S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 2 Chapter 96

Love Murderer 03 – Unknown Motive

---

Bai Yutang and Zhan Zhao brought the SCI team to the Garden Villa District of S City. They saw that police officers had already set up the cordon, and that there were many residents standing around it, watching the excitement.

Everyone walked into the villa. Bai Yutang saw Ma Xin, who had arrived first, and smiled, “Ma Xin, not bad, you can already go out on your own.”

Ma Xin proudly shook the work ID on her chest, “Bao Sir said that my performance in the previous case was good. Earlier today, Gongsun helped me sign the approval forms allowing me to go out into the field. I am not an intern anymore, I’m a forensic ~ pathologist ~”

Zhao Hu stared at her and said to Ma Han, “Brother Ma, look at what this girl can do. Every girl loves flowers and plants, but your sister doesn’t like living things.”

Ma Han shook his head and asked Ma Xin, “Did you arrive first? What is the situation?”

“En.” Ma Xin put away her smile and handed an evidence bag to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, “This was found at the scene. The deceased was a man in his thirties. He was shot in the heart and killed. He was shot at close range and died within the last two hours.”

Zhan Zhao took the evidence bag and looked at Bai Yutang. Bai Yutang frowned, as he saw that it was a white card with a red lip mark.

“Who found the body?” Bai Yutang asked.

“They’re over there.” Ma Xin pointed to a beautiful woman in a blue velvet skirt, and whispered to the group, “It was a little girl.”

Bai Yutang motioned for Ma Han to go over and ask. Ma Han walked over and asked her about the discovery of the body.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked into the room to check the condition of the body.

The houses in the Garden Villa District are located in the center of the city and are all high-end villas. Most of the people who live there are either rich or noble. Bai Yutang asked about the identity of this person; the deceased was Su Mao, a famous fashion designer.

“Captain.” Ma Han returned and said, “The woman at the door is Liu Xiaoyi, Su Mao’s girlfriend. She has the key to Su Mao’s house. She had an appointment to come over… she opened the door and saw him dead.”

Bai Yutang nodded and asked Zhan Zhao, “Cat, how is it?”

At that time, Zhan Zhao was looking around the room, smiling, “There are so many different styles of clothes in his closet… and all of them are women’s clothing.”

Everyone walked over and took a look, and they saw many gorgeous women’s dresses.

“Isn’t he a fashion designer? These should be his works.”

“Captain.” Zhao Hu opened a large drawer and called Bai Yutang over to take a look.

Bai Yutang and everyone else walked over and saw dozens of photos in the drawer. When Bai Yutang picked them up, he frowned, as the photos were of the designer being intimate with different women.

Ma Xin held her phone and ran into the room, “Captain, I asked Jiayi about him. She said that Su Mao is a famous pervert in the fashion circle who wants to take advantage of the beautiful women he sees.”

“It’s another public enemy to females.” Zhan Zhao sighed, “Nothing in the room has been destroyed. It seems that the murderer killed him then left immediately… The technique was very skilled and professional.”

“His house has anti-theft surveillance.” Zhao Hu saw a monitoring device on the wall and pressed the playback button. He saw a beautiful woman in a red dress walk up to his house and press the doorbell…

“What time was it?” Zhan Zhao asked.

“Recently… an hour ago.” Zhao Hu pointed to the time to show everyone.

“Luo Tian, go and ask the neighborhood guard if he remembers a woman in a red dress that came an hour ago.” Bai Yutang said.

Luo Tian nodded and left. Zhan Zhao stared at the woman on the screen for a long time, then asked, “Is it the same person as the last one?”

“The clothes are all red, but the style is different. The hairstyle is different too, and they are all wearing sunglasses.” Bai Yutang looked at it and shook his head, “She seems to be very experienced, so she won’t let the camera capture her specific features.”

“What is the rolled up white thing that she is holding?” Zhao Hu asked.

“She didn’t take it when she left.” Bai Yutang took a pair of gloves from the box brought by the forensic staff, “Everyone search for the rolled up white thing.”

“Yes Sir.” Everyone started searching. Zhan Zhao stood in front of the bed, looking up at an oil painting on the wall.

“Cat, what’s wrong?” Bai Yutang also looked up at the painting and saw that it was an abstract painting. The main colour was red, and there were many distorted lines that didn’t look the same.

“What is it?” Bai Yutang asked.

“I can’t tell, I just don’t think that it fits well with this room.” Zhan Zhao touched his chin, “The main colour of the room is blue, and there is a red picture placed here for no reason. It feels weird.”

Bai Yutang looked around as Zhan Zhao spoke, feeling that something was indeed wrong.

He walked around to the head of the bed to get a closer look at the painting. He gently lifted the painting off the wall and looked at it, then frowned, “Hu Zi, come here.”

Zhao Hu walked over and saw Bai Yutang holding one side of the painting and beckoning him to help take the painting down, so he reached out and grabbed the other side. The two people counted to three and worked together to take the painting down…

“Wow!” Zhao Hu frowned, “Is this iron? Why is it so heavy?”

Bai Yutang took down with painting with his help and placed it on the bed. He touched the frame of the painting and said, “No, it’s an oil painting on a wooden frame, so why is it so heavy?”

“Captain.” Zhao Hu shook the painting, “There seems to be something inside.”

Everyone looked at each other and rushed over.

“Huh?” Bai Chi knelt down and stared at the edge of the painting, “It seems that there is something stuck to the surface.”

Zhan Zhao stretched his hand out, lightly felt along the edge of the painting, then lifted up a thin canvas.

“There is an extra layer on the outside.” Zhan Zhao said as he tore it off the canvas. The other people started to tear the outer layer off as well, and there was a blue painting underneath that matched the style of the room.

“Did you two put it there on purpose?” Zhan Zhao asked the deceased’s girlfriend, and he asked her what the painting should look like. The woman thought that the painting was blue, and had never seen this red painting.

“It seems that this is the thing that she was holding in her hand.” Zhao Hu said.

“Why did she bother to put an extra layer on the painting after killing him?” Zhan Zhao stretched his hand out and fumbled with the surface of the painting for a while. He then asked the forensic officer next to him, “Do you have a knife?”

The forensic officer handed him a knife. Zhan Zhao took the knife and gently cut along the edge of the painting, then lifted the canvas. There was an inner compartment holding four very large white paper bags.

Zhao Hu picked one up and weighed it, “This thing…” The police are very sensitive to things like this… there was white powder inside.

Bai Yutang opened one of the paper bags with a knife. Sure enough, there was a layer of plastic packaging inside. Under the plastic, there was white powder. Bai Yutang picked up a little bit and smelled it. Throwing the knife back, he looked at everyone, “Heroin.”

“This kid was in possession of drugs?!” Zhao Hu widened his eyes. Everyone turned to look at the girlfriend and saw her face pale in fright. Seeing everyone looking at her, she quickly shook her head, “I… I don’t know. He and I have been together for less than a few months!”

“How old are you?” Ma Xin suddenly asked the girl.

“I am eighteen years old.” The girl replied in a low voice.

Ma Xin looked at her again and asked, “Are you pregnant?”

The girl was taken aback and looked at Ma Xin. After hesitating for a while, she nodded, “I wanted to tell Su Mao.”

Everyone subconsciously looked down at the girl’s abdomen.

The girl was a little embarrassed. She hid her face and burst into tears, “What should I do…”

Everyone frowned. Bai Yutang motioned for Ma Xin to take her out and comfort her. Ma Xin shook her head and spoke to the girl, “Come out with me, you don’t need to wear those heals anymore!”

“En.” The girl nodded as she cried and walked out with Ma Xin. Zhao Hu sent them out, and then returned with the girl’s ID card, and spoke to Bai Yutang, “Captain, she’s only seventeen years old.”

Bai Yutang frowned.

“Having sex with a minor, and there is… er, at least four kilograms of heroin here.” Zhan Zhao visually inspected the drugs, and said, “Is there anyone worse than this person?”

Everyone was speechless. Zhao Hu curled his lips, “Captain, let’s stop trying to catch that woman. Maybe she’s Superwoman or Catwoman, seeking justice for other people.”

Everyone couldn’t laugh or cry. At that time, Luo Tian came back. After he looked down and saw the drugs, Bai Yutang asked him, “Did you find it?”

“En. The security guard said that a red sports car came in and that it was driven by a beautiful woman in a red dress.” Luo Tian replied, “I asked the patrol officer to check the nearby cars and to watch out for a woman in red driving a red sports car.”

“Okay.” Bai Yutang nodded and asked, “Are there any videos?”

Luo Tian shook his head, “There is a camera at the gate. I asked an officer to go retrieve the footage, but looking at the angle and distance, it shouldn’t have been able to capture her.”

“Red sports car…” Bai Yutang pondered for a moment, then said, “If you can determine what kind it is, just take that and look into it.” After speaking, he looked at everyone and said, “It’s late today, and the corpse will be transported back. Ma Xin and Gongsun have to work hard overnight to do the autopsy. The others can leave first, and tomorrow morning, we will gather at the office to investigate the case.”

“Yes Sir.’ The crowd dispersed.

……

At the entrance of the police station, Bai Jintang stopped the car and called Gongsun. After a while, Gongsun picked up the call, “Hello? Jintang, I have to work overtime tonight.”

Bai Jintang frowned and asked, “All night? Do I need to wait for you?”

“You go back and sleep first.” Gongsun said, “I guess that I will be busy until dawn.”

Bai Jintang was a little helpless, and softly muttered, “What are you working so hard for, don’t you have an assistant?”

Gongsun smiled, “I take my work seriously.”

Bai Jintang became even more dissatisfied, “Why take it seriously, I will support you!”

“I can still afford to support you.” After speaking, Gongsun hung up the phone.

Bai Jintang sighed, started the car, and started to drive home. At an intersection, he stopped at a red light. While smoking and waiting for the light, he saw a red sports car approaching in the rear-view mirror. Soon, the sports car stopped next to his car.

In the car, a beautiful woman dressed in red, with curly hair and sunglasses, turned to looked at him.

Bai Jintang looked at her while smoking his cigarette. He saw that the woman took out a cigarette from the seat next to her, and held it in her mouth. She looked at Bai Jintang and smiled, “Can I borrow a lighter?”

Bai Jintang looked at her. Gongsun gave him his lighter and he never lends it to anyone. However, there were matches from the hotel in the car, so he took them out and gave them to her.

The woman took the matches, and smiled at Bai Jintang, “Are you alone, would you like to accompany me?”

At that time, the red light changed and started flashing yellow, and soon turned green. Bai Jintang ignored her, turned back, and drove away.

The woman watched Bai Jintang’s car drive away. She smiled and drove in a different direction. Her surroundings started to become more and more remote, and she didn’t stop until she came across a dense forest beside a bridge. It was getting late and there was no one on the road. The woman got out of the car, gracefully took out a black pistol from her bag, walked around to the back of the car, and opened the trunk.

Immediately, a sound of whining filled the air. There was a man in the trunk. His eyes widened and he was awake, but he couldn’t move his body. He couldn’t speak, he could only widen his eyes in horror.

The woman looked at him for a while, then asked, “Do you remember where this is?”

The man blinked and shed tears, seemingly begging for mercy. The woman smiled, reached out and grabbed his hair, then pulled the man out. The man was dragged out of the trunk and fell to the ground.

The woman took the gun and placed the muzzle of the gun against his chest… and whispered, “What do you think, for the same man, why is there such a big difference?” After she spoke, she put a beautiful smile on her face and pulled the trigger.

After a ‘bang’ rang out, the man’s heart was penetrated by a bullet and he stopped breathing.

The woman put away the gun, walked back to the car, started it, and drove away…

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

How does the woman know Bai Jintang?

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: May 19/20, 2021