Chapter 66: You Are the Murderer!

Goethe was stunned.

Almost instinctively, he looked in the direction where the scream had come from—the kitchen!

Frowning, Goethe walked over.

Then, he saw a corpse with a caved-in back of the head, brain matter splattered, lying face down in a pool of blood.

The surrounding area was in chaos.

"Call the police! Call the police!"

"Hurry and call the police!"

"Everyone, stay in your original seats!"

"We'll wait for the police to arrive!"

Amidst the rising and falling screams, a large man in a chef's uniform shouted loudly.

This shout gradually calmed the panicked crowd.

And soon, the police arrived.

They were familiar faces: Lanster and Gergen.

When Goethe saw the two, they also saw him.

Gergen's eyes lit up instantly, and he walked over to Goethe in just a few quick steps.

"What are you doing here?" Gergen demanded.

"Obviously, eating." Goethe pointed to the restaurant sign behind him.

"Eating?"

"You come here to eat, and a murder happens here, just like that?"

Gergen looked skeptical.

"Exactly like that."

"Although I don't believe in coincidences either, sometimes things just happen suddenly—you can ask the staff and the customers in the restaurant. I had just opened the door when I heard the scream."

Goethe sighed helplessly.

At this moment, Goethe was truly feeling helpless.

He had just wanted to avoid Maria's "blood-replenishing soup" and have a simple meal.

"You better not be lying!" Gergen said viciously.

Then, the sergeant and his partner began questioning people about what had happened.

And soon, they had results.

What Goethe said was true.

Gergen deflated like a balloon.

"Don't jump to conclusions. Staying calm will help you," Lanster patted his partner's shoulder, then walked towards Goethe with a smile.

"We meet again, Mr. Marple."

"If possible, I would prefer not to see you," Goethe replied, his gaze moving past Lanster to where Gergen was questioning the people on the scene—able to quickly confirm Goethe's story was true not only due to Gergen's efficiency but also because it wasn't peak dining time, so there weren't many customers. Including Goethe, there were only six people.

One of them was a woman in the throes of a passionate romance. Her scream was unforgettable.

At the moment, she was still pale, speaking intermittently while her companion comforted her.

"I-I heard a scream from the kitchen, then ran over and saw the body."

"The body was terrifying."

As she spoke, the woman began to sob again.

"Who was the first to discover the body?" Gergen asked.

"It was me!" A male waiter raised his hand.

"Since it was almost time for the restaurant to officially open, but the head chef hadn't announced today's special yet, I went to the kitchen to find him. But the door was locked from the inside. I knocked several times, but no one answered, so I reported it to the sous-chef. In the end, the sous-chef decided to break the door down."

"And then…"

"I saw the head chef's body."

At this point, the male waiter swallowed hard.

Clearly, seeing the body wasn't easy for him either.

"Who's the sous-chef?" Gergen asked.

"I am!" The large chef who had been directing the situation stepped forward, confirming the waiter's story.

"Why didn't you use a key to open the door?" Gergen continued.

"We couldn't find the key. It's usually hanging right here, but just now, no matter where we looked, we couldn't find it!"

The sous-chef pointed to a wall nearby.

There was a hook for hanging keys, but it was now empty.

"Oh?"

Gegen picked up on this crucial detail and then began questioning the remaining people one by one.

This included the other three waiters and four other guests.

Almost everyone said the same thing as the first male waiter: they rushed to the kitchen after hearing a scream and saw the head chef's body.

Once everyone was questioned, Gegen clapped his hands.

"Now, everyone stand still, we need to conduct a search!"

The situation was clear—whoever had the key was the murderer.

Everyone was searched one by one.

Including Goethe.

But they found nothing.

No one had the key.

Then—

"Sergeant, Deputy Sergeant, the key is here!"

A patrolling officer suddenly shouted.

Everyone's attention was drawn to it, and they saw the body being turned over and the key clutched in the deceased's hand.

"This?!"

Gegen was dumbfounded.

If the deceased had the key, how did the murderer leave the locked room?

Gegen had just checked the door lock—it was impossible to lock it from the outside without the key.

"Before the door was broken open, it was locked, but the key was in the deceased's hand. That means... unless the murderer can walk through walls, it's impossible to leave the kitchen!"

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

It was one of the four guests, excluding the couple.

Goethe looked over.

Among the group of four, three burly middle-aged men stood around the young man who had spoken—their formation was precise, with one standing straight behind and the other two on either side, all in a stance that maximized their field of vision.

Bodyguards!

Goethe immediately identified their roles.

Then, a look of curiosity flashed in his eyes.

Dining with three bodyguards was not something an ordinary person would do.

And the luxurious attire and gold watch chain were also telling.

Noticing Goethe’s gaze, the young man smiled in return.

Gegen, standing nearby, frowned.

Another idle rich kid!

The deputy sergeant thought to himself.

Then, he said confidently, "There's no such thing as walking through walls."

"The murderer must have used some method we don't know about to leave the kitchen. Maybe there's a secret passage!"

He then ordered a more thorough search.

But again, they found nothing.

Goethe looked at the deputy sergeant, who was wasting his time, and couldn’t help but shake his head.

"Mr. Marple, have you found something?"

"In your book Wilderness Adventure, the demon hunter Holmes was known for his sharp observation. Surely, the author who created such a character must also have keen observational skills, right?"

Lansdt, who had been watching Goethe, immediately noticed Goethe’s action.

So, the sergeant asked.

And he didn’t lower his voice.

As a result, everyone in the dining room heard him.

The guests and waiters all turned their gaze to Goethe.

After all, the name Poirot Marple had gained quite a reputation in Hesse Tings over the past few days.

This guy did it on purpose!

Goethe looked at Lansdt, who was still smiling.

"I mean no harm, just that, as a reader of Wilderness Adventure, I hope the author can be as remarkable as the character!"

Lansdt said this with a hopeful look.

This was clearly an act.

As for why he was doing it?

Perhaps to make Goethe look foolish.

Or perhaps to diminish Goethe's growing fame.

His growing fame was certainly not a good thing for Lansdt, who was still watching him closely.

Look at the reporters standing outside the door; they had been noisy before, but now they were quiet, all eyes on him!

If Goethe made a fool of himself, these reporters wouldn't show any mercy.

Even if they had been on good terms before.

But Goethe was destined to disappoint him.

"An author and his characters are not the same. Just because an author loves food doesn't mean his characters will have any interest in it. I am not the same as my characters."

Goethe said humbly.

Lansdt kept smiling.

"Really?"

"That's quite disappointing. I thought..."

"But I did notice something."

Before Lansdt could finish, Goethe interrupted him.

Under his gaze, Goethe walked up to one of the waiters and pointed at him—

"You're the murderer!"

end