Day 1
I read the documents from the police this evening. The case I’ll be working on next will be a locked room mystery: A lady was shot in her room that was locked outside this Monday night. I’m truly proud of the fact that I’m a famous, experienced, and well-paid detective. But in fact, I haven't dealt with dead bodies for a long time - unlike fiction novels, murder never happens that often in the real life.

Ok. Let’s step back from the digression. Besides the description of the case, building plan, and neighborhood plans, I also received some photos within the documents. They were all about the victim’s room. The door was broken. The victim’s - the lady’s - body lied on the middle of the room. There was blood around her body. And a gun - according to the documents, it was the victim’s gun, but it became the murder weapon in the end -  was dropped next to her body, too, with too much blood on it, and those blood may make it more difficult to capture fingerprints of the murder. Though the photos, I could find some small holes, which may be the bullet holes on the walls and furniture. It seems there was a fight between the victim and the murder. The victim shot the murder, but all shots were missed. Then the murder grabbed the victim’s gun from her hands and shot her. Was it the first time for the murder to kill, since there was a long fight between them? And why did the murder bring no weapons with him (or her) and choose to kill the victim using her gun? Was it possible that the murder didn’t plan  to kill the victim at first?

There aren’t too much information in the documents. And I have too many questions in my mind that can’t be answered right now.

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Day 2
I met the suspects today. One is the victim’s son and another is the victim’s ex-husband.

The victim's son was the one who first found the body therefore became a suspect. “We had an argument that night,” said the son, “I disappointed her. She was so mad that she said she didn’t want to see me again. I was sad and angry and drove around the neighborhood… Her room’s door was closed when I came back at midnight. I thought she had already slept. In fact, I did smell something weird, but I didn’t think too much because I was too tired.” He realized something goes wrong on the second day after his class was over. He broke into the room and found his mother died in his room. And the gun that shot her was the lady’s gun that she used to hide it in her room. Then the son was trying to tell me how bad he was feeling and how much he regretted his action. But again, he was the one who found the body and called the police. If he is the murder, although he didn’t seem to lie, he would have enough time to hide all the clues (for example the chain or something else that locked the door) and exonerate himself innocent. It’s possible that I had reached an erroneous conclusion because the case is never a locked room mystery!

And the victim’s ex-husband, whose footprints and DNA was found at the victim’s house, said he “did visit her on Monday”. “There were some conflicts between us, you know… We quarreled again that day.” While talking about the fact that he was reported to leave his house that night, he explained nervously, “I can easily get mad, but I have a quick temper, too. I did plan to go to her house to apologize, but I changed my mind on the half way. Really, I can’t stand this anymore. She never listens to me… But I never want to kill her. It wasn’t me.” I don’t care much about their relation, but I’d better make sure that he was telling the truth.

  My first question could be answered now: how did the murder enter the victim’s house? There are only a few possible ways. Since the main door wasn’t broken, it was impossible for the murder to break in. Considering that the victim was at home by herself during night, there wasn’t much chance for her to open the door for a stranger; even though she opened the door and found out someone was going to kill her, she didn’t have time to run to her bedroom and took her gun; or if the murder didn’t show the trend to kill at first and was invited to the living room, the victim would be more likely to run to the kitchen and grab knives if she felt unsafe - in general, the victim couldn’t allow a stranger to get close to her bedroom, so the murder must me someone who knew.

Who is the murder?

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I know it! No wonder that place looks so familiar to me! Ahh yes, I’ve been there six years ago. Although the name of that street has changed, the house is still there.

I still remember the case that happened six years ago. In that July, a young man was killed at his home, where the murder happened again this Monday. The well-prepared murder cut that victory’s throat and disguised the scene. It was me who solved the case that no one else could solve. And because of that, I became one of the most famous detectives around the nation. It was my biggest case when I first became a detective. Even now - six years after the case, I could still remember every scene.

Although the victim who was the first one to live in the house after that murder got killed only after living in a month, I could tell that the case I’m working on right now has nothing to do with the case that happened 6 years ago. The culprit in the last case has already been punished. And the ways of murders to kill were quite different. These pieces of evidence are enough to show the cases are unrelated. (Meaningless Characters)

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Day 3
I went to the crime scene today, finding no clues, just as what I thought (overall, it’s hard not to trust the police and the technology). I know it would be hard at the very first of the beginning, but I have to question the common sense, authorities, and even myself to find the hidden information. This is how a detective should look like. I’m a detective, so there’s no way I would give up.

All evidence was well cleaned up, probably by the murder. Only in fiction novels, the murder could kill without leaving any evidence. But today, it happens, and I have to accept it. Moreover, it sounds parodical that the murder could clean up all evidence but didn’t know how to kill… Did someone help the murder? Were there only one murder?

Or is my prerequisites erroneous? Was I wrong from the beginning? Is it really a locked room mystery? If it is, how did the murder lock the door (or the window) from the outside (Although the door was already broken by the victim’s son, I still checked it and the window specially). If the victim’s son is the murder, it’s possible for him to hide the thing he used to block the door, for example, tape, stick, or even a tiny cabinet. But he doesn’t have any motives to do that, it’s even not an effective way to clear suspicion.

Don’t rush. It would just make things worse.

Maybe I should go to the crime scene again. Five o’clock… Today would be the day.

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(At the crime scene)
All in a second, the detective saw someone in the darkness. This house was already sealed off by the police. How is it possible that someone is in here, especially during the night? Without thinking, he ran to the man. He followed him, running up the stairs, through the hallway, and finally to the bedroom of the victim.
He slowed down, stared at the man surprisingly. Because there was nowhere to run or hide, he could see the man clearly. The man was in a pale gray, his cloth, his hair, even his skin! This pale gray made him seem strange, not look human. The detective had survived from all kinds of difficulties before therefore believed there’s nothing in the world he would be scared of. But this time, at the first few second he saw the man, his mind went all blank.
He heard himself asking, “Who are you?”, and the man replied, “A ghost”.
If he could, he really wanted to grab the man like a bludger and yield at him to ask him to be more serious. But he can’t pretend the man wasn’t telling the truth.
If this is a detective fiction, it must be the one that no one would want to read, because of the violation of several of Knox’s 10 Rules, he thought with a poker-face.

“What did you do with the victim?” the detective asked, trying to draw him out. At the same time, he was thinking about the man: who he is? He looks familiar. Do I know him?... He can’t remember because he had met so many people in his six-year career as a detective.
The man said carelessly. “Ms. White? She saw me. She was too scared. She meant to kill me but killed herself by accident. ” He answered without thinking, probably because there’s nothing he needs to hide - what could I do with a ghost? Put him in the jail? The detective thought.
“Victor Dixon.” without any surprise, he saw the man’s smile stiff for a second, “The victim who died in this house six years ago. ” Yes, he was retaliating. He was mad at the man tricking him (although he didn’t mean to do that), and himself being fooled (in his opinion, it’s embarrassing to find someone unexpected the murder after hard working for days) but could do nothing with the murder.
  I really hope I could tell people this ghost is the murder, he thought madly.