Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 762 Discovering clues

That evening, the deceased's maternal grandparents rushed over from their hometown.

In the meeting room, the first thing the grandfather said was that he wanted to see his granddaughter one last time.

At this point, Huang Mao, the police officer in charge of the case, stepped in to coordinate the situation. However, he was very nervous and could not speak clearly in front of the victim.

Forensic pathologist Lao Tang was still deeply engaged with the corpse in the autopsy room, and everyone subconsciously didn't want to disturb his work.

Since it was impossible for Ma Rongcheng, the expert from the hall, to have direct contact with the deceased's family, it was Chen Shu, a policeman from another province, who stepped forward in the end.

"Sir, Xiaoli is in our forensic lab. She just underwent an examination, and yes, it was a bit of a ordeal. We're cleaning her up to make her look presentable, and we'll let you see her again later, okay?"

My grandfather was dressed simply, his square face filled with sorrow, and tears welled up in his eyes.

He clenched his fists, suppressed his voice, and asked through gritted teeth, "Sir, have you caught him?"

Chen Shu asked Huang Mao to pour two cups of hot tea and said slowly, "Old man, this matter is still under investigation. There is no conclusive evidence yet to prove that someone else killed Xiao Li."

Grandpa stepped forward, gripping Chen Shu's upper arm tightly with both hands, half his body trembling: "Leader, my Xiaoli wouldn't commit suicide, she couldn't possibly commit suicide! Someone must have killed her!"

Grandma burst into tears, "Waaah, Xiaoli was such a good child, what kind of person could be so heartless as to kill her!"

Chen Shu paused for a moment, allowing the deceased's family to calm down, and comforted them, saying, "Please trust the police. If there is a murder, we will definitely give you and Xiaoli an explanation!"

After saying that, Chen Shu felt that it was about time, so he asked the eloquent Chen Chuan to take Xiao Li's maternal grandparents to the forensic room to see their deceased granddaughter.

With a loud bang, Grandma suddenly fainted on the spot.

Chaos erupted inside the forensic room as numerous police officers frantically dialed 110 for emergency medical assistance while simultaneously carrying the elderly woman to the sofa.

Grandpa held his wife's hand tightly, tears streaming down his face, choking back sobs, his emotions running high.

About ten minutes later, the sound of an ambulance came from outside the window, and then several medical personnel, carrying emergency equipment and stretchers, arrived at the forensic room under the guidance of several police officers.

Grandma was put into an ambulance, and Grandpa went with her. Before leaving, he sadly begged the police to catch the criminal.

After seeing the two elderly people off, Jiang Hai asked, looking confused, "Brother Shu, didn't we already confirm that the deceased committed suicide? Why don't we just tell them?"

"First of all, we are not 100% certain." Chen Shu recalled that when they were at the hotel, the deceased had requested that the hotel cleaning staff come to clean the room the following morning.

Would someone contemplating suicide still care about hygiene?

Or did she want her body to be discovered as soon as possible?
But if the check-out time has passed, someone will naturally come into the room to check, so why bother?

I feel that it still lacks some logical coherence.

Chen Shu turned around and instructed, "The two elderly people are getting on in years and can't withstand much stress. We can't just tell them the results before we have a sufficiently accurate picture. Besides, we also need to think of some ways to give them something to look forward to."

“We’ll formally inform them of the results later. No matter what, so much time has passed, and they’ll gradually accept the fact that their granddaughter is dead.” With that, Chen Shu walked back to the forensic room.

Jiang Hai seemed to be deep in thought.

Before coming to the Criminal Investigation Division, Ma Rongcheng, a trace evidence expert from the provincial department, had already prepared to return to the scene for further investigation. However, considering that he was just a technician from the department assisting in solving the case, it was inconvenient for him to go directly to the scene without taking the initiative. So he went to the Criminal Investigation Division first.

When Xiao Huang from the local criminal investigation team laid out the crime scene photos one by one on the table, Ma Rongcheng, who had worked on the front line of criminal investigation and now focused on the study of crime scene traces, only glanced at them and was certain that the photography skills were solid and up to standard, and that he probably wouldn't need to go back.

Old Tang is a forensic doctor and usually disdains doing this kind of work. Xiao Huang has only been in the criminal investigation department for a few months and doesn't know anything. So it's obvious who took these photos.

Although he was initially uncomfortable with the sudden interference of out-of-province criminal investigators in local cases, after seeing these crime scene photos, he felt that it wasn't such a bad thing.

Ma Rongcheng casually picked up a few photos and examined them, preparing to show everyone something more substantial and demonstrate what technical skills truly mean.

After a while, once Xiao Huang had laid out the photos all over the table and enjoyed being the center of attention for a moment, Ma Rongcheng coughed a few times and looked at Jiang Hai, who looked rather listless, with a smile.

"Young man, the show is about to begin."

Jiang Hai, who was lounging idly in his chair, wondered if he should jump up and cooperate with this expert from the provincial department when he saw the other party pull out a telescopic ruler from his survey kit and begin to talk eloquently.

Ma Rongcheng pointed to several photos with footprints at the scene using a ruler and said, "As hotel rooms, there are many guests coming and going, resulting in a wide variety of shoe prints. Generally, we focus on other shoe prints left at the scene, extracting them one by one and then checking them one by one."

"Yes, yes, this is the proper procedure." Jiang Hai stroked his chin seriously. This kind of practical experience was a rare opportunity for a police academy student like him.

Of course, most importantly, the horse expert gave him hope.

Ma Rongcheng paused deliberately, then smiled and said, "But in this case, my suggestion is to focus on the deceased's shoe print and eliminate all other shoe prints!"

In the case of a homicide, the first thing the police need to know when they arrive at the scene is who else was present besides the deceased at the time of the incident.

Comparing shoe prints left at the crime scene is one of the basic steps and the first thing to consider, since shoe prints can represent a person.

Therefore, Ma Wing-shing's unconventional proposal immediately attracted everyone's attention and curiosity, which was exactly the result he wanted.

"The deceased's shoe prints? What's so interesting about studying her shoe prints?" Jiang Hai was a little confused, but he seemed to have grasped something.

Standing to the side, Chen Shu, as was his habit, put himself in the scene of the deceased staying at the hotel, imagined his own hotel habits over the past few days, and then analyzed it in connection with the shoe prints mentioned by expert Ma.

Seeing Jiang Hai deep in thought, Chen Shu gently suggested, "Try the substitution method."

Using the "substitution method," Jiang Hai shifted his thinking and, following Chen Shu's special instruction over the past few days, began to ponder, "If I were staying in a hotel, I would take off my shoes as soon as I got to the room because it's more comfortable. Hmm! As a hotel guest, shouldn't she be wearing slippers?"

Jiang Hai's breathing quickened, convinced that he had grasped the key point.

"We've got it." Ma Rongcheng encouraged Jiang Hai with a kind expression, and then said, "The shoe prints on the ground match the pattern on the sole of the deceased's shoes. You would probably all assume that these are the marks left by the deceased, so you ruled them out first during the on-site investigation. But the problem lies with these shoe prints!"

(End of this chapter)