Chapter 199 Autopsy
What is irrefutable is that the efficiency of traditional methods of solving crimes is very low.
This is most obvious in forensic medicine and laboratory testing.
Because this is not a human problem, but a technical limitation. With breakthroughs in the fields of chemistry, biology and other fields, some relatively advanced technical methods have gradually been applied to the detection of criminal investigation cases.
You must know that fingerprint extraction technology was not popularized until ten years ago, but until today, a decent fingerprint database has not been established. In other words, even if the fingerprint of a criminal is extracted, the real person of the criminal will not be found until the fingerprint extraction technology is extracted. , there is still no way to obtain its true identity information.
Due to various technical limitations, it is very difficult for the laboratory team to obtain sufficiently accurate clues from the corpse.
The human body is more complex than any machine, not to mention that the dead human body will quickly attract microorganisms in the environment, and they will "dissect" the body faster than the laboratory team.
This is like a racing process.
If the law enforcement officers do not extract all the clues from the corpse in time, these clues will soon become nutrients for microorganisms.
So when the criminal investigation team and other teams are out investigating the case, the law enforcement officers of the laboratory team responsible for the autopsy also need to work overnight.
...
After midnight, the southern part of Nanwei City is much quieter than before.
In addition to the weather that may rain at any time, it is mainly due to the recent unrest.
The spate of murders continues to be exposed.
The Robben case was suppressed a few months ago, but the recent assassination at the door of the law enforcement station, coupled with the hanging corpse case at the dock, are vicious incidents that are completely exposed to public view.
When people know what kind of evil is hidden in the city they live in, they will naturally reduce their travel at night.
No one wants to be the next unlucky guy to be hung under a bridge.
…
City lamplighters lit up the street lamps on the main streets of nearby parishes.
But this glimmer of light was not enough to resist the sneaky feeling that enveloped the whole city.
The bridge at Penitentiary Quay has been unblocked, but even during the day there are few vehicles passing by.
On the bridge abutment where Aya Ferguson was hung, there were some flowers and candles placed as tributes to the tragically dead girl from some enthusiastic citizens.
Above the dark canal, a candlelight on the bridge abutment hung there alone and far away, waiting for the night shower to extinguish it.
Also burning candles and kerosene lamps all night long was the Chengnan Law Enforcement Station.
……
The morgue in the basement smelled of corpses and disinfectant.
Opposite the morgue is the laboratory of the laboratory team.
The law enforcement officer on duty——Rick.
At this time, the blood samples extracted after the autopsy are being tested. His task tonight is not complicated. He only needs to check whether the death time of the corpse is consistent with the previous judgment.
Now he is the only one in this basement.
To be more precise, he was the only living person.
Perhaps for ordinary people, it is a very scary thing to be in a room with more than a dozen corpses in a cold night.
But Rick, who has a background in clinical medicine, has long been accustomed to getting along with corpses.
In fact, for him, being surrounded by these corpses that do not make annoying noises allows him to focus more on his work.
The only drawback is that the lighting in the basement is a bit dim.
This made his eyes feel dry when comparing some experimental data.
But Rick didn't stop what he was doing.
Because a few minutes ago, he extracted a strange spike from the sole of the foot of Aya Ferguson's body.
This spike was an unexpected discovery. The spike was deeply rooted in Aya's heel. At first, Rick thought it was just a grain of sand adhering to the surface of the skin, but after he completely pulled it out, he discovered that it was a hollow spike nearly 15 centimeters long.
Its material is very special, not completely rigid, and has a certain bending ability. The whole body is dark brown, but it is not certain that this is the true color of the spikes.
The overall first impression given by the spikes is that they are needle-like branches of some kind of plant.
For this reason, Rick went to the evidence library and compared it with the plant samples taken from the street near the dock at that time.
However, no similar plant samples were found, and the municipal greening in Nanwei City did not have the habit of planting needle-like plants.
Rick felt a little confused.
It is not that he has had similar experiences. In fact, during his career, he has taken out various strange objects from the inside of corpses countless times, some of which are things that ordinary people cannot even imagine.
But he rarely fails to distinguish the material after getting something.
It can only be initially determined that the spikes were inserted into the body artificially, most likely by the murderer.
However, according to the current judgment of the law enforcement agency on the nature of the case, the murder may involve some heretical religious rituals, so Rick deduced that the spikes on the soles of the feet may also be part of the ritual. This is the murderer on the deceased. Another item left behind besides the antlers.
After realizing this, Rick's thinking began to become more active.
There is no doubt that the antlers are one of the key clues.
But with only this clue, it is difficult to determine the scope of the investigation. However, if spikes are added, the general direction of investigation can be determined.
In short, antlers are found everywhere, but not everywhere has both antlers and spikes at the same time.
All that needs to be done now is to find out what the spikes are made of and where they come from.
……
Rick put on a mask, scraped a small amount of debris from the surface of the spikes and placed it in the crucible of the test bench, while spreading out his notebook to prepare for recording.
At this time when everyone was drowsy, he was more energetic than anyone else.
“Clues can be found everywhere.”
His eyes were extremely focused on his experimental equipment, muttering to himself something that only he and the corpse could words that can be heard.
Rick started his work in the second half of the night. He planned to understand the basic situation of the spike before dawn, and it would be best to submit a complete report.
...
In the dark studio, Rick's figure walked back and forth.
Sometimes he stared at the alcohol lamp, and sometimes he wrote down a quick note. In the silent night, this alternative man in black seemed more enthusiastic about work than usual.
......
However, soon, an abnormal sound from across the aisle interrupted Rick's work process.
The sound was very abrupt, as if something heavy had pressed against the metal platform where the body was parked, causing the surface to distort and make a clanging sound.
Rick was concentrating on holding the spikes and preparing to put them into the diluted medicine.
As a result, his hand shook, and the spikes made a small crack in his gloves, piercing the skin on his fingers.
“Damn it.”
He cursed secretly, got up and walked towards the morgue across the aisle.
But after going around in circles, Rick couldn't find where the abnormal sound was coming from. After confirming that everything was normal, Rick returned to the studio and took out a higher concentration of alcohol to clean the small wounds on his fingers.
......
However, just as he turned his back to clean the wound.
Across the aisle, in the morgue, under the kerosene lamp on the wall,
suddenly the shadow of a woman with antlers on her head sat up.
(End of this chapter)