The Bride Beneath the Roses Chapter 1

The police department received an emergency call reporting a death in a residential complex. Initially assumed to be accidental, it turned out to be a serial murder case. The victims were a family, and what appeared accidental was, after careful investigation, determined to be premeditated murder.

The killer's motive was common enough—a crime of passion!

At first, the murderer refused to confess, and the police had no solid evidence. But ultimately, the case was solved because of skeletal remains discovered five years later. The net of heaven is wide-meshed, yet nothing escapes it. There is no perfect crime, and no one who violates the law goes unpunished.

In August 2019, I graduated from the police academy and was assigned to the Southern District Public Security Bureau of River City.

From August until New Year's Eve—more than four months—I hadn't encountered a single homicide case, not even a major criminal case.

To be honest, it wasn't that I couldn't encounter them; it was that the district was peaceful. Over those months, the most serious incidents were bar fights and petty disputes. This left my young, ambitious self wondering if enrolling in the police academy had been a mistake.

After all, my lifelong dream had been to become a police officer, catch criminals, and uphold justice.

Just when I was feeling extremely discouraged, the station received a call. The caller anxiously said his girlfriend had committed suicide, he was terrified, and he hoped the police could help.

When the dispatcher transferred the call to our department, Captain Shaw felt handling a suicide wasn't a major matter, so he assigned me and my colleague Wendy to process the scene. Medical examiner Dr. Harris accompanied us.

Wendy was a female officer three years my senior, cheerful and beautiful. I called her Wendy.

Dr. Harris was a veteran medical examiner who'd worked in the Southern District for over a decade. I called him Harris.

The incident occurred at apartment 308, Building 6, Harmony Residential Complex. As soon as we entered the building, we smelled a pungent gas odor. The smell was even stronger in apartment 308's living room. Despite the doors and windows being opened, it still made our heads swim.

Deceased: Lily Chen, female, 23 years old. Cause of death: carbon monoxide poisoning from gas inhalation.

The deceased was petite, wearing a pink nightgown at the time of death. She had disabilities in both legs and died in her wheelchair in the living room. Her expression was peaceful, showing no signs of suffering.

The deceased had turned on the kitchen gas stove herself. On the living room coffee table was a half-empty bottle of liquor. Around noon, the deceased had sent her boyfriend a WeChat message—a suicide note. The general meaning was that she was tired of living, didn't want to burden her boyfriend anymore, so she chose to commit suicide by gas.

Unfortunately, her boyfriend was busy with work and only saw her message two hours later. If only he'd seen it in time, how could she have died?

Medical examiner Harris collected fingerprints and other evidence from the scene. Based on the scene, the deceased's suicide seemed certain. However, given that the boyfriend had reported it, we treated it seriously, bringing the body back to the station and asking the boyfriend to come for questioning.

The deceased's boyfriend, Derek Miller, 28 years old, slender build, pale complexion, wearing glasses, looked refined—an accountant at an advertising company.

His girlfriend's death had hit him hard. He kept blaming himself for not checking his phone in time, leading to her death. So even when we brought him to the interrogation room, his expression remained dazed.

Wendy and I conducted the questioning together. Seeing Derek's pale face and red-rimmed eyes, Wendy sympathized with him and kindly poured him a glass of water.

Derek took the cup, drank a sip, and then I asked him about the deceased's life before death.

Derek said his girlfriend Lily Chen had shown no unusual behavior these past few days. He said that morning when he left for work, Lily had even seen him to the door, and he'd noticed nothing wrong.

I then asked about the cause of Lily's leg disability. Derek became very agitated at this question. He said his newly purchased house was a duplex, and Lily's legs were disabled because the renovation company used substandard materials.

Derek stated that a year ago, the upstairs railing inexplicably broke, causing Lily to fall from upstairs, resulting in comminuted fractures of both kneecaps.

Generally, shattered kneecaps cause patients great suffering, with a long treatment process requiring multiple surgeries. Initially, Lily's first two surgeries were successful, but after discharge, another minor accident occurred. The hospital concluded that even with aggressive treatment, Lily's legs couldn't fully recover. This devastated Lily.

Lily had graduated from dance school, so one can imagine the consequences of disabled legs.

At this point, Derek was nearly in tears, blaming himself again. Wendy and I felt terrible watching this.