Chapter 2: Murder in locked rooms.

2 hours later, Albert arrived at the scene. He did not rush to enter, but walked around everywhere looking around at once. High-class apartments set up tight security; every corner has surveillance cameras. There are only a few dead spots. The entrance is guarded. Every car entering and leaving this place is recorded: "Let's see!" He looked up at the 15-storey apartment building. The victim's room was on the 7th floor: "The killer definitely could not take the elevator, but could follow the fire exit. He walked to the building's emergency exit, looking at both sides of the hall. He followed the exit, when he passed the 5th floor he spotted a faint trail. It is not clear which part of the killer hit the wall anymore, it seems that we will have to wait for the forensics to know the results: "This guy must be a very careful person, from the moment he committed the crime to the time he ran away, he was calm.”

Finally he went up to the 7th floor where the crime happened. His eyes were met with a room decorated in a classical European style. Inside there was a cassette machine used to listen to classical music, piano, guitar, trumpet. The owner of the room seems to be a musician or a music lover. In front of the door stood full of police officers who were blocking the crime scene. Seeing that the person coming was a young man in his mid-twenties, a policeman raised his voice and reminded: "This is a crime scene; unauthorized people are not allowed to enter. And if you're a witness coming to testify, please come over here." The young man smiled and held out his business card: "I am Albert, a private detective, from now on I will be your special advisor in this case." A laugh came out from inside the room: "Ha-ha luckily you finally came, I was advised by Director Vincent to cooperate with you in this case. I'm Leonard, deputy captain of the city A police department, nice to work with you”

He entered to the surprise of the police. A female police officer shouted: “Could it be that he is Albert, the famous criminal psychologist detective who has solved many difficult cases. I still have his book The Punisher here. The book is about the tough murders he has solved, including his analysis of the psychology of criminals in detail. I didn't expect him to be so young and handsome."

Albert entered the room, meeting his eyes was a very strange atmosphere. In the dim light of the white room, a middle-aged man was lying at the far end of the room; in the center of his chest were numerous stab wounds. He lay in a pool of blood with his eyes wide open, and inside those eyes were fear and despair. The most striking thing is still the black rose that is tightly held in the mouth of the victim. The images of death, the black rose, and the melodious classical music on the white background of the room combine to create a rare eerie horror.

After observing the room, he turned to look at the deputy captain Leonard: "What was the situation like when you came here? Please tell me clearly.” Leonard thought for a moment and then said: "When we arrived, the room was locked from the inside. We had to call the apartment owner to bring the spare key to open the door to open the door. The scene is still intact. We are waiting for the coroner and the captain to arrive." After listening, Albert frowned and pondered for a long time: "Then why did you find out that the victim died here? Who's the one reporting the crime?" A young policeman who had been listening next to him suddenly spoke up: “We have asked everything clearly. The person reporting the crime is in the opposite room. He testified that as usual, he went to the supermarket downstairs to shop. When he passed this room, suddenly a strong fishy smell entered his nose and emanated from the opposite room, so he knocked on the door. For a long time no one answered, so he bent down curiously and looked into the gap in the door. He saw a body lying in a pool of bright red blood, so he called the police."

"Hum! Everything is very reasonable, only the room is locked. Only the owner of the apartment holds the spare key, but he has a convincing alibi. The victim holds the other key. That's right, have you found the victim's key yet?" Leonard quickly replied: "Found it over there." As he spoke, he pointed to the pool of blood next to the man's body.

Albert walked over to observe for a long time. suddenly inside a pool of dried blood he saw a strange stretch of blood. A light flashed in his head, his lips curled up into a smile and an excited expression. He then walked over to the side of the man's body and began to observe. “The fatal wound was in the heart. The killer has certain counter-reconnaissance skills, he wears gloves, covers his shoes with plastic bags or duct tape. Given his careful personality, there would be very few traces left. The perpetrator is an acquaintance of the victim, he can easily sneak in, showing that the victim was defenseless against him and was stabbed by surprise." Leonard said: "But it could also be someone else like a delivery worker. How can you confirm that the killer is an acquaintance of the victim?" He smiled and pointed at the victim in front of him and said: "Look at the knife marks on the victim, what you see?" Leonard stammered: "Ah..so what about so many knife marks?" “Look closely to see that the killer is a very careful person, there is not a trace in here. Everything was perfect, except one thing.” The policeman next to him curiously asked, "What is it?" Albert shrugged: "It's his hatred for the victim”. Guys, look at these knife marks, look at the expression on the victim's face. Right from the first knife wound, the victim died on the spot. It was a knife wound at the heart position, on the victim's face only a single expression was maintained, proving that the knife wounds on the back of the victim had died. So how could someone who carefully planned such a tight plan be so negligent? What does he have to do with dozens of more knives?

After listening to Albert's analysis, the faces of the policemen here were all happy because the object of investigation was narrowed down quickly. Albert was attentively observing the victim. He began to look for useful clues by observing the wounds and taking meticulous measurements.

Suddenly, a voice shouted: “Has the forensic team arrived yet? Someone turn this damn thing off.” Then Albert felt a hand grab the collar of his shirt and pull him up. His eyes were met by a tall, eagle-eyed man who looked at him with a questioning look. After answering and being explained by deputy captain Leonard, the officer let go of him, but his expression still showed that he didn't like him. He softly said in a low voice: "Although you are an advisor, I am in charge here, you must obey my orders, do you understand?" In Stan's heart, he thought: "What detective? What psychoanalyst? It's all just theory. Crime investigation needs to be realistic, there needs to be sufficient witnesses and evidence.” Stan glanced at the young man next to him and thought to himself: "It's good for young people to have enthusiasm, but this is a murder, not an internship, what if he's so young with experience and doesn't have it yet?. The director really did promote someone like this as a consultant. If you go in the wrong direction, it will be a disaster for the investigation. Well, out of respect for the director, I will let you participate in the investigation, but you must obey my orders."

Stan took a quick look around the room, then asked Leonard what clues he had discovered. He did not expect that after hearing the analysis of the young man in front of him made him extremely surprised and embarrassed by his previous thoughts as well as his skepticism about the director's decision. But the case has not been solved, although his analysis is very reasonable, but to solve this case, evidence is necessary, this case will be difficult. Just then a neat team in blue blue shirts walked in. That's the forensic team. Albert then bowed: "Hello guys! I checked the traces of the crime scene. You can check for fingerprints or footprints but probably won't find anything. Can you send someone down the emergency exit? I discovered a trail of blood. If there are results, let me know! Stan from the side listened with surprise: "Have you investigated the clues nearby?" He shrugged: "Yes, from the surveillance cameras or dead angles of the camera, the killer's abilities and escape plan have also been investigated."

Leonard stood by and asked with suspicion: "But I still don't quite understand how the killer can get out of here while the room is still locked?" The young policeman standing next to him also chimed in: "Yes, how can he do it, can he go through the wall?" Stan also frowned thoughtfully: "Okay, let's put this aside for now and wait for the results of the forensic examination and then calculate." Before he finished his words, he heard a disdainful voice say: "Does he think he can bypass me with this little trick? Just wait and see in 3 days I will defy him on the case." Stan looked at the young man in front of him. A cold expression appeared in his eyes.

Sunset gradually falls in city A, in a high-class apartment; police officers are still hard at work tracing traces of a ruthless killer. The results of the forensic report were available: "The victim's name is StanHiep, 36 years old, height 1m72, weight 75kg. He is a composer for a music company. The cause of death, as he said, was a fatal stab wound to the heart. In addition, we did not collect any other fingerprints or footprints except the victim's. As for the blood stain on the 5th floor exit through the lumion reaction, it's still unclear what an ellipse is."

After listening to the report, Albert frowned and pondered: "What is that thing in the end? Is it something new?" He walked around the room for a while, suddenly he turned to Leonard and said: "Deputy Captain Leonard, please send me the forensic report." Then he hurriedly left. He ran like flying outside, hurried steps to the exit of the 5th floor, he took out his laptop from the leather briefcase. He then opened the report that had been sent to him and compared it with the bloodstain. "Ellipse" He muttered, and then suddenly he saw something very small in the part of the bloodstain. “That’s right, if it was this, no one would notice.” Then he took out his magnifying glass and examined it carefully.

After a while, his expression turned from attentive to happy: "Finally found, if the killer hasn't discovered it, this will be the evidence against him." He quickly put all his belongings in his leather bag and quickly returned to the scene of the incident. At the door Stanand Leonard was already waiting, when they saw him hurry to run away, they thought that he discovered something: “So what, did you find any clues?” Leonard stood by and hurriedly asked… As soon as he saw Albert's happy face, he knew that he had discovered important clues. Although it was only the first time meeting, he trusted this guy. His analysis and deduction made him extremely impressed.

Albert came over with an excited look, still breathing heavily because he rushed to this place: "Have you investigated the victim's relationship? Who has a grudge against the victim, who has no alibi?"

Stan quickly said: "Investigated and took testimony today. There are currently only four suspects with no alibi at the time of the victim's death."

As he spoke he pulled out 4 photos of 4 people including 3 men and a women, then he took out a report detailing the 3 people such as the relationships of the victims and what they were doing at the time of the crime. Holding the record of testimony and skimming it, after a while, Albert looked at Leonard: "Deputy Captain Leonard, please help me do one thing, tomorrow please make an appointment with all four of those people .I need to confirm something before declaring the truth.”

"OK! I will do as you say.”