phone will be confiscated, and you can't go alone when you leave the hall. If you go to the bathroom, you have to be accompanied by two people you don't know well.He asked Jiang Zhun to keep the mobile phone and was in charge of the order in the lobby, and he took the boss to the room of the deceased on the second floor.

When passing by, Jiang Zhun nodded to express his reassurance, and Nie Cheng nodded lightly in response.