"Yes, Bella sometimes runs to the front or rear carriage to play. She especially likes to run to the outer corridor to get some fresh air...but I dare not let her stand there, so every time I find she is missing, I will immediately catch her."
"That platform corridor, it's true... it's not safe."
Hitzfeld nodded. "Every time you saw him afterwards, did you notice anything unusual in his behavior?"
"Anomalies mean..."
"Limping, slow turning, difficulty in moving, etc."
"No."
"Sure?"
"I'm sure of it! Because Bella once kicked the ball over and it was about to hit him on the head, but he dodged it in an instant, as agile as a cat!"
"Hmm..." Hitzfeld paused for a moment and then asked, "He never takes off his coat, right?"
"From what I saw and what Miss Mary talked to me about, that's it."
After asking a few more questions from the previous interrogation, Hitzfeld packed up his things and stood up to say goodbye.
"Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. I will try my best to compile evidence to prove your innocence."
"Thank you so much Detective! You can come over for tea when you're done. I wouldn't mind taking an extra friend with me on my trip!"
But I don’t want to go to Nanxinze again!
Hitzfeld grinned secretly, glanced at little Bella who was still lying on the bed, and had to leave the room first.
"how is the situation?"
As soon as she came out, Officer Mike came up to her impatiently.
"That's it." Hitzfeld glanced at him.
"Mike, I'm not that amazing. It's impossible for me to tell who the murderer is just by looking at them."
"And it's hard to say whether there's a murderer." Li Ang put out his second cigarette and stood up from his half-squatting position. "It was like this before I saw the body."
Mike was suddenly a little dejected. He helped them open the front door: "Come on...the body is in car 13."
Carriage No. 13 is a freight car.
It is impossible for this kind of train to carry only people in one trip, because that would not only make up for the operating costs, but also have to pay for it. Generally, more than half of the carriages are used to carry goods, and the goods in carriage No. 13 have been completely emptied.
“Originally there were a bunch of handmade items here.”
Mike introduced them.
"There is no shortage of industrial products in Xinze Parish, but there are fewer craftsmen than here... I also heard that from the crew members."
"I can guess it." Leon sneered at him and walked to a table covered with a shroud. "Is this it?"
"Obviously."
Hitzfeld also stepped forward, and several people worked together to pull the cloth away.
The platform was made of three large wooden boxes and was not very high. Yanke Tompley's body was lying on it, and they had to half-squat down to check it.
The body has basically not been moved, and it is still in the same position as in the photo.
What kind of posture is that?
He raised his right hand upwards, twisted his elbow half a circle like a twist, curled up his legs and crossed them together, with the toes of one foot pointed straight up.
Moreover, his skin was pale and his face was distorted.
No wonder many people think he died of epilepsy.
Li Ang carefully examined the exposed skin surface of the corpse and did not find any wounds that might have been left by a blowgun.
There are also no wounds from insect bites, which should be very conspicuous. Most people will have varying degrees of redness and swelling around the wound after being bitten by insects. It is impossible for the wound to be flat and invisible.
But he doesn't meet the characteristics of epilepsy, so after all the calculations, the most likely possibility is evil spirits.
This is why Sheriff Rand asked for help.
While these people were still checking the body, there was a commotion outside.
"what happened?"
Mike called out to a colleague who was running by.
"What a waste of effort!" the man complained.
"The room above the Soaring Bird Hotel—"
“No one lives there!”
Chapter 8 Empty Box
When Hitzfeld, Leon, and Mike arrived at Room 502 of the Tengniao Hotel, they felt relieved.
It's because the air here is really bad.
The fact that Tengniao Hotel can rent rooms on the fifth floor tells us it is quite large, and further tells us that its owner is very powerful in this area - but there is a reason why the crew members were not accommodated here, this damn place welcomes all tenants.
No matter who you are, a noble, a wanderer, a mercenary, a gangster, or a newly released criminal, as long as you can afford at least 88 Becks per night, you can get a temporary private space here.
However, for ordinary people, living here is still not a good idea. Although it is absolutely safe in this private space and no one dares to break into the room, no one cares what happens after leaving the room.
So you can imagine how bad the environment here is... Along the way, they saw countless drunkards playing finger-guessing games on the first floor, a group of gamblers playing cards on the second floor, and even heard obscene sounds coming from nowhere while walking in the corridor. The air was filled with a strange smell mixed with stench, alcohol, delicious food, and an indescribable weird smell.
The air quality only became completely new when you went up to the fifth floor. This was because the windows in the corridor on the fifth floor were opened, which provided ventilation and dispelled a lot of the smell.
Sheriff Rand was standing in the bathroom of Room 502 at this time. Standing at the door of the bathroom was a half-bald fat man with a beard and deep eye sockets. He was constantly gesturing something to Sheriff Rand.
Hitzfeld moved closer and vaguely heard his voice.
"You have to believe us, Sheriff! This house has really been uninhabited for a long time!"
"How do I know he didn't just run away when he saw someone coming up to cause trouble?"
"You can go and look at the bedding! It's definitely covered with a layer of dust! How can a room that is always occupied look like this?"
"So you're proud of your hygiene?"
"This one……"
Sheriff Rand had been timid in front of Xia Yibing before, but he was not afraid of this kind of person at all.
This scene was a little novel to Hitzfeld. Although she knew that he couldn't just smile to become sheriff, when she really saw Ayn Rand's other face, she still felt that he was very spirited.
"Hitzfeld, and Agent Cornerell." Sheriff Rand heard footsteps in the corridor, stuck his head out and saw three people outside, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.
"Has Mike taken you to look for the person? Have you seen the body? What about Miss Mary?"
"I've basically seen everything I need to see. I haven't looked closely at the body, and I haven't been to Miss Mary yet." Hitzfeld answered for Mike, "I don't have any tools at hand right now, so it's useless to look at more bodies."
"Your tools are--"
"The Sheriff should know my other profession."
"You mean the same as the lady...I understand!"
"When preparing the remains of a corpse, in order to prevent hidden injuries from being invisible and causing accidents during the ceremony, we have a kind of ointment that can show the marks after applying it all over the body."
"Really?" Sheriff Rand's eyes widened. "There is such a thing... So you are sure that he has external injuries? In other words... it's not that?"
That refers to evil spirits.
This is a public place now, and the walls of this damn place are not soundproof at all. He was afraid that if he told others about it, there would be trouble nearby.
"I don't have any reaction from that part, so it shouldn't be that." The girl shook her head, "That ointment is also a relatively basic spirit material. If it is that, it will also react at the same time."
“How long will it take to get this done?”
"No need to do that. I have the finished product at home. I'll just find a car to go back and get it later."
"Let Mike take you there?"
"Ahem... don't bother yourself with that." Li Ang covered his mouth and said, "Just ask Brother Mike to pick her up now - there's a person and a dog at her home! We can get the things after we explain the situation, why make another trip?"
When did I become your brother?
Mike stared with his young eyes, shock and confusion in them.
"Mike, are you still standing here and want to stay in the hotel?"
"Ah... I'll go now..."
The young police officer ran downstairs. Sheriff Rand turned back to the girl with satisfaction and said half jokingly and half complainingly, "If I had known it would be useful, I should have brought it with me when I came..."
"I used up the one I mixed myself a while ago," Hitzfeld said calmly, "and that half a can was left by my wife."
As soon as these words came out, the sheriff's smile slowly disappeared.
"Oh... I'm so sorry..."
"It's all in the past, Sheriff." Hitzfeld smiled at him. "We should move on."
Without waiting for a response, she walked straight past the bathroom door and into the bedroom of 502.
This place is a mess.
It's not just ordinary chaos.
The wooden floor under my feet was already covered with dust, and there were countless footprints left by police officers. There were six pieces of furniture on the floor: a bed, a bedside table, a wardrobe, a clothes hanger, a desk, and a wooden chair. There was also an elegant painting hanging on the wall.
However, the content of the painting is so disgusting that it is set against a dark background, with a vaguely recognizable topless woman fetching water from the lake.
The artist's basic skills are extremely poor, and he even fails to pass the level of shape. But he must be talented, otherwise his coloring skills would not be able to present this picture at all.
Hitzfeld turned his gaze away from the painting, walked to the bed, and reached out his hand to touch the bedding.
When I lifted my head, I saw that the black silk gloves were covered in dust.
I checked the other furniture one by one, and they were all covered with dust like the bedding.
No one has cleaned this place for at least half a year.
"Is the room on the fifth floor unoccupied?"
She suddenly turned around and stared at the bearded man who had followed her in.
The bearded man's expression changed from time to time, sometimes he was smiling, sometimes he looked constipated.
"A real detective." Leon kicked him from the side.
"Rand-Ann is here to help her endorse the book. Why are you hesitating?"
"Then I'll tell you straight away." The bearded man swallowed his saliva, "Room 502 is the only one that's unoccupied. The other rooms are all normal."
"Why is there no one living here?" the girl asked again.
"Because something happened here." Sheriff Rand also walked in, his voice sounding a little lazy, "If a room in the hotel has been unoccupied for a long time, it basically means something happened."
"Am I right, Boris?"
"This one……"
The bearded man whom he called Boris was confused again, but finally nodded after examining him: "Yes, a nightmare attacked this place and ate both tenants. The stench left behind took a long time to dissipate."
"Then what do these things mean?" Hitzfeld pointed.
The others looked in the direction and saw two old suitcases huddled in the corner.
"I don't understand..." The bearded man blinked, "Isn't that what they left behind..."
Then he quickly shut up the next second - the gray-haired girl walked over and moved the outermost box away, revealing a few inches of floor in the corner, and then she wiped a line on the floor with her shoe.
A scratch mark appeared there where dust was wiped off, from which it was clear that there was a lot of dust there, just like on the outside.
"Has anyone lived here?"
Sheriff Rand widened his eyes and turned to glare at the bearded man.
"Boris, you dare to lie to me?"
"I didn't!" The bearded man put his hands in front of his chest and waved them. "I didn't lie to you, Sheriff! No one has been here for a long time! Really! It's been at least a month!"
"So someone lived here a month ago?" Li Ang pressed.
"Yes! But he didn't stay at the hotel! He rented a room, came up to take a look, and then left!"
"Why did he leave?" Li Ang asked again.
