Notes From A Criminal Investigation Chapter 7

DNA on duck bones

The leadership team of the Criminal Police Brigade had differences of opinion on how to arrange the specific work of Owen and Chen Haodang.

Marcus looked through the files of Owen and Chen Haodang and said, "Last year and the year before, we wanted students from the Criminal Investigation Department of Shannan University of Political Science and Law, but we didn't recruit any. This year is good, and the Criminal Investigation Department of Shannan University of Political Science and Law has assigned two students. Both of them are good and have their own characteristics. Chen Haodang is a student leader, a party member, and a three-good student at the school level. Owen is not a party member or a student leader, but he is very good academically and was well received during his internship."

Hong Jinming, the political commissar of the detachment, joked: "This Owen hid himself very well. He didn't even reveal that he was Hou Guolong's son during his internship."

Marcus pushed the two files to him and said, "Old Hong, you are the political commissar, so you should come up with the plan."

Hong Jinming said: "Chen Haodang joined the party during college and was also a student union cadre. He should be good. I suggest that he be assigned to the office. The office has aged over the years and should have some fresh blood."

Marcus values   Owen the most and intends to train him to be the leader of the new generation of criminal police in Jiangzhou. He also entrusts him with the important task of solving the backlog of cases. He hides his true thoughts in front of the team members and asks, "How do you arrange for Owen?"

Hong Jinming kept looking through Owen's file and said, "Why not assign Owen to the First Brigade? His status is a bit special. Many children in the First Brigade don't have jobs. If Owen goes to the First Brigade, it will be easy to find jobs for his children."

"Political Commissar, we should keep things separate and not confuse them together."

Gong Jianmin, deputy detachment leader and leader of the Serious Crimes Squad, clearly opposed assigning Owen to the Serious Crimes Squad, and his reasons were very good: "The internal organizations of criminal police detachments in different cities are different, but no matter how they are set up, the First Brigade is definitely the Serious Crimes Squad, which shows the importance of the First Brigade. The First Brigade is the Serious Crimes Squad, and it handles major cases and faces many dangers. With all due respect, Owen is the son of Hou Guolong. I doubt whether such a rich kid can block bullets for the team members when they encounter danger. Not only do I doubt it, but the team members have this doubt. Moreover, according to Jiangzhou practice, in order to be transferred to the Serious Crimes Squad, one must have three to five years of work experience, excellent performance in reality, and outstanding professional ability to be eligible to join the Serious Crimes Squad. Regardless of whether Owen is really capable, he must train for a few years before talking about working in the Serious Crimes Squad."

Marcus said: "Old Hong, you go ahead."

"Owen performed well during his internship in the Second Squadron. But Lao Gong's concerns are also reasonable. I suggest that Owen be assigned to the Second Squadron to work on intelligence data first. This is a highly professional job and should be handled by highly educated people. A journey of a thousand miles tests a horse's strength, and time reveals a person's true character. If he is really a good person, he will be used in a more important position sooner or later."

Hong Jinming is fair-skinned and slightly plump. His fair-skinned and slightly plump appearance always gives people the illusion that he has been working in the government. In fact, Hong Jinming has worked his way up from squadron leader, brigade leader, and deputy detachment leader, a typical criminal police leadership experience.

Hong Jinming's suggestion was somewhat unexpected to Marcus. He did not answer immediately, but after a little consideration, he agreed to the political commissar's suggestion. Owen's status is indeed special, and letting him sit on the bench for a while can temper his character. If he can pass the bench test, he can be entrusted with important tasks. Considering this, Marcus said: "I agree with the opinions of the political commissar and Lao Gong. Please ask the political commissar to talk to Owen and Chen Haodang separately to help them change their roles as soon as possible and adapt to the transition from criminal investigation students to criminal police."

In reality, the professionals who collect and organize intelligence in the criminal police detachment have few opportunities to receive awards and their work is mechanical and boring, so many criminal police are unwilling to do this. The professionals who are actually on duty can be summarized in two words: old and sick.

In order to get Owen to accept the arrangement, Hong Jinming made a special conversation plan. He planned to first talk about Owen's performance during the internship and praise him; then talk about the importance of criminal intelligence work, especially the new features of intelligence work in the current Internet era; and finally announce the detachment's decision.

Owen received the notice and went to the political commissar's office. After listening to the political commissar quietly for half an hour, he calmly said: "Political commissar, am I going to the second brigade?"

Hong Jinming smiled and said kindly, "Well, you will work in the Second Brigade. This is the decision made by the detachment team."

Owen said: "Political Commissar, I understand the importance of criminal intelligence work and will do my job conscientiously."

The other party's special identity, but so cooperative, made Hong Jinming feel confused. He carefully observed Owen's expression, and he didn't say anything sarcastic. He explained again: "Criminal crime intelligence work is very important, especially in this era. Intelligence work is the foundation of most case investigations. If the foundation is not solid, the whole province will be shaken. Nowadays, intelligence information work in the province has problems such as poor information transmission channels, small amount of information, and insufficient information application. Highly educated talents like you are needed. Of course, you are a criminal policeman in the second brigade. In addition to collecting and collating criminal crime information, you also have to do things assigned by the brigade leader, including participating in operations. Let me explain again that collecting and collating criminal crime work and managing and educating special information for major special cases are two different things."

"Political Commissar, please rest assured, I will work hard."

Owen made his statement very straightforwardly, without any intention of bargaining with the organization, nor any dissatisfaction. Intelligence data collection and collation work is a useless job for many people, but it is a good job for him. The reason is simple, this job is conducive to his collection and collation of cases similar to Leo's case, which is a good job that he has been looking for.

After the conversation, Hong Jinming personally brought Owen to the Second Battalion and handed him over to Ye Dapeng of the Second Battalion.

Owen knew that as Hou Guolong's son, he would be treated as a monster in the first period of time when he came to work in the criminal police detachment. He was mentally prepared enough and did not care about any strange looks from his colleagues and faced it calmly.

"Welcome the talented students of the Criminal Investigation Department to the Second Brigade! Lao Ding from the Second Squadron and I were classmates in the police academy, and he has a good opinion of you. Let's have a drink when we are free." Ye Dapeng added, "I heard that you are good at Sanda. Our Second Brigade has a mission to chase fugitives, so you must be mentally prepared."

Owen straightened his chest and said, "I'll be at your disposal at any time."

Ye Dapeng turned around and went downstairs to find Marcus, complaining: "Captain, why did you bring a Buddha statue to the Second Brigade? Hou Guolong is the richest man in the province, I really don't dare to let Owen charge into battle."

Marcus glared, slammed the table, and said, "Owen was able to charge into battle when he was under Ding Hao, so why can't he do that when he is in the Second Brigade? Hou Guolong is an entrepreneur, when did an entrepreneur manage the criminal police team? Owen is just a new criminal police officer, so use him as you should. If you can't make good use of the criminal investigation department graduates, it's your dereliction of duty."

Ye Dapeng went upstairs and when he passed the information room, he saw Owen wiping the table.

The Second Brigade of the Criminal Police Detachment is located on the fourth floor of the Criminal Police Detachment office building. The westernmost corner of the fourth floor is the reference room. Owen and another old comrade who will retire in three years share an office next to the reference room. The old comrade is about to retire and has taken sick leave. Owen wiped the dust off the table, took a deep breath, and opened the reference room carefully like a thief entering a treasure house.

There is a lonely computer in the information room, and twenty rows of cabinets containing archive files. The cabinets are marked with years, as well as major categories such as personnel information, case information, criminal crime clue information, sample information, and other criminal crime intelligence information that needs to be established.

Owen wandered in front of the file cabinet and took out the archive materials at random. Each thick file sealed a special history. When the file was opened, a bloody history jumped out with a bloody smell.

After a round, he found the Chen Lingfei case that he had encountered during his internship when he was arresting Tu Sun. There was only a thin amount of basic material on the Chen Lingfei case, and the basic file was still in the First Brigade.

"Pervert, how did you get assigned here?" Chen Haodang had already reported to the Criminal Police Detachment Office, and took a break to go from the second floor to the fourth floor to meet with his old classmates. Chen Haodang and Owen had a general relationship during school, with no conflicts and no particularly deep interactions. He originally wanted to stay in the provincial department, but failed, so he had to settle for the next best thing and came to the Criminal Police Detachment in Jiangzhou, the second largest city.

"It's nice here, I like it very much." Owen didn't want to get promoted or make money as a criminal policeman. He focused on solving cases, so his thinking was different from that of others.

Chen Haodang sat on the table with his left leg propped up on the ground. "Your father made his fortune in Jiangzhou and has deep connections. If you can find a way to transfer to the bureau or the political department, you will definitely develop quickly in the future."

Owen rolled his eyes at Chen Haodang without any hesitation and said, "For those of us who study criminal investigation, it is the right path to work in the criminal police detachment. What's the point of working in the bureau?"

"You have a very good family environment and you don't have to eat the meat of this world. There are only two of us in Jiangzhou from the Criminal Investigation Department of the China University of Political Science and Law. We should take care of each other in the future." The reason why Chen Haodang chose the Jiangzhou Criminal Police Detachment was the result of studying the resumes of previous leaders of the provincial department. One third of the provincial department leaders had served in Jiangzhou. Not joining the provincial department and coming to Jiangzhou was considered a roundabout way forward.

Chen Haodang didn't dare to delay any longer, so he chatted for a few minutes and went downstairs.

Owen chased him to the door and said, "Don't use the nickname 'pervert' when you are in the detachment."

Chen Haodang turned around and smiled, "It's too late. I've already mentioned your nickname. Everyone says it's a good nickname."

The reference room is in the western corner, with few colleagues coming and going, and it is very quiet. Owen flipped through the old files for a while, and then looked up at the ceiling. After looking at the ceiling, he picked up his phone and found Jin Chuantang, the only old classmate from No. 1 Middle School who was still in contact, and asked him to invite a few classmates to a small gathering, and specifically mentioned Mason's name. Mason wrote a love letter to Leo, and was listed as a suspect after Leo fell into the water. After investigation, he was cleared of suspicion.

Owen wanted to directly contact the classmates who had pursued Leo in the past to look for clues.

Jiangzhou No.1 Middle School is a key middle school in the city, and Class 1 is a key class. Most of the students in the class were admitted to 985 or 211 schools. After graduation, not many of them returned to Jiangzhou, only six. Mason was admitted to Shannan Normal University, and after graduation, he returned to Jiangzhou No.1 Middle School to teach.

Jin Chuantong was the only one who didn't make it to the second-tier college entrance exam, so he went to Australia to study. He spent four years in the Chinese community and couldn't even speak English well. After returning to China, he joined the family business and is now a serious boss. He was originally going to treat six classmates to dinner that night, but in addition to the six people in his class, seven other classmates came, and most of them were beautiful female classmates. The female classmates were all dressed up, some pure, some s3xy, each showing their most charming side.

The banquet was held at Jiangzhou Hotel, a subsidiary of Guolong Group. It provided one-stop service for food, drink and entertainment, so students could have fun without leaving the hotel. During the banquet, the students drank heartily. After dinner, they booked a luxurious private room and had a great time.

The party ended at two in the morning. Owen had drunk a lot, so he didn't go back to Gaosen Villa, but booked a large room at the hotel. He entered the room, went to the bathroom to spit out all the wine, and walked around the room with a gloomy face, embedding Mason's latest face in his mind, thinking about it over and over again.

At this class reunion, Mason got drunk and held Owen to talk about his love for Leo. He repeatedly lamented that beautiful women have always been short-lived. He said that after Leo's accident, he had no interest in studying for a long time, so he only took the entrance exam to Shannan Normal University. Judging from his drunken words and actions, Mason still misses Leo who has passed away for many years.

The phone on the table started blinking.

Owen picked up his phone and saw that it was a call from a female classmate, Yang Hong, but he didn't answer it. After a while, Yang Hong sent a text message: "Owen, where are you? I want to meet you."

Yang Hong was pretty. She wore a low-cut dress and a sparkling necklace tonight, which made her look s3xy and charming under the lights. Owen knew that Yang Hong was interested in him, so he didn't answer the phone or reply to the text message.

Yang Hong drank a lot of wine and was a little tipsy. She sat in her car in the hotel parking lot and called and texted Owen. She waited for half an hour and did not receive a response, so she left the hotel.

When Owen got up in the morning, he was having breakfast in the restaurant. Gu Ying, the vice president of the hotel, came over to say hello and specifically suggested: "You are usually alone in Jiangzhou, so don't go back to Gaosen. Get a room in the hotel, it will be convenient for food and accommodation."

Owen declined politely.

When he was at Jiangzhou Hotel, Owen was really the "prince", and countless people were loyal and wanted to serve him. When he drove into the criminal police office building, he immediately changed from a prince back to an ordinary criminal policeman and began to sort out the dormant criminal intelligence materials.

Leo's death was classified as an accident, and there was no information related to Leo in the database. Owen immersed himself in searching for cases similar to Leo's case in the database, hoping to follow the clues and lead to Leo's case.

Based on this, he focused his attention on the Chen Lingfei case.

The victim, Chen Lingfei, was a female teacher who had been working for two years.

Owen's job was to collect and organize criminal intelligence. After he became interested in this case, he went to the brigade's archives room in the name of collecting and organizing criminal intelligence information and retrieved the case file according to the procedures.

Criminal case files are divided into two parts: litigation files (also known as the main files) and investigation files (also known as supplementary files). Litigation files mainly include legal documents for external use and evidence materials proving the facts of the case. After being assembled, they are transferred to the People's Procuratorate with the case for use in litigation. Investigation files mainly include internal approval documents that have no legal effect on the outside, case research records, and other materials that have preservation value but do not need to be used as evidence in criminal proceedings. They are bound and archived for future reference.

After reading the main volume and the supplementary volume repeatedly, Owen firmly memorized the Chen Lingfei case in his mind.

In terms of job responsibilities, his main job was to collect and organize information, and he was not required to investigate the case. After reading the case files in detail, he took the initiative to involve himself in the case.

The case is as follows: After dinner, Chen Lingfei's mother came to Chen Lingfei's new house and found her daughter lying in a pool of blood, in a coma. Rescues failed and she died.

When the police arrived at the crime scene after hearing the news, medical staff had already arrived in advance. Several medical staff entered the scene and moved the unconscious Chen Lingfei. Chen Lingfei's mother and father were also at the scene and disturbed the scene.

After the initial investigation, the police had two opinions.

The first group of opinions is that Chen Lingfei lived in a two-story building with 20 steps. Judging from her position at the corner of the stairs, she slipped and fell down the stairs, hitting her head on the stairs, causing severe brain damage and accidental death. The other group of opinions determined that it was homicide because a large amount of blood was found on the stairs, which was probably homicide.

Summary of the main contents of the autopsy report: multiple contusions on the back of the head, as well as cuts and lacerations; arachnoid hemorrhage, mild to moderate; contusions on the back, wrists and hands.

The autopsy conclusion: First, multiple blows to the head with a blunt object, head fractures and brain damage were the cause of death; second, the time of death was around seven o'clock in the evening.

At this point, homicide was confirmed, the Criminal Police Brigade filed a case, and the Serious Crime Squad took over.

A second dispute occurred within the Criminal Police Brigade’s Serious Crime Squad.

One group believed that Chen Lingfei's fiancé Dai Xiaofeng killed Chen Lingfei. After investigation, the doors and windows at the scene where Chen Lingfei was killed were intact, with no signs of prying, which made it more likely that the crime was committed by an insider.

Most murders come from the closest people. Husbands and wives see each other every day, and if there are conflicts, they will slowly accumulate, and the end result of love turning into hate is murder. Therefore, they first locked their suspicion on Dai Xiaofeng.

Another group believes that it cannot be ruled out that the murderer is an outsider. Because Chen Lingfei and her boyfriend were preparing for their wedding and had just finished decorating their new house, they were in a good relationship and her boyfriend Dai Xiaofeng had no motive to kill.

More importantly, Dai Xiaofeng did not have the time to commit the crime. After investigation, it was found that Dai Xiaofeng had been working overtime in the Chengxi office on the day of the crime, and several colleagues could testify. Specifically: At 5:30 p.m., Dai Xiaofeng arranged a meeting at 7 p.m. His colleagues went out to eat at 5:30 p.m., and Dai Xiaofeng had a stomachache and did not eat. His colleagues came back around 6:20 p.m., and Dai Xiaofeng was still in the office. Although there are 50 minutes from 5:30 p.m. to 6:20 p.m., it is impossible for Dai Xiaofeng to go from the Chengxi office to his home in Chengdong and then back to the Chengxi office from his home in Chengdong during the evening rush hour.

The case reached a stalemate with no breakthrough.

After studying the case file repeatedly, Owen decided to reconstruct the crime scene. The information revealed at the scene of Chen Lingfei's case far exceeded that in Leo's case. If this case could not be investigated, then Leo's case would be even more difficult.

The first thing he did was to verify how long it took Dai Xiaofeng to get from his office in the west of the city to his home in the east of the city, and how long it took from his home in the east of the city to his office in the west of the city.

There are three major links in identifying a suspect: first, the connection between the suspect and the victim; second, the connection between the suspect and the crime scene; and third, the relationship between the victim and the suspect.

The relationship between the criminal suspect and the crime scene mainly includes the time relationship, space relationship and evidence relationship. The most fundamental reason why Dai Xiaofeng was excluded from the criminal suspects is that he did not have the time to commit the crime.

Dai Xiaofeng's colleagues confirmed that because the company had to work the night shift, at about 5:30 p.m., the colleagues had dinner together. Dai Xiaofeng felt unwell and stayed in the office. A colleague confirmed that Dai Xiaofeng had stomach discomfort during this period and was taking medicine. At about 6:20 p.m., the colleagues returned to the office after dinner, but Dai Xiaofeng was still in the office. At 7 o'clock, everyone was in the office for a meeting.

The first experiment was conducted at 6:00 p.m. on October 9, the busiest time in the city. Owen drove from Dai Xiaofeng's home in the east of the city to his office in the west of the city. When passing the Jiangzhou Second Bridge across the Jiangzhou River, there was a traffic jam, and the car did not reach Dai Xiaofeng's office in the west of the city until 7:30 p.m. It took 45 minutes to get from the office in the west of the city to his home in the east of the city.

The second experiment was at 5:40 pm on October 10. Owen set out from Dai Xiaofeng's office in the west of the city, crossed the Jiangzhou Second Bridge, and returned to his home in the east of the city, which took about 40 minutes. Owen stayed downstairs of Dai Xiaofeng's home in the east of the city for 20 minutes, and then drove back to Dai Xiaofeng's office in the west of the city. This time he was stuck on the bridge and it took him one hour and sixteen minutes.

After two experiments, Owen was basically sure that Dai Xiaofeng did not have the time to commit the crime. The serious crime squad investigators determined that Dai Xiaofeng did not have the time to commit the crime, which was basically reliable.

The second thing Owen did was crime scene analysis.

It has been a year since the crime occurred, and Owen can only make the best use of the existing evidence. This depends on and is limited by the on-site investigation level of the criminal police detachment's technical room, and it is hard to say whether there will be any results.

By reading the seventy-four photos, documents, charts and experimental reports left in the files, Owen hand-drew a scene map, especially drawing a large amount of blood and blood drops on the scene map.

In the process of drawing blood and blood drops, he drew large pieces of blood and blood drops on the scene diagram he made, drop by drop, just like painting with fine brushwork. This method comes from Professor Fei of the Criminal Investigation Department - using the method of fine brushwork to restore the scene.

Complete photos of the scene often contain all kinds of details, which are hidden in various ways. Using fine brushwork is an effective way to discover the details. The main reason why Professor Fei used this method to restore the scene is that he switched from fine brushwork to criminal police, and then transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department of the University of Political Science and Law to teach.

Owen does not have professional level of meticulous painting, but the method of meticulous painting happens to be very compatible with his own characteristics, so he accepted Professor Fei's method and developed his own three-dimensional perspective drawing. The meticulous painting drawn by the teacher is flat, while his three-dimensional perspective drawing is three-dimensional. The similarity is that they both try their best to reconstruct the scene with their own methods.

When describing the blood drops, he was very patient and carefully counted the blood drops with a magnifying glass. There were 517 blood drops that could be clearly observed, most of which were at the bottom of the steps. There were 303 blood drops on the first step from the bottom to the top, and there were sporadic blood drops on the upper steps. There were also 87 blood drops on the north wall. There were remaining blood drops on the other steps.

After counting the blood drops, Owen began to draw them. This is a meticulous and arduous task, and requires extraordinary spatial ability to restore the scene into a three-dimensional view.

When drawing the details of the blood drops, he found that there were bloodstains in the photo, especially on the wall, the distribution of bloodstains was quite complicated. From the shape of the blood drops, some were dripped, some were splashed, some were wiped, some were smeared, and some were thrown. Most of the splashed blood drops were of medium speed type.

In addition, there are many bloodstains that are hollow. Hollow bloodstains mean that there is air in the blood droplets, and the hollow shape of the blood droplets is formed after the air explodes.

After discovering the hollow bloodstain, Owen stopped to think for a while. Then, he took a magnifying glass and made a new discovery on the bloodstain on the wall: after one bloodstain solidified, a new bloodstain appeared on it.

There was a footprint on the ground, and behind the footprint were seven drops of blood.

There was half a bloody handprint on the door frame about half a meter from the ground.

It was an extremely tedious task to present all the blood drops in the 3D scene map, which was time-consuming and laborious. After four days of continuous work, Owen finally completed the drawing of the 3D scene map.

While drawing the picture, he realized from the distribution and shape of the bloodstains that the victim did not die immediately after being injured. He coughed and vomited blood at the scene, tried to get up, and walked around. Finally, due to the serious injuries, he fell to the ground and died.

This means that the time of death is not the time of the murder, and the murder time must be pushed back. The time of death in the autopsy report is 7pm, and if it is pushed back 20 to 40 minutes, the murder time is between 6:20 and 6:40.

But according to the testimony of Dai Xiaofeng's colleagues: Dai Xiaofeng was still in the company at 6:20, it was impossible for him to commit the crime.

Owen, like the criminal police handling the case at the time, was obstructed here.

Footsteps sounded, and Marcus, dressed in police uniform, appeared at the door. He saw the files and drawing books spread out on the table and asked, "Are you researching a case? Which case?"

"Chen Lingfei's case. There is only one page of material in the database. I retrieved the file and prepared to enter the basic information and find out something from the bloodstains." Owen has known Marcus for many years, but this is the first time he has seen him in a police uniform. He is quite uncomfortable and looks at him several times.

Marcus sat down, picked up the drawing book, looked at it carefully for a while, and said, "Is this a live picture? It's different from the usual pictures."

Owen said: "Based on the file information, I used 3D images to reconstruct the scene."

The Chen Lingfei case is the latest unsolved murder case. The task force has been working hard for several months but has not made any breakthroughs, so they are forced to put it on hold temporarily. The extremely realistic three-dimensional image brought Marcus to the bloody room, and his originally relaxed mood suddenly became heavy.

After listening to Owen's analysis, Marcus pondered and said, "Your discovery is very valuable. The investigation direction determined by the task force before was based on the death at 7 o'clock. If the death time was 40 minutes earlier, many things would change. Moreover, the murderer left the scene without killing Chen Lingfei, which can also reflect the murderer's personality characteristics. However, the bloodstains alone are not completely convincing, and a new autopsy is needed."

Owen asked: "Are the bodies of the victims still preserved?"

Marcus said: "The body is still there. The cost of freezing it is not cheap. If the case cannot be solved, it will have to be cremated in the end. Tian Tian did the autopsy on the victim's body, so let her do it."

Owen received a call from Tian Tian and came to the technical room.

Tian Tian had no smile on her face and said coldly: "Another autopsy, the conclusion is the same as last time. I am responsible for the results of the autopsy."

"The question now is that the time of the murder and the time of death are inconsistent. Can this be confirmed through an autopsy?" Owen studied criminal forensic medicine in the Criminal Investigation Department, but there is still a big gap between being an investigator and a professional forensic doctor. He knew that this could be confirmed through an autopsy, but he couldn't do it himself.

Tian Tian said: "It depends on the autopsy results."

"Based on the analysis of the bloodstains, the two time points are inconsistent. Specifically..." Owen wanted to explain to the female forensic doctor in detail the doubts he found in the case files.

Tian Tian interrupted Owen and said, "You don't have to tell me the reason. I will make my own judgment."

Owen asked: "When will the results come out?"

Tian Tian said: "The results will come out naturally when they are due."

Tian Tian's attitude was cold, but her skills were outstanding. Two days later, she issued a new autopsy report. One of the items in the report was "early acute ischemic brain cell necrosis". Tian Tian explained: "Neuron degeneration usually takes a period of blood circulation to occur. After death, the biochemical process stops. In other words, the victim did not die immediately, but was breathing for a period of time. Judging from the ischemic necrosis of neuronal cells, this process lasted about an hour."

The autopsy results were very close to the findings Owen had deduced from the bloodstains. After Marcus received the report, he immediately reopened the case and specifically asked Owen to participate in the case.

At the case analysis meeting, Owen, as requested by Marcus, hand-drew a three-dimensional view on the blackboard and sorted out the process of discovering that Chen Lingfei did not die on the spot.

"Bloodstain patterns are often very useful in reconstructing the scene. In this case, there are different bloodstains, most of which are medium-speed bloodstains, including coughing, hair smearing, etc. The bloodstains on the wall are smeared, coming from multiple directions, and some places are superimposed... From these bloodstains, we can see that the victim has moved. From this point, we can judge that the time of the crime and the time of death are not simply equal."

Owen is a newly recruited criminal policeman. He did not get nervous when facing a group of experienced criminal policemen from the Serious Crime Squad, and he analyzed the situation truthfully based on his own findings.

Marcus had imagined that Owen would handle the unsolved murder cases before, but it was just an idea at the time and he was not fully sure of Owen's real ability. When he heard Owen's analysis of the bloodstains, his idea became clear.

Gong Jianmin, deputy chief of the criminal police detachment and chief of the serious crime squad, arranged: "The third team is responsible for reinvestigating the Chen Lingfei case."

The Serious Crime Squad has a total of 48 investigators, which are divided into eight detective teams and one mobile detective team. Each team has a police car and two computers, and the police equipment is equipped according to the standard.

Li Ming, the leader of the third team, had a bitter look on his face. He had another burglary case on his hands, and if he reopened the Chen Lingfei case, he would be short of manpower.

Marcus said, "Li Ming, you are an old criminal policeman, so don't be so sad here. Tasks come one after another, sometimes they are tight and sometimes they are loose, and we can't control this. I know that the three groups are short of manpower, but let me ask you, which group is not short of manpower, which group has no cases, tell me? The burglary case has already been solved, so it is relatively easy. Transfer Owen over and let him participate in the investigation of Chen Lingfei's case."

After the meeting, Li Ming called Owen over and said, "You have interned in the Second Squadron, right? Our team just transferred Li Chao from the Second Squadron. You and Li Chao will work on this case together."

Owen said happily: "Master has also been transferred here? When I was interning in the Second Squadron, he was my master."

Li Ming said: "The transfer order has just been issued. He will report here this afternoon. It's good that you two are familiar with each other. Li Dazui and you will be responsible for investigating the Chen Lingfei case. Report to me if you have any clues. If you need additional manpower, you can tell me and we will make unified arrangements."

In the afternoon, when Owen was studying the Chen Lingfei case, Li Chao came over. As soon as Li Chao came in, he punched him in the chest and said, "You, a rich second-generation, are still hiding it from your master."

Owen laughed and said, "The master didn't ask me who my father was at that time. I can't show off, right?"

Li Chao walked around the data room and said, "The data room is a cold bench in the criminal police team. Instead of being in the data room, it is better to go to the second squadron. I am used to being in the second squadron and I don't want to come. The serious crime team is short of people. With a transfer order, I have to come even if I don't want to. I can't help it if my nose suppresses my mouth."

Owen made some tea and served it to the master. Li Chao smelled the tea and said, "This is the tea you brought with you. It's high quality! The tea distributed by the detachment is really Sl*t."

Owen took out another can of tea from the cabinet and asked the master to take it home. Li Chao picked up the tea leaves and said, "This tea is very expensive."

Owen smiled but did not answer.

"I can afford a box of tea from my apprentice." Li Chao added, "I was just transferred here, and you were loaned here from the Second Brigade. What does it mean that Li Ming threw this case over to me? It means that Li Ming has no confidence in solving the case. Although the time of the crime has been moved forward, other conditions have not changed, and I am still confused."

Owen was determined to solve the Chen Lingfei case. Compared with the Leo case, the Chen Lingfei case had too much useful information. If the Chen Lingfei case could not be solved, then there was no need to mention the Leo case.

"Master, let's go and take a look at Chen Lingfei's home."

"Why are you in such a hurry? I haven't found a seat yet."

"My but.t and my office chair are still there, so I won't run away. But the longer it takes, the more difficult it will be to handle the case."

"That makes sense."

Owen went downstairs and drove an SUV to the scene.

After the incident, Dai Xiaofeng never entered the new house again, and the key to the new house was given to Chen Lingfei's mother.

When Owen and Li Chao arrived at the crime scene, Chen Lingfei's mother was already waiting at the door. Chen Lingfei's mother is an associate professor at Jiangzhou Normal University. She has a strong bookish air, a serious expression, and a frown. She opened the door and said, "No one came in after the crime. I always felt that you still needed to come to check the scene. Thank you for remembering my daughter's case."

Owen brought luminol reagent and ultraviolet lamp. At the corner staircase, he turned on the ultraviolet lamp and could see the luminol reaction. The shape of the blood drop was basically the same as that in the file.

Li Chao was chatting with Chen Lingfei's mother in the living room. As Chen Lingfei's mother chatted, she kept looking at Owen who was concentrating on the scene. Half an hour later, Chen Lingfei's mother couldn't help but ask: "What is this police officer investigating? Any new findings?"

Li Chao said: "Solving a case is like a scientific experiment, it requires repeated research."

Chen Lingfei's mother shook her head and said, "It's different. The experiment won't hurt anyone. The murderer killed my daughter, and I want justice for her."

Owen finally put away the ultraviolet lamp, went to the door and window and observed with a magnifying glass for a while, then came to the living room.

Chen Lingfei's mother asked: "Are there any new discoveries?"

Owen did not answer this question, and asked: "Were there any unusual circumstances or details different from usual before Chen Lingfei was killed?"

Chen Lingfei's mother kept shaking her head and said, "The police who handled the case asked this question before. To be honest, I really didn't find anything unusual. My son-in-law Dai Xiaofeng was very busy during that period and often worked overtime. My daughter was actively preparing for pregnancy, so it was pretty normal anyway."

Owen asked: "Does your daughter have the habit of keeping a diary?"

Chen Lingfei's mother said: "When she was little, I asked her to keep a diary and check it every day. After she went to college, she stopped keeping a diary and lost a good study and life habit. Later, after Weibo was launched, she often wrote small articles on Weibo. I read every one of them and found nothing unusual."

After leaving Chen Lingfei's home, Owen and Li Chao got in the car.

"The serious crime squad is full of experienced detectives, and they handle cases very professionally. It's really amazing that you, a new detective, can correct the time of the crime through bloodstains. It's not impossible to dig out more explosive information, but it's difficult." Li Chao added, "The victim's mother has a strong personality, probably because she has been a teacher for a long time. Generally speaking, the mother is strong and the daughter is weak. According to Chen Lingfei's classmates and colleagues, Chen Lingfei is very gentle in dealing with people, and sometimes a little naive."

"Master, let's go check for physical evidence."

"Rome was not built in a day. Only by doing a little bit every day and making progress step by step can you persist."

"I'll treat you to a nice dinner tonight, and invite Captain Ding and the other members of the squadron to come along."

"Of course you can have the dinner. You hid your identity from us, so the dinner is an apology."

Back at the Criminal Police Detachment, the two entered the evidence room.

The physical evidence in the Chen Lingfei case was placed on the table, scattered in a pile and each numbered.

The physical evidence included fingerprints collected at the scene, dozens of strands of hair scattered on the ground, a cup on the dining table, etc. Owen had read the files countless times and drawn a three-dimensional view of the scene. Now when he saw the physical evidence on the table, he used his unique spatial construction ability to restore all the physical evidence to the crime scene in his mind. He examined every detail of the virtual crime scene over and over again, and finally he was shocked and his eyes fell on an evidence extraction bag.

He exited the virtual crime scene and returned to reality. The evidence bag that gave him a flash of inspiration was on the table. He put on gloves and picked up the bag with tweezers. Through the transparent evidence bag, he could clearly see that it was a shopping receipt, and the item purchased was pickled duck.

The time shown on the purchase order was clear: 5:12 p.m.

In addition to extracting items related to the scene where Chen Lingfei was killed, the on-site investigation technicians also specially extracted items on the dining table, including the bones of the pickled duck. Seeing these pieces of evidence, Owen fell into deep thought.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Li Chao asked.

After Li Chao asked twice, Owen seemed to come back to his senses and said, "The file contains a call record of Dai Xiaofeng. It should be at 4:25, and there was a call record with Chen Lingfei."

Li Chao said: "Dai Xiaofeng called his wife. The call records cannot explain the problem."

Owen seemed to be thinking about something, but his thinking was not very mature, so he did not express his opinion for the time being.

That night, Owen invited all the off-duty personnel of the Second Squadron of Jiangyang District to have dinner at Jiangzhou Hotel. At this gathering, everyone officially began to call Owen "pervert". The nickname spread so quickly in the criminal police detachment that even Owen was surprised. He had a meal with the criminal police of the Second Squadron and drank a lot of wine, but there was no drama after dinner. Criminal police generally don't spend much time at home. When they are involved in a case, it is normal not to go home for a few days or even more than ten days. So when they can go home, everyone tries to go home.

Owen was single, and he was still alone when he returned to Gaosen Villa, so he simply went to the hotel and asked for a suite. Soon after he entered the suite, the hotel vice president pushed a large box into the room, which contained Owen's daily necessities, including a toothbrush, towels, and spare clothes.

"Owen, I'll keep this room for you from now on. Sister Mei is worried about you living here alone." Deputy General Manager Gu Ying is in his thirties, well-maintained, and a very versatile person. He wants to persuade Owen to enter the hotel again.

Owen said: "I can't come here often, it would be a pity to keep it."

Gu Ying joked, "You don't need to save money for the company. Sister Mei's son should be a little more extravagant. Sister Ying will explain to you what it means to be low-key, luxurious and have connotation. If a person wants to have connotation, he must be low-key, and secondly, luxurious. If you are only low-key, but not luxurious, then you can't be considered to have connotation."

"Sister Ying's explanation is nonsense." Owen called Gu Ying Sister Ying, and Gu Ying called Li Yongmei Sister Mei. Everyone called each other by their own name without any courtesy.

While chatting with Gu Ying, waiters kept coming in and bringing fresh fruits, fresh milk and desserts. Owen was used to being served and didn't think it was strange.

After everyone left, Owen opened his laptop and began searching Chen Lingfei's Weibo.

Chen Lingfei posts regularly on Weibo, almost three times a day, and over time, she posts quite a lot of Weibo. Her Weibo posts mainly focus on home, clothing, travel, and a small amount of daily thoughts. Unlike other girls, Chen Lingfei posts more landscape photos and rarely posts photos of her daily life. Even if she does post photos of her daily life, her face is not shown.

Owen thought of Chen Lingfei's mother's expression and agreed with Li Chao's evaluation of the mother and daughter: "The mother is strong and the daughter is weak." Chen Lingfei was gentle and virtuous, like a quiet flower blooming in a valley. The beautiful flower withered just after it bloomed, which made him sad and angry in the dark night.

There was a lot of content on Weibo, and Owen read it very slowly. In the early morning, he had read one-third of the content. While lying on the bed, he closed his eyes and pieces of evidence emerged in his mind. When the duck bones appeared, he turned over and sat up.

In the morning, after leaving the hotel and entering the Criminal Police Building, Owen's princely aura automatically faded away, and he instantly turned back into a data clerk of the Second Brigade. After cleaning the data room, Owen received a call from Marcus.

"Is there any progress in Chen Lingfei's case?"