Chapter 527 Mysterious Disappearance
Professor Capek died, but... things didn't end there.
Strictly speaking, Professor Capek is only the initiator. There is still no trace of the Silver Dusk Cabin behind him, and there are other participants alive.
The Capek Research Society originally had seven people. Later, one of them, Maria Bell, died, and the Society was temporarily disbanded. But after Xia Li joined, there were still four people in the entire seminar. Now that Professor Capek is dead and Charlie is in a coma, it means that at least two people are still in the school.
After that, Duanmuhuai packaged Professor Capek's information and handed it to Sheriff Lestrade along with the clues and information, which temporarily ended this series of serial killings. Sheriff Lestrade was somewhat relieved about this. Although he did not see the body, since Duanmu Huai said so, it also means that there should be no similar serial killings on the streets of Fog City in the future... …The police can also breathe a sigh of relief.
Regarding the investigation of Silver Dusk Lodge, Sheriff Lestrade has also made a commitment, but he also hinted to Duanmuhuai that the investigation of this organization is very difficult, and the reason is very simple. Silver Dusk Lodge is ostensibly an upper-class place. For an organization like a private club, these are fine separately, but together they are terrible. Not to mention that there is currently not enough evidence to prove that this series of murders was planned by Silver Dusk Cabin. Even if it can be proved, it may be difficult to arrest him...
Duanmu Huai doesn't care or care about this. Just kidding, the Tribunal wants to kill people, so why don't you care about this. No matter how high-class or aristocrat you are, if you are a heretic who has anything to do with the evil god, you are the queen and I will pout you. Just like Innsmouth, as long as you can't find evidence that I did it, then I can do whatever I want?
Therefore, he only nodded superficially to Chief Lestrade's advice, but of course he didn't take it seriously at all...
Of course, Lestrade is also curious...
"How did you steal Professor Capek's safe?"
The theft case in Capek's office was a great source of fun for the police department. After all, such a thief had never been seen before. When Duanmuhuai submitted the information report, of course he had to make clear the source of his information report. This is also a tacit understanding between investigators and officials. You help me solve the case, and I will help you exonerate. Now that there is conclusive evidence that Professor Capek was responsible for these serial murders, the mere crime of "theft" can naturally be offset.
But Lestrade was also very curious. After all, the on-site identification results basically gave no clues. How did Duanmu Huai do it?
"Oh, that thing isn't heavy at all. As you can see, I am too clumsy to slide the door open and pick the lock, so I just went back and smashed it."
“……………………”
If it were anyone else, Chief Lestrade would have thought he was lying, but looking at Duanmu Huai in front of him, he suddenly felt that the credibility of his words was so high.
"Okay, if you don't want to say it, just stop saying it."
Lestrade shook his head and threw the matter behind him. He was not going to consider whether what Duanmu Huai said was true now. If it's true, then his three views will be completely shattered. If it's false, isn't it just a bluff? It has nothing to do with him anyway, right?
For now, the case is considered closed for the time being, and we will see the follow-up. If nothing similar happens again in the next few months, it means that the serial murder case is over. Although there are still some conspiracies planned by Silver Dusk Cabin, as far as the police are concerned, as long as the situation like before does not happen again, then it will be fine.
Logically speaking, Duanmu Huai could leave Fog City and return to Arkham now, but he thought about it and decided to stay. After all, there seemed to be more things going on in Fog City than Arkham, and he had a bunch of secrets there. A college student teacher is competing with me for business. There is no Sherlock Holmes here, so there must be no others competing with me for business.
In the next half month, Duanmuhuai was leisurely. As for Mary, she gradually adapted to this rhythm of life. She would exercise with Lorena every morning and evening, visit Charlie after school, and occasionally come to Duanmuhuai's. The residence asked about the progress of the investigation... Of course, there wasn't much progress in the investigation.
But soon, Mary brought a message to Duanmuhuai.
"You mean, something happened in Master College?"
"Yes."
Mary's expression was a little uneasy, but she quickly told Duan Muhuai what happened.
But to put it simply, Mary did not experience this, but she heard about it from her good friend Ashelika.
According to Ashelika, just a few days ago, such a notice suddenly appeared on the bulletin board near the Mathematics Department building, with letters cut out from newspapers posted on it, and then formed into a sentence.
"Arrogant knight, you will be killed tonight - and the dead will remain."
At that time, everyone just thought it was someone's prank and didn't take it to heart, but the next day, a boy from the mathematics department really disappeared...
Because there are mostly boys in the mathematics department, no one pays attention to this kind of thing. They just think that the boy has gone home because of something - after all, the children who go to school here are the children of the upper class, aristocrats and the middle class. If it is because of It's not weird to be away for a while because of something at home.
Not to mention that the weird notice letter didn't include any names at all, so many people didn't even think of it at first.
However, a week later, another notice appeared on the bulletin board, and the next day, another student did not come to school.
At this time, everyone realized that something was wrong. For a while, some people in the mathematics department were panicked. In fact, within the Royal Master's College, some students were already discussing such a story privately - a dead person disguised as a living person and sneaked into their group. school, and issued notices and then killed people.
Since Mary is a student in the History Department, and now she either exercises with Lorena every day, or is busy in class and visiting Charlie, she doesn't pay much attention to these rumors, so she didn't pay much attention to these rumors until she had tea with Ashelika last week. When I was walking, I noticed the frown on the other party's face, and then I asked Ashelika the reason for the matter.
At that time, Mary just thought it was just a joke and comforted Ashelika not to take it seriously.
As a result...just this morning, the same notice appeared on the bulletin board of the History Department.
So Mary couldn't sit still anymore and came to see Duanmuhuai.
"Why does this sound like a campus ghost story? Didn't you find anything unusual?"
"Sorry, I've always been worried about Charlie and didn't pay much attention to it, and I didn't encounter any particularly strange people or things in the school."
This is also the reason why Mary has never noticed that there is a problem. In addition, the History Department and the Mathematics Department are in different buildings. Everyone who goes to school knows that in addition to the places that they are familiar with and accustomed to, most students do not have other subjects in other classes. The department rarely wanders around, just like the territory of an animal enclosure. Everyone hangs out in the territory they are familiar with and rarely goes to other places.
Some people have been in high school for three years and don’t even know what’s going on outside their classrooms!
So Mary really didn't know about what was going on in the math department. If Ashelica hadn't been in the math department, she probably wouldn't have known anything about it.
"…………Hmm……"
After listening to Mary's story, Duanmu Huai frowned, and then he looked at Mary.
"Do you think this matter is related to the previous case?"
"That's what I thought..."
"Hmm..."
Duanmuhuai nodded and started thinking.
For now, this is not impossible. After all, it is not particularly strange to see people alive but not dead. But...you can kill people, why do you have to issue a notice letter?
Could it be because Twist City is the hometown of Sherlock Holmes, and all the criminals here have to perform rituals or something? There must be something wrong with your brain.
"I'll go back and investigate and see what's going on."
After all, there are still two people who have not been caught. According to the regulations of Capek Research Association, if the first one dies, the next person will take over. Now that Capek is dead, it means that the next person should also start to act like a monster.
It's just that this one really doesn't take the usual path.
If you want to kill a few people without knowing it, Duanmuhuai might not notice it and you might actually fool him.
Are you sending out a notice and telling a ghost story...are you afraid that we don't know what's going on?
Now Duanmu Huai understands why the policemen in Conan hate Kaitou Kidd so much. If it were him, he would not even have to use all his bolt guns to deal with such a shameless bastard, but also use a chain sword. Cut him into pieces carefully, without any fat inside!
After sending Mary away, Duanmuhuai called Sheriff Lestrade to inquire about the situation.
"About the disappearance of the Royal Master College?"
Sheriff Lestrade was a little surprised when he heard Duanmuhuai's inquiry.
"Is this also related to the U-class case?"
"Do you think it's okay?"
Duanmuhuai was equally surprised by Chief Lestrade's reaction.
"This...to be honest, we think this is just a simple run away from home."
"???"
After Sheriff Lestrade explained it to Duanmuhuai, Duanmuhuai finally understood what was going on. According to Chief Lestrade, they received a report from the missing parents and also went to the Royal Academy to investigate, but found nothing.
After surveillance and investigation, the missing students did indeed enter the Royal Master College, but they did not leave. At least the surveillance at the school gate only captured the footage of them entering, not leaving.
Of course, considering the nature of the Royal Masters Academy, the police also deployed a large number of police forces and dispatched police dogs to search, but nothing was found. Later, the police investigation tended to believe that... they may have run away from home.
This kind of thing is very common, and considering that young people at this age are full of blood, it is not unreasonable to run away from home because of some trivial matters.
"What about that preview?"
"Preview? Ah, that, we think it's their own fault, but we didn't find any useful clues or marks on those weird notice letters."
"So, do you think the two missing students ran away from home, and those notice letters were just a cover-up?"
"That's pretty much it."
After all, these notice letters were also written in vague terms, such as some arrogant knight... Who knows who they were talking about, so in the eyes of the police, it looked like a middle-school boy going crazy out of boredom.
But there is nothing we can do. This is what happens with disappearance cases. You don’t see the person alive or dead, and you don’t see the body. In this case, there are no clues, and the police can’t do anything. It's not like the previous serial killings. No matter what, the corpses are there and one or two people are missing. The general media will not report it specifically.
Therefore, the police could only temporarily confirm the disappearance, and they didn't pay special attention to it. If Duanmu Huai hadn't called to ask, Lestrade wouldn't have taken this kind of thing to heart.
If most people see someone missing, they will subconsciously think that this must be a big case and the police will be hot on their heels. But in fact, 140,000 children in this country alone go missing every year, with an average of nearly 400 children missing every day. These are only children, and there is no telling how many adults there are. In a big city with a population of one million, the real number of disappearances is actually so high that it is almost impossible to count. Some of them temporarily lost contact due to some reasons, and some never appeared again.
So in this situation, if you want to solve every disappearance case, even if you increase the police force in the entire foggy city a hundred times, you can't do it.
Even homicide cases that follow the "murder case must be solved" rule may not necessarily be solved in every case, let alone missing cases where no one is alive but no body is found.
Therefore, the Fog City Police Department just collected it, filed it, recorded it, and then nothing happened.
Because there are really no clues.
In fact, this is also true.
Just like the case file Duanmuhuai got from Sheriff Lestrade, it's very simple.
First of all, the two missing students were both students in the Mathematics Department. The first victim was relatively well-known and considered to be a prostitute. He was the kind of person who could socialize, sing, dance, flirt with girls, and then just write essays and get through. . The second victim was just the opposite. According to police investigation records, he was withdrawn and rarely interacted with other people, so that he disappeared for several days. When his family came to the school, the school discovered that he was missing... Because he rarely comes to class, and he doesn’t have many good friends.
All in all, other than that, the only thing they have in common is that they are both top students in the mathematics department and members of the research association - as mentioned before, only students with master's and bachelor's degrees recognized by professors are eligible to join Join the research association and become one of the great and glorious research dogs.
These two people were no exception. After class, they would go to the research club to do their own work, and then they would not leave school until almost eleven or twelve o'clock to go home.
Then the problem lies here.
All surveillance cameras captured the two entering the Master's College, but did not capture them leaving. According to police records, on the night of the disappearance, students and teachers from other seminars also stated that they did participate in the seminar and completed their own mission, then left to go home.
In other words, if the testimony of the seminar is correct, then these two people disappeared between the time they left the seminar and the time they left the school.
So…………
After looking through the case file, Duanmu Huai thought for a while and then made a decision.
Wait until evening and go to the Royal Master Academy.
(End of chapter)