"Give it a go. Hodge nudged Layton next to him, took the fire fold from his hand, and told him to retreat further away to leave enough space.

He crouched down, bent low, and examined the ground near Virginia's body, trying to discern if there were any footprints in the soil of the murderer's departure.

"Too much, too messy. He shook his head, although Virginia's body was still parked in place, it was clear that many people had already been to this crime scene, and there were so many shoe prints in the soft soil that it was impossible to tell which belonged to the murderer.

He stood up, took Hera's hand again, and said to Layton, "It seems that there is only so much we can know to send him to the morgue." ”

"Next, take me to the place where the other two people were killed. ”

......

The first deceased, Eugene, was killed in an overgrown wilderness outside the town, while the body of the second deceased, Cromwell, was found on the banks of the town's only sewer river, near which there were at least three entrances to the Blackstone underpass.

As before, Hodge found far fewer clues in two places than in the alleyway, after all, Virginia had just been killed yesterday, and both had been dead for a long time, and the town's guards were obviously not aware of protecting the scene, and countless pairs of footprints trampled on all possible remaining clues.

"In fact, even then, apart from the fact that the bodies of Eugene and Cromwell were left in place, the scene was no different from what you would observe at this time, and the mysterious murderer was so cautious that he left us with little useful information. Layton sighed helplessly and complained to Hodge.

In the face of such a cautious murderer, the patrol guard is helpless, even if it takes considerable effort to collect clues, the information that can be obtained is still limited, not only exhausted, but also has to suffer from Pollitt's cold eyes, Layton, as the deputy captain of the patrol guard, has been reprimanded by Pollitt several times as useless waste, which makes him very uncomfortable.

"No, we got a pretty crucial clue. Hodge pondered as he responded to Layton's complaints.

"What is it?" asked Layton, surprised.

"It's simple. Hodge stopped and turned to look at him, "That's where these three people were killed." ”

"Where?"

"According to the information I know, although these three businessmen are not presidents in their respective chambers of commerce, they are also very authoritative leaders, each of them has a lot of money, and the richer the people, the more they will have a sense of crisis, they need to be safe, so even if they go to the latrine, they have to bring two or three attendants to feel at ease. ”

"Three such men, one died in a hidden alleyway where even the perpetrators seldom visited, one died in a deserted field, and the other died by the stinking sewer. Hodge's eyes shone with a thrilling light, and he stared into Layton's eyes and said, "Do you think it is possible for these three people to come to such a place? What's more important is that they still came alone, without a single attendant, and even wished that no one knew their whereabouts, why?"

"Why...... Layton was bewildered by the repeated questions, and didn't know how to answer.

Fortunately, Hodge didn't expect him to answer, and said to himself: "There can only be one reason, what they are going to do in these places cannot be known to anyone, and this matter is very important to them." ”

"Look, isn't that a pretty crucial clue?"

Hodge said, "Eugene and Cromwell's bodies are still in the morgue, right?"

"Yes, because we have not been able to catch the murderer, we have never agreed to the Chamber's request to burn the corpses, and now the two bodies should be in the morgue in the basement of the outpost. ”

"Plus Virginia, which was just sent over, is three, which is good. Hodge corrected Layton's statement and nodded in satisfaction, "Then where we're going next, that's it." ”

......

"Your Excellency, you should need my help. "As soon as Ralph, the outpost's doctor, put on his fish belly gloves and picked up a knife to dissect Virginia's body, Hodge, Hera, and Layton arrived at the morgue.

"I'm not Your Excellency, you don't have to call me that. ”

Hodge leaned slightly sideways, and his seemingly casual gesture pushed Ralph aside, and although he responded to his words, his attention was all focused on the three corpses in the morgue, and he didn't seem to want to deal with him at all.

Virginia's corpse had not yet had time to be autopsied, and there was only enough to see from the outside, so he went straight past Virginia and went to the bodies of the two men.

Eugene's corpse had obviously been autopsied, he leaned down to look at the dissected corpse, his brows furrowed high: "The larynx was pierced? No, it was a directly dissected larynx, and the wound was not deep, this is a good control of the strength and only cut the trachea to suffocate him, quite a cruel technique, which can make the deceased suffer for a long time before dying." ”

"But why are several blood vessels in it also broken, it shouldn't hurt so deeply in terms of this incision...... Well, no, the incision in the trachea appears earlier than the incision in the blood vessel, damn, it was a mistake during the dissection. ”

Walking up to Cromwell's corpse and lifting the sackcloth that covered it, even Hodge, who was accustomed to all kinds of tragic deaths, was moved by it, and the poor merchant really suffered a lot before he died.

"It's pathetic...... This thing was cut into meat paste dregs, as a man, even if he survived, he couldn't love it, the tendons of both wrists were broken, the murderer shouldn't do meaningless things, this should have some meaning, aha, the large blood vessels on the inside of both elbows were cut, and the cause of death was excessive blood loss, but why are there a few extra incisions......"

After Hodge finished his observation, he unceremoniously walked up to Ralph and pulled the fish maw gloves he had already put on on his hands directly with both hands.

"What are you doing here!" Ralph exclaimed.

Hodge put the gloves on his hands without changing his face, crouched down and felt out his old friend hidden in his boots, "Didn't you just ask me if I needed help? My answer is no, your dissection is too clumsy, you have wasted two corpses, and I really can't see anything if you waste one." ”

Ralph's face turned red, and he yelled at Hodge's back: "I have the surgical qualification issued by the Herbal Society, what kind of thing are you to dare to question me!"

"That can only show that the Herbal Medicine Society has become more and more casual in recent years, and even the autopsy of corpses is not good, and it is even more profitable to kill you by using a knife to save people. ”

"You!" Ralph's nostrils began to gasp, and he looked like he wanted to come up and fight him, Hera, who felt the hostility, frowned deeply, and opened her mouth slightly, as long as Ralph dared to really rush forward, she promised not to hesitate to smash this strange human with the sound blade.

Layton had to be glad that he was here, and before Hera could go crazy, Layton hurriedly pulled Ralph aside, grabbed his shoulders with both hands, and said in a deep voice: "Enough, you go out first, this is Lord Pollitt's honored guest." ”

"But vice-captain, even then he can't-"

"Get out!" Layton roared, grimacing face, "I don't want to say it a second time. ”

Perhaps accustomed to Leiden's usual good temper, this was the first time Ralph had seen him so angry, and he was slightly stunned for a moment, and exited the morgue with a little reluctance.

Layton breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that he could not blame me, this was for everyone's safety.

Without interruptions, Hodge concentrated on the dissection while Hera and Layton waited.

Leiden's knowledge was only a few simple methods of bandaging wounds, and he didn't know anything about such difficult operations as dissection, but even so, after seeing Hodge's precise and smooth knife technique, as well as the neat shape of the corpse after being dissected, and comparing the impression of Ralph's movements, he had to admit that even a layman could see that Hodge's technique was far superior to Ralph's.

It seems that Hodge was not a lie when he said that he had been a doctor for a long time, but he looked so young, so how long did he start a career as a doctor?

Before he could distract from his thoughts, a voice cut him off.

Hodge had already ripped off his gloves, put the knife back in his boots, and beckoned to the two of them, shouting, "Go." ”

So fast?, Layton was a little surprised, and took a few steps to follow.

As Hodge walked on his own, not looking like he could speak, and the little witch beside him apparently wouldn't ask questions, Layton was so flustered that he couldn't help but ask, "How was the result?"

"Oh, it's pretty much what I expected. Hodge replied casually.

"Pretty much what?"

"The injuries of the three people are not fatal, if they can be rescued in an emergency, they will not be fatal, but if they do not get first aid, they will die painfully and slowly, obviously this move is not the murderer's immature methods, he deliberately did not let the three people die immediately, his purpose is to let them die with pain, and he has to witness this process with his own eyes. Hodge said slowly.

"We can analyze the psychology of the murderer, in this case, either the psychopath is so perverted that he enjoys the slow death of others, or the three people have a grudge against the murderer, quite a terrible hatred, so that the murderer makes them regret some of the things they have done in the process of slow death. ”

"If it's the former, then it should be a purposeless killing of others, and they won't deliberately choose targets, but the three people who died were all famous businessmen in Blackstone Town, and if they just enjoyed the slow death of others, the murderer didn't need to choose these three difficult targets, so I prefer the latter. ”

And from the abnormal behavior of the three deceased, it can be known that at least these three people know the murderer, even if they are not particularly familiar, but in their eyes, the murderer will not make such an outrageous move, which shows that they do not know that the murderer has hatred with themselves, and can subconsciously trust him, which shows that the murderer's status in the town is definitely not low. ”

"To know this, the scope of our investigation has been narrowed, and if we want to go further, we have to start with another clue. Hodge said, holding his chin.

Layton asked, "Another clue?"

"It's the clean nook in the lining of Virginia's clothes, and the murderer took out a booklet from his body, maybe a book, maybe a ledger, maybe a diary, this murderer doesn't look like a person who can do superfluous things, so what exactly is in his inner lining, this is our next breakthrough. ”

"Are you familiar with the people of the Francois Chamber of Commerce?"

"Not particularly familiar. "But they have a good relationship with Master Pollitt, so it shouldn't be difficult for them to cooperate with us." ”

"Good, then the place we went was there. Hodge looked at the building in the distance, "We need to find someone close to Virginia and figure out what was taken away." ”