By then, the car had arrived at the police station. Both Arthur and Sarah walked inside and headed toward their familiar work area.
"Arthur, Sarah, it's terrible that we have to meet here again."
"Hello, boss."
Both Arthur and Sarah greeted the serious looking middle-aged man in front of them.
This was Holand, the direct supervisor of this investigation team.
Arthur set up the clue board while Sarah reported the investigation progress to Holand.
After listening, Holand's expression also turned grim. This case seemed like it wouldn't be easy to solve.
"Killing a priest in a small church in a remote area? What kind of psycho would do something like this?"
Holand couldn't help but feel angry. However, he quickly restrained himself and gestured with his chin towards the clue board that Arthur had set up.
"Arthur, what do you have?"
"I have a basic understanding of this case, except for two things."
Arthur then connected a few clues in the center, and in the middle of the intersecting lines, he taped a paper with the words "resistance?" written on it.
Then, he connected a few more, creating another intersection where he wrote "poison?".
"I temporarily don't know why the victim didn't resist. But the fact that the killer used poison to kill him makes me even more puzzled."
"Poisons can be traced to their source, and even a self-mixed synthetic poison has a much higher risk of exposure than, say, using two gloved hands to strangle the victim to death or holding a chokehold on them until they die, especially since the victim didn't resist. Yet, the killer still used poison."
"Here, a paradox arises. The killer needed to use poison, which requires neutralizing the victim's ability to resist. As a result, the victim didn't resist at all, and the killer didn't even need to restrain the victim. So why would the killer use poison and increase the risk of exposure?"
"Unless… the victim intentionally let the killer inject the poison."
This conclusion from Arthur made both Holand and Sarah frown deeply.
Holand folded his arms across his chest and began to question him.
"The problem is, why would the victim allow the killer to murder him?"
"Or we could think of it differently."
This time, Arthur began to connect all the elements in the shape of a pyramid, and at the very top, he pinned a paper with the words "acquaintance" on it.
"If the killer was an acquaintance of the victim, then all these problems would be solved."
Arthur began to reenact the sequence of the crime in his imagination.
After hearing the knock on the door, the old priest went to greet his late-night visitor, who was an acquaintance. Their gender, age, or specific relationship was temporarily unknown, but this person caused him no alarm. They might have had a moment of close contact, like a hug, close enough for the killer to inject the poison into his artery.
This should have been the moment a person about to die would resist, but for some reason, most likely due to their relationship, the priest accepted his inevitable fate, and in doing so, directly helped the killer cover up almost the entire crime.
"Until the very end, he remained faithful to his beliefs and accepted the killer's confession."
At this point, the somber expression on Arthur's face grew more intense. He took out the half-smoked cigarette from the afternoon, lit it, and took a drag to calm himself.
The investigation room fell silent for a moment until Holand broke the atmosphere.
"It's a valuable theory, but we still need to discuss what the truth is. We can't rule out the possibility that it was caused by a stranger."
After handing over some work, Holand left.
Arthur leaned back in his swivel chair, tossing the nearly finished cigarette into the trash can. He tilted his head back, looking at the beige ceiling, his eyes slowly drifting away as he sank into deep thought.
Although his analysis was relatively comprehensive, Arthur still felt as though he had missed something.
"What is this feeling? I don't think there are any other details to explore…"
Recalling the entire day of investigation, Arthur couldn't figure out where his strange intuition came from.
While he was lost in thought, Sarah came over and placed a box of donuts in front of him, and she also grabbed one to eat.
"Have some to get some energy for overtime."
"Tsk, donuts… aren't you afraid of getting fat? And I thought you women didn't like these things?"
Looking at the plump donuts covered in chocolate and sprinkles, Arthur inexplicably felt a sense of disgust in his throat.
"Of course, I don't like them."
Sarah said, shoving the last bite into her mouth as her hand reached for the second donut.
"But these things have a ton of sugar, which provides a lot of energy. Unless you're a patrol officer, you can't expect to gain weight if you don't eat this stuff."
"Look at your face, you look as haggard as a drug addict in an alley."
"I'm not that bad."
Arthur mumbled. Talking had somehow irritated his stomach, making him feel ravenously hungry.
So, he reached out and took a donut.
The moment Arthur raised the donut, an idea suddenly flashed in his mind.
Arthur's eyes widened. He seemed to have realized something, and without turning his head, he spoke to Sarah, who had already eaten her third donut.
"Sarah, why are we eating donuts?"
"Are you hallucinating or something?"
"Ah, no, that's not right. Sarah, why are we eating donuts when there are so many better options?"
"Because they're high in sugar? Of course. As people about to be tormented by overtime, we need to give ourselves enough energy to get through it."
"Exactly."
"Arthur, what the hell are you babbling about?"
Sarah tilted her head, not understanding. Arthur, meanwhile, had gotten up from his chair and walked to the clue board, connecting "poison" and "acquaintance" together.
"Sarah, tell me, who is the perpetrator in most poisoning cases?"
"Um… women?"
"Exactly. And do you know why? Because in situations where the killer is physically weaker than the victim, they are forced to use other means instead of pure violence to subdue the victim as is common."
"And one of the most feasible methods is poisoning. If done carefully enough, it leaves almost no clues, and the victim is rarely able to defend against it. In contrast, using a cold weapon like a dagger for a sneak attack or a gun has too many weaknesses."