Chapter 132: Deadly Datura—A New Plant-Based Murder Method!

As soon as these words were spoken, Gao Chao immediately stopped himself from clicking the mouse to switch to the next photo. He looked at Su Ming with astonishment and surprise, unable to believe what he had just heard.

This was because he had already gone over the crime scene photos and all the case-related details countless times, without finding any clues. Yet now, Su Ming, after just a few glances, had already discovered a possible issue and clue?

Although he had missed the virtual numbers and fake orders earlier, Su Ming’s ability to uncover a follow-up clue so quickly still left Gao Chao speechless in admiration.

This made him even more eager to solve the case within the next three days, hoping to provide the victim’s family with a real resolution.

—

Of course, it wasn’t just Gao Chao—everyone else present also turned their attention to Su Ming, eager to hear what he had found in those recent crime scene photos that led him to discover hidden clues.

Sensing the gazes on him, Su Ming didn’t waste any time in pretending to be mysterious. He focused on the screen in front of him and began speaking calmly.

“You can all take a careful look at this photo here.”

“This is the overall shot of the victim’s flower shop, and you can clearly see some scattered flowers and broken branches on the floor. It’s obvious that most of them were dropped when the victim was wrapping bouquets.”

“At the time, the order volume was so high that the victim couldn’t keep up, and it was late at night, so she was probably too tired to clean up, which is perfectly understandable.”

“But…”

“Among the common flowers like roses, lilies, roses, sunflowers, and baby’s breath, I found a type of highly poisonous flower in this crime scene photo.”

“That is… the datura flower, which resembles a lily!”

Datura?

The name of the flower sounded somewhat familiar, as it had appeared or been described in many films and novels. However, in real life, not many people recognized this flower, and it could easily be confused with lilies, phoenix trees, or even morning glories.

Guo Ping, an experienced special investigations officer, immediately used the knowledge he had gained from the military to explain.

“The datura flower is extremely poisonous. Whether it’s the petals, leaves, pistils, or its scent, all contain various toxins.”

“Especially the seeds of the datura flower. If an adult accidentally consumes a few, it could be fatal. Its fragrance can also cause drowsiness and even unconsciousness. The ‘Ma Fei San’—a famous anesthetic concoction created by Hua Tuo—contained important elements from the datura flower.”

“Although the datura flower does have medicinal uses, when we conduct field investigations, we always avoid coming into contact with it.”

“Normally…”

“A flower shop would never purposely buy datura flowers, nor would they sell them.”

After hearing Guo Ping’s explanation, Lin Tian’s eyes immediately flashed with a sharp gleam. He picked up on the clue and continued, “I understand now, Xiao Ming.”

“If I’m not mistaken, what you mean is…”

“The reason there were no signs of a struggle and the victim didn’t resist is that she was likely knocked out by the intoxicating fragrance of the datura flower. Even though she suffered fatal injuries, she had no reaction.”

“Using the scent of flowers to knock out the chosen victim… this method of killing is indeed rare.”

“But it also seems to correspond with her codename—‘Rose’.”

Su Ming nodded in agreement, then added, “What senior Lin and Guo Team Leader said is absolutely right.”

“A flower shop would definitely not intentionally buy datura flowers, but what if someone mixed them in with the lilies that were delivered?”

“You can recall that in the e-commerce backend orders we just saw…”

“In those last series of pre-order items, the demand for lilies was much higher than the usual demand for roses during Valentine’s Day.”

“This isn’t normal. On Valentine’s Day, lilies could never be more popular than roses.”

“And there’s another very important point. Since all these orders were made last minute, it means the victim would be handling these orders last.”

“Given how busy she was that day, I believe she didn’t have time to check the flowers that were delivered. She would’ve just grabbed the flowers based on the orders, so she wouldn’t have known that among the lilies, there was a deadly datura flower mixed in.”

“So, throughout the day, the victim was inhaling the toxic fragrance of the datura flower. But since the shop’s door was likely open during the day, the scent wasn’t strong enough to knock her out.”

“However, at night…”

“Liangxi City in February has temperatures typically below freezing. For safety and warmth, the victim would have closed the shop door.”

“At that point, the fragrance of the datura flower wouldn’t dissipate, and it would become more concentrated inside the shop. Plus, since the shop was filled with various floral scents, the victim wouldn’t have been able to distinguish the smell of the datura.”

“Even though the concentration of the datura flower’s fragrance needed to be high to induce unconsciousness, and the difficulty of carrying out such a method is significant…”

“In this case, if we follow the logical progression, everything becomes perfectly reasonable. It’s a challenging method, but it’s possible.”

“After the murder, the killer intentionally took all the datura flowers to avoid us finding any related clues.”

“But that one datura flower that accidentally fell in the corner of the cashier’s desk gave us the biggest breakthrough.”

Hearing this, everyone present simultaneously looked toward the corner of the cashier desk in the photo.

In their line of sight was an unremarkable white flower.

Without hesitation, Gao Chao immediately captured a screenshot of this flower, enlarged it, and opened the computer browser to search for images of the datura flower, comparing them side by side.

Although the overall size and details differed slightly, the almost identical shape of the petals and the wavy dividing line made it clear: the flower in the corner of the cashier’s desk was, without a doubt, the deadly datura flower.

At this moment, Gao Chao, usually expressionless, clenched his fist, and there was a rare gleam of excitement in his eyes.

They had finally found it…

They had finally discovered the exact method the killer used.

Su Ming collected his thoughts, looked around at the people present, and said seriously, “From this datura flower, I can now roughly confirm an important suspect profile.”

“The killer most likely had a close relationship with the victim. At the very least, they knew her well enough to…”

“…gain her consent to enter the flower shop on a late night just before the end of the year!”