Chapter 292 Looking for a gun
Lin Xinyi immediately returned to the big tree that the bear had visited before.
Under his orders, Director Tsunoda had already led his police officers to conduct a comprehensive carpet search around the big tree.
"How's it going? Did you find anything?"
Lin Xin asked straight to the point.
Since this tree has been visited by at least one person and one bear, it is very likely that there will be more traces of human and bear activities nearby.
In the current situation where the investigation is mired in quagmire and stalling, even if one more trace can be found, it will be of great help to the investigation of the case.
That's why Lin Xinyi focused on arranging manpower to conduct surveys near this tree.
At this moment, facing his inquiry, Director Tsunoda, who was in charge of the survey, looked increasingly displeased.
That kind of person who doesn't do his job well and is still holding back his anger in front of the leader but not daring to explode is very similar to those old fritters Lin Xinyi met in the forensic class before.
"Nothing was found except a few bear hairs."
"Manager Lin, what are you looking for?"
Director Tsunoda muttered complainingly.
"Bullet casings." Lin Xinyi gave an astonishing answer: "Did you find any bullet casings, bullets, bullet holes, etc. near this tree?"
"this"
Not only Director Tsunoda, but also all the police officers present were shocked:
Japan's gun management is also extremely strict. If a case involves firearms, the nature is completely different.
Of course, in this world, criminals have tons of explosives at their disposal, and from time to time they blow up a building for fun.
It's just a small gun case, and it doesn't seem to be worth making too much fuss about.
"But Manager Lin, why do you want us to find bullet casings?"
"Did someone fire a gun here?"
"Yeah." Lin Xin nodded: "I suspect someone has fired a gun here."
"Because judging from the height and shape of the distribution of claw marks, the brown bear only climbed up a little and then gave up on its own initiative."
"Predators don't give up prey they're about to eat for no reason."
"And there were no signs of a struggle at the scene. The guy who was chased by the bear and fled into the tree probably didn't have the ability to fight off an adult brown bear with just his fists, feet and sticks."
"So." Director Tsunoda almost had doubts written on his face: "Do you think that man had a gun in his hand and he shot the bear away?"
"Isn't this too far-fetched?"
Such reasoning is indeed far-fetched.
Lin Xinyi's reasoning was more because of what he had just discovered on the dirt slope footprints:
The deceased was at least 3 or 40 meters away. He was frightened by his pursuers and sped up his escape.
What could scare her from afar?
It should be a gun.
Since the pursuer had a gun, would the mysterious man who was trapped in a tree by a bear but was inexplicably "let go" by the bear also have a gun?
Could they be the same person?
Lin Xinyi had a series of conjectures in his mind.
"Director Tsunoda, as you said, my guess is too far-fetched."
"So, I had to find a way to verify this conjecture."
Lin Xinyi frankly admitted the problems in his reasoning.
But he also asked:
"Did you really find nothing near this tree?"
"Nothing at all!"
Director Tsunoda replied helplessly:
"Not to mention bullet casings, bullets, bullet holes, there is not even a trace of blood."
"You said that person might have attacked a bear with a gun. The bear should have lost some blood to the ground after being shot, right?"
Lin Xinyi was silent for a while.
He did not doubt the authenticity of Director Tsunoda's answer, nor did he question whether there were any omissions in their investigation.
Because when he arranged the survey task before, he specifically asked Hattori Heiji to stay on site as a "supervisor".
With the precious son of his immediate boss's immediate boss here, it was too late for these grassroots police officers to show positive behavior, so how dare they dare to cheat.
"No blood, no bullet casings, no bullet holes"
"Is my guess wrong?"
The thought disappeared in a flash.
"There is still one most basic survey work that has not been done."
"Smoke reaction——"
"If the mysterious man really fired a gun in the tree, there would be gunshot residue on the bark of the tree."
"It doesn't matter if we don't find bullet casings or bullet holes. As long as we can detect shooting residue from the tree, it will prove my suspicion!"
After a long time, support from the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters finally arrived at the scene.
They brought the survey tools Lin Xinyi needed.
Checking the gun smoke reaction is a very simple matter. Even the forensics classes in various places will be equipped with test strips to test the gun smoke reaction.
This kind of test paper replaces the nitrate with a metal compound that is more active than the nitrate, resulting in an obvious color change.
Lin Xinyi had already extracted the corresponding bark samples from the trunk, crown, branches and other parts of the tree, numbered, recorded and saved them.
Spray organic solvents such as ethanol and acetone on the bark to be tested, soak it, and then touch it with test paper for testing.
The results came out quickly:
"Shooting residue was detected on the bark of the tree——"
"Someone did shoot in this tree!"
Lin Xinyi got the answer he wanted.
only.
“It’s still weird.”
After receiving the successful test result, Miss Maori, who assisted Lin Xinyi in doing the smoke reaction test, was a little confused:
"The mysterious man obviously fired a gun, but we were unable to find bullet casings, bullet holes or bullets near the scene."
"Where have all these traces gone?"
"If the gun was fired on the ground, there should be bullet holes and bullets on the ground."
"If it had been hit on a bear, there would have been traces of the bear's blood on the scene."
"Did he shoot into the air to scare the bear away?"
"But then, we should at least find the thrown bullet casings under the trees and the warheads falling from the sky, right?"
"Is it possible that the mysterious person cleaned up all of this afterwards?"
Mao Lilan thought tangledly for a while. Not only did he not come to any conclusion, but he made himself even more hesitant.
Unlike her, Lin Xinyi's eyesight seemed particularly clear:
"Miss Mori."
"I already know why there are no bullet casings, bullet holes and warheads at the scene."
"First of all, I can confirm that the mysterious man was not firing a warning shot into the sky."
"He was standing on the tree and shooting downwards."
He paused slightly and gave the proof in an orderly manner:
"Didn't you notice?"
"This time I extracted bark samples from various parts of the tree and conducted smoke reaction tests in sequence."
"One of the pieces of bark taken from the crown of the tree also contained shooting residue."
"What does this mean?"
The words awakened the dreamer, and Mao Lilan, who was previously entangled, quickly reacted with a bright eye:
"When the gun is fired, gunpowder smoke should be ejected toward the rear of the firearm."
"If shooting residue can be detected even at the top of the tree, it can only mean that the mysterious man was shooting downward, not upward."
"That's right."
Lin Xin nodded and said step by step:
"Moreover, I can also confirm that the murderer used a revolver."
"This" Mao Lilan was a little surprised: "We didn't even find the bullet casing or the warhead. Mr. Lin, how did you confirm the type of gun?"
"Same thing."
"By detecting the shooting residue in bark samples from various parts, the distribution range of the shooting residue can also be confirmed."
"Revolvers are different from other guns in that the shooting residue they emit is distributed over a wider range."
For ordinary automatic firearms, due to their relatively closed firearm structure, the smoke spray shape will appear as a backward and downward semicircle.
But because the revolver is fired with an open magazine, the shot residue will be sprayed backward without any hindrance.
Therefore, the shape of the smoke jet of the revolver is a backward "umbrella", and the shooting residue is distributed over a wider area.
"So, I can confirm that the mysterious man used a revolver."
"And because it's a revolver, we didn't find any shell casings at the scene—"
"The revolver does not automatically eject the shells. After firing, the shells will remain in the magazine and can be easily collected, cleaned, and taken away from the scene."
"Then this mysterious man seems very suspicious."
"Most people will clean the magazine of the revolver after shooting and throw away the useless empty shells. But if he just accidentally encountered a brown bear and was forced to shoot back, then why would he deliberately clean up the scene, take away and shoot Where are the bullet casings left behind?”
"Did he do something bad before encountering the brown bear, so he didn't want to leave traces and let people know that he had been here?"
Lin Xinyi's tone became more solemn.
In his eyes, the mysterious man and the murderer who pursued the deceased were increasingly equated.
But Mao Lilan had no intention of following his train of thought.
She still had unanswered questions:
"Mr. Lin, since you have determined that the mysterious man was standing on a tree and shooting downwards, why did we not find bullets and bullet holes on the ground?"
"Even if he cleans up the bullets, he can't clean up the bullet holes on the ground without leaving any traces."
The traces of turning and filling the soil are very obvious.
If that bullet had hit the ground downwards, it would have left no trace at all.
"Since there are no bullet holes in the ground or in the tree roots, we can be sure that the murderer shot downward."
"After all the impossibilities are eliminated, no matter how incredible the remainder is, it must be the truth."
Lin Xinyi said a famous quote from Sherlock Holmes.
Based on the results of the smoke reaction test and on-site survey feedback, he could only draw this conclusion;
"That bullet probably hit the bear."
"The bullet points and bullet holes were all in the bear, so we couldn't find the physical evidence."
"but."
There is no need to question Mao Lilan at this time.
Lin Xinyi himself noticed the "loophole" in this only conclusion.
One thing is still hard to explain:
"If the bullet hit the bear, why was there no blood at the scene?"