Chapter 125

Detective Bureau.

In the morning, Luke was organizing the transcripts of the ‘Vanishing Lovers’ cast and crew.

Matthew walked into the office with three packages, “There’s a delivery (FedEx), I put it on the front desk.”

The front desk was unoccupied and usually held miscellaneous and shared items.

“Hey, my delivery finally arrived.” Black ran over for the first time, picked through them, and tossed one of the deliveries to Luke and one to Jenny.

“Thanks.” Luke caught the delivery and ripped open the package.

David looked at the trio and snickered, “Women are the only ones who shop online, tough guys don’t.”

Luke laughed, “You’re right, neither do fools.”

“Haha ……” Marcus and Jenny laughed loudly.

The lieutenant held his right hand to his face and propped his elbow on the table, “What are you messing with him for? That kid has never been bad with his mouth.”

“Am I wrong?” David spread his hands.

“He’s right too.”

“Haha ……,” the crowd laughed again.

Seeing Luke tear open the outer packaging, Blackie showed a curious look and probed, “Hey, you actually bought a book, The Vanishing Lovers, does this book have something to do with the movie the dead man is making?”

“That movie is an adaptation of this novel, and the author of the novel is also the movie screenwriter. Since the murderer might have killed according to the movie’s plot, I want to see if I can find clues in the novel.” Luke said as he began to look through the novel.

The lieutenant said, “Luke’s words remind me, with the revelation of Lucas’s fake death, most of the people related to the cast of ‘Vanishing Lovers’ are now negatively affected, and I’m afraid that the only one who has benefited is this writer.

What’s his name …… I seem to remember, but I can’t recall it all at once.”

Luke reminded, “Romit Bull.”

The lieutenant said, “That’s right, we should talk to him, maybe provide some valuable clues.”

Susan walked into the office, “What are you guys talking about?”

Luke waved the book in his hand, “Talking about the author of this novel.”

“Finished it, lend it to me.” Susan finished and turned the conversation around, “There’s a new identification over at the coroner’s office.

The forensic pathologist extracted some blood that didn’t belong to the deceased from his mouth, from his teeth to be exact.

Although it didn’t match successfully in the database, it can be determined that it’s a woman’s blood.”

The vice squad nodded, good news: “Although from the previous speculation, the deceased may have left teeth marks on the murderer, but with the passage of time, the teeth marks on the murderer will likely heal, and this evidence has some limitations.

But DNA is different, as long as the suspect is caught, he can be convicted.”

Blackie laughed, “DNA is for women.

I’m guessing that Abu Gera, the scumbag, is up to his old tricks, cheating on some woman’s affections for money and profit, and as a result, he angered the other woman and was killed.”

David snickered, “Why does it feel like someone is talking about themselves.”

“Haha ……” The crowd laughed again.

The next day.

York neighborhood.

A Lexus pulls up in front of a blue-roofed two-story house.

A white man quickly stepped out of the car, ran to the door of the house, and knocked hard on the door, “Knock knock ……”

No response.

“Knock knock ……” the white man shouted, “Courtney, are you home?”

“Open the door or I’m going in!”

The man’s words fell as he punched in the code on the combination lock, opened the door to the room and walked in.

“Courtney, are you okay?”

The man peered into the living room, seeing no one.

Continuing inside, he pushes open the bedroom door, and the whole thing goes into shock, and

“Courtney! No……”

Five minutes later, surrounding patrolmen arrived on the scene.

Half an hour later, Luke and the others arrived in the York neighborhood.

Black got out of the car and scanned the surrounding area with his eyes, “Sure is where the rich live, the front yard of the house is bigger than even my house.”

David shook his head, “You have a peculiar attention span, now is not the time for that.”

Black nodded, “That’s right, even a big house is useless when people are dead.”

David “……”

Luke knew what David was trying to say.

Courtney Bass was the female lead in the movie Gone Lovers.

With two deaths in a row on the same set, Courtney Bass’s death was most likely related to the death of the lead character’s understudy, Abu Ghra, so the case was still in the hands of their team.

The crowd walked into the scene one after another.

I have to say, the house is really beautifully decorated, stylish and minimalist style, some places are cleverly decorated, it looks like they have hired someone to specially design it.

The living room did not find anything unusual.

Luke walked into the bedroom, and saw a woman in pajamas hanging on the rope, eyes wide open, spitting out her tongue, pale, the plump body under the pajamas is hidden.

Black sighed softly, looking up and down, “Pity, she was a good woman.”

David frowned, “How can you tell? Just because she’s wearing a muslin nightgown?”

Blackie said faintly, “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you, I have no common language with you.”

David said, “Hooray.”

Luke had been watching the body as well, the body gave him a strange feeling, he had seen many death scenes, but this one was extraordinarily different.

There was a rope attached to the chandelier with Courtney Bass hanging by the neck below, it looked like a hanging, but her feet were dangling and there was no stool below.

How did she get up there?

It stands to reason that if it was a normal hanging, one would have stepped on the stool to get up there, and then kicked it away when the neck was lassoed, and the person would have suffocated by strangulation of the neck.

Now that doesn’t fit this scenario.

There is another situation where the deceased jumped up high and grabbed the rope and yanked up hard to lasso the neck.

This situation requires a certain amount of arm strength, which is difficult for women in general.

In addition, the bed is not far away from the dresser and stool, want to move over easily, there is no need to do more.

Then there is only one possibility left, the deceased was killed, deliberately faked as a suicide by hanging.

But that’s all the more reason to put a stool in this case.

That way it could be disguised as a hanging.

Was the murderer careless?

Or was there another purpose?

There’s more to it than that.

The right side of the dead man’s chest had a blood-red patch, the bleeding was not large, like it was stabbed by a sharp blade, which was also not in line with the characteristics of suicide by hanging.

Luke’s complexion moved slightly, revealing a thoughtful look.

The survey team began to investigate the scene, put the body down, and the coroner went to work.

David and Blacky were in charge of giving the informant’s statement.

Blacky sized up the white man, “You’re the informant?”

“It’s me.” The man looked dark and his eyes were red as if he had been crying.

“What was your relationship to the deceased Courtney Bass?”

“She was my girlfriend.”

“What’s your name?”

“Peter Dexter.”

“How did you find out Courtney Bass was killed?”

“I contacted her this morning but there was no answer, so I suspected something had happened to her and rushed over to check.

I knocked on the door and called out the name and no one responded, so I just pressed the code and went in.

After that, I saw ……

It was horrible.”

David pressed, “Just because the call wasn’t answered, you thought something had happened to her? Isn’t that too sensitive?”

“The movie Vanishing Lovers might not make it to theaters, Courtney wasn’t in a very good mood, she was depressed, and I did worry that something might happen to her.

She’s put a lot into this movie, she’s been figuring out the script every day, she’s been on set day and night, and as soon as we meet, she’ll ask me to help her with her lines.

The movie meant a lot to her, and all of a sudden the movie couldn’t be released because of someone.

It was a big blow to her, she hadn’t done anything wrong and shouldn’t have to suffer such consequences.

All the hard work of filming these days has also gone down the drain.

I’m really worried that she won’t be able to think straight.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Last night.”

Black pressed, “What time?”

Peter Dexter recalled, “I came in around nine and left around twelve.”

“Wasn’t that a short time? What did you all do?”

“She was upset because of the movie.

I stayed with her, talked with her, and the two of us had a little drink to try to relax her a little.

Then …… we went to bed.” Peter Dexter added, “I was trying to make her forget her troubles for a while and be able to be a little happier.”

Black nodded, “You did the right thing, I can understand you.”

“Thanks.”

“Was she okay before you left?”

“Of course, I watched her fall asleep before I left.”

“It was so late, why didn’t you stay?”

“I wanted to. But she’s a star, and there are often paparazzi watching, and if I leave in the morning after, it’s likely to make the headlines, and neither of us wants that.

So I don’t usually stay at her house, and it’s a way of protecting her.” Speaking of this, Peter Dexter choked a little, “I really didn’t expect that she would …… If I had known this, I would have said nothing to leave.”

“Man, it’s not your fault, you’ve done a great job, no one could have guessed what was behind.” Black patted him on the shoulder.

Peter Dexter nodded, “Thanks, you’re a good man.”

Seeing that Blacky always said something worthless, David interrupted him and then inquired, “Did you notice anyone suspicious when you left Courtney’s house last night?”

“No.”

“How was her mood at the time?”

“Pretty good, just a little tired.”

“Do you think she could have killed herself?”

“I don’t really believe so, and last night, the two of us talked a lot.

I told her not to worry too much about the movie, even if she can’t make another movie in the future, I can make sure she lives a good life.

We can get married and I will always take care of her.

I have the ability to do that and can give her happiness.”

David asked, “What is your profession?”

“I’m a dentist.”

Blackie praised, “Great profession, my mom always wanted me to be a dentist. If my mom knew you, she would really like you.”

Fed up with him being full of shit, David terminated the conversation and handed Peter Dexter a business card, “Call me if you remember any leads.”

“I will.

You guys can contact me if there’s anything you need me to do.

I will do my best to assist you and catch Courtney’s killer sooner rather than later.”

After watching Peter Dexter leave, David said to Blackie, who was to the side, “Captain is wise, if I were to be partnered with you, I’d beat the hell out of you.”

Blacky leaned to the side and retorted, “Luke and I are the perfect partners.”

“BULLSHIT,” David dropped the word and returned to the scene.

In the bedroom, Luke and the others were gathered around the body.

The medical examiner, Sheila, had already completed the preliminary autopsy and introduced, “This would be the first crime scene, and the victim died between ten o’clock last night and two o’clock in the morning.

The victim had played poker before his death, and there were no obvious defense wounds.

The body had two significant injuries, a choke mark on the neck and a knife wound on the right side of the chest.”

Susan asked, “How deep was the stab wound?”

“About ten centimeters.”

“The victim was stabbed to death?”

“No. The wound is deep, but there is very little blood around it, indicating that it was a postmortem stabbing, and the incision marks fit that profile.

So, the deceased would have died by strangulation and asphyxiation of the neck.”

“Was it a suicide by hanging?”

Sheila replied, “Judging from the neck injuries, the deceased was most likely strangled by hand, and afterward created the illusion of suicide while hanging to the rope.

Also, we found some dander under the dead man’s fingernails and will try to extract DNA later.”

Jenny pressed, “If the deceased had been strangled, why did he stab himself in the chest again?”

Sheila shrugged, “That’s what you need to investigate. I’ll let you know when I have new findings.”

The lieutenant shook his head, “This is a strange scene, I’ve seen a lot of scenes faked as suicides, and while there can be some holes in them, they’re never as crude as this one.

Either the murderer thought we were stupid, or he had another agenda.”

Xiao Hei stroked his chin and guessed, “Could it be that the murderer has some kind of special heart fetish, such as a special interest in corpses. It’s like fiddling with dolls in general.”

Luke continued, “Marcus is right, the murderer did want to express some purpose with this corpse.”

Black asked rhetorically, “What do you see?”

“Remember the death scene of the double, Abu Ghra?”

Black thought for a moment, “Other than the fact that both men did ‘Vanishing Lovers’, I don’t see any similarities.”

Luke said, “What they have in common is the novel ‘The Vanishing Lovers’, they were both killed the way they died in the novel.”

“Wait.” Blackie frowned in thought, “I remember in Vanishing Lovers, the male protagonist was indeed buried alive, but the female protagonist shouldn’t be dead, didn’t she give birth to a child later? Could it be that I remembered wrong.”

Luke explained, “That’s right, that’s the altered movie script, in the original novel of Vanishing Lovers, the female lead just hanged herself.

The scene in the book is very similar to the scene, hanging under a chandelier in a muslin nightgown without stepping on anything under her feet.

It’s an open-ended ending, i.e., it could be a suicide or it could be a homicide.”

David grumbled, “Luke, elaborate on the differences between the movie script and the novel, I’ve long since forgotten all about it.”

“I’ll make it short.” Luke described, “In the movie script, the hero and heroine fall in love at first sight.

The male lead is a drug addicted rice cooker who pretends to be a high roller and cheats on her, but ends up really falling in love with the female lead.

The two quickly fall in love.

Later, the heroine suddenly disappeared and the hero desperately searched for her.

Learning that the heroine’s family was bankrupt, she chose to leave for fear of dragging him down.

The male lead was so touched that he embezzled the boss’s payment to help the female lead pay off her debt.

Upon learning of this, the boss buried him alive.

The female main character learned of this grief, wanted to commit suicide and martyrdom, but accidentally found herself pregnant, and raised the child alone.”

“The novel hero color difference is not big, mainly the female main character is more altered.

At the end of the novel’s story, it is realized that the female lead is actually a liar, and his purpose of approaching the male lead is to cheat money.

Later, the heroine learns that the hero was buried alive to help her pay off her debt.

The grief is overwhelming.

She realizes that she is truly in love with the male lead.

Guiltily, she chose to hang herself.”

The crowd was silent after hearing this.

After a long time, Susan nodded, “I prefer the novel ending.”

The vice squad nodded, “Movies are like fast food, only a few short minutes, they can’t depict the connotations that they want to express in the novel, and they can’t even express a complete worldview.”

Xiao Hei asked, “Since the heroine died by hanging at the end of the novel, why is there still a knife wound on her chest? Isn’t this just adding to the picture?”

Luke also couldn’t figure this out, if the murderer was killing according to the scene in the novel, then the heroine should have been hanged to death, and there shouldn’t be a knife wound on her chest.

If the chest was a fatal wound, then it could still be justified, maybe there was an accident during the killing process, and they had no choice but to use the knife to kill.

But that’s not actually the case. It’s the choke mark on the neck that’s the fatal wound, and the chest is a postmortem stab wound.

What was the purpose of this?

Could it be that the novel itself had missed some details?

At this time, the survey team had also completed their initial tests.

Mary removed her mask and gloves and introduced herself, “We searched the crime scene and we found the deceased’s social security card.

The deceased’s body showed signs of being dragged, the first scene would have been on the bed, after which the body was dragged under the chandelier.

We also found a dagger in the trash can in front of the deceased’s house, although no fingerprints were found on the dagger, which will be identified and compared to the deceased’s wounds later.”

Mary finished her report and the scene investigation came to an end.

But Luke always felt that something was not right.

What reason did the murderer have for stabbing the deceased? It seemed very redundant to Luke.

Luke returned to the bedroom again, ready to re-simulate the crime scene.

Luke went to the side of the bed, pretending that the deceased is still lying on the bed, and then used his hand to choke the deceased neck, the deceased grabbed his arm and begged for mercy, but was strangled by the throat could not make a sound.

With less and less force, the victim gave up struggling and stopped breathing.

Luke picked up a knife and plunged it into the dead man’s chest, then pulled it out and put it aside.

He also lifted the body under the chandelier and hoisted the dead man up with great effort.

No, Luke still felt that the knife insertion was a bit redundant and didn’t fit the scenario described in the book.

Luke scanned his surroundings and noticed that the closet next to him was open.

No one had touched this closet, it had been that way when they arrived.

Luke approached the closet to check it out and found it piled high with clothes, with only an empty space at the mouth of the closet, just enough room for one person.

Luke crouched down and took a closer look underneath the closet, there were some very shallow friction marks, no obvious footprints could be seen, but he felt like someone had stepped on them.

Luke took out his cell phone and snapped a few pictures.

He turned around and stood where the closet was, right in front of the bed ……

One more speculation crossed his mind.

Last night, there might have been someone else at the scene besides the murderer.