Dean first picked up the carnation and inspected it closely. The flower was plastic, not real. This kind of handicraft was quite common and offered no special information. He put down the flower. Dean leaned close to the black cloth, straining his ears. He was somewhat worried it was a time bomb. Of course, with current technology, unless it was a very sophisticated trigger-detonation device, a time bomb would, more or less, produce a faint sound. As for remote-controlled bombs... Those gadgets were actually suitable for only a few scenarios. There were even instances of fools setting them up, only for the device to accidentally receive a stray signal, leading to premature detonation and maiming the bomb-setter. So, in reality, not many people used this method; it appeared more often in movies and novels. After listening intently for a moment, Dean detected nothing unusual. Then, he gently pulled a hair-thin filament from his collar, stuck it to a corner of the black cloth, and retreated outside the kitchen. Using the sturdy wall for cover, he gave the filament a gentle tug. The simple black cloth covering slid off, revealing a square glass "room" beneath! Under the black cloth was a miniature model room! What is a miniature model room? You know those dollhouses little girls play with, right? All the buildings and items are scaled down to a certain ratio to create a landscape, then a glass cover is placed over it for protection. If needed, a couple of character figurines can be added to play house with. Dean’s younger brother had plenty of these in his room—all personally handcrafted models of planes, tanks, and the like—and his sister, Sinclair, also owned two large dollhouses. Dean never imagined the murderer would leave something at the crime scene. Was the perpetrator treating this like playing house? Due to the angle and distance, Dean, standing at the kitchen entrance, could only confirm it was a miniature model room; he couldn’t see its details clearly. Having ruled out any immediate danger, he began to retract the filament and returned to the side of the body. At that moment, the full view of the model was laid bare before his eyes. Upon seeing it, Dean’s pupils narrowed. Within the small glass enclosure was a meticulously arranged little room... more precisely, a kitchen built to scale! The kitchen was spacious, containing a refrigerator, oven, and baking machine... Beside the refrigerator, a figurine in casual clothing lay sprawled, its head stained with a red liquid. A pool of slightly dried and congealed blood lay beneath it, reflecting a dark red glow under the kitchen lights... Next to the dead figurine was a gift box of about the same size, somewhat resembling Santa Claus wrapping. It was placed exactly where the glass miniature model building was supposed to be! The murderer had used this gift box to replace the miniature model they had left! "Is this their way of telling me that this is a gift for the police?" Dean pursed his lips. The case, from that moment on, started to get interesting! Dean didn’t immediately focus on the gift box. He had previously observed the kitchen’s furnishings and proportions meticulously. The model perfectly replicated everything before his eyes! Whether it was the furniture, appliances, the clutter on the table, the corpse on the floor, the blood... even the clothing on Johnny Dennison’s body matched perfectly! This scene was truly eerie. It was like discovering a "sandbox" at a murder scene. Inside the sandbox was another identical death scene! Unfazed by the strangeness, Dean squatted down beside the model and cautiously opened one of its drawers. Inside the drawer were miniature packaged spice containers. Dean stood up, walked to the corresponding drawer in the kitchen, and opened it. A set of spice containers, identical to those in the model, came into view! The model truly was a perfect recreation of the scene! After an even more meticulous inspection and comparison, Dean was shocked to discover that the model didn’t just replicate the kitchen’s contents; it also reproduced the subtle details in the kitchen’s corners, pushing the level of detail to an extreme. He took a deep breath. The murderer really did have severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. The model revealed two very important pieces of information! First, the murderer knew everything about this kitchen like the back of their hand! Second, the murderer was very familiar with the victim, Johnny Dennison—perhaps even someone close to him—and had premeditated Johnny Dennison’s murder! These two points essentially amounted to the same thing. Because creating a miniature model is not simple. A high-fidelity replica one would require a lot of time and effort. So, the murderer must have decided to kill Johnny Dennison in the kitchen before making this model. And after killing Johnny Dennison, they even took the time to adjust the model. For example, the clothing on the figurine, the bloodstains, and so on. The perpetrator really had severe OCD! Dean was puzzled, though. Didn’t the murderer fear exposing themselves by revealing so much information? The number of people who could freely move through the kitchen and who were familiar with Johnny Dennison probably wasn’t large. Investigating them one by one and eliminating those who lacked the opportunity to commit the crime wouldn’t take the police much effort. Thus, Dean found himself in the rare position of not understanding what the murderer was thinking when they committed the crime. Were they treating this as a game? If it were him, if he wanted to kill someone, he would definitely leave right after the kill, leaving as few traces as possible. This difficulty in deducing the murderer’s psychological state at the time of the crime was rare for Dean; it only occurred when dealing with a few specific types of people. One type is madmen or the mentally ill. Psychological Deduction and Mind Reading Technique are based on logical considerations. Thus, they often fail against illogical madmen and the mentally ill. Another type is a master equally skilled in psychology. Dean had encountered such an individual during a previous counterfeit money case. Even after the suspect was caught, they had nearly managed to turn the tables and kidnap Daisy. Content orıginally comes from 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⁂𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⁂𝓷𝓮𝓽 The last type is a woman experiencing significant emotional swings. A prime example: Daisy on the way here. At that moment, Dean couldn’t understand why Daisy, while describing the victim’s situation, had suddenly told him not to "green" her... "If my reasoning is correct, then the murderer is either a madman, a high-IQ psychopath, or an emotionally unstable woman..." Thinking this, Dean couldn’t help but laugh. While he was chuckling to himself, Daisy poked her head in from the kitchen doorway, "Dean, Johnny Dennison’s wife is back." Dean had originally intended to open the small gift box inside the model to see if it contained anything. Hearing Daisy’s words, he nodded, stood up, and said, "Got it. Watch this place. Don’t let anyone touch anything before the forensics team arrives. I’ll go to the living room and talk with them." Daisy curiously glanced at Johnny Dennison’s body, disappointment in her eyes. Although she knew Johnny Dennison was average-looking, the sight of his overweight body lying on the floor still disappointed her, a devoted reader. Seeing the shift in her expression, Dean joked, "What, is Johnny Dennison’s manner of death not to your liking?" Daisy rolled her eyes at him. "I just subconsciously imagined that Johnny Dennison, who could write stories that understood women so well, would be self-disciplined, knowledgeable, and refined in person, even if he was average-looking..." A classic case of a fan’s idealized perception. "Actually," Dean said, "most writers are masters of procrastination, undisciplined, with irregular lifestyles... Even if they start out looking decent, after a few years of writing—due to a sedentary lifestyle, irregular sleep schedules, and immense stress—they often end up either obese or bald." As he spoke, Dean glanced at the body on the floor, adding, "Some male writers might even have prostate issues." Leaving Daisy to grapple with her shattered idolization and mild distress, Dean went into the living room. In the living room, a blonde beauty had appeared, her looks and figure rivaling Daisy’s. The woman, looking to be in her twenties, wore mature makeup and purple high heels. She lay drowsily and languidly in the arms of Teresa, the "Barbie doll" nanny. Her long legs were sprawled open carelessly, offering her stepson, Carlo, and anyone else present an uninhibited—and seemingly generous—view of the "scenery" beneath her sheer dress. This type of woman, Dean was all too familiar with. Nightclubs in this area were full of similar women; one could easily "pick up" a few who were too drunk to resist. Dean suspected that this woman had just woken up from a stranger’s bed and had rushed back after receiving a message. When Carlo saw Dean coming out of the kitchen, he approached him with a notebook in hand, whispering, "Boss, here are the preliminary statements from the nanny and Johnny Dennison’s son." Dean opened the notebook and skimmed through it. There weren’t many questions, mainly about whether any outsiders had visited the house, the status of the surveillance equipment, and when Johnny Dennison was last seen. According to the information, last night after nine o’clock, the nanny, Teresa, and Johnny Dennison’s wife left the house by car. They went to the XX Lace Bar for a lesbian party and then spent the night partying with their usual group at a hotel. Around eleven in the morning, Nanny Teresa woke up amid the smell of seaweed. She casually bought some groceries, planning to return and make lunch, but upon entering the kitchen, she discovered Johnny Dennison’s body and called the police. Dean’s mouth twitched. "The nanny and the lady of the house are lesbians?" Carlo nodded. "According to Nanny Teresa, she and Johnny Dennison’s current wife were already a couple. Two years ago, Johnny Dennison met them. He needed creative stimulation, while the pair needed money to maintain a comfortable material lifestyle, so they formed an arrangement. But in reality, they never had any physical relationship; they were more like friends. Daisy specifically confirmed this with Johnny Dennison’s son. Besides, their alibi for last night—being with a group of people at a hotel—could easily be verified by hotel surveillance, confirming whether they were telling the truth." Dean nodded. Alright then. Based on the time of the crime, the nanny and Johnny Dennison’s wife could almost be ruled out as suspects. Because with such an unconventional marriage, even a dimwitted Johnny Dennison would have had a prenuptial agreement to ensure he wouldn’t lose a fortune due to the marriage. So Johnny Dennison’s death offered no benefit to either of them. Dean continued reading. Last night, it was just Johnny Dennison and his son at home. Johnny Dennison’s home surveillance only covered the exterior; none was installed inside. Such surveillance, with many blind spots, was not very useful. Skipping over some trivial details, Dean noted that according to Johnny Dennison’s son, around eight o’clock that morning, his father had knocked on his door to ask what he wanted for breakfast. This was something his father did at the same time every day. Johnny Dennison’s son declined, indicating he wasn’t interested in breakfast. In other words, at that time, Johnny Dennison was still alive. This time was roughly consistent with the time of death Dean had deduced. "Always eats breakfast at this time..." Dean took note of this detail. He had almost figured out how the murderer designed this murder. However, when it came to the direction for solving the case, the psychological profile of the suspect, and similar aspects, he not only had no leads but found himself growing more puzzled the more information he gathered.