Chapter 722: On-Site Investigation

Duan Lin’s father rushed in to take a look. Upon seeing the bluish blood on the ground, he was startled and asked, “Why is the blood this color?”

Lin Dongxue explained to him that it was luminol reagent, which reacts with blood to produce a fluorescent blue glow. Her explanation seemed to satisfy him.

Chen Shi approached and politely said, “Excuse me.” The bathroom was very narrow. On the uneven tiles were large smears of blood, indicating that the area had been cleaned. Earlier, the bathroom was spotless, so it seemed the bloodstains had been wiped away.

“Brother Chen, these tiles weren’t laid professionally. We can still extract some blood from the gaps,” a forensic officer informed him.

“It looks like there was a dismemberment here.” Chen Shi squatted down and, noticing Duan Lin’s father had left, whispered to Lin Dongxue, “Is there something odd about Duan Lin’s father?”

“Odd? I didn’t notice anything.”

“Didn’t he just ask you why the blood was blue? How did he know it was blood when it looks like toilet cleaner?”

Lin Dongxue raised her eyebrows, realizing the suspicion.

The forensic team expanded their investigation. When they sprayed luminol on the walls, they unexpectedly found some splatter marks, although they were very low and under the showerhead.

“Xiao Zhou, unscrew this drain and check,” Chen Shi instructed.

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue stepped out temporarily, and Chen Shi asked the father, “Have you used the bathroom in the past two days?”

“Of course.”

“Have you taken a shower in there?”

“I’m not used to these things. I usually boil water on the stove and wipe myself down with a towel.”

“You haven’t used the water heater?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“When you arrived, was the water heater on or off?”

“On or off?” The father furrowed his brow in thought.

“Was there any light on it?”

“I don’t think so.” He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to Chen Shi, who declined. “I’ll go smoke outside,” he said.

“Alright, go ahead.”

Lin Dongxue opened a wardrobe and made a small exclamation, admiring the girl’s fashionable taste in clothes. She recognized several pieces from this year’s spring collection.

“How much does a textile factory worker make per month?” she wondered.

“I also saw a bunch of cosmetics on the table. I’m not familiar with the prices,” Chen Shi said.

“Let me take a look.” Lin Dongxue examined the cosmetics. “Nothing too expensive, but not cheap either… I once chatted with a girl born in 2000, and she said she spends over a thousand yuan a month on makeup. She also said girls can’t leave the house without makeup nowadays, making me feel old.”

“She came to Long’an three years ago and works at a textile factory. Her income can’t be more than five thousand yuan, yet her expenses seem high.”

Chen Shi recalled reading an article online complaining that city girls and boys earn the same wages but live completely different lifestyles. Boys save up for houses and future expenses, while girls spend all their income on themselves. Those well-dressed girls who look like they come from luxurious homes are actually from ordinary working-class families, wearing thousand-yuan clothes but eating cheap instant noodles, flaunting their seemingly wonderful lives on social media.

Of course, these thoughts felt disrespectful to the deceased, so he kept them to himself.

The forensic officers found some hair, blood, and human tissue in the drain, an amount too substantial to result from a wrist-cutting incident. It seemed more likely from dismemberment.

Chen Shi speculated that Duan Lin had slit her wrists under the running shower because the hot water would be more comfortable and accelerate her blood circulation, hastening death.

If that were the case, Duan Lin would not have had the strength to turn off the shower. Checking the apartment’s water usage could help determine the time of death.

The dismemberer arrived later, chopped the body into nine pieces in the bathroom, and cleaned up the scene. The forensic officers noted a strong disinfectant smell in the tile gaps.

Chen Shi checked the door lock, finding it intact with no signs of forced entry.

So the dismemberer had a key!?

As they were leaving, Duan Lin’s father pulled out a smartphone to ask for Chen Shi’s number. Chen Shi couldn’t help but ask, “Is this your daughter’s phone?”

“It’s the one she replaced and gave to me. I’m not very good with it, just use it for calls.”

“Did you see her phone in the house when you arrived?”

“No,” he answered firmly.

“How about her ID, wallet, or other personal items?”

“None of that either, or I wouldn’t have thought she had gone out.”

“I noticed a coat rack behind the door. Were there any clothes on it?”

“No.”

“Alright, thank you. We’ll contact you if we find any clues.”

Bidding farewell, the forensic officers returned to the station while Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue went to the property management office to check the apartment’s water and electricity usage.

On March 23rd, the water usage in Duan Lin’s apartment reached one cubic meter.

As for electricity, it had been used continuously since March 23rd, indicating that an appliance was left on. Duan Lin didn’t own a refrigerator, so it must have been a light or TV.

However, the water usage on March 24th was normal.

Leaving the office, Lin Dongxue said, “Didn’t her father say he arrived on March 25th? Why was the electricity never turned off?”

“It must have been the dismemberer. Someone came on March 24th, turned off the shower, and turned on a light, staying for quite a while according to the electricity usage.”

“Dismembering a body takes time.”

“Looks like the person who came on March 24th is the dismemberer.”

“Let’s find some witnesses!”

“I was thinking, do we need to find the dismemberer? They’ve already triggered a police investigation. If we find out who killed Duan Lin, I think the person who went through all this trouble will reveal themselves.”

“Oh, stop being lazy. Investigate!”

Chen Shi, grumbling, was dragged by Lin Dongxue to find surveillance footage and witnesses. The neighbors couldn’t recall such a distant event from a week ago, and they didn’t even know who lived in that apartment.

They copied a large amount of surveillance footage from the security office and took it back to analyze. This highly technical task was handed over to Xu Xiaodong.

It was getting late, and today’s work was done. Lin Dongxue, who had barely eaten lunch, was starving. Chen Shi heard about a new restaurant offering a challenge: finish an extra-large beef bowl and get it for free.

“Oh!” Lin Dongxue excitedly raised her fist, “I could eat a whole cow right now!”

They ambitiously went to the restaurant but ended up paying over a hundred yuan, leaving with full stomachs and a trip to the pharmacy for digestive tablets.