Chapter 96: There Is No Such Thing as a Perfect Crime

That noon, Heifu was already seated in the county jail office, forming a four-man case-solving team with the two Scribe Directors Yue and Nu, along with the Commandant Clerk Anpu dispatched by the County Commandant, to discuss the murder case in Willow Tree Hamlet.

As for the leader of this case-solving team, it was naturally the Jail Clerk Xi.

At the Qin county level, cases were often handled jointly by the County Commandant and County Jail offices. The County Commandant provided armed support, and the County Jail provided professional case-solving personnel. However, who had the final say still depended on the official rank present on the scene. This was why, a few days earlier, the Township Patrolman from the County Commandant system, whose official rank was higher, had led the case-solving team in the wrong direction.

So today, right from the start, Xi stated plainly that he would not determine speaking rights by official rank or noble title, and everyone could speak freely.

"Gentlemen, I believe that the thorn tally is nothing but a false lead, a trick the murderer wants us to fall for."

Heifu, the person present with the lowest official rank and the lowest noble title, had considerable nerve in speaking up.

For one, the County Right Commandant backed him, making an exception to temporarily transfer him to the county to participate in case-solving work. It must be known that Bailiffs normally just assist from below and are rarely given such generous treatment.

Secondly, since taking office, Heifu had cracked major cases one after another, his achievements plain for all to see. As for criminal investigation and case-solving, even Nu had praised Heifu as "quite versed in the methods of a Scribe Director."

Hearing Heifu's words, the Scribe Director Yue sitting opposite immediately laughed: "Bailiff Heifu, wasn't that thorn tally discovered by you?"

Heifu did not begrudge admitting it: "It is true that I discovered it, but thinking it over afterwards, I came to feel that this thorn tally falling at the murder scene has many suspicious points."

"What the Bailiff says, I deeply agree with."

Nu, who had been silent for a long while, spoke up. He had suffered no small amount of aggravation from the Township Patrolman Shuwu these past few days. That fellow, for the sake of merit, had lost his mental balance, single-mindedly wanting to crack the case as fast as possible, and had even wanted to order harsh interrogation under torture regardless of the hunter's innocence. Afterwards, he had charged headlong into a trap laid by the criminal without a care. Nu's earnest dissuasion had been useless, and many days of effort had yielded nothing.

Following that, Heifu laid out the suspicious points of the thorn tally one by one: "First, the time of the crime should have been after sunrise. At that time, all the men of the hamlet had gone to the fields to labor, and the womenfolk had also gone out one after another to deliver meals. The entire hamlet was like an empty shell. It was precisely this opportunity that the deceased pair used to commit adultery, and it was also relying on this window of time that the murderer entered the house and killed them. At the time, the deceased may have cried out for help, but no one heard it."

"The murderer then brazenly killed the deceased. He did not leave through the window again, but opened the door and departed. Since he was so methodical, how could the murderer possibly have been flustered enough to drop the thorn tally representing his identity? This is the first suspicious point."

"Second, although merchants are base, they are often quite wealthy. Why would one go so far as to become a murdering robber? Just for money? According to the accounts of the hunter and the hamlet gatekeeper's family, some money was indeed missing from the scene, but not exceeding six hundred coins. To kill someone for these six hundred coins, yet abandon a thorn tally worth a thousand or eight hundred coins—there is a contradiction between the two. This is the second suspicious point."

Xi said: "So, according to you, this thorn tally is a forgery? Deliberately left at the scene by the bandit?"

Heifu said: "Exactly. That criminal is extremely cunning, knowing that Scribe Directors handle cases meticulously and strictly. He intended to deliberately lure us into a trap, making the authorities waste effort chasing after those merchants who trade in silk and cloth."

Nu nodded and said: "Bailiff Heifu's words are reasonable. We were ordered to pursue and investigate in the township market and county market for many days, but we did not find the right half of this thorn tally, nor was there any record at the Market Clerk's office. This thorn tally simply has no right half; it is a forgery. We have all been busy in vain. Finding the murderer through the thorn tally is now impossible; we can only think of other methods."

This case had currently entered a bottleneck, but Heifu did not despair. According to the principle of material exchange learned in criminal investigation class: entering a crime scene will inevitably result in material exchange with the scene, meaning criminal evidence will be left behind. Therefore, a perfect crime does not exist.

Although the murderer was extremely cunning, even knowing to leave a thorn tally to mislead the authorities, showing a certain counter-investigation ability, he was, after all, a bandit from over two thousand years ago. In Heifu's eyes, the flaws he left behind were far too many!

The people present were all capable clerks who had investigated many cases, especially Nu and Yue. In recent days, they had already sensed that the direction of the investigation was wrong, so they had screened all the other evidence and prepared to change direction.

"Perhaps, we can start the investigation from the knife used by the murderer!" Heifu and Nu said in unison.

Yue picked up the murder weapon placed on the table and showed it to everyone. It was a small knife about one chi long, with a slightly raised central ridge. The wooden handle was very short, less than two cun, wrapped with some strips of hemp cloth, its color dull. The end was an iron ring, already cracked.

For short weapons in this era, the military mainly used swords, while common folk used both swords and knives. People of some status and rank wore long swords, while those of humble status yet fond of martial prowess could only carry dagger-like short swords, and also this kind of short knife, hung at the waist. When walking, it would sway and slap the thigh, hence it was called a "thigh-slapper."

The Commandant Clerk Anpu raised a doubt: "The commoners and rank-and-file nobles in the county all enjoy martial arts. Every year during the rotational conscript training, they all acquire weapons. A thigh-slapper is cheap, costing no more than a few dozen coins, so everyone has one, with no fewer than several hundred wearing them. Relying on this object alone, how do we search?"

"Of course, we are not relying solely on one knife."

Nu also put forward his own idea: "According to the hamlet gatekeeper's family, the gatekeeper did indeed wear his sword when he went out. But at the scene, it was discovered that the sword had been taken away, leaving only the scabbard."

"The murderer is a clever person. He also knew that leaving with the knife, the bloodstains on it would bring trouble. So he discarded the knife and took the sword, but he did not take the scabbard. Bailiff Heifu, why do you think that is?"

Heifu had been listening silently the whole time and immediately responded: "Because the scabbard was lacquered with conspicuous patterns; carrying it on one's person would be too eye-catching."

"Then why insist on taking the sword?"

"If he only carried the knife scabbard but it was empty inside, it still would not escape the eyes of a Scribe Director."

"Correct."

Nu nodded: "We have tried it. That scabbard happens to fit the knife. Conversely, the murderer's knife scabbard can also fit the sword! That is to say, right now, inside the knife scabbard at the murderer's waist, what is stored should be the hamlet gatekeeper's sword!"

"But what if... the murderer threw away both the scabbard and the sword together?" The Commandant Clerk Anpu was deeply worried. If that were the case, their direction would be wrong again.

"The Commandant Clerk comes from a schoolroom background, I presume?"

At this moment, Xi suddenly spoke up. This Anpu was only in his twenties, with fair skin and even a clan name, clearly someone who had never lacked food or clothing since childhood.

Therefore, he could not understand the thinking of the poorest, most destitute commoners at the very bottom.

Without needing to send someone to search through bamboo slips, Xi could recount some cases he had handled, one by one.

"In the seventh year of the present king, I was serving as a Scribe Director in Yan County. At that time, a robbery case occurred in Yan County. The culprit was a commoner without noble rank. Using a worn-out bow of one dan draw weight, he robbed a wealthy household to the right of the village gate, seizing over a thousand coins and stuffing his clothes full. But while climbing the wall to escape, that bow slipped from his shoulder. This commoner actually could not bear to part with that bow, worth less than thirty coins, and jumped back down from the wall to pick it up. As a result, when he picked up the bow, the coins fell out again. This repeated twice, delaying his time. In the end, he was caught by neighbors who rushed over upon hearing the news, sent to the authorities, had his foot amputated, and was made a wall-builder."

"In the twelfth year of the present king, I became a Jail Clerk in Yan County and personally witnessed another culprit arrested and thrown into jail for the same kind of thing. There was a first-rank noble who dug a hole into someone's house to steal clothing. But when coming out, he accidentally dropped the cloth shoe he was wearing inside. Logically, a cloth shoe is worth no more than twenty coins. Since he had already stolen clothing and silk shoes, he could have just abandoned it. But this first-rank noble actually went back in to look for it. As a result, he was caught on the spot by the owner, sent to the authorities, tattooed, and made a wall-builder."

After finishing these two case examples, Xi said: "These two thieves were stupid enough, but it was not that they didn't know value from worthlessness; rather, they were so accustomed to poverty that they could not bear to part with even a single straw sandal. In my view, the murderer in this case is also of humble origin and impoverished family circumstances. After killing, he saw the wealth and his greed arose, ransacking the room and taking all several hundred coins with him. He clearly could have not taken the sword, yet he insisted on taking it. Since he took the sword, he would not easily discard it..."

"The Jail Clerk's words are reasonable!"

Having heard the case examples Xi recounted, the Commandant Clerk Anpu no longer had doubts. He stood up and requested orders: "Since that is so, I hope the Jail Clerk will issue a document. I will also go request instructions from the County Commandant to immediately arrest all the young bravados in the county who wear swords and knives, lock them up, and examine them one by one. We will surely gain something!"

Hearing this, Heifu immediately objected: "If we do that, the number of arrests will be too great, easily several hundred people. This county's jail can hold no more."

As he spoke, Heifu also glanced at Xi. The incident at Blind Mountain was only a few months past; the bloodstains at the market crossroads were still fresh, and the county people remembered it vividly. If another mass arrest were made, it would surely trigger panic. One careless move, and it could push those young men in the county who wear swords and knives to the opposing side.

If by any chance this group were incited and staged a violent resistance to arrest, killing officials and becoming fugitives, then the matter would truly blow up.

So he said tactfully: "It is just one robbery-homicide case; there is no need to make such a big show of force. The impact would be bad. The County Magistrate, County Assistant, and County Commandant would certainly be put in a difficult position. I think it is better not to publicize it and to interrogate them privately one by one, which would be more appropriate."

The Commandant Clerk Anpu, however, said: "Then how long would that take? It might alert the culprit and let him flee."

At this point, Heifu smiled: "I do have an idea that can further narrow down the group of people we need to investigate. Could Lord Xi allow me to try?"

Xi nodded: "Go ahead and tell us."

Heifu stood up, came to the center of the hall, lifted his lower garment, and pointed at his own feet, which wore square-mouthed, boat-shaped shoes, saying: "To be frank with you gentlemen, I can deduce the culprit's height based on the length of his footprints!"

PS: Got up late, haha, though I know none of you are up yet.

(End of chapter)