Chapter 372: The Strange Drowning (2/2)

”No,” Xiaotao shook her head. “There’s nothing here that could drown a man!”

We entered a room with a man lying on the bed still dressed in his undershirt, suspenders and boxers. His skin was deathly pale. Upon examining his features, I was astonished. Wasn't this the burly man we met on the ghost bus last night?

Noticing my prolonged stare, Xiaotao asked, ”What's the matter? Do you know this man?”

”I don't know him but I met him once. He was on the ghost bus last night. We exchanged a few words.”

Regardless of the coincidence, I began with the autopsy, putting on my rubber gloves. The victim was about 45 years old, slightly overweight, and stood at 1.7 meters tall. The time of death was about five hours ago. His whole body appeared pale and wrinkled, known as washerwoman skin, a phenomenon that only occurred after a body had been soaked in water for a certain period of time.

I noticed some mud under his fingernails and aquatic plants on his body. Grabbing the Echolocation Rod, I listened to his chest, then opened his mouth and examined the interior. ”His lungs are filled with water and displays signs of oral mucosa trauma. There’s a large amount of fluid in his stomach, which is typical in drowning.”

When I moved the Echolocation Rod to his abdomen, I heard signs of spleen rupture as if he had been beaten.

I checked the victim’s skin and found bruises and broken ribs. A quick examination of the back of the victim’s head revealed depressions in the skull. I turned the body over and discovered blood clots in the back of his head suggesting a blow by some blunt object.

There were no obvious lacerations on this skin which indicated the weapon was either smooth and rounded or wrapped with something soft.

I cut the victim’s clothes and looking downwards, I noted, ”The victim had sexual intercourse before his death!”

Fixing my gaze on the naked body, I analyzed, ”It looks like he was kicked in the abdomen, but after being soaked in water for quite some time, the traces are no longer obvious. Anyway, I'll try to find it.”

I grabbed the Autopsy Umbrella and got Xiaotao to open the window. Under the Autopsy Umbrella, a faint footprint appeared on the victim’s abdomen. The killer was most likely an adult man over 1.75 meters tall.

”But here lies the problem–how could he have been drowned in this flat?”

”That’s not a problem at all!” I grinned.

I turned the Autopsy Umbrella and found similar footprints on the ground. They appeared heavier as if the owner of the footprints was carrying a heavy object. I followed the footprints out the door and downstairs where they disappeared on the road, replaced by vague tire marks.

”The victim was attacked, drowned, and then transported here!” I surmised.

Xiaotao mused, ”This man looks quite heavy. Why did the murderer go to great lengths to get him out of the water and move him to a rented flat?”

”This is indeed a cause for suspicion. Perhaps the original crime scene is very close to the murderer’s place of residence. Or maybe there were some traces and evidence difficult to remove at the crime scene.”

”Can you pinpoint the original crime scene?”

”Since the murderer drove here, the search radius is rather wide. It’ll take too much time to locate the original crime scene. Let’s continue looking for clues from the body.”

We U-turned and headed back into the flat where a stack of cash and a knife were discovered in one drawer, and several pornographic pictures often found in hotels scattered in another drawer.

Additionally, the room was left in a mess with empty alcohol bottles strewn all over the floor, evident of the victim’s drinking habit. My intuition told me the victim was probably on the wrong side of the law.

A thought suddenly crossed my mind. ”Where’s the victim's cell phone?”

”We couldn’t find it!” answered Xiaotao.

Thinking back to the clothes he had worn last night, I gathered he wouldn’t have had the time to change if the attack happened four hours ago. The murderer was the only one who could’ve removed his coat. Perhaps important evidence had been left on that coat.

A thorough scrutiny of the body revealed parallel abrasions on the back of his leg which was left while the victim was still alive. I endeavored to restore the positions of the murderer and victim in my head. From all the traces I found, it was clear that the murderer had kicked the victim into the water. The blow on the back of the victim’s head was most likely caused when the victim resurfaced to call for help. The blow was heavy enough to cause a seizure. The victim eventually sank to the bottom and drowned...

Thus, the distance from the surface to the edge of the water was rather close, only an arm’s length at most, but the water was deep enough to submerge and drown an adult man.