"Hmm? Here..."
Lin Xue sniffed and smelled a familiar scent in the air.
Following the scent, she quickly found a place. Although it had been cleaned up, she was certain that it was related to the deceased's death.
"This... sir?"
"I wonder what's so special about the roof of my stable?"
The deceased's sister-in-law saw Lin Xue searching around the hay storage area on the second floor of the stable and asked her some questions out of curiosity.
"Found it!"
Lin Xue did not answer the other person's question, but instead carefully searched for clues.
"Go and call Officer Zhang over here!"
Lin Xue gave the woman an instruction, and then moved the hay that was piled up in one spot to the other side.
The grass underneath was very densely packed, indicating that people often slept on it; you could also find some food scraps and strands of hair left behind by people.
Lin Xue carefully collected the strands of hair stuck to the grass.
Then she picked up some of the food scraps and put them in a handkerchief and wrapped them up.
"Guard Lin, what have you discovered?"
Officer Zhang quickly arrived at the stable and saw Lin Xue squatting in one place, seemingly inspecting something. He hurried over.
"About three hours ago, there must have been men and women making love here, and..."
“Look at this hair. Judging from its thickness, texture, and color, it should belong to two different people. This piece should be the deceased’s, because I’ve seen his hair before!”
"The other one should belong to a woman. Her hair is fine and smooth. I haven't seen any other woman in the yard with similar hair before!"
She took out the hair she had collected earlier, divided it into two sections, and showed them to Constable Zhang.
"You mean, this is the original crime scene?"
Officer Zhang held the two strands of hair in his hands and examined them carefully. If Lin Xue hadn't separated the hair beforehand, he would have had a hard time discerning anything from these details.
"No, there's no smell of blood here, so it's not the primary crime scene!"
Lin Xue then handed the pastry crumbs she had collected to Constable Zhang.
"Find someone to check whose pastries these are, and who in the neighborhood just bought them today. Make a list and check them one by one!"
After saying that, Lin Xue turned around and wanted to walk down to the stable, but she stopped after taking only two steps.
She had been observing the view from above without paying much attention to the surrounding scenery, but now that she looked up, she noticed something different.
"What's wrong?"
When Zhang, the head constable, saw Lin Xue's actions, he also stopped and looked around, just like Lin Xue, but found nothing.
"Walk!"
Although Lin Xue had some doubts, she hadn't fully confirmed them yet, so she had no choice but to lead the way.
After leaving the stable, Lin Xue walked towards the backyard wall of the family's house.
"This should be the back window of the room where the deceased was located, right?"
Lin Xue leaned closer to take a look, and it was clear that the window had just been cleaned not long ago.
Who would clean their windows if it's neither a New Year's Day nor a holiday?
What's more, the male owner inside had just been murdered!
"This window has been tampered with!"
Officer Zhang also noticed something unusual; compared to the other windows, this one was unusually clean.
"Squeak~"
They opened the window and searched carefully, finally finding a hair in a crack in the window.
"These strands of hair..."
Officer Zhang held the thin strand of hair, looking at Lin Xue with some uncertainty, since he genuinely couldn't distinguish these things.
"The hair texture is the same as the hair found in the stable before, so there's a high probability it's from the same person!"
Lin Xue nodded, giving him a fairly affirmative answer.
"So, the body was brought in through the back window, and the murderer was likely a woman?"
Officer Zhang shared his speculation: all murder cases are shrouded in mystery, with clues hidden in the details. If these details are not grasped, it is easy to miss the opportunity to find the real culprit.
"Whether the deceased was killed by a woman is uncertain, but she is definitely involved!"
Lin Xue squatted down, examined the rubble under the window, and then sniffed the air hard.
"Over here!"
Following the smell, we arrived at the base of the opposite wall. After clearing away the weeds at the base of the wall, we discovered a fairly large dog hole underneath.
"Officer Zhang..."
Lin Xue glanced at the dog hole, then turned her gaze to Constable Zhang.
"Guard Lin, please wait a moment!"
In dire circumstances, Officer Zhang wouldn't mind crawling through a dog hole.
But that won't do now. His underlings are in the front yard. If some reckless fool were to run over and see him like this, it would be incredibly embarrassing.
So he ran to the front yard and called two of his brothers over.
"Xiao Li, crawl out through this dog hole and carefully check inside for any clues, especially hair or anything like that. If you find anything, bring it out!"
Officer Zhang himself didn't want to crawl through the dog hole, so he had to send his men.
Lin Xue then moved her feet and leaped onto the top of the wall, looking down into the courtyard behind her.
Whose house is this?
Lin Xue turned to Zhang the constable and asked, "I originally thought there would be a path or alley outside the courtyard wall, but I never expected that there would be another family living there right after the courtyard wall."
"Um?"
"You mean there's a family living right next door?"
Officer Zhang took a step back, then sprinted and jumped onto the top of the wall. Fortunately, the wall wasn't very high, otherwise he would have been embarrassed if he hadn't been able to jump over.
"Who are you, and why are you in my yard!"
Just as they climbed over the wall, a little boy of about seven or eight years old ran out of the house and started yelling at them!
"Kid, where are your parents?"
Looking at the fearless little boy in front of him, Officer Zhang immediately revealed a serious expression, and his stern face scared the child into shutting up.
"I'm asking you a question."
Xiao Li also crawled out of the dog hole, feeling somewhat disheveled, and could only glare fiercely at the child.
"I...I...Mom went out. My uncle needed to talk to her, so he went out..."
The little boy seemed frightened by so many people and stammered out what he knew.
Even though he was very young, he could recognize the clothes worn by the people in front of him.
"Kid, what were your mother and uncle doing in someone's yard this afternoon? Did they go in to steal something?"
Lin Xue glanced at the little boy's fearful eyes, then looked at the dog hole.
Thinking that if the woman in this family had a relationship with the deceased, it certainly wouldn't be hidden from this little boy.
Even if the specific relationship between the two is unclear, the act of crawling through a dog hole is always a clue.
"No, my mother didn't steal anything. It was my uncle who asked her for money, but she didn't have any, so she went next door to borrow money from Uncle Mu!"
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