Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 109 The Truth Revealed
Soon, the group arrived again in the corridor outside the luxury suite.

"Is everyone here?"

Li Wei glanced at everyone, then checked his watch. Just then, a loud "pop" sound came from inside. The sound was muffled, like a firecracker. Everyone was startled by the sound.

"what sound?"

"Gunshots?"

"Alright, everyone, there's no need to panic."

Li Wei waved his hand.

"It's just an experiment... Let's go in."

The group followed Li Wei into the room with puzzled expressions, and then saw the head of the disciplinary inspection team standing in the bedroom, holding a gun. Upon seeing Li Wei, he hurriedly waved at him.

"Mr. Li Wei, how is it?"

"Pretty much what I thought."

Li Wei nodded, then gestured for the head of the police force to put down his gun. He then turned to look at the crowd and sighed.

"Alright, I brought everyone here for only one reason: the case can be closed now."

"Hey?"

"Case closed?"

To be honest, everyone was taken aback by Li Wei's answer. How could the case be closed so quickly, after only one morning?

Li Wei completely ignored their reactions and continued talking.

"Now let's review the whole case. In the morning, Miss Chris, the maid, woke up Ms. Porto and found her murdered. She then called Mr. Byrne, the butler, who sent for the chief inspector, who then sent for me... So, Miss Chris, after you discovered Ms. Porto's murder, did anyone else enter the scene?"

"Mr. Bourne went in to check on the situation."

"But he didn't get close to the victim, did he?"

"No."

"you sure?"

“I’m certain that Mr. Byrne only glanced at the young lady at the door before immediately leaving.”

"Very good, you've remembered that sentence?"

Li Wei glanced at the sailor beside him, who was carrying a tape recorder almost as tall as himself, and the sailor nodded. This made the maid somewhat uneasy; she looked at Li Wei but didn't say anything more.

However, what Li Wei said next was even more surprising.

"Actually, strictly speaking, this shouldn't even be considered a case; it should have been."

"Not considered a case?"

"Yes."

Li Wei nodded.

“When we arrived at the scene, we found Ms. Porto murdered. The murder weapon was not found at the scene, so it was natural to assume that Ms. Porto was murdered and the murderer took the murder weapon. This is a very normal judgment. And this is the judgment that someone made us make. So I said that this was not originally a case because Ms. Porto committed suicide.”

"Why---!?"

It has to be said that everyone's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing this.

"suicide?"

"Yes."

"But...but where's the murder weapon?"

“He was picked up by someone because he didn’t want anyone to know that the master of the Porto family committed suicide, don’t you think so, Mr. Byrne?”

Levi stared at Mr. Bourne, the butler, expressionless, while the latter had a gloomy face.

"you are wrong."

"I was wrong?"

“That’s right. Since you’ve already found the murder weapon, I won’t hide it anymore. In fact, I killed the young lady…”

"Alright, save your nonsense for when you're drunk."

Li Wei interrupted the steward before he even got to the "prisoner's emotional confession" step.

"You are free to insist on this, but the evidence at the scene does not support your argument."

"evidence?"

"Yes."

Li Wei waved, and soon the photographer came over and handed him a stack of photos. Li Wei flipped through them and then took out one of the photos—it was a photo taken by the photographer at Li Wei's request of the victim's room. The photo clearly showed the victim's bed, the victim lying on the bed, and the floor next to her.

"Here's the proof."

Li Wei pointed to the photograph—unlike modern times, the photographs developed in this era are quite large, large enough to be used directly as teaching aids.

"evidence?"

“That’s right. Look at the footprints here. There’s only one pair of footprints by the bed, which belongs to the victim, Ms. Porto. That’s normal, since it’s her bed. Look here, there’s a pair of men’s footprints, which belong to Mr. Byrne. But he’s a distance from the bed and didn’t walk to the bedside.”

"That's right, I fired the shot right here and killed the young lady."

"I told you, please speak nonsense when you're drunk."

Levi gave Mr. Bourne another disdainful look.

"The victim's temple wound has burn marks, which means the gun was pressed against his temple. Mr. Bourne, you are standing some distance from the bed. What's wrong with you? Did you practice some kind of gymnastics so that you can stretch your arm a meter long and press it directly against the victim's forehead? Why are you a butler? You might as well go perform in the circus."

"…………………"

"Furthermore, judging from the direction of the footprints, you weren't facing the victim directly, but rather the side of the bed. Why is that?"

Li Wei tapped the footprints again.

"Let me tell you what happened. Last night, the victim learned some heartbreaking news, which caused her great pain and ultimately led her to commit suicide. The sound of a .0.22 caliber gunshot isn't loud, and the soundproofing here is excellent. I think you all heard it just now; the sound was very muffled. If it were late at night, it might have been quickly overlooked."

Hearing this, everyone nodded. The sound they heard in the corridor was indeed not very loud, like the muffled sound of firecrackers. And that was in the corridor. If they were in their own rooms, the sound would probably be even quieter.

"Miss Selena was drunk, Miss Chris was asleep, but Mr. Byrne was awake. He clearly heard the sound, so he went to check on the situation and saw Ms. Porto's body and a pistol on the floor."

As Li Wei spoke, he glanced at Mr. Bourne, who remained silent with a gloomy face.

“I don’t know if Mr. Byrne knew the reason for Ms. Porto’s suicide, but it was clear that in his eyes, the dignified head of the Porto family committing suicide during his honeymoon was simply a media frenzy. So he quickly made a decision: to take the pistol that had fallen to the ground and pretend that Ms. Porto had been shot. That way, at least the focus of the problem would be less important.” Levi chuckled as he said this.

"Actually, we also have to thank the excellent security measures on the North Star. Originally, after Mr. Bourne took the gun, he could have simply thrown it overboard, and there would have been no way to prove it. But fortunately, there were security guards on both sides of the starboard staircase, and the promenade was completely enclosed. Of course, Mr. Bourne could have gone down the stairs to the deck to throw the gun, but if he had asked the security guards afterwards, they would have known that Mr. Bourne had left in the middle of the night, and then it would have been difficult to hide. So he simply chose to hide the gun in his room, so that if it was found, he could say that he was actually the murderer..."

"But you have no evidence to prove I'm not the murderer!"

Mr. Bourne coldly interrupted Levi again, but in Levi's view, this was basically the part in the animation where the murderer desperately asks the detective, "What motive did I have to kill her?"

"Actually, I do have one."

"……………Why?"

"Does anyone know what a 'gunpowder reaction' is?"

Li Wei stared at the crowd and chuckled.

"The so-called smoke reaction is the flame from the bullet casing that is ejected along with the bullet when it is fired. Generally, the smoke from a revolver is umbrella-shaped, like this."

Li Wei took the .0.22 caliber decorative gun for women from the inspector and made a gesture.

"This means that when a gun is fired, gunpowder and metal particles will be ejected and remain on the skin or clothing. Given Ms. Porto's firing posture, such marks would inevitably be left on her hands and body. By extracting and testing these marks, it can be proven whether Ms. Porto fired the gun herself."

"………………………"

The old butler didn't say anything more, but his dejected look told us the answer.

"So, you admitted it?"

"Yes."

The old butler nodded.

“I was very worried about the young lady, so I waited for her to call me. Then I heard a gunshot. I rushed to the room, but it was too late. I only saw the young lady's body and the gun on the floor. I was shocked and didn't understand why the young lady would commit suicide. But for the sake of the Porto family's reputation, I couldn't let the news of the young lady's suicide get out. So... I thought I would take the murder weapon and pretend that the young lady was shot. That way, even if the investigation eventually led to me, I could say that I killed the young lady..."

At this point, Mr. Bourne's expression turned serious.

“I’m too old, and my life doesn’t matter anymore. I’m willing to sacrifice my life to protect the honor of the Porto family.”

"So it seems you're not entirely unaware of the little saga between Ms. Porto, Mr. John, and Miss Elaine."

Faced with Li Wei's words, the old butler had no reply and could only silently shake his head.

“I reminded the young lady before, but she thought it wasn’t a big deal.”

"But...why did my sister commit suicide?"

Instead, Selena asked in surprise.

"If she were murdered by someone, I wouldn't be surprised at all, but suicide? Why?"

"Well, that involves the deceased's privacy, but... it doesn't matter if I say it."

Levi quickly recounted the story between John and Elaine, leaving everyone else stunned.

What are you thinking?

Selena was looking at Elaine like she was a lunatic.

"You actually dare to think about something like that?"

"What's wrong with this?"

Despite Selena's rebuke, Elaine remained defiant, showing no remorse for what she had done wrong.

"A woman like my sister deserves only the most perfect prince! That's why I chose John! It's a pity I didn't meet the detective back then, otherwise I would definitely have given him to my sister!"

"I appreciate your kind offer, but please allow me to decline."

Li Wei silently took a step back.

"Did my sister commit suicide because of this?"

"Judging from the current situation, that should be the case. Actually, I'm more inclined to believe it was an impulsive act."

"On impulse?"

“That’s right. Suddenly discovering that everything she had was arranged by someone else, without her knowing anything about it, and that the person who arranged it was the person she was closest to and trusted the most, was a huge blow at the time. But if Ms. Porto hadn’t had a gun at that time, she might have just gotten drunk to vent her frustrations and then thought of a solution. But once she had a gun within easy reach, it was a different story.”

Li Wei shrugged at this point. In his world, a gun association of a certain major power had been insisting that the cause of shootings was not the gun, but the person. In Li Wei's view, this was utter nonsense. The danger of guns lay in their lethality and the fact that there was no going back. If you take a pill, you can at least get your stomach pumped. Even if you hang yourself, there's a chance you'll survive if you get timely medical attention. Even if you're stabbed, you might survive after some stitches.

Only shooting, one shot to death, and there's no going back.

If that's the case, then we could also say that nuclear weapons are the same. The problem isn't nuclear weapons, it's people. So why sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? Wouldn't it be better to just give everyone a nuclear bomb?

"Is there anything else you want to say, Mr. Bourne?"

Li Wei looked at Mr. Bourne again, who had already lowered his head, his face contorted in pain.

"I was just trying to protect the reputation of the Porto family, but after something like this happened..."

"What use is reputation! My sister is dead!"

Selena angrily interrupted Mr. Byrne, then glared fiercely at Elaine and John.

"And you two, don't think this is over. Even though you didn't kill my sister yourself, she died because of you! You wait, this isn't over!"

Seeing Selena's imposing demeanor, John was so frightened that he didn't dare to breathe, while Elaine stared at Selena with a displeased expression and complained.

"What are you pretending for? You clearly don't listen to your older sister at all, you don't deserve to be her younger sister..."

"But she's my sister too! I'm completely different from guys like you who play sister games!"

Selena glared at Elaine, then looked away and gazed at the head inspector.

"Chief Inspector, can you arrest this adulterous couple?"

"No, this... I'm afraid I can't..."

"Then kick them into second class. They don't deserve to stay in first class at all!"

Watching the argument going on on Selena's side, Levi yawned.

"It's over. The rest is their own family matter. Let them argue it out to their heart's content."

"What are you going to do next?"

Mr. Howard had clearly had enough of those pointless arguments and looked at Li Wei with curiosity, while Li Wei pondered for a moment.

"In any case, let's have lunch first."

(End of this chapter)