Chapter 4 Chapter 3 Special Experts

Alex Lee remembers Daniel's birth very well. That day he was by Fanny's side as her husband, and saw her screaming in pain on the operating table, her head was covered with sweat, her beautiful blond hair was messily tangled together, and she was pinching his palm with her nails, with great strength. Terrible.From that moment on, Alex realized more deeply how great a mother is. When the baby's cries finally sounded, the couple leaned together and thanked God.A healthy boy was sent naked into their arms like this. Alex looked at his son's wrinkled little face whose eyes hadn't been opened yet, and suddenly felt the urge to cry.He told himself that it was over, that he could no longer secretly look at naked male models, that he could no longer go to gay bars and flirt with strangers, that he could no longer keep in touch with "friends" he had known before... He has a son, he can no longer Let this little guy be ashamed in the future because his father is a pervert.

Alex Lee made such a determination when he was 27 years old. Although he lost his desire and lost his family three years later, he did seriously think about being a normal man. The dark-haired police detective shook his head to get rid of the memories that popped up from time to time, then extinguished the cigarette in his hand, and walked lightly into a five-story building. This is New York University near Washington Square. On the campus, young college students occasionally go up and down with their books, and the sunshine after the rain shines in through the windows, making everything look alive.

When Alex saw these children, he would think of Daniel, because he had planned to teach his son to play baseball when he was in elementary school, to fish when he was in middle school, and to drive when he was in college. Then help him chase a dozen girls.But it was going to be very difficult now, and sometimes Alex thought it could only be done in his imagination - he was very grateful that Finney would let him see his son more. The man told himself that he could no longer imagine the college students passing by him as Daniel twenty years later, and then he pulled himself together and went to a small reading room on the fourth floor.The person he was looking for came to sit for a while at this time of day every day. He had inquired about it with the academic staff of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences yesterday. He thought that the lady might have conveyed his intention to visit to Dr. Norman.

The reading room was empty, there were hardly any students because it was too early, only one seat by the window was occupied. Alex walked over and coughed lightly.The man who was reading looked up and seemed to be looking at him in surprise. "Sorry to bother you." Alex smiled. "Excuse me, where is Dr. Morris Norman?" "I am." The man took off his glasses and stood up, "Hello, what can I do for you?" Alex opened his eyes wide, and was very surprised to find that the doctor was completely beyond his original imagination: he was only in his thirties, about six feet tall, with a head of slightly long light brown hair, handsome His face is like a Hollywood star; his figure is very strong, and his arm muscles are exposed under the rolled-up shirt cuffs; but the most attractive thing is his pair of green eyes, which are as beautiful as leaves in the sun. Full of energy again.

The black-haired man took a deep breath, and quickly withdrew his appreciative gaze.He flashed his ID: "Good morning, Dr. Norman, I'm Alex Lee of the New York Police Department's homicide unit. I need your help with something." "Ah, yes, Miss Bruce said you would come to me." Maurice Norman shook his hand politely, asked him to sit down, and offered to oblige. This is good!Alex remembered that he told Old Bob last night that he hoped to find an expert in literature to help him. This morning, the black boss notified him of the results of the file investigation: Maurice Norman's information is reliable and he can become an assistance expert .In fact, it seems that the doctor is not bad, he is a warm-hearted and generous person.

"Thank you very much, I won't take you for a long time." Alex said succinctly, "A murder happened yesterday. The murderer was very cruel and cunning, and he didn't leave us many clues. This caused trouble for the police investigation, but I found something very special, which I think you must be familiar with." The black-haired man put several photos of the scene on the table, including the blood writing on the wall, the head in the silver plate, and the deliberately manipulated corpse. Maurice Norman picked up the pictures, Alex noticed an imperceptible frown on his brow, and put the pictures down. "It's about 'Salome,' isn't it?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Yes. I suspect that this murderer deliberately imitated the story of Salome. I saw your book when I was looking through the materials, er, the name is..." Alex took out his notebook awkwardly, "Please forgive me... I've never been a literary person." Maurice Norman supported his head with his hands, and seemed not to mind the behavior of the black-haired man, and reminded with a smile: "I think you are talking about "Cut the Head and Possessing Love." "Ah, yes, that's it." Alex blushed slightly, "I read part of it and found it very interesting. Your point of view is very... oh, very unique."

Maurice Norman finally laughed: "Please don't be so polite. It was my book a few years ago, and it is still very immature. I hope it can inspire you." "Of course, it's definitely helpful." Alex thought for a while, "According to your research on Salome, what conclusions can be drawn from these photos?" Maurice Norman looked at it again, and then picked up one of them: "I can tell you, Inspector, that the sentence left by the murderer is from a play by Wilde. He wrote a one-act play in French in 1893. At the end At that time, the princess grabbed John the Baptist's head and said a long monologue, 'I kissed your lips' is the most prominent line." He picked up the corpse and the head photo again, "The murderer He is very familiar with the details in the script, and he must like this play very much."

"So, do people who like this drama have the 'broken head complex' you mentioned?" "I can't guarantee it." Maurice Norman shook his head. "After all, this murder case is a very isolated case. I'm not a criminal psychologist, so I can't speculate on the suspect's thoughts." Alex hesitated for a moment, then asked again: "So, do you think that if a man kills someone in this way, would it be out of possessive psychology similar to that of a woman? Just like what you said in your book, because there is no Find a way to get your lover and try to get his head."

Maurice Norman moved a little, his handsome face showed an expression of surprise: "A man? You mean, the murderer is a man?" "The current clues tell us so, but who knows?" The police officer shrugged, "It's also possible that a strong woman pretended to be a man to do it. Dr. Norman, I hope you can keep these words secret, after all, only a few The media covered the case, they knew very little, and nothing about the murderer was allowed to go out. I have to tell you this because I need your help." "Okay, officer, I understand." The green-eyed man nodded and asked further, "I think what you meant just now is to confirm whether the murderer is gay?"

Alex gave an affirmative answer somewhat unhappily, and Maurice Norman seemed not aware of his evasion, but nodded instead: "The victim is a man. If the murderer is also a man, I think the possibility is very high. This is easier to judge than the 'decapitation complex'." "why?" "Because I'm gay too." The black-haired man froze for a moment, with an undisguised expression of astonishment on his face.He never expected that Maurice Norman would reveal his sexual orientation to him so generously, as if he was talking about his home phone number. The sun came in from the window and shone on them, and there was a sudden silence in the room.Maurice Norman always looked at Alex with a faint smile, looking frank and tolerant.The police detective didn't dare to look at his charming green eyes, so he coughed unnaturally twice.Just as he was about to say something to cover up, the sudden ringtone of the mobile phone broke the delicate balance between the two. "Sorry." Alex took out the phone as if he had caught a lifebuoy.Maurice Norman made a "please" gesture, and the dark-haired detective went to the far corner and pressed the call button. Alex's face became serious in the next moment, and a sharp light appeared in his dark blue eyes, and then he whispered a few words to the person on the other end, and then quickly retracted the line. "I'm sorry, Dr. Norman." The dark-haired police detective walked back quickly, and while tidying up the photos and notebooks on the table, he said to the light-brown-haired man, "Let's talk about this first today, maybe I will come again later. Please tell me, but now I must go." Maurice Norman asked worriedly: "Is something wrong, officer? Of course, if you can tell me..." Alex thought for a while: "Okay, doctor. My partner said that there was another decapitation murder, very similar to what I just showed you, and I have to go to the scene immediately. Goodbye, doctor, uh... very Nice to meet you, thank you for your help." Alex said goodbye hastily, and was turning to leave when he was stopped by the green-eyed man. "Oh, wait, officer!" demanded Maurice Norman, "may I come with you?" Alex looked at the tall man in surprise, as if he didn't understand what he meant. "I want to go to the scene with you." Maurice Norman said still smiling, "I think I might be able to provide you with more help by going to the scene, which is more intuitive than contacting photos, and maybe you can find The details that the police overlooked." Alex only thought for a few seconds before agreeing: "Okay, Dr. Norman, as long as you don't faint." The crime took place on Eighth Street in the West Village of Manhattan, only three blocks away from their location, so Alex Lee drove his own car and soon arrived at the scene with Morris Norman. This is an ordinary 12-story building. The lower four floors are tattoo parlors and comic book shops that young people are interested in, and the upper floors are rental apartments.The victim lived in Room 6 on the 10th floor, so the entire floor was cordoned off by the police with a yellow cordon. Some residents were talking outside in panic, and some journalists who got the news tried to sneak in with their cameras. Unlucky Some of the patrol officers had their hands to stop them, while others were recording the names and addresses of relevant witnesses. Billy White walked towards Alex from a middle-aged woman, his face was flushed, and he seemed to have rushed to work. "How was the scene?" Alex asked as he took the rubber gloves from his partner and put them on. The gray-eyed young man looked at the forensic doctors coming in and out, and replied: "The forensic officers are doing an autopsy, and we may have to wait a while, but the basic situation of the victim is already clear." "Tell me." Billy White glanced at the tall man behind Alex, but didn't speak. "Ah, this is Dr. Maurice Norman," Alex briefly introduced the two to each other. "He has a lot of research on the background of Salome. Billy White, my partner." "Hello, Doctor, thank you for your assistance." Morris Norman smiled: "You're welcome, it's just the responsibility of citizens." The young police detective shook hands with the light brown-haired man before reporting to Alex: "Sir, the victim's name is Chris Richelucarre, a male, 28 years old, a pharmacist, who was arrested at noon today. Found dead in his own home. The report was a wife named Louise Carpenter, his neighbor, who lived in room 1002. She was going to return the borrowed coffee pot to Chris, but walked to the door I saw blood coming out of the door, so I called 911." Alex walked to the door of the victim's room, and the smell of blood made him frown. The scene in the room was even more shocking: in the living room of less than 150 square feet, red blood flowed on the floor, As if deliberately smeared, it was like a huge, horrible carpet; the victim's headless body lay in the middle, completely naked, with outstretched hands and feet together forming a letter "T"; This time his head was tied with a rope and hung between the brackets of the headlight in the center of the ceiling. The blood dripped from the wound and just fell into a metal plate below. came out; on the wall facing the head, there was another sentence written in blood: "I finally kissed your lips". Alex gasped, but he was not in a hurry to go in, because one forensic doctor was preliminarily examining the condition of the corpse, and the other was taking pictures from the four corners of the scene. He kept changing the distance, without missing any details . Alex looked at the people behind him. Billy White seemed to be performing better than yesterday. Although he still had fearful eyes, he didn't cover his nose, while Maurice Norman looked more like a professional detective. —He didn't even frown. Alex was a little surprised at his boldness, but he didn't praise him for it. "Sorry, Dr. Norman," Alex said to the green-eyed man, "we can't go in until the forensic officers have taken the fingerprints." "Okay, officer." Maurice Norman even smiled at him. After a while, some people came in from the outside and began to collect the corpses. They put the torso into black plastic bags, and then took off the heads from the chandelier.When the body was brought out, Alex called them and walked to the side of the dead man, his eyes gliding slowly over Chris Richelukare's young and fit body, and then looked at his head. There was still no obvious pain on the young man's face, but he showed a fascinated expression. His eyes were slightly opened, and his mouth was not closed. Alex could even see his blue eyes and white and neat teeth.A nylon cord was tied around his neck in a knot.The flesh and bone dregs on the neck wound turned up, and some places had condensed into black, but most of them were still red—it seemed that this corpse was "fresh" than the previous one. After taking pictures, forensic doctors took fingerprints and footprints from doors, windows and other smooth and solid places, and put some suspicious items into plastic bags.By the time one of them indicated to Alex that they could come in, about an hour had passed. Alex said "thank you", then put on gloves and shoe covers and walked into the room with the people around him.Although it was horribly covered in blood and dead bodies, it was still a warm and tidy place: the furniture was neatly arranged, the tablecloths and curtains were clean, and there were beautiful carnations in a vase... Alec Si casually picked up a photo frame next to the phone. In the photo was an intimate photo of Chris and a beautiful girl. He put the photo frame back sadly, and turned to see Maurice Norman staring intently at the line of writing on the wall. "Very similar killing methods," Alex came to him, "what do you think, doctor?" "At least we can be sure that the murderer is the same person, police officer. It's not surprising that they left the same words. What's important is that the handwriting is the same." Alex took out the photos of the previous case, compared them, and nodded: "Your observation is really meticulous." Maurice Norman smiled modestly, turned his body slightly, and let the forensic doctor who packed the evidence bag continue to work. "It seems that the harvest this time is not great." The police detective with dark blue eyes looked at the plastic bags that were being confiscated, and said not very optimistically, "There are too few clues and evidence obtained, keep up same case." "But at least the murder weapon was found this time," put in Billy White. "Look over there, sir." Alex also saw it. There was a big guy in an evidence bag by the wall that he hadn't taken away yet. It was a fire ax with blood all over it. "I guess this should be something in the building." Alex said, "It can be seen everywhere, but it's too abnormal to carry around. A smart murderer should choose one on the spot and throw it away after use, so that he Can come and go empty-handed and unobtrusive. Billy—” "Sir." "Go and check the fire kit in this building." "Yes, sir." The gray-eyed young man walked out of the smelly room. Alex knelt down, looked at the plate full of blood, and said to Maurice Norman, "I think it's strange, doctor." "Tell me, sir." "In the last case, the murderer put the victim's head on a plate, and our investigation found that the plate was something in the hotel; this time the murderer probably also looked for something to put the head in the victim's house, but it was obviously inappropriate. "Alex stretched out his hand and drew, "This metal plate is too small. But why did he have to do this?" "Do you have to find a metal disc to hold the head?" "right." The tall man squatted down beside Alex and said, "Because in the legend of Salome, John the Baptist's head was dedicated to her in a silver plate. The silver plate symbolizes baptism. John's holy character and perseverance." Alex smiled mockingly: "It turns out that if you don't have silver, you can use stainless steel. But—" he pointed to the chandelier, "then why did you hang the head of the dead?" Maurice Norman thought for a while: "I'm not sure, Inspector, but I think you can understand by looking at the works of Gustave Moreau." "Excuse me, Doctor, I really don't know who you're talking about?" Maurice Norman laughed, but it was not a sarcasm, but like seeing some cute animal.Alex found that this man really liked to smile, and his smile made people feel as comfortable as the sunshine outside in this blood-stained place.But the black-haired detective didn't want him to look at him like this, it would make him want to avoid it. Perhaps seeing the displeasure in Alex's eyes, Maurice Norman quickly explained: "Excuse me, officer, I don't want to laugh at you, what I mean is that you can find similarities from oil paintings. But I can't now To elaborate, I still have a class, so I have to go back immediately." "Ah, it doesn't matter." Alex shook his hand politely, "Thank you for your help, Dr. Norman." "Call me Morris, Sergeant." Alex froze for a moment, but nodded. The green-eyed man happily took out his pen: "Would you mind telling me your phone number? I'll show you Moreau's portfolio tonight." Alex hesitated: "It's hard for me to say that I will be free today, because you know, this case is very troublesome. If possible, I think I can spare time to visit you." "Then there should still be time for dinner?" Maurice Norman did not accept his refusal, but suggested with a smile, "How about today? Let's have dinner together?" Alex's mind didn't respond for a moment, but he quickly stared at the man in front of him and came to an incredible conclusion. "You guessed it, officer." Morris Norman smiled seductively when he saw the mixed-race man's expression, "I want to date you."