Chapter 2: Covering Up Murder Evidence

After a brief period of observation, Akikawa Kyusuke realized that the current situation was not good for him.

"The blood staining the clothes is still bright red, indicating that the oxygen content in the blood is still high..." he thought. "The life reactions around the wound are also very clear."

"She definitely died from a stabbing."

The bright red color of the blood meant it hadn't been exposed to the air for too long. The life reactions near the wound also proved that the woman was still alive when she was attacked.

The car was locked, and the windows were closed. The suspicion that the car's original owner might be the killer rose sharply.

"As long as the blood hasn't turned black, or if the body hasn't shown rigor mortis, there's still room to manipulate things. Now that it's obvious this woman hasn't been dead for long, there's no way to reduce the suspicion."

The blood would begin to turn black, and rigor mortis would set in, indicating that the deceased had been dead for a while. As long as the time of death could be delayed, or the police were kept from discovering the body for a longer period, there were many ways to manipulate the situation.

However, now that sirens could be heard, it was inevitable that he would be considered the main suspect.

"Since it's inevitable that I'll be suspected of being the killer, what I need to do now is not to eliminate the suspicion that I'm the murderer, but to make sure the evidence left at the crime scene isn't enough to directly prove that I am."

Akikawa Kyusuke looked at the clothes on the woman's abdomen. The part that wasn't soaked in blood had obvious marks left by him pushing her with his bloody hands.

He extended his right hand and gently rubbed the woman's clothes next to him with the knuckles of his middle and index fingers.

"Cotton clothes, so my fingerprints will be covered in blood."

Fingerprint detection mainly relies on the oil and sweat from the fingers, but blood can cover these residues. The coverage varies depending on the material of the clothing.

Once absorbent cotton clothing, like that of the woman, is stained with blood, it becomes difficult to detect the original oil or sweat.

Akikawa Kyusuke carefully grabbed the clothes with his fingerprints, brought it close to the wound, and pressed down. Suddenly, blood started to flow from the wound, and the part of the clothing became bright red.

This way, everything—including the bloody palm prints from Akikawa Kyusuke—was covered in blood.

He repeated this process twice. After soaking the entire piece of clothing with his bloody fingerprints, he looked at the dagger stuck in the woman's abdomen.

"When I woke up earlier, I was holding this dagger tightly. Now I can basically conclude that this is the murder weapon that caused the woman's death. But at this point, there's no way to get rid of the weapon."

Regardless of whether the original owner killed the woman or not, once the police saw the dagger he had touched, his situation would worsen. Unfortunately, there was no way to get rid of the weapon.

"If I can't get rid of the weapon, I can only cover up the traces of me having touched it."

Akikawa Kyusuke grabbed the blood-stained hem of the woman's clothing again and carefully wiped the dagger's handle with the blood-soaked fabric.

He didn't choose the part that wasn't soaked in blood because, under normal conditions, it would be impossible to completely remove the blood.

Many inexperienced murderers think they can hide their crime by cleaning the blood. But they don't know that even if the blood stains are wiped away completely with a cloth or paper towel, there will still be traces of "cleaning."

Once the police use luminol to search for blood stains, any attempt to hide the blood will be exposed.

After thoroughly wiping the dagger's handle with the woman's blood-soaked clothing, Akikawa Kyusuke used the blood from the woman's abdomen to soak the piece of fabric he had just touched.

However, this was not enough to remove the traces of him having touched the dagger. Any detective with a brain would guess that he was trying to cover up his fingerprints with blood after seeing the blood on the knife handle.

"I must completely sever any contact with this dagger."

Akikawa Kyusuke carefully lifted the woman's blouse and examined the wounds on her abdomen and chest.

As expected, most of the wounds were not perpendicular to the woman's body but slanted towards the passenger side, where he was sitting.

"Right-handed."

The driver's seat was on the right side, and the wounds slanted towards him, perfectly matching the logic of a right-handed person attacking the woman.

Even experienced agents or murderers would find it difficult to conceal their dominant hand in an emergency.

Let alone in a situation where a woman is sitting in a car seat. It would be much more difficult to make the knife enter her body vertically than if she were lying on the floor.

After identifying the murderer's dominant hand, the next step became clear.

Akikawa Kyusuke pressed his right hand firmly against the storage compartment in front of the seat, then lifted his foot and stomped down on his right hand.

With a sharp "click," a searing pain shot straight into his brain. Akikawa Kyusuke bit his lip to prevent any sound from escaping.

Before finishing his work, he couldn't risk attracting attention. If someone discovered that his car was locked, all his efforts would have been in vain.

He didn't have time to care for his right hand, which was bent in an impossible arc. He leaned forward and pressed the unlock button with his knuckles.

After hearing the sound of the car door unlocking, Akikawa Kyusuke finally relaxed.

"Although there are many ways to lock the car after the killer leaves, with me as the main suspect, the police will never consider that possibility."

"Once it's determined that the car was in a 'locked room' state, it will be impossible to argue against it."

After relaxing, a feeling of fatigue and dizziness hit Akikawa Kyusuke's brain. Only then did he realize something.

Although his mind was extremely depressed, his breathing and heart rate were still so fast that it scared him.

The sound of his violent heartbeat was deafening. Amid the thumping "bang, bang," Akikawa Kyusuke also caught the buzzing sound of the engine.

"I thought it was just dizziness from blood loss, but it turned out to be carbon monoxide poisoning."

Akikawa Kyusuke had been so focused on handling the original crime traces that he completely ignored another major threat that often occurs in car accident scenes—carbon monoxide poisoning caused by incomplete gasoline combustion due to engine damage.

But by the time he realized it, he had completely lost the ability to move his body.

However, this situation didn't cause him any panic. Before his consciousness faded into darkness, Akikawa Kyusuke's lips moved slightly, and he whispered words barely louder than a mosquito:

"God, help me."

(End of this chapter)