The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

”How did you initially classify these fractures?”

Mr. Qin recalled briefly and answered, ”At the time, we invited forensic experts from several neighboring districts and counties, along with veteran experts from the city bureau, for a consultation.”

”Everyone generally leaned towards injuries caused by falling—such as falling from a height and the body impacting some hard object, causing multiple fractures simultaneously.”

”Some speculated it might have been struck by some object, but what specific object and where the impact point was, we never determined.”

Jiang An did not respond immediately; he simply stared silently at the fractured bones.

After a while, he spoke, ”This fracture pattern is indeed peculiar.”

After speaking, he turned his gaze to the tree branch samples, his tone calm yet firm, ”Next, focus on examining these tree branches.”

He reached out and picked up a section of the tree branch, while Mr. Qin supplemented with an explanation, ”We processed these branches with cuts; look, the cut is very clean.”

”The tree branches brought back from the scene were too large, not conducive to preserving physical evidence, so we took partial samples. However, every cut position was marked for easy correspondence and restoration.”

Jiang An gently murmured ”Hmm,” his fingertips caressing the surface of the branch, his eyes sweeping inch by inch.

Suddenly, his motion paused—on the bark of a trunk, he noticed several patchy spots of peeling, with irregular edges and color slightly different from the surrounding bark.

”Were these patchy peeling marks present at the scene at the time?”

He raised his head and asked.

”Yes,” Mr. Qin nodded, ”we found it a bit odd at the time too, but we didn’t analyze it deeply, just considered it natural wear or caused during transportation.”

Jiang An leaned in for a closer look, pondering, ”Have you considered... Could these patchy peeling marks be traces left by animal gnawing?”

”Animal gnawing?”

Mr. Qin and the young officer beside him almost simultaneously froze, exchanged a glance, and then showed a dawning expression.

”Indeed... it is possible!”

Mr. Qin’s tone carried a slight reverberation, ”Why didn’t we think of this before?”

At this moment, Director Hou slowly stepped forward, approached the section of the branch held by Jiang An, and studied it carefully.

Sure enough, on a segment of the branch surface, there were indeed some patchy bark peeling marks, slightly darker than the surrounding area, with edges slightly raised, resembling marks left by external forces.

However, Director Hou pondered for a moment, then looked up at Captain Zhang, speaking with some caution, ”Jiang, have you considered whether this localized peeling might be due to disease in the trees?”

”I grew up in the countryside as a child and often saw poplar and willow trees infected with ulcer disease or rot disease, and the bark would show similar patchy peeling.”

”Additionally—” he paused slightly, his gaze returning to the branch, ”This physical evidence has been stored in the evidence room for almost three to four years, and the dry environment could have caused some natural loss of water and contraction, leading to some bark peeling.”

”Shouldn’t we also consider these possibilities?”

After Director Hou’s words, other colleagues in the laboratory also began to softly echo his sentiments.

Most of their generation had experienced rural life, even if they grew up in the city; they often heard their parents talk about field experiences and were not unfamiliar with tree diseases and natural weathering phenomena.

For a moment, the room buzzed with murmurings, and everyone’s gaze naturally turned to Jiang An standing in the center, as if waiting for a more persuasive explanation.

Upon hearing this, Jiang An did not rush to refute, responding calmly, ”Director Hou, the possibility you mentioned does indeed exist.”

”It’s common for trees to suffer localized skin peeling due to fungal infection, pest damage, or physiological water loss.”

He spoke while gently raising the branch in his hand, signaling everyone to observe closely, ”But please observe carefully, the peeling marks on this branch have a key feature—they are in a ’bite-off state.’”

”Bite-off state?” someone whispered, confused.

”Yes,” Jiang An gradually rotated the branch, letting light shine on its surface from various angles.

”Note that these patchy peeling marks are not randomly distributed.”

”When peeling marks appear on one side of the cylindrical branch, the opposite side—which is along the symmetrical diameter—often has similar marks, and the shape and size are almost perfectly symmetrical.”

He lightly indicated one spot with his finger, ”It’s like using a toothed tool to grip a cylinder, where marks appear simultaneously on both sides of the grip point.”

”This symmetry is difficult to explain via natural disease or weathering, more like a characteristic damage caused by some external force in a specific mode of action.”

Director Hou, who earlier had some doubts about certain details at the crime scene, now, after hearing Jiang An’s detailed explanation, had the last trace of hesitation in his eyes completely dissolved, replaced with a look of realization and admiration.

He nodded slightly, ”Mr. Jiang, you truly have keen insight!”

”Such hidden, minor marks were nearly overlooked right under everyone’s nose, yet you managed to catch them.”

”More impressive still, you not only discovered them but also clarified the logical relationships within them so thoroughly and clearly, truly admirable!”

As Director Hou finished speaking, Political Commissioner Li couldn’t help but give a thumbs-up, speaking in a deep tone, ”Often, key evidence does not disappear.”

”It is laid out plainly in front of us; we’re just blinded by fixed thinking or viewing angles and often ignore it.”