Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 314 Theory and Practice

Finding a case in the foggy city was incredibly easy; within two days, Lestrade had found one for Levi.

"The case itself is actually not complicated."

Upon arriving at the scene, Lestrade began to introduce the place to Levi.

"The incident occurred on the third floor of the apartment building. A family on the third floor came home from get off work and found the door next door open. Out of curiosity, they went over to look and found a body lying inside. They immediately called the police."

"Hmm, has the deceased's identity been confirmed?"

"It's confirmed. It's Charlotte Chris, a typist from Praxair Typing Shop, and also the resident of this room."

Typists were somewhat similar to modern office workers, mainly responsible for typing on a typewriter. Since computers were not as convenient as they were in that era, and typewriters were also quite cumbersome, many people would hire professional typists to dictate their thoughts and have the typists type them down.

Even professions like writers would hire typists to work for them. In this era, being a typist was a relatively easy and normal job for women with some education, and it also allowed them to meet men from different social classes.

Of course, the requirements for typists are also very high. Unlike WPS or WORD on a computer, where you can just delete and retype if you make a mistake, if you make a mistake on a typewriter, you have to tear up the whole page and retype it.

Therefore, this profession, to some extent, has a very low margin for error.

"What was the cause of death?"

"He was stabbed in the chest, but no murder weapon was found at the scene; only the perpetrator's bloody footprints remained."

This is also why Lestrade brought Levy and Professor Henry along; having readily available bloody footprints makes things much easier.

As they were talking, Levi arrived at the crime scene. There stood a thin man with glasses and a serious expression. According to Lestrade, this was Professor Henry.

"Hello, Professor Henry."

Levi stepped forward and extended his hand to Professor Henry.

“I am Li Wei, a detective. I have read your “Examination of Footprint Phenomena”, “Explanation of Footprint Verification and Accumulation”, and “Cross-comparison of Footprints in Different Environments”... I have benefited greatly from them.

"Ah, um, hello..."

Professor Henry looked at Levi's outstretched hand with a complicated expression. He hadn't originally planned to shake hands with Levi, but Levi rattled off his three papers in one breath, and it seemed he had clearly read them. So he felt bad about refusing to give him face and could only reluctantly shake hands with Levi.

However, even so, it doesn't mean Professor Henry has nothing to say.

"Since you've read my paper, you should know that my footprint analysis hasn't yet reached the stage where it can be applied in practice..."

Li Wei smiled slightly at Professor Henry's statement.

"I think you may have misunderstood our requirements."

"Misunderstand?"

“That’s right, seeing is believing. Take this scene for example… Mr. Lestrade, may we begin extracting and testing the footprints now?”

"Huh? Oh, of course."

"Then please, Professor Henry."

Levi gestured to Professor Henry.

“You can try to process and extract information from these bloody footprints. I think that shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

"Hmm... I can give it a try."

Professor Henry was clearly uncomfortable looking at the bloody footprints on the ground, but as a scholar, he nodded, put his briefcase aside, took out his tools, and began to carefully study the bloody footprints. Levi, on the other hand, didn't care and wandered around the scene.

Professor Henry, being a professional, gave his answer after a long pause.

"This is the result I arrived at."

Hearing Professor Henry speak, Levi also came over and looked at his notebook with Inspector Lestrade.

[Height between 175-180 cm, age between 20-25 years old]

"I'm only analyzing based on my own experience with footprints; there's no way to measure them more precisely..."

"No, this is enough."

Levi interrupted Professor Henry and looked at Lestrade, who chuckled in response.

“Yes, Professor Henry, that’s enough.”

"That's enough? How can that be?"

Upon hearing their answers, Professor Henry frowned and looked serious.

“This area is still quite large. How can you possibly catch the criminal with just this? We need to conduct more precise testing…”

"That's why I said you're not very familiar with police investigations."

Levi interrupted Professor Henry's rebuttal with another smile, which surprised Professor Henry for a moment.

"What does it mean?"

"You don't actually think we'd take your guess and search the entire apartment building or the whole of Fog City for people who fit the criteria, and then just grab anyone who does and ask them questions, do you?"

"Isn't that... the case?"

"of course not."

Li Wei shook his head.

"Perhaps Lestrade... well, the officer didn't explain clearly, but for crime scene investigation, footprint analysis isn't used in the way you think."

"How do I use it?"

Dr. Henry also became curious.

"Of course, they are used together."

With that, Levi led Professor Henry to the crime scene and pointed to the scene first.

"Look, the victim was found lying in the kitchen, with a teapot and tea canister next to her. This means that she was about to make tea when the incident occurred. Moreover, there were no signs of the door lock being pried open or damaged. Therefore, based on this preliminary observation, we can determine that the murderer and the victim knew each other. The murderer knocked on the door, and the victim opened it to make tea for the murderer. The murderer then took the opportunity to kill her and escape."

"Ah, um..."

Professor Henry was completely bewildered by what Li Wei was saying. After all, he was only focused on studying footprints and knew absolutely nothing about criminal investigation.

"The scene showed no signs of disturbance, indicating the killer's motive wasn't money, and these kinds of murders are usually related to romantic relationships. Our next step in apprehending the killer is to search among those who had a close relationship with the victim, such as her boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, or even a colleague who had a crush on her. It's at this point that your footprint analysis comes in handy..."

"So you mean my footprint analysis was used to help the police filter the killer from a group of suspects?"

Professor Henry wasn't really stupid; he understood now that Levi had explained it to him.

“That’s right, Professor Henry. You might think that footprint analysis requires extreme precision, but police investigations don’t actually need that level of accuracy. Just bring in a few suspects whose footprints match your report, and then compare them one by one with the fingerprints found at the scene. Of course, it would be best to find the murder weapon and match the fingerprints on it to identify the killer.” “I see…”

Professor Henry then realized that, indeed, as a scholar, he strived for rigor when writing papers, since rigorous verification is the foundation of any academic paper. However, in practical applications, such rigor and precision are not necessary. Of course, if you could do it even better, or even if you couldn't, having a rough reference value would be enough to help the police screen out some suspects.

"If that's the case, I can make some further modifications."

As he spoke, Professor Henry took out a pen, drew a line on the paper, and changed the age to "20-23 years old".

"Is the area smaller than before?"

"Yes, when I was doing footprint research, I also compared the different walking characteristics of men, women, and children of different ages. His footprints showed a relatively large stride distance, which is quite similar to that of students of that age in the Master's program..."

"Then let's look for it according to this method."

Lestrade handed the note to the officer at the scene. He had been promoted and wouldn't have come to the scene if Levi hadn't wanted to use this opportunity to persuade Professor Henry.

Even Li Wei was too lazy to solve this case; it was just too easy. Just like he had told Professor Henry before, there were no signs of disturbance at the scene, the female victim was young and beautiful, and the murderer killed her with a single blow. It was most likely a romantic relationship issue. If you go back and check your interpersonal relationships and compare your alibis, any police officer could basically solve the case.

Moreover, Professor Henry has even outlined the murderer's physical characteristics, just like a teacher outlining the scope of the exam before a final exam. If they still can't catch the murderer, it must be because they haven't studied hard enough.

So Li Wei suggested that everyone go to a coffee shop to sit and chat. Professor Henry, after learning how his footprint analysis was actually used in forensic investigations, relaxed a lot. If it were to definitively identify the murderer like fingerprinting, it certainly wouldn't be enough. But it's certainly sufficient for narrowing down the scope and screening criminal suspects. It doesn't need to be as strict as fingerprinting.

This sparked Professor Henry's interest.

He wasn't truly detached from worldly affairs. For one thing, professors also need to mentor students, and students do research not only out of interest but also for work. It's precisely for this reason that anthropology has never been particularly popular; it was only after Galton's work on fingerprinting that people saw its potential applications and a significant number of students enrolled.

But in other aspects, it's hard to say...

In Li Wei's view, anthropology is actually the easiest discipline to connect with the police, because in addition to studying human culture and civilization, the most important thing about anthropology is the study of the human body.

To study the human body, one must dissect it.

what is that?

Isn't it just a forensic doctor?

Currently, the empire has very few forensic doctors; there are almost no full-time ones, only part-time ones. Some surgeons have also retired and become forensic doctors because they are too old to perform surgeries.

In any case, the corpse wouldn't care how much he cut his own body.

For anthropologists, especially those who specialize in studying the human body, being able to perform forensic procedures would mean having a legitimate and legal opportunity to dissect human bodies.

For the police, this is also a good thing. Apart from the victims of crimes, the police station receives the most bodies from homeless people on the streets. These bodies are left uncollected and eventually handed over to the police. The police don't know what to do; they can't just dig a mass grave and bury them.

The city of fog is only so big, where are we supposed to dig?
Levi also suggested to Lestrade that the bodies of these homeless people be donated to the Department of Anthropology at the Royal Academy of Sciences. This way, the police would dispose of the bodies they didn't know how to handle, the professors would have the opportunity to legally dissect the bodies, and the remains could be preserved in formalin and used as teaching aids…

Professor Henry wholeheartedly agreed, pointing out that this is the downside of studying anthropology. If you're studying cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, cows, or sheep, you can just capture them and study them. But humans are different. It's not like the era when slavery was legal anymore. As a professor, you can't exactly go out on the street and start looking at people's feet.

From this perspective, those who study bones have an easier time than them.

Professor Henry could even imagine the scene when the police delivered the body to the Department of Anthropology at the Master's School—a chaotic scene of dismemberment, with everyone rushing in to examine the hair, the brain, the ears, the eyes, the tongue, the heart, the kidneys… meticulously dissecting each part, leaving probably not even a single piece of flesh on the morgue…

Fortunately, human rights aren't that great in this era. In Professor Henry's view, as long as the police are willing to use him and it's not illegal, that's enough.

Just as the two were having a pleasant conversation, a police officer walked in, came up to Lestrade, and saluted.

"Sir, the murderer has been arrested and brought to justice."

"Oh? So fast?"

Professor Henry was taken aback by the answer, and Lestrade was also somewhat surprised, looking at the police officer.

"Tell me what happened?"

"Yes, based on the existing clues, we investigated the victim's interpersonal relationships and learned that the victim had two boyfriends..."

"No wonder."

Upon hearing this, Lestrade lit a cigarette, appearing completely unfazed.

Gambling leads to theft, and adultery leads to murder; this is an age-old truth that applies to every world.

"The murderer was one of the victim's boyfriends. According to the murderer's own account, after he learned about this, he had been trying to persuade his girlfriend to break up with the other man. However, his girlfriend believed that the other boyfriend was richer than him and was unwilling to break up. So, in the end, the murderer decided to kill her."

"By the way, what's the killer's age and height?"

"22 years old, 180 cm tall."

"It's consistent with Professor Henry's assessment."

Lestrade chuckled at Professor Henry, who was also pleased, while Levi asked a question out of curiosity.

"By the way, what about the other boyfriend? Why wasn't he listed as a suspect?"

"Yes, my other boyfriend is 170cm tall, 40 years old, and a doctor."

"Oh, one provides the money, and the other provides the labor."

Li Wei nodded without saying much. It was alright; the girl was quite sensible, managing not to produce four wallets.

No wonder the murderer was so determined; a 20-year-old girl dating a 40-year-old doctor…

"Is that doctor married?"

"get married."

"oh……………"

She was still a mistress.

"What's wrong with young people these days?"

Professor Henry understood the whole story and shook his head in dismay, while Levi chuckled and changed the subject.

"That's how crime is. Criminals' motives are all the same, but their methods are constantly evolving. By the way, Professor Henry, why don't you go and take another look at that murderer, compare it with your own judgment, and make a summary?"

"That's good."

Upon hearing Levi's suggestion, Professor Henry nodded, while Lestrade looked at Levi curiously and asked.

How do you summarize this?

When Lestrade asked him a question, Levi shrugged.

"Let him walk around a bit if he has nothing to do."

(End of this chapter)