White Bone Monkey King

The old Taoist priest's investigation into the details of the case went smoothly.

The coffin shop Jin An just made new progress in the autopsy of the pig butcher.

I saw the old Taoist priest running back in a hurry.

Gudong, gudong, the old Taoist priest took a few gulps of tea to quench his thirst, and then quickly talked about the details of the case: "Little brother, you are really right. The three of them were hugged together and burned to death in the fire!"

"The fire in the pig butcher's house burned suddenly, late at night, and the fire spread quickly. The neighbors watched helplessly as the fire burned the house into ruins. At first, the neighbors did not know that besides the pig butcher, there were other people in the house. Others were burned to death, and when the fire was extinguished and the bodies charred together were found, they were shocked to realize that three people had been burned to death."

"Hey, the scene was so tragic. Three people were burned together. It was said that it took a lot of effort to separate the three people. Because the three people were held together and burned to death, their faces were still intact. When the yamen catcher brought the widower to do an autopsy, he recognized at a glance that the person the killer was holding was Miss Song, who had recently been kidnapped by the kidnappers."

The old Taoist priest continued to drink a few sips of tea, and continued to speak quickly: "According to the old housekeeper of the Song family, Miss Song and the maid Caixia who were burned to death in the fire had their hands and feet tied, and their personal freedom was restricted, and the pigs were killed. The real cause of the craftsman's death was not that he was burned to death in the fire. Based on the deepest burn marks, the head catcher deduced that the initial point of the fire was the overturned wine jar and lamp oil on the table. Based on the location where the three people were burned to death and the slaughtered pig The spittle in the carpenter's mouth and the remaining wine on the inside of his clothes revealed that the pig-killer was single because his family was poor and he had no one to match him with, so he coveted Miss Song's beauty and the Song family's property. The Song family asked for ransom. Thinking that he was about to get rich, the butcher drank at home to celebrate until late at night. He drank until he was extremely drunk. He accidentally knocked over the wine jar and lamp oil, and the fire followed the wine on the ground and burned towards Miss Song's second wife in the corner. People. When the pig butcher was awakened by the fire, he had already missed the best time to escape. At that time, the fire in the house was already very big, and the three of them were choked by the thick smoke and couldn't find their way. This can also be testified by Wu Zuo. A large amount of ash that they had inhaled before death was found in the mouths and noses of all three people. The butcher's fatal injury was that the back of his head was hit hard by a collapsed beam, and he lost the ability to move, causing all three people to be burned to death."

"There is a more important point! When everyone put out the fire and rushed in to rescue people, they found that the doors and windows were all with wooden latches and locked from the inside. The head catcher connected every tile on the collapsed roof and inspected it. The possibility of man-made arson and escaping from the roof was also denied once and for all, which was completely consistent with the characteristics of a secret room. There were autopsy testimonies made by two people, the origin of the fire was found in the house, and evidence of a fire in the secret room was found, so everyone believed that the butcher was the The kidnapper who kidnapped Miss Song.”

"Hey, it's a pity that the only three witnesses were all burned to death in the fire. Even if the pig butcher was really wronged, he couldn't avenge himself."

The old Taoist priest sighed heavily: "Before so much evidence was conclusive, the Yamen concluded that the pig butcher Tieshuan was the kidnapper. And because the kidnappers and the kidnapped people have been found, the Yamen concluded the coffin. The kidnapping case has been solved and the file is sealed. The bodies of Miss Song and maid Caixia were taken away and buried by the Song family. Because the pig butcher had no father or mother and no relatives to take away the bodies, he was eventually buried in a mass grave by the government and became a lonely ghost."

The details of the case end here.

Jin An frowned.

There was a fire in the secret room. There was a point of origin and a reasonable cause of the fire. Residual liquor and thick smoke and ashes were found in the mouths and noses of the three people. The pig butcher was withdrawn and had no relatives or friends. It was also in line with the psychological description of the criminal. He had a very reasonable motive for the crime and was found. When the bodies were found, Miss Song and the maid Caixia had their hands and feet tied up... All of this was perfect. All the clues and evidence pointed directly at the butcher as the kidnapper with criminal motives. This cannot be blamed on the Chengnan Yamen for dereliction of duty or arbitrary conclusion of the case, because all the evidence It is indeed very detrimental to the butcher.

Seeing that Jin An was thinking, the old Taoist priest continued: "Regarding the details of these cases, I visited several neighbors. Everyone's opinions on some details of the case are the same as those of the old housekeeper of the Song family. There should be no big omissions."

"All the evidence in this case is very unfavorable to the pig killer. Little brother, do you have any new discoveries here?"

The old Taoist priest looked at Jin An expectantly.

Jin An nodded: "I do have some new discoveries here. I need to go to the pig butcher's house again to verify my conjecture."

After saying that, he covered the coffin again, lit three sticks of incense for the deceased, burned some paper money, and then he and the old Taoist priest went to the pig butcher's house without stopping.

When they revisited their hometown, it was almost dusk, and the old housekeeper of the Song family had already left. Seeing that there was not much time left for them, the two of them would soon have sunset curfew, so they immediately walked into the ruins of the fire to find a new home. clue.

"Old Taoist, where were the pig butcher and Miss Song burned to death?"

Following the old Taoist priest's finger, Jin An came to a corner, where there was indeed a piece of wall that was cleaner than other places.

He checked the walls and found nothing;

Then he carefully inspected the wooden beam that had fallen aside. There were no saw marks on the fractures on both sides, and they were broken naturally;

Then he walked back to the original point of the fire.

It is not difficult to find the origin of the fire. Because the origin of the fire burns longer, the smoke marks and fire marks are deeper than those in other places.

There was also no doubt about the origin of the fire. It was the same as the Yamen judged. The origin of the fire spread from the table to the corner. Miss Song, whose hands and feet were tied at that time, had no way to escape. They huddled in the corner in fear and lay on the ground. There were obvious signs of struggle.

Then he walked to several burned windows. Although the windows had been burned to charcoal, some remaining traces of the window frames could still be seen as intact. There were no signs of violent damage, and the window bolts were also inserted.

The clueless old Taoist priest followed Jin An step by step, wondering if Jin An had made any important discoveries and why he wanted to return to the scene of the fire?

At this time, Jin An came to the door frame, touched the burnt door frame with his fingers, and carefully inspected every inch. There were still two ends of the door latch on the left and right sides of the door frame, but the middle section was broken and kicked along with the door, and was scattered everywhere. land.

There was nothing abnormal about the door frame. Jin An picked up the door latch fragments and wooden door fragments scattered on the ground one by one and inspected them, not missing any detail. He did not believe that there was a perfect secret room in the world for committing crimes. Maybe people of this era don't understand his thoughts, but he knows very well that the methods of secret room crime are just the same...

"Um?"

Jin An looked happy: "I found it! This is it!"

Hearing Jin An's joyful voice, the old Taoist priest knelt down and looked at what Jin An was holding. It was a broken door latch fragment, but it had been burned into charcoal by the fire.

The old Taoist priest asked curiously: "Little brother, is there anything different about the fragments of the door latch?"

Jin An smiled and said nothing and handed a few pieces of the door latch to the old Taoist priest, asking him to see if he could see any difference. As a result, the old Taoist priest's eyes widened and his eyes hurt. Seeing the difference, under the old Taoist priest's initiative to surrender, Jin An prompted: "Old Taoist, look at this part of my finger, how is it different from other parts next to it?"

However, after looking at it for a long time, the old Taoist priest still had no clue. He became anxious and said, "Little brother, you'd better just tell me!"

Jin An laughed: "Old Taoist, use your fingers to pick the part I pointed out, and then use your fingers to pick the other parts next to it."

The old Taoist priest followed the instructions and picked it with his fingers. When he picked it, he immediately made a discovery and made a surprised sound: "Huh? Although they are all burnt to pitch black, this place is obviously harder and has not been completely burned to charcoal. Other parts have been burned into charcoal, and you can pick off a lot of charcoal shavings with just your fingernails."

At this time, Jin An made a new discovery behind the door frame. He swept away the ashes and tiles and debris on the ground, and found that there was a place here that was slightly less blackened. Other places were burned black by the fire, except that Only this small area is light black, which looks a bit clean at first glance.

"Little brother, what's going on here?" The old Taoist priest poked his head curiously.

Jin An explained patiently: "This place is near the door frame and door latch. If a wooden stick is placed to hold up the door latch in advance, the real murderer carefully backs up and goes out. As the real murderer comes to the door, the wooden stick falls and the door latch falls, creating a A perfect locked room murder scene.”

The old Taoist priest was stunned for a while, and it took him a while to figure it out: "If it is true to what you said, little brother, it doesn't make sense. If the real murderer had tied the wooden stick that supported the door latch with fishing line in advance, he would have After going out, the fishing line was pulled away, the wooden stick fell, and the door latch fell down to lock the door from the inside. The wooden stick would definitely be left as evidence! But where is the wooden stick now? Could it be that the real murderer later returned to the scene and took the wooden stick with him? stick?"

Unexpectedly, Jin An shook his head: "It doesn't have to be so complicated and risky. Just replace the wooden sticks with stick-shaped ice cubes. When the ice cubes melt, the door latch loses its support and will naturally fall. This can also explain the door latch and the The reason why there are shallow fire marks on the ground behind the door is because the temperature of the ice is low, and when it encounters fire water, it slows down the burning temperature of the flame."

The old Taoist priest showed a surprised expression, but before he could speak, Jin An walked to another direction of the room: "Moreover, there is not one fire point in this room, there are two fire points in total."

The old Taoist priest followed Jin An to a corner of the house.

Jin An: "Old Taoist, if you touch the ashes here, will there be any difference?"

The old Taoist priest gained experience this time and learned to talk less and read more. He really saw the details and said in surprise: "The ashes in this place seem to be thicker than other places around..."

He reached out and touched it curiously, and when he touched it, he exclaimed: "Why is the bottom layer of ashes a little wet?"

Jin An's eyes turned cold: "Do you still remember how the Yamen described the death of the three people? They were choked by the thick smoke and couldn't find their way out, which delayed the best chance to escape! There was more than one fire point in the whole room at that time, here It was the earliest fire point! The real murderer still used ice this time. He spread a lot of thin ice here, and then spread combustion-supporting materials on the ice, such as hay and leaves. When these things are wet with water, they will burn. A large amount of thick smoke can not only disturb people's vision, but also simulate a fire scene and choke people to death. The most important thing is that these melted ice blocks can also cover up the real first fire point."

"First use ice stones to cover the first fire point, then use popsicle sticks to support the door latch and let it melt and then lower the door latch. This way, a secret room environment is faked."

Hiss!

Hearing so many details of the murder, the old Taoist priest's scalp went numb: "Little brother, what are you holding in your head? We are all people with one head and four legs. Why can you hold so many real murders in your head?" detail?"

Having said this, the old Taoist priest smiled happily and said, "Thanks to my little brother, you are a righteous person and have not gone astray. Otherwise, there would be one more murderous maniac on the loose in this world."

A black line hung from Jin An's forehead, and he kept saying, "Old Taoist, are you hurting me or praising me? How can you be so complimentary? You only have four legs."

The old Taoist priest chuckled, but when he thought about the case, he immediately changed his expression to a serious expression: "The climate in the south of the Yangtze River is mild and it is rare to see snow in winter, not to mention that it is warmer in March. Where can we find such a large amount of ice stones?"

Jin An shook his head: "This is also very simple. Large families have ice cellars to store fresh fruits."

The old Taoist priest's eyes lit up and he shouted: "Yes! Mrs. He's wife treated us to a large iced watermelon several times last summer!"

Jin An was speechless, this is called the nature of a foodie.

"Perhaps it is because ordinary people in the south of the Yangtze River have never seen snow once in their lives, which leads to a limited thinking in arresting the head. When handling the case, they did not consider the ice and stone murder aspect, so these subtle details were missed." Jin An said thoughtfully.

The old Taoist priest's expression was serious: "If the person who kidnapped Miss Song can easily obtain a large amount of ice stones and can frame the blame on others, he is most likely to be Boss Song's business competitor!"

"Not necessarily. Doesn't the Song family have an ice cellar? Miss Song's sudden disappearance reveals a lot of strange things." As soon as Jin An said this, the old Taoist priest looked shocked.

"Little brother, do you suspect that someone in the Song family is cheating?"

Jin An looked at the old Taoist priest with a smile: "It seems that this time we are going to deliver the coffin to the door again. Let us see what is hidden in the Song family."