American forensics, but the gourmet system

Director Hunter wore an incredulous expression; he was clearly baffled as to why Russell could come to such a conclusion.

Why are you going back to the farm instead of running to a deserted place after killing someone?

That doesn't make sense!

Judging from Chief Hunter's expression, Russell could roughly guess what he was thinking.

He stood before the dried bloodstain and began to patiently explain to Chief Hunter:

"This is where Dr. Simmons was attacked, because the bloodstains look like they've been sprayed out from here."

Russell casually broke off a branch from a nearby tree, pointed to the mottled, blackened bloodstains on the fallen leaves, and continued:

"Fortunately, the fallen leaves here are thick, so the blood didn't drip onto the ground and seep into the soil, which gave us the opportunity to analyze the blood's morphology..."

"The killer pierced Simmons' heart and arteries with the weapon, so blood spurted out for a second or two before he fell, creating this splatter pattern."

"As the heart contracts, blood is squeezed out of the wound. Because of the angle with the ground, large bloodstains will appear as parallel streaks, and blood spots will become oval."

Determining the morphology of bloodstains is the most fundamental knowledge in bloodstain analysis.

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In fact, simulating the appearance of bloodstains is relatively easy in daily life; thick, freshly squeezed juice can be used to simulate blood.

Using a relatively thick syringe, remove the needle and gently spray the juice out. The trace left on the ground will roughly resemble the appearance of blood spurting from an artery.

"Then Dr. Simmons fell backward." Russell pointed with a twig to a large pool of blood next to him and continued his analysis to Chief Hunter, "The blood here has pooled together; it was formed by a large amount of blood flowing down."

Chief Hunter understood most of it.

He nodded and then asked:

"How did you determine that he headed towards the farm restaurant, Dr. Russell?"

"Because of these few drops of blood." Russell pointed to the largest pool of blood, where there were indeed a few drops of blood dripping onto the leaves.

"And these few drops of blood are the shape of the blood that dripped down, because these blood spots are not oval, but perfectly round..."

"Furthermore, there are very few small burrs at the edges of the bloodstain due to splattering, indicating that the bloodstain dripped from a relatively low height. That also means—"

Chief Hunter suddenly realized:

"Is this blood dripping from the murder weapon?"

“Correct.” Russell snapped his fingers. “After committing the crime, the killer stood here, blood dripping from the weapon. Perhaps he did some thinking here, perhaps he confirmed Dr. Simmons’ death here… In any case, he lingered here for a moment. And then—”

Russell took a step toward the restaurant, pointing the twig in his hand at a drop of blood, then another.

The bloodstains have returned to an oval shape.

"The murder weapon in the killer's hand was still dripping blood. The tiny bristles around the edges of the bloodstains were still almost invisible, indicating that the height from which the drops fell did not change much. And the fact that they returned to an oval shape was because the killer was moving."

"More importantly, these oval-shaped bloodstains all grew small tails, and these small tails pointed in the direction the murderer left."

Russell tossed the branch outside the cordon and shrugged.

"So I concluded that the killer left in the direction of the farm restaurant, not the other way around."

"So professional, so incredibly professional."

Chief Hunter gave a thumbs up, his skeptical expression on his chubby face completely turning into admiration.

However, he immediately put on a bitter face and said:

"But we've checked all the surveillance footage from the farm around the time of the incident, and we didn't find anything unusual..."

"Then check again. There must be some omissions..."

Omissions...

Russell paused, realizing that he might have overlooked something important in his analysis...

What is it?

After thinking it over carefully, he confirmed his conclusion in his mind.

There may be omissions, but they do not affect the final result.

"Okay." Chief Hunter nodded. "Then I'll have people continue the investigation... Do you think it's possible that the killer is someone who knows the blind spots of the farm's surveillance system very well? Although he headed towards the farm's dining hall, he avoided all the places where surveillance cameras were installed?"

"Of course it's possible," Russell shrugged. "But it's also possible they left around the houses behind the farm restaurant, where there are no security cameras."

Russell pointed in the direction of the farm restaurant, where a row of houses completely blocked the view of the restaurant.

"That's the farm restaurant's warehouse and freezer..." Chief Hunter muttered. "They keep the beef and lamb they bring back from the slaughterhouse there... Okay, I'll have them check the security footage again..."

Chief Hunter left, Russell emerged from the cordon, and Aina and Clarkson had been waiting there.

"Any new developments?" Aina asked with concern.

"We've roughly determined the killer's escape route..." Russell said, patting Kawhi's head. "Can you help us find the murder weapon, Kawhi?"

Mr. Clarkson chuckled to himself:

"Little Ka is just trying his luck, Dr. Russell...you really think of it as a police dog?"

"We could let Little Ka give it a try," Aina said expectantly. "I think it's very clever; what if it finds the murder weapon?"

……

Half an hour later.

Little Ka stood beside a withered, fallen oak tree, wagging its tail happily.

Russell, Aina, and Clarkson stood side by side, looking at each other.

Aina blinked and said:

"Okay... even if I'm not a forensic doctor, I can tell these things aren't murder weapons..."

A pile of tiny bones lay scattered beneath the fallen tree trunk. Little Ka seemed quite interested in them, lowering his head and sniffing them incessantly.

"It was some kind of small animal... that had been dead for over a year."

Since Russell had not minored in animal taxonomy, he naturally couldn't tell which animal the pile of bones belonged to.

However, he can use his knowledge of forensic anthropology to determine the approximate time of the animal's death.

Its skeleton had completely turned to white bone, and most of its skin and fur had rotted away, so even carrion-eating insects had no interest in it.

The time since death must be at least one year.

“It’s a raccoon,” Mr. Clarkson continued. “A common North American raccoon, the only native species of raccoon in the entire United States… I’ve assembled quite a few of its skeletons at work, and this one looks pretty complete…”

"Huh?" Russell was slightly surprised. "You used to be—"

"I was a taxidermist at the Miami Museum before I retired."

Clarkson raised his hand and smoothed his slightly graying hair, with a sense of pride reminiscing about his glorious past.

"I'm in charge of making and maintaining animal specimens for the museum... You know what, seeing these raccoon bones has really gotten me itchy to put them in my hands... Did you bring a bag to pack them, Russell? I'm thinking of putting these bones back in my old days... You know what I mean."

Russell rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a large evidence bag, which he handed to Clarkson.

……

After confirming that Kawhi's talent was limited to finding human and raccoon remains, the three returned empty-handed.

However, they weren't the only ones who returned empty-handed.

Chief Hunter returned to the crime scene, muttering on the phone, his expression not particularly pleasant.

"It's lunchtime." Clarkson glanced at his watch. "Although we're forced to stay here, I still hope the farm restaurant will treat us as guests..."

Russell was also a little hungry.

The three hit it off immediately, bypassed the crime scene which was cordoned off, and headed towards the farm restaurant.

The row of houses between the restaurant and the woods, which Chief Hunter described as warehouses and cold storage, had a van parked in front of it.

Two men in work clothes were lifting half a pig off the truck.

Russell suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He stared intently at the two men carrying the pork, a mixture of excitement, agitation, and regret welling up inside him.

"What's wrong, Russell?"

Aina noticed Russell's unusual behavior and immediately stopped.

"I did miss some clues, Aina..." Russell sighed and said softly, "I think I know what weapon the killer used to kill Dr. Simmons..."