Madness of the Heart

"The time of death has been determined. It is between 2 AM and 3:30 AM on Sunday, which is August 24. The cause of death was mechanical suffocation caused by strangulation." Xing Mu began to zoom in on the detailed photos one by one. On the projection screen, "Judging from the sulcus pattern on the neck of the deceased and the traces extracted, the tool of the crime was a child's two-fingered hemp rope. This kind of hemp rope is very common in the market, and the murderer wants to obtain it. It is easy, but difficult to use as key evidence. Toxicological and pharmacological tests have been done. The deceased was not poisoned, and he did not take any drugs that affect the mind and behavior before his death."

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

On the projection screen, two monitoring images played at the same time replaced the autopsy details.

On the left is Sha Chun's single figure leaving the theater, and on the right is her colleagues walking in groups and smilingly walking away in the corridor.

Fang Yuanhang had just been popularized by the "model worker" in the current context, and he was momentarily embarrassed.

"Sha Chun left the theater wearing her own clothes, a linen shirt, wide-leg pants, no makeup on her face, and her hair tied into a low ponytail." Ming Shu said: "From the monitoring of their presence in the afternoon, she also wore this. She also had the same hairstyle and makeup. That is to say, between the end of the performance and when she left the backstage studio, she changed her costume and removed her makeup. Then why did she wear it again when she was killed in the early morning? The costume is put on again? How do you explain this behavior?"

No one was speaking in the meeting room, everyone was thinking.

"Now that the surveillance on the Jiangnan Theater has been completed?" Ming Shu looked at the technical investigation team.

"Public surveillance has been investigated, and the surveillance of some private shops has not yet been transferred." Zhou Yuan said: "I don't know where Sha Chun went after leaving the Jiangnan Theater."

Ming Shu folded his arms and walked a few steps on the spot.

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

Ming Shu had no time to correct Xing Mu's attitude, and nodded, "Go on."

"You know, to kill a person by strangling the neck, the strength of the murderer, especially the arm strength, cannot be small." Xing Mu said: "The strangulation is generally male. Of course, females cannot be completely ruled out. If the murderer is a female. If so, then she must be stronger, at least her arms have the characteristics of strength."

Ming Shu nodded, "Yeah."

Xing Mu gestured on his wrist and said, "The murderer chopped off Sha Chun's hands after killing Sha Chun. The axe with a blade length of about 100mm and a head length of about 150mm was used. The cut surface of the wound was not It is flat and the murderer chopped many times, but this is not the reason why the axe is not sharp enough. The axe is made of high-carbon steel. This material has a characteristic of high hardness and is not easy to roll the blade. It is inferred that the murderer was at the time of the crime. A more tense state, and lack of strength to swing the blade."

"Strongly strangled Sha Chun, but when he cut off Sha Chun's hands, he had insufficient strength to swing the blade." Yi Fei said, "The possibility that the murderer is a woman is actually quite large."

"It's not necessarily." Xu Chun half turned around and strangled his neck. "Whether you are a man or a woman, you have to use your full strength to strangle a person. Because the strangled person will inevitably struggle. You will not only be strangled, but also It must be controlled. This process is very physical. The murderer determined that after Sha Chun's death, his arm may be in a state of decompression, and it will become sour and soft. In severe cases, he may be shaking when holding the axe. At this time, you need the TA to cut off Sha Chun's accurately and neatly. Hands are actually more divorced from reality."

Yi Fei said: "That's right. Teacher Xing, what are the acquisition channels and general functions 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 firefighting and outdoor operations."

Fang Yuanhang's eyes lit up, "That is to say, it is not easy for ordinary people to get it?"

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

Fang Yuanhang: "Huh?"

"Don't be surprised." Ming Shu said: "This kind of axe is not a special offer for special professions. In some areas, this kind of axe is used for fighting. It is also commonly used in rural areas for chopping wood and doing home decoration."

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

Ming Shu raised his chin at Xing Mu, "Go on."

"We will check the source of the axe 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. "The murderer was strangling Sha Chun, and Sha Chun was like him. Struggling like this, trying to pull the hemp rope away, it is very likely to scratch the murderer, or catch the murderer’s clothing fibers. In the former case, Sha Chun’s nails will leave the murderer’s blood or skin tissue. In one situation, we can draw the approximate scope of investigation based on the fabric of the clothes. The murderer cut off Sha Chun's hands in order to avoid our own DNA information being extracted, or to prevent us from knowing what clothes TA was wearing."

Xiao Man raised his hand and added: "No trace of DNA extraction was found on Sha Chun's body. The murderer's information is likely to remain only in the hands that were chopped off."

"No." Ming Shu interrupted suddenly, "This is a bit contradictory."

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

Ming Shu said: "Since the murderer carried an axe, why didn't he kill Sha Chun with an axe? Obviously it is more convenient to use an axe than a hemp rope. Sha Chun did not take medicine and was not poisoned. That means he was sober and able to resist. Ability, wouldn’t the murderer worry about losing his hand when he strangled with twine?"

Xing Mu said: "The murderer may think that slashing will cause a lot of bleeding, and strangulation will prevent this?"

"What is the purpose of the murderer with the axe?" Ming Shu stood still, "Is it just that he expected that he would be scratched by Sha Chun, so he brought it to his body to chop off Sha Chun's hand?"

Yi Fei said: "The Ming team's analysis is reasonable. The murderer prepared an axe, but used a strangulation method to kill Sha Chun. This is indeed a bit strange. The purpose of the murderer with the axe is directly related to the TA cutting off Sha Chun's hands. the reason."

Xing Mu is proficient in forensic medicine, but in the case itself, sometimes can't keep up with Ming Shu and Yi Fei's thinking, "Did the murderer chop off Sha Chun's hands because of something in Sha Chun's nails?"

"It is very possible, but not the only possibility." Ming Shu said: "If it is only because Sha Chun has his own blood and skin tissues in his nails, then the murderer can only cut off some of Sha Chun's fingers, or it doesn't have to be so troublesome. , Directly use a knife to cut off the nail side. Cutting the wrist is not a simple task. The daily use of a knife is constantly cutting, and it must be an axe or a control knife. This returns to our previous problem. The murderer expected his own DNA The information will stay in Sha Chun’s nails? If it is expected, TA can also carry lighter tools. It’s just to 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 crux of the problem now is, if he wasn't trying to prevent us from extracting TA's DNA information, why?"

"First, to complete a certain ritual, which is consistent with Sha Chun wearing a costume and stage makeup when he was killed. To a certain extent, it is consistent. But what kind of ritual is, I still can't be sure." Ming Shu said : "Second, it has something to do with Sha Chun himself."

Xing Mu said softly: "I?"

"Sha Chun focuses on Guzheng. Although she can also play 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 in his back, "The murderer taking Sha Chun's hand is equivalent to taking away her most important thing."

"There can be many interpretations here. I will mention what I thought first, and you will add later." Ming Shu said: "The murderer hates Shachun, so after killing him, he is still not satisfied and has to cut off her hand. The murderer thinks that Sha Chun is too mediocre to play the guzheng. These hands are long on Sha Chun's body; 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 improbable? Don't the folks at the folk music club say that Sha Chun has no talent and only knows to work hard? Like her, as for being jealous?"

"Your thoughts are too one-sided." Ming Shu said: "People in the folk music club think that Sha Chun has no talent. This is just their internal statement. What do people outside the folk music club think? I noticed it during the performance on Saturday. Sha Chun is here. Why? Because in the eyes of a layman, she is very professional and attractive. Also, I asked Han Mingming, the deputy director of the folk music club just now. She admitted that people who are not talented like Sha Chun in the folk music club are not. Sha Chun is particularly prominent because Sha Chun is unwilling to be mediocre and works harder than everyone else."

Because of his lack of experience, Fang Yuanhang could not think of Mingshu so much, but his advantage is that Mingshu can quickly keep up with a little bit. "Then, according to this, the murderer may be a psychopath. TA admires Shachun, even more. I admire Shachun's hands that can play beautiful music, so..."

"So Sha Chun's hands may still be stored somewhere. But if it is the first few ideas, Sha Chun's hands are likely to have been destroyed." Ming Shu said.

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

Ming Shu looked at him, "Say."

Fang Yuanhang said: "The Chinese People's Music Department thinks that Sha Chun has no talent. Is this a cover up?"

Probably it was a bit far down here, and even Ming Shu didn't react.

"Some **** guys always emphasize that they are straight and homophobic in order to conceal their **** identity." Fang Yuanhang said, "Will there be people in the folk music club who say that Sha Chun has no talent? Sha Chun’s people? I don’t think anyone does not want to be better, right? Although Sha Chun is generally talented, she is hardworking. People like her should be making progress little by little—maybe as slow as a snail. , But over the years, it’s definitely better than doing nothing, right? Those people from the folk music club who also have no talent and don’t work hard look at her. What kind of psychology is it? I don’t work hard, or ashamed of hard work, to Sha Chun who works hard. They are jealous and scared, and even pretend to be dismissive. Some of them may have thought of working hard like Sha Chun, but they are afraid of being treated as an outlier."

Fang Yuanhang’s thoughts are not really problematic, but Ming Shu coughed softly when he heard his **** come and go.

The meeting room suddenly became noisy, and as soon as the thinking was widened, everyone began to express their thoughts.

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

Ming Shu clapped his hands, "Be quiet, Brother Xing hasn't finished talking yet."

Xing Mu blushed again, "There is one more detail, I will finish it soon. Zhou Yuan, you will 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 help them."

"Ms. Xing, is this going to demonstrate the situation at the time of the case?" Fang Yuanhang muttered to himself.

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

Zhou Yuan's expression on the twine was sluggish—he used to look like this most of the time—symbolically grabbing the twine around his neck with his hands, and kicking his legs forward twice.

This action is very funny, some team members have already begun to laugh.

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

Zhou Yuan struggled cooperatively, first twisting his waist, and then rubbing his back against Xing Mu's chest a few times.

In the serious crime team, one is shy and the other is afraid of leadership. At this time, under the cold light, you come and go, and everyone laughs muffledly.

Ming Shu didn't smile, "Brother Xing, are the traces of Sha Chun's struggle not obvious?"

"Yes." Xing Mu let go of Zhou Yuan and whispered while pulling the hemp rope: "You are not struggling like this."

Zhou Yuan was also quite innocent, "You didn't try to strangle me, why am I struggling?"

Someone laughed again.

Ming Shu said: "Okay, I'll start after the joke meeting. Brother Xing, talk about the key points."

"With this method of strangulation, the victim goes from pre-suffocation to breathing stop, and the final heartbeat stops as short as a few minutes or as long as tens of minutes. Before breathing stops, if the victim is sane, he will definitely struggle." Xing Mu said : "But the traces of struggle on Sha Chun's body are actually not obvious."

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

"It should be said that she was in the early stage of suffocation. She didn't struggle much." Xing Mu said, "Before death, she still struggled. I think this is very strange. Anyone whose neck is tied should be struggling immediately. She is in the later stage. I can understand it as 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; second, the murderer used a shot She was mentally controlled by means other than poison; third, she was in her sleep when the attack was encountered, and she had not woken up in the early stage of suffocation."

After a sigh of relief, Xing Mu said: "The first type is temporarily ruled out because the toxicology failed to detect abnormalities."

"No, the first possibility cannot be completely ruled out." Yi Fei said: "In the past, there was such a case-a new type of drug had just appeared and could not be identified by toxicological tests. Suppose there is now a new type of hallucinogen. The ingredients are so special that we haven't been able to test it 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 ritual."

Fang Yuanhang said: "Then this is related to the crime of a cult? First, mentally manipulate Sha Chun, then kill, and finally chop off his hands. What do they use as religious objects?"

Xiao Manbai took a long voyage and said, "Did you think too far? Our current investigation direction is not up to the cult. It is weird to be chopped off his hands, but to be honest, Sha Chun plays the guzheng, the most Ordinary resentment commits the crime, the murderer may also cut off her hands. Most of the murders are committed by acquaintances. Now we have not thoroughly investigated Sha Chun's background and interpersonal relationship, so we have pushed the possibility to the cult, classmate Xiao Fang, what do you think?"

Fang Yuanhang touched the back of his head, feeling that he was indeed too excited.

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

Ming Shu went on to analyze the words of Xing Mu and Yi Fei, "The third possibility involves the location of the crime. Where is Sha Chun sleeping? Why is she wearing makeup and stage clothes when she sleeps? Is the burial site the first? One scene?"

No one can answer these questions yet.

Ming Shu 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 music. The people in the Ministry said that Sha Chun would take on private get off work after work, to determine what kind of private work it was."

It was another night without sleep.

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

Ming Shu just came out of an inquiry room and took a can of Red Bull and lay on the railing of the terrace.

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

Many people are working at night, and some people are already on the road before dawn. The neon is always bright, and the light is endless.

Interpol is not the only one who stays in the dark.

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

Ming Shu drank his last mouthful of Red Bull, squeezed the can and threw it into the nearby trash can, "coming."

"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 asking about this person. From beginning to end, he was talking about his relationship with Sha Chun. Good, not as good as a friend, but occasionally talk about performance. I asked him what he thinks of Sha Chun being excluded from the orchestra. First he said that Sha Chun was not excluded, and then he changed his words and said that some colleagues were right. Sha Chun has a lot of opinions about working overtime, but he has never targeted Sha Chun himself, and he has helped Sha Chun appropriately."

Before listening, Ming Shu said, "This kind of person shouldn't exist in the orchestra."

"That's right! He's lying!" Fang Yuanhang said, "Everyone else has said that Ran He was the most targeted against Sha Chun! They also said a detail-the day when the folk music club moved to the new building, Sha When I got on the bus in the spring, I wasted time, and I was ridiculed by Ran He all the way!"

Ming Shu sneered, "Everyone should agree, right?"

Fang Yuanhang said: "This is ironic. No one mentioned himself, but from the testimony of others, it was known from the testimony of others that the car started on the other day, and most of the people in the car were talking about Sha Chun's wasted time. ."

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

Ran He is inside.

Not long ago, Ming Shu learned from surveillance and Han Mingming that after Saturday night’s performance, most of the band members had dinner at a night stall called "Baby Shrimp" near the Jiangnan Theater, and Ran He said that something happened at home. Leave alone.