winter past

Xiaoman was stopped outside a cordon.On the other side of the cordon is a date-colored wooden door frame, which frames a carpet, a wall, and half a desk like a picture frame.The shimmering light that could not find a light source was evenly sprinkled on these things, so that they pieced together a dark oil painting with a uniform tone.

Some people in police uniforms passed by the desk from time to time, or bent over, searching for something on the carpet with a flashlight, or lightly brushed the walls and tabletops with brushes, and several beams of light frequently swept everything in the frame, But looking out, the scene inside the door frame was still dark, as if it could never be illuminated.That rug, that wall, that table seemed so dull in their natural color.The room seemed to extend infinitely into the distance.Everything in the room seemed so bleak forever.

Xiaoman took a small step forward, and an auxiliary policeman guarding the door signaled him to go away: "Don't look, don't look, there's nothing to see, go, go over there and wait."

Xiao Hui was chattering on the side: "It's really a bastard, I'm convinced."

Xiao Man glanced at him, Xiao Hui leaned against the wall, raised one corner of his mouth, and gave him a thumbs up cursingly. The doors of 401 and 402 were both opened with a gap, and several pairs of eyes squeezed into those gaps, casting probing gazes outside.A policeman came out of the room behind the cordon. The doors of 401 and 402 were all closed instantly.

Xiao Hui lit a cigarette, smiled and went to deliver cigarettes to the police, nodded and bowed and said: "Comrade police, we have all gone through formal check-in procedures here, and there are absolutely no minors. There are only four rooms on this floor, and they have checked in." Just 401 and 402."

The policeman ignored him, walked straight to the door of 401, patted the door panel and said, "Come on, come on, the people inside will open the door."

No one answered the door.

The policeman looked at Xiaoman, and pointed in the direction of the stairwell: "You go there and wait a while, you have to go back with me to make a record."

Xiaoman nodded, but didn't move. He swallowed his saliva, stretched his right hand into his trousers pocket, and touched a handful of air. He looked down, his right hand was just flailing randomly in the air for some reason.He had no choice but to hold his right hand with his right and left, stuffed his hand into his pocket, and took out a cigarette case.The cigarette case fell to the ground.Xiao Hui glanced at him: "What are you doing?"

Xiaoman bent down to pick up cigarettes, Xiaohui chuckled lightly, and said sarcastically, "Brother Man, you should follow that ambulance just now, and go with that woman."

Xiao Man looked at Xiao Hui, smoked a cigarette, and said, "Did the surveillance capture something? This time..." He held the cigarette between his fingers, pursed his lower lip, and pointed to the ceiling hanging in the hallway. Two cameras at one end and one at the end said, "Surveillance must have captured someone, right?"

"Open the door, come on, open the door, and cooperate with our work." The policeman standing in front of 401 was a little impatient.

Xiaohui shook his finger up and down at Xiaoman: "You are not a policeman now, it's none of your business..."

The policeman patted Xiao Hui: "Give me the spare key."

Xiaohui then took out a bunch of keys from his waist and handed them to the policeman, and he also knocked on the door of 401 twice: "Brother, can you cooperate with the work? It's difficult for us to do it like this. Our hotel seems to be a place engaged in some kind of gray industry." He also patted the door of 402, "Everyone, please cooperate with the police comrades."

A man in 401 asked, "Can you turn off the law enforcement recorder first?"

Xiao Man said, "Don't worry, I won't tell your wife. The police don't gossip like that."

The policeman who knocked on the door frowned and pushed Xiaoman to the stairwell: "Go, go there and wait, what are you talking about!"

Xiao Hui turned her head and stared at Xiao Man, and wanted to say something, but suddenly she turned her eyebrows and turned into a respectful and flattering look.His gaze crossed over Xiao Man, landed behind him, arched his hands, and greeted repeatedly: "Detective Dai Roudai, are you here? Come, smoke a cigarette, smoke a cigarette." He squeezed Xiao Man away , walked behind him.

When Xiao Man heard his polite words, his scalp became numb, and he quickly lowered his head, turned sideways, and wanted to squeeze past Xiao Hui.The corridor was too narrow, and his face was almost touching the door of 402. Seeing that he had moved to the stairs, his hand was suddenly grabbed.

Xiao Mandui smiled, looked up at the person who caught him, and greeted him flatteringly: "Dai Rou, long time no see, what a coincidence..."

The door of 401 was opened a crack, and a man in shirt and trousers stood behind the door. The policeman who knocked on the door asked, "What time did you check in?"

"I didn't hear anything," said the man.

Xiao Hui pulled Dai Rou and complained: "Detective Dai, I really have nothing to do with this dude, either he came to my place to sabotage, or he came to disrupt my business, you said that once I opened a hotel, would I break the law if I held themed activities? Me? I’m promoting, I have to do business, I don’t want to conform to the public’s desire for novelty and mysteries? Look at him, smell it, smell it, I think he smells of alcohol The one who came to burn my store, he is really capable, and he committed a personal murder case for me as soon as he came."

When Dai Rou heard this, she asked the policeman who knocked on the door: "Is this the person you mentioned as the reporter?"

The policeman looked at Xiaoman, nodded and said: "Yes, there is also a young woman who is traveling with her. It seems that she passed out because of being overly frightened. 120 has come and she has been sent to the nearby People's Hospital."

Xiaoman said: "I will go back to the police station with the police comrades to take notes later."

The policeman Dai Rou showed her ID and said, "The City Bureau has taken over the case, so I'll take him back to understand the situation." She looked at Xiao Hui again: "Bring me a pair of men's slippers."

Xiao Hui glanced at Xiaoman's feet and went downstairs.

Dai Rou winked at Xiaoman, and looked into the stairwell: "Let's go."

Xiaoman pointed behind him: "Don't you inspect the scene first?"

Dai Rou's eyes sank, and she looked at the stairwell again. Xiaoman fell silent, lowered her head, and followed Dai Rou to the stairwell.The two walked down half a floor and stopped in front of the window at the corner of the stairs.The window was open, Dai Rou lit a cigarette, took two puffs, reached out the window, shook the ash, and asked Xiaoman, "Where are your shoes?"

Xiao Man said: "The one who came out in slippers, ran away."

Dai Rou glanced downstairs: "Did it fall when you climbed over the wall?"

Immediately, she changed her words: "No, you took off your shoes before climbing over the wall."

Xiao Man also looked downstairs: "Did you see the slippers I was wearing earlier?"

"Here." Dai Rou pointed, "The one in vain?"

"Yes." Xiao Man bit his cigarette, lit it, and looked at the alley downstairs, asking Dai Rou, "What did you have for dinner?"

When Dai Rou saw him, she straightened her face and raised her voice: "Are you here again?"

Xiao Man explained with a smile: "This time someone asked me to find someone, so I came here."

"Do you know the identity of the deceased?"

"I'm not looking for the deceased..." Xiaoman leaned forward with his arms pressed against the window sill, pointed at the jeep at the entrance of the convenience store, and said, "Did you see that car? A girl, she wants me to help her find a photographer." The person who abused the cat video, show me the latest video released by that person, I saw it, hey, isn’t this Aegean Sea 404, so I came here, we drove here in that car.”

Dai Rou scratched the tip of her nose and muttered, "Cat abuse videos? Now there are so many cat abuse videos on the Internet?"

Xiao Man hurriedly asked her: "Someone called the police and said that someone abused cats? No way, the serious case of the city bureau is now looking for a pervert who abused cats?"

He laughed, but Dai Rou still had a straight face and didn't answer.Xiaoman said: "It's so boring, is it going to rain?"

The night in Qingshi seems to be frozen outside the window. The buildings don't move, the lights don't move, the trees don't move, and the lights don't move.The cloud presses the telephone pole, and the moon bites the branch.

Xiao Man tugged at the neckline and asked Dai Rou: "Is this June so hot?"

Dai Rou took a puff of smoke and said, "Which year wasn't it so hot?" She said, "Leave this matter alone."

Xiao Man looked at her and blinked: "I don't care, I'm just a passer-by who accidentally found a dead body."

Dai Rou also looked at him, and nodded seriously: "You wait for me here, and go back to the bureau to make a record with me."

"Just go to the police station."

"This is the City Council's case."

"The police station is near."

Dai Rou didn't answer, she rolled her eyelids up, Xiao Man gave an apologetic smile, scratched the back of her head twice, and said, "Xiao Hui said that 404 has been unoccupied for several days, so I went in and saw the bed lying on the bed. I called the police and the girl I was with was terrified."

He added: "There is an air purifier in the house."

Dai Rou said: "You are waiting for me here, do you hear me?"

Xiaoman nodded, rubbed his hands, raised his feet to go upstairs, and said, "Then can I go in and have a look? I'm afraid I accidentally left some footprints or fingerprints inside, let me tell you Said where I stepped on and touched something when I went in."

Dai Rou threw away the cigarette, grabbed Xiaoman by the collar, and pressed him against the wall. Xiaoman immediately raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.Dai Rou stared at him, and said through her teeth: "Lei team will be here soon, Chen Bureau is also on his way, you'd better be honest, and..."

At this point, a person came up downstairs with a press card hanging around his neck. When he saw Dai Rou and Xiaoman, he immediately smiled and came over to shake hands with them: "Officer Dai, Xiaoman, long time no see Oh, Xiaoman, it's me, Xing Tianxiang, don't you remember? You went back to be a policeman again? You have two swords, and you are handling the case together again?"

Dai Rou let go of Xiao Man, and said, "Didn't you just say you were going to the hospital to see that girl? You go first, I'll go find you later, and go back together to make a record."

Xiao Man nodded his head, and at this moment, Xiao Hui came up with a pair of plastic slippers, Xing Tianxiang went to shake hands with Xiao Hui again, and said, "Brother Hui, me, Xing Tianxiang, do you remember me? Today is another What's wrong?"

"Don't mention it!" Xiao Hui gave Xiaoman a white look, gave the slippers to Dai Rou, Dai Rou gave the shoes to Xiaoman, Xiaoman put on the shoes, and walked down.

Dai Rou stopped him suddenly, ran to his side and stretched out her hand and said, "Give me the phone."

Xiao Man looked upstairs, and Xing Tianxiang was holding up a recording pen to interview Xiao Hui, but he glanced at him from the corner of his eyes from time to time, with a frivolous smile on the corner of his mouth.

Xiao Man turned her back, and said softly to Dai Ju: "I really didn't lie to you, I really came to find the person who posted the cat abuse video, but the video is not in my phone, where the girl is, I will go to the hospital first , you come to us later, and once you ask that girl, you'll know I didn't lie to you."

"Mobile phone." Dai Rou has a cold face and a cold voice.

Xiao Man reluctantly took out his cell phone.

"Hand." Dai Rou said again.

Xiaoman unlocked the phone's fingerprint lock, and when the phone screen lit up, the photo album of the phone's camera popped out.The first two rows of photos at the beginning show a sallow woman in a white dress. There are close-up photos of people’s faces, and there are also zoomed-out shots of a woman in a white dress sitting on the head of the bed, leaning against Santoria. Ni's snow-white fence, full-body photos of the blue sky, and many photos of an air purifier placed next to the bed from different angles.

Dai Rou pulled down, and some pictures of the bathroom and the desk popped up.She glanced at Xiao Man, clicked Select All, and deleted all these photos.Photos integrated empty.

Xiao Hui asked upstairs: "Officer Dai, the reporter asked me to monitor, can you show him?"

Dai Rou returned the phone to Xiaoman, stared at him, shook her head slightly as if admonishing, Xiaoman nodded knowingly.Dai Rou walked up and said, "Xing Tianxiang, wait for us to hold a press conference."

Xiaoman lowered his head, smoked a cigarette and went downstairs.

Only then did he walk out of the iron gate in front of the hotel, when he heard someone calling him from behind: "Xiao Man!"

That was the voice of Xing Tianxiang. He chased up from behind and grabbed Xiaoman's shoulder: "This is too coincidental. Why are you here? Bang bang criminals are here again?"

Xiaoman smiled: "With this heart to eliminate harm for the people, I don't have that guy anymore." He made a gesture of holding a gun with both hands.

"Tell me, why are you here again?" Xing Tianxiang pointed upstairs and asked thoughtfully.

"I don't know, I wonder too, this area is well maintained."

"Is it a tribute? Doesn't that perverted serial killer have many fanatical fans? Or, someone wants to tell you that ten years ago you..." Xing Tianxiang looked at Xiaoman, and the smile on his mouth deepened : "You killed the wrong person."

Xiaoman also smiled, walked towards the convenience store, and said, "What you said is that you are afraid that the world will not be chaotic."

Xing Tianxiang asked him again: "I heard that there was a woman with you when I called the police? What's your relationship?"

Xiaoman stopped and spread his palms with a smile.Xing Tianxiang asked him: "Is it okay to transfer WeChat? Let's add a friend?"

Xiaoman took out his mobile phone and said, "Then Alipay."

Xing Tianxiang transferred 200 to him.Xiaoman said: "I have a client whose cat is lost. I found it based on clues. You also know that 404 is a very evil place. My client is a bit stubborn and insists that someone wants to kill her cat in 404 as a sacrifice. So I insisted on going in, snatched Xiao Hui's key and opened the door, but I was really scared, and now I am going to condolences to her."

"Really?" Xing Tianxiang squinted his eyes and looked at him, and said, "You want to tell me the truth, my 200 is just a deposit."

Xiaoman said sternly, "What am I lying to you for?"

"You lied to me, there are many reasons." Xing Tianxiang was dubious, "How did that woman find you to help find the cat?"

Xiaoman glanced at the convenience store three steps away: "Would you like ice cream? I'll treat you."

He walked to the refrigerator at the entrance of the supermarket, dug out two strawberry-flavored cute extras, paid for it with Alipay, and handed one to Xing Tianxiang.The two unpacked and stood at the entrance of the convenience store to eat the cones together.

Xiaoman said: "I have a high score in Dianping, don't you know?"

Xing Tianxiang took a few bites of the cone, recalled it, and said, "I treat myself to eat?"

Xiaoman laughed loudly, lifted his chin, and said: "You will look for cats and dogs later on. If your wife cheated on you, and your child ran away from home, you can look for me. I will give you a [-]% discount."

Xing Tianxiang stared at him, chuckled, and asked him, "Which hospital did that woman send to?"

Xiaoman pointed to the street: "Hey, isn't that the news van of the TV station?"

Xing Tianxiang looked out, and the three mouthfuls finished the cone in his hand, and ran towards the Aegean Sea Hotel.The news car of the TV station drove by at high speed and stopped behind Yin Miaozai's jeep. After a while, many large and small cars drove into this narrow street, but all the places that could park were occupied. Someone drove the car in and backed it out. After a while, many men and women with microphones and recording pens in their hands were seen running directly from the direction of the safety gate.

The owner of the Convenience Supermarket set up a small stall selling iced mineral water and hand-held electric fans at the entrance, took out his mobile phone, patted these people, and said slowly: "Look, there are so many people, so many reporters. ...The Aegean Sea has another big case."

Xiaoman looked at him, ate the cone and left.

He took a taxi to the People's Hospital, entered the emergency building, and asked the nurse on duty about a girl named Yin Miaozai who was sent from Pinganmen about half an hour ago.

"Go to the infusion room." The nurse pointed him in the direction.

Entering the infusion room, Xiaoman saw Yin Miaozai at a glance. She was sitting under a TV, holding her chin, swiping her phone, looking around, looking bored.Her face was pale, and there was no blood on her lips.She soon saw Xiao Man, waved her hand at him, and smiled happily.

Xiaoman walked over, and Yin Miaozai hurriedly said: "I was still wondering if you went to the police station to record your statement, and the recording was over so soon?"

"Not yet, the police officer who handled the case said he would come to the hospital to find us later." He asked her, "Are you okay?"

Yin Miaozai wrinkled her nose and sighed, "It's a shame."

She said: "The doctor asked me to sit here for a while, saying that it is nothing serious, and I will observe it later." She pointed to the large and small bags on the empty seat on the right: "Do you want to eat?" She said: "It is better to put things on the floor." Yes, sit down."

There were many people sitting in the infusion room, and there were only a few vacancies here and there.There were all kinds of people of all ages, some in disheveled clothes, some in bright clothes, and all of them had bad complexions. They were either half asleep, lying in a daze, or their eyes were open, and there were short gasps from their mouths. It looked very painful.There are also people who come to accompany, their eyes are dull, their faces are expressionless, and they look very tired.

Xiaoman looked at the things in the bag, potato chips, cakes, milk tea, fresh bayberries, lychees, imported chocolates, butter cookies... everything.

"The ones that Zhao You brought over are all my favorite food." Yin Miaozai said, "It's my fiancé."

"There are not many policemen who remember what their fiancée likes to eat." Xiaoman moved the things away, and sat on the chair with his buttocks on it.

Yin Miaozai said: "He also has a good memory, you know, he has a nickname in their bureau, what is it called a body camera or a body scanner, I can't remember, anyway, he only needs to take a look at a person, and he will be sure Remember, not only remember this person, but also what clothes he was wearing when he saw him, and even where he saw him... If it was in a restaurant, he would even remember the price list on the wall of the restaurant, if In that person's house, he remembers the layout of that person's house, the things hanging on the wall, the flowers on the balcony, and the clothes hanging."

"So godlike?" Xiao Man laughed when he heard that, "Isn't that Sherlock Holmes?"

"But he's going to change his job recently." Yin Miaozai yawned, and fiddled with a few packets of potato chips in the next plastic bag with drooping corners of his mouth.

"A civil job is good, but being a criminal police officer is dangerous, so the prospect of promotion is just like that. What about others?" Xiaoman looked around, "Have you left yet?"

"Let's go."

"Is this gone?"

"I let him go. It's nothing serious to me. I asked him to help me drive the car. I inquired. Dai Rou is still in charge of the 404 case. Will she be the one who will give us a statement later?" Yin Miaozai He took out a cake gift box from a paper bag: "You really don't want to eat something? The strawberry cake in this store is very delicious, and it is usually sold out in the afternoon. I ordered this one, and I don't know how he got it. " She rubbed her stomach with a sad face, "I really don't have any appetite."

Xiaoman said: "Go back and sleep, put it in the refrigerator, and eat it tomorrow."

Yin Miaozai's eyes tightened suddenly, and he hooked his fingers at Chao Xiaoman, and the two approached. Yin Miaozai said to him mysteriously with a suppressed voice: "I wanted to ask him to help me find out about the Montenegro killer. He is busy, I guess I didn't take it seriously, but now..." She rolled her eyes, suddenly she was a little proud, and a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, "They have to take our search results seriously, right? Facts have proved that our intuition is Accurate, the facts also prove that the FBI profile can really come in handy, Zhao You just doesn’t believe it, their police academy obviously still has this class, and I don’t know how he passed the exam at that time,” When talking about this "Black Mountain Killer", Yin Miaozai's spirit has improved a lot, her eyes are also bright, and she can't stop talking, "That Montenegro Killer must be a pervert, maybe he really is the Aegean Sea Killer ten years ago, I really made a mistake at that time Didn’t that person die unjustly? He shouldn’t have been shot dead, he should have been tried, and to be honest, he really didn’t follow the procedures and rules, you know? I don’t know who killed him back then. Who is it, if it is Dai Rou, the announcement will definitely write clearly, but it just says 'criminal police'..."

Speaking of this, Yin Miaozai patted Xiaoman and asked with concern: "Are you okay?"

Xiaoman shook his head, took a bag of potato chips, opened it and said, "It's okay, I'm a little hungry."

He grabbed a handful of potato chips and stuffed them into his mouth, Yin Miaozai still asked him with concern: "Do you want to see a doctor too?" She whispered, "Private detectives should rarely encounter such a situation." ..."

Xiao Man looked up at her, and smiled: "It's kind of scary."

Yin Miaozai got even more excited, put his arm next to Xiaoman's, and asked curiously: "How did you recognize it as Aegean Sea 404?"

Xiaoman lowered his head to eat potato chips: "That room is quite famous."

"That boss seems to have a big grudge against you? He didn't do anything to you, did he, after I passed out? You...he didn't do it, did you?"

Xiaoman tugged at the collars of both shirts and said, "This is an old wound."

Yin Miaozai muttered: "Oh, I think I'm fine, when will Dai Rou come over..."

Xiao Man said, "Let's rest for a while."

Yin Miaozai let out a long sigh, lay back, tapped her chin with her mobile phone, looked at the ceiling, tilted her head and said, "Or should we go to Dai Rou now? I'll ask Zhao You for Dai Rou's number. It's too early, you still have to open the store tomorrow? If she can't get out, we can go to the city bureau by ourselves and ask her colleagues to help record it. We are not criminals, and we haven't done anything shady. Let's talk about human flesh Searching, I don’t think it’s relevant, let’s think about it..." She patted Xiaoman, Xiaoman looked at her, and she said: "We are enthusiastic citizens, right? Enthusiastic people with a sense of justice? Huangguozi Village That dog must have been poisoned to death by the Montenegro killer!" She stood up and sat up again with innocent eyes and agitated emotion: "You said, are we helping the police? We are doing harm for the people. Good thing, right? If this time it can be proved that the Montenegro killer is the real culprit in those cases ten years ago, it will be regarded as overturning the case for that person who died in vain."

Xiaoman put down the potato chips and said, "The police didn't mistake the person. The one they killed was the real culprit."

"Ah?" Yin Miaozai's voice was a little softer, "I just said a conjecture... the case ten years ago, everyone said there were many doubts..."

Xiaoman lowered his head again and said, "I'm going to the bathroom."

He got up, walked out of the infusion room, went to the emergency room and lit a cigarette.The people who went in and out of the hospital were all listless, no better than those in the infusion room.Everyone has dry skin and yellowish complexions.There was a strong smell of disinfectant mixed with formalin at the entrance of the hospital.

Xiaoman broke out in a cold sweat.He didn't smoke, but stood in a place with light, and the smoke burned for a while. From a distance, he saw Dai Rou's car driving into the parking lot outside the emergency building.

Xiao Man avoided the headlights, hid in the dark, and slipped out of the hospital.