Early the next morning, Qin Zhibo and Kudo took a plane to Oklahoma, where last year's serial murders took place.
Oklahoma is located in the south-central part of the United States, more than 3,000 kilometers away from California.
Originally, Qin Zhibo felt that there was no need for Kudo Yukiko to come with him, but Kudo Yusaku meant that the couple were going to attend an important event in Massachusetts in the eastern United States recently, so they happened to be on their way.
Qin Zhibo immediately said that he was also going to Massachusetts.
"Massachusetts, are you going to Boston too?"
Qin Zhibo shook his head, "I want to go to Arkham."
"Arkham."
Kudo Yusaku pinched his chin, recalling his impressions of this eastern town in his mind.
In addition to the fact that Miskatonic University, one of the world's top universities, is located in that town, there are also occasional mysterious incidents reported there, such as pagan murders, witches and the like.
Kudo Yusaku has wanted to visit this city many times, but he just doesn't have free time.
It's still the same this time. Things in Boston are very important and I can't miss them.
"Then good luck to you"
Four hours later, the Boeing 747 landed at Oklahoma City Airport.
Qin Zhibo and Kudo took a car to the local police station and met with the police chief and the two state police officers who handled the case last year, Cole Rust and Martin Hart.
Last year's case made them heroes and promoted them to senior detectives.
When they heard that Kudo Yusaku was here for last year's case, the two expressed strong dissatisfaction.
"impossible!"
"Absolutely impossible!"
Martin's tone was strong, and he opened his arms and made exaggerated body movements, "We watched Regine Ledoux being shot to death with our own eyes!"
Cole glanced at his colleague Martin and said in a serious tone: "Mystery novelists who only catch rumors in newspapers, if you come all the way just to talk about this, then I'm afraid you will be disappointed."
Kudo Yusaku smiled slightly, the confidence in his eyes undisguised.
"Whether you are disappointed or not, just take a look at the complete case information collected that year."
Under the arrangement of the police chief, the original photos and notes taken by Cole and Martin when they investigated the scene were dug out of the archives.
The complete case information is at least twice as much as what is recorded in the file, and there are some photos that are of little significance to subsequent solving of the case.
Kudo Yusaku sat on a chair, his eyes focused on the large amount of information documents on the table. Cole and Martin stood beside him with their arms folded, watching with solemn expressions.
In the eyes of both of them, Regine Ledoux was the ultimate criminal, and it was absolutely impossible to overturn the case.
Regine LeDoux had the same spiral pattern on his body as the victim, manufactured drugs, and kidnapped children, which completely matched the characteristics of the murderer analyzed previously.
It was just that when he arrested Regin Ledoux, he said some strange words that left a deep impression on Detective Cole to this day.
"I saw you in a dream. We are all in Carcosa now. He sees you."
"You'll do it again."
"Time is a flat circle, and the black star will rise as usual."
Regin LeDoux was not killed for resisting with a gun, but Martin, after seeing him kidnapping children, directly killed Regin in a rage after he had already been captured.
At subsequent hearings, Cole and Martin fabricated a non-existent gunfight and claimed that Regin Ledoux died in the gunfight.
When Lei Jin was kneeling on the ground, he spoke these meaningful words, which made Cole impatient and felt that they had special meaning.
It was as if he had anticipated all this in his mind and was ready to make sacrifices for it.
Just as Detective Cole's mind was recalling the past, an action interrupted his thinking.
Qin Zhibo, who was at the table, raised his hand and pointed to a photo on the table, which showed a green house.
The existence of the photo made Kudo Yusaku's eyes light up, and he immediately picked up the photo and observed it carefully.
【Survey√】
[This is a photo of the house]
Qin Zhibo was able to notice this photo at a glance among a large number of documents precisely because of the light at the investigation point.
"It looks like a fresh coat of paint."
Kudo Yusaku picked up the photo and looked at it for a few seconds before making a judgment. Then he turned to look at Qin Zhibo, "It seems that our reasoning is correct."
The confident expressions on the faces of Kudo Yusaku and Qin Zhibo made Detective Martin beside him feel a little nervous, as if he had been caught with evidence of his own crime.
"Hey! Tell me clearly what's going on!"
Qin Zhibo took over, pointed to the original case file and explained: "You mentioned the 'green-eared spaghetti monster' in the file, and that the person who took Dora Lan away from the church was tall and had scars on his face.
man."
"But the murderer finally captured did not meet these characteristics, so we suspect that the murderer is someone else."
"The real murderer of Dora Lan was most likely a painter, who may have often done painting work locally."
“When was the house in this photo taken?”
Detective Martin looked at the house above with some doubts in his eyes, and some things he couldn't remember clearly.
At this time, Detective Cole, who had been silent for a long time, spoke.
"It was taken near the scene of Dora Lan's murder."
very good!
Qin Zhibo felt more certain now.
Getting in the police car, Qin Zhibo, Kudo Yusaku, plus two detectives, Cole and Martin, went to the location of the green house in the photo.
The police car drove slowly in front of the house. After a year of baptism, although the color of the paint on it was a bit old, it was still much newer than the surrounding houses.
"right here."
The four of them got out of the car and knocked on the door. The person who opened the door was an old woman.
Detective Martin explained his purpose to the old lady, and the old lady invited the four people into her home.
The old lady told everyone that the painting service for her home last year was a maintenance company that specialized in serving congregants in the church area, so the price was very affordable. It only cost US$250 to paint the entire house.
"Excuse me, do any of the painters who provide services have scars on their chins?" Kudo Yusaku suddenly asked.
"Yes, there is indeed a young man with a big scar on his chin."
After hearing this testimony, the four of them looked at each other and understood what it meant.
Detective Martin asked for the name of the maintenance company again. The old lady rummaged in the drawer for a while before she found the company's business card.
"Childress Family Maintenance Company"
After Detective Martin read the business card, he handed it out to everyone in turn.
Detective Cole took the business card from Kudo Yusaku and frowned slightly when he looked at the last name "Childeress".
This chapter has been completed!