National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 358 - 358 325 Lack of Skill

358: Chapter 325: Lack of Skill 358: Chapter 325: Lack of Skill Zhu Huanguang struggled to see, tried hard to see…

but still could not make out the traces of the “newly made key” that Jiang Yuan mentioned.

However, looking at Jiang Yuan’s expression, Zhu Huanguang knew that he might not really be bluffing him.

All Zhu Huanguang could do was shake his head, “This thief is a bit insincere, ain’t he?

Even a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass around its burrow, and yet he could pick locks with a hook pick.

He could beg anywhere, but he chooses to target someone he knows.”

Jiang Yuan guessed and put down his phone, saying, “It’s probably because he’s a novice.

He wasn’t very skilled in committing his first murder, but he was cautious in character.

So, he tried to make a key in advance, hoping to save time.

The skill to make keys may also be newly acquired…

either he’s not proficient enough, or he was just unlucky.

At the same time, he brought a hook pick just in case.”

Zhu Huanguang did not listen to Jiang Yuan’s later analysis but expressed surprise, “You’re working on a cold murder case?”

“Yes.”

“Ah…

this…

is somewhat impressive,” Zhu Huanguang, who often worked on cold murder cases himself using fingerprint comparisons, commented.

But even though Zhu Huanguang often succeeded in matching fingerprints in murder cases, it didn’t mean that solving such cases was easy for him.

A fingerprint roundup is a special situation.

It involves technical experts like Zhu Huanguang gathering together in a simple living and working environment, motivated by healthy competition, to work on fingerprints for thirty to forty days in one go, examining over a hundred thousand fingerprint charts, and then they might solve a cold murder case.

There are only 365 days in a year.

After a provincial and ministerial fingerprint roundup, a fingerprint expert has essentially exhausted most of their energy and spirit.

On normal days, doing fingerprint work, how could one possibly have the intensity of a fingerprint roundup?

Slight laziness can cause months to pass by.

Working on the fingerprints of murder cases is difficult enough, let alone solving such cases through other means, the difficulty is almost unimaginable.

Zhu Huanguang had been with the Criminal Police Detachment for so many years and had seen numerous people work on murder cold cases.

The more he saw, the more he understood how difficult it was.

Many murder cold cases are pursued year after year.

Some detectives followed up on their past cases for two, three, or five years, and then were able to find an opportunity to solve them.

But Jiang Yuan wasn’t from the Criminal Police Detachment, indicating that he had embarked on a new investigation of a cold murder case.

Zhu Huanguang couldn’t help but think about the cases Jiang Yuan worked on in the past days, the past week, the past two weeks, the past month, and he felt a chill inside: Jiang Yuan was truly fierce, he had already become the king of surpassing limits.

No matter what Zhu Huanguang thought, Jiang Yuan pulled off his gloves, took out his phone, and called Wan Baoming.

Wan Baoming was the deputy director of the forensics center.

For key evidence involved in murder cases, he had to be informed, secure the evidence, and then arrange for someone to take photos, record, and so on.

When Zhu Huanguang heard Jiang Yuan call Wan Baoming, he realized the importance of the evidence.

He felt like he was being scratched by a cat inside and couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Is the case solved?”

“No, we are far from it,” Jiang Yuan laughed.

Zhu Huanguang also inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

If the case were solved on the back of his face, that would be too uncomfortable.

Zhu Huanguang said, “Learning to use a hook pick isn’t easy.

In the past, little thieves would work for the boss for several years and might still not learn the real tricks.

Especially using a single hook to pick locks, which requires continuous practice.”

“Some people have higher costs in learning things, and some naturally have lower costs,” Jiang Yuan remarked.

Zhu Huanguang pondered over what Jiang Yuan said and couldn’t help but ask, “You already have a suspect in mind?”

“Not exactly a suspect; this case has always been about the wealthy,” Jiang Yuan said with a smile.

The arson had destroyed a warehouse supplying Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, where the medicine stocked was typically of high value and low weight.

With such a large warehouse, with only a female boss and a warehouse manager, the killer committed murder and burned the body without taking any bottles of medicine, which is not something an ordinary petty thief could accomplish.

From this perspective, the case had to be an inside job, with the murderer targeting the life of the female boss, and there was a high probability that it was the Yuan Family from Jianyuan Company.

Only they had a motive to go after their father’s mistress.

Of course, according to the current team’s analysis, the perpetrator’s goal was theft, but upon encountering the female boss, they killed her and had no choice but to abandon the theft plan and turn to fleeing.

The traces of the hook in the lock that Jiang Yuan examined are also their evidence—the warehouse manager’s cousin has the relevant skills.

It makes some sense, but that’s just it—it only makes sense.

An old thief planned to steal from the warehouse and stumbled upon a female who was barely over 100 pounds, and somehow he accidentally killed her.

This just seems very unprofessional.

To kill someone and then not continue to steal, but instead to flee directly, is even less believable.

The best partner for a gang boss on the run will always be money, even if a decision to flee has been made, the right course of action would be to first take some things to exchange for money and then run calmly, run happily…

Wan Baoming quickly came running over.

Then, Jiang Yuan explained to him the difference between the traces left by a newly duplicated key and those left by a lock pick.

Wan Baoming didn’t really understand, but Zhu Huanguang did; however, that also gave him a glimpse into the extent of Jiang Yuan’s trace inspection capability, which left him falling silent.

Since everyone often encounters the traces of a lock pick, they’re actually familiar; it’s just the hook and pick scratching and pressing against the pins, leaving behind marks.

The traces of a newly duplicated key are not so easy to discern, especially those of a poorly fitting key.

Some are too small, some are too rough, and the force of an oversize key will naturally leave traces which are easy to confuse with the normal key traces and the traces of a lock pick.

At such times, one must take into account things like the sequence of events.

As Zhu Huanguang listened and observed, he felt that he was unable to differentiate them.

The pins in the lock cylinder are inherently small, and their sizes are not fixed.

In addition to the normal pins, there are abnormal pins such as the cup-shaped and the spiral-shaped ones.

In summary, Zhu Huanguang’s capability in trace evidence inspection could serve in general cases, but he was nowhere close to having the expertise to distinguish intricacies, let alone understanding them.

His Tool Trace Identification capability, at best, reached a level of LV2.8; he couldn’t even begin to estimate Jiang Yuan’s skill.

Wan Baoming was more direct; he didn’t need to understand.

Having barely finished listening, he said to Jiang Yuan, “You make the judgment.

What do we do next?”

“Find the key,” Jiang Yuan said.

“This lock was taken off from the back of the warehouse, and the key is usually kept by the female boss, not by the warehouse manager.

The key is not among the evidence found at the scene.

We can ask people close to the female boss to see if the key can be located and then determine how it might have been stolen and duplicated.”

Wan Baoming nodded and said, “In that case, it’s very likely that the theft was initiated after the key was duplicated, probably in the weeks before the incident.”

“That’s highly probable,” Jiang Yuan nodded and added, “We could investigate the Yuan Family, see who knows how to pick locks and who knows how to duplicate keys.”

“The Yuan Family from Jianyuan?” Wan Baoming was surprised.

“Yes.”

“Even if this female boss is the mistress of Jianyuan’s boss…

Alright, their family indeed has a motive, but it’s unimaginable that the Yuan Family members would learn lock picking.”

“People get bored when they have money.

It wouldn’t cost much to hire someone to teach them a bit.”

“That…

well, it does sound a bit foolish.”

Jiang Yuan curled his lips and said, “Aren’t there plenty of tycoons who learn to fly planes or drive race cars?

Especially those who get into extreme sports, what practical use is there in learning wingsuit flying?

Yet they learn one after another.”

“Alright then, we have people over there anyway,” Wan Baoming said as he looked at the list and made a phone call.

By the standards of Changyang City Brigade, Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team consisting of 18 people were well suited to investigate a homicide.

Now that they were spread out, they could organize on the spot when needed.

Several officers organized themselves and quickly arrived at Qinghe City.

As detectives of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, they didn’t need to give Jianyuan too much face.

In just half a day, they turned Jianyuan’s office area upside down, causing an uproar.