The Novelist Forced to Become Famous

Chapter 258

Zi Shu was wearing a black tailcoat and was lying on his side on the carpet with a pained expression. His right hand was grasping the hilt of the dagger stuck in his chest, as if trying to pull it out but failing, either due to lack of strength or some other reason. His left hand reached forward to the cell phone sitting on the tea table, not far away.

There were traces of blood around the wound, but not a large amount of blood loss. There were a few drops of blood on the carpet, two or three spots. Based on the victim's position, he had crawled two steps before dying. The location where he was stabbed was by the wall, where there was a wine cabinet. The cabinet was open, and a bottle of red wine had been taken out, but not opened yet.

The initial inference was that the victim was about to pour wine when he suddenly turned around and was stabbed in the chest. He fell to the ground and crawled two steps, trying to grab his phone, but did not succeed and died halfway.

It was 11:30 PM now. Based on the examination of lividity and rigor mortis, it could be determined that the time of death was within 3 hours.

At 10:30 PM, everyone had gathered in the hall waiting for Zi Shu. Jian Jing was also the first to arrive at the scene, and the security guard had never left the other door of the auction room. The possibility of someone else committing the crime was extremely small.

Therefore, if there were no special circumstances, the time of death could be determined to be before 10:30 PM.

Jian Jing looked at the other clues at the scene.

The broken lock cylinder was damaged, but from the structure it was a very typical latch lock, the kind with a door handle on the outside. Without a deadbolt, pushing down on the handle would open the door.

On the side facing the room, there was a square knob that could slide across to deadbolt the door shut. She picked it up and roughly examined it under the light. There were no fingerprint traces.

In addition, the room key was in the victim's front pocket, and the auction room had no windows or other doors.

This was an out-and-out locked room murder.

But anyone who had seen detective works would easily think of making a simple tool with a string (or ribbon or something) and a weight (like an ice cube) to lock the door from the outside.

Or it was not impossible to use a string to lock the door with the key from outside, then secretly put the key back into the pocket.

Only there were no traces of the string having cut into the key, nor traces of adhesive residue from tape, so she couldn't guess what method had been used.

In addition, there was a fruit platter on the tea table, with whole oranges and apples rather than pre-cut fruit. In the trash can were fruit peels that had been peeled.

Jian Jing took out gloves from her bag and carefully put them on, then gently pulled out the dagger.

With a light sniff, besides the bloody smell there was also a fruity aroma.

This was probably a fruit knife.

But it wasn't a common stainless steel knife. The blade had a beautiful pattern on its surface, the handle was wood, and it was quite heavy.

If she remembered correctly, this should be Damascus steel forged, considered a work of art.

Hmm, the old gentleman had good taste, even peeling an apple so extravagantly.

She put the murder weapon down and started looking through documents.

From what everyone had said, she already knew the planned process—after buyers entered the auction room, they would write down their price and seal it with wax.

At this stage, Zi Shu would not look at anyone's bid, ensuring no clues would be leaked to later bidders.

At 10 PM, he would be alone in the auction room, opening the envelopes and selecting the buyer with the highest bid. He would privately notify the winner during the later meeting.

But in the auction room, she found neither envelopes nor bid sheets.

The above was the result of the first investigation of the scene.

Jian Jing then found two security guards and asked about that evening's events.

Here, the overall terrain must be described in more detail, roughly as follows:

...[Hall]....

.....Pathway..Pathway...........[Restroom]

.....Pathway..Hallway..........[Waiting Room]

.....................Corridor.........

...[Room 3]...[Room 2]...[Room 1]...

.............Closed Corridor..........

.........[Auct--ion--Room]............

.......Guard a.........Guard b........

To reiterate: After 7 PM, everyone gathered in the hall. Through the L-shaped pathway, one could access the restroom and waiting room at the end of the corridor. Going through the waiting room would lead to a corridor with three safe rooms.

Passing through the safe rooms would reach a closed corridor, directly facing the door of the auction room. The auction room had two doors—the front door faced a long corridor guarded by two security guards, and one could enter through the back door.

Jian Jing questioned the two guards separately.

Their statements were as follows.

Jian Jing: "Tell me about your duties tonight."

Guard a: "It was pretty simple tonight. My colleague and I just had to stand guard at the door to make sure no one went in or out, and listen for orders from the boss if needed."

Jian Jing: "What time did you start working?"

Guard a: "7 PM. It was supposed to end at midnight."

Jian Jing: "Has it been just the two of you the whole time? Any shift rotations?"

Guard a: "No rotations, just us two."

Jian Jing: "When did you last hear any sounds from the victim?"

Guard a: "Actually I didn't hear anything all night. The sound insulation on the door is very good."

Jian Jing: "Did the victim talk to you at all?"

Guard a: "Around 9-something he opened the door and told us to send fruit and red wine inside."

Jian Jing: "What time was that? Was anyone inside?"

Guard a: "I don't remember clearly, didn't pay attention."

Jian Jing: "Did you leave your post at any point today?"

Guard a: "Left twice. Once around 9-something to get the server, once at 10 to use the restroom."

The questioning ended there.

She asked guard b the same questions.

He corroborated guard a's account of getting fruit around 9-something. He said he only used the restroom once around 8-something, and stood guard at the door afterward.

Likewise, because the sound insulation was very good, he didn't hear any sounds either.

Jian Jing also asked Zi Shu's secretary Tina, who said the two guards were hired by Zi Shu from a reputable security company that provided close protection for many celebrities and politicians, with strict background checks, nothing suspicious found.

In other words, they probably would not be easily bribed or betray their employer.

Additionally, like the other door, when they broke the door down, the door lock had remained in the deadbolted state. Unless the victim opened the door himself, the guards could not get in.

The corridor they guarded was a main passage, monitored, which could also prove their innocence.

One end of the area was sealed off.

Although servers went in and out of the hall, and the band performed, they all entered and exited through the hall door. Jian Jing would bet that aside from the 10 guests, no one had entered the L-shaped pathway.

In other words, the killer was among the guests.

The next step would naturally be to investigate the identities of the 10 guests.

Jian Jing made a table for them, listing her impressions and analysis of each.

--

Chou Niu: Speech patterns differ somewhat from domestic people, earlier he spoke what sounded like Hokkien with Shen Hou, an overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia?

Yin Hu: Coolly polite, very fluent Chinese, strong Japanese flavor. Ran into him once in Room 1.

Chen Long: Inconspicuous guy, seems a bit of a loner, didn't run into him alone.

Si She: Sick, coughing nonstop, also inconspicuous

Wu Ma: Handsome guy with abs, and the middleman making connections. He also participated in the private auction, said he was bidding for someone—who commissioned him?

Wei Yang: Classy middle-aged lady, collector and antique shop owner

Shen Hou: Longtime member, appraiser, very unwilling to let the bronze head fall into outsiders' hands (motive?).

You Ji: An overseas Chinese old lady who immigrated to the UK, and is acquainted with Shen Hou. She intends to unite with other guests to shoot the Copper Head.

Xu Gou: A foreign noblewoman who bought a violin. Does she have a motive?

Hai Zhu: A local tyrant. As soon as he came up, he was aiming for the national treasure, and was determined to get the Copper Head?

--

The fog is thick.

Jian Jing sighed and prepared to go to the three insurance rooms to take a look.

There, she met Tina.

She told Jian Jing: "I have already arranged for bodyguards to stand guard at the insurance room in shifts 24 hours a day."

Jian Jing said, "What about monitoring?"

"It can't be installed inside, it has already been temporarily installed outside." Tina's work efficiency was still quite good, and she had considered it very thoughtfully.

Jian Jing was slightly relieved, and asked Tina to have the staff change the door locks and send the keys to her cabin.

Tina immediately agreed.

After doing all this, Jian Jing went back to the cabin to rest, preparing to interrogate the suspects one by one tomorrow.

Perhaps because there was a case on her mind, she didn't notice whether the yacht was swaying or not at all, and fell asleep as soon as she lay down.

The next day, she specifically asked the chef to prepare a Chinese breakfast, ate her fill, and then dove into the auction room.

She took a makeup box with her. The first layer contained commonly used cosmetics, and the second layer contained forensic tools - don't ask why she had to carry this with her, just in case, as the saying goes.

After spending some effort, she extracted several fingerprints from the murder weapon. She passed them to Tina and asked her to find someone to compare them with the deceased's fingerprints as soon as possible.

On the door, there were many people's fingerprints on the outside, and the inside was wiped very clean without leaving any fingerprints at all.

After doing all this, it was nearly ten o'clock, and Jian Jing started looking for guests to interrogate and take statements.

She decided to visit them one by one in chronological order.

It should be reiterated beforehand that the estimated time of death at present was between 20:30-22:30.

The first was Hai Zhu.

He was the first to leave the hall, and had shown great interest towards the national treasures very early, leaving at 19:05-19:27, totaling 22 minutes.

Jian Jing asked him, "Were you the first to bid?"

Hai Zhu admitted at once: "Yes."

She: "Did it go smoothly?"

Hai Zhu: "Of course."

She: "Which number did you bid on, is it convenient to say?"

Hai Zhu hesitated for a moment, and finally fearlessly stated directly: "It's quite obvious, isn't it? I bid on No. 2."

Jian Jing said, "I noticed that you left again around 22:15, where did you go?"

Hai Zhu's eyes were evasive: "Nothing much, I went to the toilet."

Jian Jing: "Did you go to the auction room?"

Hai Zhu: "No, absolutely not."

She glanced at him, her eyes scanning the corners of the cabin, nodded her head, and finished the questioning.

The second was Yin Hu.

He left twice during the auction, the first time was 19:15-19:30, and the second time was 20:40 to 21:20.

Very suspicious.

Jian Jing asked, "Talk about what you did yesterday."

Yin Hu sat upright, with his hands on his knees: "Please allow me to explain, I didn't succeed the first time I went out, so I went again the second time."

Jian Jing pretended to be surprised: "Why?"

"Because there were people in the auction room," he said. "I thought there was no hurry anyway, so I just came back to rest for a while and go again later."

Jian Jing nodded, not saying whether she believed it or not, she only asked: "What was the situation when you went the second time?"

Yin Hu recalled: "Everything was very normal. I wrote down the price on the form and sealed it to give it to Mr. Zi Shu."

Jian Jing: "Was he still alive at that time?"

"I'm afraid that's the case." he said.

Jian Jing asked: "Did the deceased say anything to you? How did he look?"

"Very friendly. While I was thinking about the price, he told me not to worry and asked me if I wanted a glass of sake."

Jian Jing pondered for a moment, and asked, "At that time, was there a fruit platter on his desk?"

Yin Hu: "Sorry, I didn't pay attention. The auction item occupied my brain."

Jian Jing: "Which item number did you bid on, is it convenient to say?"

Yin Hu hesitated for a moment and said, "No. 2."

"Are you confident about your bid?" she asked.

Yin Hu answered concisely and powerfully: "I have done my best."

"I guess you shouldn't be very confident in your heart." Jian Jing smiled and pointed out his third time leaving, "At 22:10, I saw you leave again. Was it to confirm the bid?"

Yin Hu was expressionless: "No, I went to the bathroom."

"I see." She smiled apologetically for a moment, and suddenly looked under his desk at the garbage cans. The garbage inside had already been sorted into categories. The empty mineral water bottles even had the packaging paper and bottle caps separated.

"Japanese?"

Yin Hu pursed the corners of his mouth and answered stiffly: "I don't think this is relevant to the case."

"Just asking." She didn't take offense and left after saying goodbye.

The third was Xu Gou, a foreign noblewoman. According to You Ji, she was French, a famous musician. She left the hall from 19:20-19:36.

Jian Jing didn't have much private contact with her before, so she couldn't help but look her up and down carefully this time when meeting face to face.

She was not a very beautiful woman, but had an elegant temperament. Her blonde hair was dyed. Black hair roots were revealed at the base showing that her hair was not natural blonde. She had blue irises, pale complexion, and obvious dark circles under her eyes. Obviously she did not sleep well last night.

"Oh my God." Xu Gou said in a worried tone, "How could this happen?"