Chapter 392
We were lucky to have found the enoki mushrooms in the victim’s intestines, allowing us to accurately judge the time of the kidnapping. I measured the distance from here to the stomach. "It takes about two days for food to travel this distance so the victim was kidnapped two days ago. The capsule we found just now will help us determine that more accurately."
Bingxin nodded, "I’ll test it in the lab later."
"Alright, place the intestines back into the body,” I said. “Let’s move on to the next victim.”
When I lifted the white sheet, the female victim didn’t look as wretched as before, probably because she was lying flat on the autopsy table. Despite this, Bingxin frowned, "Was she raped?"
When I nodded, Bingxin couldn’t help but curse, "I hate this sort of scum! Making love is such a sacred thing yet they desecrate it!"
After I took the fingerprints, I asked Bingxin to begin with the internal autopsy. The victim’s stomach was almost empty. I speculated that the murderers might have deliberately starved her so she wouldn’t have the strength to resist. Though I kept this thought to myself, or the two girls might start cursing the murderers for being sadistic beasts.
"Open the intestines,” I instructed.
Upon the dissection of the duodenum, I immediately cried, "Stop!"
I worked with the tweezers, picking out some undigested rice grains. "The rice is narrow with a total length of about seven millimeters. I think it’s Thai jasmine rice."
"This rice is rather expensive. Even my family doesn’t eat this," interjected Xiaotao.
"We eat japonica rice,” said Bingxin.
"Feeding the victim Thai jasmine rice?” I sneered. “Either the murderers are wealthy or they sell this sort of rice."
Bingxin pulled out something else from the duodenum. "What is this?" she asked, staring at the lump.
It looked like meat, though the texture didn’t look as if it came from a terrestrial animal. Squinting her eyes, Xiaotao faltered, "River snails? No, they aren’t that big. "
"I know a type of snail that is huge!" argued Bingxin.
Upon careful inspection, Xiaotao commented, "It’s a different color. Wait a minute, it is a snail, French escargot!" Then, she rolled her eyes and declared, "Yet another dish I’ll never eat again."
"French escargot?" I was shocked. "The murderers must be very wealthy!"
"Rich and heartless beasts!" Bingxin spat in disgust. "Song Yang-gege, what are we dissecting next?"
I shook my head, "That’s it. We have the information we want."
I lit some spiral incense to remove the stench in the room. Grabbing a metal basin, I burned a stack of yellow joss papers for each of the victims and I folded my hands as I whispered, "Go with a peace of mind. I swear in the name of my ancestor, Magistrate Song Ci, that I will redress your grievances!"
Bingxin and Xiaotao stood beside me with their hands folded together, eyes closed. Although they were atheists, perhaps they wanted some assurance and comfort.
Bingxin headed to the laboratory to conduct her tests while Xiaotao left to gather more clues. At present, we didn’t have much information. The officer explored the surrounding area of the crime scene and found no witnesses. Surveillance cameras failed to capture the murderers’ cars.
"Can you tell the model of the car from the tire tracks?" I asked.
"Yes,” nodded Xiaotao. “I’m just about to meet the vehicle expert from the Forensic Tire Tread Division.”
A thought suddenly crossed my mind, "Didn’t we find numerous tire tracks at the scene? If the murderers’ vehicles weren’t captured, all we have to do is exclude the other cars on the surveillance video, and the remaining two tire tracks will naturally belong to the murderers."
"You have a lot of good ideas!” laughed Xiaotao. “I’ll get to it now!"
It didn’t make sense for me to wait here so I asked, "Did you test the dog hair last night?"
"Of course, there’s no DNA on the hair,” answered Xiaotao. “I’m going to consult the canine experts in the city."
"I’ll take care of it!"
I didn’t visit any experts with the evidence. Instead, I headed to a nearby flower and bird market and inquired about it at the dog stalls. Most vendors couldn’t tell what breed it was but an old man looked at it through a magnifying glass for a long time and said, "See this color? The top part is dark and the bottom is brighter. This is relatively rare. It’s commonly known as iron-clad gold, or the Tibetan Mastiff."
Though a little surprised, the old man’s answer was close to my guess. It seemed the murderers were wealthy men so keeping such expensive dogs wasn’t unusual at all.
"Is there a Tibetan Mastiff breeder in Nanjiang City?" I asked.
When the old man said no, a middle-aged man leaned in and reminded, "Dad, didn’t someone start one last year? But the dogs were too expensive and no one could afford it, so it closed down."
"Where is it?" I asked.
The middle-aged man reported the location and curiously asked, "Are you thinking of keeping one?"
Since I preferred to keep my identity under wraps, I made up an excuse. "I’m asking for a friend. Thanks for everything!"
After leaving the flower and bird market, I immediately phoned Xiaotao and informed her of my findings.
"That’s fast!” she exclaimed. “Which expert did you consult?"
"An expert among the common folk,” I laughed. “I asked a dog seller."
"That’s great! I’ll be right there!"
Xiaotao came to pick me up before heading to the outskirts. The breeding site was a lone compound secured with rusted locks, as if no one had been here for a long time.
I noticed scratches on the wall next to me as well as areas where the moss on the wall had been scraped off.
"Someone climbed in from here,” I said.
"Shall we go through the front door or over the wall?" asked Xiaotao.
"The locks are rusty so I can’t open them. If we break them by force, we might arouse suspicion,” I explained. “Let’s go over the wall!"
I lifted Xiaotao so she could climb the wall and waited for her to pull me up. The compound was quite spacious. Next to it were rows of small compartments made of cement, probably used for keeping dogs. I noticed the same hairs in one compartment as the evidence we found in the victim’s pocket.
"We’ve got the right place," I said, examining the dog hairs.
This was most likely the place where the victim was held. I thought about the reason there was dog hair in the victim’s pocket and the most likely answer was that the victim had placed them there himself. Imprisoned here at the time, he knew death was certain so he grabbed something to lead police to the compound.
Fortunately, we lived up to his expectations!
There was a two-story building on the west side of the kennels. The first floor was empty with some iron rings on the wall used to chain the dogs. Combined with the overpowering smell of dogs, I suspected this floor was used to train dogs.
We went up to the second floor and found several accommodations meant for staff. Upon entering the first room, we saw a mattress on the ground.
I sprinkled some seaweed ash on the door but shook my head. "The murderers are very careful. They left no fingerprints."
Squatting down, I examined the mattress and noticed some sticky secretions. "They raped the victim here!" I cried.
On the dusty ground were marks left by some chairs and shoe prints, allowing me to deduce the scene at the time. While one man was raping the victim, the other three stood or sat down nearby to enjoy the live “performance.”
Xiaotao furrowed her brows, cursing underneath her breath. Just as she grabbed her phone, ready to call out the team to collect evidence, she suddenly stared out of the window and yelled, "Song Yang, look over there!"
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