Chapter 58: Thrown Far Away and Buried Nearby
Zhou Ning chuckled twice. Such an abrupt action left the two men confused.
"The hardness of human skull is between 3 and 4, and the hardness of natural marble is between 3.5 and 5.5. I can't find a very suitable stone, so let's use this to simulate it.
We can test it by hitting with both hands horizontally, hitting with one hand vertically, and hitting with both hands vertically. Then we can compare the marks of marble being broken. This way, we can intuitively understand how the murderer injured the victim. "
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"The test is fine, but why did you give me the marble?"
"I'm too tall, and it's not easy to hit me when I lift me up."
Da Zhao didn't mind the big deal, he came over and handed the wrench to Zhou Ning with a grin.
"It's okay, I'm short, you come and smash it."
Zhou Ning rolled his eyes.
"I'm tired, let's do the experiment quickly."
Da Zhao didn't say any more words. He put on his goggles and raised the wrench horizontally with both hands.
"Boss, when you're ready, I'm coming!"
"Aim well, and watch out for your head if you hit my hand."
Da Zhao shuddered and looked miserable.
"Boss, please don't scare me. I'm here."
As he spoke, Da Zhao swung the wrench horizontally and smashed it towards the marble slab. The marble slab was smashed and some debris flew out, but it did not break. Xu Dayuan also turned the slab over to have a look. He could feel Da Zhao's strength in his hand, and it was surprising that it did not break.
“It didn’t break?”
Zhou Ning nodded, marked a 1 on the marble slab with a marker, and then signaled to change to the second piece. This time, Xu Dayuan grasped it horizontally with both hands raised, while Da Zhao held the wrench in one hand and smashed it down.
With a loud bang, the marble slab exploded diagonally, and a lot of gravel splashed out at the stress point. The cracks also appeared diagonally along the stress point. Xu Dayuan took a look.
"This piece of marble has cracks. Next time you smash it, avoid the brown-red pattern and smash the white part instead."
Zhou Ning hurried to mark it, then made way. Da Zhao held the wrench in both hands for the third time and smashed it down from above.
This time, the marble slab did not crack. The wrench was completely embedded in the marble slab. Zhao Xinli used some effort to shake it before he pulled the wrench out. The broken part was indeed the same shape as the wrench head, a round C-shaped depression. However, the break was quite severe. Obviously, the murderer was not as strong as Zhao.
"It seems that Xiao Zhou's analysis is correct. The murderer smashed the victim vertically downward with a wrench when he lowered his head."
"I just don't understand. How could you dress like that and it's so cold outside to make the deceased squat obediently without attracting her attention and hitting the deceased's head?"
Xu Dayuan was silent. Zhou Ning pursed his lips, looked at the wrench and then at the defect on the marble. He quickly rushed back to the dissection table, restored the deceased's scalp, and stared at the defect.
"The murderer hit the victim with all his strength, but his strength was not as strong as Da Zhao's. However, there is a problem. Just like what Da Zhao did just now, the wrench would be stuck in the victim's head. If he wants to pull out the wrench, what will he do?"
Da Zhao scratched his head, held Xu Dayuan's shoulder with one hand, and shook his head with the other hand.
"Press the shoulder or head, shake it and it will come out."
Xu Dayuan nodded, he thought so too, but his eyes widened instantly.
"You mean clothes? There would be residues on the deceased's clothes? I remember the test report just now said that a male DNA that did not belong to the deceased was found in the extract from the deceased's wound?"
Zhou Ning smiled. It seemed that everyone's subconscious actions were similar. He walked directly to the evidence bag containing the deceased's clothes, unfolded it, spread it flat on the stainless steel table, and spoke as he searched.
"The DNA of the unknown male was determined to be blood. The murderer had injuries on his hands. Combined with the scratches on the victim's nose and brow, I suspect that the victim had an argument with the murderer, and the victim injured the murderer. The victim was then pushed down, and when the victim was trying to get up, the murderer hit the victim's head from behind."
Zhou Ning said this while looking at the nails of the deceased. She had seen the nails of the deceased during the autopsy before. They were cut very short, the kind that were so bald that they seemed to have been cut to the flesh. Because of her profession, Zhou Ning did not think much about it at first, but now it seems that this may not be the reason.
Pull over the LED magnifying glass light and observe the fingertips carefully. The nail trimming marks are very neat. It is not done by using nail clippers to cut around the edge of the nail a few times, but is done directly in one go.
Zhou Ning waved towards Da Zhao.
"Please bring me the luminol spray and spray it on the dead man's nails!"
"After being in the water for so long, how could there be any traces of blood left?"
Although he said this, he did not stop. He found the luminol spray, moved to Zhou Ning's side, and carefully sprayed it around. A faint blue-green fluorescence could be seen on both sides of the edges of the dead man's nails.
Xu Dayuan also came over. After all, he had been handling cases for many years and was very experienced. He reacted immediately when he saw this.
"The deceased scratched the murderer, and the murderer has excellent anti-detection capabilities, so even when he was disposing of the body, he did not forget to cut the deceased's nails to eliminate any possible traces?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"I think we can search the reservoir carefully, within 20 meters of the shore, and maybe we can find the murder weapon. He won't take it with him. Besides, the murderer's home should be in the opposite direction of the Baimahe Reservoir. After all, we always say throw it far away and bury it near."
Xu Dayuan took out his cell phone and walked to the side to make a call.
Zhou Ning moved the LED magnifying glass to the deceased's clothes and observed the two shoulders on the back of the clothes inch by inch. When he searched the right shoulder, he could vaguely see three adhesive things on the reverse side. Zhou Ning fiddled with it from the front and side for a long time but couldn't figure out what the substance was. After touching it with gloves, it felt a little sticky and seemed to be a little reflective.
After being soaked in water for so long, it is still sticky. Could it be glue?
Da Zhao exclaimed, quickly came over, thought for a moment and said.
“It’s fluorescent paint.”
Zhou Ning looked at Da Zhao in confusion. He didn't understand these things and didn't seem to notice where these things had been used. Da Zhao quickly continued.
"When you shine the lights on the highway, you can see a reflective strip on the center barrier. That's a type of fluorescent paint. Of course, some dance halls and discos also use this. This stuff dries faster than ordinary paint, but it probably loses its effect after being soaked in water. This piece of clothing is dry, otherwise you can't tell it's fluorescent paint."
Fluorescent paint, hexagonal screws, Prado tires, scratches, wrenches, unknown male DNA, Shen Guanlin, Xu Zhanshan, Ma Xiangong, Shen Weijie, these known conditions kept popping up on the transparent big screen in front of Zhou Ning.
Zhou Ning had a headache. Although he knew about an unknown DNA, he couldn't bring in all the males related to the deceased for comparison. This was unrealistic.
Xu Dayuan walked in. Without Zhou Ning saying anything, Da Zhao quickly told him what he had just discovered. Zhou Ning looked at Xu Dayuan.
"Xu Da, I think we still have to look for clues from Shen Guanlin. Although Shen Guanlin has a time witness on the 21st, we still have to review the surveillance."
Xu Dayuan took out his mobile phone, found a video and clicked it, which was in fast playback mode.
"The surveillance footage has been downloaded. He Chunyang and his team have carefully analyzed it. Shen Guanlin did have surgery during the day on the 21st. When he got off work at 6:30, he was out for 38 minutes. Then he received a call and ran back with a lunch box.
We have also verified this. It was the head nurse of the operating room who informed him that there was an emergency surgery. The surgery ended at 23:10, and he arrived at their community at 23:32. He said he walked home.
The two periods without monitoring were 22 minutes and 38 minutes respectively. With such a short time, the fastest round trip from the Eighth Hospital to the Baimahe Reservoir takes 45 minutes. I think it is unrealistic. "
Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes. They must have studied this timeline many times, and this time was indeed not enough to kill someone and dispose of the body. However, thinking of Shen Guanlin's son, Zhou Ning took off his mask.
"Did you check Sun Ailing's car, Mr. Xu?"
"I asked someone indirectly, and it turned out that it was a car that Sun Ailing's father gave her as a dowry. Sun Ailing usually drives it, and I guess Shen Weijie also drives it occasionally."
Da Zhao came over and kept shaking his head with a click of the tongue.
"He's a rich man. He gave her a car worth nearly a million as a dowry. What does his father do?"
Xu Dayuan flipped through the text messages on his mobile phone. Zhou Ning took a closer look and saw the words "Qindao Xingmu Outdoor Advertising Company" on it. His eyes lit up.
"Outdoor advertising company, Mr. Xu, go check this car. We just found three lines of fluorescent paint on the shoulders of the deceased. I think their company can also use hexagonal screws, right?"
