SFTD -Chapter 294 Bride Who Fell From a Building (Part 3)

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly. Then he looked toward the railing wall and reached out to touch it. The wall was poured concrete, not made of any other material, but wallpaper had been pasted over it, giving it the appearance of marble-patterned surface.

He leaned in so close that his eyes were almost pressed against the wall. He asked Fengzi for a flashlight and shone it upward from below, scanning the entire railing wall. Sure enough, at about forty centimeters above the ground, he discovered a horizontal indentation.

The mark was only about three to four centimeters long, with one side deeper than the other. A faint smile appeared at the corner of Zhou Hai’s lips.

“Zhang Wenqi, take photos.”

Startled at being called, Zhang Wenqi quickly rushed forward and photographed the area Zhou Hai pointed at. Zhou Hai frowned slightly and glanced up at him, making Zhang Wenqi flinch instinctively.

“As a trace examiner, these are things you should be discovering yourself. I’m not asking you to work independently right away, but you need to stay focused. At the very least, keep up with my pace while Xiao Liang takes photos as well.”

Xiao Liang took the camera from Zhang Wenqi, attached a scale ruler, and photographed the mark from the side.

A faint breeze seemed to be stirred by Zhou Hai’s movements. At the edge of the railing, small white fibers were fluttering. Attached to them was a small piece of orange embroidered flower. Zhou Hai picked it up with tweezers and placed it into the evidence bag Xiao Liang handed over.

It seemed the deceased had fallen from this exact location.

Zhou Hai stood up and pointed toward Room 527.

“Thoroughly collect fingerprints in Room 527. Check every item in the room one by one.”

“Also find a wooden chair with square legs and round rubber anti-noise pads underneath. Seat height about 45 cm. Don’t touch it immediately when you find it—first collect fingerprints.”

Zhang Wenqi nodded hard and quickly entered Room 527.

The door was wide open. It was a standard double room with no excessive decoration. A glass-walled bathroom was right beside the entrance, with the curtain inside fully drawn open, making everything visible at a glance.

On the right side after entering were a wardrobe and a long table, on which lay a phone, a laptop, and many cosmetics. It was easy to imagine the deceased had just finished putting on makeup before her death.

Past the TV cabinet, near the floor-to-ceiling window, was a small coffee table and two semi-circular chairs.

Zhang Wenqi hurried over, lifted the chair slightly by the side, and checked the legs. They were square-shaped and had soundproof pads underneath.

This discovery excited him. He quickly began dusting for fingerprints, brushing powder over the armrests and all possible surfaces. Soon, he found more than twenty fingerprints. The large number confused him, but he still carefully collected and preserved them.

As for the bed, it had not been cleaned. A blanket lay in a wrinkled heap, and several strands of long hair were easily found on it. However, when he lifted the blanket, there was no bedsheet underneath, which puzzled him slightly. He quickly collected the hair samples and bagged them.

He even checked under the bed, but the Regent Hotel was very clean—there wasn’t even dust underneath, making it impossible to determine whether anyone had been hiding there. Finding nothing, Zhang Wenqi turned off his flashlight and stood up from the floor.

He carried the kit out.

Zhou Hai looked at him. “Finished checking?”

Zhang Wenqi felt nervous, recalled everything carefully, and nodded.

“I didn’t find anything else.”

Zhou Hai said nothing and walked straight into the room.

Fengzi was trying to stop the family members who were shouting and attempting to rush in. He hurried over to mediate, as the noise at the scene would interfere with the investigation.

Xiao Liang, observing Zhou Hai’s expression, immediately understood—Zhang Wenqi had definitely missed something. He grabbed the evidence box, pulled Zhang Wenqi along, and followed Zhou Hai back into the room.

Zhou Hai went straight to the floor-to-ceiling window behind the coffee table and pulled the curtain open.

Only then did everyone realize that it was not a sealed glass window, but a door leading to an open balcony outside.

This discovery stunned both Xiao Liang and Zhang Wenqi. Xiao Liang reacted first and bumped Zhang Wenqi’s shoulder.

“Hurry up and collect samples! The inner and outer handles of the sliding door, and check the lock carefully.”

Zhang Wenqi rushed forward to collect evidence. On the inside handle, he found a fairly complete fresh fingerprint, and even palm prints across the handle. From the pattern, it was clear the person had grabbed it firmly and directly, without hesitation or caution—something typical of the room’s owner.

As Zhang Wenqi pressed the handle, the balcony door suddenly swung open. He turned to look at Xiao Liang and Zhou Hai, slightly stunned.

“It wasn’t locked.”

The words came out before he could stop himself, and he was startled by his own voice. He quickly glanced at Zhou Hai, then slowly pushed the door fully open.

Although it was morning, the sunlight outside felt intensely hot, as the room faced east and the morning sun was especially strong.

Zhang Wenqi and Xiao Liang stepped onto the balcony.

When they looked back, Zhou Hai was already gone.

From the balcony, they looked down. The hotel exterior was mostly aligned, but each room had a recessed balcony. The balconies were separated by railings. With enough height and reach, it was possible to climb across.

They quickly collected fingerprints from both sides of the railings, but found almost none that were complete. Both of them felt slightly discouraged—could the killer not have climbed over from the balcony?

Just then, they suddenly heard a door opening from the adjacent balcony. Xiao Liang and Zhang Wenqi exchanged glances. Before they could react, someone leaned out.

“Found any fingerprints?”

Xiao Liang turned around toward the voice and saw Zhou Hai stepping over the railing from the neighboring balcony. Xiao Liang quickly reached out to help him down.

Seeing how easily Zhou Hai crossed over, it looked almost effortless.

“Brother Hai, should I check the next room?”

Zhou Hai shook his head.

“I just came over from there. That’s the deceased’s mother’s room. Let’s go out. From any fifth-floor room, reaching here isn’t difficult. For someone physically fit, it would be easy even from other floors. As long as the balcony door wasn’t locked, entry is possible.”

The three of them exited.

Fengzi had finished dealing with the deceased’s mother and was now organizing his investigation suit in the hallway. However, it was obvious the suit had been torn, and through the tears, several scratch marks could be seen on his arm.

Zhou Hai frowned slightly. “What happened?”

Fengzi smiled. “It’s fine. Probably the mother got emotionally unstable after her daughter’s death and lost control. She was shouting all kinds of strange things, saying she wanted her daughter’s computer back because it had their company’s sales records and couldn’t be seen by others.”

“The computer?”

Zhou Hai looked at Zhang Wenqi.

“You took the laptop from the deceased’s room?”

Zhang Wenqi nodded quickly and opened his evidence kit. He pulled out a large evidence bag. Inside were a laptop, cosmetics, and a mess of miscellaneous items stuffed together carelessly.

Xiao Liang immediately facepalmed. Zhou Hai would definitely be furious seeing this—he quickly reached out to help organize it, but Zhou Hai stopped him.

“This is how you collect evidence?”

“Don’t you need to number and organize items according to their original placement on the table?”

“Which school did you graduate from? Who trained you?”

Zhang Wenqi opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything. He realized he had indeed handled it poorly. He had been too rushed when Zhou Hai called him over and hadn’t followed proper procedure. But being publicly criticized in front of so many officers and onlookers made him feel embarrassed and angry.

He suddenly slammed the large evidence bag onto the kit with a loud bang and stood up.

“What, I just didn’t separate them properly—do you really need to insult me like this, Deputy Director Zhou?”

“If you think I’m not good enough, just replace me!”

“It’s just trace work anyway—I can quit if I want!”