The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

”Sure, Mr. Jiang!”

Qin Feng immediately took the order. ”I’ll coordinate the retrieval of the surveillance footage and arrange personnel to conduct interviews right away.”

Then, Jiang An turned his gaze to Wan: ”You’re responsible for another important lead: investigate the detailed activities of the two deceased on the day of the incident.”

”Focus on clarifying whether Li Xiang had any living, social, or financial connections with them, especially with the female victim.”

”Understood, Mr. Jiang!”

With the tasks assigned, Zhang Yean, Qin Feng, and Wan wasted no time, swiftly turned around, and each dove into their intense work.

Jiang An stood there, watching their figures disappear at the end of the corridor.

After leaving the interrogation room, Jiang An went straight back to his office.

Despite a whole night of tense battle, he felt no fatigue at the moment. Instead, he was highly focused, replaying each detail of the case in his mind, especially the conditions and signs of the deceased in the water.

He stood by the window, looking at the gradually brightening sky outside, his brow slightly furrowed, lost in deep thought.

The most critical thing now is to find a strong piece of evidence that can break through the suspect’s psychological defenses.

If no decisive trace evidence is found soon, Li Xiang might continue to stick to his defense, leading to a more passive situation in solving the case.

This weighed like a stone on Jiang’s mind, causing him a slight but noticeable sense of heaviness.

Meanwhile, after having a quick breakfast in the canteen, Zhang Yean wasted no time, swiftly equipped herself with scene investigation gear, and called two interns to head to Li Xiang’s yard.

The niche brand car was parked quietly there.

Upon arrival, Zhang Yean first took overall photos of the vehicle to fix the scene’s state, then turned to the interns and succinctly instructed: ”Put on gloves, prepare the flashlights.”

The interns promptly responded, handing over the equipment. ”Miss Yan, here you go.”

Zhang Yean deftly put on latex gloves, accepted the torch, gently opened the car door, and began a systematic and meticulous inspection inside the car.

She firmly remembered Jiang An’s previous instructions outside the interrogation room and focused the investigation on the area under the driver’s seat.

Once the car door opened, a mesh-structured floor mat came into view. This design, filled with dense recesses and holes, is precisely where fine traces tend to be retained.

Zhang Yean lowered her body, using the torchlight to inspect each nook and cranny for soil and dust.

The two interns breathed quietly, standing close by the car door, their eyes closely following her movements, not daring to miss any detail.

Five minutes later, the beam from the torchlight swept across a spot, suddenly reflecting a trace of subtle light.

Zhang Yean’s eyes focused, and she whispered, ”Tweezers.”

An intern quickly handed over the forensic tweezers, which she carefully used to probe into the mesh gap and gently extracted the reflective object.

”What is this?”

The two interns simultaneously questioned.

Zhang Yean raised the tweezers to her eyes, observing closely: it was a small, hard piece with a smooth surface, cool to the touch, bearing something like shell patterns. ”.

”This doesn’t look like something common onshore,” she mused. ”More like something found in an underwater environment, maybe a fragment of some type of shell.”

”From underwater?”

The interns suddenly realized, ”Are you saying this could be related to the site where the body was dumped?”

Zhang Yean nodded, ”Highly possible. Extract it, and mark it.”

She gently placed the fragment into an evidence bag for storage, then continued to extract soil samples from various attached areas on the floor mat.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng’s team arrived at the vehicle’s parking location.

Looking around, about two kilometers away from the road, the outline of a village was faintly visible, with a few wisps of smoke spiraling upward.

Qin Feng thought for a moment, then said, ”Let’s go to the village and ask around.”

”This road is the main access to the village, and if a vehicle was parked there for a long time during the day, the villagers, who start work early, might have noticed it.”

Ten minutes later, Qin Feng led the team to park the car at the village entrance, choosing the household closest to the road.

It was a typical farmhouse yard, with an elderly couple sitting on a bench at the door, having breakfast.

With a gentle smile on his face, Qin Feng stepped forward quickly, respectfully saying, ”Hello, uncle, aunt, sorry to bother you.”

”We’re from the city’s criminal investigation squad, here to inquire about a certain case and need some information from you both.”

As he spoke, he showed his badge.

Upon hearing they were police officers, the elderly couple quickly put down their bowls and chopsticks.

The old man stood up, dusted off his clothes, and said, ”Officer, feel free to ask whatever you need. We’ll surely cooperate.”

”Thank you, sir and madam.”

Qin Feng nodded, getting to the point, ”We want to know if you noticed a vehicle parked for a long time by the roadside facing your direction, yesterday during the day?”

”A vehicle parked for a long time...”

The couple exchanged a glance, seemingly trying to recall.

A moment later, the old man spoke, ”Now that you mention it, I do remember.”

”Yesterday evening, around five or six o’clock, when I returned home from the field, I did see a black sedan parked there. It seemed to have been there for a while.”

”Oh?”

Qin Feng pressed for more information, ”How did you determine that it had been parked for a long time?”

The old man explained, ”Because I came back home around five, put down my things, rested my feet, and around half-past six, I went back to the field to water and fertilize.”

”When I came back around seven, it was almost dark, and that car was still in the same spot.”

”So roughly, it had been there for at least two hours.”

”At that time, I did find it odd.”

”But since that place is near a pond where people often park to fish, we didn’t pay much attention.”

”I only remember that the car windows and doors were tightly shut, so I couldn’t see if anyone was inside.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Feng perked up.

He leaned forward slightly, earnestly asking, ”Are you sure you saw a black car? Is there any chance you might have been mistaken about the color?”

”I’m sure it was black.”

The elderly man confidently replied, ”Because that day, I placed my hoe on the back seat of my scooter, and when I passed that section of road, the car was parked by the roadside, slightly obstructing the way.”

”I nearly left a scratch on its door with my hoe.”

”At that moment, I got nervous, thinking if I scratched it, I’d have to compensate the owner.”

”So I stopped my scooter and looked closely at the car door, making sure there were no scratches before I felt relieved.”

”That’s why I have such a clear memory of this black car.”

Qin Feng thoughtfully nodded, ”Given such an experience, your impression should indeed be accurate.”

He pondered for a moment before continuing with more detailed questions: ”Did you pass by the field that afternoon or around noon?”

”Did you notice if that car had appeared during other times?”

”I did go to the field around noon, and about 3 PM, I went out to buy seeds but didn’t find any.”

”I certainly didn’t see that car parked there at that time, not at all in my memory, so it probably wasn’t there.”

Meanwhile, Wan and another colleague had arrived at the residences of the two deceased for an investigation.

The courtyard in front of them was silent, the house empty and desolate, conveying a sense of bleakness.

As the police presence drew attention, neighbors began peeking out, whispering with curiosity and speculation in their eyes.

Just then, a small truck with the Yingchun Restaurant branding drove slowly into the alley and finally parked at the back door of a restaurant opposite.

Several uniformed waiters were unloading goods from the vehicle.

Eyeing this opportunity, Wan quickly crossed the street and approached them.

He pulled out his police badge, ”Hello, we’re from the criminal investigation squad.”

”Some things happened at the house across, we’re conducting an investigation.”

”Your restaurant’s location faces directly opposite their house, so your view should be quite good.”

”Did you notice anything unusual or any strange individuals or events before the incident? Any little detail could be helpful to us.”

The waiter nodded thoughtfully, answering, ”Yes, I did see something, and I remember it quite well.”

”Around seven or eight last night, their family did come to our restaurant for dinner, sitting by the window.”

Wan immediately followed up, ”How many of them were there at the time? Just the couple?”

”No, there were three people,”

The waiter confidently stated, ”Besides the couple, there was a middle-aged man, seemed to be a friend of theirs.”

Instantly, Wan’s nerves tightened, ”Three people?”