Red Makeup Serial Murder Case (6)

In fact, Lu He had speculated from the previous two cases that the murderer was likely to have put on makeup before the victim's death, but there was no evidence to support this.

Because lipstick is a pigment applied on the skin, it is different from the marks left on human skin. The formation of marks is related to blood, and can be used to determine whether it was applied before or after death. However, this kind of external pigment is different, or there is no scientific and technological means to strictly determine whether the lipstick was applied before or after death.

Therefore, when he asked Chen Jierong, the answer she gave was uncertain. The murderer might have painted on the victim before he was alive, or after he was dead, or both. The murderer might have felt that the face was not perfect and added makeup after his death.

He once speculated in the Ruan Mengying case that the murderer had a perverted mentality and liked to put on lipstick when people were alive, but later it was confirmed that he was not the murderer in the Hongzhuang case, so he automatically invalidated this speculation.

He never thought that Meng Siqi could determine in such a short time that the deceased was made up before his death. In fact, he has always been optimistic about Meng Siqi's criminal investigation ability. In every previous case, he found that she was different. This is why Director Liu wanted to second her to him, because only Meng Siqi can truly help him.

"Look," Meng Siqi stretched out his hand, pointed to the right side of the deceased's hip and said, "Look at that place, Lu He."

Lu He tilted his head slightly to look over there. There was a faint red mark on the right side of the deceased's pale hip. In fact, Lu He had paid attention to that place just now. It was not uncommon for the deceased to have red makeup on his body. He did not think much about it. However, Meng Siqi's words seemed to remind him. He looked at the left side of the deceased's hip again. There was no red mark there. Lu He finally understood the meaning of Meng Siqi's words.

He couldn't help but want to praise her on the spot.

Meng Siqi probably knew why he saw it. She said, "Because the murderer is an extremely perfect person, she would not be able to tolerate the fact that this work of art she believed in was imperfect. You can see that even her clothes were cut neatly, so she would not allow any asymmetrical areas on the body. But there happened to be an asymmetrical red mark on the crotch, and the murderer might not have noticed it because the light was dim at the time."

"When the murderer put on makeup and killed the victim, the unconscious victim may have had a brief awakening and struggle. Her right hand fingers touched the skin on the outside of her crotch, but it was probably just that moment, leaving a light red scratch."

Lu He kept looking into her eyes and her face while she was talking. Meng Siqi was serious while recounting the case. Her eyes were bright and free of impurities, so pure and beautiful that it made people's heart beat.

Lu He curled his lips and said, "Siqi, your analysis is very good. This inference can bring us closer to the murderer."

Meng Siqi took a break from work and said in a slightly relaxed tone, "Thank you, Team Lu. I discovered it by accident."

Lu He nodded with satisfaction and said, "Next, we still have to wait for the forensic doctor and the trace detection team to come and check. Siqi, the Hongzhuang case cannot happen for the fourth time. We must work together to solve this case."

Lu He's tone became serious, and Meng Siqi nodded solemnly and said, "Lu He, I will do my best. This is also the case I most hope to solve as soon as possible."

This is also her concern, and it is the truth that she has been trying to find over the past thirty years. She will definitely use all her efforts to cooperate with Lu He to complete this arduous task.

"Okay." Lu He reminded, "But no matter what, you must pay attention to safety, understand?"

"I understand, you too." Meng Siqi also gave him some instructions.

"Hoohoo..." Several cars stopped outside. After a while, Da Cheng shouted outside, "Road team, the forensic doctors are here."

"Siqi, let's go pick them up and leave the scene to them."

"good."

The two of them walked back to the scaffolding along the original path. Meng Siqi stepped over first. When she crossed over, Lu He still held her arm.

Three cars were parked outside. Chen Jierong, wearing a clean white forensic uniform, had already gotten out of the car. There were also three or five forensic personnel, most of whom she knew. Among them was a little girl named Tong Qingqing, who joined the police station in the same year as Meng Siqi. They walked towards her together, holding forensic investigation boxes in their hands.

There were also colleagues from the Trace Inspection Department, whom she basically knew. Wang Wei was the first to speak: "Captain Lu, Xiao Meng, have you checked the scene?"

Lu He just stepped out of the scaffolding and said, "I took a quick look. The road I took was the one the kid who called the police had walked in and out of. It shouldn't be the way the murderer walked in. You guys should pay attention to the footprints later."

"Team Lu, don't worry."

Meng Siqi remembered that the last time she saw Chen Jierong, she was still immersed in Xiang Jie's sacrifice, but at this time, she had put on a very professional face, but when she walked towards her, a faint smile appeared on her red lips: "Siqi, you are here."

"Sister Rong, Team Lu and I took a quick look at the scene, and we haven't found much information yet. We'll wait for you to check."

"Okay." Chen Jierong nodded and turned to Wang Wei, "Wang Wei, we shouldn't send too many people in to avoid causing new damage to the scene. We will each send two people, and after you finish detecting the footprints at the scene, we will send more people in to conduct the survey."

"No problem." Wang Wei replied, "That's it."

Meng Siqi watched Chen Jierong and Wang Wei each bring a person into the scaffolding. Chen Jierong almost fell, and Wang Wei helped her and held her arm. They all needed to bring equipment, so the others handed the equipment in.

After they went in, Lu He asked Da Cheng, "Da Cheng, has the police received any reports of missing young women?"

“There is no road team.”

"Call the police station and contact the surrounding police stations as soon as possible to learn about the number of cases reported in the last 24 hours. If there is any situation, notify me immediately."

"Okay, Team Lu, don't worry."

After Lu He finished giving the order, he looked at Meng Siqi again, "Siqi, let's go for a walk around here."

"Okay." Meng Siqi followed Lu He and walked towards the west end of the road, because Lu He found a building about one thousand meters ahead, which seemed to be the city TV station.

This place is near the TV station. Meng Siqi thinks Lu He might want to take her there to see if the deceased is related to the TV station.

"Siqi, do you think the murderer acted randomly?" Lu He walked side by side with her and turned to look at her.

"I don't know either, but I think the deceased may be related to this area, and may have a lot to do with the TV station."

"Hmm? Why do you think so?" Lu He looked at her again. Her facial features had a unique temperament that always made people want to take a second look.

However, she was always able to get straight to the heart of his thoughts. She was so different. In his criminal career, he finally found someone with whom he could discuss and work together. He had always longed to have such a colleague in his life, and he cherished her very much.

Meng Siqi, who was being closely watched by Lu He, looked into the distance and sorted out his thoughts.

The city TV station symbolizes the epitome of the prosperity of the city. In this not-so-prosperous area, what kind of girl would be abandoned on a construction site? From the way her hair was tied, the noble texture of her clothes, and a pair of exquisite high-heeled shoes placed on the ground, all this shows that she might be a girl connected with prosperity. She might very well be an employee of the TV station.

After he asked her questions, Meng Siqi also gave her guess: "From the deceased's clothes, high heels, and hair style, I don't think she was just passing by. She could be a TV station employee, or someone who was going to the TV station to do work."

"Okay." Lu He nodded, turned his eyes away from her, looked back at the TV station building, and smiled meaningfully.

They did not go into the TV station, but looked at it from a distance. It was an eight-story building, which was considered a relatively tall building in the area.

Although this is not an urban area, it is definitely not a suburb either. It is on the edge of the urban area. There are not many residential areas nearby, but new buildings are being built one after another. For example, the construction site where the deceased was found should be a new building. We may need to confirm this with the developer.

Lu He put his hands in his jacket pockets and said to her, "The identity of the deceased has not been confirmed yet. I think we should not go to the TV station yet. Let's go back to the scene. They should be almost done with their work."

Meng Siqi knew that he would not be able to find out anything by going to the TV station now, because not only the identity of the deceased had not been confirmed, but any information about the deceased had not been confirmed either. He couldn't just go to the door and ask if there was a young girl in a red dress working there.

She could see that the reason why Lu He took this route was to trace the possible route the girl might have taken before she was killed.

Returning to the crime scene, Da Cheng and his team were already clearing the scaffolding and creating an exit for personnel to enter and exit. It looked like the work inside was mostly completed.

A colleague from the Trace Inspection Department happened to be there and saw Lu He and called out, "Captain Lu, you can enter the scene now."

Lu He nodded and looked at Meng Siqi, "Siqi, coming from the TV station, the south side is the nearest entrance, but the scaffolding is a bit dense, so it's not easy for the murderer to carry a person in."

In fact, Lu He had just guessed that the murderer did not enter from this road. Meng Siqi looked around and saw that there were trees on the left side of the construction site. She hurriedly said, "Lu He, the south side faces the main road. Even if it rains, there will be cars passing by. There are a few trees on the west side. The murderer may have entered from that way."

Lu He looked over and said, "Yes, let's go over there and take a look."

He deliberately slowed down his pace and let her walk in front. After a while, they arrived at the west side of the construction site. There were a few camphor trees outside. Perhaps there was a camphor tree forest here originally, but many of them were cut down because of the construction. Now there are only four or five trees standing alone, but they still provide a good block to the view to the west.

Lu He led her to the scaffolding and suddenly pointed, "Look here."

Meng Siqi looked and saw that one of the entrances to the scaffolding was indeed larger than the other ones, but not too big. People had to go in sideways, and the ground was wet with rain, without any traces. Extending from here to the inside, Meng Siqi found a drag mark. No, strictly speaking, there were two parallel drag marks, and they were very short. Why were there two parallel drag marks?

Meng Siqi understood all of a sudden, "Lu He, the murderer couldn't carry the victim in here, so he dragged her in. That's why there are two parallel drag marks inside. They should have been made by the victim's toes. After dragging her in, the murderer picked her up, so the drag marks disappeared quickly."

"The deceased was wearing high-heeled shoes. We can tell by checking whether there is dust on the toes of the shoes," she added.

"Yes, Siqi, your analysis is very good." Lu He shouted inside, "Wang Wei!"

After a while, Wang Wei walked over quickly and asked, "Road Team?"

"Where did the murderer come from? Have you found him?"

"No, there are no obvious footprints at the scene. The murderer must have worn shoes that prevent footprints, or shoe covers."

"They should have entered from here," Lu He said, "Let's check here."

"Okay, Captain Lu, did you notice it at a glance?"

Lu He said, "You didn't see who was next to me."

"It couldn't be Xiao Meng who discovered it, it's so amazing." Wang Wei gave Meng Siqi a look of praise.

Meng Siqi smiled and said, "Brother Wei, I found it under the guidance of Team Lu."

"Siqi, let's go into the construction site from the front and take a look." Lu He took two steps back.

The two men folded to the front and entered through a scaffolding with a large opening. The forensic doctors and trace examiners inside were already doing follow-up work.

Walking towards where the deceased had stayed, she found Chen Jierong standing up from her bent position, as if she had just finished an inspection. She looked up at them and said, "Road team."

"How is it? Jierong, can the time of death of the deceased be determined?"

Meng Siqi followed Lu He to the vicinity of the deceased, and Chen Jierong introduced: "It is basically confirmed. The time of death should be around 8 to 10 o'clock last night. It is currently preliminarily determined that it was suffocation. We have not found obvious wounds on the deceased's body. The deceased should have been unconscious, and the murderer covered the deceased's nose and mouth, causing the deceased to die of mechanical asphyxiation."

"The deceased had heavy makeup on her face, and there was no obvious congestion, but cyanosis was still visible, and there were punctate hemorrhages in the conjunctiva. We checked her oral cavity and found some bleeding in her teeth and gums, commonly known as rose teeth. However, we will still go back for a further autopsy to determine the exact cause of death."

"Okay." Lu He nodded.

Meng Siqi listened carefully to Chen Jierong's description. In fact, from previous observations, Meng Siqi could roughly guess that the deceased was most likely suffocated to death. Her limbs may have had a slight resistance before death, but it was extremely subtle. However, it still caused a red mark on her crotch, so this was why she was sure that the deceased had put on makeup before her death.

Lu He asked: "Whether the deceased had been sexually assaulted, can this be confirmed in advance?"

Chen Jierong said: "I just checked and it seems to be OK, but I still need to go back for further confirmation."

"Then," Lu He said, "Can you confirm whether there was any indecent behavior?"

"We have not found any trace evidence such as semen stains, saliva stains, hair, fibers, etc., but we will still conduct further detailed inspections." Chen Jierong replied.

Meng Siqi remembered that Lu He once said that the murderer of the Red Makeup Serial Murder Case had not sexually assaulted the victims, but it could not be ruled out that the murderer was a person with impotence and might have molested the victims. The methods of molestation were so bizarre that it might be difficult to confirm. It was impossible to make a judgment in the first two cases, but it might be possible to make a judgment in the third case.

The reason for confirming whether the above behaviors exist is to more accurately judge the murderer's criminal motive.

Because if there was no clear motive for the crime, why would the murderer go to such great lengths and take such risks to capture women, and then spend so much time putting makeup on them? What kind of "pleasure" was he pursuing?

Chen Jierong asked: "Captain Lu, do you want to examine the body again?"

Lu He said, "Si Qi and I will check again. You can take a rest."

Meng Siqi knew what Lu He meant. The focus next was not on examining the body, because Chen Jierong would do that. Instead, they wanted to examine the relationship between the body and the surrounding environment. Once the body was bagged and transported away, the information at the scene might be incomplete.

In fact, Meng Siqi also wanted to stay at the crime scene and next to the corpse for a while. This case was a huge suspense spanning thirty years, which meant that the cause must be extremely complicated. She went back to thirty years ago and saw the images of key evidence of many cases again and again. Does that mean that she can also get the images in this case and solve the case smoothly?

However, this was Meng Siqi's second time coming into contact with a corpse today, but the picture still did not appear. However, this would not disturb her thoughts. She planned to calm down and continue to inspect the scene.

While Lu He was observing carefully, Meng Siqi also walked around. The two of them mainly focused around the corpse because they thought more information might be contained there.

There was no dust on the tips of the victim's high-heeled shoes, but it cannot be ruled out that the murderer had tampered with the shoes, because the body and everything about her was very clean and tidy.

Meng Siqi's gaze moved to the pile of bamboos. On the ground in front of the dead man's feet, there was a pile of bamboos scattered all over the place, but there were a few bamboos in the pile that were neatly arranged.

A corpse shape that looks very much like a work of art is found in a desolate construction site. The site is empty, but there is a pile of bamboos scattered all over the place.

Meng Siqi felt that something was wrong. If she was the murderer, a murderer who pursued perfection, she would never tolerate such a scene.

Unless? At this time, Lu He seemed to have discovered something. He withdrew his gaze from the bamboo pile and looked at her.

"Siqi, tell me?" Lu He asked.

"Captain Lu," Meng Siqi wondered if her thoughts would coincide with Lu He's, "these bamboo piles might have been arranged neatly originally."

"Yes, I was knocked down by a kid's soccer ball."

Yes. Meng Siqi was delighted that the two of them had the same idea, and she also saw the approval in Lu He's eyes.

It is certain that the only thing that could change the trajectory of these bamboo piles is football. She immediately gave a new reasoning: "I suspect that these bamboos were originally abandoned randomly on the construction site, and the murderer picked them up one by one and placed them one by one..."

At that moment, Chen Jierong licked her thick red lips, with a hint of uneasiness between her brows.

Wang Wei just walked over, frowning, "Isn't this a bit too perverted?"

"This is very likely," Lu He said with certainty, "Wang Wei, check immediately to see if there are any signs of discarded bamboo nearby."

Ten minutes later, colleagues from the Trace Inspection Division finished their inspection and found many traces of bamboos placed on the construction site. This means that the murderer had picked up all the bamboos on the construction site and placed them next to the body yesterday, neatly arranged at a certain height.

These bamboos should be used to make scaffolding on the construction site. They are about the same length and round in shape. Meng Siqi has no idea how to arrange them and whether it will be helpful for the case. She plans to go back and try to build one with matches.

The work was officially over. On the way back, Meng Siqi asked Lu He: "Did they build something like bamboo at the scene of the two deaths?"

While driving, Lu He said, "The first victim died in her bedroom. Her bedroom was very clean and had many valuables stored in it. The girl's family was wealthy, but no valuables or money were lost. Her parents were away on that day, and the girl was alone at home. Her home was always clean, so there was nothing special to find."

Lu He's expression suddenly froze, his brows furrowed deeply. Meng Siqi felt something was wrong and asked, "Lu He, have you thought of something?"

"It's so clean." Lu He shook his head. "I always thought it was girls who kept their bedrooms clean."

"Didn't you ask the girl's parents if she likes to do housework?" Meng Siqi knew that Lu He must think that the house might have been cleaned and tidied by the murderer, just like the scene at the construction site.

"My parents were in a bad mood. They said that they loved to do housework and were very hardworking. Maybe this was a compliment from my parents. I have no doubt about that."

Yes, in the eyes of parents, children are usually hardworking. After the parents go out, the daughter cleans and tidies up her bedroom, which is not surprising. But now it seems that the murderer may have tidied the bedroom afterwards.

She remembered that the first victim was named Du Lianxi, a white-collar worker who was only 22 years old and in her first year of work. She lived with her parents and was an only child. Her parents were both company executives. At that time, her parents happened to be attending an out-of-town company inspection and left the 22-year-old Du Lianxi at home. In fact, their daughter did not need them to worry too much, but they didn't expect that an accident would happen.

The girl died in her bed, very peacefully, in the same condition as the girl on the construction site. Lu He once thought that the murderer stayed in the girl's house for about an hour, because makeup takes a lot of time. But if the murderer tidied up the room of the deceased, then one hour would not be enough. He must not be an impatient person. He might do things very elegantly and have a very good sense of time.

"So what about the second victim?" Meng Siqi asked.

"The second victim died in the practice room. The girl was practicing in the practice room that day. Because it was raining, she called home and might have to go home at night. There weren't many things in the practice room, but it was very tidy. The practice room was run by a private owner who was also a piano teacher. He went out for a social event that day and left the girl alone in the practice room. After the social event, when he returned to the practice room at about 7:30, he found the girl lying on the piano keyboard, so he called the police."

"When we went to investigate the scene, we found it was indeed very clean. The boss said the girl was diligent and would usually help him clean up his room, so he didn't arouse suspicion. But now it seems that the murderer should have cleaned up the piano room as well."

Meng Siqi remembered that it rained heavily that night and she happened to be taking a shower at Lu He's house. Lu He rushed out to the scene before he had time to change into clean clothes.

She had also seen the photos of the second case. The deceased was named Yin Mo, a sophomore. The photos of the scene were even more bizarre because the girl was lying on the piano keyboard, giving people a strange illusion that she seemed to have dedicated her life to art.

Who could have imagined that a piano she played every day would become her death coffin.