The train keeps going.
The news of the dead spread quickly, causing panic in people's hearts like a plague.
There was a lot of discussion among the passengers, as if the murderer was sitting next to them, and the passengers in the first-class car shouted loudly, demanding that the train stop immediately and let them get off. But this is just to say, even if the train stops now, they are not afraid that the train behind will crash into it. Where can they go if they are not near the station in front and the village in the back
The conductor had no choice but to try his best to appease the passengers in the first-class carriage. No matter who stood up and complained when they got off the train, they couldn't afford to offend them.
"Looking for someone? How to find someone? The guests in the first-class compartment are making a lot of noise, I'm afraid they won't cooperate!"
The conductors who were helping Ling Shu and the others were at a loss, and they couldn't help but pin all their hopes on the two of them.
"What's the name of the little brother?"
"Just call me Ah Cai!"
Ling Shu's pleasant appearance made him flattered, and Ah Cai hurriedly said.
"Okay, Brother A Cai, please take us to the second carriage now, and by the way, close the doors of the second carriage leading to the first and third carriages, so that no one can pass through."
Ah Cai didn't know why: "Why don't you check the third compartment? There are more and more people there, and the murderer may also be hiding there."
Ling Shu explained to him as he walked.
"It is preliminarily inferred that not only the murderer, but also the accomplices were involved in the killing. The deceased was a passenger in the second carriage, and he was alone in the car. Because the second carriage is very close to the dressing room of the first carriage, there are also loopholes to be exploited. If it is Passengers in the third carriage, even if the murderer wants to move someone to commit the crime, it is very troublesome. The murderer may hide in the third carriage, but the accomplice must be a handyman who is familiar with the train and should work in the second carriage for a long time. The passage between the two carriages was blocked in time, and he thought to himself that he didn’t kill anyone, and in all likelihood he would choose a familiar place to hide, instead of rushing to the unfamiliar third carriage.”
Ah Cai seemed to understand, but he felt that the other party had something to say, but he hadn't figured it out for a while.
"The second carriage is in front. You two find someone first, and I'll guard the passage first!"
The second car was also quite noisy, but overall a lot better than the third.
Those who are in business, those who are more particular about their lives, or those who are wealthy and literati often choose the second carriage, which is less than the previous one and more than the next.
At this time, it was meal time, and the smells of various foods were mixed together and rushed to the face. Even the delicious things were much inferior.
Most of the passengers in the second-class car were eating while discussing the news of the dead person in front of them.
Without knowing the truth, they spread falsehoods and rumors spread virally. By the time Lingshu and the others arrived in the second-class carriage, it had become ironic that the deceased was the daughter of a government official, or was killed on the train by a lover.
Ling Shu and Yue Dingtang stood in the vacant seats near the car door, observing every handyman who came and went.
The latter are busy rushing back and forth to deliver meals to the passengers. Although the food in the second-class carriage is not as good as that in the first-class carriage, it is also a hot meal. Especially after the new order issued by the Ministry of Railways this year, Chinese food was added to the meal. The chef's skills are pretty good.
Ah Cai also watched beside them.
It's just that when he looked around, he felt that everyone was suspicious, and he felt that no one was suspicious.
"Sir, will your handyman escape to the third carriage..."
Before finishing the question, Ah Cai saw Ling Shu pointing at a person not far away and said, "Do you know him?"
Ah Cai took a closer look, and the man was looking down to sort out the things on the dining car.
"It seems to be a newcomer. I heard others call him Twelve, but I haven't spoken to him. What, this person is wrong?"
Ah Cai looked around, but didn't see anything wrong with Twelve.
But in Ling Shu's view, twelve is full of problems.
First of all, he has switched positions for the same two dishes, left to right, right to left, left to right.
Repeating ineffective actions indicates that he is absent-minded or has other thoughts.
Other handymen are busy, coming and going to deliver meals, jogging all the way, and they are very active, because there are individual customers with high spending, and they will tacitly allow the handyman not to give change when buying food. Service as a tip.
Of course, there are very few such passengers, and most of them are still very stingy with money, but there is no handyman like the one that Ling Shu focuses on. Don't want to do anything.
Yue Dingtang walked over and patted his back shoulder.
The other party was startled, and the whole person jumped up.
The action was so exaggerated that even Ah Cai could see it was inappropriate.
He was determined to show it in front of the two superiors, hurried forward, and grabbed his arm.
"Did you just go to the dressing room of the first-class carriage!"
"I haven't been, I've been here all the time!" Handy Twelve shook his head and hurriedly denied it.
"What's on your sleeve?" Yue Dingtang asked.
Twelve looked down at his sleeve.
There is nothing special about it being dyed in a circle of jet black that cannot be washed off because of frequent work.
"Besides the stains, there is a touch of red here, not like blood, but like a woman's rouge."
Yue Dingtang pointed it out, but the more lighthearted his tone, the more panicked Twelve's face became.
"I accidentally touched the soup, and I couldn't wash it off. What kind of rouge is it!"
"yes?"
Ling Shu suddenly came in.
"I'm most familiar with women's rouge. Let me smell it, and I'll know if you're lying."
His condescending teasing tone couldn't make Twelve relax, instead, his whole body was tense and his face was vigilant.
Twelve wanted to retreat, but was stopped by Ling Shu.
Without a word, he pushed Ling Shu away and turned to run, but the latter dodged to avoid and grabbed his back collar faster.
During the struggle, the dining cart was kicked forward with a clanging sound, and the dishes and dishes were shattered one after another.
The passengers were startled and followed the reputation.
Twelve struggled desperately, with hands and feet out, but was directly pounced on by Ling Shu and held it firmly.
Yue Ding Tang stepped forward and searched.
He soon found out.
"what is this?"
Yue Dingtang found a pack of gold foil wrapped in a handkerchief in the pocket of Twelve's underwear.
There are also fine carvings on the gold foil. Although the light is dim for a while, it is impossible to see what the carvings are, but there is no doubt that they are exquisite and luxurious, and they are definitely not things that should appear on the handyman.
"This is what you got from the dead? It seems that you killed people?"
"It's not me! It's not me! I'm just helping to clean up the bodies! I didn't kill people!"
Twelve didn't say anything at all, and as expected, he immediately started shouting.
Ling Shu asked, "Who killed that!"
Twelve faces panicked: "I, I don't know!"
Ling Shu: "You don't know, then you are the murderer! After arriving at the station, we will hand you and the stolen goods to the local police station, and the real murderer will escape. does it worth?"
Twelve with a crying voice: "I really don't know where he went! We agreed before we got on the train, he killed someone, I helped him cover up and clean up, help him delay the time, as long as he got off the train, he would walk in his sunshine Dao, I immediately unloaded my errand and went back to my hometown!"
Ling Shu: "But the train hasn't arrived yet. It's still too late for you to identify him. Think about it carefully, where might the person be hiding on the train?"
Twelve gasped.
He couldn't understand, how could he become a murder suspect just because he was motivated by greed and promised to do a favor for the fellow who met by chance
The light above his head made him dizzy, almost hallucinating.
The train under him rumbled and vibrated, and the icy wooden board felt uncomfortable at all, perhaps like the feeling of the corpse lying on the ground just now.
The thought flashed by, and he shuddered.
"He, he should have gone in the third carriage!"
"Take us there, you may still have a chance to live!"
Twelve is not from Nanjing. He fled from the Northeast to Nanjing to seek a living.
Although Nanjing is not as prosperous as Shanghai, it is the capital after all. It travels from south to north and extends in all directions. It is easy to find an errand.
If he is willing to endure hardship, and his mouth can speak again, in a few years, he may be able to become a carriage boy, that is, a conductor.
But such an opportunity is very precious. He works hard every day and has to subsidize his family.
Until a few days ago, he met a fellow named Dou Li on the train from Tianjin to Nanjing.
When Dou Li was embarrassed by the passengers, he helped him out of the siege. The two became acquainted with each other after going back and forth. Dou Li told him that he was actually waiting for a deal, a deal with huge profits. After that, I will be free and happy, and I don't have to look at people's faces to live. Even if I can't get rich and rich, I can go back to my hometown to buy a few acres of fertile land and marry a daughter-in-law.
Twelve was tempted, and got on the pirate ship with one foot.
The business Dou Li said was a murder business.
He took a deal to kill a person, on the train from Nanjing to Tianjin.
This person carries a lot of money, kills people and robs money by the way. As long as he survives the time on the train and waits for the train, he will disappear without a trace immediately.
The timid Twelve was too late to retreat. Under the coercion and temptation of Dou Li, he promised to help Dou Li to clean up the scene, hide the body, and delay the time, while Dou Li would distribute some of the property of the deceased to him, so that he would be clothed and fed for the rest of his life. Hassle-free.
On the way to the third-class carriage, Twelve stammered, roughly describing the cause and effect.
Ling Shu and Yue Dingtang roughly restored this outline to the context.
But there are still many unclear shadows in the whole thing, and they need to find out the answer further.
Noisy, suffocating, boring.
This is the visual impact of the third-class compartment.
Ling Shu is no stranger to this place, because he has sat there before. When he is not in this environment, he will suddenly feel uncomfortable, but the murderer is hidden here.
Twelve was blindfolded and swept over, only to feel that everyone looked like a bamboo hat, and could not tell them apart at all.
"Do you remember what clothes the deceased was wearing?"
Ling Shu pressed his shoulders.
"Don't be nervous, as long as you find him, we will guarantee you, not only that, but also give you a reward so that you don't have to do hard labor on the train again."
After saying that, Ling Shu stretched out his hand towards Yue Dingtang.
Yue Dingtang:
Ling Shu smiled and said, "Sir Yue, lend me a piece of silver."
Yue Ding Tang frowned, took out the money from his pocket and gave it to him.
After thinking about it, I was worried, and asked again: "If you ask me to borrow it, when will I pay it back?"
It's not that he begrudges this piece of silver, but Ling Shu has a lot of previous records and can't get in.
Ling Shu really said perfunctorily: "Let's talk, talk about it!"
He shoved the silver Yang he took into Twelve's hands.
"Take it, make up for your reward, now you can magnify your heart?"
Twelve took Yin Yang into his mouth and took a bite, his spirits lifted, his waist stopped hurting, his legs stopped shaking, and he could speak fluently.
"Two sirs, I remember that this hat is very short, the suit worn by the deceased does not fit him at all, and there is a black mole on the back of his right hand, which is very conspicuous. This third carriage is looking for it, always. I can find it!"
Just as Twelve was leading Ling Shu to recognize each person, Yue Dingtang touched the gold leaf in his pocket, took out half of it, and glanced at it under the light.
The carvings on it seem to be words, not patterns.
If you look closely, it seems to be in Tibetan.
Yue Dingtang groaned in his heart.
Twelve took these gold foils, definitely not because of the engravings on them, but because of the texture of the gold foils themselves, such a stack of gold foils, melted into gold ingots, there should be a small one.
But Yue Dingtang had a hunch that the gold foil in his hands might have a lot to do with it.