Case 1.4: Luggage
“M-16 is a person.” The technician projected the preliminary investigation results onto the screen. “His real identity is still being verified, but this code name carried a lot of weight in that small group in the past. He was said to be a very intelligent person who suddenly disappeared.”
People were buzzing with discussion, speculating that this "M" might be a henchman, manager, or even a hidden investor at the karaoke bar.
Only Fan Jinci's gaze faltered almost imperceptibly for a moment upon hearing the code name "M-16." He lowered his eyes, his long eyelashes casting a faint shadow on his pale face, shutting out all emotion. He said nothing, simply picking up the heavy metal report, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the edge of the paper.
Yu Yan noticed his unusual behavior almost immediately. He was all too familiar with every subtle reaction of Fan Jinci. This silence was not one of contemplation, but rather... a silence born of recognition.
He didn't press the matter on the spot, but simply moved his feet slightly closer to Fan Jinci, their shoulders almost touching, offering a silent support and inquiry.
Fan Jinci sensed his approach and shook his head very slightly, indicating that now was not the time.
One night passed.
Early in the morning, the sharp ringing of the telephone shattered the temporary tranquility.
The owner of the guesthouse is dead. In the room she ran, where fragments of a puzzle piece were found.
The scene has been preliminarily secured by the local police station. When Yu Yan and Fan Jinci arrived with their team, they found the proprietress lying face up on the fragments of the jigsaw puzzle carpet (most of which had been taken away by the police as evidence), her eyes wide open, her lips slightly purple, and a broken teacup lying beside her. The tea had splashed onto the carpet and emitted a faint, bitter smell that was different from the fragrance of jasmine.
There were no obvious external injuries or signs of forced entry.
"He seems terrified, or... he may have suddenly fallen ill?" the local police officer whispered, guessing.
Fan Jinci had already put on gloves and a mask, his eyes as cold as ice. "Step back," he said in a low, unyielding voice.
In the temporarily requisitioned county hospital's autopsy room, the stark white light of the operating lamp shone on the lifeless face of the landlady.
Fan Jinci's scalpel precisely made a Y-shaped incision. The air was filled with the scent of formaldehyde and a faint, almost imperceptible aroma of bitter almonds.
Yu Yan stood to the side, silently acting as an assistant, but his eyes were always fixed on Fan Jinci's every move and subtle expression.
“Slight bleeding points in the neck muscles,” Fan Jinci pointed with tweezers. “Fragmentation of the greater horn of the hyoid bone.”
“It’s not an acute illness,” Yu Yan said in a deep voice.
"Hmm." Fan Jinci responded and continued the examination. "Pupils are constricted, and the mucous membranes are bright red... typical signs of poisoning."
He collected stomach contents and blood samples for testing, but preliminary tests pointed to the highly toxic substance [unclear - possibly a poison or substance].
However, when examining the landlady's left hand, Fan Jinci paused. He lifted the deceased's hand and pointed out some extremely fine blue plastic fragments, different from the carpet material, under her fingernails, as well as a small patch of dried, dark red marks, as if she had scratched something.
“She struggled,” Fan Jinci said without any change in his voice. “She scratched the murderer. These… came from the murderer.”
Immediately afterwards, he discovered a very short, dark gray fiber that did not belong to the proprietress, hidden between her tightly clenched right fist.
"To silence her," Yu Yan concluded, his eyes sharp. "The murderer was afraid she would reveal something."
Fan Jinci took off his gloves, looked at Yu Yan, and finally voiced the guess he had been keeping silent about since last night: "M-16."
Before Yu Yan could react, his phone vibrated. It was an urgent message from Situ Jin, regarding the DNA comparison results of the extra ring finger bone.
Fan Jinci glanced at it once, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
The finger bone fragment matched the DNA of the guesthouse owner, indicating a maternal kinship.
—It belongs to the owner's daughter, who went missing back in 2016.
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