Yang Sen handed a cigarette to Liu Guodong and took over the conversation: "Brother Liu is right, the victim should have been murdered. We're going to be busy tonight."
Bai Wenhai stretched his arms and yawned, taking the cigarette Yang Sen handed him: "Lu, you just started working and don't have much experience. In murder scenes like this, the fewer things we find during our crime scene investigation, the bigger the problem."
Bai Wenhai pointed to the evidence collection box inside the vehicle: "We've been busy for half a day, and we only collected a dozen fingerprints in the living room where the victim died. There was only one type of shoe print, which I suspect belongs to the victim's son."
"He entered the living room before reporting in the morning, so naturally, there would be shoe prints. If the victim committed suicide, at the very least, we would have found the victim's shoe prints."
Bai Wenhai took a drag on his cigarette: "But the scene is very clean; we didn't find the victim's shoe prints, which means someone deliberately erased the traces."
Yang Sen sighed: "The perpetrator was very meticulous; the traces were wiped very thoroughly..."
Lu Chuan quietly listened to the three seniors' conversation, as it was the best opportunity for him to learn and accumulate experience.
In school, Lu Chuan learned the techniques, like how to collect fingerprints and blood samples, but understanding what these things represent is beyond what school can teach.
This requires Lu Chuan to accumulate on his own. For instance, Bai Wenhai and Yang Sen, their methods during crime scene investigations are not exactly professional, as they are not formally trained in this field.
However, they can discover things beyond the techniques and can determine that the victim didn't commit suicide without waiting for the autopsy report.
Returning to the team, the cafeteria doesn't always have hot meals ready, which is also part of the murder case mechanism. On normal days, meals are served at fixed times, but when a homicide occurs, logistics personnel are not leisurely compared to those on the front line.
As Captain Qin Yong said, those on the front line are fighting hard; when they return to the team, they should at least have hot meals to eat.
3:15 PM.
The four of Lu Chuan started categorizing and identifying the evidence collected at the scene, focusing especially on fingerprint comparison and DNA sample analysis.
Liu Guodong went to hold the case analysis meeting ahead of time, while Lu Chuan and the other two didn't have the qualifications to attend, so they could only work in the lab.
Don't be fooled; the crime scene investigation office only has four people, but it's the richest division in the entire criminal investigation team.
No other reason, the equipment is expensive.
A single DNA testing machine could outperform all other departments.
This machine is also the lifeline of the crime scene office and was purchased only last year. Previously, for DNA identification, the criminal investigation team had to go to the technical identification department, which often involved waiting in line and sometimes dealing with people's moods.
Yang Sen was responsible for operating the equipment, Bai Wenhai was organizing evidence, and Lu Chuan was responsible for sorting through photos and writing the crime scene report.
The crime scene report is one of the most important parts of the file; writing the case file is different from solving it.
While solving a case, you can use logical reasoning, conjecture, and suspicion.
Case files are factual statements, using photos, numbers, and text to record everything at the scene in detail.
When Liu Guodong returned, it was already 6:30 PM, thirteen hours since the victim's death.
"Brother Liu, how did the meeting go?"
Liu Guodong looked somewhat serious: "I gave a detailed report on the crime scene situation, and from the trace analysis of the scene, we can determine it was murder."
"However, the autopsy isn't completed yet, and there's not much progress on the specifics."
Phew...
With the nature of the case determined, everyone's hearts felt heavy.
"Alright, let's do our tasks well and complete the crime scene analysis report as soon as possible."
Solving a case isn't just about passion; every part, from forensic doctors to crime scene investigators to detectives, needs to do their part and cooperate closely to advance the investigation.
In Conference Room 1, Qin Yong looked grimly at the relationship chart on the whiteboard.
The neighborhood where Zhang Wen's family lived is an old community with outdated facilities. The few surveillance cameras around are all broken.
Additionally, the community is open without walls, which brings many difficulties to the investigation.
Zhang Wen's interpersonal relationships have been mostly figured out. His ex-wife, who is already divorced, is not in this city, and his second wife, along with the children she brought, returned to her hometown in a neighboring city the day before the incident.
The person who reported the case is Zhang Wen's son with his ex-wife, who originally came to pick Zhang Wen up for a medical exam in the morning. When he got no response at the door, he used the spare key under the doormat to open the door and found Zhang Wen already dead.
This can be testified by neighbors.
Besides this, Zhang Wen's social background is simple, and there are no apparent enemies.
In the early hours of today, neighbors around didn't hear any unusual sounds.
Moreover, the killer didn't leave any traces at the crime scene, leading the investigation into a dead end.
Qin Yong can only hope for valuable findings in the autopsy results to break through.
Crime scene office.
Liu Guodong brought back meat-filled buns from the cafeteria: "Come, take a break. Tonight the cafeteria made buns with donkey meat fillings, eat while they're hot."
Lu Chuan and the other three put down their work and gathered around the desk: "Master, has there been any progress on the case?"
Liu Guodong handed three meat buns to Lu Chuan, understanding well Lu Chuan's curiosity, as his curiosity was even greater when he encountered his first murder case years ago.
"The autopsy report is out, and the cause of death is a sharp object piercing the heart. However, there are traces of repeated stabbing on the wound, consistent with our crime scene findings; the murder scene was staged as a suicide."
The so-called repeated stabbing means that the knife was pulled out after stabbing, then stabbed again.
It's not that suicide can't involve repeated stabbing. Generally, someone with a determined intention to commit suicide might not feel pain for a short period while self-harming, so to die quickly, repeated stabbing is possible.
However, being stabbed in the heart is different from other areas. A vital organ stab wound would cause the victim to lose strength instantly, making self-inflicted repeated stabbing unlikely.
Lu Chuan nodded and didn't continue asking. Crime scene investigation has its scope, and their work is almost at its end at this stage.
From Yang Sen and Old Bai's conversation, it's clear they didn't plan to work overtime, as Yang Sen's child is taking the college entrance exam next year, so he certainly needs to go home to check on his child.
Old Bai is already fifty years old; after a whole day's work, his stamina couldn't keep up, so he kept nodding off.
Lu Chuan couldn't, nor did he have the authority to, ask the two seniors to work overtime.
But he still had the system's advanced task.
Even though there wouldn't be any punishment for not completing the task, there wouldn't be any reward either.
Quickly finishing the three donkey meat buns, Lu Chuan went back to studying the crime scene data.
Liu Guodong glanced at him without saying a word. When he was new to the police force, he had the same drive.
Young people are all like this, just like you wouldn't understand the trouble with prostate issues until a certain age.
Who hasn't achieved great feats in their prime?
With the help of his basic crime scene photography skills, Lu Chuan organized the crime scene photos systematically. Opening the computer, he started from the overview of the scene, not missing any detail.
The system's advanced task is: to discover clues from the crime scene that assist the special investigation team in solving the case.
This indicated that there must be clues at the scene pertaining to solving the case, and they just hadn't been discovered by Lu Chuan yet.
Clicking the mouse, Lu Chuan enlarged each photo, carefully examining each detail.
Starting from panoramic shots to close-ups of the body, bloodstain details, even to every item on the coffee table, and the trash bin in the corner, Lu Chuan didn't overlook a single one.
But viewing each of the thousands of photos in detail was no easy task.
Naturally, Liu Guodong and the others noticed Lu Chuan's actions, but they didn't interrupt him.
They were getting old and none were professionally trained in this field, so their upward potential was limited, and what they could teach Lu Chuan were the experiences they had explored over the years.
Of course, it's not that they lacked ambition. Referencing how Empress Dowager Zhao favored Lao Ai, having good techniques is one thing, but having the stamina to keep up is crucial.
Liu Guodong and the other two evidently found their enthusiasm was not mated by ability.
Having gone through over 400 photos, Lu Chuan twisted his stiff neck and grabbed the pack of cigarettes next to the computer, only to find there were no more inside.
Realizing this, Lu Chuan looked at the clock on the wall; it was already past two in the morning.
No wonder the whole pack of cigarettes was finished; Lu Chuan had been at it for over seven hours.
Old Bai and Yang Sen had gone home long ago, while Liu Guodong hadn't left, instead snoring on the office sofa.
Lu Chuan walked over, covered Liu Guodong with a blanket, grabbed the cigarette from the desk, and lit it.
Taking a deep drag, the strong tobacco flavor slightly refocused Lu Chuan.
Flicking the ashes off his cigarette.
Huh?
Looking at the ashtray almost full with cigarette butts, a sudden realization struck Lu Chuan's mind like lightning.
Cigarette butts?
Extinguishing the cigarette, Lu Chuan dashed to the computer, quickly scrolling through the crime scene photos.
Shortly, a photo appeared on the screen.