dear archimedes

Chapter 29 Drugs, Lies, and Pranks (10)
It was an old teaching building of Wharton High School that was about to be abandoned and demolished.A few police cars with flashing red lights were parked downstairs, which was very bright.The building was dark except for the lights in the two classrooms on the third floor.

At first glance, it looks like a pair of eyes in the dark.

Yan Su took the flashlight from the policeman downstairs and walked into the dark stairwell, Zhen Ai followed without saying a word.

Ever since Yan Su received that text message, his temperament has changed.

When watching a movie, I feel at ease; when I answer a text message and make a phone call, I am silent.Along the way, he kept his face sullen and didn't speak, cold and quiet.Zhen Ai could feel that he was holding back his anger.

He has always been like this, even when he is angry, he is indifferent and restrained.

Zhen Ai heard something on the phone. The deceased, Anna Hope, was 20 years old, a Wharton student, and the illegitimate daughter of a law enforcement officer from the Ministry of Justice.The half-sister is none other than today's bride, Anne Adams.

Yan Su walked quickly, but when he went up the stairs, he paused and slowed down abruptly.

Knowing that he was waiting for her, Zhen Ai wanted to say that I was okay, but she didn't get the words out of her mouth, she just speeded up her pace secretly.

The cylindrical light of the flashlight makes the stairwell dark and gloomy, and the building to be demolished is full of dilapidated and old decaying dust.

What a perfect place to kill.

Yan Su unconsciously moved closer to Zhen Ai, and whispered, "Are you afraid?"

Zhen Ai shook her head, finally realized that he didn't look at it, and said, "I used to be locked up in a dark room."

Yan Su's flashlight flashed, and just as he was about to say something, the school administrator who came down from the upstairs, who had just assisted in the investigation, lit a cigarette while going downstairs, and said in an impatient voice, "It's about to be demolished and people will die, this building is really ominous. Hell, why does a good lighter suddenly fail to turn on."

Zhen Ai's head froze, she shook her head vigorously, and walked up to the corner of the third floor, she didn't know whether she was absent-minded or what, but her feet slipped and she almost fell down.

Yan Su's reaction was extremely quick, and he grabbed her by the arm.

Zhen Ai bumped into his arms, looked up and saw his quiet and slightly worried eyes in the darkness, her heart was pounding, she hurriedly stood still in embarrassment.

Yan Su let go of her arm and stared at her intently: "Tired?" His tone was not fluctuating, but a little serious.

Zhen Ai thought he was blaming her for being distracted, and explained: "It's not my fault, the floor is very slippery."

"How can I blame you?" Now he changed his tone, very warm and soft.

Zhen Ai's heart was beating violently all of a sudden, and she didn't know how to answer the words.

A forensic officer came to meet him, and he came out of the second classroom with a toolbox, and said as he walked:
"Nothing. No footprints, no fingerprints, not even flakes of skin or fibers of clothes. Except that of the male student who found the body."

"But there is no trace of the male student committing the crime... It's as if the deceased came here to hang himself."

"It's so weird, it's exactly the same as the case two years ago."

"The student who found the scene was frightened and stupid, saying that his mind was in a daze like a dream, and he didn't know anything."

Yan Su didn't know if he had heard it, and passed by the forensic personnel.

The lights are on in the second and third classrooms.

The second room is the scene of the crime, several policemen are inside, Eva and Jasmine are also there.In the case back then, Eva was in charge of the autopsy, so this time she came.The dead body has been taken down and placed on the ground, and Eva is examining it.

As for Jasmine, she was transferred from NYT to New York not long ago, and this case happened to be within the jurisdiction of their police station.

The moment Jasmine saw Zhen Ai, her face was very strange, she really wanted to question why they were still together so late.But Zhen Ai's face was indifferent, and the occasion was wrong, she didn't say anything, she just raised her chin, turned her head and looked at Yan Su:
"Those students all came after the incident. No one notified the family or sought a lawyer for the time being. We didn't notify the media either. But the secrecy can only be maintained until tomorrow morning. After that..."

Everyone present understood.

After that, the news could no longer be hidden.The media will be more confident in the speculation about the serial murder case, and Yan Su will definitely be pushed to the forefront.

Yan Su said nothing special.

Jasmine shouted to the side: "Officer Jones!"

A young male police officer who was talking to Eva turned around and walked over. He was quite excited when he saw Yan Su: "Hey, this SA case is exactly the same as the unsolved case two years ago. The deceased were all suffocated and stripped naked. Hang up."

The case two years ago, although Yan Su thought it was closed, the police thought it was a serial murder, and the murderer couldn't be found for a long time, so it became an unsolved case.

Jones pointed to the ladder in the middle of the classroom, his eyes sparkled with exploration: "The hanging this time is the same as the first car with the help of mechanical force."

Following the direction of his finger, there is a thick broken rope hanging from the ceiling fan in the middle, and beside it is a stepladder that is as high as the ceiling fan, and the surrounding tables are spread out.

Jones gushed: "After the murderer tied the neck of the deceased, he passed the rope around the ladder and fixed it on the blades of the ceiling fan. The rotation of the fan drove the rope to tighten in circles. The murderer used the force of the rope to walk along the ladder. Hold the deceased up. Wait until the length of the remaining rope is short enough, then loosen it. The deceased will hang under the ceiling fan.”

"It's my reasoning." Jones looked at Yan Su eagerly, "There are no other clues, it's as confusing as it was two years ago."

Zhen Ai looked at Jones expecting praise, and thought silently, her expression should not be so silly during the previous nights of reasoning with Yan Su.

Yan Su looked at Jones indifferently: "After two years, Police Officer Jones' observation ability has improved significantly. Congratulations, you found the most obvious problem."

Police Officer Jones was embarrassed, scratched his head in embarrassment, and tried harder: "The murderer from two years ago must have committed the crime again!"

Yan Su didn't answer directly, but asked, "Did you drive the police car downstairs?"

"Yes. Any questions?"

Yan Su glanced at him: "It's not a big problem, it's just that the wheels have run over the shoe prints that went in and out of this building, most likely including those of the perpetrator."

Sergeant Jones drooped and was on the verge of tears.

Yan Su frowned: "Sometimes I'm really curious about the structure of your head..."

Zhen Ai couldn't bear to watch, so she lightly touched Yan Su's arm.

Yan Su turned his head and looked puzzled: "Why are you poking me?"

Zhen Ai glared at him dissatisfied.

Yan Su blinked, and after a while he understood, and said, "You don't like me telling the truth anymore. Do I want to praise him?"

Zhen Ai: "..."

"SA" Eva waved at Yansu, and turned the deceased's body to one side.Knowing what he said, he walked over and leaned over to have a look.Zhen Aili didn't see it here, but she also realized what was written on the back of the deceased.

Pentagram pattern, "you are my medicine"

Yan Su closed his eyes and seemed to be smiling, but it was weird: "The words engraved on the body cannot be changed or erased. No wonder those students didn't tell their parents or seek a lawyer. They are afraid that the secret will be exposed."

Except for Zhen Ai, no one present understood this.

Eva didn't care about things other than the corpse, and Jasmine didn't want to appear that she couldn't keep up with the rhythm of the speech, so only Jones asked: "What do you mean, the previous message is not this sentence! This is the only thing that is different from the previous one." The case is different. I am speculating whether the murderer has been ill in the past two years?"

Yan Su glanced over: "Officer Jones' imagination is amazing." Before the latter had time to be relieved, "It's always used in the wrong place."

Officer Jones was embarrassed again.

Yan Su took a picture of the writing on the dead man's back with his mobile phone, and said to himself, "The incision was deep, but not much blood flowed."

After speaking, he looked at Jasmine: "Those students are taking statements?"

"They were all in the next classroom. Based on the degree of rigor, Eva deduced that the time of death was about 2 hours before the incident. The report was received at 10:30, and Anna's death time was around 7:00-8:00. The strange thing is," She also found it difficult, "Everyone has an alibi, except Qi Mo."

Yan Su was thoughtful: "He said he slept here all the time?"

"Well. Qi Mo said that he was seeing a psychiatrist recently. Today he was dizzy and dreamy after taking the medicine. Just now the forensic staff took his medicine for testing. Although he was making a statement, he seemed to be very frightened. It's not high, and the preface doesn't match the afterword."

"What about the rest?"

Jasmine hesitated for a moment: "The others are very strange.

安娜昨天给所有人发过短信，说是有重要的事要见面谈。但她分别约定的时间不一样。给戴西约的是下午5：00，凯利下午6：00，齐墨晚上7：00，托尼晚上8：00。

The communication records of the mobile phone show that during this period, Daisy sent a text message to Daisy at 5:17 pm saying that she was temporarily going to a friend's party and would not come.

Tony sent two texts to Anna around 5:30, saying no.Shortly after, Kelly also texted to say no.

And Qi Mo called Anna at 6:57, but he didn't get through; he called Dai Xi at 7:09, but he didn't get through. "

When Jasmin said this, she held her forehead: "It's so confusing, I really don't know what these students are doing? Are you going to ask them now?"

Yan Su pursed his lips and said, "Wait a little longer."

As he said that, the man had already started to walk slowly in the classroom with his long legs.A serious expression changed on his handsome face, and his eyes scanned every corner sharply.

Jones looked curiously. He heard that Yan Su had a pair of eyes with amazing insight. He looked eagerly, and leaned forward and asked, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes." Yan Su said, "Shut up."

Jones stepped back listlessly.

A row of ceiling fans whizzed overhead, and the blue curtains were tightly covered, but the windows were broken, and the night wind blew in and whistled.Lots of shards of glass on the ground.

The deceased was lying beside the podium, half covered by a white cloth, with two rope-shaped marks on his neck.Overall it looks tidy and clean.

The clothes of the deceased were placed on the podium, more precisely, they were stacked together, which seemed to be stacked but loose.The outermost piece was the deceased's white sports coat, which was covered with a lot of dust.There is a darker part of the black shirt and hat.

Zhen Ai didn't see why, and when Yan Su was waiting for Yan Su to utter a series of analysis as usual, he suddenly turned his head and looked straight at Zhen Ai, without blinking for a moment.

Originally, everyone's eyes were on him, but now, everyone focused on Zhen Ai.

Zhen Ai's back was stiff: "What's wrong?"

Yan Su frowned, and said in an unquestionable tone, "Are you uncomfortable?"

...Do you want to escape like this...

At that time, Zhen Ai was crossing her arms.

Hearing this, she was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly remembered that the day Jiang Xin died, she also stood beside her hugging herself like this.At that time, Yan Su also felt something strange about her.The difference is that this time there is a bit of concern in his words, not as cold as before.

Jasmin frowned imperceptibly, but her tone was concerned: "Zhen Ai, if you are timid and afraid, go out."

Zhen Ai hesitated for a moment, touched her neck repeatedly with her hand, looked at the white cloth, and shook her head: "No, it's not because of her."

She knew Jiang Xin in that case, and she felt slightly uncomfortable when she saw the blood all over the floor; but Anna, to her, was like any strange experimental corpse she had seen before.

Yan Su became serious: "Because of what?"

Zhen Ai recalled the scene of telling a fairy tale with Yan Su last time, and lowered her head hesitantly: "It's not a big deal."

Yan Su was obviously dissatisfied with the result, strode over, grabbed Zhen Ai's arm and carried her out.

He pulled her into the darkness, and ordered in a deep voice: "Any abnormality at the scene is crucial."

Zhen Ai was even more embarrassed, and the more she spoke, the lower her voice: "Actually, it's nothing, I just remembered what my mother said before."

He didn't feel speechless, but was very serious: "What are you talking about?"

"My mother said, don't hit the black cat, don't walk under the ladder, don't... smash the mirror." Zhen Ai scratched her hair, "Because of this..."

"Because it's unknown, and it will bring disaster." Yan Su took her words calmly.

These are the three strangest superstitions in the West, of course he knows.

It wasn't until Zhen Ai said it that he realized that there were these three things at the crime scene.Anna's black hood on the podium, the dead man in the middle of the step ladder, and the broken glass by the window.

Glass?No, he remembered, and the shards of the mirror.

The grooming mirror in the classroom is gone, and it is broken on the ground and mixed with glass.

What's with this strange sense of incongruity?

Yan Su put on his gloves, walked to the podium, and checked Anna's clothes and Xiaokun bag.

The surrounding police officers may all understand Yan Su's habit, and they all stay still and don't speak.Even the wind at night stopped humanly, and the curtains fell silent for a moment.

Zhen Ai also slowed down her breathing, she knew that when he was observing, he disliked being disturbed very much.

In the huge classroom, it seemed that Yan Su was the only person alive.Under the white light, he lowered his head slightly, his chiseled side face showed a concentrated and sexy look.

He was totally lost in his own world.The surrounding environment is all illusory, only the focus of his eyes is real.He looked through the pile of clothes on the table in an orderly manner, and his sharp eyes fell on Anna at the foot of the table from time to time.

High school-style sweatshirt, no make-up on the deceased—very low-key, out of the ordinary, not her usual style;

There is a hood on the back of the sweatshirt, plus a black hood - two hats;
She wants to keep a low profile?

Lots of dust on clothes—struggled and rolled on the ground;

On the neck of the deceased, the rope marks were not neatly strangled, and the edges were rubbed together—the deceased and the murderer were struggling violently.

Classroom floor - no traces;
The hood of the jacket is very dry, except for a round wetness at the tip, which feels cool to the touch and has a strong sense of shape—like a ball of water has been put under the hat.A ball?
A sexy black corset with a thong and a push-up bodice—she's ready for a date.Romantic date?the person I like?Anticipating a sexual relationship?
But according to the agreement between her and the remaining four, how can there be time at night?
Open the small Kun bag, the shiny mobile phone, there is a crack on the mobile phone case, but it is glued.She won't use a broken phone case unless she has already gone out and can't find a replacement-it broke after the last time out;
There are a lot of cosmetics in the bag, foundation BB cream, mascara blush, lip gloss and eyebrow pencil-one is missing.

There are two small tubes of medicine in the pocket of the sweatpants, sleeping + hallucinogenic, whose?
Anna's? ——What did she bring the medicine for?
murderer? ——Why not use it for Anna, but kill people with so much effort?
Yan Su frowned, picked up Anna's cell phone and looked through it, the last call was recorded at 4:26 pm, it was the NBA booking number. At 4:30, a confirmation message was received, which stated that 5 of the 3 tickets for the basketball game that Anna had booked were successfully cancelled.

For the subsequent messages, Daisy and Tony have read but no reply, and Kelly has not read.

While looking at his phone, Yan Su was distracted talking to the police officers:
"First, this is not the scene of the crime. Second, the time of death is wrong. Third, at least two of the students in the group knew that Anna was dead before no one called the police."

He looked at the phone, his tone was too cold and hard, and he obviously didn't recover from his contemplation, so that after he finished speaking, no one dared to ask why.

Only Zhen Ai was fascinated by what she heard, and couldn't help but respond: "Why?"

After speaking, seeing everyone looking at him vigilantly, Zhen Ai was puzzled, is Yan Su so scary?He's pretty harmless all right.

Yan Su's light-colored pupils reflected the light of the phone screen, and he was silent for a second, looking sideways at her.

Zhen Ai looked at his eyes that were as clear and distant as autumn water, and her mind went blank.She was still slightly stunned, but he recovered in an instant, with a faint trace of humanity in his eyes, and the corners of his lips curved: "What do you think?"

Only then did she realize that she had disturbed his quiet thinking, that's why there was a moment of strangeness just now.

But as soon as he came back to his senses, he unknowingly filtered out his indifference and bluntness, and only treated her.

Zhen Ai still doesn't feel it.The policemen next to each other looked at each other, such a gentle "What do you say?", they were flirting!Is the freak in love?

Jasmine's expression was not good, and she said to Zhen Ai: "Miss Zhen Ai, you don't know yet, do you? When SA is thinking, she doesn't like to be disturbed."

Zhen Ai let out a blunt "Oh", and looked at Yan Su: "Did I bother you?"

(End of this chapter)