louisehourcade Chapter 723: Witness, and Suspect!
Chapter 723: Witness, and Suspect!
It's that beautiful woman from last night.
Lynn recognized her almost instantly, and at the same time, she realized something was wrong.
Gwen Station is too close.
On the entire platform, apart from her, the corpse, Elena, and the security guards who arrived later, there was no one else.
Worse still, the platform is semi-closed.
There is only one indoor glass door leading to the rooftop pool; at the other end is a maintenance access door that is usually locked. Lynn saw it last night; it was equipped with an electronic lock and a physical bolt. Beyond that is the edge of the protruding platform and a six-story height difference. It is impossible for a normal person to enter from the exterior wall and leave silently.
Just then, the security supervisor walked over and said in a hoarse voice, "We checked immediately. From 6:30 this morning until now, according to the access control records on the top floor, no one other than Ms. Gwen has entered or exited here."
This sentence is like a cold nail, driven straight into the air.
Gwen slowly turned her head.
When she saw Lynn, the layer of something held back in her eyes seemed to finally falter, but it didn't shatter. She didn't rush over, nor did she cry out for justice; she simply stood there, her voice low but steady.
“I didn’t touch her,” she said.
Lynn walked over, her gaze first sweeping over her hand.
Her hands were empty, with no obvious bloodstains, only her fingertips slightly white from just coming out of the water. He then looked at her shoulders, collarbone, and the hem of her bathrobe. There were no obvious signs of struggle, no splattered blood, and no disheveled mess from panic. Gwen wasn't unfamiliar with blood, but when faced with a scene like this, her pupils still involuntarily contracted slightly. At this moment, she was clearly trying hard to hold her breath, not wanting to appear terrified.
“What happened?” Lynn asked.
“I came up around 6:40,” Gwen said. “There was no one else in the pool at the time. I swam for about 20 minutes, and then I went over there to get some water,” she gestured with her chin toward a low table outside the lounge with lemonade and towels, “and then I saw her floating over there.”
"Is it floating, or is it already lying on the edge of the pool like this?"
“At first I was a little further in,” Gwen said. “I thought she was drowning, so I went over to try and pull her closer. But as soon as I touched her shoulder, she rolled over halfway, and I saw the cut on the back of her neck.”
She paused, as if that scene was still vivid in her mind.
“I didn’t turn her over completely,” Gwen said. “I realized something was wrong and immediately called for help.”
"When you called for help, were there any other people on the platform?"
“No,” Gwen answered quickly, “not a single one.”
The security supervisor added, "The waiter was the first to come up after hearing the call, around seven o'clock. Then it was me and Manager Elena."
Elena nodded: "When I arrived, Miss Gwen was in the same spot, she hadn't left, and the scene hadn't been disturbed."
Lynn didn't speak, but slowly turned her head to look at the entire rooftop platform.
The morning light was already bright, and the mountain morning was almost cruelly clean. A breeze blew in from the lake, rippling the surface. The pool, which had looked excessively beautiful last night, now resembled a cold, open eye. The ground was light gray, non-slip stone with natural veins, and water stains were clearly visible. There were wet footprints left by Gwen by the pool, and a disturbed watermark near the body.
Besides that, there is almost nothing else.
There were no second set of clear footprints, no drag marks, no overturned cups or towels from a struggle, no broken glass, and nothing that looked like a murder weapon. The glass door leading to the interior from last night was open, with the electronic access control next to it. The maintenance door at the end of the platform remained closed, the red latch still in place.
The security supervisor, as if knowing what he was looking at, immediately said, "No one has touched the maintenance door. The surveillance footage also shows that no one came out from that side this morning."
"What about the surveillance cameras?" Lynn asked.
The security supervisor's expression darkened further.
“There are two surveillance cameras on the rooftop terrace, but there is a partial blind spot on the west side of the pool. Between 6:40 and 6:55 this morning, the footage from the west side only captured Ms. Gwen entering the water, swimming to the other side, and then returning to this side; starting at 6:57, you can see her suddenly heading towards the body.” He paused here, “Before that, no one else was captured on camera.”
Lynn slowly looked at him.
“‘No one was photographed’ is not the same as ‘no one else was photographed’.”
“I understand,” the security supervisor said. “But the problem is that there’s no one else at the top-floor access control, there are no security cameras in the stairwells and elevator lobbies, the maintenance doors haven’t been moved, and the exterior walls are even less likely to be affected—at least that’s how it should be according to common sense.”
According to common sense.
To Lynn, those three words sounded like an irony.
Because the whole meaning of his work, to some extent, is dealing with things that don't follow the rules.
And now, the most critical thing is that the person standing at the very center of this illogical situation is Gwen.
"Did you call the police?" Lynn asked.
Elena replied, "It's already been reported. The local sheriff and medical examiner are on their way, they should be here in twenty minutes at the earliest."
Gwen looked at him, her throat bobbing, but she didn't speak immediately. Only after Elena and the security guards had stepped back slightly did she speak in a very low voice: "I know how bad it looks right now."
"Ah."
"I really didn't touch her, except when I found out I wanted to pull her closer."
"I know."
Gwen stared at him, as if trying to confirm if there was even the slightest hint of reassurance or concession in his words. Two seconds later, as if she had made her judgment, she let out a soft breath.
“She’s the woman from last night,” she said.
"I recognize him."
“She stayed for about ten minutes when I was swimming last night. Then she left.” Gwen paused. “Lynn, I felt something was off about her last night.”
Something's not right.
Gwen frowned and thought for a moment.
“It wasn’t nervous,” she said. “It was more like she was waiting for something. She was sitting by the pool drinking something, but her eyes kept looking at the glass door. Later, it seemed like someone sent her a message, and then she left.”
"You saw her phone?"
“I didn’t see it clearly, but she did look down at what she was holding before she got up, it looked like a phone screen lit up.” Gwen glanced at the body, then quickly looked away. “Also, she glanced in my direction before she left.”
What's your opinion?
“I was just trying to make sure it was just the two of us left,” Gwen said. “I didn’t think much of it at the time.”
Lynn was already going through the first round of lines in his mind.
Last night, this woman was waiting for someone, or perhaps for news. This morning, she died in the rooftop pool; the fatal wound was extremely fine, as if inflicted by some sharp and precise instrument. Between 6:40 and 7:00 AM, neither the access control nor the surveillance cameras captured a second person entering besides Gwen. The platform is relatively enclosed, with no gaps in the regular entry and exit routes. When Gwen discovered the body, the scene was almost intact, meaning the murder either occurred before she came up; or while she was in the pool, and she was completely unaware; or—
Lynn's gaze fell on the surface of the pool.
The water was so clear that you could see the texture of the tiles in the shallow area and the gradient of blue in the deeper areas.
He crouched down, looking down at the distance between the pool wall, the drain outlet, and the row of decorative stone pillars on the west side. Gwen had found the body near the northwest corner, a spot right at the edge of a blind spot in the surveillance system, and also the area most easily obscured by tall potted plants and pillars from the viewpoint of the indoor glass lounge.
"Was there anything unusual in the water when you went in?" he asked Gwen.
“No,” Gwen said immediately. “At least I didn’t feel anything. The water temperature was normal, I didn’t see anyone, and I didn’t bump into anything.”
Which line did you swim?
Gwen subconsciously raised her hand to indicate that she entered the water from the east side of the steps, swam towards the south end first, then turned back to the north side, and finally approached the west side to get water.
In other words, for most of the first twenty minutes, she wasn't actually in the northwest corner the whole time.
Lynn stood up, turned to the security supervisor and said, "What time do the first batch of waiters start work this morning?"
"Six o'clock," the security supervisor replied. "The towels and water in the pool area are usually ready before six twenty." "Who prepares them?"
"Waiter Noah."
Where are they?
"Down below."
"Bring him up."
A few minutes later, a young waiter in his early twenties, pale as if he were about to cry, was brought up. His name was Noah, and he was still clutching his employee badge tightly in his hand. Lynn could tell at a glance that his mind was probably in a complete mess, so his first words were surprisingly calm: "What time did you get to the top floor this morning?"
"Six o'clock... about six fifteen," Noah stammered.
"one person?"
"Yes, I delivered the towels and water by myself."
Was anyone here back then?
“No.” Noah shook his head quickly. “Really, no. The pool is empty, and there’s no one on the platform.”
"Where is the body?"
Noah's face paled even more this time, and his voice trembled slightly: "N-no, I didn't see anything. If I had, I definitely would have—"
"What did you do after you put the things away?"
“I went downstairs,” Noah said. “I put the kettle here, the towels on the shelf over there, checked that the glass door was closed properly, and then I left.”
"Maintain the door."
"It's locked. I haven't touched it."
"During the time from 6:15 until Gwen came up, did anyone ask if the rooftop was open or inquire about the pool area?"
Noah paused for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "Yes."
Lynn raised his eyes.
"who."
“It was… the female customer in the blue shirt at the restaurant last night.” Noah swallowed hard. “I ran into her on the fourth floor corner when I went downstairs. She asked me if there were hardly any people on the top floor now.”
Gwen looked up.
"She asked that herself?" Lynn asked.
“Yes.” Noah nodded. “I said there are usually fewer customers this early. She just smiled and said, ‘That’s perfect.’ I thought she just wanted some peace and quiet.”
What is she wearing?
"A long trench coat, and what looked like dark clothes underneath. Her hair was tied up," Noah tried to recall. "She was also holding a cell phone or something small in her hand."
Did you see her again after that?
"No."
This testimony made the atmosphere in the room even heavier.
If Noah wasn't lying, then the deceased was at least alive before Gwen went up to the rooftop, and she clearly inquired about the pool's occupancy. This means she likely came up voluntarily, not dragged there or stumbled upon. But why did she come? Who was she meeting? Or who was she planning to meet? And how did that "person" kill her here without any record of entry or exit, and then disappear as if never having been there?
The local sheriff arrived faster than expected.
The mountain area wasn't large, and only two police cars arrived. The sheriff was a white man in his fifties named Matthew Colby. He wasn't fat, but he had broad shoulders, and his face bore the rough, weary look of someone who dealt with the weather, mountain roads, and trivial disputes for a long time. He came in and first looked at the body, then at Gwen, and finally at Lynn, his eyes clearly trying to quickly assess the situation of these vacationers.
Elena whispered a few words to him.
After hearing this, the sheriff's gaze fell directly on Gwen: "So you were the first to discover the body this morning?"
“Yes,” Gwen said.
"Is he also the only person with access control records who got into the rooftop pool this morning?"
"Correct."
The sheriff nodded, offering no immediate comment, but gestured for the forensic pathologist to examine the body first. Then he looked at Lynn: "You're her brother?"
"Yes."
“You are from out of town.”
"New York."
When the sheriff heard "New York," his expression barely changed. He simply said, "Then you should know that it's best not to let anyone disturb the scene before formally collecting evidence."
“I know,” Lynn said.
“Very good.” The sheriff looked at him, as if he could tell that he was no ordinary tourist who “knew a little about procedures.” “What do you do?”
Lynn paused for a second, then answered.
"Federal Investigation into Abnormal Activities"
The sheriff's eyebrows twitched very slightly.
The reaction wasn't strong, but it was enough to show that he had at least heard of the organization, even if he hadn't actually had any contact with it.
“Then you should know,” the sheriff said slowly, “that this is a regular murder case to me right now. Unless you can give me a decent reason to prove it isn’t.”
“I don’t have any right now,” Lynn said.
“Okay.” The sheriff nodded. “Then we’ll treat it as a regular murder for now. Your sister cannot leave the estate before her formal statement is taken.”
Gwen stood still, her shoulders tensing slightly, but she didn't refute.
Lynn only asked, "Is she a witness or a suspect?"
The sheriff glanced at the body, then at Gwen.
“Right now,” he said, “both identities hold true for me.”
That's direct and harsh.
Gwen, however, calmed down, as if the worst-case scenario had been laid bare, leaving only the act of coping. She merely raised her chin slightly: "I will cooperate. But I didn't kill her."
The sheriff didn't argue with her, but simply gestured to the female officer next to him to take her aside for basic information registration. As Gwen passed by Lynn, she paused for a very brief moment, her voice so soft that only he could hear it.
"Don't become the worst version of what happened between my brother and the agent right now."
Lynn looked at her.
Gwen's eyes still held a suppressed shock and pallor, yet she still retained her usual clarity.
“I need you to trust me, but I also need you not to overlook anything just because you trust me,” she said.
After saying that, she followed the policewoman away.
Lynn stood still, her fingertips unconsciously pressing against her palm. (End of Chapter)