Crime scene: 162 mystery solving puzzles to find out who the murderer is

Chapter 10 The Poolside Murder Case
Bomb defusers were working on the bottom of the swimming pool, and a small black iron box was slowly being taken out of the drainpipe.The pool has been completely drained and the owner's body has been removed from the bottom of the pool.This series of actions was in the eyes of Inspector Huang.

"Of course that thing won't explode," said Director Wang, a mechanical expert next to Inspector Huang. A strong electric current is released, which is enough to kill the people in the swimming pool in a few seconds."

"So this is a murder case." Detective Huang said: "The call said the owner had a heart attack in the swimming pool, but the emergency technicians suspected that he had suffered an electric shock, so they called the police car over. You need to use the remote control Operating that iron box, how far do you think the effective distance is?"

"It won't be very far," Director Wang squinted at the sunset in the evening. "The person with the remote in his hand is either by the pool or inside the house."

"So, the only suspects left are the two who were by the pool and the cleaner in the kitchen." Detective Huang said as he walked towards two men and a woman sitting on chairs by the pool. "You three, come and tell us what happened."

A woman in a swimsuit and a pocketless wool knit robe spoke first: "My name is Lin Shenghui. When I was sitting by the pool reading a book, he practiced swimming back and forth in the pool," she paused, pointing to the man beside her. Said, "Chen Xu is my cousin, we came here to visit my uncle yesterday. After practicing a few laps, Chen Xu climbed up to the edge of the swimming pool, dried himself with a towel, put on a robe, sat down and poured water on himself. After drinking a glass of wine, he joked to his uncle that he would never be able to swim a few laps. Uncle just smiled, stood up from the chair, and then jumped off. Then—he never came to the surface again..."

There was silence.Lin Shenghui went on to say: "Chen Xu immediately took off his robe, jumped into the pool and pulled him up. I also hurried over to help my uncle perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but he didn't respond."

"Later I ran to the house, calling 'Xiao Wu' as I ran." The speaker was replaced by Liu Chenxu, who was wearing swimming trunks and a pocketless robe, and the Xiao Wu he was talking about was the cleaner. "At that time, I heard the sound of an electric drill in the house, but it stopped soon. After a while, Xiao Wu opened the back door and asked if I was calling him. I told him that my uncle had a heart attack-it was me. My personal guess—an ambulance should be called quickly. Xiao Wu went inside to call 120, and I went back to the swimming pool to wait for the ambulance to arrive, while my cousin kept trying to save my uncle's life."

"You must be Xiao Wu," Inspector Huang turned to another man in overalls and asked.

"Yes, officer," Xiao Wu replied, "I have been working here as a cleaner and gardener for 10 years."

"Where were you when the incident happened?"

"In the kitchen, officer, I was assembling cabinets. Suddenly, I heard someone calling me outside the window, so I came to the back door, and the follow-up situation was just as Mr. Liu said." Xiao Wu pointed to Liu Chenxu. "Then I hurried to call 120, and then I came to the pool to see if I could help."

"Who else was in the house at the time?"

"There is no one else, officer, Mrs. Liu just went out to meet her friends."

Inspector Huang carefully looked at the four deck chairs and side tables by the pool.Three of the chairs had towels dangling from their backs.There was a pair of sunglasses and a novel on a side table.On another table were empty decanters and a mug, still a third full of ale.Several newspapers were placed on the third table.

"Is this your book, Miss Lin?" Inspector Huang asked. "This is the drink you are drinking, Mr. Liu? Is this the newspaper Mr. Liu is reading?"

The cousins ​​nodded wordlessly.

"Miss Lin, how do you know how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation?" the inspector asked again.

"I'm a nurse and I work in a hospital."

"Did you hear the sound of Mr. Wu using an electric drill?"

"Yes. The noise rang for almost 20 minutes, and it didn't stop until Chen Xu went to call him."

"May I ask you something," Inspector Huang said. "Which one will benefit from Mr. Liu's death?"

"Each of us will benefit, Mr. Police, if you mean the financial aspect." Liu Chenxu's tone revealed displeasure. "Uncle's will has each of our names in it, and this matter has been made public for several years." The other two also nodded in agreement.

"Let's do it first, you two. Mr. Wu, please lead the way, let's go to the kitchen and have a look."

Three minutes later, Inspector Huang, Police Officer Ah San and Xiao Wu were already in the kitchen of the house.Above the cooking table is a spacious window, looking out to a lawn and neighboring houses.On the ledge near the window were some planks, screw rods, nails, small clamps, and an electric drill, the fresh sawdust scattered across the table.

"This is where you work, Mr. Wu?" Inspector Huang asked as he walked to the platform and put on his gloves to check the electric drill.He found the wire was short and tried to squeeze the trigger.

"Yes, officer."

"Did you hear Mr. Liu shouting outside the window?"

"That's right, officer."

"That's all right, Mr. Wu, please wait by the swimming pool."

As soon as Xiao Wu left, Inspector Huang turned around and asked Ah San, "Did you check this house when you arrived here?"

"Yes, sir. Our patrol car happened to be nearby, so it was almost on call. When I went into the house to check, Xiao Ding stayed by the pool and watched others. There was no one in there at the time. " Ah San replied.

"Is the front door locked?"

"Yes, I came in through the back door."

"Understood." Inspector Huang sighed, but it was obviously hard to hide his pride. "Looks like I just need to bring one person back to the bureau for a proper questioning."

[Answer] The murderer is: Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu will be brought back to the General Bureau by Inspector Huang for interrogation.

The murderer pressed the generator switch after Chen Xu climbed into the swimming pool, and then turned off the power before Chen Xu jumped into the pool to save his uncle.So at the exact moment of the incident, the murderer must have been near the swimming pool.

Even though the cousins ​​were near the pool, they couldn't hide the remote; their bathing suits had little fabric, their robes had no pockets, and books and mugs didn't seem to hide the remote.

Although the swimming pool is not visible in the room where Xiao Wu used the electric drill, the noise of the electric drill lasted for 20 minutes was "revealed", because under normal circumstances, the electric drill should be turned on and off when assembling cabinets, and there is no need to keep turning it on.Detective Huang speculated based on the situation at the scene: Xiao Wu might have fixed the electric drill on the platform with small clamps or some other means, and kept the trigger pressed to activate it, and then went to another room with a view of the swimming pool to wait for the opportunity to start. .When the owner's body was pulled onto the sink, Xiao Wu hurried back to the kitchen.

Later, the police thoroughly checked Xiao Wu's room, and finally found the remote control, and collected Xiao Wu's fingerprints on it.Xiao Wu had no choice but to plead guilty to making such a bad move because of his gambling debts.

(End of this chapter)