The mysterious death of the trapeze artist in the Red Sun Circus has cast a shadow over the atmosphere of the New Year. Of course, this shadow is only in the hearts of the circus members, as well as Tang Zhenguo and me, and for others, this incident is just the same as the knife injury incident a year ago, just an after-dinner conversation.

"Nonsense!" Tang Zhenguo walked around my messy living room with an indignant face.

I know why he behaved like this, because the death of the trapeze artist was spread weirdly and bizarre by bad media and netizens with good deeds. Those eye-catching headlines are overwhelming, "The trapeze beauty died on the stage strangely, is the evil ghost asking for her life or the soul looking for a substitute?" "The Wandering Flying Girl hangs a little, and her death is actually because...""How thin is the red face, and the waves are cautious." ......

Of course, I don't shy away from the sheer gossip news, and I don't have time to pay attention to it right now, because a convicted murder case is in front of me. A man died in a rented house in Dazhulin (place name), and it was initially determined that he was killed.

I dragged the worried Tang Zhenguo to the scene of the crime, which had been cordoned off by the police, and the crime scene investigation team was doing a scene investigation in the house, Lao Lu asked me to wait outside, he said that the body had decomposed, and the house was very smelly.

I asked, "How was the body found?" ”

Lao Lu said: "It was found out by the landlord, because the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and the landlord wants to talk to the tenant about the rent increase, but the phone has not been able to get through, so he came directly to him, who knew that he had died in the house." ”

"What does the medical examiner say?"

"It was strangled to death, and the method is similar to the murder case of the Xishan Bell Tower, I don't know if it was a coincidence or a serial killing?"

I was stunned, I hope I don't have anything to do with that "devil killer", otherwise the case will be complicated.

The investigation team completed the investigation, and me, Tang Zhenguo, and Lao Lu put on masks and gloves and entered the crime scene.

The rental house is not big, an old-fashioned house, two bedrooms, one living room, one bathroom and one kitchen, the windows are closed, the deceased is lying on the bed in the master bedroom, his head is hanging on the edge of the bed, there are obvious corpse spots on his face, and a very thick strangulation mark on his neck. The quilt fell under the bed, and the bed was extremely messy, with obvious signs of struggle. The deceased was wearing pajamas, pajamas, and no socks, and apparently had sneaked into the house while he was sleeping.

I said, "It looks like I've been dead for almost ten days." ”

Lao Lu said: "The medical examiner concluded that the time of death was a week ago. ”

I nodded, looked at the deceased's hair, and said, "This man is quite fashionable, and he actually has long hair like an artist." ”

Lao Lu said: "Well, the landlord said that he is a running board band, mainly for burlesque performances, such as clowns and the like. ”

"Joker?" I had some inexplicable feelings in my heart, but I couldn't tell what it was, maybe it was because the word 'clown' was associated with a circus that had just had a mysterious death.

"Huh! Isn't this Uncle Mao? How did you die? Tang Zhenguo, who was originally worried on the side, suddenly spoke.

"Uncle Mao, who is Uncle Mao?" I asked hurriedly.

Tang Zhenguo said: "I only know that his name is Uncle Mao, and he used to work with the Hongyang Circus, because our circus does not have a full-time clown, so we often invite him to participate, and he has participated in many times, almost becoming a full-time clown in the circus, so I am deeply impressed." In fact, in addition to a few finale scenes in the Hongyang Circus, when holding large-scale performances, many actors are temporarily rented through third-party performing arts companies to participate. ”

"You mean the circus shows of the Foreseen Days, and there are also a lot of actors who are just temporary workers?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"I guess!"

I frowned, and then said to Lao Lu: "Comrade policeman, I want to report the case!" ”

Lao Lu said: "What kind of fame are you going to make?" ”

I said: "I suspect that the death of the trapeze artist of the Red Sun Circus during a performance a few days ago was not an accident, but a murder. ”

Lao Lu and Tang Zhenguo both looked at me with wide eyes, and I continued: "A few days before the big performance of the circus, the 'clown' who has been working with the circus for a long time was assassinated in his own home, and then the trapeze artist of the circus died mysteriously without a medical history, and the autopsy result was poisoning of the umbrella peptide. This has to make me suspect that someone who, after assassinating the Joker, impersonated himself into the circus and then poisoned the trapeze. ”

Lao Lu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, rolled his eyes a few times, and said, "If you kill this 'clown', will you definitely be able to blend into the circus?" ”

At this time, Tang Zhenguo preemptively said: "It is possible, because before the big performance, the circus will gather all the actors participating in the performance for a three-day rehearsal." ”

I said, "Yes, during rehearsals, there is a good chance that the killer will poison him." But how exactly he got into the circus, I'll find out. ”

"Okay, I'll file a case immediately, and the two cases will be investigated together!" Lao Lu said firmly.

After that, Tang Zhenguo and I found the old head Yang Jianbing, the 73-year-old head of the old regiment because of the death of his adopted daughter, a temporary gas blockage, caused a brain bolt, but the rescue was timely and no major problem.

In the ward, the old leader's daughter was carefully feeding him porridge, and when he saw us, he asked his daughter to put the porridge aside and said, "Zhenguo, come here." ”

I could see the old leader's eyes, he did not look at Tang Zhenguo with viciousness and disgust like other circus members, but a look of pity and pity.

The tough guy Tang Zhenguo's eyes were a little red, but he still endured it, and said in his mouth: "Leader, I'm here." ”

"Sit down, that little comrade, you sit too." The old head of the regiment said to me and Tang Zhenguo.

His daughter took one look at us and left the ward with the uneaten porridge and lunch box.

The old head of the regiment watched his daughter's back and left the ward, so he asked Tang Zhenguo to step forward, and took his hand and said, "Hey! Wickedness, wickedness. The circus doesn't know which way to offend the evil god, and there are big accidents every year! Your poor wife, my poor daughter, have gone in this way. After speaking, it was already old tears.

Tang Zhenguo didn't speak, but his eyes were completely moist.

I slowly walked to the bedside and whispered to the old leader: "Old man, they won't go so unexplained, I am a detective, I never believe in ghosts and gods, I can feel that the two circus accidents are man-made." I need your help right now to clear up some of my doubts. ”

The old head wiped his tears, nodded and said, "Yes, I don't believe in any ghosts, little comrade, you must help me catch this bastard who has received a thousand knives, I will cut him with a thousand knives." The more the old head spoke, the more excited he became, and his hands were shaking. Tang Zhenguo hurriedly comforted a few words, so as to prevent the old man's old illness from recurring.

I said, "Old Chief, man, I will definitely help you catch him, but he will definitely not be able to cut him with a thousand cuts, and he will be punished by the law." Now I have a question, the clown who participated in the show a few days ago, do you know his identity? ”

The old head thought for a while and said, "Uncle Mao hasn't been in touch before, and then I contacted a clown from Qiyu Company, what's the matter?" Any questions? ”

"Do you have the name and contact information of the clown?"

"Wait. Zhenguo, help me get the phone on the bedside table. ”

Tang Zhenguo brought the old leader's mobile phone, and the old head trembled and opened the mobile phone address book, then took it to me and said, "This is the phone." ”

The name stored in the address book is 'Clown Guo Renlong', I took out my mobile phone and dialed the number, which was turned off.

So I said to the old head of the group: "Old head of the group, you have a good rest, we won't bother you, I will take Zhenguo to see you when I have time." ”

Then he glanced at Tang Zhenguo and signaled to leave immediately.

Tang Zhenguo exchanged a few words with the old head of the regiment, and then walked out of the ward with me.

My destination is very clear, go directly to Qiyu Company and find this Guo Renlong's registration information.

I dialed Lao Lu's phone, and Lao Lu was solving the murder case in Dazhulin, so I assigned Xiao Xia to assist me.

At the first glance of Xiao Xia, the sunny breath on his face before was obviously dimmed a lot, his eyes were a little puffy, his face was pale, and his eyes were relatively sloppy, giving people the appearance that he hadn't woken up.

"This young man in his early twenties is so hard at work?" I thought about it casually.

However, my subsequent observations proved that his current mental outlook was not caused by hard work. Because within ten minutes of meeting us, he looked at his phone eight times, and replied quickly six times, with a heartfelt smile on the corner of his mouth. It seems that this kid is in love, and he is still in love, so he overdraws his body and causes a poor mental outlook. In the past, it was said that people are in good spirits when they are happy, but sometimes, this concept has to change.

Xiao Xia's identity as a criminal police officer made me quickly find the information of the clown Guo Renlong in Qiyu Company.

His information registration time was five days earlier than the time of the trapeze accident, so it seems that it is more consistent with the time when Uncle Mao was killed by the clown, and it was obviously registered in Qiyu Company after Uncle Mao's death. And in terms of work requirements, he directly filled in the large-scale performance of the Red Sun Circus for the New Year.

"$50 an hour? Isn't that a low asking price? I pointed to the intention salary on the registration form and asked the staff of Qiyu.

The staff said: "This is the price of cabbage, there is no lower than him." ”

"Hmm!" I nodded. I thought: The intention to participate in the performance is Hongyang Circus, and the salary is low, which is probably why Qiyu recommended Guo Renlong to Hongyang Circus.

I took a picture of some important information such as ID number, home address, etc., with my mobile phone, and then prepared to investigate deeply. But I didn't expect all this information to be forged, the ID number and address didn't exist at all, and even the copy of the ID card kept by Qiyu was fake. asked the staff of Qiyu, they were also confused, and they couldn't answer why. The only clue is the inch photo he left. But in the vast sea of people, where to find this person? And because of the human skin mask of the "Demon Slayer", I am also skeptical about the authenticity of the photo.

I gave the photo to Xiao Xia and asked him to find this person through the power of the police, and at the same time told him to pay attention to his body and not to work too hard at night. He smiled and rushed back to the police station with the photo.

There has been no substantial progress in the search for the 'Joker', but the strange existence of this 'Joker' once again proves that the killing of the trapeze artist is by no means a simple accident.