Tsa Chapter 8 (1/2)
Chapter 8: Erroneous Judgment
”Her microexpressions?”
”Yes The subtle changes in one’s face, often gone in a flash, reveal one’s mentality, and one is not necessarily even aware of these changes, so they are difficult to cover up This often provides us with the most authentic information”
”Did she make some unusual expressions?”
”When I gave her the other two sketches to look at I paid particular attention to the changes in her face According to convention, although it was possible for one to regard a sketch in a coiven a completely different description, it wouldn’t be particularly shocking either And the small expressions of surprise that occur on one’s face only last a second: slight widening of theIf it stays longer than a second then it’s feigned”
”Was her surprise feigned?”
”Observing her normal expression and personality, on the whole she seemed introverted, not one with an expressive face But her surprised look lasted a full five seconds It was a bit ned look of surprise But why act surprised? Simply to make me notice, to show that she had not intentionally altered her description, that it was just a lapse of memory”
”Was there anything else?” Gu Zhichang frowned, thinking
”Once I realized the difficulty I would have with her, and I applied suitable pressure, she laced her fingers together and hugged her knees Froy point of view this action is specially for keeping one’s equilibriu, I was there to help solve a case If I could find the suspect it would be helping her, so it doesn’t make sense for her to have such a defensive reaction
”The psychology interpretation is that if her eyes drift to the right when she’s answeringup and not telling me her true recollection But since I don’t know her well enough and because she was certainly behaving peculiarly, I don’t put much stock in that But after I showed her the final sketch her head tilted up slightly I interpret that as a desire to be far away, like she wanted to distance herself from the portrait”
”Why do you think she acted that way?”
”First, I didn’t take long to h to exceed the li I told her I didn’t want to disturb her work and would just make use of what time we had to ask her some questions Third, the sketch was based on the information she supplied todescriptions, so she had no reason to be dissatisfied Logically, under normal circumstances if a victim sees that the portrait looks like the suspect, they will be excited, happy, or as in the case with the last victi the experience, as if the scene were happening all over again But when I showed her the final sketch her eyes flashed with alarm and unease None of the emotions I just mentioned”
”In that case, there seems to be only one answer She hoped you wouldn’t sketch an accurate portrait, but when she saw the final result was totally unlike the culprit she felt an ineffable couilt and dread”
”It was just a guess at first, Mr Gu But after the sketch was finished she seeuard down The questions I put to her then confiruess”
”Kid, you like saving the best for last”
”You re down rain in Shanghai It rained all day without stopping”
”Yes, so the suspect earing a poncho, which turned out to be a good tool for hiding his identity”
”However, while I was packing upsupplies I asked her casually, ‘When he hit you did any water splash on your face?’”
”What did she say?”
She said no, without any hesitation”
”That’s doubtful If he earing the poncho when he entered there’s no way soet on her”
”I didn’t say anything She seeht away that she had spoken too suddenly because she quickly corrected herself and said she passed out so how could she remember those details”