OBS Chapter 3322: Empty Gun Murder Case
Chapter 3322: Empty Gun Murder Case
Chapter 3322: Empty Gun Murder Case
Hearing Major Rades' question, Shade turned and looked at the glass door behind him. He had just told Miss Reinhardt that she could find him nearby after the "sisterhood" meeting, but it was obvious that the witch had not come yet:
"Nothing at present, but I shall certainly have to leave for the dance. I am here with a lady."
Major Rades showed an understanding expression, then smiled and left the terrace with Shad, found an empty sofa against the wall of the banquet hall, and prepared to play cards on the coffee table.
Seeing that the two were going to play Rhodes, the men who had nothing to do nearby gathered around. Even the officers who knew Major Rades told everyone that Major Rades was a famous Rhodes player in the fleet and had a lot of special cards in his hands.
It was as if Shade just had no luck playing cards tonight. After checking each other's decks, the two were discussing the rules of this game and whether to play special cards, when suddenly a gunshot was heard -
Bang!
Then came the sound of a woman screaming. The source of the sound was overhead, but because of the floor and the music and conversation in the banquet hall, only Shade could hear it.
The scream clearly contained a feeling of fear. Xia De sorted out his cards suspiciously, then suddenly stood up:
"Major, I'm so sorry, I suddenly remembered something else."
Although Major Rades didn't quite understand, he knew that Shade wouldn't suddenly say this:
"That's a shame. Never mind. There are still many gentlemen who want to play cards here. I'll play cards with other friends first. Remember to come find me when you're done."
After Shad left the crowd, someone sat in his seat and played cards with Major Rades, who had special cards. People paid more attention to the game and soon forgot about Shad who had left.
Xia De's expression did not change as he left the crowd. He just glanced around the banquet hall, and after making sure that there was nothing wrong here, he walked towards the stairs going up.
Such large banquets usually provide additional rooms for guests to rest. This is not to provide a place for young men and women to have a tryst, but some words and things are not suitable to be done in public.
As long as they were guests, they could go to the rooms upstairs, so no one stopped Xia De. People in the banquet hall downstairs were still socializing normally. Most of the rooms upstairs were closed because of the good sound insulation, but there was a large circle of people gathered at the door of the room in the middle of the corridor.
Before the nobles' guards stopped the crowd who wanted to join in the fun, Xia De walked over, stood on tiptoe behind the crowd and looked inside, then forced his way through the crowd and squeezed to the front.
Someone at the door wanted to stop Xia De, but the man who was a head taller than Xia De was pushed aside by Xia De.
"Claire!"
He walked into the crime scene and this time he called out the witch's name directly. The girl with platinum hair who was standing with a group of frightened ladies in the room heard Shade's voice and immediately rushed over, burying her head in his arms with a frightened look.
So the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, who had just met Shade, said to the other members of the "Sisterhood" around her in fear:
"This is the handsome young lover that Claire found that I told you about just now. You see, I said young and handsome, right?"
The situation in the room was clear at a glance. The deceased was sitting on the sofa with a revolver in his hand. The bullet passed through his right temple. This was the source of the gunshot that Shad had just heard.
There was no need to check whether the other party was dead or not with this kind of injury. It looked like the man with the gun had shot himself. This made Shade, who was still discussing the [Gun of Kindness] with Major Rades a few minutes ago, feel a little absurd:
"Is there a second [Gun of Kindness]? But the revolver in the dead man's hand is just an ordinary item. Hmm?"
He lowered his head slightly and looked at his right hand. A purple rune mark flashed by. It was the "noble destiny" that the long-haired girl shared with him.
He had no chance of coming into contact with the deceased, and Shad had no intention of playing the role of a conspicuous detective.
Soon after he entered the room, Duke Lagerson, who heard the news, sent his guards to block the second floor and no longer allowed anyone to enter or leave. Then the local police came in a hurry. The first thing those policemen did, who looked like they were about to face a disaster, was to investigate the identity of the deceased.
Anyone who died at a party like this could be a big problem for the city. If someone is ultimately held responsible, the local police will inevitably be held accountable.
The identity of the deceased can be learned by asking the members of the sisterhood who were in the room just now. He is neither a representative of Carsenrick nor a representative of Drarion, but Baron Jason of the Principality of Lagsen who came from the city of Lomare with Grand Duke Lagsen.
But even if he was not a noble from the two kingdoms, the death of a duchy baron here was still a big deal.
Whether for the sake of the Principality's reputation or to determine whether the accident was politically related, the truth of this case must be known as soon as possible. The easiest way to find out the truth is still to question witnesses, and there were many people who saw the "murder scene" at the time.
The matter was not very complicated. Even before the police arrived, Shad learned the whole process from Miss Reinhart.
Of course, before the police arrived, the ladies who were in the room at the time of the crime were unwilling to stay with the body, so Grand Duke Lagersen, who came to deal with the matter personally, asked them to wait in the next room first.
But Xia De was not in the room at that time, so he did not know the identity of the Grand Duke's guard, so he politely asked Xia De to leave first:
"We'll protect these ladies."
"No, Claire is still here, she's terrified, I can't leave her."
Having seen something extraordinary in the room, Shade refused to leave. Later, the maids, guards and male companions of the other ladies also rushed over after hearing the news and asked to stay like Shade.
Finally, Prince Samuel of Anjou and representatives from Delarion also rushed over after hearing the news. Since the ladies present were all members of the sorority when they were studying at Willendel University, and almost all of them had a prominent family background, Prince Samuel of Anjou decided that each lady could have an escort.
After leaving the room where the body was, the ladies, who were talking in a flurry, told what had just happened.
In short, the deceased Baron Jensen was pursuing a member of the "Sisterhood," Miss Hannah Schmidt of Cornell County.
Although she was single like Claire Rhinehart, she had recently been engaged to the eldest son of a baron who was a family friend, so she had long since rejected Baron Jensen's pursuit. But the baron refused to give up, and this time he found Miss Schmidt at the banquet again, and even forced his way into the "sisterhood" gathering.
"But what does this have to do with the gun?"
Gentlemen who had nothing to do with the matter wanted to know the details, and this was of course a silly and boring story, as the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, protected by her personal maid who looked even stronger than Shad, commented:
"Men and women who are obsessed with love will do things that normal people cannot understand. Baron Johnson is one of them."
The ladies recalled how Baron Janssen brazenly entered the room, took out the gun, unloaded the bullets in front of everyone, and then raised the empty gun and said some sweet words to Miss Schmidt that he didn't know where he got them from:
"When I first saw you, my heart and my brain seemed to be shot by bullets made of your charm. Just like this, it shook my soul for a long time!"
Then he pulled the trigger, and with a bang, he died in front of the ladies.
"This"
Because of the surprise at the stupidity of this matter, no one spoke for a long time. Miss Reinhart sat on a chair under the window, holding the hand of Shade who was standing beside her. When Shade looked down at her, she nodded slightly, indicating that she had also seen the whole process.
Xia De broke the silence by speaking:
"Ladies, I'm not doubting your claims, but are you sure there was no bullet in the gun?"
He wasn't the only one who thought this way.
"Yes, we all saw him unload all the bullets."
Miss Schmidt said in tears, and someone was comforting her. The newly engaged lady was probably crying not because she was sad about Baron Janssen's death, but because she was half scared and half worried about the reaction of her family and her fiancé's family after hearing about it - this could easily be rumored to be a suicide for love.
If something like this happened when she was about to get married, her reputation would be greatly affected.
"I heard that sometimes you can hide a bullet in the barrel when you assemble the gun, so that it can still be fired even without a cylinder or magazine. Well, I saw it in the Hamilton Detective Stories."
A gentleman with a mustache who was also here with his female companion said this, but Shade was not the only one familiar with revolvers:
“I like hunting and have been involved with different firearms.
In the design and use of a standard revolver, it is impossible for the cylinder to be empty while the barrel is full and successfully fired. The structure of the revolver does not support this. The detective novel mentioned a firearm such as a semi-automatic pistol. "
"So how can Baron Johnson do this without any bullets?"
No one could answer this question, not even Shade and the witch holding his arm, because there was no ring wizard present except the two of them, and the pistol that was basically confirmed to be the murder weapon did not have any elemental reaction.
After the police arrived, they questioned the ladies individually, but the matter was simple and there were no clues that needed to be hidden, so the complete retracing of the events was completed quickly.
Baron Johnson seemed to have committed suicide, or "accidental suicide". No matter who it was, the biggest question was how the revolver could kill people without bullets.
PS: This chapter's picture is "The "Scared" Sun"