With the authorization of the host, Jian Jing immediately and politely asked the others to leave and inspected the scene alone.

She first checked the body.

Zishu was wearing a black tuxedo, lying on his side on the carpet with a painful expression. His right hand was holding the handle of the dagger that pierced his chest, as if he wanted to pull it out, but he didn't know if he didn't have enough strength or something else, so he failed. His left hand stretched forward, and not far away was the mobile phone on the coffee table.

There were blood stains around the wound, and the amount of blood loss was not large. There were some bloodstains on the carpet, two or three drops. Judging from the position of the deceased, he crawled two steps before he died. The place where he was stabbed was by the wall, where there was a wine cabinet. The cabinet was open, and a bottle of red wine had been taken out, but it was not opened in time.

Initial speculation is that when the deceased was about to pour the wine, he suddenly turned around and was stabbed in the chest. He fell to the ground and crawled two steps to get his mobile phone, but failed and died halfway.

It is now 23:30. By identifying the corpse spots and the rigor mortis, it can be determined that the time of death is within 3 hours.

At 22:30, everyone gathered in the lobby waiting for the rat. Jianjing rushed to the scene as soon as possible, and the security guard never left the other door of the auction room. The possibility of other people committing the crime is very small.

Therefore, if there are no special circumstances, the time of death can be located before 22:30.

Let's look at other clues at the scene.

The pried lock core has been damaged, but from the structural point of view, it is a very typical hand lock, that is, the kind with a door handle on the outside. If there is no anti-lock, you can open it by pressing the handle.

On the side facing the room, there is a square knob that can be used to lock the door horizontally. The metal has a good luster. She picked it up and roughly examined it under the light. There was no trace of fingerprints.

In addition, the key to the room was in the pocket on the chest of the deceased, and the auction room had no windows or other doors.

This is an out-and-out closed-room murder case.

But anyone who has watched detective works can easily think of a very simple tool that can be made with fishing line (or something like a ribbon) and a heavy object (such as ice cubes) to lock the door from the outside.

Or it is not impossible to use a fishing line (...), lock the door from the outside with a key, and then quietly put it back in your pocket.

However, there were no traces of wire cutting on the key, nor were there any sticky residues of tape, so it was hard to guess what method was used.

In addition, there was a fruit plate on the coffee table. It was not processed fruit pieces, but whole oranges and apples. In the trash can, you can find peeled fruit peels.

Jian Jing took out gloves from her handbag and put them on, then carefully pulled out the dagger.

A light sniff revealed not only the bloody smell, but also the fragrance of fruit.

This should be a fruit knife.

But it is not a stainless steel knife that can be seen everywhere. There is a beautiful pattern on the surface of the blade, and the handle is made of wood, which is heavy and substantial.

If I remember correctly, this should be made of forged Damascus steel and belongs to the category of handicrafts.

Well, the old man is very stylish. He is so particular even when peeling an apple.

She put down the weapon and began to look through the documents.

Based on the fragments of information from people, she had already learned the arrangement process - after entering the auction room, the buyer wrote his price on a piece of paper and sealed it with wax.

At this stage, the Rat would not check anyone's offer to ensure that no clues would be revealed to those who came later.

At 10 p.m., he would stay alone in the auction room, open the envelope, and select the buyer with the highest price. And inform the other party of the result separately in the subsequent meeting.

But in the auction room, she found neither the envelope nor the quotation sheet.

The above is the result of the first on-site inspection.

Jian Jing then found two security guards and asked them about the situation tonight.

Here, the entire topography must be described in more detail, which is roughly as follows:

...[hall]....

.....passage......[bathroom].............

.....passage..passage.............[waiting room]

.....................corridor.........

...[room 3]...[room 2]...[room 1]...

.............closed passage.............

...........[auction room]............

.......Bodyguard A.........Bodyguard B........

To repeat: after 19:00, everyone gathers in the hall and can enter the bathroom and the waiting room at the end of the corridor through the L-shaped passage. Passing through the waiting room, you will come to a corridor leading to three safes. Passing through

the safe, you can reach a closed passage, which is opposite the door of the auction room. The auction room has two doors. The front door faces a large corridor and is guarded by two bodyguards, while the back door is open.

Jian Jing questioned Security Guard A and Security Guard B separately.

Their testimonies are as follows.

Jian Jing: "Tell me about your work tonight."

Bodyguard A: "Tonight's work is relatively simple. My colleagues and I only need to guard the door to ensure that no one is allowed in or out, and obey the boss's orders when needed."

Jian Jing: "What time does the work start?"

Bodyguard A: "Seven o'clock in the evening, and it should end at twelve o'clock in the evening."

Jian Jing: "Is it always you and your colleague? Do you take shifts?"

Bodyguard A: "No, it's just the two of us."

Jian Jing: "When was the last time you heard the deceased? What time was it?"

Bodyguard A: "Actually, I didn't hear anything today. The door is very soundproof."

Jian Jing: "Did the deceased talk to you?"

Bodyguard A: "Around nine o'clock, he opened the door and told us to ask the waiter to bring in fruit and red wine."

Jian Jing: "What time was it, was there anyone inside?"

Bodyguard A: "I don't remember clearly, I didn't pay attention."

Jian Jing: "Did you leave your seat today?"

Bodyguard A: "I left twice, once at around nine o'clock to find the waiter, and once at ten o'clock to go to the bathroom."

The questioning ended here.

She asked the bodyguard B the same question.

He corroborated A's statement about getting the fruit at around nine o'clock, and then told her that he had only gone to the toilet once at around eight o'clock, and had been guarding the door since then.

Again, because of the good sound insulation, he did not hear any sound.

Jian Jing asked the secretary Tina again, and she said that the two bodyguards were hired by the deceased from a security company. The company had a good reputation and provided personal protection for many celebrities and politicians. Their identities had been strictly checked and no problems were found.

In other words, they should not be easily bribed to betray their master.

In addition, like the other door, the door lock remained locked when they broke in, and the bodyguards could not enter unless the deceased opened the door himself.

Moreover, the corridor they were guarding was one of the main passages, which was equipped with surveillance, which could also prove their innocence.

In the entire area, the road at one end was blocked.

As for the other end of the hall, although there were waiters coming in and out of the hall and the band was performing, they all entered and exited from the hall door. Jian Jing can guarantee that, except for the other ten guests, no one has entered the L-shaped passage.

In other words, the murderer is among the guests.

Then the next step is naturally to screen the identities of the ten guests.

Jian Jing made a form for them to fill in their impressions and analysis of each person.

——

Ugly Ox: His speech habits are somewhat different from those of people in China. When he was chatting with Monkey before, he seemed to have spoken Minnan dialect, overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia?

Tiger: Cold and polite, fluent in Chinese, with a strong Japanese flavor. Met once in Room 1.

Dragon: A guy with no sense of existence, seems a bit lonely, never met alone.

Snake: Sick, coughing all the time, and no sense of existence

Horse: A handsome guy with abdominal muscles, also a middleman who pulls strings. He also participated in the secret auction, saying that he was quoting for someone else, who commissioned him?

Sheep: A middle-aged lady with taste, a collector and antique shop owner

Monkey: An old member, an appraiser, very reluctant to let the bronze head fall into the hands of outsiders (is that the motive?)

Rooster: An old Chinese woman who immigrated to the UK, is an acquaintance of the Monkey, and intends to join other customers to bid for the bronze head

Dog: A foreign noblewoman who bought a violin, does she have a motive?

Pig: A local tycoon who came here for the national treasure and is determined to get the bronze head?

-

It was full of fog.

Jian Jing sighed and prepared to go to the three safes.

There, she met Tina.

She told Jian Jing: "I have arranged bodyguards to guard the safes in shifts 24 hours a day."

Jian Jing said: "What about surveillance?"

"It can't be installed inside, and one has been temporarily installed outside." Tina's work efficiency is pretty good and she is very thoughtful.

Jian Jing was slightly relieved and asked Tina to ask the staff to change the door lock and send the key to her cabin.

Tina agreed immediately.

After doing all this, Jian Jing went back to the cabin to rest and prepare to question the suspects one by one tomorrow.

Perhaps because of a case and something on her mind, she didn't notice the yacht shaking at all and fell asleep immediately.

The next day, she asked the chef to order a Chinese breakfast. After eating a full meal, she went straight into the auction room.

She brought a dressing case with her. The first layer was the cosmetics she often used, and the second layer was the trace detection props - don't ask why she carried this with her, it's better to be prepared, it's a wise saying.

After some effort, she extracted a few fingerprints from the murder weapon. She sent it to Tina and asked her to find someone to compare the fingerprints with the deceased as soon as possible.

There were fingerprints of many people on the door, and the inside was wiped clean, without any fingerprints left.

After doing all this, it was almost ten o'clock, and Jian Jing began to ask the guests for statements.

She decided to visit each of them one by one in chronological order.

It needs to be reiterated beforehand that the estimated time of death is between 20:30 and 22:30.

The first one was Haizhu.

He was the first to leave the hall and showed great concern for the national treasure very early on. He was away from 19:05 to 19:27, a total of 22 minutes.

Jian Jing asked him, "Were you the first one to bid?"

Hai Zhu admitted, "Yes."

She: "Did it go well?"

Hai Zhu: "Of course."

She: "Which number did you bid on? Can you tell me?"

Hai Zhu hesitated, and finally said fearlessly, "It's actually quite obvious, I bid on number 2."

Jian Jing said, "I noticed that you left around 22:15. Where did you go?"

Hai Zhu's eyes dodged, "Nothing, I went to the toilet."

Jian Jing: "Did you go to the auction room?"

Hai Zhu: "No, absolutely not."

She glanced at him, her eyes swept through every corner of the cabin, nodded, and ended the questioning.

The second one was Yin Hu.

During the auction, he left twice, the first time from 19:15 to 19:30, and the second time from 20:40 to 21:20.

Very suspicious.

Jian Jing asked: "Tell me about your behavior yesterday."

Yin Hu sat upright with his hands on his knees: "Please allow me to explain. I didn't succeed the first time I went out, so I went the second time."

Jian Jing pretended to be surprised: "Why?"

"Because there were people in the auction room." He said, "I thought there was no rush anyway, so I just came back to rest and go later."

Jian Jing nodded, without saying whether he believed it or not, but just asked: "What happened when you went there the second time?"

Yin Hu recalled: "Everything was normal. I wrote down the price on the list, sealed it and gave it to Mr. Rat."

Jian Jing: "Was he still alive at that time?"

"I'm afraid so." He said.

Jian Jing asked: "Did the deceased say anything to you? How did he look?"

"Very friendly. When I was thinking about the price, he said there was no rush and asked me if I wanted a glass of sake."

Jian Jing thought for a moment and asked: "Was there a fruit plate on his table at the time?"

Yin Hu: "Sorry, I didn't pay attention. The auction items occupied my mind."

Jian Jing: "Which collection number are you bidding on? Can you tell me?"

Yin Hu hesitated and said, "Number 2."

"Are you sure about your bid?" she asked.

Yinhu answered concisely and forcefully: "I have tried my best."

"I think you are not sure." Jian Jing smiled and pointed out his third departure. "At 22:10, I saw you leave. Did you go to confirm the bid?"

Yinhu said expressionlessly: "No, I went to the bathroom."

"Oh, is that so?" She smiled apologetically and suddenly looked at the trash cans under his desk. The trash inside had been sorted into different categories. The empty mineral water bottles, even the packaging paper and bottle caps were separated.

"Japanese?"

Yinhu pursed his lips and answered stiffly: "I don't think this has anything to do with the case."

"Just asking." She didn't take it as an offense and said goodbye and left.

The third one is Xu Gou, a foreign noblewoman. According to Youji, she is French and a famous musician. She left the hall between 19:20 and 19:36.

Jian Jing had no private contact with her, so she couldn't help but look at her carefully during this face-to-face conversation.

She was not very pretty, but had a very elegant temperament. Her blond hair was dyed, with black showing at the roots. She had blue eyes, a pale face, and obvious dark circles under her eyes. It was obvious that she didn't get enough rest last night.

"Oh my God." Xu Gou said in a worried tone, "How could this happen?"