It is already early in the morning after the autopsy. John has also completed the preliminary investigation and interviews and leads the team back to the office of the Serious Crimes Investigation Unit on the 20th floor of the main block of the Eastern District Police Headquarters Building, where they immediately convene a meeting in the conference room.142Please respect copyright.PENANAxU9i7ZSPxO
Since it takes a while to issue Francis a mobile phone for work, Todd has to become the messenger and the guide dog again to bring Francis from the autopsy room to the SCIU office. Although he has a boyish face, there are two dark circles under his eyes that are not in line with his age, and he is now deadly tired.142Please respect copyright.PENANAkDshShhXk7
John is just like the old team leader Burton Chow in terms of their attitude toward investigations. He works fast, hard, and precise, and works overtime whenever necessary. When SCIU receives a new case, he is willing to end his leave early.142Please respect copyright.PENANAwJhhmhC7za
This is in fact also an implicit rule in SCIU over the years: when there is a major case, overtime work is mandatory, except for attending a marriage or funeral of a close family member, no excuses.142Please respect copyright.PENANAxR8WTrlEbe
Yet the culture of SCIU is still quite friendly. When there is no case, you can apply for any days of leave you wish, and although the budget is tight, it is well spent on the welfare of the team members.
When they work overtime, they can order some fine food and drinks, and when they really can't stand the long working hours, there are always sofas and pillows for them to take a nap for a few hours.
Not to mention there is John, a former colleague and the current commander, who knows very well how to take care of others.
According to a female police officer who has been serving in the team for more than ten years, when John just joined SCIU eight years ago, found that she got menstrual pain during overtime work, so he immediately took out a painkiller from his drawer and gave it to her, and even taught her a set of tips on how to massage acupuncture points to ease the pain. Even more, he asked for a share of her workload, which is so caring just like a guardian angel.
John knocks on the conference table.
"'Meeting starts now. Toddler?"
"Yes sir!"
Todd is drinking black coffee when he finds out he is the first one to present. Shocked and excited, he props the edge of the table with both hands and rises to his feet, knocking over his chair, and his coffee cup bounces on the plate, making a loud clunking sound.
The team members have all been through the rookie stage and understand the nervousness, and they all let out a friendly laugh.
" Take it easy. Please report to us the basic information of this case."
John knocks on the big whiteboard in front of the conference table, on which some photos and text information printed on A4 paper are pinned up.142Please respect copyright.PENANAFXfz99G068
Todd takes a deep breath and begins to report, "At 1100 hours on 10 December 20XX, Choi Fung Street Police Station received a report from a member of the public that there was a highly decomposed nude body in a sub-divided unit of Room C, 7th floor, Choi Fung Building. After a preliminary inspection by officers from the Choi Fung Street Police Station, the case was immediately handed over to SCIU for further investigation..."
"...Evidence found at the scene shows that the tenant of this sub-divided unit is Joan Wong, a 22-year-old female sex worker who came to Hecticity two years ago and overstayed until now and that her means of attracting punters is to wear some simple costumes for role-playing. What we need to find out is: why was she murdered in her residence. And who kills -"142Please respect copyright.PENANA4ag5WcnmPM
"Todd, try not to assume anything so quickly." Francis interrupted, "The first step is to determine if the deceased is really Ms. Joan Wong. Also, we need to find out what the fatal wound is and whether Room C, 7th floor of Choi Fung Building was the primary scene."
Although Francis is right, the team members of SCIU are all a bit overprotective of newbies and are not happy with outsiders criticizing Todd. Plus they have seen or heard the way this forensic pathologist made his debut, so they cannot help but mutter in their minds.
The honorable Dr. To, the so-called expert, do you have the answers to these questions then?
SCIU needs pragmatic input, not a bunch of questions that can be passed off as professional advice!
Dino, a pimple-faced male officer, deliberately raises and drags his tone and says provocatively: "Dr. To, I suppose this is related to your field of expertise. We better shut up and wait for the PROFESSIONAL advice."
"Aw, stop embarrassing our 'very well-known' expert." Draco, another pimple-faced male officer of the team and the twin brother of Dino, also speaks in a sarcastic manner. He is seemingly in Francis's defense, but in fact, challenges him with his younger brother.
"What can be found with such a rotten corpse? Surely we can't rely on psychics to take statements from the dead? The fact that Dr. To is willing to visit the scene and examine the body himself is already a great honour to SCIU, isn't it?"
The other team members look at each other, exchanging secret glances.
John notices the reaction of his teammates, and after a short thought, he knocks on the table and reminds the twins, "Draco, Dino, pay attention to your attitude."
He does not forbid the two brothers from questioning Francis.
After all, experienced officers will more or less have some basic forensic knowledge as they have been seeing dead bodies for their whole career lives. Whether Francis is good enough to be appointed as a specialist or not still awaits proof.
Francis is being given a hard time, but he doesn't panic and asks John, "May I have the autopsy photos projected on the screen?"
"Sure. Hand over the camera to our technician Vincent, and he will help you with that."
Vincent, the technician wearing thick glasses, takes the camera, retrieves the memory card, and connects it to the computer and projector.
When the slideshow is turned on, the high-definition gory photos displayed send several team members sharply drawing a breath.
Dissecting fresh corpses is creepy enough, not to mention the fact that this one is a far more disgusting rotten carcass...
They have more or less watched some forensic-themed films and TV shows, and cannot help but substitute Francis's face into them and imagine what it would be like.
During the autopsy, the medical examiner holds a scalpel, coldly and mercilessly pierces into the body, cuts open the skin and flesh, exposes the chest cavity, and reaches out to cut and take out the organs. Within seconds, the surgical gloves are already stained with a murky, dark red colour and small clots of congealed blood.
Then, here come the electric chainsaws and rib shears, constantly producing a high-pitched, eerie sound...
Body fluid and blood spilled all over the place, while pieces of flesh and powder from broken bones scattered in all directions ......
What the hell? They definitely have to update their knowledge about how ferocious forensic pathologists are!
Francis calmly takes the laser pointer, points it at an X-ray film, and explains, " Let's start with the gender of the deceased. This is an X-ray scan, please take a look at the cranium. The characteristics of a female's cranium include a steep and straight forehead, flat eyebrows, shallow depression at the base of the nose, and convexity outside the occipital region is insignificant. All these characteristics are consistent with this body."
"It could still be a male, just with a feminine bone structure!" Dino chimes in.
Draco agrees, "Yes! Look at Carman, she's butch and doesn't have boobs or bums or any other traits of a woman other than menstruation!"
"Hey! It's called gender-neutral!"
Carman, the tomboy, has her hair cut shorter than most men's. Apart from the manly face and voice, her torso tapers from the shoulders to the waist, making her physique look like an inverted triangle. She is bold and straightforward in her manner. There is nothing in her look and personality resembling femininity, just as what the twins say.
"But Dr. To, these two arseholes do have a point. Can we judge by the skull alone? Is it accurate?"
"This is why we need to inspect the os pubis - generally known as Pubic. It shows the most basic and inherent biological differences between men and women. Here is a scan showing the os pubis of a male, which is to be compared with the X-ray film of the deceased."
As shown in the X-ray images, the shape and width of the os pubis of the deceased and the male for reference are very different from each other. The arch of the deceased's os pubis is an inverted U shape of 108°, whereas the os pubis of the male for reference has an inverted V shape of only 75°.
"The os pubis of a male will never be as wide as 108° no matter how far he deviates from the standard body shape, not to mention the absolute difference between the ischial tuberosity (the sitting bone) of male and female. This bone structure of female curves posteriorly while that of male does not."
Francis takes up a glass and drinks half a glass of water before going on.
"Regarding the question of identity, I can confirm that the deceased is Joan Wong."
Francis explains that before the meeting, he had asked Vincent, the technician, for a photo of Joan Wong's one-way permit and found a rose tattoo above her collarbone, which can also be found on the surface of the body.
The ink of the tattoo penetrates deep into the dermis and will not disappear even if the body is rotting. Moreover, since there is a series of changes in skin, muscle, and blood circulation after death, it is impossible to fake the tattoo after death.
Unique pattern and location of tattoos are strong evidence of the victim's identity, plus the large number of biological traces left in her residence - dander, hair, etc. - can also be tested and used as DNA evidence.
Francis then reports the findings of the autopsy.
There are three major injuries on Joan Wong's body: strangulation marks on her neck, as well as a dense cluster of wounds on her face and private part caused by a long, sharp weapon. She had struggled before her death, which can be determined by the purplish fingernails, petechiae in her internal organs, a swollen brain, and there are even hemorrhagic edema fluid coming out of her mouth and nose in the form of white foam.
Moreover, the strangulation must have been caused by mechanical asphyxia.
There are no crescent-shaped fingernail marks on the body's neck, but some white fibres remain in the mouth and all ten fingernails, and there are also some black crumbs in the nails, which were likely been scraped off when the victim was fighting with the murderer. The inside of the wounds are stained with a very small amount of oily substance, probably a substance attached to the murderer's weapon.
John takes a look at the transparent exhibit envelopes and nods, "The fibre could be from the murderer's clothes - this is an important finding. Toddler, you'll be responsible for sending the samples to the Identification Bureau."
"Yes Sir." Todd responds and makes another guess, "Did the murderer damage the body's face as a last blow, or was he trying to hide her identity?’
Francis shakes his head.
"The wounds on the body's face are deep, but not much blood comes out, and there were no radiating splash marks, so it can be deduced that the cuts were made after she was strangled to death. From a criminal psychological point of view, repeatedly damaging the face and private parts is a kind of revenge behaviour, so I'd say the murderer was venting his anger by such an act."
If the murderer simply wanted to make sure that he killed the victim, he should have directly inflicted serious injuries to the heart or throat, and did not have to attack her face and private parts; if he tried to hide the identity of the deceased, he would not have let her die in her own residence, and there was no need to attack her private parts as well, which would have been unnecessary.
"I can draw three kinds of inferences here: First, the murder and the subsequent mutilation took place at Room 7C of Choi Fung Building. Or, the victim was moved to Room 7C shortly after her death and her corpse was then damaged. Thirdly, she was killed elsewhere and her body was soon moved to Room 7C. I am not a fortune teller nor a psychic, so this is all I have to report within my field of expertise. Whether Room 7C of Choi Fung Building is the primary scene, whether the murder and mutilation were committed by the same person, who the culprit is, and what the motive is, are the business of SCIU."
The analysis is detailed and thorough, without any vague nonsense or bragging. What is more, he also retaliates against Draco and Dino for what they have said. The confident smile on his mixed-race face puts the two brothers in a situation where they can neither make a scene nor keep silent, so they whisper to each other to express their discontent.
"That smartass talks without breathing. Bruh, just go and run for the election of the President of Hecticity."
‘Yeah, see how Toddler react to this? He is stunned to speechless..."
Francis raises an eyebrow.
"Should I take your words as a compliment?"
"What?" The twins are dumbstruck.
‘I was known as a “problematic" child in high school that even the teachers were afraid of me; during my study at the University College London, I was the best debater of the year for six years; I taught bachelor's degree courses when I was pursuing master and doctorate degrees and served as a forensic pathologist in the Metropolitan Police Service, where I was often called to meetings and gave presentations, and I was also used to appear in court to give evidence as an expert. It will be impossible for me to do so if I don't have the eloquence."
"What the..."
The twins don't want to talk with this extremely narcissistic smart-arse anymore.
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