Chapter 32
Saw

The forensic personnel put on gloves, first observed the scene as a whole, then took photos to document it, and quickly opened the passage.

Xie Qing asked Li Ji, “Are you sure the victim is dead?”

Li Ji replied, “Yes, the small muscle groups are stiff. It’s been about three hours. The place is a mess, and there is vomit, I suspect poisoning.”

Xie Qing asked again, “Did you move the body?”

Li Ji deliberately widened his eyes, “Do you look down on me? I just checked if the person was dead.”

Xie Qing smiled slightly, “Just a routine question.”

Li Ke asked, “Is this your grandfather’s ward?”

“How could that be?” Li Ji rolled his eyes at her, “My grandfather’s ward is in 506.”

Li Ke asked, “It’s quite far. How did you find out?”

Li Ji pointed his chin towards the bathroom sign, “My grandfather likes to be clean, even though he’s paralyzed, he doesn’t want to relieve himself in bed, so I helped him over here…”

When he brought the old man over, he didn’t notice anything unusual. After sending the old man back to the ward, he went to the bathroom himself. He had been constipated for a few days, so after taking care of the old man, he wanted to have some quiet time in the bathroom. About three to five minutes later, he heard a slight door sound in the corridor but didn’t pay attention. After nearly fifteen minutes, he finished his business, washed his hands, and left. Passing by room 524, he noticed the door was open about a foot wide. He instinctively looked inside and saw someone lying on the floor, so he quickly went in to check and found the person already stiff.

Li Ke asked, “Was the light on in the room?”

Li Ji pointed to the corridor light—the body was on the bed near the door, the light shone in, almost reaching the waist of the body.

The forensic personnel worked quickly, and Deng Wenxiang came out and said to Xie Qing, “The forensic doctor can go in now.”

Xie Qing thanked him and walked in with her investigation kit. She also looked around at the door. There were two beds in the room, the one inside was empty, piled with a lot of nutritional products, fruits, canned milk powder, etc.

The patient on the outer bed should be the deceased—wearing a blue and white hospital gown.

The floor was tiled, not in good condition, no footprints could be found.

The quilt on the bed was in a mess, most of it hanging on the floor, with four small medicine bottles, half an apple, a pear, and some sunflower seeds and peanuts scattered under the bed.

The deceased was a male in his forties or fifties, medium build, obese, lying on the floor with his head to the east and feet to the west, face up, with foam at the mouth, vomit on the bed and floor, and the air filled with the sour smell of stomach acid.

The medical record was open; the patient had diabetes and was undergoing glucose tolerance testing.

After reading the medical record, Xie Qing put down the investigation kit, first measured the rectal temperature, then took photos, and finally conducted an external examination of the body.

The signs of asphyxia were obvious, with foam and fresh blood at the mouth—probably from biting the tongue, no old bite marks on the tongue.

The lips and nails were cyanotic, and there was bleeding in the eyelids and conjunctiva.

Opening the hospital gown, significant livor mortis was visible, and rigor mortis had developed to the large joints.

There were no obvious bruises on the body surface for now.

She stood up and said, “Overall, the deceased died from tetramine poisoning. All the food, vomit, and excreta here need to be sampled for testing.”

“Are you sure?” Tan Yi’s voice came from outside the door.

“I’ll take another look.” Cao Haisheng quickly walked in.

“Master, Captain Tan.” Xie Qing handed the scene over to Cao Haisheng and stepped outside.

Tan Yi nodded at her.

Xie Qing said, “The deceased died rapidly, with significant rigor mortis and livor mortis. Based on the body temperature, the time of death should be around 2 a.m. The exact time will be determined after the autopsy and testing.”

Cao Haisheng stood up, supporting his waist, “The characteristics are obvious, I agree with Xiao Xie’s opinion.”

“Old Hou!” a woman screamed in the corridor.

“Dad!”

“Dad!”

“Family members of the patient, please keep your voice down in the inpatient department.”

“Other patients are still resting, please understand.”

“My dad died in your hospital, we haven’t even settled the score with you yet, understand what?”

“Yes, get your leader here!”

“The police are investigating the scene, unauthorized personnel are not allowed to approach.”

“Police? What does this have to do with the police?”

“My dad was murdered in the hospital?”

“Old Hou, you died so miserably…”

…

More than a dozen family members of the deceased arrived, causing chaos in the corridor.

Du Zhun, Liu Feng, Li Ji, and Li Ke, along with two security guards, were barely holding them back.

Tan Yi walked over and showed his badge, “I am the captain of the second team of the city’s criminal investigation brigade. If you have any questions, talk to me. Making noise won’t solve the problem.”

He was wearing a leather jacket, and although he wore glasses and looked gentle, his height and position commanded respect.

The scene quieted down for a moment.

A plump middle-aged woman with a perm wiped her tears and asked sharply, “Tell me, how did my Old Hou die?”

Tan Yi said, “We can’t draw conclusions yet. The specific situation will be known after the autopsy.”

A young man in his early twenties asked, “Is it really my dad? Could there be a mistake?”

Tan Yi said, “There is no mistake, the nurse has verified it.”

The middle-aged woman wiped her tears with her sleeve, “My Old Hou just did some construction work. How did he end up like this? Who did he offend?”

Tan Yi said, “That’s what I want to ask you. Please think carefully if the victim had any enemies or if he had offended anyone recently.”

The family members looked at each other.

The detectives seized the opportunity to communicate with the family members and inquire in detail about the events leading up to Hou Zi’an’s death.

Fu Da squeezed through the crowd and whispered to Tan Yi, “The duty nurse fell asleep and didn’t notice anything unusual in room 524. The reception desk downstairs didn’t see any suspicious people coming or going.”

Xie Qing collected the samples for testing and put them in the investigation kit. She said to Cao Haisheng, “Master, I’ll inform the family.”

Cao Haisheng nodded.

Hou Zi’an died from homicide, and the police had the right to perform an autopsy on the body.

Xie Qing found Mrs. Hou and said, “Please accept my condolences. We need to take your husband’s body to the funeral home for an autopsy.”

Mrs. Hou was a bit confused, “Are you the forensic doctor? How did he die? Can we avoid the autopsy?”

Xie Qing said, “I am the forensic doctor, but I can’t answer your question right now. We can only tell you the truth after the autopsy. Please understand.” She bowed slightly and turned to leave.

Tan Yi signaled to Fu Da.

Fu Da organized the personnel to take the family members of the deceased to the nurse’s station to prevent them from disturbing the body and contaminating the evidence.

…

Funeral home, autopsy room.

The master and apprentice moved the body to the autopsy table together.

The victim was heavy, and Cao Haisheng struggled to support his waist.

Without waiting for instructions, Xie Qing volunteered, “Master, this isn’t a difficult task. You record, I’ll handle the autopsy.”

Cao Haisheng looked guilty, “Thank you, I’ll treat you to breakfast later.”

“Alright.” Xie Qing picked up the scissors, “I heard there’s a wonton shop near our bureau, the sour soup wontons are quite good.”

Cao Haisheng smiled, “Alright, we’ll have that.”

Xie Qing used the scissors to cut open the victim’s clothes and pants, carefully removing them from the body. Although she had already checked, she re-examined the body and found no abnormalities.

Next, Xie Qing shaved the victim’s head.

Although Hou Zi’an was fat, he had good facial features, a square face, thick eyebrows, and big eyes, looking very much like the stereotypical righteous and handsome older man in various TV dramas.

Following the autopsy procedure, Xie Qing first opened the chest and abdominal cavities, where most organs showed signs of congestion and edema. The stomach contained a lot of water but no food and the time of death matched Xie Qing’s estimation.

Xie Qing took some stomach fluid and blood samples.

Next, she opened the cranial cavity.

Xie Qing found a saw and said to the body, “Sorry about this.”

The master and apprentice both put on masks—bone dust would fly around with the movement of the saw, and inhaling it through the mouth or nose was a huge challenge for humans.

Cao Haisheng said, “I’m stronger, let me do it.”

Xie Qing started sawing, “Don’t worry, I’ve practiced.”

A naked body, a pretty girl with a saw.

Cao Haisheng shook his head and looked away, unable to bear watching—not out of pity for the deceased but out of concern for Xie Qing.

He said, “Your family is well-off. Why not change jobs?”

Xie Qing understood his thoughts, “Master, although it’s brutal, I find it very meaningful.”

“Alright.” Cao Haisheng turned back, a hint of admiration in his eyes, “Master supports you.”

Soon, the skull was opened—brain edema and focal subarachnoid hemorrhage were present.

Cao Haisheng said, “It’s almost certainly tetramine poisoning.”

Xie Qing quickly stitched up the body, “Yes, it was probably put in the cup. Based on what Li Ji mentioned, the killer likely returned to wipe off Hou Zi’an’s fingerprints from the cup.”

Cao Haisheng wrote the last sentence on the autopsy report, “What did Li Ji discover?” He had arrived late and hadn’t had time to learn the details.

Xie Qing explained while stitching.

Cao Haisheng said, “He might become a suspect.”

Li Ji indeed became a suspect. He sat in the interrogation room with a long face, complaining, “I don’t even know the deceased. How did I become a suspect?”

Li Ke teased him, “You never know. You have strong anti-detection abilities, occasionally playing the role of a killer…”

“Ahem!” Tan Yi entered, coughed, and gave Li Ke a warning look.

Li Ke stuck out her tongue.

“Serves you right!” Li Ji felt vindicated, “That’s what you get for talking nonsense.”

Tan Yi sat down, “The patient in bed three of room 506 testified that you went out around midnight.”

Li Ji felt wronged, “Captain Tan, I went to the water room to get hot water. The hospital just started heating, it wasn’t warm enough, so I went to change the hot water in my grandfather’s hot water bottle. That old man only remembers me going out. Why doesn’t he remember me getting hot water?”

Tan Yi said, “How long were you gone, and who did you encounter on the way? Think carefully.”

Li Ji knew that the killer might have appeared on the fifth floor at that time, so his observations were crucial.

He said, “Most of the patients and their family members were asleep; even the nurses at the station rarely showed up. I didn’t meet anyone on the way; I only saw a few people in the water room on the fourth floor, probably family members, but I didn’t know any of them.”

Tan Yi stood up, “Later, cooperate with the sketch artist and describe the people you saw in the water room.”

Li Ji asked, “Captain Tan, has it been confirmed as tetramine poisoning?”

Tan Yi replied without turning his head, “The autopsy results are out. The deceased didn’t eat anything but definitely drank water.”

Li Ji said seriously, “I understand!”