Chapter 184 Forging evidence at the scene
Mao Lilan came over very confidently to report the findings of the trace team she led.
At this moment, she was the real protagonist that attracted everyone's attention.
Seeing the students so energetic and shining, Lin Xinyi, who has been working so hard until now, does not feel disappointed, but feels relieved:
As the leader of the forensics class, he hopes that his subordinates will be as capable as possible.
When Mao Lilan, Asai Narumi and others can reach the level of being independent, he can naturally become a fisherman who gets off work on time and goes home early to accompany his children.
"So, Miss Mori"
Lin Xinyi looked at Mao Lilan expectantly and approvingly:
"Tell me what you discovered!"
"Well, Mr. Lin, Dr. Asai, come with me."
Mao Lilan suppressed the little excitement in her heart and turned around to lead the way for Lin Xinyi and Asai Chengmi.
The group of people quickly walked out of the villa and came to the side of the lawn outside the broken glass door in the yard.
"Our on-site investigation team has confirmed that all the doors and windows that allow people to enter and exit the villa are locked from the inside, and there are no signs of violent damage."
"The only sign of violent damage is the smashed glass door."
"Based on the situation at the scene, our first guess is only:"
"The murderer entered through the courtyard gate, then walked around the side of the villa on the lawn, smashed the glass door on the side, and forced his way in."
"But Mr. Lin, look at the footprints on the lawn -"
As he spoke, Mao Lilan pointed to the lawn, where the pieces of crushed grass had been marked by evidence cards.
It is difficult to extract complete footprints on the lawn. It cannot be used to analyze the murderer's height, weight, shoe type and other important information like the clearly identifiable footprints printed on the mud.
But at least the investigators can use the trampled blades of grass on the lawn to determine whether anyone has walked here and where they passed when walking.
By judging the direction in which the blades of grass are falling and the rough outline of the footprints, the direction in which the murderer was traveling can also be analyzed.
"There are indeed a series of footsteps walking back and forth on the lawn."
"But the strange thing is that after this string of footprints extended from the glass door on the side of the villa, it disappeared when it was time to turn to the main entrance of the villa and walk out of the courtyard."
Indeed, the facts are as Mao Lilan said.
The string of footprints on the lawn broke off at the last section before it reached the edge of the lawn near the main entrance of the villa.
"Why are there such strange footprints?"
Mao Lilan paused slightly and told Lin Xinyi his guess:
"I think the truth might be this:"
"When Conan found the body, the murderer might still be in the villa."
"When he came out of the glass door on the side of the villa, he originally wanted to fake the entrance and exit of outsiders by stepping on the lawn."
"But when the murderer walked to the corner of the villa, near the door of the villa -"
"He suddenly saw that Conan and others did not leave at the phone booth across the road from the villa, but stayed there to observe the villa."
"So, the murderer knew that if he went any further, he would be discovered by Conan and others across the street."
"Besides, there are people watching from outside, so it's not safe for him to stand in the yard anymore."
"So, he simply gave up on forging footprints and turned around and returned to the villa."
The situation is as Mao Lilan said.
At the corner of the villa where the footprints disappeared, due to the change of perspective, you could see through the courtyard door the phone booth across the road where Conan and others were hiding.
Based on this, it can be inferred that the murderer gave up forging the footprints because he saw Conan squatting there, which does make some sense.
"But."
Lin Xinyi couldn't bear to dampen the students' enthusiasm, but he still couldn't help but said:
"This is just inference, not evidence."
There are indeed no footprints on that part of the lawn in front of the villa.
But this distance is not long enough, or even very short.
Short enough to be just a little larger than the normal step size.
Thinking about the extreme situation, maybe the murderer suddenly got interested when he got here, took a big step, and jumped this short distance.
This is of course unreasonable, but anyway.
It is a bit reluctant to infer that this is a forged footprint by the murderer based on this strange gap in the footprints.
Mao Lilan's long talk is, in the final analysis, just detective-style reasoning.
"This kind of discovery can serve as a reference for criminal profiling and help us clarify the direction of our investigation."
"But as evidence to prove that this was a fake scene, it's still not enough."
Lin Xin corrected Mao Lilan's mistake seriously.
He didn't want his good student to be influenced by her childhood sweetheart's style and go astray.
But Mao Lilan seemed to have been prepared and showed him a confident smile:
"I know, Mr. Lin."
"Just the missing piece of footprints can't prove my hypothesis."
"However, combined with the marks on the broken glass door, the situation is completely different."
"Oh? Broken glass?"
Lin Xinyi looked at Mao Lilan and suddenly felt confident.
When he heard her mention the broken glass door, he knew that his student must have found the right direction of investigation.
Because he taught Mao Lilan how to examine and analyze the traces on broken glass.
"First of all, we can see through the remaining glass on this broken glass door that did not fall to the ground:"
“The side with the glass facing the inside of the house is less dusty.”
"The side facing the outside has more dust."
"Through this, we can simply determine which side of the broken glass on the ground is facing inward and which side is facing out."
Mao Lilan perfectly applied the knowledge taught by Lin Xinyi into practice:
"Then, we spliced the glass fragments and conducted an overall inspection to determine the first stress point on the glass and the radial cracks formed."
"Then change the illumination angle of the light and observe the radiation crack cross section."
"We found that there are 'single blade-like' arcuate patterns on the cross section."
"And the direction of convergence is towards the side with less dust, that is towards the inside of the house."
According to the principle of glass breaking under mechanical load, after the force is broken, the broken section of the glass will form bow-shaped patterns visible to the naked eye.
These arcuate patterns actually reflect the mechanical waveform of force spreading on the glass.
Therefore, if the convergence direction of the arcuate pattern is extended outward, the point where it converges is the specific point where the force is applied.
Now, this specific stress point is on the side of the glass facing the inside of the house.
"So, we can confirm:"
"When the glass is first broken by external force, the force should be on the inner side of the glass."
"When the doors and windows of the villa are closed, this glass door"
"The murderer should have acted on the glass from inside to outside the house, causing it to break."
"This can prove that this 'robbery and murder scene of breaking in from outside the house' was forged by the murderer!"
"This is a crime committed by an acquaintance, a fake murder and robbery scene."
Mao Lilan's eyes shone with confidence as she expressed her conclusion.
"Very well, Miss Mori, you did well."
Lin Xinyi was pleased to express his praise:
The strange footprints on the lawn, the injuries of the deceased who suffered excessive violence, and the solid evidence that Mao Lilan found on the glass door using scientific analysis methods.
The combination of these clues and evidence can already characterize this case as being committed by an acquaintance.
"Not only that." Mao Lilan continued:
"During the investigation, our on-site investigation team found no photos left by the owner of the household in the villa, but found two bedrooms with obvious traces of life——"
"There are obviously two people living in this villa, and judging from the clothes in the bedroom, they are both adult men."
"A business card was found in one of the rooms. The owner of the business card is Mr. Tomoshi Tanaka, an executive of a securities company."
"The manuscript found in another room was signed 'Tanaka Kazuyu'."
"The two of them should be related."
"And the deceased may be one of them."
The deceased was one of the two residents of the villa, and this case was committed by an acquaintance.
The other man living with him is very suspicious.
"We just called Mr. Chishi Tanaka based on the number on the business card."
"He said he was still out walking and didn't know what was going on at home."
"After we explained the situation to him, he acted shocked and said he would be back soon."
As he spoke, Mao Lilan's tone became a little subtle:
"But I think."
"This Mr. Chishi Tanaka seems suspicious."
He happened to be out for a walk when a murder occurred at home.
Combining the previous inferences, Mao Lilan naturally regarded Mr. Tanaka Chishi as a suspect.
"Indeed." Lin Xinyi nodded in agreement.
However, seeing the slightly excited look on his apprentice's face, he couldn't help but pour cold water on him:
"The suspect has been identified, which is a major breakthrough."
"But... we still have to find more evidence to prove that he is the murderer."
"Evidence?" Mao Lilan was slightly startled:
"Hasn't the murder weapon been found?"
"You should be able to find Mr. Tomoshi Tanaka's fingerprints on it, right?"
"Fingerprints don't mean anything." Lin Xinyi shook his head: "This is his home. It's normal that there are his fingerprints on that golf club."
"What's more, the club still has traces of holding the grip with gloves, causing some of the original fingerprints to be wiped off - you can't confirm whether it was Tanaka Chishi's disguise after the fact, or whether it was left by the real murderer."
"And for the same reason: this is where he lived. Even if the skin flakes and hair he left behind are found at the scene, there is no way to prove that he was the person who killed him."
"This is"
Mao Lilan said hesitantly:
"We have proven that this was a crime committed by an acquaintance and the scene was forged."
"He is the biggest suspect. If his fingerprints are found on the murder weapon, wouldn't it explain the problem?"
"No." Lin Xinyi shook his head:
"If he bites him to death and this is done by other acquaintances of the deceased wearing gloves, how should we refute that?"
"The so-called 'acquaintance' may not have left any traces, and no one can prove his existence."
"But we also can't prove that he doesn't exist."
"If this 'acquaintance' really exists, then if we directly identify Tanaka Chishi as the murderer, wouldn't it mean that we have committed an unjust, false, and wrong case?"
Mao Lilan couldn't help but choked slightly.
She suddenly discovered that the murderer was just like Lin Xinyi's girlfriend, another Carl Sagan dragon.
"And" Lin Xinyi suddenly sighed slightly:
"If the murderer is really Mr. Tomoshi Tanaka, then he has another powerful weapon."
"What weapon?"
"Money." Lin Xinyi pointed at this luxuriously decorated villa:
"He has a lot of money and can hire a powerful lawyer."
"With those lawyers around, even if interrogation psychology is used to induce him to confess honestly, he can later change his mind and retract his confession in court."
"So, we don't have enough evidence to bring him down!"
Hearing this, Miss Maori couldn't help but feel a little dizzy:
The evidence has been collected to this point, but it is not enough.
After fighting the prisoner, we must continue fighting the lawyer.
Alas. Mao Lilan sighed softly in her heart.
She suddenly missed the honest children she and Shinichi met before who liked to kneel down and cry to the music.