Chapter 364: Leaving Traces

Returning to the bar street again, the shops surrounding "Utopia Craft Beer House" had already resumed business.

It was not the normal operating hours for bars in the afternoon, but today, the bar next to "Utopia Craft Beer House," which was cordoned off with police tape, was bustling with people coming and going.

Fresh news was rare in a small county, and the sudden occurrence of a bar homicide had instead piqued the interest of trendy young men and women.

After all, this was an internet-famous event that could rival those in big cities. "You big city folks have plenty of fresh news, but show me two people dying in a public place! You don't have that, right? Since you don't, we're even today."

Mu Zhiyang waved his hand in annoyance, shooing away the few people who were taking selfies against the police tape: "This isn't a good thing; everyone stand further back."

"Officer, we're recording." A young man's phone camera was already pointed right at them.

Mu Zhiyang frowned slightly. Before he could speak, Tang Jia, who had come with him, stepped forward and said sternly: "You may take photos, but you are not allowed to enter the cordon, nor are you allowed to touch it. Furthermore, you may upload videos, but you must upload them in their entirety. You cannot cut off the beginning and end, only taking a segment. If you take things out of context, colleagues from the Cyber Security Brigade will be in touch with you."

Tang Jia had worked in Changyang City and had specifically studied crowd management. Her speaking pace was not fast, but she was full of authority. Coupled with her striking appearance, she quickly divided the young people in front of her.

"Let's take a group photo." A young person had already shamelessly pressed forward.

"Do not approach the cordon, and I will not take a photo with you." Tang Jia pushed away the young man who had leaned in without the slightest hesitation.

Police performing crowd control does not mean they must abandon the use of force. On the contrary, the traditional function of the police is force-based; "fighting fire with fire" is not the police's only choice, but it is certainly one of the options.

Jiang Yuan glanced back and, seeing that most people were just holding up their phones to film, and knowing Tang Jia also had experience, he bent down to enter the cordon and then entered "Utopia Craft Beer House."

For a second on-site investigation, there was no need to lay down bridge boards. Jiang Yuan led the team directly and began observing every entrance and exit.

It was impossible for the killer to disappear into thin air. That he had not appeared on camera only meant he did not take the usual path. But from the perspective of on-site investigation, as long as one thought of this point or noticed this behavior of the killer, the matter would return to the right track.

Moreover, just as Jiang Yuan had said in the conference room, the killer doing this would only leave more traces and provide more information.

From the perspective of traces, entering and exiting through the main door normally is the method that leaves the fewest traces.

This is because it is not just the killer who enters and exits the main door, and every subsequent entry and exit by others is a destruction of the scene; this is the most troublesome thing about crime scene investigation.

On the contrary, traces from taking an unusual path are simple, and instead have better utilization rates.

The only question was where they were left.

Jiang Yuan was not in a hurry. He carefully looked at every door and window that could be used for entry and exit. For those that could not be seen clearly with the naked eye or could not be determined, he used a horseshoe mirror to look.

If the killer wanted to escape, it was impossible for him to spend too much time covering his tracks. Even if he had spent time, with Jiang Yuan's method, it actually could not be covered up.

In this era where leaving a root* is equivalent to filming a small movie, very few killers can manage to leave no traces. Especially indoors, the difficulty is too great, to the extent that it requires not only professional knowledge but also long-term practice.

The killer before him could already be considered skilled, but in front of an LV4 crime scene investigation, and under Jiang Yuan's two hours of meticulous screening, he was easily exposed.

"This window was closed from the outside; he used a little trick." When Jiang Yuan checked the window of the second-floor restroom, he easily discovered multiple traces.

This level of concealment would only fool an LV1-level trace examiner. Any trace examiner who was even half a step into LV2, if they were slightly serious, could make a similar judgment.

It is truly too difficult to leave no traces, especially when wanting to use an extremely short crime time to counter the longer search time of trace examiners; the difficulty is doubled.

Following

The police officer from the local station who came with them looked at the location and said, "This is the second floor, and below is the back alley of the bar, but there are also cameras in the back alley."

"Bring a chair over."

Jiang Yuan asked for a chair, stood on it, pushed open the window, and without his body touching any objects, he leaned out to look closely.

"There are footprints on the air conditioner, and there is a protruding part about ten centimeters wide by the wall, which also has footprints; they should have been left in the last few days. Well, bring a vehicle over." Jiang Yuan didn't even stand out, he just used his phone to take a few photos and then continued to check other doors and windows.

After all the doors and windows were checked, a lifting vehicle borrowed from who knows where also drove into the bar's back alley.

Jiang Yuan climbed onto the lifting vehicle again to retake photos and collect samples.

The outer edge of the bar building was covered in dust, and the extracted footprints were incredibly clear. Jiang Yuan used footprint analysis to look for a while, feeling that he could directly draw the person's back view.

Although it was said that this string of footprints could possibly have been left by some wandering wild couple, in the absence of corresponding traces on other doors and windows, the suspicion level of this string of footprints was very high.

"The suspect is about 176 cm tall, 70 to 75 kg, about 35 years old, should have traces of exercise, low body fat percentage, high probability of being similar to the victim's body fat percentage, similar to an athlete's physique. Body balance is also quite good, wears size 43 sports shoes, low arch, so should not be a professional athlete."

Jiang Yuan read the footprints in minutes.

Mu Zhiyang hurriedly took out his notebook to record.

"Walk this way." Jiang Yuan pointed in the direction of the footprints and followed them this way.

The footprints extended forward for six buildings, meaning the killer had been using the second-floor height as a platform, walking over a hundred meters from the height of the second floor all the way.

In Jiang Yuan's mind, he immediately thought of a parkour expert he had once encountered.

However, this person probably didn't learn parkour, because basically no handprints were left along the way; the person basically relied on proud balance to maintain forward movement.

Thus, Jiang Yuan obtained a large amount of gait information.

The more one covers up, the more one is exposed. Just looking at these clear footprints now, Jiang Yuan felt that seeing the other party's back view while walking, he could directly recognize the person.

The footprints ended at the entrance of an alley. Jiang Yuan looked around and quickly locked his gaze on the sign of a 24-hour hot pot restaurant.

"Ask them in the shop if there were any customers between three and four o'clock last night." Jiang Yuan said, then circled the hot pot restaurant again, then pointed to several cameras in the distance, and asked people to check the morning's surveillance.

After this round of things was done, Tang Jia, who had gone to the hot pot restaurant to ask questions, had already called back: "Team Jiang, there's a discovery!"

A group of police officers squeezed into the elevator, filling the car completely.

Hot pot restaurant.

Tang Jia was helping the clerk remove the hard drive.

Seeing Jiang Yuan and the others enter, Tang Jia took out the photos she had re-photographed with her phone to show Jiang Yuan and reported: "At 3:50 last night, this person walked into the shop alone and ate hot pot until after 6 o'clock before leaving."

The man in the photo, dressed in black, with height and build, was very consistent with the judgment Jiang Yuan had just made.

"Quite smart." Jiang Yuan pursed his lips. Don't look at the difference of just over 2 hours; if they hadn't found this hot pot restaurant, they might not have found the person even if they had gone blind watching the surveillance.

However, this person already belonged to a special ability. If it were an ordinary person, let alone the difficulty and danger of walking along the outer edge of a building like Jackie Chan, just judging where there are cameras and where there are not, and then planning a route, is very exhausting.

"Let Zhuang Wei update the time to see if we can find his means of transport. Take statements from all the clerks, and those who are not at work, including clerks on leave, must also be recorded. Those who have resigned in the last few days must also be recorded." Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and then arranged it.

This case must have been scouted in advance, but the killer was not a local, and how the decision was made was still unclear.

If it were a small case, finding the perpetrator would be enough to close the case, but a homicide could not

be, all the clerks in the hot pot restaurant had to be checked.

After Jiang Yuan finished speaking, he took out his phone and called Huang Qiangmin, asking him to invite technical investigation to check the phone. As the big boss, technical investigation basically operated in a black-box manner; the criminal police put forward a request, and technical investigation just output a result.

Huang Qiangmin naturally agreed, then said: "If it's a very professional killer, then could it be a hired murder?"

"Possibly." Jiang Yuan had also envisioned the killer's crime process and said slowly: "Someone who can eat hot pot at the crime scene with peace of mind must have more than this one case under their belt. It's a pity the clerks have already wiped and cleaned the tables and bowls, so the killer's identity cannot be determined for the time being."

"It's already very good. Well, pay attention to your own safety. You must avoid the situation of the killer returning to the crime scene again. You must have at least two people with you." Huang Qiangmin exhorted a few words and then said: "The case being done to this extent is already a breakthrough. You shouldn't be too anxious."

Huang Qiangmin began to care about Jiang Yuan's health in reverse.

During busy farming seasons, one must not spare the livestock; during slack farming seasons, one naturally must take good care of the big livestock at home.

Jiang Yuan had a lot on his mind. Honestly, having done so many cases and run to so many provinces and cities, if one were to talk about a professional killer or a hired murder case, this was his first time seeing one.

This made Jiang Yuan interested in both the killer and the victim at the same time.

"By the way, turn over the trash in the hot pot restaurant, and turn over all the trash in the building, to see if we can find the murder weapon." Before leaving, Jiang Yuan gave Tang Jia another instruction.

Tang Jia, who had been busy all day, thought about the trash of such a large hot pot restaurant, including kitchen waste, as well as the trash of the whole building, and felt terrible. She couldn't help but take out her phone, aimed it at her own face, and was full of self-doubt: Is it because I didn't put on good makeup today that I have to go through the trash? If I had known... ===== CHAPTER 365 =====