Mrs. Bei refused to answer Jian Jing's questions. She did not admit that she had any relationship with Qu Jie, nor did she deny that he had ever threatened or blackmailed her.
Since there was no evidence, Jian Jing did not pursue the matter and changed the subject: "You were the first one to come back yesterday."
"Yeah." She said indifferently, "Any questions?"
"What have you been doing since you came back? Have you noticed anything going on over there with Qu Jie?" she asked.
The owner said: "What else can I do? Take a shower, apply a facial mask, do yoga. I am very busy. How can I care about other people's affairs?"
Jian Jing asked: "You didn't notice anything?"
Master Bei: "Yes."
"He made quite a noise when he came back. Did you hear it?"
The owner of the shop said perfunctorily: "It seems so, I didn't pay attention."
"Is there anything that impressed you tonight?"
"Impressive?" She said sarcastically, "Isn't the death of one person impressive enough?"
Jian Jing didn't answer, but just looked at her inquiringly.
At first, Miss Bei was still trying not to say anything, but she soon became uncomfortable. Jane Jing's expression was not harsh or threatening, but rather calm. However, being enveloped by such a gaze made her inexplicably recall the feeling of standing under a high-definition camera for the first time.
Being scrutinized, analyzed, and judged is very uncomfortable.
"What are you looking at?" she tried to interrupt.
"Nothing." Jian Jing said, "Let me change the question. What do you think of Qu Jie?"
"We are not familiar with each other."
"You've been together before."
"It's just filming, we don't have much interaction outside of the film." Mr. Bei argued, "I don't understand him, you ask the wrong person."
"So you have no idea why he died?"
She nodded crisply.
It seemed that she couldn't get any inside information for the time being, so Jian Jing didn't waste any more time: "Thank you for your cooperation."
As the sky brightened, every corner of the B&B revealed its true appearance.
Jian Jing spent half an hour carefully exploring this enclosed space and discovered some interesting things.
The original prototype of the homestay is a main courtyard. In addition to the main gate, patio and main hall, there is also an alley behind the east and west wing rooms, which was originally used to provide accommodation for the servants.
There are four rooms in the east and west wings, with doors facing the courtyard and windows facing the alley. In fact, they are connected in all directions.
The room that was converted from the main hall of the main courtyard, which was where Jiang Baiyan lived originally, was specially made in the shape of a "U". The room is in the middle, and there are passages on both sides that can lead directly to the back.
Therefore, by matching the list of suspects with their rooms and adding the layout of the passages, the situation in the B&B becomes extremely complicated.
West East
... .Bei 主... ..Jiang Baiyan...
*.****.********.*****.*.
*Dead..*Vacant room*...Director Li*
*Photography.....Sky... ...Art*
*Stage Manager... ..Well... ...Producer*
Kitchen... .Dining room... Door... ...
The deceased's room is in the main courtyard, with the door facing east and windows facing west, while the stage management and photography rooms are in the west wing, with windows also facing west. There is an alley behind it that directly connects to the deceased's room.
Director Li's room is in the same direction as the deceased's, with the door facing west and the window facing east. The art and production rooms have the same orientation, with an alley on the east side, through which one can bypass the patio and observe.
—Needless to say, if the murderer wanted to kill someone, it would be impossible for him to do so openly from the patio. Except for Bei and Jiang, anyone could possibly see their whereabouts, which would undoubtedly be courting death.
But the alley does not lead directly to the deceased's room. Entering the backyard, you will see Jiang Baiyan's door. In order to avoid everyone's sight and quietly reach the deceased's location, you must pass through Director Li's room.
In other words, if the art director and the production manager want to kill someone, they must do so before 00:40. Similarly, if the production manager wants to pass through the alley, he must pass through the art director's room.
I have to mention here that Jian Jing stuck her head out to check the situation in the alley. The alley was equipped with ground lights, and the lights were shone upwards. Even if you bend over, your shadow will be cast on the window by the lights on the ground.
This is a very risky move, regardless of whether anyone in the house is paying attention or not.
Otherwise, he had to hurry to the scene before the police came back. Director Li did not have such a problem. The middle room had been painted and was empty. He could get there by just going out and making a detour.
This can be used to infer the time when the three people committed the crime.
Director Li: 00:40-1:40
Art Director: 23:50-00:40
Producer: 23:35-23:50 (or later, he stayed in the deceased's room for a while, it is impossible to judge)
Look at the other side.
Similarly, if the production manager wants to kill someone, he must do it before the cameraman returns. But the director of photography is different. His room is next to the deceased, and there is no third person in the aisle.
So, production manager: 23:35-00:15, director of photography: 00:15-1:40.
The situation of Lord Bei and Jiang Baiyan is another matter.
They didn't need to pass through the patio to go to the deceased's room.
There was no alley on Mr. Bei's side, only ordinary lighting. As long as he made sure that the windows of Jiang Baiyan's room were closed and he was careful to avoid the light source, he would not be discovered.
Therefore, her working time is very long: 23:35-1:40, which can be spent on working.
Director Li: 00:40-1:40
Art Director: 23:50-00:40
Producer: 23:35-23:50
Production Manager: 23:35-00:15
Director of Photography: 00:15-1:40
Main speaker: 23:35-1:40
Can the above situation help identify the murderer? No.
Not only that, Jian Jing also had to face several difficult problems. The doors and windows of the deceased's room were all locked. How did the murderer get in and out? Where did the blood come from? How did the boy Shaomai's face get touched
Especially the last point, the deceased seemed to have encountered it before.
However, to answer the above questions, we must return to the scene.
This was a scene that Jian Jing didn't really want to go back to, but there was nothing she could do. Director Li was unwilling to call the police, and without professional personnel involved, she had to go.
She was fully armed and bravely stepped into the chaotic place where there was nowhere to step.
Take photos, record videos, and then check the door locks.
The window is top-hung and can be pushed outwards by pushing the lower handle. Since it is not a high-rise building, the window can be opened completely outwards, making it easy for adults to come in and out.
The door was a Class B lock that required a key. The landlord said that all rooms had only one key, and if it was lost, they could only find someone to pry the lock. But there were no signs of prying on the door of the deceased's room.
The key is on the tea table at the entrance of the room.
She began to look around the room for fishing line.
Not found.
Apparently, the murderer did not use fishing line [doge]
Jian Jing felt a little regretful.
Anyway, you don’t actually need fishing line (which is too obvious), there are plenty of rope-like things: bathrobe straps, belts, charging cables… they don’t even have to be rope-shaped.
There are so many miscellaneous objects on the scene that can be arranged and combined to form several mechanisms.
She was at a loss as to where to start. After thinking for a long time, she tried to reconstruct the murderer's crime scene: the lights were on in the room, and he climbed in through the unlocked window and saw Qu Jie sleeping. He had a strong motive to kill, so he ran to the bed and strangled him. Qu Jie was drunk and died without any resistance...
Not really.
Most people would think that the person was still awake if they saw the light on in the room. So why did he carefully go around the patio and secretly go to his room to investigate
Secondly, even if the murderer thought Qu Jie was drunk and unconscious, there were other people around him. How could he guarantee that Shaomai would not wake up halfway
Unless he was very sure, the person in the room would not wake up.
This leads to two different possibilities: the murderer saw it or the murderer arranged it.
Is there anything at the scene that could make someone unconscious
There was a bottle of unscrewed mineral water on the bedside table. He took a couple of sips, but it was difficult to get hold of this sealed bottle of mineral water, and it was hard to ensure that Qu Jie would drink it.
Humidifier? Not in use, unplugged.
Central air conditioning? She climbed up to check. The dust on the air outlet was very flat and even, with no scratches or marks, and no suspicious objects were found.
However, she saw a few traces of blood on the chandelier in the room.
Jian Jing carefully climbed down the ladder, frowning and thinking hard.
"Jingjing." Jiang Baiyan came over and poked his head in. "Any clues?"
Jane glanced at him quietly.
Jiang Baiyan: “???”
"What on earth did Qu Jie do?" She went straight to the point, "Do you know who is most likely to kill him?"
"It's hard to say for sure. I only heard a little rumor. It's probably Huang or Du." Jiang Baiyan said, "The one who killed him in the end... should be a former friend."
"Why?"
"It's a lie." He said, "Before Qu Jie became famous, he relied on her to introduce him to several plays, but he dumped her once he became famous. She said she wanted revenge, but not long after, she had an accident on the set and broke her legs, so she retired from the entertainment industry."
Jian Jing asked: "What's your name?"
"I don't remember." Jiang Baiyan scratched his face, "I'll ask for you."
"By the way, are you familiar with the producer?"
"Normally, this time it was Director Li who approached me." He sighed, "I already regret it a little bit. Producer Wang's level is high and low. It would be miserable if I lose the bet."
"What's the meaning?"
Jiang Baiyan: "Look at the films he has supervised. Some have good reputations, while others are terrible." He listed the names of several films, all of which were first-tier productions that even Jian Jing had heard of.
She said: "I remember the news said that this was an investment of several hundred million yuan."
"Yes, he is very good at attracting investment." Jiang Baiyan said, "That's why he is so successful. Who doesn't like to be able to raise money and produce a film?"
"I know," she said. "I'll go see him again."
At noon, Jian Jing stopped the producer who was about to go out and said that she wanted to talk to him alone.
The producer had an expression that said "Why are you so nosy?", but Director Li didn't dare to offend her, so he reluctantly agreed after she spoke up for him.
"What's the matter?" The suspects were generally alert when asked for the second time, "I know everything. I'll tell you."
Jian Jing asked: "Let me explain in detail what you did after you arrived at the deceased's room last night."
"Talk to Xiao Qu for a while - didn't I tell you that?" The producer frowned, "Don't ask such repetitive questions, my time is precious."
Jian Jing: "Just chatting?"
Producer: “What else?”
"Right now, you are the biggest suspect," she said. "If you don't tell me the truth, I will hand the investigation back to the police. By then, even if you are not the murderer, you will probably face prosecution."
The producer angrily responded: "What a mess, why should I do this?"
"When Qu Jie came back at 11:30, he was already drunk and couldn't stand steadily. You are a man, tell me, can a man really have sex like usual when he is drunk like this?" Jian Jing stared at his eyes, "Tell me what you did when you stayed in his room for a while?"
The producer's face was uncertain: "Ms. Jian, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."
He said sternly: "You have to be responsible for what you say. Don't think you are great just because you have adapted a book. There will be many people who will do that. I know Lao Huang very well, and I often cooperate with Fei Niao. As long as I say hello, you can see whether they will cooperate with you."
"Are you threatening me?" Jian Jing was very surprised.
"I'm asking you to stop talking nonsense and defaming other people's reputations," the producer said coldly. "Forget it this time, but if it happens again, I'll talk to your boss directly."
Jian Jing was so angry that she said, "Let's talk now. Who do you want to talk to, Kang Mucheng or Kang Lei? Do you want me to make the call for you?" She said coldly, "I never slander people with empty words. Do you think that the blood cannot be extracted from the bed sheet because it is contaminated with blood?"
"To tell you the truth, I already had evidence from that classmate." She was extremely angry, her voice unusually high, "As long as you give it to the police and compare their DNA, do you think the procuratorate will prosecute you for rape?"