I stared at the body in a daze when I felt Xiaotao nudge me, "I found some needle holes!"
She pointed out several other needle holes on the victim’s arm. Only one made it to the blood vessel while the others weren’t in the right place. The victim’s skin was swollen and inflamed. It seemed like these murderers weren’t skilled in intravenous injections and it took a long time for them to get it right.
"Could this be the cause of death?" asked Xiaotao.
I glanced at the victim's face reflexively. Unfortunately, her facial features were corroded and could provide no clues.
Thus, I proceeded to listen carefully to the victim's chest for a few minutes, then raised her arm and observed the blood vessels. Finally, I came to the conclusion, "It was the cause of death indeed! The murderer injected a large amount of drugs into the victim’s bloodstream, causing her to remain in a state of excessive excitement until her heart eventually stopped beating because it couldn’t bear the burden. At the time, brain death hadn’t yet occurred and the victim still had a few minutes. If she were rescued then, she could’ve survived. But of course the murderers wouldn’t have cared about that."
This time, Xiaotao didn’t curse at the murderers but quietly muttered, "At least it wasn’t a painful death!"
There was no doubt that the victim also suffered from violent rape and again, the murderers left no semen behind. There were clear handprints on the inside of the victim’s thighs which gave me a rough idea of the victim’s position.
As I moved the victim’s joints, I listened with the Echolocation Rod. Then I stood up and shone the flashlight at the beam above. "The victim was hung from this position!"
"I still don’t see anything…” Xiaotao said, glancing above her head. “It’s only two steps away from the male victim."
"Yes, the two victims may be a couple,” I added. “The murderers hung the woman here and forced the man to watch as they raped her! They most likely murdered her first before dealing with the man."
Xiaotao shook her head and lamented, "I can’t fight the deep sense of guilt in my heart. It’s all because I failed to catch the murderers that these two people died!"
"It's not your fault,” I comforted. “Thrill kills are the hardest to track."
I continued to restore the crime. The female victim hung from all four limbs with her hands above her head and legs forcibly separated. The rope around her neck was tightly bound. If there was no one to support her body, the woman would’ve been strangled to death.
For entertainment and stimulation purposes, the four murderers injected a large amount of drugs into the victim’s bloodstream. They might have originally planned for death by hanging, but the drugs ended up killing her.
The four men took turns, holding the victim’s legs apart as they brutally raped her. Meanwhile, the male victim was tied up in front, perhaps with his mouth covered so he could only scream desperately, watching his girlfriend being raped and humiliated...
I walked to the window and scanned the open space. The officers in front of me seemed to slowly disappear and the four murderers appeared in the room, ready to carry out a thrill kill.
Recalling every fragment in my mind, I endeavored to restore each of their characteristics. As I paced back and forth, I described, "The leader is nearly thirty years old, about 175 cm tall, thin, gloomy and unsmiling, and has absolute power in this murder gang. He may have been hurt emotionally, which explains his hatred for loving couples."
"The second suspect is 180 cm tall, about twenty-five years old, has a big build, energetic, aggressive towards everyone else, and full of rage. He’s the crazy one in the gang but also lacks intelligence."
"The third suspect is about 170 cm tall, similar in age to the second suspect. He’s cautious, always timid and puts forward opposing ideas, but worships the first two."
"The fourth suspect is no taller than 170 cm and may be younger than twenty. He’s rebellious, capricious, terrible at communication, and seeks excitement."
After a short pause, I added, "The common characteristic of all four suspects is the fact that they aren’t the eldest sons and have no status within the family! As second-generation rich kids, they have immense pride yet suffer from inferiority. They’re poor at dealing with people, cage themselves off from the rest of the world and are empty inside. Only such an extreme method allows them to make up for their inferiority complex and give them a sense of dominance and superiority over others."
"In fact, I recently investigated the wealthy folk of Nanjiang City who match the age and characteristics,” said Xiaotao. “I discovered that there are quite a few second-generation rich kids."
“How many?" I asked.
"A few hundred, but that’s not including the illegitimate children and those studying abroad," replied Xiaotao.
Right then, an officer came up to us and reported that he had found something. We walked to an inconspicuous corner piled with some burnt debris. A chair leg and some glass fragments were visible in the ashes.
I leaned in, sniffing at the debris. The murderers used gasoline and started a fire so intense the smoke reached the ceiling.
"The murderers actually thought of destroying the evidence! That doesn’t make any sense!” I exclaimed.
"Why not?" puzzled Xiaotao.
Because it didn't align with the image I had of them in my mind. They were impulsive and acted without any regard for the consequences. Moreover, they were probably drugged and delirious when they committed the crime. I didn't think they would be cautious enough to destroy the evidence.
I rummaged through the ashes and found burnt condoms, alcohol bottles, parts of the chair, gloves, ropes and syringes. "Can the semen in the condoms still be tested for DNA?" asked Xiaotao.
I shook my head, "I'm afraid not. If you want to be extra careful, you can send it for testing."
What concerned me most weren’t the condoms, but the broken alcohol bottles. After searching for some time, I managed to find two fragments that could be put together. I repeatedly ran my eyes over the surface of the bottle and sniffed under my nose. It was pure whisky. I continued searching for all available fragments of the broken bottles and spread them on the ground for observation.
"What are you looking at?" Xiaotao wondered out loud.
"These fragments are large enough that they don't seem to have been broken by force. But they weren’t broken by the heat of the fire either. Instead, it seems as if they fell naturally at a height of about two meters. And they landed bottom first, so the bottoms of the bottles were crushed."
"Is there a mystery to these bottles?" Xiaotao queried.
"Indeed there is!" I smiled cryptically.
When we returned to where the bodies were, I crouched down, desperately sniffing the ground. Puzzled as to what I was looking for, Xiaotao suggested, "Get the technical team to help you find whatever it is!"
Instead of answering, I continued sniffing, picking up a little dust in my nasal cavity which made me cough. Finally, I caught a whiff of alcohol in a spot not too far from the female victim’s position–next to a pillar.
I stood up and looked at the beam above, pointed to one spot and analyzed, "The other end of the rope was attached here, and a man was standing here. Something happened which made him drop the bottle in his hand."
"Perhaps he was drunk... or just too high!" Xiaotao shrugged.
From this position, I turned to face the entrance. "No, someone came in at the time!"