Chapter 73 Twenty-four Shotas

When Bourbon rushed to the address sent by Lei, the Nagano police had already arrived. A cordon was set up outside the cake shop, and a group of people gathered around to watch the excitement.

Perhaps it was because the small city was always peaceful and murders rarely happened, Bourbon always felt that the expressions of passers-by looked more excited than afraid that someone had died.

The detective from Tokyo twitched his lips and pretended nothing had happened as he walked towards the two policemen who were talking in a low voice within the cordon.

"You saw it too, didn't you? The body just now..." Policeman A asked nervously, "are they really exactly the same?"

Policeman B nodded grimly: "Yes, exactly the same..."

However, the two stopped whispering when they saw Bourbon approaching. Policeman B, who looked more mature, sternly stopped Bourbon: "Please do not approach if you are not familiar with him."

Although it was a pity that the conversation he just overheard was not complete, Bourbon did not show it on his face, but raised a friendly smile as usual: "Sorry, I'm a detective. In fact, I heard from my partner that this case seemed to involve me, so I - ah, I'm talking about the man with long hair, the two officers should have seen him too, right?"

Policeman A complained unconsciously: "Why is it the detective again..."

Bourbon kept smiling, and no one present could see the doubt hidden beneath his smile.

What do you mean by 'again'... What did the Lei guy say to the police?

This doubt was not answered until Bourbon walked into the cake shop.

"Yes, yes, the detective said he was commissioned to investigate the extramarital affair of that customer, and he came all the way from Tokyo." The female clerk, who had her back to the door, was still in shock, and tried to calmly explain the situation to the police in front of her, "But the customer came just as the detective was leaving, and no one else went in for a few minutes after he entered the bathroom."

The black-haired, piercing-eyed young police officer tapped his fingertips twice on his notebook and nodded to the clerk: "I understand. Thank you for your cooperation."

Bourbon recognized this very familiar police officer, this was the reason why he told Scotland not to come over. He was Inspector Shufu Gaoming of the Investigation Division of the Criminal Department of the Nagano Prefecture Police Headquarters.

At this time, Zhu Fu Gao Ming did not notice who came in from outside the door. He lowered his head to look at the clues in the notebook and briefly fell into his own thoughts.

They rushed here as quickly as they received the report, but the police headquarters in Nagano City is not very close to Komoro City, so they have only been investigating for more than ten minutes, but this is already the second time he has asked the clerk about what happened before the incident.

If someone stood behind Zhufu Gaoming at this moment, he would be able to see what was written in the notebook in Zhufu Gaoming's hand.

First, the crime scene.

There were no windows in the cramped restroom of the cake shop, and no matter how long the old exhaust fan had been working before they arrived, it could not reduce the slightest smell of blood in the restroom.

Such a large amount of bleeding makes one suspect that the deceased actually died from excessive blood loss, and this is indeed the answer given by the forensic personnel and Zhu Fu Gao Ming himself after observation.

But since there were no windows in the bathroom and the exhaust fan was so small that even a petite woman could not pass through, how did the murderer manage to sneak into the bathroom, kill people and then escape within a few minutes?

Even if we assume that the murderer actually stayed in the bathroom and never left, it is an unchangeable fact that he escaped successfully in the end. Judging from the description of the clerk and the suspected long-haired detective, no one went out during that time.

It was obvious that this was a closed-room murder case, and no trace of the murderer could be found at the scene.

Then there was the murder weapon.

The initial diagnosis of the victim's death was that he died instantly after being stabbed in the chest. The blow hit the center of the body with a heart-wrenching accuracy, because this kind of technique and proficiency is definitely not something that can be acquired in just one or two attempts.

The weapon passed through the victim's chest and came out from the back. From the shape and length of the wound, Zhu Fu Gao Ming, who was quite familiar with this kind of cold weapon, quickly concluded that the weapon was not a knife at all, but a bayonet.

A knife can't make a square hole, right?

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the murder weapon was not found at the scene.

A bayonet is a weapon that only needs to penetrate about eight centimeters into any part of the human body to kill the enemy. However, the murderer not only chose the heart, a fatal spot, but also carefully stabbed it all the way through.

Either the murderer had a grudge against the deceased to avenge, or what was the murderer's purpose that made his movements so skillful and cautious? This makes people even more imaginative.

Finally, there are the dead.

There were no signs of struggle on the deceased's body, but the murderer killed him head-on, which shows that the two people probably knew each other and it was not a life-and-death relationship. That's why the deceased was killed in a relaxed state without any reaction.

Or maybe the murderer's image made the deceased not alert. A familiar woman? A friend? We need to wait until other people investigate the deceased's interpersonal relationships before we can make a judgment.

Not long ago, after a simple investigation, they discovered that the deceased was a tourist who had just checked into the hotel opposite the cake shop that morning. However, after checking his room, they did not find anything special except a dart board.

The only strange thing is the time the deceased checked in. He left Niigata Prefecture and came to Nagano in the early morning, braving the snowstorm, but after entering Nagano, he settled down and even bought a cake. It was as if he left Niigata in such a dangerous way just to travel to Nagano.

But everyone knows that the safest place in a snowstorm is indoors, so unless there is something in Niigata that the deceased feels is more dangerous than a snowstorm, they must escape.

In this case, perhaps the deceased knew that someone was trying to kill him, so he felt temporarily relaxed after leaving Niigata Prefecture because he felt that the person who wanted to kill him would not catch up with him so quickly?

At this time, the most likely suspects became the detective who claimed to have followed the traces of the deceased from Tokyo, and the blond young man in the photo on the dart board.

The detective who introduced himself as Zhuxingda said that he and the blond young man were traveling together, and they had two other companions, one adult and one child.

Three men traveling with a child...what a strange combination, full of mistakes.

Even though Zhu Fugao knew that Zhu Xingda did not tell the whole truth, he did not expose him. Even if he did, it would not be a big deal because the other party's identity had nothing to do with this case.

Regardless of the time or motive of the crime, Zhu Xingda is unlikely to be the murderer because he has a perfect alibi.

Finally, there is one point that helps Zhu Fu Gao Ming alleviate some of his doubts about Zhu Xing Da.

The circled area in the middle of the notebook reads: Twenty years ago, the locked room murder case in Xiaozhu City.

He closed his notebook and stood at the door of the bathroom, staring thoughtfully at the blood-red corner that was vacant after the body was moved away.

Zhu Fu Gao Ming did not experience the case twenty years ago, but his father was implicated in it, so he carefully read the relevant information of the case after entering the police headquarters. Therefore, he had a strong sense of déjà vu when he saw the scene for the first time.

So similar.

The case 20 years ago was also like this. The victim was brutally murdered in a completely locked windowless room. The murderer has not been found to this day, and it has become an unsolved case that the police headquarters still occasionally talk about. The murder weapon at that time was also a bayonet.

The difference is that after investigation, it was discovered that his father had also appeared nearby when the victim was murdered, and he may have witnessed the murderer's appearance. However, the record left by his father at the time did not state that he had seen it. Later, because this witness was killed at home the next day, the police once suspected that the murderer of the ambush couple was the murderer of the previous case.

Although this conjecture was proven wrong four years ago when Zhufu Gaoming's younger brother caught the murderer who murdered his parents, the lack of clues caused by the death of Zhufu and his wife is indeed one of the reasons why the murderer has not been caught yet.

Zhu Fu Gao Ming suspected that the murderer was one of the insiders at that time, and this was just a copycat crime. Otherwise, if it was the murderer himself, he would be at least 40 or 50 years old today, 20 years later.

We also cannot rule out the possibility that it is unrelated to the case of that year and is just a coincidence.

But if it's really the same person, or a copycat crime...

Zhu Fu Gao Ming's eyes were deep and his expression was serious.

If that was really the case, he was definitely not the only one behind the murder, and there must be some other connection between the two victims.

This relevance is reflected in the murderer.

—

What the people in the store didn't expect was that while they were working on the case, two people were having a conversation in the deserted alley not far from the cake shop.

If Lei were here, he would not be able to maintain a calm expression.

"Have you memorized the code I gave you?" the man in the black hood asked, his voice clear and youthful. "You will have to do the rest on your own. I will not help you any further."

"You've helped me a lot." Standing opposite the young man was the deceased who had just been moved away. He said with great gratitude, his voice as low as possible, "I've carried you on my back. Don't worry, I know how to tell the police! I will never betray you!"

The boy yawned and waved his hands nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter. This is the last time you see me anyway. Go ahead, while I'm still holding you back there, you'd better leave here quickly."

The dead - or rather, the organization's target. He shuddered, and after struggling for a long time in silence, he asked in fear, "Why do you say this is the last time?"

"...Huh? You haven't left yet." The young man raised his head, revealing his watery red eyes, his face expressionless and his tone cold, "Anyway, it's not you who's going to die, but if you don't leave, who knows."

It wasn't until the target of the mission drove away from Nagano in a daze that he suddenly reacted.

If he wasn't the one who was going to die, then it would be the boy who suddenly contacted him yesterday and said he could save him! ?

It’s not wrong to think so. After all…

"After all, Granty is a clone who can only live for seven days." Chijiang Nayue left the alley and blended into the crowd with brisk steps, muttering in a voice that others could not hear, "And if that guy really seeks asylum from the police, there will be no possibility of seeing A or Granty again in the future."

He didn't lie, did he?