Chapter 285 Poch Is Dead and the Body Still Lives
As Luke and Selina talked, Jennifer started shooting another scene.
They stopped talking and focused. It would be embarra.s.sing if anything really happened to the big star.
Pierce approved her scenes after just two retakes, but it still took almost an hour.
In fact, the two retakes weren’t entirely necessary, but Jennifer’s performance was slightly different in each one. So, Pierce was free to choose any of the takes he wanted during post-editing. When Jennifer walked back, she suddenly pointed at the ceiling in fright. “What’s that?”
Luke turned around, only to see a person hanging from the ceiling in a corner.
Everybody was horrified at first, but then realized that it might be another practical joke, like what Mr. Body had done earlier.
“Selina, have them bring that person down.” Luke, however, frowned and pointed at the person, before he ran to where Mr. Body was handcuffed.
Ducking around the miscellaneous items on his way, Luke saw Mr. Body and came to an abrupt halt. He then drew out his pistol.
Bang! Bang! A rope was immediately shot apart, and Mr. Body, who had almost suffocated, fell down, gasping harshly.
Luke turned around and gestured at Selina, who took out her gun as well. He then freed Mr. Body and asked, “Who did this?”
Mr. Body shook his head in pain as he coughed hard.
Luke took off the noose from around the man’s neck and sniffed it, only to frown; not because there weren’t any scents on the noose, but because there were too many.
Most of the scents belonged to the props manager as well as his a.s.sistants, but that couldn’t prove anything, as they were responsible for most of the props.
The scents of other people on the noose were vague.
That could be because they had touched the rope a long time ago, or because they had only touched it briefly. It was hard to tell the difference, particularly when the scents of a dozen people were all jumbled up. Putting the noose aside on a nearby wooden shelf, Luke observed the murder contraption that had almost turned Mr. Body into a real body.
The fatal setup was very simple. A rope with a noose on one end had been tied to a wooden plank that was part of a windmill. As soon as the windmill turned, Mr. Body, whose hands were handcuffed to a prop, wouldn’t be able to resist at all when the noose tightened around his neck.
For filming convenience, it was an electric windmill, and the switch was on the ground nearby and turned on with a rope that was tied to it.
Luke hadn’t noticed it earlier since the environment was quite noisy with all kinds of machines and props.
Also, Jennifer had been shooting a group scene in the forest.
Although the camera was mostly focused on Jennifer, the other extras had to work hard to scream, stumble and fall, creating all kinds of noise.
Luke wasn’t G.o.d. He couldn’t catch everything that was happening around him when his attention was fixed on Jennifer.
Frowning, Luke carefully examined the clues he had.
He couldn’t detect any scent of a stranger, which was interesting.
Luke slowly walked around the set.
A few minutes later, he stopped and shook his head.
There were too many people here.
The production team, plus the staff which the actors and actresses had brought with them, amounted to more than fifty people.
Also, this was a movie set, and people bustled to and fro all the time. It was hard to tell who the murderer was.
He returned to Mr. Body again and asked, “Mike, can you talk now?”
Mike struggled to nod.
Luke asked, “Who attacked you?”
Mike shook his head. “I didn’t see. Just now, the windmill behind me started turning, and a noose just started to strangle me.” Luke frowned. “Did you hear anything unusual?”
Mike shook his head again. “No, I was strangled all of a sudden. I didn’t notice anything.” Luke didn’t find that odd.
To teach him a lesson, Luke had handcuffed him to a low iron shelf so that he could only squat there. It would be hard for him to turn around and see what was behind him.
“Let’s go, but don’t say anything to anybody, got it?” Luke instructed him.
Mike nodded and wobbled after him.
Luke took the man, who had almost died for real after faking it, to Selina and whispered something to her, before he asked Jennifer, “Jennifer, are you done with filming?”
Jennifer nodded.
Luke said, “Then would you please leave first?”
Jennifer knew what he meant.
Her agreement with Luke was that he would protect her during filming.
As soon as she left the set, Luke’s job as a bodyguard would be over. He would then be free to fully dedicate himself to the case.
Jennifer was well aware of the young detective’s ability to crack a case.
She didn’t say anything else, and simply nodded. She then said something to Pierce and Todd, before bidding them farewell.
Seeing her off, Luke turned to look at Pierce. “This is now a crime scene, so please cooperate with us by not moving around or talking to random people, and no one can leave without permission.”
Pierce silently looked at the naked body that was on the ground not far away.
Luke looked at Selina, and she nodded and said, “I’ve contacted the police department. Forensics is on the way.”
Luke was quite satisfied. Selina did a great job as support. She had certainly learned a lot while working with Donald.
Luke then bent his head and looked at the body that had been cut down from the ceiling.
He was already familiar with the person, who was none other than Sarah Poch, the movie’s lead actress.
Now, her pretty eyes were closed and her naked body was covered with a blanket. Her mouth was half-open, but she wasn’t breathing.
A doctor in the crew was performing CPR on Sarah, but Luke knew that Miss Sarah was already as dead as could be.
Luke didn’t see her chest move, and had already detected the smell of excrement when she had still been hanging from the ceiling. Selina had examined her pulse earlier and confirmed that she was dead.