Chapter 68
“Three, this case’s greatest point of doubt in terms of criminal psychology,” Bo Jinyan said, his pace of speech suddenly quickening. “The victim, Nie Shijun, ran to the park entrance at 22:05 hrs, and reached the scene of the crime at approximately 22:20 to 22:25 hours. According to your investigation, the park is enclosed by high walls, and there is no way to enter or leave apart from the entrances. The night the murder took place, the park closed at 23:00 hours. The cleaners found the body the next morning before the park opened, and reported it to the police. Thereafter, the park was sealed off. After this, when the police searched the park, no suspicious characters were found. All this goes to say, the previous night, the killer must have left with the crowd before the park closed at 23:00 hours. To run from the scene of the crime to the park entrance takes 15 – 20 minutes. In other words, the killer only had 15 – 20 minutes to complete the entire process of killing the victim. If the killer is really a ‘butterfly killer’, a psychopath, this period of time would be too short for him, too rushed.”
By the looks on the criminal investigators faces, they clearly did not understand his point. One of them said, “15 minutes to kill someone, draw, then clean up the scene. That’s still possible if the killer worked quickly.”
Jian Yao was shaken by his words. Indeed, she had previously thought that the butterfly painted by the killer had been too soft and simple, which was somewhat peculiar. Now that Bo Jinyan had spoken, she suddenly had an epiphany. The rush was not to kill someone, but to . . .
Bo Jinyan smiled faintly, and said, “The rush was not to kill someone. It was to gain experience. For a psychopath, who is still a novice, it would be very difficult for him to kill his carefully selected target, then have to leave immediately after completing the painting of the dreamed-of butterfly, without being able to appreciate, observe or enjoy the moment . . . to him, it would be like having a big meal set in front of him while being unable to have a sniff or a taste. It would be very difficult to bear.”
Bo Jinyan’s expression turned cold. “So, my conclusion is that, either he is not a psychopathic killer at all, and this was just his way of distracting the police, and he committed the murder for some other, specific reason; or, it was really because this is his first murder and he lacks experience, and thus he did not receive any satisfaction at all. Then, he will carry out his second crime very soon. Whichever way it is, his carefully selected target, Nie Shijun, will be where we make a breakthrough. Nie Shijun was introverted and rarely interacted with others. The killer must have a reason for murdering her. We can even infer that they had been in direct contact previously.”
——
It was almost midnight by the time Bo Jinyan and An Yan returned to the villa.
In a departure from his regular inclination, the minute Bo Jinyan reached the villa, he shut himself in his room and even locked the door.
An Yan rummaged through the refrigerator for a long time, filled his stomach with random items, then ran to stand in front of Bo Jinyan’s door to say, “Hey!”