The old Taoist priest's investigation into the details of the case went smoothly.
The coffin shop Jin An just made new progress in the autopsy of the pig butcher.
I saw the old Taoist priest running back in a hurry.
Gudong Gudong, the old Taoist priest took a few sips of tea to quench his thirst, and then quickly talked about the details of the case: "Little brother, you are really right. The three of them were hugged together and burned to death by the fire!"
"The fire at the pig butcher's house burned very suddenly. When the neighbors saw the fire, it spread quickly and ignited the entire house. At first, the neighbors did not know that other than the pig butcher, other people were burned in the house. When the fire was extinguished and the three bodies were found burned together, they were shocked to realize that a fire had killed three people."
"Hey, the scene was so tragic. Three people were burned together. It was said that it took a lot of effort to separate the three people. Because the three people were held together and burned to death, their faces were still intact. When the yamen catcher brought the widower to do the autopsy, he immediately recognized that the person who was burned to death along with the pig butcher was Miss Song, who had recently been kidnapped by the kidnappers."
The old Taoist priest continued to drink a few sips of tea, and continued to speak quickly: "According to the old housekeeper of the Song family, Miss Song and the maid Caixia who were burned to death in the fire had their hands and feet tied, and their personal freedom was restricted, and the pigs were killed. The real cause of the craftsman's death was not that he was burned to death in the fire. Based on the deepest burn marks, the head catcher deduced that the initial fire point was the overturned wine bottle and lamp oil on the table. Based on the location of the three people who were burned to death and the location of the slaughtered pig, The saliva in the carpenter's mouth and the remaining alcohol on the inside of his clothes revealed that the pig-killer had been single and coveted Ms. Song's beauty and the Song family's property. He kidnapped Ms. Song and drank at home to celebrate. He drank until late at night until he was extremely drunk. , accidentally overturned the wine jar and lamp oil, and the fire followed the wine flowing to the ground and burned the two Miss Songs in the corner. When the pig butcher was awakened by the fire and was completely drunk, he was about to save the two Miss Songs. The best time to escape had been missed. At that time, the fire in the house was already very strong, and the three of them were choked by the thick smoke and could not find their way around. This can also be testified by Wu Zuo, who found a large amount of soot that they had inhaled in their mouths and noses. The butcher's fatal injury was that the back of his head was hit hard by a collapsed beam, and he lost the ability to move. All three of them were burned to death."
"And more importantly, when everyone put out the fire and rushed in to rescue people, they found that the doors and windows were all with wooden latches and were locked from the inside. The head catcher connected every tile on the collapsed roof and inspected it. It also denied the possibility of man-made arson and escaping from the roof. It was completely consistent with the characteristics of a secret room. There were autopsy testimonies given by two people, the origin of the fire was found in the house, and evidence of a fire in the secret room was found, so everyone believed the butcher. They are the kidnappers who kidnapped Miss Song."
"Hey, it's a pity that the only three witnesses were all burned to death in the fire. Even if the butcher really had any grievances, he couldn't defend himself."
The old Taoist priest sighed heavily: "Before so much evidence was established, the Yamen concluded that the pig butcher Tie Shuan was the kidnapper. And because the kidnappers and the kidnapped people had been recovered, the Yamen decided that the kidnapping case had been solved and the file was sealed. From now on The case has been concluded, and the bodies of Miss Song and maid Caixia were taken away by their families for burial. The butcher had no father or mother and no relatives to take away the bodies, so he was finally buried in a mass grave by the Yamen and became a lonely ghost. .”
Jin An frowned and thought. There was a fire in the secret room. There was a point of origin and a reasonable cause of the fire. Residual liquor and thick smoke and ashes were found in the mouths and noses of the three people. The butcher was lonely and had no relatives or friends, which was in line with the psychological description of the criminal. He looked very good. A reasonable motive for committing the crime. When the bodies were found, Miss Song and the maid Caixia had their hands and feet tied... All of this was perfect. All clues and evidence pointed directly to the butcher as the kidnapper with criminal motives. This cannot be blamed on the Chengnan Yamen for malfeasance or the The case was decided arbitrarily because all the evidence was really unfavorable to the butcher.
Seeing that Jin An was thinking, the old Taoist priest continued: "Regarding the details of these cases, Taoist priest, I specially visited several neighbors. Everyone's opinions on some details of the case are the same as those of the old housekeeper of the Song family."
"All the evidence in this case is very unfavorable to the pig killer. Little brother, do you have any new discoveries here?"
The old Taoist priest looked at Jin An expectantly.
Jin An nodded: "There are indeed some new discoveries. Let's go to the pig butcher's house again to verify my conjecture."
He covered the coffin again, lit three sticks of incense for the deceased, burned some paper money, and then he and the old Taoist priest went to the pig butcher's house without stopping.
When they revisited their old place, it was almost dusk, and the old housekeeper of the Song family had already left. Seeing that there was not much time left for them, and the sunset curfew would soon be over, they immediately walked into the mess that was burned by the fire. Find new clues in the house.
"Old Taoist, where were the pig butcher and Miss Song burned to death?"
Following the old Taoist priest's finger, Jin An came to a corner, where there was indeed a piece of wall that was cleaner than other places.
He checked the walls and found nothing;
Then he carefully inspected the wooden beam that had fallen aside. There were no signs of separation at the fractures on both sides, and they were broken naturally;
Then he walked back to the original point of the fire.
It is not difficult to find the origin of the fire. The traces of smoke and fire are often deeper than those in other places.
There was also no doubt about the origin of the fire. It was the same as the Yamen judged. The origin of the fire was from the table to the corner. Miss Song, whose hands and feet were tied at that time, had nowhere to escape. They huddled in the corner in fear. There were obvious signs of struggle on the ground.
Then he walked to several burned windows. Although the windows had been burned to charcoal, some remaining traces of the window frames could still be seen as intact. There were no signs of violent damage, and the window bolts were also inserted.
The clueless old Taoist priest followed Jin An step by step, wondering if Jin An had made any important discoveries and why he wanted to return to the scene of the fire?
At this time, Jin An came to the door frame, touched the burnt door frame with his fingers, and carefully inspected every inch. There were still two ends of the door latch on the door, and the middle section was broken and kicked like the door, and was scattered on the floor.
There was nothing abnormal about the door frame. Jin An picked up the door latch fragments and wooden door fragments scattered on the ground one by one and inspected them, not missing any detail. He did not believe that there was a perfect secret room in the world for committing crimes. Maybe people of this era don't understand his thoughts, but he knows very well that no matter how rigorous a locked-room crime is, there will be clues left behind, and the methods of locked-room crimes are just the same...
"Um?"
Jin An's eyes lit up: "I found it, this is it!"
Hearing Jin An's joyful voice, the old Taoist priest knelt down and looked at what Jin An was holding. It was a broken door latch fragment, but it had been burned into charcoal by the fire.
The old Taoist priest asked curiously: "Little brother, is there anything different about the fragments of the door latch?"
Jin An smiled without saying a word and handed some fragments of the door latch to the old Taoist priest, asking him to see if he could see any difference. As a result, the old Taoist priest stared at him and his eyes hurt, but he still didn't look at it. After the old Taoist priest took the initiative to admit defeat, Jin An took the initiative to explain: "Old Taoist, look at this part of my finger. How is it different from other parts next to it?"
However, after looking at it for a long time, the old Taoist priest still had no clue. He became anxious and said, "Little brother, you'd better just tell me!"
Jin An laughed: "Old Taoist, use your fingers to pick the part I pointed out, and then use your fingers to pick the other parts next to it."
The old Taoist priest followed the instructions and picked it with his fingers. When he picked it, he immediately made a discovery and made a surprised sound: "Huh? Although they are all burnt to pitch black, this place is obviously harder and has not been completely burned to charcoal. Other parts have been burned into charcoal, and you can pick off a lot of charcoal shavings with just your fingernails."
At this time, Jin An made a new discovery behind the door frame. He swept away the ashes and tiles on the ground and found that there was a small area here that was slightly less blackened, while other areas were burned black by the fire. , only this small area is light black, which looks a bit clean at first glance.
"Little brother, what's going on here?" The old Taoist priest poked his head over curiously.
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