Yu Xinxin's words shocked Xiao Lou - she heard an obvious cough, which meant that Liu Yuming was not the only one who got up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night last night!
Xiao Lou looked at her with a smile and continued to ask: "Xinxin, can you determine the time when you heard the cough?"
Yu Xinxin tilted her head and thought for a while, then said: "It should be 3:10. I finished using the toilet, returned to my seat, and raised my head to look at the time on the screen in the carriage."
Xiao Lou quickly picked up a pen and paper and wrote down this key information.
He then asked: "What happened next? Did you hear or see anything else?"
Yu Xinxin said: "The old lady seemed to be very ill. She coughed for a while, and the sound got farther and farther away from me, and I couldn't hear it anymore. But it was strange. After the old lady walked away, there seemed to be a dark figure in the dining car, walking towards
Go in the direction of bus No. 6."
Xiao Louwen said: "How tall is that black shadow? Fat or thin? Do you still remember?"
Yu Xinxin recalled carefully for a few seconds and said: "She should be quite thin, not fat anyway! I didn't see clearly how tall she was."
"Then what?" Xiao Lou looked at her and asked, "Is anyone else going to the toilet?"
"Yes! A few minutes later, um... around 3:30, I saw a light on the side of Car No. 6. The light was very obvious, and there was also a strange sound coming from the trash can."
Xiao Lou was startled. The obvious light showed that it was Liu Yuming who was taking a charging light to the toilet. He was the only one in the group who brought a charging light.
When asked before, Liu Yuming said that he went to the toilet at three o'clock in the middle of the night, but the little girl said it was half past three. There was a time difference of half an hour. Children can't lie. It was obviously Liu Yuming who was there.
lie!
"Uncle, are there any mice in the carriage?" the little girl raised her head seriously and asked.
"There was no mouse in the car. Maybe someone accidentally touched the trash can." Xiao Lou smiled slightly and asked softly, "How long did the sound last?"
"It only takes a few seconds." Yu Xinxin said with a smile, "I was still wondering if the mice were rummaging through the trash can and someone got up in the middle of the night to catch the mice!"
Xiao Lou touched the child's head and said, "Besides the sound, did you see anything else?"
Yu Xinxin said: "Not long after the sound of the trash can sounded, the two bathrooms in Car No. 6 both turned on red lights."
On the high-speed train, there will be a restroom sign on the top of the carriage. When the restroom is unoccupied, the light will be green (unmanned). When someone enters the restroom and locks the door, it will turn red (occupied).
There are many passengers in the carriage. This setting is also to make it easier for passengers to judge whether the restroom is free. If you want to go to the restroom and see that both restrooms on the top of the carriage are "occupied", you can wait for a while and wait for people to leave before going.
.
Unexpectedly, this simple light reminder turned out to be a key clue to the case!
The little girl said that after the lights were turned on, there was a strange sound coming from the trash can, and then both bathrooms turned "occupied". This meant that when Liu Yuming went to the bathroom, another person entered the bathroom opposite him.
.
There were two people in the bathroom at that time. Liu Yuming did not mention such an obvious suspicion at all.
Xiao Lou then asked: "Both bathrooms have red lights, which one turned green first?"
The little girl said: "The light in the bathroom on the left soon turned green. The old man holding the light walked away. The light on the right has been red for a long time. Maybe someone has diarrhea!"
When Yu Xinxin's mother heard this, she couldn't help but become nervous: "Did something happen on the No. 6 bus? Why do you keep asking about my daughter's situation in the middle of the night last night?"
Xiao Lou gave her a reassuring look and said, "It's nothing serious. It's just that an old man has lost valuable jewelry. We need to investigate carefully and find the thief." He looked at the child and said warmly, "Xinxin is also
You hate thieves, right? So, you have to tell uncle everything you see and hear, okay?"
Xiao Lou was very good at coaxing children, and his smile was kind and gentle. Children Yu Xinxin liked this steward uncle very much. In order to cooperate with catching the thief, she very actively told everything she knew——
"I couldn't sleep after going to the toilet last night. Everyone else in the carriage was sleeping, so I just sat on my seat and looked at the stars outside."
"After the man with the lamp left, there were suddenly a lot of meteor showers outside the window. It was so beautiful! I had been watching the meteor shower. After ten minutes, there were hurried footsteps from the side of Car No. 6. I didn't look at it.
It was clear, but the man walked near the dining car, did not go to the toilet, and suddenly turned around and went back. Immediately afterwards, the toilet door on the right opened and the light turned green."
"It was around 3:40, and there were two coughs in the carriage. Then, I felt very sleepy and fell asleep."
Xiao Lou wrote down her answer word for word with his pen flying like flying paper.
Yu Xinxin looked at him curiously and asked: "Uncle, can what I said help you?"
Xiao Lou smiled softly: "Xinxin is great. What you said is very useful. We will definitely catch the thief."
Yu Xinxin smiled and rolled her eyes: "That's good!"
She didn't know what happened next when she fell asleep. Seeing that Xiao Lou couldn't ask anything else, he asked Yu Xinxin's mother to carry her back. Yu Xinxin waved to Xiao Lou: "Goodbye, uncle!"
Xiao Lou said goodbye to the little girl. He turned around and walked in the direction of Car No. 6. But halfway through, Zhou Zheng in row 8 suddenly stopped him with an ugly expression on his face and asked in a low voice in his ear: "Is there someone dead in Car No. 6?"
Xiao Lou turned around unexpectedly and lowered his voice: "How do you know?"
Zhou Zheng took out his mobile phone and showed Xiao Lou the WeChat message sent by his girlfriend Mo Jiaran——
There is a long list of WeChat records on the phone: "An old man died in carriage No. 6. The conductor also locked the door of the carriage and refused to let anyone out. He just checked the luggage of all passengers one by one. It was so scary!"
Zhou Zheng: "What's the situation? How could someone die?"
Mo Jiaran: "I don't know. I heard some people talking outside, saying it was a heart attack or something. The people in the senior citizen tour group were very nervous. I don't want to stay in Car No. 6 anymore. Can you come and take me back?"
He took back his cell phone and asked Xiao Lou in a low voice: "Can you let my girlfriend go back to the No. 4 carriage? She will be scared there alone. I don't trust her."
Xiao Loudao: "Sorry, we are still investigating and we can't let anyone leave for the time being. Don't publicize it to the outside world. Send her a text message and let her stay in her room with peace of mind. This matter has nothing to do with her and we won't embarrass her.
Hers.”
Zhou Zheng frowned and said, "Okay."
He had a headache and was worried that he would not be able to convince the eldest lady. Xiao Lou was also afraid that the eldest lady would make trouble, so he simply went to Car No. 6 and went to Mo Jiaran's room to comfort her and said: "Miss Mo, you don't have to worry, our investigation is
The results will be available soon, and if you want to go back to Car No. 4, we won't stop you."
Mo Jiaran nodded palely.
Xiao Lou turned around and came to the steward's office of Car No. 6. Yu Hanjiang was frowning slightly, looking at the record book filled with testimonies.
The two looked at each other, and Yu Hanjiang stood up quickly and said: "Professor Xiao, please sit down."
Xiao Lou smiled and shook his head: "It's okay, Captain Yu, please sit down. I have Yu Xinxin's testimony here for you to take a look at."
He closed the door of the office smoothly, leaned against the table, and picked up the testimony of Yu Hanjiang's interrogation of Mrs. Mei and read it carefully.
The office was very quiet, both of them were looking at the results of each other's inquiries.
This case is much more complicated than imagined.
After a few seconds, Yu Hanjiang, who was sitting in his seat, suddenly picked up a pen and drew a floor plan of the carriage in his notebook.
He pointed to the picture and analyzed: "The dining car is in the middle, with Car No. 6 on the left and Car No. 4 on the right. Since the dining car does not have a bathroom, it shares two bathrooms with Car No. 6, and the location is right at the end near Car No. 4."
Xinxin's seat is very close to the dining car, so she can clearly see the light prompts on the top of the car."
Yu Hanjiang then drew the seating distribution of the senior group: "Room 1, Room 2, and Room 3 are all far away from the restroom. They need to go through the entire carriage to get to the restroom near the dining car."
Xiao Lou looked at the testimony with some confusion and said: "According to Xinxin's description, she heard an obvious cough. Could this cough be that of Mrs. Mei? You wrote in the record that she had obvious asthma.
I can’t help but cough when answering questions.”
Yu Hanjiang nodded and said: "It should be her. The murderer committed the crime in the middle of the night. It is impossible for people to hear it. If the cough wakes up the people in other carriages, and they open the door to see the situation, wouldn't it be bad to be caught? So, only
One explanation is that Mrs. Mei couldn't control her coughing, and she did get up at around three o'clock to go to the toilet."
Yu Hanjiang simply picked up the ballpoint pen and compiled a timeline based on Yu Xinxin's testimony——
"At 2:00, Li Zhemin and the three old men in the same room finished playing cards and went to bed together."
"At 3:10, Mrs. Mei got up to go to the toilet and coughed. Yu Xinxin also saw a figure appearing in the restaurant."
"At 3:30, Liu Yuming went to the toilet with a light, and the sound of mice came from the trash can, which lasted for several seconds. Another person entered the opposite toilet, and both toilets changed to the red light status of "occupied"
.”
"Around 3:40, a person wanted to go to the restroom, but turned back in a hurry after walking halfway. At this time, the person from the restroom opposite finally came out, and there was another coughing sound in the carriage, and Yu Xinxin fell asleep after that."
The timeline is very clearly organized.
However, so many people went to the toilet one after another, Xiao Lou couldn't help but hold his temples with a headache - coughing, lights, sounds near the trash can, footsteps hurriedly away...
It seems that there was a real undercurrent in Car No. 6 last night!
Yu Hanjiang looked at the timeline compiled in the notebook, touched his chin and fell into deep thought.
After a while, he began to interpret the clues one by one: "At 3:10, a figure appeared in the restaurant when the old lady was going to the toilet. There is a possibility that the murderer was preparing to commit the crime at that time, and suddenly heard the old lady coughing. In order to avoid being discovered by the old lady, he
He dodged and hid in the restaurant."
Xiao Lou thinks this speculation is very reasonable. Otherwise, why would he go to the restaurant in the middle of the night?
He agreed and said: "It makes sense. If you just go to the toilet, it doesn't matter even if you meet Mrs. Mei in person. There is no need to hide in the restaurant, unless there is something wrong in your heart. It seems that this person who hid in the restaurant,
He's probably the murderer."
Yu Hanjiang pointed to the third timeline and said: "Liu Yuming is lying. He deliberately confused the time and made up the reason for looking for a watch. Xinxin said that there was a strange sound coming from the trash can. It only lasted a few seconds. He couldn't possibly
Find the watch in seconds."
Xiao Lou nodded: "Yes, after a few seconds, it is more likely that someone accidentally touched the trash can in a panic? This person may be the murderer who was hiding in the restaurant just now. He wanted to go back, but he ran into Liu Yuming again.
, so I had to hide in the toilet in a hurry."
Yu Hanjiang said: "When Liu Yuming went to the toilet at 3:30, the red light also lit up in the toilet opposite. Your analysis is very reasonable - the person in the restaurant wanted to return to the No. 6 car, but he bumped into Liu Yuming and had to hide.
Go into the toilet. He stayed in the toilet until 3:40."
Yu Hanjiang circled several key points in the notebook with a pen: "3:40, this time is very critical, three people appeared at the same time - the first one was the person hiding in the toilet. He felt that it was safe outside and finally came out;
The other person was going to the toilet, but turned back halfway. He probably saw someone suddenly coming out of the toilet, so he turned around and ran away; and then there was Mrs. Mei, who got up again and coughed."
Xiao Lou frowned and thought for a while, then said: "Li Zhemin's death time should be after 3:40. It seems that during the half hour from 3:10 to 3:40, many people in the senior group got up to go to the toilet.
As a result, the murderer kept meeting other people... He first hid in the restaurant, and then in the toilet opposite, but when he came out of the toilet for the last time, would he bump into Mrs. Mei? "
Xiao Lou pointed out a key point.
This person who keeps hiding is very likely to be the murderer.
Otherwise, there is no way to explain why he repeatedly avoids acquaintances in the elderly group.
The last time Mrs. Mei got up at night, Xinxin was so sleepy that she fell asleep and did not see what happened next. Did the murderer escape, or was he finally unable to escape and was discovered by the old lady?
If it is the latter, then Mrs. Mei must be covering up the murderer.
Xiao Lou re-read the testimonies of these people and said: "Old Mrs. Mei and Niu Dapeng lived in the same room. Niu Dapeng knew that Liu Yuming next door went to the toilet with a light. It is impossible not to know that Mrs. Mei also went to the toilet.
——Niu Dapeng is deliberately concealing it."
Yu Hanjiang said: "Liu Yuming confused the time of getting up at night and made up an excuse to go to the trash can to find a watch. He is also lying."
Xiao Loudao: "Zheng Weiguo said that he got up early in the morning and found the IOU from the deceased's pocket, which is obviously a lie."
The two of them pinched their brows with a headache at the same time.
-Everyone is lying.
If the child Yu Xinxin hadn't rearranged the timeline, they would have been confused by these people's lies.
Yu Hanjiang said helplessly: "It seems that Mrs. Mei is very likely to cover up the murderer. Li Zhemin's popularity is too bad."
Xiao Lou took a deep breath, reorganized his thoughts, and said: "At present, Liu Yuming and Mrs. Mei can be ruled out for the time being. Their appearance just alerted the murderer and made the murderer hide. Then, the murderer may be in Niu Dapeng,
Zheng Weiguo was born. Niu Dapeng is tall and fat. Xinxin said, that figure is thin, Zheng Weiguo is more likely?"
Zheng Weiguo owed a huge gambling debt, stole IOUs, and committed murders. He had sufficient motives and sufficient time to commit the crime.
But why did he admit that he stole the IOU? Since the IOU has been destroyed, if he didn't admit it, no one would be able to find evidence...
Xiao Lou always felt that something was wrong.
At this moment, Yu Hanjiang suddenly narrowed his eyes: "I think the person who turned back on the way to the toilet at 3:40 in the morning was Zheng Weiguo."
Xiao Lou was a little surprised: "Why do you say that?"
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and analyzed in a low voice: "We can calculate this. At 3:30, Liu Yuming took the light to go to the toilet. At that time, Zheng Weiguo, who was in the same room, might have been awake. He found that his roommate had gone alone.
In the bathroom, the other two people were asleep, so he climbed out of bed and took the opportunity to take the IOU from Li Zhemin's pocket."
"Liu Yuming came back to sleep quickly after going to the toilet. Zheng Weiguo listened to the movements in the room. After Liu Yuming fell asleep, he got up secretly and went to the toilet to flush the IOU with water."
No clues to the IOU have been found.
The train is a fully enclosed carriage, and the windows cannot be opened. Throwing it in the trash can will easily be discovered by the flight attendants; burning it... the train is completely smoke-free and fire-free. Once it is ignited, the smoke alarm will be triggered directly.
It is not safe to hide the IOU on your body or in your bag. If you want to completely destroy it, there is only one best way - the toilet!
He tore the note into pieces, threw it into the toilet, and flushed it with water to completely destroy the evidence.
Unexpectedly, when he got up to go to the toilet, a person suddenly came out of the toilet. So Zheng Weiguo felt guilty and hurriedly turned back. As Captain Yu had speculated before, he directly took the IOU into his mouth.
Captain Yu's speculation is logically reasonable. Otherwise, who would go to the toilet in the middle of the night and then turn back halfway?
From this point of view, it is unlikely that Zheng Weiguo is the murderer. He just stole the IOU and did not kill anyone. The murderer was the man who had been hiding in the restaurant before and then in the toilet. He came out of the toilet at 3:40
.
Not Zheng Weiguo, not Liu Yuming, not Mrs. Mei.
Xiao Lou said: "It seems to be Niu Dapeng? But... Xinxin said that Heiying is very thin, and Niu Dapeng is tall and fat."
When he said this, his eyes suddenly lit up: "It seems that there is another person who has been ignored by us!"
Yu Hanjiang nodded seriously and said in a low voice: "Aunt Shu Ping is the first one we exclude."
Shu Ping's testimony flashed through Xiao Lou's mind——
She introduced her daughter to Li Zhemin's son, but Li Zhemin scolded her daughter for being uneducated. She was angry, so she stole Li Zhemin's insulin and wanted to teach Li Zhemin a lesson. At that time, the two of them thought that if she was the murderer, there was no need to steal the insulin to add to the matter.
It was just her daughter who was scolded and there was no motive for committing the crime, so she was eliminated first.
Her testimony seemed reasonable and could reduce her own suspicion.
But there is a key.
Yu Hanjiang said coldly: "No one can testify to her testimony."
Niu Dapeng and Li Zhemin competed for the manager's position, and everyone can testify to the years of grudges;
Regarding Zheng Weiguo's stealing of the IOU, Liu Yuming had seen the IOU and could serve as a witness;
Most people know that Liu Yuming's first love was manipulated by Li Zhemin, and Mrs. Mei can also testify.
However, who can testify to what Shu Ping said?
Only the dead Li Zhemin knows the truth!
She said unilaterally that Li Zhemin scolded her daughter for being uneducated, which she couldn't stand and wanted to take revenge on him. She only mentioned the conflict between her and Li Zhemin, but no third party could witness it.
In fact, Shu Ping's testimony was the least credible from the beginning!
The author has something to say: the real culprit will be revealed soon, see you tonight:)