Holy Bone

Chapter 696
The old Taoist priest's investigation of the details of the case went smoothly.

Jin An, the coffin shop, has just made new progress in the autopsy of the pig butcher.
I saw the old Taoist rushing back,
Gudong Gudong, the old Taoist drank a few sips of tea to quench his thirst, and then quickly talked about the details of the case: "Little brother, you really hit the spot, the three of them were hugged together and burned to death in the fire!"

"The fire at the pig butcher's house burned very suddenly, in the middle of the night, and the fire spread quickly. The neighbors watched the fire burn the house into ruins. At first, the neighbors didn't know that there was no one else in the house except the pig butcher. Others were burned to death, and when the fire was extinguished and the charred bodies were found, it was discovered that three people had been burnt to death."

"Hey, the scene at that time was too tragic. The three people were burned together. It is said that it took a lot of effort to separate the three people. Because the three people were hugged and burned to death, their faces were still intact. When the head of the yamen brought Wu Zuo to the autopsy, he recognized at a glance that the person being hugged by the butcher was Miss Song who had recently been kidnapped by the kidnappers."

The old Taoist continued to pour a few sips of tea, and continued to speak quickly: "According to what the old housekeeper of the Song family said, Miss Song and the maid Caixia who were burned to death in the fire were tied hands and feet, and their personal freedom was restricted. The real cause of Carpenter’s death was not being burned to death. Based on the deepest burn marks, the headhunter deduced that the initial fire point was the overturned wine jar and lamp oil on the table. The spittle in the carpenter's mouth and the remaining alcohol in the clothes were found out. Because the pig butcher was from a poor family and had no one to be a matchmaker, he was single so far, so he coveted Miss Song's beauty and the property of the Song family. He had evil thoughts, kidnapped Miss Song, and sent him to The Song family proposed extorting ransom. Thinking of getting rich soon, the pig butcher drank at home to celebrate until late at night. He got drunk and accidentally knocked over the wine jar and lamp oil. People. When the pig butcher was woken up by the fire, he had already missed the best time to escape. At that time, the fire in the house was already very large, and the three people were choked by the thick smoke and could not find their way. This can also be proved by Wu Zuo. A large amount of ashes inhaled during their lifetime were found in the noses of all three people. The pig butcher’s fatal injury was that the back of the head was hit hard by the collapsed beam, and he lost his mobility, causing all three people to be burned to death.”

"There is a more important point! When everyone extinguished the fire and rushed in to rescue people, they found that the doors and windows were all bolted and locked from the inside. The head catcher spliced ​​every tile of the collapsed roof and inspected it. The possibility of arson and escape from the roof was denied over and over again, which is completely in line with the characteristics of the secret room. There is an autopsy testimonial made by Wu, and the fire was found in the house, and evidence of the fire in the secret room was found, so everyone believes that the pig butcher is 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 butcher was wronged, he couldn't avenge himself."

The old Taoist sighed heavily: "Before so much evidence was conclusive, the yamen decided that Tie Shuan, the butcher, was the kidnapper, and because both the kidnapper and the kidnapped person had been found, the yamen closed the coffin, the kidnapping case was solved, and the files were closed. The bodies of Miss Song and maid Caixia were taken away by the Song family for burial. Because the pig butcher had no father, mother, or relatives to take away the bodies, he was finally buried in a mass grave by the yamen 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 fire point and a reasonable reason for the fire, the three people found residual alcohol and smoke and ashes in their noses, the pig butcher was withdrawn and had no friends and relatives, which also fits the psychological description of a criminal, and he had a seemingly reasonable motive for committing the crime. Ms. Song and maid Caixia were bound hands and feet when the body was found... All of this is seamless, all clues and evidence point to the fact that the butcher is a kidnapper with criminal motives. It is indeed not good for the butcher.

Seeing that Jin An was thinking, the old Taoist said, "As for the details of these cases, the old Taoist, I specially visited a few neighbors in the neighborhood. Everyone's opinions on the details of the case are the same as the old housekeeper of the Song family. There should be no major omissions."

"All the evidence in this case is against the butcher, little brother, do you have any new discoveries here?"

The old Taoist looked at Jin'an expectantly.

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

After speaking, he re-covered the coffin, lit three sticks of incense for the deceased, burned some paper money, and then went to the butcher's house with the old Taoist without stopping.

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

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

Following the old Taoist'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 corners, but found nothing;

He also carefully inspected the wooden beams that fell to the side. There were no sawing marks on the fractures on both sides, and they were naturally broken;

Then it went to the very beginning of the fire.

It is not difficult to find the fire point, because the fire point burns for a longer time, so the smoke marks and fire marks are deeper than other places.

There was also no doubt about the origin of the fire, as judged by the yamen. The origin of the fire spread from one side of the table to the other side of the wall. At that time, Ms. Song, whose hands and feet were bound, had nowhere to escape. There are obvious signs of struggle.

Then he walked to the burned windows. Although the windows had been burnt to charcoal, some remaining traces of the window frames could still be seen in integrity, and there were no signs of violent damage, and the window latches were also inserted.

The old Taoist priest who had no clue followed Jin An, step by step, wondering if Jin An had made any major discoveries, why did he 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 bolts left on the left and right sides of the door frame, but the middle part was broken by someone breaking the door together with the door, scattered on the ground. land.

There was no abnormality in the door frame, and Jin An picked up the scattered pieces of door latches and wooden doors one by one to check, not missing any details. He did not believe that there is really a perfect secret room in this world to commit crimes.Maybe people in this era don't understand his thoughts, but he is very clear that the methods used to commit crimes in secret rooms are nothing more than those...

"Ok?"

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

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

The old Taoist asked curiously: "Is there any difference between the broken door latch, little brother?"

Jin An smiled and handed the old Taoist priest a few pieces of door bolts without saying a word, and asked him to see if he could see the difference. As a result, the old Taoist stared and stared, and his eyes hurt from looking at it, but he still didn't see any difference. Seeing the difference, under the active surrender of the old Taoist priest, Jin An then reminded: "Old Taoist, look at the part of my finger, how is it different from other parts beside it?"

However, the old Taoist looked at it for a while, but still had no clue, he was impatient: "Little brother, you should just say it directly!"

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

The old Taoist followed his advice and picked it up with his fingers. After picking it up, he immediately found out, and let out a cry of surprise: "Eh? Although it was burnt to pitch black, this place is obviously harder, and it hasn't been completely burned into charcoal yet. The other parts have been burned into charcoal, and a lot of charcoal can be removed with a fingernail."

At this time, Jin An made a new discovery behind the door frame. He swept away the ashes and tile debris on the ground, and found that there was a place that was slightly blackened, and other places were blackened by the fire. This small area alone is light black, and at first glance it looks a little clean.

"What's going on, little brother?" The old Taoist poked his head curiously.

Jin'an patiently explained: "This place is near the door frame and latch. If a wooden stick is placed to prop up the latch in advance, the murderer carefully backs out of the door. As the murderer closes the door, the wooden stick falls and the latch falls, creating a The perfect locked room murder scene."

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

Unexpectedly, Jin An shook his head: "It doesn't need to be so complicated and risky, just replace the wooden sticks with stick-shaped ice cubes. When the ice cubes melt, the door bolt will lose its support and will naturally fall down. This can also explain the connection between the door bolt and On the ground behind the door, there is a reason why the fire marks are shallow in one place, because the temperature of the ice is low, and when it meets the cremation water, it slows down the burning temperature of the flame."

The old Taoist showed a dazed expression, but before he could speak, Jin An walked in another direction of the room: "Besides, there is not one fire in this room, there are two fires in total."

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

Jin An: "Old Daoist, if you touch the ashes here, what's the difference?"

The old Taoist gained experience this time and learned to talk less and see 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? I was choked by the thick smoke and couldn't find my way, which delayed the best chance to escape! At that time, there was more than one fire in the whole house. 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 aids on the ice surface, such as hay and leaves. These things will produce fire when they are wet with water. A large amount of thick smoke not only interferes with people's sight, but also simulates a fire scene and chokes people to death. The most important thing is that these melted ice blocks can cover up the real first fire."

"First use ice stones to cover the first fire point, and then use popsicle sticks to support the door latch until it melts and then drop the door latch. In this way, a secret room environment is faked."

hiss!

Hearing so many murder details, the old Taoist's scalp was numb: "Little brother, what are you pretending to be in your head? Everyone is a person with one head and four legs. Why can you hold so many real murders in your mind?" detail?"

Speaking of this, the old Taoist said happily: "Thanks to the little brother, you are a righteous person and did not go astray. Otherwise, there will be one more murderous maniac who is at large in this world."

There was a black line on Jin An's forehead, and he kept talking, old man, are you hurting me or are you praising me, how can you praise me like this, you only have four legs.

The old Taoist chuckled, but when he thought of the case, he immediately turned back to a serious expression: "The climate in the south of the Yangtze River is warm and humid, and it is rare to see snow once in winter, not to mention it is getting warmer in March. Where can I find such a large number of ice stones?"

Jin An shook his head: "It's also very simple, big families have ice cellars to store fresh melons and fruits."

The old Taoist's eyes lit up, and he shouted: "Yes! Last summer, Mrs. He Mansion invited us to eat iced watermelon a few times!"

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

"Perhaps it is because the ordinary people in Jiangnan have never seen snow once in their entire lives, which leads to the limitation of the head-hunting thinking. When handling the case, they did not consider the Bingshi murder, so they missed these small details." Jin An said in a deep voice.

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

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

"Little brother, do you suspect that someone in the Song family eats inside and out?"

Jin An smiled and looked at the old Taoist priest: "It seems that we are going to deliver the coffin to the door again this time, let's see what kind of ghost is hiding in Song's house."

(End of this chapter)