Wang Shen was still racking his brains over the case when his phone rang again.
"Hey! Captain Wang, come to the scene right away, another murder!" A colleague's urgent voice came through the phone. Wang Shen frowned, looked up from the monitor, and immediately drove to the scene of the murder.
Wang Shen glanced at the address he received on his phone, entered it into the navigation, and was surprised to find that the murder scene was not far from the bar. A bad feeling rose in Wang Shen's mind. Wang Shen gritted his teeth, stepped on the gas, and sped the car toward the murder scene.
During the day, the alley, which wasn't particularly lively, was now packed with people. Two police cars were parked at the entrance, and the flow of people blocked the alley from the entrance. Everyone was craning their necks to look inside. Wang Shen walked into the alley, turned a corner, and arrived at the scene.
"Captain Wang." Several police officers saw Wang Shen arrive and quickly set up a cordon to clear a path for him.
"Who is dead?" Wang Shen walked quickly to the deceased, wanting to confirm the deceased's identity.
"The deceased's identity has been confirmed. The deceased's name is Liang Li. She had no legitimate job and often frequented bars in the vicinity at night."
Wang Shen crouched down, looking at Liang Li's body, regretting that he hadn't considered the possibility that the murderer might have targeted her. Wang Shen put on a pair of rubber gloves and removed the white sheet covering Liang Li's body, revealing a large, glaring patch of red blood on her chest. "Has a preliminary autopsy been performed?" Wang Shen turned to the forensic doctor standing to the side.
"The preliminary assessment of the deceased's time of death is around 3:00 AM today. The cause of death is simple: a single stab wound to the chest. Apart from this, no other external injuries have been found so far. Of course, a more accurate autopsy result is still uncertain at this time."
"Did the murderer leave any clues at the scene that are worth investigating?" Wang Shen then turned his gaze to the young policeman standing to the side.
"Aside from some banknotes, we didn't find any special clues at the scene." The young policeman said, handing Wang Shen a plastic bag containing banknotes. Each banknote was individually sealed, and there were about seven or eight bags. "Captain Wang, do you think it could be a robbery? The deceased had simple social connections, but according to the investigation, he came into contact with a wide variety of people," the young policeman asked, looking at Wang Shen.
“If it were a robbery, wouldn’t you have taken the money if it were on the ground?” Wang Shen picked up the plastic bags containing banknotes and waved them in front of the young policeman. “There are no obvious signs of a struggle on the deceased. There are no bruises on the visible external muscle tissue. Therefore, the deceased should not have been violently assaulted by the murderer. So this money should not have been found on the deceased by the murderer.”
"Captain Wang, according to you, does this mean the deceased voluntarily gave this money to the murderer?"
"You could say that. The deceased thought the murderer was going to rob him, and in his panic, he took out all his money. But unfortunately, the murderer's goal wasn't the money. By the way, did you find a wallet on the deceased?" Wang Shen looked around, as if searching for a wallet.
"Captain Wang, here it is." The young policeman handed the wallet to Wang Shen. "However, this wallet was not found on the deceased, but was thrown on the ground not far from the body."
Wang Shen nodded and opened the wallet. Besides two bank cards and a lipstick, there was nothing else inside. "You see, the money in the wallet should all be in these plastic bags. If my hypothesis is correct, the deceased most likely didn't know the murderer. Otherwise, how could the deceased be completely unaware of the murderer's motives?"
"Since the deceased didn't know the killer, what was the killer's motive? Was it simply to kill?" In the cases the young policeman had handled, there was almost always some intricate connection between the killer and the victim. Therefore, he couldn't understand a crime without a purpose. Of course, even with strangers, there are always various motives for murder. Absurdities like the killer's own mental state leading to the killing are possible. "Or perhaps, the killer wanted to sexually assault the victim?" The young policeman was still trying his best to find the killer's motive.
Wang Shen shook his head again. "Look at the deceased's clothes, they're very neat, not at all like someone who had been assaulted. Of course, we can have the forensic doctor conduct a detailed examination later to confirm this." As soon as Wang Shen finished speaking, another policeman behind him shouted and rushed to Wang Shen's side.
"Captain Wang, look, we found this in the trash can."
Wang Shen straightened up, staring in astonishment at the clown mask in the other policeman's hand. The clown mask's狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) expression sent a chill down the spine of anyone who saw it.
"Captain Wang, is it possible that this mask belongs to the murderer?" the young policeman asked, looking at the mask in Wang Shen's hand.
Wang Shen simply nodded without replying. Looking at the mask in his hand, he began to ponder the killer's motive. If the mask belonged to the killer, why would they wear it during the crime? Was it to prevent Liang Li from recognizing them? If so, it meant the killer wasn't a stranger to Liang Li. But why leave the mask at the murder scene? It would have been more logical for the killer to simply take the mask and dispose of it.
"Are there any security cameras installed in this alley?" Wang Shen suddenly asked about the surveillance.
"Captain Wang, this alley is quite old, and the government is planning to demolish it, so there are no surveillance cameras installed in the alley."
"Where is the nearest surveillance camera?" It's on the main road not far away.
Wang Shen pondered Liang Li's time of death. Judging from the time, the incident must have occurred after she left the bar. Therefore, the killer must have been following Liang Li from the bar onwards. Wang Shen suddenly left the crime scene and began walking towards the bar. After turning several corners, he found traces of vomit in a corner not far from the bar. Suddenly, something on the ground caught his eye. Wang Shen ran to the corner and crouched down. Scattered on the wall were a pair of red high heels. Wang Shen hadn't paid attention to Liang Li's shoes at the bar yesterday, but these shoes were very likely left behind by her.
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