Yu Hanjiang had seen all sorts of crime scenes, but this one was inexplicably eerie—the bathtub was filled with ice, and a woman in pajamas lay in the middle of the ice, her face filled with terror. Her eyes were wide open, clearly indicating that she was extremely shocked before she died.
This time, the locked room was set in a modern city. In addition, Yu Hanjiang was a Criminal Police Officer, so he brought a lot of tools with him when he came to investigate the case. He put on white gloves and whispered in Xiao Lou's ear, "You perform the autopsy first, and I will collect some evidence at the scene."
Xiao Lou nodded and put on sterile gloves to begin her work.
Yu Hanjiang stepped out of the bathroom, his gaze quickly sweeping over the scene—a two-meter-wide double bed, the sheets neatly made without a single crease, while the woman was wearing pajamas. Perhaps she had changed into her pajamas after entering the bedroom and was murdered while showering, before she even had a chance to go to bed. Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that the murderer deliberately made the sheets neatly.
Yu Hanjiang walked over and lifted the bed sheet. He found no suspicious traces. He picked up a strand of hair from the pillow with tweezers and put it into a sterile bag, preparing to take it back for testing.
Beside the bed was a dressing table about 1.5 meters wide, piled high with skincare products, including dozens of lipsticks. There was also a fashion magazine on the table with a model in a dress on the cover. Upon closer inspection, Yu Hanjiang realized that the model was the deceased herself.
The fact that the deceased was featured on a magazine cover suggests that he was a model or a celebrity.
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly and used the equipment he carried to collect fingerprints and bloodstains inside the room.
The urban setting was convenient; he could use various professional instruments to assist in the evidence collection... But to his disappointment, only the area around the dressing table in the entire bedroom had a large number of fingerprints, which, according to his deduction, were likely the deceased's own.
Several cotton pads were found in the trash can next to the dressing table, with traces of lipstick and foundation on them, indicating that the deceased must have sat there to remove her makeup before taking a shower.
There was no blood reaction throughout the house, except for bloodstains in the bathroom. The killer was very professional, possibly wearing gloves during the crime, leaving no fingerprints, and cleaning up the scene after killing her.
Yu Hanjiang walked to the window.
The windows were locked from the inside, and the curtains were drawn. There were very few residents around the villa, and the bedroom had thick blackout curtains, so even if someone had passed by downstairs at the time of the incident, they wouldn't have seen what happened in the bedroom, making it very difficult to find witnesses.
After quickly surveying the scene, Yu Hanjiang went out and walked around every corner of the villa.
He wanted to look for any remaining hair or fingerprints, and found many fingerprints in the living room. Yu Hanjiang collected them and prepared to take them back for comparison and analysis.
In addition, his two assistants who searched the living room and kitchen also reported some useful clues: " Captain Yu, we found seven or eight empty wine bottles in the kitchen trash can."
Yu Hanjiang glanced at it and nodded, saying, "Take it back for testing."
He also saw traces of red wine on the sofa, which must have been spilled accidentally by someone while drinking.
The living room was very clean. Yu Hanjiang's sharp eyes swept around. A policewoman was taking pictures at the scene. He took the camera from the policewoman and photographed several suspicious corners as well.
After searching the entire villa, Yu Hanjiang returned to the crime scene on the third floor.
Xiao Lou was bending over to examine the body. His case contained many instruments used by forensic doctors. When Captain Yu entered, Xiao Lou lowered his voice and said, "The fatal wound was the stab wound to the heart. The other wounds were also very deep. The murderer must have hated her very much and cruelly tortured her before she died. Because the body was frozen in ice, it is difficult for me to determine the exact time of her death."
Typically, an autopsy requires testing liver temperature and determining the time of death based on the stiffness of the body's muscles and the appearance of livor mortis.
However, the deceased is now frozen in the middle of ice, and the air conditioning in the room is very cold. The liver temperature is greatly affected, so measuring the liver temperature is useless. The degree of muscle stiffness cannot be accurately determined because of the ice.
Yu Hanjiang nodded in understanding: "Yes, the murderer must have done it on purpose, trying to confuse the time of her death."
Xiao Lou said, "Judging from the appearance of livor mortis, it is preliminarily estimated that she died more than three days ago. To find out the exact time, I need to take the body back for a detailed autopsy."
Xiao Lou took a transparent sterile bag out of his suitcase and said, "Also, I found this."
Yu Hanjiang took the bag and saw a small piece of unidentified substance inside. Xiao Lou explained, "There are a few skin fragments under her fingernails, which may have been from scratching the murderer during the struggle. Taking it back for genetic testing may help in solving the case."
Xiao Lou was indeed a professional; he examined the body very carefully, not overlooking even the smallest clues.
Yu Hanjiang frowned as he looked at the body in the bathtub: "Don't you think something's off about the scene?"
Xiao Lou also noticed this, and said in unison, "Something is definitely wrong. Although she has many cuts on her body, the scene is not bloody at all. It must have been cleaned up. There are no obvious bloodstains on the walls or the surrounding floor. The ice made her blood freeze quickly, and there wasn't much blood in the bathtub either."
At this point, Xiao Lou couldn't help but wonder, "Where did all these ice blocks come from?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "I checked the refrigerator. This villa shouldn't be where the deceased usually lived. The refrigerator..."
There was only some beer and carbonated drinks inside; no food, and no ice in the freezer. Clearly, the ice was deliberately brought in by the killer.
Xiao Lou pondered, "It seems the murderer planned this for a long time, specifically bringing ice to kill?"
Yu Hanjiang thought for a moment, then whispered in his ear, "We need to confirm the identity of the deceased and what happened in the last few days. Go back and get the evidence to the identification center for testing. I'll go and visit some residents in the surrounding area to see if there are any witnesses."
Xiao Lou nodded: "Okay."
The two exchanged a glance and went downstairs in tacit agreement.
The bathroom was located in the master bedroom on the third floor of the villa. The small window in the bathroom was not locked. If it weren't for the cat next door suddenly climbing in through the window, this woman might not have been discovered even a month after she died in the villa.
The murderer froze her body with ice, deliberately set the air conditioner in the house to a very low temperature to obscure the time of her death, and didn't want her body to be discovered by the neighbors...
The murderer was extremely calm.
Unfortunately, he overlooked something: the bathroom window was closed but not locked.
He never imagined that his neighbor's cat would ruin his plans.
When Yu Hanjiang arrived at the villa's entrance, Xiao Wu, the trainee police officer accompanying him, was chatting with the elderly woman who had filed the report. Yu Hanjiang walked over and asked, "Auntie, do you know who lives in this villa?"
The old lady shook her head: "I don't know. My son and daughter-in-law and I have lived here for a year, and we've never seen anyone from next door come back. Their curtains are always drawn. I thought this villa was uninhabited..."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "About three or four days ago, did you hear any unusual noises?"
The old lady thought about it carefully and suddenly said, "Oh right, last Tuesday a car passed by downstairs and stopped next door. At that time, I was going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, around two or three o'clock, when I heard a noise downstairs. I opened the curtains and took a look. It was two private cars."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Do you remember the license plate number?"
The old lady smiled apologetically: "Well, I'm old and my memory isn't good. Besides, it was the middle of the night, and the car was driving very fast. I didn't see clearly. I only saw that it was a black private car, driving into the neighbor's yard one after the other. I didn't see anything else."
There is a yard in front of the villa, and there is a garage inside.
The old lady's villa was next to the one next door. In addition, the villa area had a private garden and many trees between the two villas, so she could not see the gate of the neighboring house from the window. Therefore, she could not see who got out of the car.
The old lady provided limited clues, so Yu Hanjiang nodded to her and called Xiao Wu to go find the community security guard.
Just now, when the police car drove into the villa area, Yu Hanjiang showed his police ID, saying he was investigating a case, and several security guards immediately followed nervously. Now, upon hearing that someone had died in the community, the security guards' expressions turned grim.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Take me to the monitoring room."
The security captain immediately cooperated and led the way.
Yu Hanjiang and intern Xiao Wu went to the security room together.
Security in luxury villa areas is naturally very good; outsiders generally cannot enter unless they are residents of the villa area.
At that moment, a handsome man in a police uniform walked in with a serious expression. The security guards left in the monitoring room were all filled with apprehension. "Officer, what... what happened?"
Yu Hanjiang calmly said, "Get me all the surveillance footage from the past week near Villa 191 in Zone C. Also, get the vehicle records for entering and leaving the community after midnight last Tuesday."
Several security guards immediately scrambled to retrieve the surveillance footage on the computer.
Yu Hanjiang stood to the side with his arms crossed, looking serious.
The security guards didn't dare to say anything out of turn. After pulling up the footage, they respectfully said, "Officer, that's all the surveillance footage we have."
Yu Hanjiang walked over and looked at the screen carefully. He noticed that the area along the road in front of the villa was black. Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly: "Is the camera here broken?"
The security guards looked embarrassed: "This..."
The villa complex is too large, and even if one or two cameras are broken in some places, they don't check them carefully.
Seeing that they were stammering and couldn't give a coherent explanation, Yu Hanjiang ignored the surveillance footage and said, "I just saw that your community has installed license plate recognition devices and electric barriers at the entrance. There should be records of vehicles entering and exiting, right?"
The security captain immediately nodded and said, "Yes, yes."
Yu Hanjiang asked, "Do vehicles that are not owned by residents need to register before entering the community?"
The security captain said, "Yes, outside vehicles are not allowed to enter our community. However, if a resident is visiting, they can register the reason for their visit at the security office at the entrance and then drive into the community for temporary parking."
Yu Hanjiang walked to the computer next to him to check the vehicle entry and exit information at the entrance.
This community is, after all, a high-end villa area with a very low population density, with no more than one hundred households. After midnight last Tuesday, there were not many vehicles entering and leaving the community. Moreover, the clues provided by the old lady were very clear, and Yu Hanjiang quickly found two black private cars that drove into the community one after the other.
To his surprise, both cars were authorized by electronic identification devices and drove directly into the community without registration.
He quickly noted down the license plate numbers: Bin A-6K502 and Bin A-6K501. They were consecutive numbers. Yu Hanjiang realized what was happening and asked, "Are these two cars belonging to residents of the community?"
The security guard said, "When guests check in, they register their license plate numbers with the property management. There are many wealthy people in our community; some families own three or four cars."
It's very common. If it were an outside vehicle, it wouldn't be recognized and would be stopped. These two cars were able to drive directly into the community, so they must be registered vehicles belonging to residents of our community.
Since the vehicle was not intercepted, it was impossible to see who was inside from the surveillance footage.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Call the property management and check the license plates of these two cars, as well as the resident information of villa No. 191 in Zone C."
The security guard immediately took out his phone and inquired with the property management center. A moment later, he replied, "Resident, and the names of these two cars are both registered as Lin Yiyan."
At this point, the security guard paused slightly, "This name sounds familiar?"
A young man standing nearby had his eyes light up and said, "She looks like a celebrity... I remember now, isn't that Lin Yiyan, the award-winning actress who just won a film award? My girlfriend is a fan of hers!"
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly—a celebrity? This woman's cause of death seems to be more complicated than it appears.
After reviewing the surveillance footage, Yu Hanjiang, along with security guards, visited several buildings near No. 191 in Zone C to see if the neighbors had made any discoveries. Unfortunately, after investigating, they did not obtain any useful clues. Several houses were unoccupied, and the few residents they did find said they were not familiar with the residents of villa No. 191 and had never seen them before.
Celebrities need to avoid paparazzi, so their residences are usually very secluded, and they are fully armed to avoid being seen when entering and leaving their communities, which makes it extremely difficult to investigate cases.
Having exhausted all leads within the residential area, Yu Hanjiang had no choice but to order his men to "call it a day."
The police car sped away with its siren blaring.
Yu Hanjiang sat in the car, using his phone to search for information about Lin Yiyan online.
Lin Yiyan, a signed star of Starlight Entertainment Company, has been in the industry for many years and has achieved great fame, boasting over 100 million followers on her personal Weibo account. Although she is thirty years old this year, she maintains a remarkably youthful appearance. She possesses a dignified and elegant look, superb acting skills, and a wide range of roles, earning her numerous domestic and international film and television awards, making her a currently popular actress in the entertainment industry.
Her last Weibo post was published a week ago: "The new drama 'Red Dust' has successfully wrapped up filming. This filming took more than a month. Thank you Director Zhang and the crew for their help and care. Thank you all for your hard work."
There are over 100,000 comments below, all from fans saying things like "Goddess is so beautiful" and "Go Goddess, keep going!"
Yu Hanjiang searched for some keywords on her Weibo.
The drama she just finished filming, "Red Dust," is a historical drama with a strong female lead. She plays a princess of a fallen kingdom who rises against all odds to restore her country, and in the process, she also has some romantic entanglements with the male lead, the second male lead, and the third male lead. There are many behind-the-scenes photos on her Weibo. It's clear that celebrities' Weibo accounts are managed by their managers, and the photos are mostly candid shots taken during filming, which are very beautifully edited.
Nothing seems amiss on Weibo.
Her last Weibo post said that her new drama had finished filming, which seemed normal. No one would have thought that she would suddenly die tragically at home.
Yu Hanjiang stroked his chin and pondered for a moment before saying to Xiao Wu, "After we get back, contact Lin Yiyan's agency immediately and investigate her social connections. This case may involve a lot of people."
The power struggles behind a celebrity are incredibly complex, involving investors, directors, other celebrities in the industry, fans, managers, assistants, and so on. Who has she offended? Who does she have a deep-seated grudge against? Who has the strongest motive to kill her?
Unraveling the clues step by step is no easy task.
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