Chapter 115

Luke entered the crime scene, surrounded by a lot of photographic equipment, and a makeshift cabin on the east side.

There was a large pit in the center, at the bottom of which was half buried a male body, pale, with dark red blood faintly visible at the neck.

“Marcus, go get the informant.” Luke took out his cell phone to take pictures of the large pit and the surrounding scene.

Soon, a white man was brought over and Luke sized up the other man, “What’s your name?”

“I’m the assistant director of this movie, Crapo Hino, and the person who reported the crime.”

“How did you find this body?”

“Huffing and puffing …… ” Crapo Hino sighed: “In the morning I came to the set to make my rounds, checking the props for today’s filming, and found that the big pit to be used for filming was filled in, so I let the people dig out the big pit.

Who knows …… dug out a corpse. I was standing on the side, almost scared silly.”

“Did you recognize the man in the pit?”

“Yes, Lucas Souster, the star of this movie, he just shot the scene of being buried alive last night, and I didn’t expect ……

It’s really hard to believe that this movie is screwed up, we’re done.”

Luke pointed to a log cabin off to the side, “What’s that house for?”

Crapoux-Hino replied, “A backdrop for filming, it will also be used as a temporary rest and dressing room for the actors.”

Luke walked into the cabin to check it out, wooden tables, wooden chairs, wooden beds, everything was made of uncut round wood.

Kind of similar to the cabins Luke had seen in the wilderness solitude.

Only a couple of tin boxes belonged to modern crafts.

“Luke, I’ve got something on my side.” Blackie’s voice rang out from outside.

Luke walked over, “What is it?”

Blacky pointed to the corner of the large pit.

Luke fixed his eyes on it, there was a shiny object at the position of the dead body’s calf, half buried by the dirt, like a lady’s bracelet.

Luke took a few pictures, put on his gloves, and got down on the ground to pick the bracelet up from the pit.

A very fine ladies diamond bracelet.

“Wow wow, this shiny stuff doesn’t look cheap.” Blackie exclaimed.

Luke took a closer look at what must have been a silver or white gold chain with some broken diamonds.

The crushed diamonds weren’t worth much, but they were hyped up by the diamond dealers, he wasn’t sure about the branding and production premiums, not being very good at ladies jewelry.

Luke held up the diamond bracelet for the assistant director to see, “Do you know whose bracelet this is?”

The assistant director, Crapoux-Hino, flickered his eyes and hesitated for a moment, “Not really sure.”

“It’s not a good habit to lie to the police.”

“I really don’t know.”

Luke took out a pen and a notepad the size of a cigarette box and wrote down Crapo-Hino’s name.

Crapo-Hino glanced at it and panicked, “WHY? Why did you write my name?”

“You know why.” Although Luke knew the other man might not be telling the truth, he had no proof.

Crapo-Hino opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn’t say anything else.

Then, the survey team and the forensic scientist came to the scene.

The survey team first examined the surrounding scene and took photos, and then assisted the coroner in getting the body out of the big pit.

Luke was also able to get a clearer view of the body.

The man’s buried body was already stained with blood, with bruises on his forehead and left cheek, his hands were bound, and there was a dagger sticking out of the back of his neck with what looked like a fatal wound.

Blackie also came over to take a look, “Why does he have bruises on his forehead and left cheek, and no bruises on his right cheek.”

Luke analyzed smoothly, “The deceased should have tried to resist before he was buried in the big pit, however, his hands were tied and he was unable to form an effective resistance.

My personal feeling is that he most likely used his teeth as an attack weapon, with defense wounds on his forehead and left cheek.”

Luke did a test by having Blackie bite himself with his hands behind his back, Luke blocked it with his left hand and Blackie bit him sideways on his left arm.

He used the pen as a dagger, first instinctively smashing his forehead and left cheek with the end of the dagger, and finally plunging the tip of the dagger into the back of his neck.

Luke reverses the crime sequence based on the dead man’s wounds.

It could also be a simulation of the crime sequence.

Of course, this process could not be completely accurate, but it could roughly surmise how the murderer and the victim behaved.

Blackie said, “If you speculate correctly that the deceased had bitten the murderer during his lifetime, then the murderer’s DNA might be able to be collected from his mouth.”

Luke added, “According to this speculation, the deceased might have also left teeth marks on the murderer.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that the deceased didn’t resist, but just knelt there and took a beating before being stabbed to death, which would make it difficult to leave valid evidence.”

While the two were talking, Susan brought the men over and asked, “Have you found anything?”

“Yes.” Luke briefly described the scene and his analysis.

Finally, he added, “We also found a diamond bracelet in the pit.”

Susan picked it up and looked at it, “This brand isn’t cheap, any idea who it belongs to?”

“Not sure yet, just getting ready to investigate.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Luke looked to the side of Crapoux Xino, “Assistant director, help gather the people together, I want to ask them one by one, so many people on the scene should always know.”

The assistant director frowned, “I don’t think it’s a good idea if this is likely to cause chaos in the crew.”

Luke shrugged, “That’s not something I have to think about, my goal is to find the owner of the bracelet.”

“OK, I’ll tell you what, Courtney Bass, I’ve seen her wearing this diamond bracelet.”

“She was on the set?”

“Yes, she’s the lead actress in this movie.”

“What’s the name of the movie?”

“Vanishing Lovers.”

Luke pointed to the dagger on the dead man’s neck again, “Do you recognize that dagger?”

“Yes.” The assistant director sighed softly, “If I’m not wrong, it should be a shooting prop for the crew.”

Luke thought of something and asked, “I remember you said before that last night, Lucas filmed a similar scene, I want to see what was filmed.”

“I can’t make the call on that, I’ll have to ask the producer and director?”

“Wait for your good news.” Luke finished and let the assistant director leave.

He took Blackie along to find the movie’s leading lady, Courtney Bass.

On the way, Blackie kept drumming on his phone and said, “Luke, I looked up the movie.

The male lead, Lucas, and the female lead, Courtney, well …… the female lead has a pretty hot body.

I like it.”

Luke laughed, “Is there a chick you don’t like?”

“I like it, and so do the dead.”

“What do you mean?”

“The internet says these two got together over a movie, that’s why I like the entertainment industry, hehehe.” Blacky said with a cheap grin.

Luke shook his head, “You picked the wrong career.”

Soon, the two found the lead actress, Courtney Bass.

Courtney Bass was a bit of a South American hybrid, with a fuller figure, a type that Blacky liked.

Blackie’s eyes were always dripping towards her.

“You are Ms. Courtney Bass?”

“Yes I am.”

“I’m Detective Luke, may I have a word with you?”

Courtney Bass asked back, “Is it true that Lucas is dead?”

“I heard you two were pretty close, didn’t you go over there to check it out?”

“The police were on lockdown when I got there, couldn’t get through. It was a horrible thing to have to do. I can’t believe the movie actually came true.”

“You were at the movie shoot last night?”

“Yes.”

“How’s Lucas’ condition, anything unusual?”

“Quite well, he was very committed to filming and his acting was great, highly praised by the director.”

Black asked, “Ms. Courtney Bass, I’m Detective Marcus.

I read online that you and Lucas are dating, is that true?”

“No, that’s all online nonsense, we just have a normal coworker relationship, and besides, Lucas is married. Those rumors not only hurt us, but also her wife.”

Luke pulled out the picture of the diamond bracelet, “Is this bracelet yours?”

Courtney Bass took it and looked at it, “Yes, I lost it yesterday, where did you find it?”

“On Lucas.”

Courtney Bass shuddered at the words and the picture dropped to the floor.

Luke had been watching her and saw that the reaction was fairly normal, like he’d just learned the news.

But thinking about her profession, he couldn’t rule out the fact that she was a good actress.

“Are you telling the truth?” Courtney Bass looked incredulous.

“I never lie.”

“Why would my bracelet be on him?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you, remember carefully when you lost the bracelet and where you lost it.”

Courtney Bass recalled for a moment, “I haven’t seen it since yesterday after filming, I probably lost it somewhere, and by the way, I did my makeup at the cabin, so I might have lost it there too.”

“How much is this bracelet worth?”

“Twenty thousand dollars.”

Luke pressed, “Why didn’t the killer take such an expensive bracelet, choosing instead to bury it in the dirt with Lucas?”

“I don’t know.” Courtney Bass finished and reacted, “You don’t suspect me, do you?”

“You don’t have to think much of it, I’m just making a routine inquiry to learn more about the clues.” Luke finished, carefully sizing up Courtney Bass, “Have you been injured recently?”

Courtney Bass shook her head, “No, can I have my bracelet back?”

“Not for now, it belongs in evidence now.”

Courtney Bass blushed slightly, “You guys don’t still suspect me, do you.

Lucas and I really have nothing to do with each other, I’ll admit that we’ve had a few scandals, but they were all just to hype up the heat for the movie’s release.

I have absolutely nothing to do with him.”

“How long have you been filming together?”

“Four months.”

“That’s not a short time, you guys should have some idea if Lucas has been in trouble lately? Or any accidents?”

Courtney Bass thought for a moment, “There’s something I don’t know if I should say.

The movie actually didn’t have to take this long to shoot, but it was delayed because Lucas was injured.”

“When and how did he get hurt?”

“He was hit by a car and the situation was critical, if he had been hurt any worse he probably wouldn’t have been able to shoot. The crew would definitely have to replace him.

I am innocent.

Instead of suspecting me, you guys should look into this matter.”