"Left-handed?!"

As soon as Nao's words came out, Sato's eyes widened in surprise. She quickly picked up the photo of the evidence that Nao was referring to and looked at it carefully, but even if she checked it millimeter by millimeter like a game of "finding differences", she never found a second clue that could see through the criminal's habitual hand.

Looking at Sato's puzzled eyes, Nao smiled and ripped off her uniform tie.

"Sato さん, I remember you were right-handed, right?" Nao handed the uniform tie to Sato and raised her forearm, "Now, wrap the tie around my wrist in the same way that you wrap it around a fan blade at the scene of the crime." ”

"Oh, good. ”

Although Sato didn't quite understand, he still put the red tie around her wrist as Nao said, pulled up the belt on the left and crossed it to the right.

"Stop!" said Nao, "Now let's compare the knots in the photo." ”

"Okay. Sato pulled Nao's wrist to the side of the photo, carefully compared the knot in the photo, and the next second, the beautiful eyes opened slightly, "-this, this is!"

"That's right, just look at it, and this is the evidence left by the prisoner. Nao withdrew his hand and said as he wrapped his tie around his neck, "Generally speaking, if you want to wrap a rope around something, the direction of the crossing is different for left-handed and right-handed, left-handers will wrap the rope on it to the left, while right-handers will wrap it to the right, depending on their dominant hand, depending on the way they are naturally wound - unconsciously - of course While it is possible for the killer to imitate it, I don't think that a person who has exposed so many fatal flaws would be so thoughtful as to miss even such tiny details. ”

"That's true," Sato's eyes flickered, "but don't you think there are too many flaws left by the prisoner? The dominant hand can't use force but neatly makes a knot without even the strength of his teeth, and he should be unconscious immediately after being hoisted, but he pressed the switch of the fan at just the right height, plus this kind of winding method corresponding to a left-handed person......"

"But not everyone will be aware of the flaws in the fan switch, at least a considerable number of people don't know that the spinal arteries will cause people to lose consciousness immediately after being put under considerable pressure, plus the nervousness of the murderer when he committed the crime......" Nao shrugged, "If you think that all the flaws are evidence that the prisoner wants to blame a certain left-handed suspect, then I can only say that he is very likely to be a killer with professional knowledge." But it is clear that a baseball teenager who has just injured his arm and can't even return to the game does not have an identity worthy of being assassinated. ”

"That's right. ”

Sato breathed a sigh of relief, but there was still a hint of hesitation in his expression. After Nao's superficial reasoning, she subconsciously felt that since the murderer had disguised the case as a suicide, he would not leave such an obvious flaw, but it was clear that she had forgotten that the case was still a suicide that had been closed before the afternoon.

"I said Sato, you're stretching yourself too hard, aren't you?" the red-haired girl laughed almost with a sigh, "Sometimes it's better not to overcomplicate things." Now that this case has been determined to be his homicide, we have to do our best to investigate the suspect. Even if there is something really wrong, it will be after asking. ”

"I know, it's just that teenager ......" Sato sighed and turned his gaze in the direction of the kitchen, "The truth about the victim's death was almost buried, and even though I applied for a re-investigation, I was the only one...... I really can't afford to let myself investigate slowly. ”

"This kind of thing, even if you are in a hurry, there is no way. Nao's eyes darkened, "At least we still have clues to find, and the puzzle of the case will be complete piece by piece after questioning the suspect, unlike those cases that have passed for several years but have no trace at all...... We're lucky to be more than that. ”

"Yes...... This. ”

Miwako Sato pressed the handcuffs around her waist and said lightly, and the pure black in her eyes fell silent little by little. Nao sat lazily across from her on the couch, her head down and playing with her ball-shaped key case, hiding her eyes in the shadows behind Rukai. For a moment, a suffocating silence enveloped the two of them, and the flow of air seemed to stand still.

Inao and Shumi, who returned to the living room with the tea tray, fell into such a depression as soon as they entered the door—like a sponge that had sucked up dirty water. Seeing that Nao, who was in the middle of silence, didn't even notice that someone had come in, Sakamoto Shumi's brows furrowed slightly, and her eyes turned to the young man beside her, only to find that Inao Hai suddenly held her breath as if her heart was choked.

Shumei blinked, and suddenly puffed out her cheeks and screamed.

"Hey Nao, you're not dying of thirst, are you?"

She strode over and sat down beside Nao, the force almost smashing a hole in the couch, suddenly waking up Nao and Sato in thought. Compared to Sato, who was obviously startled, the red-haired girl could be said to have recovered in an instant. Her penetrating eyes quickly swept over the rice tail that was a little wrong, the corners of her mouth picked up slightly maliciously, and she stretched out her hand and pulled Shumei's face fiercely.

"Golden boar, suddenly interrupt my thinking, you are very bold!"

"--Oh, it hurts!" Shumei cried out with tears in her eyes and slurred speech, "Who told you to ignore people for a long time, I care about you!"

"Is it?"

"--Pain Pain!!"

"Wait, wait, Nao! What happened all of a sudden?"

Sato laughed and pulled down the hand of the red-haired girl who was making a mistake on Shumei's face like pinching plasticine, and Inao, who was in a daze, was also awakened, and looked at the two who suddenly made a fuss with some astonishment, but the haze in his eyes faded unconsciously.

"It's nothing, it's just a routine that is good for your body and mind. Nao reluctantly withdrew her hand and shook the dust on her fingers, while Shumi shrunk into the corner of the sofa with her red face in her hand, her big blue eyes full of accusations of Nao's violence, or some other complaints, in short, anger and grievance. Looking at the flashing eyes of Shumei chipmunks, Nao, who had a straight face, laughed out loud, stretched out his hand and rubbed the blond girl's bulging cheeks, "Okay, okay, I was wrong just now." ”

"It's just that you're wrong!, and they helped Inao-senpai make tea for you, who knew that you would pinch ......me as soon as you came up," Shumi muttered dissatisfiedly, took out the black tea from Inao's tea tray, and stuffed it into Nao's hand as if venting her anger.

The fragrant amber tea soup swayed gently in the cup, and the delicate white porcelain made a nice tinkling sound on the tea tray, and Nao held it up to the light of the entrance, only to see that the teacup was entangled with light green vines crawling all over the handle and the rim of the cup, showing a translucent and beautiful color in the reflection of the setting sun.

"This teacup seems to be very expensive. ”

"Ah, this one was brought back from England by my mother, and it's really not cheap. Inao rubbed the rim of the cup with his thumb and curled the corners of his lips slightly, "Big brother likes this tea set very much, and he will only use it when a friend who has a good relationship with him comes to visit." But......" Inao Hai paused and frowned a little puzzled, "Why is there one missing?"

"One less?"

"Well, I just found it when I was making tea," Inao held up the teacup so that everyone could see the bottom of the teacup very clearly, "This set of teas is a limited edition, and each teacup including the bottom of the teapot is printed with a golden signature, and next to the signature of the teacup there is a bulge that can be touched by hand, which is the number of the teacup." There are only eight cups in total, so the bulges are also one to eight. ”

"Ah, really!" Shumi curiously touched the bottom of the teacup she was holding, "Mine is Number Five!"

"Well, mine seems to be Six. Sato said.

Nao touched the bottom of his cup, and sure enough, he felt four sleek bumps, the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, and the touch of his hand was somewhat like Braille, but the order was not characteristic of Braille.

"This one of mine is number one. Inao said to everyone, "Big brother generally likes to use the number seven, that's his lucky number." ”

"But what is this for?" Shumi asked, puzzled, "Is it convenient to collect?"

"Part of it. Inao explained, "It is said that nobles have a habit of using their own teacups, and if a maid comes to make tea, this number is also easy to identify, so you will not give the teacup to the wrong person." ”

"Ah, I see!"

"So, you just said that there was a cup missing, and you know the number?" asked Nao.

"Well...... I had just seen a fragment of a teacup in the trash can, but the place with the engraved number was completely shattered, so now I only know that one of the two and eight is missing. Inao pondered for a moment, "I don't know if it will have anything to do with the case of the eldest brother's murder, because the eldest brother's number seven is still in his room, after all, he won't use this tea set to drink tea when there is only one person." ”

"It is very likely that someone visited before Yuki Inao was killed, but it is difficult to say whether the person who came to visit is the murderer or not, and we can only make plans after investigating the suspect first. Sato thought for a moment and said to Inao Hai, "It's a little late today, I'll go and ask your eldest brother's friends early tomorrow morning, and I'll need your help to recall your eldest brother's close or vengeful people later." ”

Inao nodded.

Nao listened in silence to the conversation between the two, the mist on the teacup blocking her twinkling eyes.

As Sato said, someone must have visited Inao before he was killed, and it is unknown whether there is a connection between this person and the missing teacup, or whether he was the murderer of Inao Yuki. But if there's a connection between the two, what is it?

Suppose there is a connection between this teacup incident and the case......

No, it must be related!

Nao put down the teacup, left his seat under the pretext of going to the toilet, and climbed the steps of the second floor step by step, but his eyes were fierce for a moment when he turned his back to the three people downstairs. She could feel a sense of dissonance in Yuki Inao's room that she couldn't calm down, not just the key case that caused the secret room, not just the half-open window, but a certain smell, a strong feeling of "something missing".

She pushed open the door to the scene of the crime, turned on the fluorescent lamp, and after a few sizzling sounds, a qiē in the room came into her eyes again. Nao closed the door and walked to the center of the room, and began to look around the room, trying to find a sense of dissonance in the whole space—the baseballs scattered all over the floor, the sports bags and pitcher gloves on the bags in the corners, the bats standing behind the door, the faint scent of the room......

"I always feel a little wrong......" Nao muttered as she squinted her eyes.

When her eyes swept to the desk, she saw at a glance the white porcelain gold-rimmed tea set with green vines on the desk—the graceful teacup in the tray stood alone, the semicircular handle facing the wall, and a small amount of amber tea soup at the bottom of the cup. She walked to the desk, picked up the teacup with white gloves, lifted the teatray above her head and turned it gently, her eyes scanning from bottom to top, and suddenly, when she saw the bottom edge of the tray, she stopped, her eyes widened.

"It's ...... Bloodstains?"

Nao frowned, examined the teacup carefully, and sure enough, found a shallow red mark on the inside of the crook of the teacup handle. What puzzled her was that left-handers generally hold the tea tray in their right hand and the teacup handle in their left hand when drinking black tea, but the blood marks on the bottom of the tea tray in front of her are finger marks imprinted on the outside of the first joint of the index finger of the left hand.

If Yuki Inao is learning to use the right hand to serve tea, then why is there blood on the handle of the teacup?

And what is the thing that always feels missing?

"Teacups, tea trays, bloodstains...... Teacups, trays, bloodstains...... What went wrong?" the red-haired girl kept muttering to herself, tapping her index finger to her temple, as if trying to stimulate the noun that was about to come out with the keywords guò. The slightly astringent aftertaste of black tea was still entangled between his lips and teeth, Nao smacked his lips uncomfortably while thinking, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he put down the teacup and rushed towards the door.

The three downstairs had finished their tea time, Sato and Inao were summarizing the suspects, and Shumi was sitting on the sofa listening to their conversation. Suddenly, a slightly excited female voice came from the stairs, and the Okinawan dialect full of maritime flavor shook the three of them almost jumped.

"--Inao, why don't you have a teaspoon in this tea set!"

"Teaspoon?" Inao Hai blinked and smashed his palm in understanding, "Ah......h

"Do you want to bring out a teaspoon when you come to the house?"

"Yes, sugar, milk and jam, all of these things will be prepared. Inao Kai recalled, "But if you are a very familiar person, you will usually ask the other party in advance if you need it, and if you don't need it, you won't be brought out." ”

"Oh, sure enough, that sense of disobedience ......"

Nao snorted and turned and walked towards the kitchen, leaving the three of them looking at each other.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know ......"

Not to mention the confused three, Nao, who was immersed in thought, entered the kitchen and quickly found a place to place the tea set. As she reasoned, eight teaspoons were missing, and a few bloodstained teacup fragments were found in the trash. The amount of blood on the shards is very small, and it should be that Yuki Inao was not pricked when he was cleaning up the shards, but not to the point where he needed to use OK bandage, so he left blood marks on other tea sets that were almost invisible to the naked eye.

According to the forensic report, the time of death of the deceased was between 9:25 and 10 o'clock on the night of July 20, during which time the deceased's younger brother must have just fallen asleep. If the missing teacup had the killer's saliva and fingerprints on it, the killer wanted to hide the evidence and create the illusion that only the deceased was in the room that day, so he had to take the teacup to the kitchen on the first floor to be cleaned. But it was very difficult to fumble around to wash the cup in a dark and unfamiliar environment without alarming the deceased's younger brother, so the murderer chose to take the tea set away......

If this is the reasoning, the missing teacup can be explained.

Moreover, the murderer was afraid that the police would come to investigate, and he could not discard this teacup that might reveal his identity at will, so there is a great possibility -

“...... The teacup was still with the prisoner. ”

Nao grinned strangely.

Acquaintances, left-handers, do not drink sweetened black tea, plus lost cups......

"Looks like we'll see you tomorrow, the last piece of the puzzle!"

The author has something to say: When I was immersed in thinking about a murder case, I occasionally found out that I was actually on the list!! and I only found out today five days after I was on the list!!

I can only hurry up and update the code word, and I must change the 10,000-word TAT before the 24th.

For the hair, for the hair!

For Mao, I thunder as soon as I code a word, and every time I make up my mind to work hard to make this pit, there will be such and such things~

Last time, the computer burned, last time I was hospitalized, and this time it's ......

Forget it, I have to go to my grandmother's house before dinner, after all, the Mid-Autumn Festival...... I'll come back after dinner and continue writing, and I'll finish this chapter today.

Everyone wait for me~~

Another: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival girls!!

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September 23, 2010 2:11:37 Supplement~

Tsk, I actually wrote from 11 o'clock to 2 o'clock, I'm really useless......