The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

”Li Xiang, lies cannot be perfectly spun. I advise you to stop quibbling over trivial details and confess the whole truth!”

”Tell me about the specifics of that night. Why did you do what you did? What exactly happened that night?”

”This woman dragged me into it, insisting I help her dispose of the corpse.”

”Because her husband was very heavy, she couldn’t move him on her own.”

”That night, her husband was already at home. She had made him drink a lot in advance, getting him completely drunk.”

”Then the two of us carried him to the restaurant across the street, pretending that he was just drunk as if from dining, to ensure everyone would see and leave the impression that ’he was indeed drunk.’

”So that if the body was found in the river the next day, people would naturally think ’he accidentally fell into the river after drinking.’

”Choosing the restaurant across the street was intentional too, that street had more eyes at night to remember his drunken appearance.”

”And then?”

”Then... we went according to the plan.”

”What happened afterward?”

”We took him back home, and she suffocated him to death with a blanket.”

”I really didn’t lay a hand on him, she did it all by herself.”

”After suffocating him, she got on the motorcycle, and I helped her put the body on the back seat, then we went to dispose of the corpse together.”

”She was the one who killed him, not me.”

”Then what?”

”Then she rode the motorcycle, and I sat behind her, heading toward the river.”

Upon hearing this confession, Jiang An froze in place, silent for a long time.

Now, the other suspect is dead, gone without any proof, are we supposed to go by whatever he says?

Can the truth of the case be determined solely from his few light words?

”During the entire process, did you participate in the murder at all?”

Jiang An stared at him, his voice low.

”Murder?... I didn’t, really didn’t.”

”The couple had been having trouble for a long time, she always wanted a divorce, but he refused, she took drastic measures.”

”I even advised her not to do anything foolish, but in the end, she chose this wrong path.”

At this moment, Jiang An glanced at Qin Feng beside him, and for an instant when their eyes met, they both read shock and suspicion in each other’s eyes.

They silently understood: the person in front of them could very likely be the true culprit.

But where is the evidence? Where is the breakthrough?

At a critical moment, Jiang An suddenly had a flash of insight and said, ”The clothes – the clothes on your body.”

”Clothes? What do you mean?”

The other was stunned for a moment.

”I need to check the injuries on your body.”

”Injuries? I don’t have any, not a single injury.”

”Whether you have injuries or not is not important; I must check now.” Jiang An’s tone was resolute.

”Alright.”

Li Xiang hesitated, but eventually took off his coat and shirt, leaving his upper body bare except for his boxer shorts.

Jiang An’s gaze was as sharp as a blade, continuing to direct, ”Take off your boxers too.”

At this moment, Li Xiang’s face turned slightly pale.

He instinctively closed his legs together, his tone full of obvious hesitation and resistance, ”Do I...still have to take off my boxers? It’s not really convenient.”

Hearing this, Jiang An’s gaze darkened, his expression increasingly stern.

He leaned slightly forward, his tone undeniable, ”Take off your pants, remove even your boxers.”

Li Xiang hesitated for several seconds but ultimately stiffly complied.

His movements were slow, his fingers trembling slightly, as if each movement waged war against his inner resistance.

Once he was completely undressed, Jiang An pointed to a nearby chair, ”Sit down.”

Li Xiang sat down according to the instruction, his legs awkwardly open, his gaze evasive, not daring to meet anyone’s eyes.

The room’s air seemed to solidify, with only the somewhat rapid sound of his breathing remaining.

Jiang An took out a flashlight, leaned forward to scrutinize the skin at the tops of his thighs.

In the focus of the light, several bruises and marks of varying depths were clearly visible.

He concentrated for a while, straightened up, and nodded, his tone calm and firm, ”Where are these injuries from? These marks at the tops of your thighs.”

Li Xiang’s throat moved a little, his voice somewhat dry, ”I...I scratched myself. It was itchy, so I scratched myself.”

”Did you scratch yourself?”

Jiang An gently shook his head, his eyes as sharp as a knife. ”Your explanation doesn’t hold up; it might fool a layman, but not me.”

”From a forensic standpoint, these wounds are typical straddle injuries.”

”Moreover, this degree of injury usually results from a collision on a high-speed motorcycle — it’s hard to occur otherwise. The motorcycle’s back seat is relatively soft, whereas the front has a fuel tank and handlebars, which leave characteristic marks on the insides of the thighs, abdomen, and other areas upon impact.”

He paused briefly, keeping his eyes locked on Li Xiang’s evasive gaze, then continued, ”Your chest and abdomen have some subcutaneous bleeding points; these are common injury features in motorcycle accidents.”

Jiang An stepped forward, speaking deliberately, ”On the night of the incident, you were riding the motorcycle.”

”We also deduced from the traces at the scene that you showed signs of activity in the water.”

”The female victim eventually drowned in the water. She might not have been a strong swimmer, but you can swim.”

As his words fell, the interrogation room became silent.

A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes, his expression defeated, as if drained of all energy.

”I admit... I’m the one who did it.”

”We planned to throw him into the river, but didn’t expect the water to be so deep.”

”If I hadn’t learned some swimming before, I might not have survived either.”

Seeing this, Jiang An spoke with a steady and serious tone, ”Now, you need to give a detailed account of your entire crime.”

”Every step, every detail, must be truthfully told.”

”There’s nothing left for me to hide now.”

”I’ll tell you everything from start to finish.”

Jiang An gazed at him, continuing to ask, ”Then tell me, what was your motive?”

”What drove you to resort to such extreme measures?”

”Motive?” Li Xiang let out a bitter laugh, his eyes somewhat dazed.

”In the end, it was all because of the unresolved conflicts between her and her husband... Her husband often hit her; life was suffocating and hopeless.”

”Eventually, she couldn’t stand it anymore and... ended up with me.”

”After we got together, she was adamant about getting a divorce, but her husband wouldn’t agree and increasingly threatened her.”

”As time went on, the two of us felt that unless he disappeared, life couldn’t go on... So we entertained that thought.”

”So you planned from the beginning to kill him?”

”Yes... but we knew it couldn’t be done openly; it had to look like an accident.”

”There’s that road he often walks, isn’t there a river next to it?”

”We thought if he got drunk and ’accidentally’ fell into the water, most people would assume it was an accident and wouldn’t probe further.”

”How did you carry it out specifically?”

”That night, he first drank at home, then we took him across to the restaurant to keep drinking, making sure everyone saw him heavily intoxicated.”

”Around nine or ten o’clock, when he was deeply drunk, we smothered him with a pillow.”

Li Xiang’s speech slowed, his voice growing softer, ”Then, after one in the morning, when the streets were mostly empty, we set off with the body on a motorcycle, heading to the riverside.”

”How did you dispose of the body?”

”We pushed the motorcycle along with him into the river. The plan was to create the illusion of him crashing into the river with the bike, then swim ashore discreetly ourselves.”

”But who would’ve thought... the river was much deeper than expected, and for some reason, the water was particularly cold that day.”

”I swam desperately, barely managing to crawl ashore, almost exhausted.”

”I tried to pull her, but she seemed trapped by something, struggled a bit, then... went down.”

”I simply didn’t have the strength to go back in, had to watch helplessly as she vanished...”

Li Xiang’s voice began to tremble, filled with evident fear and remorse.

”What about the motorcycle?” Jiang An pressed on.

”We prepared it in advance, parked it in a concealed spot not far from the dumping site.”

”The main purpose was to leave the scene quickly post-crime, to avoid being recorded and arousing suspicion.”

”After getting ashore, I hid until daylight, mingling with morning traffic to drive away.”

The interrogation room fell into a brief silence.

Jiang An nodded slowly; the crucial storyline was substantially clear.

He finally asked, ”Is there anything else to add?”

Li Xiang remained silent for a long time before quietly murmuring, ”I... I truly regret it now. It’s like being possessed at the time, one wrong step leading to another. If I could do it over... I would never choose this path.”

Long after, a detail from the autopsy surfaced in Jiang An’s mind.

He asked solemnly, ”Was the female victim really drowned on her own?”