Diary of a Criminal Investigator

The Provincial Bureau's fingerprint battle is second only to the Ministry's triennial fingerprint battle.

Generally speaking, the top fingerprint identification and analysis experts of a province gather together to screen fingerprints.

However, just because a case enters the fingerprint database of the province does not mean that someone will choose to assess it.

It's just like going out to karaoke; there's always someone nobody likes, and no one picks.

What remains is what remains.

So, although this case entered the Provincial Bureau's fingerprint battle database, whether it receives an expert's attention is really uncertain.

Anyway, even if someone notices it but doesn't solve it, nobody's going to say anything.

No one knows who can hold on for a few seconds.

The time of a single cigarette, three to five minutes; two cigarettes amount to fifteen to sixteen minutes.

Don't ask where the time in between went.

Gao Wenxiang has no problem smoking two cigarettes in a row.

But when it comes to two Zhonghua cigarettes, Gao Wenxiang needs a good savor.

Ding-dong!

Therefore, upon returning to the conference room, Gao Wenxiang happened to hear the distinctive alert sound of a successful fingerprint system match.

And on Lu Chuan's computer screen, four big characters were displayed.

This time, the red font shown is clearly more pleasing than yesterday's.

Match successful!

"Another success?"

The fingerprints Lu Chuan focused on were all cold case homicides.

Solving another one means another homicide case has been cracked.

Lu Chuan nodded slightly, feeling a strong sense of accomplishment in his work.

One fingerprint, one homicide.

Done in two hours.

What could be more gratifying?

Besides Gao Wenxiang, others came over too: "Teacher Lu... solved another one?"

"Which case?"

Gao Wenxiang pointed with his mouth: "The case from three years ago, at the Third High School."

"The high school student's case? It's solved?"

Exclamations filled the room, clearly everyone had a deep impression of that case from back then.

Wang Kai's office.

Having just finished a morning meeting, Wang Kai sat down to enjoy a cup of tea.

Humming a tune he liked in his youth, Wang Kai was in an excellent mood.

As the director in charge of criminal investigation, Wang Kai carried the heaviest burden among all deputy heads.

In a large city like Haizhou City, although murder cases don't happen every day, there are at least a dozen each year on average.

And apart from homicides, there are plenty of other cases too.

Assault, arson, robbery, theft, and so on.

It's safe to say there isn't a single day to relax.

However, last year's situation was considerably better, at least no new cold case murders were added.

That is the greatest success.

And the fingerprint battle of the past two days further lifted Wang Kai's spirits.

Two consecutive cold case murders were solved, and they were cases with quite a large impact at the time. Importantly, the suspects were as easy to catch as chicks.

At the morning meeting today, seeing the envious eyes of everyone, Wang Kai felt great.

If things develop in this direction, Wang Kai's likelihood of making further progress increases significantly.

Ding.

The text message alert sounded, and Wang Kai casually picked up the phone.

Pff!

He spat out a mouthful of hot tea.

"Another one cracked?"

Chen Degao, a student at Haizhou City's Third High School, was an excellent student and a top candidate in the school's assessments.

In several mock exams, his scores all exceeded 630, definitely a candidate for a 985 university.

His performance in the college entrance examination was incredibly stable, with an initial estimate of 640 points.

What should have been a life of infinite potential vanished like smoke in a post-graduation class reunion.

Lu Chuan was more than clear about what the end of the college entrance examination meant.

No more academic pressure, no more parental control, and unlimited dreams of the future.

After his own college entrance exam, Lu Chuan had gone wild for two months too.

Picked up smoking and drinking probably around that time.

"According to classmates who attended the reunion at that time, after dinner, they went to karaoke and clashed with the perpetrator on the road."

The case happened in the High-speed Rail New District, deeply impressed in Sun Miao's mind.

"Apparently, the other side teased a female classmate of Chen Degao, and being slightly drunk, things escalated."

"Then it got physical, and after Chen Degao was killed, the perpetrator fled."

The case itself was simple, with quite a few eyewitnesses back then.

But the classmates of Chen Degao were too drunk to recall the other party's appearance.

And it happened at night; even nearby passersby only watched.

Adding to this, there were no surveillance cameras near the crime scene, and the perpetrator was never found.

The High-speed Rail New District Criminal Investigation Team never gave up, assigning detectives to follow up every year.

But nobody remembered what the person looked like from back in the day, and after two or three years, memories faded further.

The case just piled up.

The fingerprint comparison system provided the name of a stranger.

Tian Yajun.

Male, twenty-four years old, not residing in Haizhou City, but in neighboring Tianzhou City.

The record showed that Tian Yajun was a hairdresser.

While Lu Chuan achieved the match, Wang Kai immediately accessed the case information in the system.

"The high school student murder case from three years ago..."

This case was familiar to Wang Kai too: "The person is actually in Tianzhou..."

Cross-jurisdictional arrests require quite a bit of coordination.

Usually, detectives don't have the authority to enforce the law outside their jurisdiction.

For example, capturing someone in Tianzhou City requires coordinating with Tianzhou City's detectives; only with their consent can Haizhou City's detectives make an arrest.

And typically, local cooperation is necessary.

Of course, rules are rules, but in practice, there's rarely anyone uncooperative.

Working as a detective, cross-jurisdictional pursuits are common, and nobody can guarantee that they won't find themselves on someone else's turf one day.

Ultimately, all detectives are part of the same family, more inclined to help than to hinder.

And for such a small matter, Wang Kai generally doesn't need to step in personally.

Just leave it to the High-speed Rail New District Criminal Investigation Team.

No need to send many people, just a squad of four or five can handle the case.

While they were busy capturing the suspect, Lu Chuan chatted about this case with others, smoked a cigarette, and then started comparing fingerprints again.

This highlighted the cooperation between different police departments.

You do your fingerprints, and I'll catch my person.

When it comes to credit, everyone shares it.

Of course, in these three cases, Lu Chuan's contributions were considerable.

Out of thirteen cold case homicides, Lu Chuan had solved three; two more cases did not yield a match.

That leaves eight cases still unresolved.

This time, Lu Chuan didn't select a random case but chose a cold case homicide from five years ago taken by the Criminal Investigation Team.

This was especially instructed by Qin Yong in a phone call just now.

When sending your own people out, how can you not make them work for you?

Here, it's necessary to talk about the relationship between the Criminal Investigation Team and the Criminal Investigation Team.

In terms of affiliation, the Criminal Investigation Team directly reports to the city bureau, and is on equal footing with district and county sub-bureaus.

Of course, in practice, its status is somewhat higher.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Team is under the jurisdiction of the local district or county sub-bureau but also receives guidance from the Criminal Investigation Team.

No matter where a case occurs, the local police station is always the first to respond.

If it's a homicide, the police station maintains order, while the district or county Criminal Investigation Team handles the investigation.

Only when encountering major cases that the district or county Criminal Investigation Team cannot manage are they handed over to the Criminal Investigation Team.

The Criminal Investigation Team of Haizhou City is somewhat unique, with its own task force akin to the squadron of the Criminal Investigation Team and its specific jurisdiction.

Therefore, some homicide cases are at the team, and some are at the Criminal Investigation Team.

After rebooting the computer, ensuring the CPU had some rest, Lu Chuan continued his sweep.

Five years ago, a fatal fall occurred in Qingjian District.