Madness of the Heart

"The time of death has been determined. It was between 2:3 am and 8:24 am on Sunday, that is, August [-]th. The cause of death was mechanical asphyxia caused by strangulation." Xing Mu began to enlarge the detailed photos one by one in the On the projection screen, "Judging from the groove lines on the neck of the deceased and the traces extracted, the tool used to commit the crime was a hemp rope as thick as a child's two fingers. This kind of hemp rope is very common in the market, and it is very difficult for the murderer to obtain it." It is easy, but difficult to use as key evidence. Toxicological and pharmacological tests have been done, and the deceased was not poisoned, nor did he take any drugs that affect the mind and behavior before his death."

"Sunday morning? That can actually be understood as Saturday night." Mingshu said, "Sha Chun left the Jiangnan Theater at 9:52 on Saturday night, and was killed more than four hours later... What might have happened in these four hours? Zhou Yuan, adjust the monitoring of the Jiangnan Theater again."

On the projection screen, two simultaneous surveillance images replaced the autopsy details.

On the left is Sha Chun leaving the theater alone, while on the right are her colleagues walking down the corridor in groups with smiles on their faces.

Fang Yuanhang has just been popularized as a "model worker" in the current context, and he feels sad for a while.

"Sha Chun left the theater wearing her own clothes, linen shirt, wide-leg pants, no makeup on her face, and her hair tied into a low ponytail." Mingshu said: "From the surveillance they arrived in the afternoon, she also wore this This is the same hairstyle and makeup. That is to say, during the time period between the end of the performance and when she left the backstage studio, she changed out of her costume and took off her makeup. Then why did she put on her costume again when she died in the early morning Costumes and makeup? How do you explain this behavior?"

No one made a sound in the conference room, everyone was thinking.

"Has the monitoring at the Jiangnan Theater been checked?" Ming Shu looked at the technical investigation team.

"The investigation of the public monitoring has been completed, and the monitoring of some private stores has not been transferred." Zhou Yuan said: "I don't know where Sha Chun went after leaving the Jiangnan Theater."

Mingshu folded his arms and walked a few steps in place.

"Leader, shall I continue?" Xing Mu looked at Mingshu under the cold light of the projector.

Mingshu has no time to correct Xing Mu's attitude now, so he nodded and said, "Continue."

"You know, to kill a person by strangulation, the strength of the murderer, especially the strength of the arms, cannot be small." Xing Mu said: "Those who use strangulation are generally men. Of course, women cannot be completely ruled out. If the murderer is a woman If it is, then she must be stronger, at least her arms have the characteristics of strength."

Mingshu nodded, "Yes."

While gesturing on his wrist, Xing Mu continued: "After killing Sha Chun, the murderer chopped off Sha Chun's hands. He used an ax with a blade length of about 100 mm and a head length of about 150 mm. The cut surface of the wound is not The murderer hacked many times, but this is not the reason why the ax is not sharp enough. The material of the ax is high carbon steel. A relatively tense state, and lack of strength to swing the blade."

"I have the strength to strangle Sha Chun to death, but when I cut off Sha Chun's hands, I have insufficient strength to swing the blade." Yi Fei said: "The possibility that the murderer is a woman is not small."

"Not necessarily." Xu Chun turned around halfway and made a strangled motion, "Whether male or female, you have to use all your strength to strangle a person. Because the strangled person must struggle, you not only have to strangle, but also You have to control it. This process consumes a lot of energy. After the murderer confirms that Sha Chun is dead, his arm may be in a state of loss of strength, it will be sore and weak, and it may even tremble when holding the ax. At this time, you want him to cut off Sha Chun’s body accurately and neatly. Hands are actually more out of touch with reality.”

Yi Fei said: "That's right. Teacher Xing, what is the acquisition channel and general function of this axe?"

"This..." Xing Mu smiled, and looked at Xiao Man not far away, "Xiao Xiao is more professional than me."

Xiao Man said: "It is mostly used for fire protection and outdoor work for engineers."

Fang Yuanhang's eyes lit up, "Does that mean it's not easy for ordinary people to get?"

Xiao Man shook his head, "It's easy to buy online."

Fang Yuanhang: "Huh?"

"Don't be surprised." Mingshu said, "This kind of ax is no longer a special offering for special occupations. In some areas, this kind of ax is used for fighting. In rural areas, this kind of ax is often used for chopping firewood and doing home improvement."

Xiao Man said, "That's what it means."

Ming Shu raised his chin at Xing Mu, "Continue."

"We will investigate the source of the ax again. I want to analyze the reason why the murderer cut off Sha Chun's hands." Xing Mu's hands were half clenched and pressed against his neck. "When the murderer strangled Sha Chun, Sha Chun looked like Struggling like this, trying to tear the hemp rope apart, probably scratched the murderer, or caught the murderer’s clothing fibers. In the former case, Sha Chun’s nails would have the murderer’s blood or skin tissue. The latter In one case, we can delineate the approximate scope of investigation based on the fibers of the clothes. In order to prevent his DNA information from being extracted by us, or to prevent us from knowing what clothes he was wearing, the murderer cut off Sha Chun's hands."

Xiao Man raised his hand and added: "There is no trace of DNA extraction on Sha Chun's body, and the murderer's information is probably only left in the severed hands."

"No." Mingshu interrupted suddenly, "This is a bit contradictory."

Xing Mu asked: "Uh... Where is the contradiction?"

Ming Shu said: "Since the murderer had an ax, why didn't he kill Sha Chun with an ax? It is obviously more convenient to chop with an ax than to strangle him with hemp rope. Sha Chun did not take any medicine or was poisoned, which means that he was sober at the time and capable of resisting." Ability, wouldn't the murderer worry about missing when he strangled with hemp rope?"

Xing Mu said: "Maybe the murderer thought that chopping would cause a lot of bleeding, and strangulation would prevent this?"

"Then what is the murderer's purpose for bringing the ax?" Ming Shu stood still, "Could it be that he just expected that he would be scratched by Sha Chun, so he brought it on his body to chop off Sha Chun's hand?"

Yi Fei said: "The Ming team's analysis makes sense. The murderer prepared an ax, but killed Sha Chun by strangling his neck. reason."

Xing Mu is proficient in forensic science, but when it comes to the case itself, sometimes he can't keep up with Ming Shu and Yi Fei's thinking, "Didn't the murderer cut off Sha Chun's hands because of the things in Sha Chun's nails?"

"It's very possible, but it's not the only possibility." Ming Shu said, "If it's just because Sha Chun's nails have his own blood and skin tissue, then the murderer can just cut off part of Sha Chun's fingers, or it doesn't have to be so troublesome." , Use a knife to cut off the side where the nails are attached. It is not a simple matter to chop off the wrist. The daily knife keeps chopping. It must be an ax or a control knife. This brings us back to the question we just had. The murderer predicted that his DNA Will the information stay in Sha Chun's nails? If it is expected, TA can also carry lighter tools. Just cut off the nails, why use an axe?"

Fang Yuanhang frowned and thought, "The murderer chopped off Sha Chun's hands with an axe. This is a fact. The key question now is, if he didn't want to prevent us from extracting TA's DNA information, why?"

"First, to complete a certain ceremony. This is consistent with Sha Chun wearing costumes and putting on stage makeup when he was killed. But what kind of ceremony it is, I'm still not sure yet." Mingshu said : "Second, it has something to do with Sha Chun himself."

Xing Mu said softly: "Myself?"

"Shachun focuses on guzheng. Although she can play musical instruments, guzheng is what she is best at." Ming Shu said, "For a guzheng player, isn't the most important thing is the hands?"

Fang Yuanhang suddenly felt a chill down his spine, "The murderer took away Sha Chun's hand, which is equivalent to taking away her most important thing."

"There can be multiple interpretations here. Let me mention what I think of first, and you can add later." Mingshu said: "The murderer hated Sha Chun, so after killing her, he was not satisfied and wanted to cut off her hand." The murderer thinks that Sha Chun is too mediocre to play the zither, and the hands on Sha Chun's body are white; the murderer is jealous of Sha Chun, or the murderer likes Sha Chun..."

"Wait!" Fang Yuanhang interrupted, "I understand the first two, but jealousy and liking are unlikely, right? Didn't the people in the folk music club say that Sha Chun has no talent and only knows how to work hard? Like her, as for being envied?"

"Your thinking is too one-sided." Mingshu said: "People in the folk music club think that Sha Chun has no talent, this is just their internal opinion. What do people outside the folk music club think? When I performed on Saturday, I noticed Sha Chun. Why? Because in the eyes of a layman like me, she is very professional and attractive. Also, I asked Han Mingming, the deputy director of the folk music department just now. She admitted that people who are as talented as Sha Chun in the folk music department are not Sha Chun is particularly outstanding because Sha Chun is unwilling to be mediocre and works harder than everyone else."

Because of his lack of experience, Fang Yuanhang couldn't think of Mingshu so much, but his advantage is that Mingshu can quickly follow up when he mentions something, "Then, according to this, the murderer may be a psychopath. He admires Shachun, and even more so." I adore Sha Chun's hands that can play beautiful music, so..."

"So Sha Chun's hand may still be preserved somewhere. But if it is the first few ideas, Sha Chun's hand has probably been destroyed." Mingshu said.

Fang Yuanhang stood up, "I suddenly have an idea."

Mingshu looked at him, "Say."

Fang Yuanhang said: "The Folk Music Club thinks that Sha Chun has no talent. Could this be a cover-up?"

Probably because he jumped a little far this time, even Mingshu didn't react.

"Some gay guys always emphasize that they are straight and homophobic in order to conceal their gay identity." Fang Yuanhang said, "Among those people in the folk music club who say that Sha Chun has no talent, do they actually agree with and envy him? People from Sha Chun? I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t want to be better, right? Although Sha Chun is average in talent, she is hardworking and hardworking. People like her should be improving little by little—maybe as slowly as a snail , but after many years, it is definitely better than doing nothing, right? Those people in the folk music club who also have no talent and don't work hard look at her. They are jealous and afraid, and pretend to be dismissive. Some of them may have thought of working hard like Sha Chun, but they are afraid of being regarded as a different kind."

There is actually no problem with Fang Yuanhang's thinking, but Mingshu couldn't help coughing softly when he heard his gays come and go.

The conference room suddenly became noisy, and as soon as the thinking was broadened, everyone began to express their ideas.

Xing Mu raised his hand several times, but was ignored because his voice was not loud enough.

Mingshu clapped his hands, "Be quiet, brother Xing hasn't finished yet."

Xing Mu blushed again, "There is one more detail, I will finish it soon. Zhou Yuan, please cooperate with me."

Suddenly being named, Zhou Yuan was taken aback, "Me?"

"Well, you are relatively small." Xing Mu took out a prepared hemp rope, "I can't strangle them."

"Mr. Xing is going to demonstrate the situation when the crime happened?" Fang Yuanhang said to himself.

Just when Xing Mu put the hemp rope around Zhou Yuan's neck, Ming Shu vaguely knew what Xing Mu wanted to express.

Zhou Yuan, who was tied up with a hemp rope, had a dull expression—he had this expression most of the time—with both hands symbolically grasping the hemp rope around his neck, and kicked his legs forward twice.

This action is very funny, some team members have already started laughing.

Xing Mu didn't use much force and said, "You have to struggle."

Zhou Yuan struggled cooperatively, first twisted his waist, and then rubbed his back on Xing Mu's chest a few times.

One of these two is shy in the serious crime team, and the other is afraid of the leader. At this time, they come and go under the cold light, and everyone laughs muffled.

Mingshu didn't smile, "Brother Xing, is it true that the signs of struggle on Sha Chun's body are not obvious?"

"Yes." Xing Mu let go of Zhou Yuan, and complained in a low voice while pulling on the hemp rope: "You didn't struggle like this."

Zhou Yuan was also quite innocent, "You didn't strangle me so hard, how could I struggle?"

Someone laughed again.

Mingshu said: "Alright, let's start after the joke meeting. Brother Xing, let's get to the point."

"Strangulation is a method of killing. The victim starts from suffocation to the cessation of breathing, and finally the cessation of heartbeat can be as short as a few minutes or as long as 10 minutes. Before the breathing stops, if the victim is conscious, he will definitely struggle hard." Xing Mu said : "But the signs of struggle on Sha Chun's body are actually not obvious."

Yi Fei asked: "She didn't struggle much?"

"It should be said that in the early stage of suffocation, she didn't struggle much." Xing Mu said, "Before she died, she still struggled hard. I think this is very strange. Anyone whose neck is restrained should struggle immediately. I can understand that it is due to the survival instinct. What about the early stage? There was little or no struggle in the early stage. I thought of several possibilities-first, she was poisoned and could not control her limbs; Third, she was asleep when she was attacked, and she hadn't woken up before the suffocation."

Taking a breath, Xing Mu said again: "The first one is temporarily ruled out, because no abnormality can be found in toxicology."

"No, the first possibility cannot be completely ruled out." Yi Fei said: "There was a case like this before - a new type of drug just appeared and could not be identified by toxicological tests. Suppose now that a new type of hallucinogen appears, its The ingredients are special, and we failed to test them out?"

Xing Mu nodded, "It makes sense."

"However, compared with the first possibility, the second possibility is indeed greater." Yi Fei said again: "After all, Sha Chun's death is ceremonial."

Fang Yuanhang said: "Isn't this related to the crime committed by the cult? First, he mentally manipulated Sha Chun, then killed him, and finally cut off his hands. What kind of religious objects are his hands?"

Xiao Manbai glanced at Fang Yuanhang, "Aren't you thinking too far? Our current investigation direction is not close to the cult. It's weird to have his hands cut off, but to be honest, Sha Chun is a guzheng player. Ordinary resentment crimes, the murderer may also cut off her hands. The vast majority of murders are committed by acquaintances. Now we have not thoroughly investigated Sha Chun's background and interpersonal relationships, so we push the possibility to cults. Xiao Fang, what do you think?"

Fang Yuanhang touched the back of his head and felt that he was indeed too excited.

Xiao Man's words made the conference room temporarily quiet for a while.

Mingshu followed Xing Mu and Yi Fei's analysis, "The third possibility involves the location of the crime. Sha Chun is sleeping, where is he sleeping? Why is he still wearing makeup and stage costumes while sleeping? Is the burial place the first place?" On the spot?"

No one can answer these questions yet.

Mingshu knocked on the table, "Xiao Man is right, now we still need to investigate Sha Chun's interpersonal relationship. Her colleagues in the Performing Arts Group, people who often watch her performances, her relatives and friends. There is another clue, Folk Le The people in the department said that Sha Chun would still take on private work after work, let’s find out what kind of private work it is.”

Another sleepless night.

Just before dawn, Fang Yuanhang shouted in the corridor: "Master, master!"

Ming Shu had just come out of an inquiry room, and now he took a can of Red Bull and lay down on the railing of the balcony.

In a big city like Dongye City, there is actually no night at all.

There are also many people working at night, and before dawn, some people are already on the road.Neon is always bright, and the light flow is endless.

The criminal police are not the only ones standing in the dark.

"Master-Fu!" Fang Yuanhang's voice approached.

Mingshu drank the last sip of Red Bull, crushed the can and threw it into the nearby trash can, "Here we come."

"After preliminary investigation, this person named Ran He is more suspicious." Fang Yuanhang opened a folder and took a picture of the photo, "I am responsible for inquiring about this person. He has been saying from the beginning to the end that he has a relationship with Sha Chun Good, not to the point of being friends, but occasionally to exchange information on performances. I asked him what he thought of Sha Chun being excluded in the orchestra. He first said that Sha Chun was not excluded, but later changed his words, saying that some colleagues Sha Chun has a lot of opinions about working overtime, but he has never targeted Sha Chun himself, and has also helped Sha Chun appropriately."

Before listening further, Mingshu said, "This kind of person should not exist in the orchestra."

"That's right! He's lying!" Fang Yuanhang said, "Others have said that Ran He was the one who targeted Sha Chun the hardest! They also told a detail - the day the folk music club moved to the new building, Sha Chun Chun was delayed getting on the bus and was ridiculed by Ran He for the whole journey!"

Mingshu sneered, "The others should agree, right?"

Fang Yuanhang said: "This is very ironic. No one mentioned me, but from other people's testimony, it was Ran He who started the car that day, and then most of the people in the car were talking about Sha Chun's wasting time. .”

Ming Shu leaned against the wall and looked at the inquiry room diagonally opposite.

Ran He is inside.

Not long ago, Mingshu learned from the surveillance and Han Mingming that after the performance on Saturday night, most of the orchestra members had dinner at a night stall called "Shrimp Baby" near the Jiangnan Theater, and Ran He thought he had something to do at home. by leaving alone.