National Forensic Doctor

30: Chapter 30 Captain Wei is good 30: Chapter 30 Captain Wei is good Jiang Yuan recorded several cases mentioned by Wei Zhenguo on paper before searching for them one by one in the computer.

As Wei Zhenguo said, there were a total of three cases.

One involved a forest and was a bona fide case of arson, but no fingerprints were captured.

The other two did capture fingerprints, but one was a near-scrap tractor that had been set on fire, and the other was an uninhabited old house.

The fingerprints found at the latter two scenes were very poor, incomplete and deformed, to say the least.

Jiang Yuan guessed that the local police station’s officers might have conducted the on-site investigation without considering the problem of fingerprints being burned; they simply dusted with powder and stuck on tape…

When the fingerprints made it to the criminal investigation team’s trace examination, regardless of whether they were taken seriously or not, Jiang Yuan knew from his accurate assessment of Yan and the others’ skills, that such fingerprints were beyond their ability to process.

Of course, there was no need to blame anyone.

Just as most ordinary people can’t get into top universities, can’t get into key high schools or primary schools, don’t have parents who are industry leaders, don’t come from distinguished families, can’t become elite in their field, nor have the incredible luck to get an external boost…

The county bureau’s requirements for technical officers certainly couldn’t be TV drama level.

Fingerprints that were not of major case caliber wouldn’t catch the attention of expert bigwigs.

Mere cases of a few thousand yuan in value could only receive conventional treatment.

However, if these three cases could be linked to the previous greenhouse arson case, it would be a different story.

“Please, have a seat,” Jiang Yuan returned to the office.

Wei Zhenguo followed him in.

As a criminal police officer himself, he was also a busy man, but he still wanted to see Jiang Yuan’s level of expertise—trace examination was the technical part most familiar to ordinary officers, who could generally manage daily tasks like comparing fingerprints on fingerprint cards.

Jiang Yuan sat up straight, ready to take a good look at these few fingerprints.

He first downloaded the fingerprints from the burned tractor case, and as he looked at the image, he fell into deep thought.

This fingerprint caught his eye, giving Jiang Yuan a sense of familiarity.

Jiang Yuan had spent a week going over the fingerprints from the greenhouse arson case, and now upon seeing this newly downloaded fingerprint, images began to form in his mind.

The images weren’t quite the same, but there was a certain degree of similarity.

Considering factors like deformation and exposure to fire and sun, what Wei Zhenguo had mentioned earlier could indeed be possible.

Both sets of fingerprints were incomplete in their own ways, making it difficult to prove they were from the same person.

Combining the two into one was similarly challenging.

Nevertheless, compared to the Wen Township arson case, the burned tractor case had three fingerprints collected at the point of origin, all with better integrity.

Jiang Yuan shook his head and rubbed his fingers before picking up the mouse and skillfully dragging the fingerprint into Photoshop.

Adjusting tones, contrast, and filtering background…

Jiang Yuan now performed these tasks as smoothly as a fishmonger gutting fish, an abalone seller shucking shells, a stripper undressing—an eye-dazzling spectacle.

Captain Wei, who had previously seen trace examiners match fingerprints, was familiar with their hesitant and painstaking movements, which could easily lead someone to confuse a fishmonger for an abalone seller, an abalone seller for a stripper, a stripper for a fishmonger…

“This fingerprint is promising,” Jiang Yuan quickly marked 10 characteristic points and sent it for automatic matching.

A column of 20 fingerprints appeared, and Jiang Yuan only needed to look at a few before stopping.

He placed the two fingerprints on the same screen, tilted his hand to the left, and slowly said, “The orientation is a bit off, but they can basically be confirmed as the same.”

“Eh, a match?” Xiao Wang jumped over to look first.

“The burned tractor case should be a match,” Jiang Yuan took another look and felt a wave of relief wash over him.

He had compared fingerprints in the greenhouse arson case for a long time without finding a match and had even thought there might not be a corresponding fingerprint in the database.

But today, this case tore through the layers of veil in an instant.

The tractor arson case was matched, but it could potentially unravel a series of connected cases.

Captain Wei, with a hiss, leaned over to look, murmuring, “So fast…”

He had come to see how Jiang Yuan worked with fingerprints, but he didn’t expect that in such a short time, he would witness Jiang Yuan matching the prints—Captain Wei had also sent the relevant fingerprints to familiar trace examiners in Qinghe City, but as it was evidently not an easy feat for the city’s examiners to match prints of this level.

“Does he have a history of arson?” Wu Jun was also curious to see if this case was, as Captain Wei had said, really the work of the same person.

Jiang Yuan clicked on the detailed information but shook his head, saying, “No.

His fingerprints were collected when he reported his ID card lost at a local police station.

Later, they caught him stealing with these fingerprints…”

Every police station had the task of collecting fingerprints, which also featured in the “power rankings” between the stations and the county bureau.

When needed, regardless of what business you were there for, they’d collect your fingerprints first.

Captain Wei nodded lightly, pulled out his phone, and while sending a message, said, “I’m going to meet this person… Thank you for your hard work, Doctor Jiang.”

As a veteran detective, a simple heads-up to his squad leader, backed by a couple of officers, was all he needed to proceed.

While speaking, Captain Wei had already reached the door, waved his hand, and swiftly left.

Wang Zhong watched Captain Wei depart, his expression suddenly growing somber, “Jiang Yuan, Captain Wei seems to like you quite a bit.”

Jiang Yuan: “How can you tell?”

“Captain Wei is all bluster and stare with other people.”

“Is that so…”

“You should get along well with Captain Wei,” Wang Zhong sighed and said, “Jiang Yuan, seize the opportunity.”

“Is there something special about him?” Jiang Yuan asked, puzzled, looking at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhong sighed deeply again, “Captain Wei, well… his daughter is very beautiful.”