Arthur's thoughts raced, and he began connecting the disparate pieces of evidence, including the ones he had forgotten.
Others only paid attention to the conflict between Scott and the victim, while few noticed the origin of this conflict: the rock-throwing incident.
By the time Arthur realized this, he was already standing in front of his desk. He sat down in his chair and, without saying a word, continued to ponder.
"Could the neighbor who was walking by have been the killer? Not necessarily. The neighbor was not the one who threw the rock. That's also why the priest ruled that Scott's accusation was inaccurate. It's very likely the killer was hiding somewhere, just waiting for someone to walk by to throw the rock, causing a conflict between that passerby and Scott, which then initiated the conflict between Scott and the priest."
"As for the break-in, after the killer broke into Scott's house, this person likely found the syringes Scott used to make pasta. They then planned to turn the syringes into a murder weapon and used this weapon to frame Scott without arousing suspicion. Plus, with his job at the chemical sorting plant, Scott's suspicion would naturally be the highest."
"This doesn't invalidate the hypothesis that the killer used poison because they are a woman or a teenager. It simply means the killer had an additional reason to use poison. After all, I've proven that the killer could be a woman or a teenager with three separate deductions. And these two hypotheses don't conflict; they complement each other."
At this point, the killer's "psychological room" finally began to take shape in Arthur's mind.
"A meticulous plan was established, ready to take advantage of surrounding factors. Sophisticated and cunning."
"Could there really be a potential criminal like that in that small community?"
Arthur took a deep breath.
Even he couldn't have imagined that such a dangerous criminal was hidden in that secluded place.
Someone who leaves no traces, knows how to frame others, and manipulates people.
Arthur began smoking again, using the smoke to try and calm himself down a bit.
This couldn't be delayed; he had to report it quickly.
Arthur didn't get up to find anyone. He used his phone to contact Sarah and Holand directly, the two people he trusted the most, and asked them to come to the investigation room to hear his deduction.
When the two of them arrived, they saw Arthur adjusting the clue board with twice as many details as before, making Sarah dizzy just looking at it. Holand spoke first.
"Arthur, didn't you have something to tell us?"
"Oh, right. Please have a seat. This is going to take a while."
Arthur answered without turning around, his hands still focused on adjusting the clues on the board.
Sarah and Holand looked at each other in confusion, but they still pulled up chairs and sat down.
A moment later, Arthur finished adjusting the clue board. He turned around, his face wearing a very serious expression.
"I need you two to listen carefully."
"This case… is not as simple as we thought."
Then, Arthur began to present his thought process, using the clue board behind him for support.
Holand and Sarah went from feeling nothing to being astonished, and finally fell silent, just watching Arthur present each line of his deduction. The process was so long that Arthur's throat became dry. When he finished, he had to grab a bottle of water to soothe it.
"Do you two have any thoughts?"
Sarah didn't respond, as her mind was still in turmoil, like a blender trying to process the pile of data Arthur had just presented. As for Holand, he wasn't meddling in Arthur's deduction. He was focused on an even more serious matter.
"This must be handled very carefully. It's a good thing you only told us. If the press got wind of a genius criminal on the loose... you know what kind of disaster that could cause."
"I know, boss."
Arthur nodded, and Holand continued.
"And I can give you the highest authority. We must catch the killer as soon as possible. With your deduction this far, I'm sure you have a clear image of the killer now, right?"
"Yes, boss. That's what I was about to say."
Hearing Arthur's affirmation, Holand's tense face relaxed. Because whenever Arthur said this, the case was always solved afterward.
When Arthur was just starting out in the police force, Holand was the one who directly brought him into this important investigation team. Other colleagues called him crazy, but Holand trusted his own judgment and trusted Arthur's talent.
In the end, Arthur had proven that Holand's decision was the right one.
There was no case he couldn't solve.
This time, it would be the same.
Arthur took out another sticky note, wrote the name "Brenda" on it, and pinned it to the clue board.
"Sarah, do you remember this person?"
"Huh? What? Mrs. Brenda? Of course, I do."
Sarah, having now regained her composure, quickly answered Arthur's question.
"The reason we were able to connect the case to Scott is because of the information Mrs. Brenda gave us."
"Yeah, so? You suspect her? Based on your previous deductions, you think the killer intentionally created that conflict to set up framing Scott, and the killer used this to lead us to Scott. And Mrs. Brenda is the only one who told us about the conflict."
"What you're saying is only half right."
"What I'm suspicious of is why she only gave us the information during our second meeting."
"Is it because… she received the information from some other source? Instead of remembering it herself?"