Chapter 422: Screams in the Song
Upon entering the room, Chen Shi turned on all the lights. He inspected the area around the bloodstains and said, “This blood didn’t splatter; it seeped out. There are drag marks on the floor. The body must have been moved here from somewhere else.”
“They didn’t even bother to clean up the blood?” Lin Dongxue asked.
“Maybe they didn’t think it was necessary since the body was left here.”
“The bedroom has been searched.”
“Let’s see what’s missing.”
Chen Shi went to the bedroom and found a computer on the desk. He checked the tower and found that the dust had been wiped off. He lifted it to gauge its weight and tried to turn it on, but it wouldn’t power up.
“The hard drive has been removed. It might have contained chat logs or other evidence.”
“But when Xiaodong and I were here earlier, we were lucky to meet one of Ling Shuangshuang’s friends. We got some chat logs from her.”
“Let me see.”
Chen Shi took Lin Dongxue’s phone and looked at the chat logs and the photo. The photo didn’t show Luo Zuyu’s face, but from the car interior and parking lot background, they could infer the type of car.
“This is valuable evidence.”
Chen Shi found several power cords of different models in one of the drawers, but only a computer with a missing hard drive and a digital camera were present in the room.
“I suspect they took Ling Shuangshuang’s tablet or laptop to prevent any evidence from being found. Very cautious.”
“How did this fan get in touch with Luo Zuyu?” Chen Shi mused.
“Maybe through Weibo messages or by writing her number on the flowers. According to her friend, Ling Shuangshuang handed him the flowers at the airport.”
“Reach out to Weibo’s administrators to see if they can retrieve her chat logs.”
“Got it.”
They moved to the bathroom. Chen Shi put on gloves and squatted down to examine the scene. “The body has been washed. There’s an injury on the back of the head… Some scratches on the body but no redness, so these were post-mortem, likely from being moved.”
He carefully checked the bones for fractures, then examined the livor mortis and pupils. “The pupils are fully clouded, and the lens is adhered. The livor mortis does not blanch under pressure, and there’s a large area of merged livor mortis on the back from being moved. I can estimate the time of death to be over two days, but for a precise time, we need Peng Team Leader to check.”
He then fished out hair and fibers from the drain, preserving them as evidence.
“Did you confirm her identity?” Chen Shi asked.
“Not yet, but I suspect she’s the missing cleaning lady.”
“Take a photo.”
Chen Shi brushed the hair from the deceased’s face and propped up the head for Lin Dongxue to photograph. In the dim, cramped bathroom, handling the corpse made Lin Dongxue nervous. The horror movie scenarios played in her mind, making her hands shake as she took several tries to get a clear photo.
Chen Shi reassured her, “Being afraid of corpses is a good thing. It shows you respect death.”
“Why aren’t you scared?”
“I am. I couldn’t stay alone with a corpse.”
The body was ghostly pale, even the lips devoid of color. Lin Dongxue felt a pang of sorrow. “She was definitely killed to silence her. What a tragic end.”
“Yes, and we’ll get justice for her. Go grab a body bag from the car so we can move her.”
Not wanting to leave Chen Shi alone, Lin Dongxue quickly fetched the bag. They carefully placed the body inside and carried it to the car. Afterward, they stopped by the property management office to retrieve surveillance footage from recent days. Lacking the manpower and time to conduct extensive searches, they left.
Chen Shi instructed Lin Dongxue to confirm the identity at the hotel while he took the body back to the station.
Peng Sijue was busy when he saw the body. “I can’t help right now. I’ve got other work. You know there’s a major case ongoing.”
“I wasn’t counting on you. Just keep the body here for now.”
“Wait…” Peng Sijue called a colleague over. “Xiao Zhou, do a preliminary examination on this body and give the report to Old Chen.”
Chen Shi noticed Peng Sijue in his scrubs, bloodstained, and saw two bodies in the forensic lab awaiting autopsy. “Who are they?”
“Members of a gang killed last night. Shot dead. We’ve found the first gun. The killer really did mail the guns to random strangers.”
“You guys must be exhausted. I’ll wrap up my case quickly and come help.”
Just then, Lin Dongxue returned. She had confirmed the victim’s identity at the hotel as the missing cleaning lady. Chen Shi said, “With Peng Sijue tied up with the gun case, we can’t revisit the crime scene with him. We need to find evidence as quickly as possible.”
“What’s the fastest way?”
Chen Shi paced, thinking aloud. “We know they’re lying collectively. Who do you think is the weakest link?”
“Luo Zuyu himself. He’s easily angered and immature.”
“I thought so too, but he’s hard to reach. I think we should target the actress.”
“Should we go now?”
“It’s too late. Tomorrow.”
Xu Xiaodong rushed in. “Hey, everyone’s here. Listen to this.”
He plugged a USB into the computer. It contained an unrecognized file and an installer. After installing the audio analysis software, he loaded the file. “This is the unreleased song. The tech guys extracted the audio tracks. I don’t understand the details, but we can listen now.”
On the screen, several audio tracks appeared as waveforms. Xu Xiaodong played one, and they heard a woman’s scream.
Despite expecting it, Chen Shi was still shocked to hear it. “Play it again.”
Xu Xiaodong replayed the scream multiple times. Chen Shi said, “There’s a sharp echo. It was recorded in a smooth, enclosed space.”
“That would be the bathroom… He really included the victim’s scream in the new song. That’s insane,” Lin Dongxue said, horrified.
“Play the whole song.”
Xu Xiaodong played the entire track. The scream was well hidden in the mix, making it hard to notice. The background was filled with strange noises that blended naturally with the music.
Chen Shi said, “If this scream belongs to Ling Shuangshuang, it’s irrefutable evidence against Luo Zuyu.”