The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective-Chapter 262 - 173: The Third Fingerprint

Zhang Yean walked over, opened the drawer, and took out a pair of gloves, putting them on her hands.

Jiang An asked, "Senior sister, do you need my help in the fingerprint processing?"

Zhang Yean glanced at the small wooden door and said softly, "I think I can handle it on my own."

"Alright then, I’ll stay nearby. If you need anything, just call me."

Zhang Yean nodded and gave a slight smile.

Zhang Yean then put on her glasses, opened the bottle of fuming reagent, and proceeded with the fingerprint fuming process on the lock of the courtyard, following the usual procedure.

A moment later, she exclaimed in surprise, "Junior brother, I found it."

"There are a total of three fingerprints on this door’s lock."

"Moreover, all three fingerprints are thumbprints."

"Thumbprints?"

Jiang An immediately extended his right hand, looked at his thumb, and made a gripping motion.

Then, Jiang An took out his phone and dialed Mr. Zhao’s number.

"Mr. Zhao, please arrange for your team to bring up the fingerprint cards of the two deceased individuals for comparison."

"Okay, please wait a moment. I’ll immediately arrange for someone to send the fingerprint cards up."

Two minutes later, a young police officer with glasses arrived at the forensic lab carrying two fingerprint cards.

"Mr. Jiang, these are the fingerprint cards Mr. Zhao asked me to bring to you."

Jiang An nodded and said, "Thank you."

Then, he handed the two fingerprint cards to Zhang Yean.

Zhang Yean glanced at them and immediately placed both cards on the evidence table.

She identified the key points of the fingerprint cards and compared them with the characteristics on the lock.

One minute later, Zhang Yean looked up and said, "Junior brother, out of these three fingerprints, two are the thumbprints of the deceased."

"If two fingerprints are those of the deceased, then the other one is likely left by the perpetrator?"

Jiang An nodded and said in a deep voice, "That line of reasoning should be correct, but further exclusion is necessary."

"From the perspective of fingerprint identification, I think it’s best to verify and eliminate the fingerprints of everyone who entered the crime scene."

"Only after excluding unrelated individuals can we conclude this fingerprint comes from the perpetrator."

With this in mind, Jiang An dialed Mr. Zhao’s number again, saying, "Mr. Zhao, please arrange for your team to collect the fingerprints of everyone who entered the crime scene."

On the other end, Mr. Zhao replied, "Mr. Jiang, their fingerprints have already been collected."

"Collected?"

Jiang An was shocked. He didn’t expect the Han City investigation team to be this thorough in their scene investigation.

On the phone, Mr. Zhao continued, "Initially, the case hit a bottleneck, so we specifically collected the fingerprint information of everyone who entered the scene."

"Mainly to filter for any suspect possibilities."

"That’s great! Where are those fingerprint cards stored?"

"They should be stored in the forensic lab. I’ll immediately arrange for someone to bring the fingerprint cards up."

Another two minutes passed, and the same bespectacled young man hurried in.

He was holding a stack of fingerprint cards and walked over to Jiang An, saying, "Mr. Jiang, there are 15 neighbors who entered the crime scene. All their fingerprint cards are here."

"Thank you, you’ve worked hard!"

Zhang Yean took the fingerprint cards and began comparing them one by one.

Ten minutes later, she finished the comparison of the last fingerprint card.

Zhang Yean turned and shook her head.

"None of the fingerprints matched."

Jiang An said gravely, "It seems very likely that the third fingerprint comes from the perpetrator."

At that moment, the information of the person who reported the case flashed through Jiang An’s mind.

The informant stated that when he found the courtyard, its small door was closed but not locked.

This fully indicates that when the perpetrator entered the crime scene, they had unlocked the door.

Just then, Li Hongbing, Wan, and Mr. Zhao arrived carrying boxed meals.

"Mr. Jiang, sister Zhang Yean, come, you must be hungry."

"Let’s eat something to fill our stomachs, and we’ll continue the discussion when we’re full."

Li Hongbing then placed the boxed meals on the evidence table and invited everyone to eat together.

Everyone held a boxed meal in their hands, enjoying their food.

Mr. Zhao scooped two mouthfuls of rice before asking, "Mr. Jiang, after comparing so many fingerprints, did you make any progress?"

Jiang An shook his head. "Through our fingerprint comparison, we found three individuals’ fingerprints on the lock behind the wooden door."

"Among them, two belong to the two deceased individuals."

"The remaining fingerprint belongs to an unknown third person."

Jiang An said in a deep voice, "We suspect it’s very likely the fingerprint was left by the perpetrator."

Upon hearing this, Li Hongbing was momentarily surprised.

He quickly said, "You found a perpetrator’s fingerprint on the lock of the courtyard’s small door?"

Jiang An nodded with a determined look in his eyes.

Subsequently, Li Hongbing seriously said, "Mr. Zhao, I remember our Han City fingerprint database has a matching query function."

"Can we input this fingerprint into the database for a matchup?"

Mr. Zhao suddenly raised his hand and patted his thigh.

He said, "That’s indeed a good idea."

I will immediately input that fingerprint into the computer for comparison.

As soon as he spoke, he put the lunch box down from his hand.

Almost immediately, he quickly input the fingerprint picture taken by Zhang Yean into the database.

One minute later, Mr. Zhao’s face turned a bit somber.

His gaze fixed on the display screen.

A dialog box appeared on the screen.

"After comparison, no matching fingerprint information has been found."