Chapter 352: Chapter 340: Handwriting Analysis Expert_1
Zhou Ning’s words quieted everyone down, and Mr. Zhao nodded in agreement after a moment of thought.
"Zhou Xiaozhou makes sense. Normally, robbers or kidnappers would strip hostages of anything valuable since they’re after wealth. But for this person to willingly leave behind such an expensive gold lock, their self-control is extraordinary."
Zhou Xiaozhou glanced at the note and then at Xu Dayuan.
"For the kidnapping cases on February 3rd, 2000, and April 14th, 2004, I hope the letters sent by the kidnapper can be sent for analysis to see if fingerprints or residues can be found. The extraction method Mrs. Cui used last time can also be applied to paper. We now need to dig into every possible lead.
Moreover, for the April 14th case, who were the responding personnel? Which team went? Who could have accessed the evidence? We won’t be involved in that—we just want to know if there are any similarities in the handwriting on the notes from these two cases and whether we can get a handwriting expert to analyze them?"
Xu Dayuan furrowed his brows and nodded at Zhou Ning.
"Find the expert yourself, and if you really can’t, ask Mr. Sun for the expert he has used for comparison before. As for the social relationship investigation of Chen Gang, Zhu Yantao, Zhu Guotai, and Fang Yue, along with the police involvement in the April 14th case, I’ll handle that.
I want your criminal profile as soon as possible, whether it concerns the murder weapon or behavioral patterns. Whatever comes to mind, just tell me. Don’t worry about whether the approach is wrong; let’s validate everything through actual investigation.
Liu Yufei and Mr. Zhao should visit Zhu Yantao—find the letter and ideally, bring him in."
Zhou Ning did not refuse. He actually didn’t want to disturb Zhu Yantao, considering the old man had lived in sorrow over the loss of his child for many years. There was no clear direction yet, and bothering him excessively could cause great emotional upheaval. However, to investigate thoroughly, they needed that letter.
With a sigh, Zhou Ning nodded to Mr. Zhao.
"You go. Fatty, you’re familiar with him."
Zhou Ning didn’t give further instructions. Liu Yufei had already grabbed her coat, and Mr. Zhao made a praying gesture towards her.
"Mrs. Fei, can we change into civilian clothes?"
Liu Yufei glanced at Mr. Zhao. Mr. Bai and Mr. Zeng subconsciously shifted to one side, waiting for Liu Yufei’s outburst, but she didn’t say anything, just holding onto her police jacket.
"Let’s go, I’ll change at the main building. Are you driving, or should I?"
Mr. Zhao grinned.
"How could I let you tire yourself out? Of course, I’ll drive. Zhou Xiaozhou, lend me your car."
Zhou Ning said nothing else and tossed the car keys to Mr. Zhao.
As the two of them left, Liu Yongxin nudged Zhou Ning.
"What’s this guy up to?"
Zhou Ning looked towards the door and understood Mr. Zhao’s arrangements, which were very considerate.
"Zhu Yantao left Qindao to avoid disturbance. Showing up in police uniform and a patrol car would certainly stir up the neighbors, which could also prevent some curious people from noticing anything. Now, all we can do is wait—wait for Mr. Zhao to bring back the letter and then compare the handwriting."
Liu Yongxin poked Zhou Ning.
"Don’t just stand there, call Mr. Sun and ask if that handwriting expert is available. Bring them directly, so we don’t delay on either front."
Zhou Ning shook his head and dialed Xia Momo.
"Mr. Xia, are you at Qin University? Last time you mentioned knowing a handwriting expert, I’m not sure if they are from Qindao or the capital city?"
"Can’t you be a bit polite?"
Zhou Ning was taken aback, realizing he had been somewhat impolite.
"Sorry, I’m a bit anxious, didn’t pay attention to my tone."
"Forget it. If you were polite, then you’d definitely be someone I don’t know well. The expert I mentioned is a friend of my father, who used to work at the Judicial Identification Center in the capital city and moved back to Qindao after retiring. If you need any handwriting analysis, I can ask if he has time."
Hearing it was a friend of Mr. Xia, Zhou Ning paused slightly, still feeling apologetic due to his previous suspicions about Mr. Xia.
"I’m a bit embarrassed, but please do contact him for me. Mr. Zhao and his team have gone to retrieve the materials for comparison. Even if they bring them back, it won’t be until tonight. Could you arrange for the expert to come over tomorrow morning to do the analysis?"
"Got it, I’ll call you once I’ve made the arrangements."
...
June 26, 2012
Early in the morning, Zhou Ning arrived at the office and upon entering, saw Mr. Zhao and Liu Yufei discussing something. When they saw Zhou Ning, Mr. Zhao’s face lit up with excitement.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, you’re here. There’s good news."
Zhou Ning looked puzzled. Last night they had brought Zhu Yantao back, and Mr. Zhao had taken Fatty to rest without discussing anything further. Now mentioning good news, could it be they found something on the threat letters and notes?
"Did Mrs. Cui discover something?"
Mr. Zhao rubbed his nose, grinning and handing over a report.
"Alright, I won’t play coy with you. Guessing is always painful for me. Mrs. Cui is amazing; she extracted quite a few fingerprints from the paper. After fuming them, although the paper types differed, she found an unusual issue.
On both pieces of paper, several special traces were discovered, parts of which were wrinkled, resembling fingerprints, but the prints were too unclear. Mrs. Cui said these were traces left by wet fingers and analyzed the spots, finding sodium chloride, as well as potassium, magnesium, calcium, lactic acid, urea nitrogen, etc."
Zhou Ning quickly took the report, read it carefully, and then looked at another photo of the threat letter. At a slight tilt angle, he could indeed see several curled and wrinkled traces on both the note and the letter.
"Mrs. Cui said that according to the analysis, there’s sweat residue, but she’s unsure due to the large amount left behind,"
Zhou Ning stared at the report and those photos for a long time, while Liu Yufei was already anxiously leaning in.
"Director Zhou, have you thought of something? Share it with us,"
Just then, the door opened, and Xu Dayuan entered quickly with Liu Yongxin. Seeing Zhou Ning’s expression, they were a bit puzzled. Mr. Zhao hastily explained, and Xu Dayuan, being sharp, waved to Liu Yufei.
"Don’t disturb him, let Zhu Yantao come up to the meeting room later, we’ll talk there,"
At this moment, Zhou Ning looked up at Liu Yongxin.
"These two cases, one occurred in Qidong, the other in Qindao; there is no overlap in the investigating personnel. Moreover, one was on the 29th of the Twelfth Lunar Month, the other on April 14th, neither exactly in a hot season. Yet, the fingermarks stained with sweat on these are consistent,"
Liu Yongxin also became interested and looked at the two photos.
"Are you saying that the only person who could have touched both pieces of paper is the murderer, and that this person is always drenched in sweat, no, perhaps their hands are perpetually sweating excessively, beyond the normal amount for an average person. Isn’t that hyperhidrosis?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"If it’s not secondary hyperhidrosis caused by a specific illness, then generally, patients see an improvement in their condition after the age of 25,"
Xu Dayuan blinked, seemingly not quite understanding; after all, such diseases are uncommon.
"What do you mean? Be clear, does the murderer have a disease? Or are you saying Zhou Xiaozhou has a result for the criminal profiling?"
Zhou Ning laughed; Xu Dayuan was always in a hurry.
"Director Xu, don’t rush. Mr. Xia will be here shortly; she has gone to fetch a handwriting expert. We’ll let the expert take a quick look to see if the original paper is needed for handwriting analysis. If not, I’ll have Mrs. Cui do a detailed analysis, as we still don’t dare damage the evidence,"
Xu Dayuan nodded; now he understood what Zhou Ning was saying.
"Then let’s wait. But it’s a significant breakthrough that the same type of sweat residue was found on both papers. Didn’t you search the fingerprint database, though?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"The fingerprints we retrieved are incomplete; they can be compared and identified, but they’re not enough for a search on their own,"
Xu Dayuan sighed just as the door opened again, and Xia Momo peeked in, obviously surprised to see so many people.
"Mr. Xia, you’re here, come in quickly!"
Xu Dayuan gestured warmly; Xia Momo smiled as she opened the door wider and stepped back to let an old man with white hair enter. He was about the same height as Xia Momo and looked very kind with a smile on his face.
"Elder Hu, please come in. This is Director Xu from Qindao City Bureau, this is the forensic doctor from our laboratory, Doctor Liu, and this is Director Zhou Ning, head of the second forensics section. He’s the one who asked me to bring you here,"
As they entered, Xia Momo introduced the old man and also introduced him to everyone else. Elder Hu was definitely a technical expert, working in the province’s judicial appraisal center, his specialty being handwriting appraisal.
Xu Dayuan felt like he had struck gold and was rubbing his hands together in delight, though he knew he wasn’t the smoothest talker. He grabbed Mr. Zhao by the collar and pushed him towards Elder Hu.
Mr. Zhao was somewhat speechless, quickly taking Elder Hu’s arm.
"Elder Hu, would you like to rest first, or should we find you a quieter place? It feels a bit awkward asking you to appraise something right after you’ve come up,"
Mr. Zhao’s awkward smile amused Elder Hu, who patted Mr. Zhao’s round belly.
"This chubby kid sure knows how to talk. I’m not that fussy. Doing an appraisal makes me feel useful and not like a freeloader waiting to die. That’s enough for me to be happy. Zhou Xiaozhou, where’s the stuff you wanted appraised? Let me have a look."
Mr. Zhao had already placed the notebook in front of Elder Hu without Zhou Ning having to prompt him.
Elder Hu didn’t pull out any reading glasses but leaned closer to the screen, prompting Mr. Zhao to ask:
"Elder Hu, should we bring the original document or print a copy?"
Elder Hu nodded.
"Give me a pair of gloves. I’ll just take a quick look at the original; after all, I need to observe the writing pressure and any hesitations. I know that this is crucial evidence, I promise I won’t compromise your evidence collection."
Zhou Ning gestured, and Sun Gaotie quickly went to fetch it, soon returning with two pieces of paper. Zhou Ning noticed that Mrs. Cui had been thorough, completely isolating the papers with static plastic films, allowing one to see faint yellow and black fingerprint markings on them.
Elder Hu wasn’t displeased; on the contrary, his face showed excitement.
"Impressive, your technique is quite formidable. It’s difficult to extract fingerprint information from paper, especially with older documents and those affected by improper preservation, where often all that’s found is an indecipherable black mess,"
Xu Dayuan licked his lips, as if the praise were for him.
"Heh, we can’t compare with the provincial office’s tech, but Elder Hu, we won’t disturb you. We will all leave and let Mr. Zhao and Zhou Xiaozhou stay with Mr. Xia to assist you. Just call if you need anything; we’ll be waiting outside,"
Elder Hu began examining closely, continuously taking notes on the notebook. Zhou Ning didn’t understand and didn’t dare to interrupt. Xia Momo drew near to Zhou Ning.
"You can go if you have other things to do. I’ll wait here. The comparison won’t be quick. After all, from our layman’s perspective, the handwriting on these two papers seems entirely unrelated,"
Before Zhou Ning could reply, Elder Hu looked up with a smile.
"Young lady, who said they’re unrelated? To me, the connection couldn’t be clearer!"
