Chapter 14: Hong Qifeng's Conjecture

Hong Qifeng listened to He Mo's question, pointed to the clothes and hat in Liu Haoran's hand and said, "Now with two pieces of evidence, can you find out who these are?" โ€

He Mo shrugged noncommittally, took out a evidence bag, and asked Liu Haoran to put his coat and hat in it.

After he pretended, He Mo asked Hong Qifeng: "You said before that maybe we were all wrong, what do you mean?" โ€

Hong Qifeng thought for a moment and said, "We have always thought that Mrs. Han's death is nothing more than two possibilities, either she commits suicide or has something to do with her son Han Sui, right?" โ€

Liu Haoran and Li Yunbai nodded hurriedly.

"But if it's really that simple, what about the man in black just now?" Hong Qifeng asked, pointing to the window.

Seeing that the other three had no answers, he continued on his own: "This is just one of the things that is inconsistent with our inference. โ€

He Mo nodded and said, "Indeed, there is another inconsistency that I found just now. โ€

"What is it?" Hong Qifeng asked.

"I also found some rosin powder by the window just now, and there is some residue on the table." He Mo took out a small transparent evidence bag, which contained a little powder.

"The powder is very subtle, I didn't find it during the previous on-site survey, and now I noticed it in the targeted search. This shows that there was once a lot of rosin powder in the air in this room. โ€

"Does this mean that Han Sui was not at the scene?" Liu Haoran asked.

He Mo nodded: "At least when Mrs. Han is alive to fiddle with rosin powder, he will definitely not be there, otherwise he would not have survived so intact until now." โ€

Hong Qifeng thought for a while and said, "Another unreasonable place is that Mrs. Han has the shoes on her feet. โ€

He looked at He Mo and the other three, and said slowly but firmly, "I have a bold and somewhat strange conjecture. โ€

The other three all looked at Hong Qifeng expectantly, wondering what kind of conjecture he had.

Hong Qifeng took a breath, looked at He Mo, and said as if he had made up his mind: "There may be some unreasonable things for me to say, you have to bear it." โ€

He Mo smiled: "Anyway, you're just guessing, I don't care." โ€

Hong Qifeng said: "According to your judgment, Mrs. Han should have hanged herself, right?" โ€

He Mo nodded.

"What if not?"

"Impossible!" He Mo habitually retorted.

"Don't worry, I'm not doubting your professionalism."

He Mo pursed his lips and did not continue to refute him.

Hong Qifeng coughed dryly and continued: "Actually, I only had these conjectures after listening to what Xiao Li said last time. โ€

"Me?" Li Yunbai pointed to his nose and asked.

"Yes." Hong Qifeng nodded: "You said last time, eliminate every impossible reason, and in the end, there is only one left, no matter how unbelievable it is, it can only be the only truth!" โ€

"Oh! That's not what I said, it's a blessing ยทยทยทยทยทยท." Li Yunbai wanted to say more, but found that He Mo glared at him and immediately closed his mouth.

Hong Qifeng continued: "Let's review the clues of the whole case: first, the height of Mrs. Han's feet off the ground when she died, if she hanged herself, this height cannot be explained, so we first rule out the judgment of self-hanging. โ€

As soon as he finished speaking, He Mo wanted to speak, but Hong Qifeng raised his hand and swallowed back the words that came to his mouth.

"Second, the pine pollen left at the scene ruled out the possibility of Han Sui's presence, right?"

This time He Mo nodded.

"Third, the shoes worn by Mrs. Han and the dirt marks on the soles. Can it be said that she went out before she died? โ€

This time, He Mo not only nodded, but also echoed: "Yes, there is a possibility, that is, this is not the scene of the first crime!" โ€

Hong Qifeng didn't answer He Mo's words, but continued: "Fourth, the appearance of the man in black just now shows that Han Lao Taiji may not be an old lady who has no quarrel with the world!" โ€

"Is there any secret she has that no one knows?" Liu Haoran hurriedly asked.

"Don't interrupt! Didn't you see Team Hong analyzing the case? Li Yunbai stopped him, but he asked Hong Qifeng: "What is your bold and weird conjecture?" โ€

Hong Qifeng frowned and said, "My guess is that the deceased Mrs. Han was killed in another place in a way that seemed to hang herself, and then secretly transported the body back to Bali Lane. โ€

He paused for a moment before continuing: "Then use the knife with Han Sui's fingerprints to blame Han Sui, and make it appear that Han Sui used the knife to force his mother to commit suicide!" โ€

After hearing his conjecture, everyone was stunned, this was indeed a "bold and somewhat strange idea".

"Since it's to blame Han Sui, why come up with such a complicated way to blame?" Li Yunbai was the first to raise his own questions.

"That's where the murderer is cunning." Hong Qifeng replied: "First of all, this complicated way to blame is a double insurance. โ€

"Double insurance?" The crowd did not understand what he meant.

"Yes," Hong Qifeng explained, "if we handle the case in a foolish manner and treat it as a suicide case, the murderer will naturally not pose any threat." โ€

"Well, that's for sure." Everyone agrees with this statement.

"But if we find the flaw that our feet are too high off the ground," Hong Qifeng continued, "then we will definitely focus on that knife, and the suspicion of the murderer will naturally shift to Han Sui." โ€

"Oh." Liu Haoran nodded: "Then why don't you use the knife directly, there are Han Sui's fingerprints on the knife, wouldn't it be more direct?" โ€

Hong Qifeng said: "In fact, the reason why you don't use a knife is that there is no way to restore the current scene to the first crime scene. โ€

"Yes," He Mo agreed, "Cutaneous injuries such as stab wounds can cause a large number of splattered blood traces, which can hardly be simulated in the second scene." โ€

Hong Qifeng continued: "In addition, it is very troublesome to transfer the body due to trauma to death. โ€

"Well," He Mo also nodded in agreement: "Relatively speaking, it is indeed much easier to transfer the hanged corpse. โ€

"But according to your forensic opinion, after the body has been moved, there will definitely be clues to be seen." Liu Haoran asked He Mo.

He Mo shook his head lightly and said: "That's theoretical, in reality, some traces are extremely small, and we can't help but do everything in detail when investigating and collecting evidence." โ€

"So, is there really a way to move a body to another place without being found?" Li Yunbai also asked curiously.

"If," He Mo paused and said, "I mean if." โ€

"If I'm going to move a hanged corpse, I can keep the corpse hanging in the transport, and when I move it, wrap the corpse in something thick and soft, as long as the process is fast enough, I can basically keep the shape of the corpse from changing drastically."

"Keep the corpse hanging?" Li Yunbai repeated this sentence and asked again: "That should be a relatively tall vehicle?" โ€

"With the height of the deceased, an ordinary truck with a roof, or a taller van or commercial vehicle, can do it." He Mo replied.

Li Yunbai sighed: "Alas, this range is still too large, and there is no way to start from the vehicle." โ€

After answering the questions of the two young people, He Mo looked at Hong Qifeng and asked, "If what you said is right, then what is the purpose of the murderer?" What is the motive for blaming Han Sui? โ€

"The purpose should be what the man in black was looking for here." Hong Qifeng seems to have figured all this out a long time ago: "The motive for blaming Han Sui should be to clear his suspicion, and at the same time take advantage of the poor relationship between Han Sui and Mrs. Han to make a fuss." โ€

Hong Qifeng immediately added another sentence after speaking: "But all this is just my conjecture, and there is no way to prove it now." โ€

"It's a pity that I didn't catch the man in black," Liu Haoran said to himself, "Otherwise, we can prove that Team Hong's conjecture is right now." โ€

Hong Qifeng walked over and patted him on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, in fact, we still have a few directions to continue the investigation." โ€

"In what direction?"

"The first direction is that we will also look for it and see what the man in black was looking for just now."

"That's right," Li Yunbai patted his thigh and said, "The man in black ran away in such a hurry just now, obviously he didn't find what he wanted, as long as we find what he is looking for first, there should be a breakthrough!" โ€

"Shall we start looking for it now?" Liu Haoran couldn't wait to atone for his sins.

"Don't worry," Hong Qifeng regained his former composure, smiling and said, "We have a second direction." โ€

"Second direction?" Liu Haoran involuntarily asked: "What is the second direction?" โ€

Hong Qifeng looked at He Mo and said slowly: "This second direction depends on Director He's ability!" โ€