The incident occurred late at night on July 29th.
On that day, Anne and her boyfriend James went camping in the suburbs. Originally, they planned to come back soon, but the weather was clear and the scenery was pleasant that night, so James got a little lustful, while Anne was half-hearted. Then the two of them made a plan.
Decided to exchange feelings in the wild.
As a result, this exchange
Then something went wrong.
And just when the two had finished communicating their feelings, sorting their clothes, and lying on the grass, looking at the bright moon above their heads, counting the stars in the night sky, and enjoying romance, a mysterious man suddenly appeared, attacked Anne and James, and finally brutally killed James.
Anne herself was knocked unconscious.
When they woke up, they found James's body in tatters at the bottom of a small cliff near them. His death was extremely tragic.
No fingerprints were found at the scene, and there were no witnesses. The ability to collect evidence in a small town like this was very insufficient, so there were no clues to the murderer. Moreover, this kind of homicide case was beyond the ability of Taim Town, a small town with simple folk customs and a long history of peace.
This would have remained an unsolved case.
but... ..
Anne, one of the victims, provided the sheriff's officers with an important clue that was a breakthrough after she woke up in the town's hospital.
She saw the prisoner's face.
She even knew the prisoner.
Through her description, Marshall, the sheriff, immediately led the town police to lock on the target. This person was a rare successful person in the town. He owned a horse farm in the suburbs. Anne used to be his maid, but she resigned after she fell in love with James.
Originally, with the victim's eyewitness testimony, the case could have been closed directly. However, when the sheriffs found the landowner, he raised doubts and provided very clear evidence, saying that he had no time to commit the crime at the time of the incident.
The owner of the manor is one of the financial backers of the sheriff of Thame Town.
Arresting someone without evidence.
Obviously not.
So the whole case immediately came to a stalemate. Anne's boyfriend was dead, so she naturally refused to give up. Mr. Morning had sufficient evidence and a perfect alibi. Both sides held their own views, and as a result, Sheriff Marshall, who stood in the middle, was caught between a rock and a hard place.
"That's probably what the situation is like."
"Um... .."
After reading the case details submitted by Marshall, Zhiji Nanxun and Hua Qiong looked at each other and quickly came to a conclusion:
"The murderer must be the owner of the manor, Mo Ning."
“What a clichéd development.”
"Alibis are outdated now."
“That’s what I mean.”
The conversation between "It's Hard to Find a Confidant" and Hua Qiong naturally fell into the ears of Marshall and Anne, and their expressions revealed typical polarization.
"Really?! Have you found evidence?!"
"... ..Are you sure?"
Anne, who spoke first, looked excited and looked at Hua Qiong with anticipation. In contrast, Sheriff Marshall had a heavy expression.
"One point I need to emphasize is that, even if we don't consider the time conflict and the alibi, judging only from the relationship between Mr. Morning and the victim James, he actually has no reason to murder James, that is, he has no motive to kill. Even if it is Miss Anne..."
At this point, Marshall couldn't help but glance at Anne beside him: "... Even Miss Anne didn't have any contact with Mr. Morning when she was working in Mr. Morning's estate. It's better to say that Mr. Morning was away from home all year round for business and rarely came back."
Marshall's implication was actually very simple: Anne, who once worked at Morning's estate, had no connection with Morning, the owner of the estate, and it was even more impossible for them to have had a so-called romance. In other words, the possibility of love turning into hate and killing because of love did not exist.
That's why.
"It is not advisable to casually accuse Mr. Mourning. Although both of them are big shots from New York, please do not jump to conclusions casually..."
“That’s enough!”
Before Marshall finished speaking, Anne slammed the table again and said excitedly: "I knew you were on the side of that old bastard, you running dog!"
"Ms. Anne, please calm down. I am only analyzing this from a rational perspective. And compared to Mr. Morning, you are less suspicious..."
"You! Are you trying to say that I killed James!?"
“… … ..that’s not what I meant.”
Not to mention that Marshall was dealing with Anne with a helpless look on his face, on the other side, Zhiji Nanxun and Hua Qiong were re-examining the case materials in their hands.
This case is actually very simple.
Although it was late at night, Anne said so confidently that she saw the murderer's face. Considering her relationship with the victim, it must be credible.
But you can't believe it all.
Just as Marshall said, it is not impossible that Anne accidentally killed someone. After all, it is deep in the mountains and there are no witnesses, so there is a lot of room for maneuver. However, she did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to hire a detective to investigate the case, and Hua Qiong was psychologically more inclined to believe the other party.
There is only one key point here:
"This is the alibi."
“That’s interesting.”
"The crime happened at about 10:30 p.m. on July 29th. The victim, James, was suddenly attacked by the suspect. His girlfriend, Annie, was knocked unconscious. Before she fainted, she saw the face of the murderer, the owner of the manor, Morning. After that, James was found dead after falling off a cliff."
"Afterwards, the police began investigating the owner of the manor, Morning."
"But Morning said that at the time of the incident, which was 10:30 p.m., he was in Dasco, a town two hours away from Taim, discussing an overseas trip next month with his friends. It was impossible for him to rush back to Taim and kill James."
"Regarding his alibi, Morning's friends, as well as some merchants and residents of Dasco who saw him, can all testify for him. In addition, he was in Dasco almost the entire day on July 29th. Even the sheriff of Dasco remembered him."
Mourning's alibi was just as Marshall said, very complete and without any loopholes.
But unfortunately,
"The more perfect something looks, the less credible it is! This alibi is so complete that it makes people feel suspicious."
It's hard to find a true friend, so he raised his doubts with confidence.
"I always feel like my boss said something similar..."
While Hua Qiong was muttering, he glanced at Zhiji Nanxun beside him. He saw that Zhiji Nanxun's eyes were shining and he looked like he was delighted to see prey.
"Sister Shaohua, do you have any idea?"
“Not at all.”
“I see.”
Hua Qiong nodded, then looked at Marshall and Annie who were still arguing, coughed, and tapped the table with his fingers:
"Officer Marshall, Miss Anne."
"if you can,"
"Can I meet Mr. Morning?"