Forensic Forensic - Chapter 16
Chapter 16
In the car, Luo Jianan tried to pry details from Qi Ming about the scar on his head, but Qi Ming expressed a reluctance to recall that nightmarish experience, so he gave up. Luo Jianan had little experience dealing with living “victims,” ​​and most of the cases that the Serious Crime Squad dispatched were lying down. But he could somewhat understand Qi Ming’s feelings about this matter. The scar was obvious, and if his hair hadn’t grown longer, it wouldn’t have been able to hide it. It seemed that Qi Ming didn’t want to face repeated inquiries.
When they arrived at the hospital, the laboratory staff were collecting evidence. Old Han had already arrived and was performing a preliminary examination of the body. The deceased was Feng Wenyue, 42 years old, the head nurse of the respiratory department. Qi Ming took the gloves his colleague offered him and put them on. He squatted beside the body and asked Old Han, “I heard it was suicide by hanging?”
Old Han pointed to the body’s knuckles and said, “There are defensive wounds here, left before death.”
“During the process of hanging, the person would struggle unconsciously due to lack of oxygen. It’s possible that they bumped into the door or the wall. We need to have the laboratory staff conduct DNA tests around the body.” Qi Ming carefully observed the redness and abrasions on the victim’s knuckles, then glanced back at the half-length rope hanging from the door. His brows suddenly furrowed. “This isn’t a forensic method for an autopsy. Who removed the body from the door?”
“The deceased’s husband, who came to bring his wife dinner, discovered she had hanged herself and immediately cut the rope and carried her down.” Old Han shrugged. “I understand how he feels.”
“But the scene’s been tampered with.” Qi Ming wasn’t cold-blooded, but he’d seen plenty of cases of relatives destroying the scene in a moment of desperation. Sometimes, even the most subtle evidence was destroyed or contaminated at that very moment. “Excuse me, Old Han, show me her knees. If it was a defensive wound, there might be evidence there, too.”
“I was here just a few days ago, performing an autopsy on a sudden death at the request of the patient’s family… Alas, doctors aren’t gods, and some families are just being unreasonable.” Old Han muttered as he pulled up the victim’s trouser legs. The two medical examiners stared in surprise—the victim’s calves were covered in scratches and bruises, and they looked quite old, with pigmentation around the wounds.
“Look at the arms,” ​​Qi Ming said.
The victim’s arms bore the same scratches and bruises as her legs, and when he pulled back her shirt, he saw the same scratches and bruises on her abdomen and back. Qi Ming and Old Han exchanged a glance and asked, “What do you think?”
“She was either run over by a truck, or—” Old Han gazed gravely out the door. The deceased’s husband sat slumped on a chair in the hallway, his face stained with tears, his tall, strong body hunched over.
“Domestic violence,” he whispered.
Qi Ming frowned with a hint of disgust.
“Whether she committed suicide or not, someone has to be held accountable for her injuries.”
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Feng Wenyue’s office door was located in a blind spot for surveillance, leaving no video evidence available. The deceased’s husband was still speechless and distraught, so Luo Jianan had no choice but to record a statement from the deceased’s colleagues—the nurses and doctors. Seeing Luo Jianan approach the nurses’ station, the young nurses, who had huddled together and were crying, immediately grew nervous.
Flashing his police badge, Luo Jianan addressed the nurse who appeared to be the oldest. “My name is Luo Jianan, and I’m an officer in the Serious Crime Unit of the Municipal Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division. I have a few questions for you. Please cooperate with me. Um… what’s your name?”
“Pan Jing.” Nurse Pan wiped her tears with a tissue. “The head nurse was fine this afternoon. How could she have hanged herself?”
“My condolences.” Luo Jianan was already missing the days he and Miao Hong attended to crime scenes together. It was usually his master who questioned the female witnesses, and the sight of her tears made him feel a little uneasy. When Nurse Pan calmed down a bit, he asked, “Is your head nurse Feng the type to keep things to herself?”
Nurse Pan sobbed and shook her head. “The head nurse is a very kind person. She treats patients like her own family and takes good care of us. Whenever someone needs leave for a family matter, she’s the one who takes it upon herself. Alas… even if she suffers a huge injustice, she never complains.”
“A huge injustice?” Luo Jianan raised an eyebrow.
“You should know about those professional medical troublemakers, right?”
Luo Jianan nodded. “I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never seen them.”
“Go to the outpatient building entrance at 7:30 tomorrow morning. They’ll be there waiting for work.” Nurse Pan’s tone grew indignant. “A bunch of social parasites, incapable of making a living out there. All they do every day is trick families into filing complaints against doctors and nurses. They really treat the hospital like an ATM.”
“Have those people ever had conflicts with Head Nurse Feng?”
“From the director to the cleaning lady, just ask everyone. Who in this hospital hasn’t been picked on by them? The head nurse was even slapped in the face a few days ago. We wanted to call the police, but she wouldn’t let us because the person who hit her was pregnant.”
“A pregnant woman trying to cause trouble? Really? They’re not afraid of hurting the child,” Luo Jianan lamented.
Nurse Pan gritted her teeth and said, “Does she care about the child? Those people only care about money! If she actually had a miscarriage in the hospital, she’d be even more arrogant. I’m afraid she’d sue the hospital until it goes bankrupt.”
Luo Jianan wrote in a small notebook, then looked up and continued, “So, do you think… Head Nurse Feng is feeling wronged and is losing her mind…”
“Probably not. The head nurse always advises us not to take things like this to heart.” Nurse Pan’s expression fell back into dejection. “Ah, even the most serious problems shouldn’t be solved with death. Look at these patients—” She pointed to the corridor, “even those who have to sleep on extra beds in the hallway are struggling to survive. She sees this every day. Why did she choose that path?”
At this moment, Qi Ming walked over to Luo Jianan, gently tugged on his sleeve, and whispered a few words to him about his and Old Han’s findings. Luo Jianan frowned after hearing this. He told Qi Ming about the medical dispute and then turned to Nurse Pan. “Do you know the name of the medical troublemaker who assaulted Head Nurse Feng?”
Nurse Pan shook her head and said, “I don’t know, but she’s easy to recognize. She always wears navy blue maternity clothes and has dyed her hair blonde.”
Taking note of these physical characteristics, Luo Jianan turned and headed for the doctor’s office.
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The doctor on duty in the ward looked young, fair-skinned, and wore glasses—a striking resemblance to Qi Ming. Luo Jianan suspected that the paleness of these medical students might stem from a lack of sunlight. As he introduced himself, he glanced at the doctor’s name tag: Xia Yonghui. “Doctor Xia, have you seen the scene?” Luo Jianan asked, standing instead of taking the chair he was asked to sit down.
Doctor Xia nodded. “I rushed over when I heard the call for help and performed CPR, but she’d been dead for over half an hour and couldn’t be saved.”
“CPR? So, you gave her artificial respiration?”
“Yes.”
“So, the medical department will collect DNA evidence from anyone who came into contact with the body to verify it with the suspect’s DNA. Please cooperate with us.”
Doctor Xia paused and asked, “The suspect? Didn’t the head nurse commit suicide?”
“This is still under investigation. The police will release their final findings. Until then, please do not share our conversation with anyone else.”
“I understand.” Doctor Xia stood up, closed the office door, and stood across from Luo Jianan. “Officer Luo, if you suspect it wasn’t suicide, I have a clue.”
“Go ahead.” Luo Jianan flipped open his notebook.
“The head nurse once caught a thief stealing from the nurses’ station. He threatened her with death.”
Luo Jianan paused and asked, “Hasn’t the police detained this man?”
“He didn’t succeed in his theft that time, and the police couldn’t find anything on him.” Doctor Xia sighed. “They caught the thief and seized the stolen goods. I heard he was released.”
“Was it the local police station that received the report?”
“Yes.”
“Then there’s an identification record. Okay, thank you. I’ll follow up on this lead.”
After shaking hands with Doctor Xia, Luo Jianan was about to call a colleague from the laboratory to collect the suspect’s DNA when he suddenly heard him say, “Officer Luo, the head nurse is a good person. Please give her justice, no matter what.”
“I will.”
Luo Jianan solemnly assured him.
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The deceased’s husband, Yao Jun, sat frozen in place on a chair in the hallway, like a statue. Luo Jianan and Qi Ming stood before him for nearly ten minutes, without reacting. The two exchanged glances, and Luo Jianan reached out and gently pushed the man’s shoulder. “Can you talk?” he asked.
Yao Jun raised his head, his eyes empty as he murmured, “How am I going to explain this to her father… Wen Yue is dead… She’s dead…”
“You can think about this later. Right now, we need to thoroughly investigate her death.” If it weren’t for Qi Ming’s recent speculation about domestic violence, Luo Jianan might have felt a modicum of sympathy for this fellow. But if this man was truly proven to be a scoundrel, he would absolutely drag him back to the police station and give him a good beating.
What kind of manly man is he to hit a woman?
“What’s there to investigate… I walked into the room… I saw her… hanging… hanging…” Yao Jun trailed off, burying his face in his hands and letting out a stifled sob.
His sadness didn’t seem feigned, but that wasn’t surprising. Qi Ming looked at Yao Jun coldly. People who use violence to manipulate others often experience a kind of grieving after losing their victims. If this man truly was a scumbag who physically assaulted his wife, he was simply grieving for himself.
Unwilling to see his face, Qi Ming asked bluntly, “I saw large bruises on Feng Wenyue’s body. Did you do that?”
Yao Jun’s sobs abruptly stopped. He looked up and swallowed nervously, “Officer! She made me do it! She just—she just—she just likes that tone!”
Luo Jianan couldn’t see a trace of the guilty conscience of a liar in Yao Jun’s red, tear-swollen eyes.