Chapter 338 - 338 305

Words : 2117 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

338: 305 338: 305 Captain Ma went out to investigate, leaving a few people in the tiny restroom who calmed down slightly and each started working on their respective tasks. Jiang Yuan also lowered his head to think. For him, the initial part of the case had essentially been completed. There was indeed a difference in the estimation of the deceased’s time of death, but that was not the problem. Maybe, it could even be used to help solve the case. Of course, with Jiang Yuan’s experience, even without using this skill, this level of case could probably be cracked as new clues emerged upon Captain Ma’s return from the investigation. Jiang Yuan was thinking in order to reset his train of thought. Comrade Ye Tianhe was a bit noisy. As a forensic doctor himself, Jiang Yuan now understood that Doctor Ye was simply not quite used to being questioned, given that he usually directly presented his findings. The status of a forensic doctor at a crime scene is actually quite high, referring here to their professional standing. Typically, once a forensic doctor provides an estimation of time of death at the scene, it is unlikely for a criminal police officer to question, “Did you calculate it wrong?” Even team leaders of the police wouldn’t have the professional capacity and confidence to make such judgments. At most, they may just pick on a new forensic doctor. To outsiders looking at a forensic doctor, as long as the forensic doctor stands unwaveringly in front of a body, unmoved by the stench, their satisfaction is mostly attained, perhaps querying at most about topics related to dating and family life. Professional exchanges between forensic doctors usually are not too intense. Especially for forensic doctors at the grassroots level, either you are supported and recognized by superior forensic doctors for your expertise, and you have the final say, or, the professional level of the grassroots forensic doctors isn’t very high, nor is their self-confidence strong, and they wouldn’t enter into intense debates. Doctor Ye Tianhe actually belonged to the stronger category of forensic doctors. As a forensic doctor with the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, even though Ye Tianhe appeared easygoing, he wouldn’t fully accept even technical guidance from the provincial forensic doctors. So, for the most part, Doctor Ye had been unilaterally giving his input, with little to no verification. In normal cases, when Doctor Ye arrived at the scene as a forensic doctor, examined the body, and reached a conclusion, the police officers would not challenge him, and even if his colleagues were confident enough, in terms of ability, they actually wouldn’t surpass Doctor Ye by much. The methods used should be similar, and thus, so should the conclusions reached. As for the truth of the case, it wouldn’t be immediately reflected, nor necessarily accurate, and eventually, even if it turned out the forensic doctor had oversight, off by a few hours or even a few days, forensic doctors could easily console themselves. In fact, merely using rectal or liver temperature for the determination of time of death, the accuracy of most regression equations from the outset is only around 85%, or 90% at most; a margin of error of one or two hours is quite common. So, rather than saying Jiang Yuan and Ye Tianhe had conflicting opinions, it’s more accurate to say that their standards were not on the same level. Doctor Ye just hadn’t encountered such a direct challenge face-to-face in a while. After calming down, Doctor Ye quickly realized and proactively said with a smile to Jiang Yuan, “Jiang Yuan, did you lead me into a trap just now? I was discussing the body’s temperature with you, using rectal temperature to determine the time of death, and you brought up rigor mortis, corneal clouding, and so on.” Seeing this, Jiang Yuan also eased the atmosphere, saying, “I was too hasty coming over, in quite a hurry indeed. Truly, other factors, the time of death derived from them, is quite different from what one gets using body temperature, making the temperature factor seem a bit out of place.” Doctor Ye simply nodded, understanding somewhat. After all, forensic doctors who can determine the time of death using body temperature will definitely do so. Because body temperature is easier to quantify. Whether it’s rectal, liver, or surface temperature, putting a thermometer in gives a precise temperature reading. An accurate temperature, put into a regression equation, even if it’s a simplified version, gives a conclusion for time of death that’s actually very accurate. And for the police officers using this data, whether they’re from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment or Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, a body’s time of death accurate to within two or three hours on the day of, or morning, afternoon, or evening within a few days, is quite satisfying. The time Jiang Yuan provided was unusually precise, in fact beyond the norm. It’s normal for Doctor Ye not to understand. Jiang Yuan didn’t have time to give a lesson, only saying, “Actually, if possible, performing a chemical analysis of the eyeball could also yield a relatively accurate conclusion. Because the aggregation of potassium ions due to the rupture of red blood cells is largely unaffected by temperature.” Doctor Ye said, “Perhaps, mainly because the time difference is relatively large.” “I agree,” replied Jiang Yuan. “Under normal weather, in a normal environment, such a large difference is beyond the norm.” “Uh-huh.” “I think it’s very likely that the suspect fabricated the crime scene.” Doctor Ye was taken aback, his gaze first falling on the bathtub next to the restroom, asking, “How was it fabricated?” With his experience as a forensic doctor, the first thing he thought of was actually through the bathtub. The influence of water on temperature is tremendous, several times greater than that of air. Therefore, the determination of time of death for a body in water is very different from that of a body on land. If you were to add ice or heat to the water, the difference could indeed be quite significant. Ye Tianhe stepped forward to inspect the body again, but still shook his head and said, “There’s also no sign of the body having been in water.” “Actually, we could backtrack the time using that multiple regression equation,” Jiang Yuan took out his notebook, writing as he spoke, “Suppose the rectal temperature is Y, environmental temperature, clothing or covering, the supporting surface of the corpse, airflow condition, humidity, sex, age, body type, cause of death, corresponding to variables ABCDEFGH, given coefficients, the equation could be, Y=44.352-.311A+0.188B+0.035C+0.136D+0.563E+0.664F+0.049G+0.019H...” Ye Tianhe did care a bit before, when Jiang Yuan didn’t measure the rectal temperature and didn’t provide data; he merely stated a number. Now, hearing Jiang Yuan provide numbers for the data, Ye Tianhe was once again lost in confusion. While Jiang Yuan continued the calculations, he went on, “The most important thing here is to quantify variables ABCDEFGH. For example, the cause of death could be quantified simply by the amount of bleeding; major hemorrhage could be assigned -2, internal bleeding -1, natural as 0, cranial damage as 1, poisoning as 1, and in cases of poisoning or medication, this could be given a 1, except for sedatives and hypnotics. The mechanical asphyxiation we’re dealing with here would be a 2.” As Ye Tianhe listened, his gaze began to drift. After all, he was middle-aged. His child’s education was still manageable, so that only made it feel more difficult. His wife and in-laws were good to him, so that only made it feel more difficult. His parents were naturally aging and always worried about him, so that only made it feel more difficult. His own health was mediocre, not terrible yet frequently problematic, so that only made it feel more difficult. Life was already so tough, why should he bother to understand such equations? If being a forensic scientist required him to calculate the time of death like this, he might as well be dead. Jiang Yuan looked up to see that Ye Tianhe was no longer listening, Wan Baoming was also silent, and Tang Jia only had a fixed smile. Jiang Yuan wisely shut up and continued his silent calculations. In the past, he wouldn’t have wanted to deal with such formulas either, but having heard that someone would want to see them, he now realized that a normal forensic doctor wouldn’t want to bother with these things. In a moment, Captain Ma returned to see several people who had emerged from the washroom still looking uncomfortable, and assumed they had had another debate. Ma didn’t pay it much mind and simply said, “If it was at a quarter past ten, then the husband has an alibi.” “What kind of evidence?” Jiang Yuan still had to ask. Alibis could theoretically be fabricated, especially by those who liked to discuss perfect murders, discussing empty theories, one couldn’t rule out someone doing it. Ma shook his head and said, “The evidence is solid. The husband works at an outsourced internet company. There are cameras at his workstation, cameras that record when he logs in, cameras at the entrance and exit of the office building, and he gets mobile alerts if he leaves his seat for too long. Unless there’s large-scale fraud by the company, it’s impossible.” “It must have been someone else then,” Jiang Yuan nodded. Captain Ma hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Maybe we shouldn’t be so strict about the time of death...” “I’ve already verified the calculations, there’s no major issue with the time of death,” Jiang Yuan shook his head. “Verified?” Captain Ma asked a bit more. Jiang Yuan tore the calculation page from his notebook and handed it to Captain Ma. Ma saw a myriad of letters and numbers and then revealed a purely human smile, “I asked unnecessarily.” “This multiple regression equation isn’t easy to invert, but someone definitely fabricated the crime scene and caused the body temperature to be chaotic,” Jiang Yuan calculated just to clarify his thought process. Now that his thoughts were clear, he didn’t need to look at the numbers anymore and said to himself, “Either the victim was medicated, which requires a toxicological test, or someone altered the environment around the corpse. Their bathroom isn’t big, if someone raised the temperature and humidity for two to three hours, and high enough, it’s still possible. However...” Jiang Yuan looked at Doctor Ye and Captain Ma and said, “If it was high temperature and humidity, we should have felt it upon entering.” Ye Tianhe shook his head slightly, “I walked for 40 minutes on the way here. The officers who responded didn’t mention it. Captain Ma, could you ask?” Ma made a sound of agreement and immediately took out his phone to ask. Soon, Ma put down his phone and shook his head, “Neither of the responding officers felt it.” “Then... should we ask the husband?” Jiang Yuan hesitated a bit. Captain Ma frowned slightly, “That... if we’re not very certain, I think we could put it off for a bit? Hmm... Suppose someone really did fake the scene to create high temperature and humidity, and now there’s no high temperature and humidity, it means they eliminated it ahead of time, could it be an old thief? Sneaking in early, committing the crime, and then leaving.” This was pure speculation on Jiang Yuan’s part, but from Captain Ma’s perspective, such complicated cases rarely occurred, and the more seasoned a thief was, the less likely they were to make the case this complex. “If someone did come in, there might be traces left behind,” Jiang Yuan stood up decisively and said, “I’ll help comb the scene, Doctor Ye, will you take the body back for the autopsy?” “Okay.” Everyone stopped talking and went back into the bathroom to work. Jang Yuan changed his clothes, put on new gloves, and donned specialized glasses, starting to inspect the scene from the bathroom. Everything seemed to return to protocol. Just like before. Captain Ma and Wan Baoming breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously and shared a smile. Just when they were feeling relaxed, Jiang Yuan’s voice came again: “It seems this family uses smart home devices; the air conditioning, the heating lamp, and ventilation in the bathroom can all be operated remotely.”

Chapter 338 - 338 305

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