Free Web NovelChapter 311: Chapter 305 Clubbed Finger_1
Xu Dayuan nodded.
"It’s not that we found nothing. Liu Yufei just called to say the bodies of the three victims have been cremated, which makes our job more difficult. Let’s go see how Zhou Xiaozhou is getting on. Hasn’t he come out for lunch?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"I didn’t dare deliver his boxed lunch inside, so I left it at the door. Mr. Qu just went to check a moment ago. The boxed lunch was taken inside to eat, but no one came out. Mr. Qu peered through the door for a while and said that the whiteboard was filled with dense writing. He guessed they were analyzing the commonalities of the three victims."
Xu Dayuan had already grabbed the door handle of Zhou Ning’s office, but he paused in his movement, tilting his head to look at Mr. Zhao.
"You can’t help with Zhou Xiaozhou’s side of things, and you didn’t follow the investigation, nor have you listened to the interrogations. What have you been doing just now?"
Mr. Zhao was taken aback, standing stiff-necked with an innocent look on his face.
"Listen, Leader, I haven’t been idling around. Haven’t I been helping Mr. Qu look into that Haichanglong Group? This group is quite interesting. Since Zhu Kelin took over, they’ve been selling off the original industrial enterprises and outsourcing their management. Now only two parts remain, one is real estate, and the other is a trading company.
According to what Li Fang’s sister, Li Hua, said, when Zhu Kelin acquired Haichanglong, it was under the pretext of insolvency. We looked into it, and Haichanglong was indeed insolvent in ’94. Zhu Kelin, who owned 13% of the shares, filed for bankruptcy reorganization.
After that, Haichanglong began to receive an injection of over forty million and acquired quite a few land parcels to venture into real estate. Moreover, the Liuyuan Community, which victim number three was involved in, was developed by Haichanglong. They’ve been involved in many municipal projects such as road construction, bridge building, and old house renovation.
By the way, the municipal project that victim number two, Yu Guangyao, was involved in, was part of the projects subcontracted by their group. Even though Yu Guangyao was murdered and implicated in bribery, Haichanglong didn’t seem to be affected."
Xu Dayuan stopped in his tracks, not expecting Mr. Zhao and his team to have made such discoveries.
He was about to speak when the door opened, and Zhou Ning came out.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, did you have lunch?"
Mr. Zhao grinned, bumping Zhou Ning on the shoulder.
"The Leader’s concern is a bit hollow. The inquiry here is over; how did it go with you?"
Zhou Ning stepped aside from the door, and Xu Dayuan and the others entered the room. The three of them walked up to the whiteboard, and Zhou Ning took a sip of water before speaking.
"I’ve compared the causes of death of the three victims, the conditions of the crime scenes where their bodies were dumped, identifiable objects, places where the crimes occurred, and the state of the severed heads, and I’ve found some issues.
Look, under the bodies of the three victims, plastic tarps were spread. There’s dew and rainwater on the tarps, but not much blood. This indicates that the three were decapitated and bled out before being moved to the dumping sites, and there was no spatter of blood found on their clothing.
Even though we saw pulmonary edema, I believe that victim number one died of mechanical asphyxiation, victim number two drowned, and as for the cause of death of victim number three, I lean towards an overdose of insulin. Look here, Bai Hua found a needle mark on the upper outer arm during the autopsy.
The site wasn’t dissected for a local drug test analysis at the time, but given that the blood sugar level was 2.7, I don’t believe this was caused by starvation, because excessive starvation would lead to an increase in blood sugar levels, a condition clinically known as the Somogyi effect."
Xu Dayuan paused.
"Are you saying that victim number three, Zhang Qiujiang, died from an injection of an excessive amount of insulin?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"I remember Li Fang’s sister, Li Hua, is an emergency room nurse. Did she and that Zhu Yufen come in the afternoon?"
"Not yet. Mr. Bai picked up Li Hua and is on his way to pick up Zhu Yufen. They’ll be here soon. Keep talking about your findings."
Zhou Ning hummed in acknowledgment and pointed to the dumping sites of the three people.
"Now, about the dumping sites: victim number one, Zheng Chuguang, was placed on the opposite bank under the bridge where Li Fang fell to her death. The body had no abrasions, but there were pressure marks under the armpits that were not clear. However, you can see spiral patterns, which I think were caused by using a rope to lower the body under the bridge.
The killer had a transport vehicle and tethered the body with a rope secured to the car. The killer and the body were lowered from the edge of the embankment, then the killer arranged the victim’s posture before climbing back up the rope. It rained the day before the victim was found, so the ground traces were not preserved.
As for victim number two, Yu Guangyao, he was placed in the back seat of a car parked in the backyard of the Cultural Palace. Although the north side is a hotel, there are no cameras and no gatehouse. But looking at the photos of the victim’s car, Director Xu, look at the driver’s seat; it’s clearly farther forward than the passenger seat.
With the victim’s height of 185 and weight of 178, that space is definitely not sufficient. According to the measurements, the front of the seat is almost vertical. Mr. Zhao once mentioned Zhu Xingxing’s driving habits; I think many women prefer to adjust the seat this way, right?"
Mr. Zhao leaned in for a closer look, then nodded repeatedly.
"With this distance, Zhou Xiaozhou’s legs wouldn’t even fit. I believe the person who last drove the vehicle is similar in height and physique to Zhu Xingxing, not taller than 162 cm and weighing no more than 90 pounds. Wait, there’s another possibility." freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Mr. Zhao suddenly paused and looked at the two of them.
"There is also the possibility that the murderer deliberately adjusted the seat when leaving to confuse the police, making us focus our search on women. But wasn’t the interior of this vehicle investigated? I didn’t see the investigation report mention finding a second person’s fingerprints in the car?"
Zhou Ning frowned deeply, but still nodded in agreement.
"What Mr. Zhao says is not ruled out. I carefully reviewed the investigation report. The vehicle was inspected six times, and fingerprints were checked in all areas that could be touched by hands. The vehicle had been thoroughly cleaned. Underneath the seats, it was clean. Only the deceased’s fingerprints and some glove prints were found."
Xu Dayuan stroked his chin and said,
"Are you suggesting that the killer had access to Yu Guangyao’s vehicle before his death and meticulously cleaned the interior, wearing gloves when he transported the victim to the back courtyard of the Cultural Palace, so no fingerprints were left behind?"
Zhou Ning nodded, and Mr. Zhao had already taken down the photograph and was comparing his own hand to the scale. The size was thicker than his own fingertips. With surprise etched on his face, he observed the distribution of the fingerprints.
"Although these are glove prints, it’s discernible that they are indicative of male fingers. Even though my hands are considered large, this person’s hands are bigger than mine and the fingers thicker."
Liu Yongxin, who had quietly entered at some point, took the photograph from Mr. Zhao and after a thorough examination, took the pen from Zhou Ning, pointing at several glove prints,
"Do you see any issues with this fingerprint? The pressure points on the finger pads and the second phalanges have gaps, and the pads are more rounded and robust than the second phalanges, with distinguishably deeper nail marks at the tips."
Following Liu Yongxin’s prompt, Zhou Ning closely observed the photograph, then raised his hand and slightly bent the first joint of his fingers. Zhou Ning paused mid-action, raised his head, and exclaimed with astonishment,
"Clubbed fingers? Master, are you saying that this person has clubbed fingers?"
Liu Yongxin nodded.
"Although the photo’s clarity is not high, based on these fingerprints, we can infer that this individual has clubbed fingers. I handled a case before where the murderer left behind such prints. I consulted an expert from the Qindao First Affiliated Hospital at the time and subsequently found that he had early-stage lung cancer."
Xu Dayuan was also somewhat amazed by the discovery. However, recollecting, it seemed he had not noticed anyone with such fingers, so he leaned in to ask,
"You mean to say that, at the very least, this male suspect with clubbed fingers, who left traces in the vehicle of the second victim, could potentially be in the early stages of lung cancer?
Since Yu Guangyao’s case happened in the year 2000, it’s been twelve years. Even if it was early-stage lung cancer back then, it’s unlikely he could still be alive now, right?"
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"Clubbed fingers are not definitely indicative of lung cancer; it could also be caused by heart diseases, respiratory system diseases, digestive disorders, chronic poisoning, and such, resulting in the hypertrophy of the fingertip tissues. It’s merely that in lung cancer, clubbed fingers are one of the most common extra-pulmonary signs.
Moreover, clubbed fingers generally do not form suddenly over a short period. If clubbed fingers appear only on one limb or a single finger, it’s generally related to vascular abnormalities nearby. However, considering the distribution of these prints, this individual has the characteristic in all fingers."
Xu Dayuan smiled.
"Regardless, now we at least have a feature of one of the killers — this person has clubbed fingers."
Everyone else nodded in agreement, and Zhou Ning continued,
"Then let me continue. The third victim, Zhang Qiujiang, was found on the rooftop of Building 7 in Liuyuan Community. I won’t repeat the similarities with the first two victims. I studied the investigation report, which mentioned that to reach the rooftop of Building 7, one would have to ascend through a skylight from the top floor of Unit 3.
The skylight is 3.3 meters above the roof floor, and the third victim had a waistline of three feet four inches, with the skylight measuring 70 by 70 centimeters. It would be impossible for someone to be lifted to the roof through it. According to the autopsy report, I also found faint screw thread marks under Zhang Qiujiang’s armpits.
Furthermore, there were no marks of a ladder left under the skylight, but on the wall and metal handrail, there were gripping glove marks. If you look at these glove prints, they are exactly the same size as the ones left in Yu Guangyao’s car.
The discovery of Zhang Qiujiang’s body was on March 15, 2006. People not working outdoors wouldn’t wear much, but those working outside still wore down jackets. I believe the down found in Zhang Qiujiang’s respiratory tract came from this."
"Reflecting back on the first victim, Zheng Chuguang’s death by mechanical asphyxiation, the second victim Yu Guangyao’s drowning, and the third victim Zhang Qiujiang’s death by mechanical asphyxiation—none of these deaths, whether by asphyxiation or drowning, would occur without a struggle. Yet, there were no signs of resistance on their bodies. Doesn’t this suggest that they were unconscious before they were on the brink of death?"
Liu Yongxin narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You think they were drugged or incapacitated, but toxicology tests found nothing out of the ordinary."
Zhou Ning shook his head.
"It’s precisely because the toxicology tests found nothing unusual that I’ve ruled out that possibility. After all, using ether to cover Yu Guangyao’s and Zhang Qiujiang’s faces wouldn’t cause these individuals of their size to suddenly faint.
Otherwise, their hands would have subconsciously scratched, leaving remnants, or there would be traces of the remnants being cleaned. I believe they suffered blows to the head or were electrocuted there."
