Chapter 6: A New Murder Case, Maintaining Order at the Scene

Several days had passed.

On this particular morning, Luo Fei arrived at work as usual at 7:30 AM. The office was quite empty.

In the first few days, newcomers like Zhao Le had been arriving early. However, after noticing that everyone else arrived just on time, they too began to do the same.

Upon reaching the office, Luo Fei set the water to boil. Then, he took out his copy of “Evidence Law”^[1]TL’s note: The law of evidence, also known as the rules of evidence, encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding., turned to the page he had left off yesterday, and began reading.

He had not been reading for long—barely having time to settle into his chair—when he heard rapid footsteps approaching. “Thunk, thunk, thunk.” Moments later, Chief Zhou Weimin walked in.

“Luo Fei, are you the only one in the office?” Zhou Weimin asked after glancing around.

“Yes,” Luo Fei nodded.

“There’s been a murder in the Orchid District at Wuyi Old Street. Come with me to maintain order,” Zhou Weimin instructed, not waiting for a response. He headed out the door as Luo Fei quickly put on his hat and jogged to catch up with the Chief.

“Don’t return to the station. Go directly to Orchid District at Wuyi Old Street. There’s been a murder,” Zhou Weimin replied as he spoke on the phone ahead of Luo Fei. Following alongside, Luo Fei and the chief reached the parking lot in a few steps.

“Do you have a driver’s license? Can you drive?” Zhou Weimin asked, pulling away his phone and looking at Luo Fei.

“Yes, I’ve driven before,” Luo Fei answered.

Zhou Weimin did not waste any time. He tossed the car keys to Luo Fei and got into the passenger seat.

The police station was less than three kilometres from Wuyi Old Street, so they arrived in about seven to eight minutes. Zhou Weimin was on the phone the entire drive.

When Luo Fei parked the car at Orchid District, he saw a crowd gathered around a green lawn—it was obvious that was the crime scene.

“Make way, make way, we’re from the police station,” Zhou Weimin called out as he and Luo Fei approached.

Seeing them, the crowd obediently stepped aside to allow them passage.

As Luo Fei and Zhou Weimin drew closer, the situation became increasingly clear to them.

On the green lawn lay a young woman in grey pyjamas. She appeared to be quite young, with delicate features and fair skin. In life, she must have been a rather beautiful girl, but now, her eyes were forever closed.

“Was it suicide? Or murder? When did she die?” These were Luo Fei’s first thoughts upon encountering the body. But that was as far as they went. While in novels he could easily solve cases, in reality, his knowledge was limited. He knew that rigor mortis and livor mortis could help determine the time of death, but he did not know how to judge them accurately.

“Luo Fei, set up the police cordon to protect the scene until the investigation team arrives,” Zhou Weimin ordered.

Luo Fei quickly pulled up the police cordon and stood nearby to maintain order, awaiting the arrival of the criminal investigation team.

About two minutes later, the investigation team of four arrived—two men and two women.

Luo Fei recognised Zhao Donglai, the captain of the investigation team. In contrast to the friendly and approachable Chief Zhou Weimin, Zhao Donglai commanded a formidable presence. His stern countenance and aloof demeanour projected an aura that made others instinctively wary of approaching him.

The other three individuals included the short-haired woman with glasses and the crew-cut man, both of whom Luo Fei had encountered during the previous homicide case involving Gu Youguo and were both members of the criminal investigation team. The third person was a tall, slender woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail. With fair skin and an air of icy elegance, she was someone Luo Fei had not seen before.

“Chief Zhou, what’s the situation?” Zhao Donglai asked immediately upon arrival.

Zhou Weimin shook his head. “We just got here. We’ve only just set up the police cordon; we don’t know anything yet.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Donglai did not say anything else. Instead, he turned and looked towards the crowd gathered behind them: “Who called the police?”

“It’s me, I called the police. I’m the property manager of the district,” a middle-aged woman with black-framed glasses raised her hand.

“Come here,” Zhao Donglai beckoned her over.

When she approached, Zhao Donglai asked, “Did this girl live in your district?”

“Yes, yes, yes. Her name is Su Xiao, she lived in apartment 808, and she worked at the silk factory,” the woman replied without haste.

“Does your district not have surveillance cameras?” Zhao Donglai glanced around and furrowed his brow, then directed his gaze at the middle-aged woman in front of him.

Upon hearing this, the woman’s face had a hint of embarrassment. “It’s an old district. The entire area doesn’t have any surveillance cameras installed.”

Zhao Donglai was mentally prepared for this response. It was not the only district; many districts in Ningjiang County lacked surveillance systems. Without dwelling further on the issue of surveillance, he continued, “Who was the first person to discover the body?”

“Zhao Xiaohui, our district’s cleaner, found it while cleaning the lawn this morning and reported it to me. Subsequently, I called the police immediately.”

Zhao Donglai then called Zhao Xiaohui over and her recount matched the property manager’s.

A few minutes later, Zhao Donglai had gathered enough basic information about Su Xiao.

At that moment, the composed female detective, with her hair in a ponytail, walked over after examining the body while she removed her gloves.

“Captain Zhao, based on the livor mortis ^[2]TL’s note: Livor mortis is where areas of pooled blood begin to take on a bruised-like discolouration. and rigor mortis ^[3]TL’s note: Rigor mortis is where muscles stiffen and contract after death. on the victim, the time of death is approximately around 6 a.m. The victim’s hands and knees showed no signs of comminuted fractures^[4]TL’s note: Comminuted fracture happens when your bone breaks into three or more pieces., but with a fractured lumbar vertebra^[5]TL’s note: Lumbar vertebrae, known as L1 to L5, are the largest of your entire spine. and extensive bruising at the back of the head, suggest the victim didn’t brace upon impact and landed in a supine position^[6]TL’s note: In the supine position, the individual is lying on their back, with their face and abdomen facing upwards.. This suggests she might have been unconscious or already dead when she fell. Whether she died before or after the fall will require confirmation from the forensic autopsy report.”

After listening to the female detective’s professional analysis, Luo Fei felt like a novice. He had just examined the body himself but had not noticed anything significant. Seeing how much the detective could discern from just a corpse highlighted the vast difference in expertise—this level was far beyond his own.

Zhao Donglai nodded, then spoke up, “Another point to note, did any of you observe the position of the victim?”

Luo Fei looked at the body again immediately.

Right, there is a difference in the position where a victim falls depending on whether they were pushed or jumped. If pushed, the fall tends to be farther. Luo Fei realised this, but whether the body’s position indicated a close or distant fall left him puzzled.

“The position where the victim fell is too far. She must have fallen from the balcony on the eighth floor. If she had jumped or accidentally fell, the distance from the balcony to her body should not exceed one metre. But now, the distance is far beyond that. It strongly suggests that the victim was likely thrown down,” explained the ponytailed female detective.

This is what professionals look like. Luo Fei felt a bit disheartened; his knowledge of criminal investigation was lacking. Despite occasionally researching for his mystery novels, he could only claim a superficial understanding of the subject at best.

Determined, Luo Fei resolved to return and earnestly study more about criminal investigations. He could not afford to remain ignorant in this field any longer, lest he end up knowing nothing like a total novice.

Though Luo Fei did not voice it, ever since he acquired the Gold Finger, he had not entertained the idea of being a civil police officer for his whole life. He knew he had to keep moving. Besides the aid of the Gold Finger, his own efforts were imperative.

As he decided on this, Luo Fei saw his mentor Zhang Haiyang, along with Liu Haiquan and his apprentice Zhao Le, arrive at the scene.

After a while, Zhao Donglai left one person behind to take photos for evidence and led the others up to apartment 808. Luo Fei followed his mentor, Zhang Haiyang, upstairs while, Zhao Le and his mentor, Liu Haiquan, remained behind to maintain order at the crime scene.

Apartment 808

“Don’t touch anything to avoid contaminating the scene,” Zhao Donglai reminded as everyone entered the apartment.

Once he entered, Luo Fei immediately caught a faint scent of cigarettes. He began looking for ashtrays or cigarette butts but found none.

Earlier downstairs, Luo Fei had not detected any smell of cigarettes on the victim, so he deduced that she should not be a smoker. Combining this observation with the female detective’s analysis, Luo Fei suspected that the scent was left behind by the perpetrator smoking here.

While everyone else searched for clues, only Luo Fei seemed to notice the faint lingering cigarette smell.

Luo Fei glanced towards the living room, where Chief Zhou, Captain Zhao, and the detectives were engrossed in discussion. He had the idea of joining them, but as an intern officer, he felt he lacked the qualifications.

Debating on it, he decided to approach his mentor, Zhang Haiyang.

“Mentor Zhang, I smell cigarette smoke in the room,” Luo Fei informed Zhang Haiyang. He did not intend to conceal his keen sense of smell; he aimed to progress, seizing opportunities to showcase his abilities and eventually earn recognition.

Zhang Haiyang took a deep sniff of the air in the room and asked sceptically, “Really?” He did not identify anything but he recognised Luo Fei’s keen sense of smell. After all, it was Luo Fei who had detected the odour of decomposition in the previous murder case.

(End of Chapter)