London, by the River Thames
Before Victor Black could return to the bench after coming out of the public restroom, he saw shadows of people in the Kensington villa area across the river. Although he couldn't hear any sounds, it was obvious that something was happening there.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes and disappeared in an instant. He knew that John Wilson was already dead. That was good. Everything was as he had expected, and there were no unexpected situations.
The reason he came here tonight was to confirm whether his plan had been successful. Now it seemed that everything had gone smoothly.
Since his goal had been achieved, there was no point in staying any longer. So, after he met up with Eric, the two of them took a taxi and left the place.
It was already one o'clock in the morning when he got home. Even though he had drunk a lot of wine tonight, Victor didn't feel sleepy at all. Instead, he felt excited and impatient.
He leaned against the sofa, closed his eyes tightly, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and slowly exhaled smoke rings. His turbulent emotions gradually calmed down.
In the curling smoke, his consciousness was particularly clear: "The first one has been dealt with. Next, it's time for the second one."
Soon, he began to plan for his second revenge target. As for the death of John Wilson, he didn't care at all. Anyway, no matter how far the police investigation went, he was absolutely safe and had no need to worry at all.
This wasn't because he underestimated the police. On the contrary, he had no doubt about the police's capabilities. The reason for his confidence was not only that he was cautious enough himself, but more importantly, this murder case itself was flawless!
The Office of the Serious Crime Unit of Scotland Yard
The death of John Wilson shocked the entire Scotland Yard. Such a big thing couldn't be hidden at all. The superiors were furious and ordered the police force to solve the case and catch the murderer within a month. This was a death order.
James Morrison felt extremely aggrieved. To be honest, his response had been very comprehensive. If it were someone else, they might not have been able to do it to this extent. But who could have imagined that even with such tight arrangements, the Ghost still managed to succeed. Until now, he still couldn't figure out how the Ghost had killed John. It was completely illogical.
Now that things had come to this, solving the case was the top priority. Therefore, the police force immediately formed a special task force overnight to conduct an autopsy on John, collect evidence at the scene, and other work. Everyone was extremely busy.
It was not until nine o'clock in the morning that everyone gathered in the conference room.
The atmosphere in the conference room was oppressive. James had bloodshot eyes and looked extremely tired. The others were in a similar state. Since receiving the call from the Ghost, no one had had a good night's sleep.
"The superiors have ordered us to solve the case within a month. This is a death order. Everyone, be prepared mentally. For the next period of time, the police station will be our home," James said feebly.
After saying that, he looked at Thomas: "Tell us, what exactly happened?"
Thomas looked very grim. He was fully responsible for the task of protecting John, but the man had died right under his nose. He knew that if he couldn't solve the case on time, he would definitely bear the main responsibility. Even if the case was solved successfully, he couldn't avoid being held accountable.
He took a deep breath, looked around at everyone, and said seriously: "At around 10 o'clock last night, John and Margaret left the living room and entered the bedroom. From then on, John was out of our sight. For the next two hours, everything was normal, and there were no abnormalities inside or outside the villa.
Until 12 o'clock at midnight, James called me and asked me to confirm whether John was safe. I went.
The bedroom door wasn't locked from the inside, which was pre-arranged. I opened the door smoothly and entered the room. I found that John and Margaret were lying peacefully in bed, and there seemed to be nothing abnormal.
However, just to be on the safe side, I still went up and called out to them.
As a result, Margaret woke up in a daze from her sleep, but John couldn't be woken up no matter how hard I tried. At that time, John was already dead.
That is to say, John died between 10 o'clock and 12 o'clock. During these two hours, no one entered the bedroom, including us. The surveillance cameras in the villa can testify to this."
"What did the forensic doctor say?" James asked.
"The forensic doctor's preliminary judgment was sudden death. The specific result still needs to wait for the identification report to come out."
James nodded and swept his gaze across everyone: "Let's all talk about it."
"Is it possible that the murderer came in through the window?" A police officer asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, Thomas stared at the man angrily: "Absolutely impossible! Not to mention coming in through the window, it's impossible even if someone fell from the sky. I can tell you clearly that no one sneaked into the villa last night."
"Just in case..." The man was about to speak when James waved his hand to interrupt: "There's no need to discuss this. If someone could sneak into the villa and commit a crime under our layers of protection, we wouldn't be worthy of wearing this police uniform. Thomas is right. No outsiders entered the villa last night."
"Then how did the Ghost kill John?" Another police officer raised a question.
As soon as the question was asked, the scene fell silent immediately, and no one spoke.
The silence lasted for a long time, and James rubbed his temples.
"Alright, let's analyze this using the process of elimination. First, we can rule out the possibility that the murderer sneaked into the villa and killed John. Second, John wasn't shot to death. Finally, all the food and water that John consumed in the past few days have been inspected, and there's no problem. So, the possibility of him being poisoned can also be ruled out."
"No, we can't rule out the possibility of him being poisoned," Thomas interrupted.
James wasn't annoyed at being interrupted. Instead, he perked up and immediately looked at Thomas: "What do you mean?"
"There are no obvious external injuries on the body, and the forensic doctor initially determined it to be sudden death. Well, there are only two possibilities: either it was indeed a coincidence and John died suddenly in his sleep; or he was poisoned. Which possibility do you think is greater?"
No one present was a fool. They wouldn't naively think that John had really died of sudden death by chance.
Seeing that no one refuted, Thomas continued: "Actually, the cause of death can basically be determined. He was poisoned."
Having said that, he changed the subject: "But there is a problem. Since the Ghost didn't show up last night, how did he poison John?"
"What if the Ghost had been in the villa last night?" James said softly.
"Do you mean, Captain, that the Ghost is someone within our police force?" Everyone exclaimed.
James shook his head: "No, I believe there are no criminals in our police force. Don't forget that there was one other person in the villa last night besides us."
Thomas' eyes lit up: "Margaret! That's right. Now that John is dead, she is the biggest beneficiary. There's a motive. Moreover, she had every opportunity to poison John."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately chimed in: "That's right! Before, we were puzzled as to why the Ghost issued a murder notice instead of acting secretly. Now it all makes sense. The reason for doing this was to confuse us and make us focus all our attention on a person who doesn't exist. Maybe, the Ghost doesn't actually exist, or in other words, Margaret is the Ghost."