The Overlooked Details

“Yes, have them write with both their left and right hands. We’ll keep an eye on them as they write,” Han Fei nodded in agreement.

Xu Mo was right. It was necessary to have everyone write with both hands, as it couldn’t be ruled out that the killer might intentionally try to hide themselves by not using their dominant hand.

Having everyone in the hospital write a passage on paper in front of the officers would help identify the killer based on matching handwriting with the note left at the crime scene.

“Alright,” the hospital director immediately instructed his staff after hearing this. “Old Qi, do as the officers say. Gather everyone and prepare paper and pens.”

After a pause, the director turned to look at Han Fei and Xu Mo.

He had already noticed that these two officers were clearly the leaders of the group.

“By the way, officers, some of our patients are illiterate. What should we do about them?”

“Even if they can’t write, they still have to try. They can copy it or even draw it if they have to,” Xu Mo replied.

“Understood!”

Soon, all the patients and medical staff in the hospital had gathered.

The director set up a table with a notebook and a pen on it. A tablet was placed in front of the notebook, displaying a sentence: “Come and catch me if you dare.”

This sentence was the exact phrase written on the note left beside the black plastic bag at the crime scene. It was also what the officers wanted everyone in the hospital to write down.

The officers stood in front of the table, while all the patients and staff lined up on the other side.

“Now, I need everyone to write a passage in the notebook, using both their left and right hands. The sentence to write is displayed on the tablet in front of you. If you can’t write, just copy or draw it. Please cooperate,” the director explained.

The medical staff went first.

One by one, they stepped forward and wrote the sentence “Come and catch me if you dare” in the notebook, using both their left and right hands.

After each person finished writing, the officers asked them to write their names on the corresponding page for later comparison.

Throughout the process, the officers watched them closely with scrutinizing eyes.

If the killer was among the medical staff, they would likely act unnaturally under such close observation, perhaps even trying to alter their handwriting to avoid detection.

Such subtle details would not escape the officers’ sharp eyes.

After all the medical staff had written their passages, Han Fei and Xu Mo exchanged a glance.

The medical staff had all behaved naturally, so the killer was not among them.

That meant the killer had to be among the patients, right? Not necessarily—there were still a few people who hadn’t written anything yet. Xu Mo turned to the director and the hospital’s management team, as well as the security guard, Old Ding.

“Director, could you and the others also write something, please?”

“Huh? Me too?” The director was slightly taken aback. “Officers, I wasn’t even at the hospital last night. I was—”

But seeing the officers’ unwavering gaze, he didn’t argue further. Instead, he sat down at the table, flipped to a new page in the notebook, picked up the pen, and wrote the sentence along with his name. Then he switched to his left hand and wrote the sentence again.

After the director finished, he passed the pen to the next person.

Soon, the director and the other members of the management team had all written the sentence.

Once they were done, the pen was handed to Old Ding, the security guard.

Old Ding couldn’t write—he could barely scribble his name.

With great difficulty, he used his right hand to “draw” the sentence in the notebook. Then he switched to his left hand and “drew” it again.

These individuals also behaved naturally, so the killer wasn’t among them either.

Next came the patients.

Getting them to write the sentence required assistance and guidance from the medical staff. Even with their help, the process took a considerable amount of time.

By the time all the patients had written the sentence, three hours had passed.

But the results were still inconclusive.

The officers hadn’t noticed any suspicious behavior among the patients either.

This outcome left the officers feeling somewhat frustrated.

They had spent over three hours investigating with high hopes, only to come up empty-handed. They hadn’t even identified a single suspect. It felt like a complete failure.

Neither the hospital’s management, the medical staff, the security guard, nor the patients were suspects. Their handwriting didn’t match the note left by the killer.

Moreover, none of them had acted unusually while being closely watched by the officers. Everyone had behaved naturally.

After everyone in the hospital had written in the notebook, the officers dismissed them, allowing them to return to their usual activities. The reasoning process had to remain confidential, so it couldn’t be discussed in front of everyone.

Once everyone had left, the officers began to voice their doubts.

“Captain Han, Captain Xu, could it be that the killer isn’t in the psychiatric hospital at all? None of them seem suspicious.”

“At first glance, no one does seem suspicious,” Xu Mo admitted. “But I’m certain the killer is here in the hospital.”

Hearing this, the officers looked puzzled.

Before they could ask, Xu Mo explained.

“This place is remote—there’s no village or town nearby, and there aren’t even any residents in the surrounding area. Who would come here in the middle of the night? It doesn’t make sense for someone to travel to this desolate psychiatric hospital just to kill a patient.”

“Also, I’ve reviewed the victim’s records. He was brought here at a very young age and never left. He couldn’t have had any enemies outside, so no one would come all the way here to kill him.”

“That’s true…” one of the officers murmured.

“But if the killer is someone in the hospital, then who is it?”

This was a question Xu Mo couldn’t answer yet. If he knew who the killer was, he wouldn’t be so troubled by this case.

What Xu Mo found more intriguing was how the killer had managed to evade his notice.

After all, the sentence they had asked everyone to write was the same one the killer had left beside the victim’s body. Seeing that sentence again in front of the police would undoubtedly cause the killer to react in some way, no matter how well they tried to hide it. The officers should have been able to detect even the slightest hint of unease.

Additionally, none of the handwriting in the hospital matched the note left by the killer, which added to Xu Mo’s confusion.

As he pondered this, Xu Mo’s gaze fell on the note left by the killer.

After staring at it for a while, Xu Mo suddenly noticed a detail he had previously overlooked…