National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 624 - 568: Search

Chapter 624: Chapter 568: Search

"If the girlfriend’s dead, it must have been the boyfriend who killed her."

"If it was a secret boyfriend, the odds of him murdering her double."

"Is the case closed? The task force before didn’t find anything?"

"The previous task force didn’t focus on Victim No. 2 as a key direction. Moreover, at that time, the victim’s best friend wasn’t sure about this piece of information, and out of consideration for her reputation, she chose not to disclose it."

"So, was there really such a thing?"

"The victim had a younger cousin, who also mentioned seeing the victim get dolled up and then spotted her hand in hand with a man outside."

Various reports kept coming in, especially from the victim’s close friends and younger relatives, providing answers that differed from those given 20 years ago.

Following that, stallholders at the market where the victim worked began to submit unusual reports one after another.

"I wasn’t sure back then and was warned by her family, so I didn’t speak out. If Liu Limin operated past eight in the evening, she often had someone pick her up. Sometimes it was her brother, other times a different man. She mentioned once that he was a friend of her ’big brother’."

"When her real brother came to tidy up the stall, he told everyone that his sister wasn’t married yet and to speak kindly of her. That’s just the way it was. We didn’t know the specifics."

"Liu Limin’s business was quite successful, and she always had a smile for everyone. Some customers even tried to set her up on dates, but she never agreed, saying she didn’t need it, something like that. I don’t remember clearly."

When the police dispatched by the task force started to investigate along the lines of a "boyfriend," many of the responses they received were somewhat unexpected.

Twenty years have changed many things, cleared many memories, and also lifted many burdens. Nowadays, whether Liu Limin had a boyfriend or if she was a spinster no longer mattered. Those who had left the market long ago, no matter their current state, weren’t concerned with neighborly or colleague opinions, speaking without any reservations.

Xu Taining comprehensively reviewed the materials at hand, quickly changed the inquiry strategy, and readjusted the direction and scope of the questioning.

Soon, all of Liu Limin’s classmates were included in the questioning process.

Like before, Liu Limin’s classmates might have lived and worked in Huo City, but after 20 years, less than half of them remained there. The rest were scattered across the country, and some even settled abroad.

Xu Taining still made every effort to send people out for questioning. The travel expenses were covered by the Huo City Bureau.

"The most obvious clue we have now is Liu Limin’s boyfriend. Both of them did a good job keeping their relationship secret, including Liu Limin’s parents and older brother; none knew the specific identity of her boyfriend or had even seen his face."

During the daily briefing, Xu Taining, with his notebook in hand, presented the situation to the task force members.

The leaders listened with grimaced faces, unsure if it was from frustration or headache.

Criminal police officers like Jiang Yuan, who didn’t mind the finances, were also slightly frowning. Not a single lead from 20 years ago was easy to follow.

"I have an idea now," Xu Taining shared the challenges, then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "Liu Limin’s parents have preserved her belongings well. Although the task force took some of it, most were left behind, merely a bit jumbled, which Liu Limin’s parents later reorganized."

Xu Taining then asked Jiang Yuan, "Although it’s been quite a while, is it possible to find something like Liu Limin’s boyfriend’s DNA among them?"

Jiang Yuan looked up at Xu Taining for a while. Truth be told, Xu Taining’s question was terrifyingly naive—he actually thought that the crime scene investigators could find useful DNA in a room that had been ransacked multiple times, and through it pinpoint a specific individual!

Absurd.

However, in front of Jiang Yuan, Xu Taining’s question was somewhat informed.

Because Jiang Yuan indeed had a fair chance of locating the victim’s boyfriend’s DNA.

After all, 20 years is not an extremely long time for DNA; as long as the right place is examined, there’s a high probability of extracting it.

Major distractions are a huge problem but not insurmountable.

"I’ll take a look," Jiang Yuan said without making any promises or mentioning the difficulties.

After the meeting, Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang headed to the victim’s home, which was also her parents’ residence.

The drive from Qingbai City to Huo City takes about an hour; 20 years ago, it might have taken two to three hours. Thinking about having to swap such distant places each time a body was dumped, it surely wasn’t easy.

Liu Limin’s home, located in the center of Huo City, was a three-room one-living room flat of about 150 square meters—a bit of a deceitful advertisement—but even so, the conditions were very good back then.

After meeting up with three local police officers downstairs, they knocked on the door and were let inside, where Liu Limin’s whole family was already waiting.

"Hello," Mu Zhiyang stepped forward to network and proactively showed his work badge to everyone.

Jiang Yuan, meanwhile, observed Liu Limin’s parents and older brother. Her brother was about 50 years old; her parents were in their 70s, with her father needing a cane and her mother moving relatively nimbly, though hunched. They spoke clearly, but soon began to choke up.

Twenty years let many people forget Liu Limin’s name, but for her parents, time merely extended their pain.

"Limin’s things are all kept in her room. I’ll take you there," Liu Limin’s mother said, wiping away tears as she stood up.

Jiang Yuan followed her to an adjacent south-facing room, stopped her from entering, started putting on his mask and head cover, and asked, "Does anyone come into this room regularly?"

"I clean here periodically, her father barely comes in," said Liu Limin’s mother.

Jiang Yuan’s eyes furrowed as he listened. Regularly cleaning the victim’s room could have compromised the evidence, contaminating it several times over—if there was still anything to find that could be considered evidence, that is.

But since he had come all this way, it wasn’t as if he could turn around and leave.

"You all stand outside the door, we’ll check the room again," he said. Even if the scene was thoroughly contaminated, the procedure still had to be followed.

Liu Limin’s older brother came over to help their mother away, then returned to watch. He seemed like someone who had hired a worker for his home and then stood by, supervising the job.

Jiang Yuan paid him no mind and, with the assistance of Mu Zhiyang, began meticulously looking for evidence.

Of the three officers from Huo City, two were technicians, who followed inside to help and soon started to show their agility.

When technicians from different places work together, it’s a bit like strangers coming together to play a pickup game of basketball. Before the game starts, you can judge each other’s strength by height, physique, or muscular appearance, but once the game is underway, everyone’s capabilities and how they measure up become abundantly clear.

Moreover, the range of skills you typically find on a public basketball court isn’t fixed, but it’s generally similar. There may be a few exceptionally strong players, but only by a level or two.

Someone like Jiang Yuan, who started at Crime Scene Investigation Level 4 and had casually leveled up today, was akin to an NBA player crashing a local pick-up game. He might not be a star player, but his effortless dunking, guaranteed blocks within range, and ability to bypass two defenders in a pivot cast a long shadow on the hobbyists of the court, one that would linger for a long time.

Jiang Yuan diligently swept the scene and conducted his investigation. The two technicians from Huo City silently cooperated in scanning the scene and investigating, without uttering any unnecessary words. It was as if two amateurs temporarily joined a pick-up game and were simply happy to trail behind someone of NBA caliber, not knowing if they were enjoying themselves or not, their minds surely baffled at that moment.

That’s possible!

It can be done that way!

Are you serious!

Exclamations like these circled in their minds, not needing to be distinctly articulated, just taken as a rare life experience.

Jiang Yuan worked steadily, but the bedroom wasn’t large. With the bed and cabinets taking up space, there soon wasn’t much left to search.

Having sealed another evidence bag, Jiang Yuan slowly rose and looked around before turning to Liu Limin’s brother at the door. "Did Liu Limin’s boyfriend ever come over to the house?" he asked.

"No. My sister has been independent since she was young and doesn’t like to share her personal affairs with the family. We weren’t even clear she had a boyfriend, though we guessed as much. She is 27, after all, and the family was quite anxious, but we didn’t interfere," Liu Limin’s brother explained. Then he asked, "Do you suspect it was her boyfriend?"

"We do not know yet," Jiang Yuan immediately replied.

Family members of victims tend to read too much into police officers’ words, and Jiang Yuan, no longer a rookie, had become cautious in this regard.

Liu Limin’s brother nodded, half convinced, his eyes roving as though considering something else.

Jiang Yuan surveyed the room once more before packing several large bags of clothes and slowly making his way out. He closed the door and said, "Please do not clean the room for now. We will contact you if needed."

His rationale was that if Liu Limin had been physically close to her boyfriend, there could be traces of hair or skin flakes on her clothes.

It’s not feasible to search through them in the bedroom, better to take everything back to the lab and sort through it under a forensic light.

Liu Limin’s brother responded grimly, then hesitated before offering, "How about some tea? Take a sip of water, have a rest."

"We don’t have time for a rest now—we must get back. There’s more work to be done," Jiang Yuan replied, assessing Liu Limin’s brother’s demeanor. "Could you show us the way out? We came up in a hurry and I can’t quite recall where we parked."

"No problem," said Liu Limin’s brother, hurrying to open the door for Jiang Yuan.

Their parents stood in the living room, watching the backs of Jiang Yuan and the others, reluctant to move away.

Once outside and on their way down, Jiang Yuan asked Liu Limin’s brother, "Was there something you were trying to tell us earlier?"

At crime scenes, Jiang Yuan’s emotional intelligence also had improved, mainly because he was now more attentive to others.

After a moment of hesitation, Liu Limin’s brother shared, "I was just thinking... my sister actually did make some money back then. When we looked through her belongings afterward, there wasn’t much left in her bank account..."

"Oh?" The officers all looked at Liu Limin’s brother with furrowed brows.

"I’m not after the money," Liu Limin’s brother quickly said, then sighed. "Actually, what I mean is... there was a time when my sister often didn’t come home at night, claiming she was sorting out stock at the market and sleeping at the store. We never delved deeper, but now with you searching, I’m wondering if my sister might have used the money she made to buy herself a house?"

"Your sister bought a house and neither you nor your family knew about it?" another officer asked.

Liu Limin’s brother gave a wry smile. "She was 27 and independent, I was already married and living on my own. If she did make some money and secretly bought a house... people used cash for transactions 20 years ago, and the money she made would certainly have been enough to buy a house."

"Did you check with the land registry?" the officer pressed on.

"I did, there’s nothing. She doesn’t own any property," was the clear answer.

The officers posed a series of questions on the spot and took a statement for Liu Limin’s brother to sign before leaving.

Jiang Yuan returned to the lab to examine the clothing and evidence and shared the new information with Liu Jinghui and the team.

Having new leads was better than having none, despite the additional expense that would entail.