Life in North America, you call this an autopsy officer?!
Chapter 35 - 28 The Clue is Lost (Seeking Follow-up Reads on Tuesday!!!)

Chapter 35: Chapter 28 The Clue is Lost (Seeking Follow-up Reads on Tuesday!!!)

Audlin was a fast-food stall owner on the commercial street.

He was a convict with a checkered past, having been in prison twice for theft and selling homemade explosives.

Because of business.

Audlin and the deceased, Kenneth, had also had a fight.

What’s worse,

Audlin didn’t win..

All these factors combined,

Naturally made him the prime suspect in the commercial street food cart explosion case in the eyes of Brian and others.

Susan and Brian hadn’t expected

that the other party had already died before the explosion!

...

Half an hour later,

They drove to Audlin’s house.

To Brian’s surprise,

Audlin’s home was just two streets away from his residence.

This area used to be an independent housing district from earlier years.

Later, with the start of Los Angeles’ decentralization,

Many wealthy people moved out.

This area, then, became a gathering place for homeless people.

So the security here was not good.

When Brian and Susan arrived, they saw many disheveled, unkempt, and dejected black people and middle-aged white people with hair like weeds, crowded outside the police cordon to see what was happening.

The two pushed through the crowd, showed their credentials, and entered the house.

The whole house was in the very American style of a detached two-story wooden structure, with a lawn outside that wasn’t well-maintained, looking dry and yellow; near the house was a shabby, long-abandoned little doghouse.

There was no one inside the house.

They passed through the house and went to the backyard.

There was a tree in the backyard, also seemingly not well-cared for.

Beside the tree was an entrance to an underground storeroom, the covering door of which had already been opened.

Ivan and Glenn, the two of them, were sitting on the side smoking glumly, not looking in a very good mood.

Seeing Susan and Brian arrive,

Ivan tossed away his cigarette butt and said somewhat irritably, "This is a private workshop down here, with lots of barrels and a pungent smell, as well as some half-finished explosives. Audlin died at the workbench. This guy, secretly, was still in the business of selling explosives!"

"I’ll go down and have a look."

Brian activated his Olfactory Enhancement, wrinkled his nose as he adjusted to two breaths, and then went down.

Susan stayed above, talking to Ivan about the morning’s inquiry into another suspect, Li Sen, and the conclusions drawn.

...

This cellar looked quite rough.

In the United States, many detached family homes would have a cellar for storing seldom-used appliances and items.

But this cellar obviously had more than just that simple function.

Following the stairs down,

The first sight was some homemade filtration barrels.

The liquids inside were murky, predominantly brown and tan.

The smell was very pungent.

Further in, there were some separately partitioned, clear white bags containing white crystalline powder.

With just a sniff from afar, Brian knew what it was.

TATP, also known as triacetone triperoxide!

This stuff, a household chemical often used in furniture making and processing, was not yet regulated and not difficult to obtain; it was the material of choice for many criminals making homemade explosives.

Obviously,

Ivan was right.

After Audlin was released from prison, he returned to his old ways for some reason, running a fast-food stall on the surface, but secretly he continued to make and sell explosives.

Past these objects and shelves,

The body of a black man sprawled on a simple workbench came into view.

To the left of the corpse, there were several bottles of indeterminate material scattered about.

These bottles were the exact type that Old Hardenn had reconstructed through technical means as the kind used to hold explosives in the explosion case!

It was conclusive evidence!

The explosives from the explosion case, in all likelihood, were made by Audlin!

This guy, if not a participant, knew the murderer!

...

"What a pity, ’obsession’ wasn’t found."

Brian murmured to himself, taking white rubber gloves out of his pocket and putting them on.

Ever since dealing with that detective’s body,

He had started to carry some gloves and similar items with him.

An Autopsy Officer carrying some gloves around was perfectly reasonable.

Just as Brian was about to conduct a preliminary examination of the body,

Susan and Glenn, who had finished smoking, came down along with Ivan.

Four people, crammed in here, making it slightly crowded.

Susan covered her nose, the first to notice the few bottles on the workbench, and exclaimed, "Aren’t these the explosive bottles that Hardenn restored?"

Ivan nodded, "Yes, and those white powder crystals on the shelves are triacetone triperoxide, the substance used to make explosives in the bombing case. Audlin, if he isn’t the culprit in the case, is definitely acquainted with the culprit!"

Upon hearing this, a glimmer sparked in Susan’s eyes, "Does this mean there has been a breakthrough in the case?"

The lackadaisical Glenn laughed to the side, "How could it be that simple? This is actually the start of the troubles for the case."

His muscular partner Ivan also sighed and nodded:

"Chief, the easiest cases to crack are the ones with a single thread.

For instance, if Audlin hired a hitman due to personal grudges or took the initiative to kill someone himself.

In such cases, we only need to follow the victim’s social connections to lock down the suspect and quickly solve the case.

Once a third party is involved,

it signifies a steep increase in the complexity of the case,

especially with someone like Audlin who has complex social relations.

Because it’s very difficult for us to identify another participant."

...

While the three were chatting,

Brian had already removed his gloves and quickly completed the preliminary examination of the body.

He interrupted their conversation:

"The victim’s preliminary time of death is estimated to be the night of September 29.

The probable cause of death is due to an overdose of anesthetic ether, resulting in cardiac arrest. Also, the victim’s body does not appear to have been moved; otherwise, the relaxed muscles would have shown obvious lividity. This suggests the killer is confident in their method, possibly not their first offense."

Hearing Brian’s words,

Ivan nodded, "It’s roughly the same as my analysis, but I inferred the cause of death based on the expression on the body before death. Those who die from anesthesia have a struggling look on their face, but because the muscles quickly lose control, it ends up being a very eerie smile."

Brian thought of the strange expression on Audlin’s face and nodded.

Worthy of being an old detective.

Learned something.

His analysis was all based on the scent picked up by his nose.

Unfortunately, there are too many chemicals here.

Even with enhanced sense of smell, it’s impossible to detect the scent left by visitors from three days ago amidst the irritating smells of chemical reagents.

...

No useful things were found at the death scene.

After searching Audlin’s home, the group came across an unexpected discovery.

Those were two account books.

Audlin’s education level wasn’t high.

So the account books he recorded were also very simple and clear.

One was presumably the record of shipments.

Explosives represented by X; several Xs indicated the number of explosive bottles.

Behind that was a string of numbers and dates.

This probably represented the selling price.

You have to say, it’s quite cheap.

One bottle of explosives, only fifty US dollars.

Such a low price, and it’s illegal business.

No need to guess, it’s almost certainly cash transactions.

However, Audlin didn’t ship frequently.

That’s understandable.

The impact of explosives versus bullets is completely different.

In the United States, you can have bullets flying around freely.

But you can’t have explosives going off indiscriminately.

This is a principled country!

The other account book contained various donation records.

Yes.

Donations.

Because on the outside of the book, there was a drawn heart.

Under the heart were a pair of clasped hands.

This guy Audlin was actually making monthly donations to local homeless shelters and camps..

Unfortunately.

Neither of these two account books brought Brian and the others any new leads.

They returned to the police station with regret and Audlin’s body.

...

The most likely suspect had died.

But now the leads had ended.

What to do next?

Even Ivan, with the most experience in case handling, was somewhat at a loss.

They must figure out.

What role did Audlin, the guy who had a conflict with the victim but died the night before the bombing, really play in this bombing case?

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