When the gunshots rang out, in addition to Bella and Anna, Elena and Miss Margaret, the Marquis de Condorcet, and Officer Christopher chatting together, Butler Peg had been setting up the dishes in a place where he could see them.

As for the case of others, it is relatively much more complicated.

However, everyone was very cooperative with Officer Christopher's interrogation. After all, this reliable police officer has a well-known reputation in Paris, and he is also familiar with everyone.

There were thirty-two attendees, most of whom came with their companions.

While the testimony of relatives and friends is slightly less reliable, there is currently no better way.

After Christopher carefully questioned the people in the hall one by one, except for a young man, everyone else had some alibi.

And the young man who has not yet cleared the suspicion is a student from the University of Paris named Louis Pasteur.

"Where were you at the time of the crime?" Officer Christopher asked.

"If you're referring to the time when the gunshots rang out, I'm in the hall." Mr. Pasteur replied.

"Can anyone testify?" Officer Christopher then asked.

"Nope." Mr. Pasteur replied very dryly.

Officer Christopher was a little surprised by the directness of "......", but he didn't rush to conclusions, "If anyone sees you, that's fine."

"I want to ...... Probably not." "I've never been very sociable, so since I came here, I've been sitting in the corner and trying to avoid contact with people."

"In that case, then why do you want to attend Mr. Atwood's banquet?"

If you don't like socializing, there should be a lot of reasons to excuse yourself, right?

"Actually, I didn't receive an invitation, but came to Mr. Atwood on my own initiative."

"Came to him on the spot?" Officer Christopher was surprised, "What is your relationship with Mr. Atwood?"

"To be honest, I haven't met Mr. Atwood." "Because I'm about to graduate and I need a stable job. I heard that Mr. Atwood had some expertise in this area, so I came over to see if I could be lucky enough to get a letter of recommendation from him."

Mr. Pasteur spoke the truth, not as if he were lying.

This made Officer Christopher a little nerve-wracking.

"How's it going, have you found the murderer?" As soon as she saw Christopher return, Elena couldn't wait to step forward and ask.

And Christopher just shook his head helplessly.

"Does the officer have any clue now?" Bella asked.

Officer Christopher shook his head again.

Immediately afterward, he gave Bella a general introduction to the interrogation.

"If Mr. Pasteur had come to ask Mr. Atwood for his help, there would be no reason to kill him, would he?" "Even if the request fails, it will not be annoyed, and it will not be in the presence of so many guests downstairs. Even so, it was impossible to bring a musket with him when he came, did he know from the beginning that things would not work out? It doesn't make sense even more."

Judging from the motives, Mr. Pasteur should have no reason to do it.

"How many people are carrying muskets now?" Elena asked.

"There are five of them. It's all military, and that's reasonable." Officer Christopher replied, "I think if it's a prisoner, he should be able to throw the gun away before he gets back to the hall, and it's unlikely that he will still have it with him, so I didn't look into it."

"Is it possible that the prisoner thought you would judge this way and deliberately carried the gun with him? Because we all think that it is better to deal with the murder weapon as soon as possible, and taking abnormal actions in this way will reduce the suspicion, right?" Elena said.

"If Miss Medici had said, would it have been possible for the prisoner to think that you would have assumed that you would simply throw away the gun in the normal way, and your attention would be drawn to the man who 'deliberately' carried the gun?" Said the Marquis of Condorcet.

"It's ......," Elena thought made sense.

If it goes on like this, it will be endless, and it will fall into a logical dead end.

"Let's not talk about that yet." Bella said suddenly, "I'm curious about another question."

"What's the problem?" Elena also asked curiously.

"Just now when we were downstairs, we only heard a gunshot, right?" Bella said, "Who fired that shot?"

"Didn't the prisoner open it?" Elena said confusedly, "After the gunshots, Mr. Atwood's body was found, right?"

"If Officer Christopher had deduced that the prisoner had shot Mr. Atwood from outside the window." Bella continued, "So that means Mr. Atwood was shot in the back, and the bullet went through the heart, which caused his death?"

"That's right." "Although this is just my personal assumption, I can't seem to think of a more plausible explanation at this time."

"However, this assumption is also a bit problematic." "If Mr. Atwood was shot in the back and fell to the ground, why did he have a musket at hand before he died?"

"Do you mean that Mr. Atwood wanted to fight back before he died?" Officer Christopher said,

"If he sees a suspicious person outside the window, then he subconsciously takes out a pistol from his waist or from the drawer next to him, but before he can load it, he is shot by the other party first, then it makes sense." Bella said, "But in that case, Mr. Atwood should be facing the window, right?"

"But the tables and chairs on the scene are all facing away from the window." Officer Christopher understood what Bella meant.

There is indeed some contradiction here.

"And there's another problem." Bella said, "We were just checking the room, and Elena noticed that Mr. Atwood's musket still had residual heat, presumably in a state that had just been fired."

"Do you think that the gunshot was Mr. Atwood's own trigger?" Officer Christopher asked.

"To be precise, I think the gunfire just now must have come from the flintlock pistol that Mr. Atwood had in hand." "It is unknown if Mr. Atwood himself pulled the trigger," Bella said.

"Could it be that someone shot Mr. Atwood with that pistol and then dropped it next to the body?" Officer Christopher said, "But in that case, how is the prisoner going to get out of the room? The key to the room was in the possession of Mr. Atwood himself and Butler Pegg. Mr. Atwood's key was in the body's pocket, so naturally it was impossible to use it. The other had been on Mr. Peg, who had been with us all when the shots rang out. He must not have lied, for other servants had passed by Mr. Atwood's room and found the door closed."

Mr. Atwood did not like to be disturbed when he was busy, so the servants did not dare to trespass.

"So, is it really suicide?" Officer Christopher said, "Based on the current leads, there's only one explanation. Mr. Atwood, sitting in a chair with his back against the window, shot himself in the heart with a gun, the bullet piercing his chest and breaking the glass behind him, flying outside, while Mr. Atwood himself collapsed to the floor. That way, all the clues are just right. Still, I don't believe that Mr. Atwood will commit suicide."

Especially before the officer had reported to him the results of the investigation into that matter.

"No, if you commit suicide, how can you explain the presence of gunpowder near the bullet hole above the window?" Officer Christopher still insisted on rejecting the suicide explanation.

"Not only that, but if it is to be determined to be a suicide, it doesn't make sense at all." Bella said.

"What else?" Christopher asked.

"It's the speed at which corpses froze." Bella replied, "Before the blood has clotted, the corpse is already stiff."

It's so weird!

"But the explanation proposed by the Marquis de Condorcet has been ruled out, right?" Elena said.

"Hmm." The Marquis of Condorcet also nodded, "Indeed, I also think that statement is a bit far-fetched. And Officer Christopher has confirmed that Mr. Atwood did not exercise vigorously before he died."

In fact, even if there is strenuous exercise, the effect will not be so obvious.

"Now, I say, could it be some kind of medicine that can speed up the ossification of corpses?" Elena asked suddenly.

The others were silent.

"This ......," Officer Christopher began, "to be honest, I've never heard of this method in all my years of handling cases."

The officer shook his head, then added, "Of course, the world is big, and there are many things we haven't seen before."

Maybe there really is such a way?

Under Elena's surprise questioning, several people decided to go upstairs to have a look.

Officer Christopher also carefully examined Mr. Atwood's body again.

"No, I'm not a professional anatomist, and I'm not a doctor." "There's only a limited amount of information available to the naked eye," Officer Christopher said.

If tools are required, technicians are also required.

Just then, Steward Peg walked in.

"Excuse me." Mr. Peg said, "How's the investigation going, Officer? The guests were waiting downstairs, and some of them already wanted to leave."

If this happens, I'm afraid the banquet won't be able to go on.

"Please wait a little longer." Officer Christopher said, "I'll deal with it as soon as I can."

Mr. Peg answered, and withdrew.

No sooner had the butler left than Mr. Pasteur entered.