SFTD -Chapter 39 Mystery of the Dry Bones (Part 3)

Zhou Hai looked at him. “That’s a very good question! The victim didn’t lose her teeth because they were extracted or knocked out by trauma. It was most likely due to premature loss of baby teeth, which caused the dental arch to become too short, affecting normal development. For a condition like hers, the best treatment window would’ve been between the ages of seven and eleven. Ordinary orthodontic correction for permanent teeth is usually done between twelve and eighteen. The younger the patient is during the growth stage, the easier it is to stabilize the results. But the victim was already twenty-one years old. At that age, orthodontic treatment wouldn’t be very ideal, and the time spent wearing braces would be much longer. However, this tells us something important!”

Fengzi looked at Zhou Hai in confusion. It was just a set of braces, yet Zhou Hai had somehow drawn conclusions from it.

“What information?”

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes and stared at the victim’s mandible.

“It tells us dental care is expensive. Even in the United States, seeing a dentist burns through money. I had one wisdom tooth removed, and it cost me over a thousand dollars.”

A flock of imaginary crows seemed to fly over everyone’s heads. They were discussing a murder case—how had this suddenly turned into American dentistry? But Zhou Hai immediately continued.

“The victim chose to get orthodontic treatment as an adult, which means her family was poor when she was young. Her parents likely weren’t highly educated either, otherwise they would’ve spent the money to correct her teeth earlier.

Of course, she may not even have had a mother. Men usually don’t pay attention to details like this.

Now she’s getting treatment, and she’s even wearing this strange DIY-style brace.

That tells us she’s earning money now, but not very much.

So my conclusions are:

• Female victim
• Height between 162 and 164 centimeters
• Twenty to twenty-one years old
• Low level of education
• Working in the urban-rural fringe area of Duping City
• Meager income
• Parents are farmers, or she was raised only by her father
• Average appearance
• Has a boyfriend, or at least someone she likes

“Oh!

Almost forgot—she had long hair. The roots were over six centimeters of black hair, while the lower part had been dyed chestnut-brown. She probably dyed it around the Spring Festival.”

Xu Biao’s tiny eyes widened as he stared at Zhou Hai.

How cool was this?

The victim was nothing more than a pile of bones now, yet Zhou Hai could still analyze so much. Those people really ought to see this.

Fengzi looked completely awestruck.

“That was incredible! It sounds almost mystical at first, but the more you think about it, the more every point makes sense. I noticed those details too, but I never dug into the reasons behind them.”

Zhou Hai merely glanced at him without speaking, but Fengzi saw encouragement in that look.

Xiao Liang had already returned after delivering the samples for testing. He reached out to take the braces Zhou Hai handed over and sealed them separately into an evidence bag.

Zhou Hai, Fengzi, and Xiao Liang began examining the victim’s limbs and torso bones. There were no fractures or signs of mechanical injury in those areas.

Fengzi straightened his aching back and rolled his neck. Being tall made back pain unavoidable.

“The victim didn’t resist or struggle.”

“Mm. Let’s look at the skull.”

As he spoke, Zhou Hai placed the skull beneath the large magnifying lamp beside the autopsy table. A ring of adjustable LED lights surrounded the magnifier. It was the only piece of equipment Zhou Hai had specifically requested after arriving at the center. The function was simple, but the price was anything but.

Aside from the holes pierced by the screwdriver, there was a tiny semicircular indentation at the center of the skull’s crown. It was so shallow it was nearly impossible to notice unless the skull was rotated carefully.

At the same time, a very fine fracture line was found on the left parietal bone.

“This is a linear fracture.”

Fengzi sounded excited, his eyes glowing as he pointed at the crack.

Zhou Hai glanced at it and nodded.

“Yes. That explains your earlier observation—why the victim suffered such brutal injuries yet showed no signs of resistance. She was attacked directly and lost consciousness. Afterward, she was stabbed repeatedly in rapid succession, leaving her incapable of fighting back. But what caused this indentation?”

Holding a pen, Zhou Hai traced the direction of the fracture line and placed the pen against it. Yet the semicircular dent wasn’t on the same plane. Even extending the imaginary line of the stick couldn’t reach that angle.

That meant three different tools had likely been involved in the victim’s injuries: the screwdriver, a wooden stick, and this unidentified semicircular object.

“Could the fracture and this wound have been caused by the same weapon?”

Fengzi took the skull and demonstrated with another pen, placing it horizontally above Zhou Hai’s pen. Together, the two pens formed a T-shape. With a simple motion, both injury points aligned perfectly in a single action.

Zhou Hai and Fengzi spoke in unison.

“A hammer!”

Xu Biao frowned at the skull in their hands.

“Not necessarily, right? If it were a hammer, one hard strike with the metal head would’ve knocked her unconscious for sure. Why go through all the trouble of hitting her with the wooden handle first, then switching weapons to kill her after she passed out?”

“Looks like Xu Biao’s IQ shoots up after a full meal. I was wondering the same thing. Boss, explain it for us.”

Zhou Hai examined the skull once more.

“That’s exactly the part bothering me. The force and angle of the wound on the crown are very different from the screwdriver wounds. Either there was a third person involved in attacking the victim, or the attacker wasn’t using full force.”

“Not using full force? The victim’s already dead—why would there be any reason to hold back? What, were they chatting casually and someone just randomly swung a hammer?”

Zhou Hai knew Xu Biao had a point.

“The truth can only be known once we catch the killer. Xu Biao, tell us about the bloodstains you found at the scene.”

“Ten meters away at the victim’s nine o’clock direction, we found a pool of blood shaped like a gourd.

There were lots of spatter-like blood droplets on the surrounding leaves, shrubs, and grass. But beside the blood pool was a blank area, obviously where the killer had been standing.

At the same spot, we also found wipe marks of blood on a tree trunk. Drip-shaped bloodstains extended all the way toward where the victim’s skeleton was discovered before disappearing.

The killer deliberately hid her there because the woods were denser, and the top was covered as well.

If Duping hadn’t been trying to create a ‘sanitary city,’ the sanitation workers never would’ve gone there to clear garbage. After an entire winter buried beneath fallen leaves, the bloodstains at the scene had practically vanished.”

Zhou Hai remained silent for a long while, staring thoughtfully at the sutures of the skull. Half speaking to himself, he murmured:

“If there really were two people assaulting the victim, the other person wouldn’t have remained this ‘well-behaved,’ leaving behind no clues except this injury. If the other person was a man, then the victim must’ve known him well to come meet him in a place like this. The victim and killer definitely knew each other well. They could’ve been coworkers, villagers, classmates, or friends.”

He opened the crime scene photos. The position of the victim’s skeleton appeared on the LCD monitor beside the autopsy table.

“Look! The victim’s right leg was bent and tied with stockings, while the left leg was spread apart as well. At the scene, I still wasn’t completely certain. But now I can say without hesitation that the victim was sexually assaulted before she was killed. I believe this is a rape-murder case. The killer may have acted in a crime of passion. The blow from the hammer handle was probably an accidental first strike. Afterward, something the victim did or said enraged him, pushing him to commit murder. Xiao Liang, has Sister Zeng’s test result come back yet?”