Seven Evil Slips

Some things are harder to do than to say.

This is especially true for investigations. As Wan Fenghuo said, sometimes there must be an opportunity to inquire about news. If the opportunity does not come, it is common to wait three to five years.

The first opportunity was Li Tan, who traced the clues from him and led to the Luo Mahu murder case that year.

The second opportunity was Cen Chunjiao. Through her, she learned about what happened in the small hotel in Jinan and the murder case in Erlianhot, Inner Mongolia.

The third opportunity was actually Mudai. Ma Tuwen told him that he had talked to the girl who was "only eighteen" in mental age. She actually didn't understand anything. It was her aunt who asked her to come.

Huo Zihong, Lok Ma Lake?

Luo Ren used this as the target to investigate again, and something intriguing happened: Huo Zihong was born in a poor family in the countryside, and her parents were vegetable farmers. She dropped out of school early and worked as a helper. thing.

One is that when her parents came back from selling vegetables, they encountered a car accident on the way, and the rescue failed, and both of them died.

The second is that shortly after the death of her parents, Huo Zihong sold the belongings of her hometown, moved to Luoma Lake, and rented at No. 12 Chenqian Lane.

The third is that shortly after Huo Zihong moved to Luoma Lake, the murder occurred. A week later, Huo Zihong returned the rented house, left Luoma Lake, and never went back.

Afterwards, Huo Zihong's experience is difficult to trace. It seems that her whereabouts are quite uncertain, and there seems to be a blank that was deliberately erased. The last stability was eight years ago, when she settled in Lijiang and opened a bar, which has been up to now.

Luo Ren once suspected that Huo Zihong was the murderer, until he found that the most suspects were all dead, and the death patterns were surprisingly consistent, like Liu Shuhai, and his uncle Luo Wenmiao, who had their left feet cut off and a piece of their back gouged out Skin.

Huo Zihong must know something, and these things are the key to all cases.

It's a pity that the visit to Huo Zihong didn't go well. When he asked "Are you actually Li Yaqing?" he was only 80% certain in his heart. Born as a cultural vegetable farmer, after so many years, it is possible to be proficient in all aspects of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Huo Zihong's overly violent reaction made him firm in his speculation.

If it was two years ago, when his uncle and Pin Ting had an accident, he would have been so passionate that he would not have cared about it, even if he used extreme means, he would have to ask for some clues. He was more able to hold his breath, on Huo Zihong's side, he would rather take it easy first, and turn his gaze to another person.

Kiyo.

For a person who gets along with Huo Zihong day and night, maybe just providing a casual detail is enough to help him open a door.

But Kiyo is a smart girl, and if she wants to have trustworthy cooperation, she must have enough confession to pave the way.

To some extent, he was on the right track at this step. He has been paying attention to Kiyo's expression. From being absent-minded at the beginning, she gradually became absorbed in empathy, and in the end, she has already leaned towards him in terms of emotional standpoint.

She stared at the necklace he put on again, and suddenly asked him: "You actually like Pin Ting, right? But, isn't she your sister? Or..."

Luo Ren's eyes closed for a moment, but he didn't answer right away. He was thinking about how to answer. If despair and guilty love were added to this tragedy that had already happened, would it make her feel more sympathetic?

But Kiyo waved his hand immediately: "Forget it, forget it, you pretend I didn't ask."

Luo Ren had just told her about a family tragedy, but she curiously asked something irrelevant, which was too unreasonable.

Kiyo was a little embarrassed: "But, how can I help you?"

Luo Ren looked at her for a while, then took out a pen and post-it notes from his pocket, Kiyo somewhat guessed what he meant, and consciously helped move the bottle of chili vinegar on the table to the side.

He first wrote three sheets, and then pasted them on the desktop side by side, namely, 1 Luoma Lake, 2 Erenhot Grassland, and 3 Xiaoshanghe.

After posting, start a new line and write a piece of "Scene", which is staggered from the previous three pieces, as if to make a form, and then fill up the three pieces in order, all of which are written: lines, dolls.

He explained to Kiyo: "The scene is almost the same, they all use thread to fix the people into a scene. I think the thread used is based on local materials. Both Luoma Lake and Xiaoshang River are adjacent to the water. Fishing lines are commonplace, and my uncle I once visited Luoma Lake, so it is likely that I deliberately imitated it. But the case in the Erenhot Grassland used twisted threads."

Kiyo nodded: "But the Erenhot case, it seems that I haven't heard anything about it."

"Of the three cases, only the Luomahu case alarmed the police, and there is a case to investigate. The Xiaoshang River was caused by a fire at the scene, which seemed to be just ordinary murder and arson. As for the Erenhot Grassland, I dare not make a judgment, but I have a guess."

guess? Can it count?

Luo Ren seemed to know what she was thinking: "No way, after all, no one has been to the scene. The Erenhot grassland is very remote, and it is said that there are often prairie wolves. According to Cen Chunjiao, it was close to winter when Liu Shuhai committed the crime, and that year, The grasslands of Inner Mongolia suffered a large-scale snowstorm."

"Under normal circumstances, when a snowstorm comes, the herdsmen will move their cattle and sheep as soon as possible, but if the family has been killed, they and their cattle and herds can only stay where they are, and they will inevitably freeze to death. At that time, the prairie wolf was even more vicious, looking for all edible food."

He paused for a moment, and swipe a circle on the table with his fingers: "Let them smell a little blood, it's a slaughterhouse."

I understand, in the spring of the next year, there will only be a lot of bones left in the place where the crime occurred. Others will only think it is a natural disaster. Even if they investigate carefully, they will only be murderers.

Like the Xiaoshanghe case, it was destroyed and obliterated by unexpected external factors.

Kiyo's heart was pounding, these were three known crimes with exactly the same method.

Luo Ren wrote another one, which was "the time of the crime".

Kiyo pointed to the column under the Luoma Lake column: "I know this, it was twenty years ago."

Luo Ren posted one, saying ">20 years ago", followed by Xiaoshanghe's, "2 years ago", the last post on the Erenhot Grassland, and took a look at Kiyo before writing.

It was really like being asked by a teacher, and Kiyo was a little nervous: "Liu Shuhai passed away in 2010. If he did the grassland case, it must have been at least 5 years ago..."

She recalled the biographical information about Liu Shuhai that she had read in Bashu Bieyuan, and quickly added another sentence: "He left home in 2008 and passed away in 2010. The time of committing the crime may have been between this time. Please write about 6 to 7 years ago."

This serious demo must have been a good student when she was in school, Luo Ren wrote and pasted it as she said.

Now, there are three lines of content on the desktop, Luo Ren asked her: "What do you see?"

Mudai rested his chin and watched: "It's been many years between the Luomahu case and the Erenhot Grassland case."

Yes, the interval between Erenhot and Xiaoshanghe is at most 2-3 years, but the interval between Luomahu and Erenhot is nearly 15 years.

During this period, there may have been cases that they have not heard of, and it is also possible that there were no homicide cases. But what's the reason it didn't happen?

Luo Ren posted the fourth line, "criminal suspect".

For Liu Shuhai and Luo Wenmiao, a big question mark was posted under the Luomahu case.

The fifth line, the place where the suspect died, is in order: question mark, Jinan, and Xiaoshanghe.

In the sixth line, the suspect's death form, feet cut off, skin gouged out, missing skin in a rectangular shape, under the Luomahu case, a question mark was placed as usual.

The seventh row, other.

Luo Ren only posted a picture under Liu Shuhai's column, saying the car accident in Datong, Shanxi Province in 2007.

Kiyo's heart moved. She remembered that Liu Shuhai was honest and honest, and she remembered that Liu Shuhai had never blushed with anyone in his life. The only big twist in his life was the car accident and falling into the water. He was in a coma for 48 hours. He left home suddenly in 2008 and passed away in 2010.

Could it be the car accident that changed something?

Luo Ren wrote another one, but this time, he just held it in his hand and didn't post it for a long time.

Kiyo was very curious, if it wasn't for being unfamiliar with Luo Ren, I really wanted to break his hand and take a look.

Luo Ren was really embarrassed to tease her with that pair of eager eyes and pretending to be nonchalant.

There are two words written on the post-it note.

Jinan.

"That time, Pin Ting came looking for me, and I rushed to Xiaoshanghe. At that time, there was no news of my uncle's disappearance. I asked Pin Ting, she felt that something was wrong with my uncle, what happened?"

Pin Ting also couldn't explain it clearly. Sometimes, only the closest people can notice the strangeness that is not exposed. She said, it seems to be a different person, sometimes muttering to herself, sometimes laughing weirdly, and sometimes At that time, he suddenly lost his temper in the study and tore a lot of books when he was furious.

Luo Wenmiao is definitely not like this in normal times. He is a refined image of a middle-aged intellectual, and his manners are both advanced and retreating.

Luo Ren asked, when did this change start?

Pin Ting thought for a long time, looking forward to Ai Ai, and finally said that it seemed that once, she was invited by a professor of the same major to Jinan to give a speech on the history of the confrontation between Xixia and Song Dynasty.

There was a problem that time, because it was from a nearby city, and passenger transportation was more convenient than trains and planes. We made an appointment to send a car to pick me up at the passenger terminal, but Luo Wenmiao bought the wrong ticket, and the car broke down again. Near midnight, We got off the bus at Xijiao Passenger Station.

midnight? Xijiao Passenger Station? Didn't Cen Chunjiao at that time work as a waiter in a small hotel at the West Suburb Passenger Station? And wasn't Liu Shuhai just the small hotel where he died in the middle of the night?

I don't know if he was too startled, but Kiyo pointed to Liu Shuhai's name and was speechless for a long time.

Luo Ren connected the "Jinan" in Luo Wenmiao's place with the "Jinan" in the "place where the suspect died" with his pen, and then gave Muyo an affirmative answer.

"It's the same day."