The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective-Chapter 622 - 346: Let’s Meet the Last One

The middle-aged woman sitting opposite quickly nodded and said, "I’m sure."

"He was usually very frugal with money, the biggest expenditure being the occasional small card games."

Then, Instructor Zhang Chao continued to ask, "About that 200 yuan, where do you think he most likely spent it?"

The woman fell into contemplation, a painful expression appearing on her wrinkled face.

After a long time, she slowly spoke, "Thinking back now, it’s most likely that he lost it gambling."

"Our consumption level here is low, even eating out, a box lunch costs only five yuan."

Her voice got lighter, "So, thinking over and over, it’s likely he lost it at the card table."

"At the time, I didn’t want to ask too much, so I didn’t pursue the matter."

"Okay, thank you for your cooperation."

The instructor closed the notebook and stood up, "If you remember any other details, please contact us anytime."

Just as the officers were preparing to leave, the deceased’s parents trembled and chased to the door.

Their hands, covered with calluses, tightly gripped the instructor’s hand, and tears welled up in their cloudy eyes: "Officer, this matter with our son... until it’s clarified, we cannot close our eyes even in death!"

The instructor solemnly shook the elderly couple’s trembling hands: "Please rest assured, sir and madam."

"Our Public Security Bureau handles each case with utmost effort and will surely provide you an explanation."

His voice was steady and powerful, exceptionally clear in the dim hallway.

Meanwhile, Jiang An, Wan, Zhang Yean, and other task force members were already sitting together, starting a new round of case analysis meeting.

Wan, holding the phone that just hung up, quickly walked to the conference table and reported, "Mr. Jiang, I just communicated in detail with the instructor."

"He is currently visiting the deceased’s home. After repeated confirmation, the deceased’s family stated that the deceased indeed had no habit of wearing a watch and they never saw such a watch at home."

"Really?"

Zhang Yean’s eyes sparkled with excitement, "So, this watch is very likely an important piece of evidence left by the suspect!"

"This could be the key clue to breaking through the case!"

Jiang An carefully accepted the evidence bag from Mr. Jiang’s hand, which contained the rusty watch.

Although after long-term water immersion and corrosion, the metal parts of the watchband had severely rusted and deformed, the basic outline of the dial could still be faintly discerned.

He pondered for a long while, cautiously analyzing, "This factory area is an open location with high personnel mobility."

"Solely relying on a watch to determine it was left by the suspect—the evidence chain is indeed not complete enough."

After a slight pause, he continued, "But judging from the depth of the water found, the water flow direction, and the degree to which the watch was covered by mud, it’s more likely that it was accidentally dropped during the suspect’s crime."

Jiang An raised a hand to point at the location where the watch was found.

"This spot happens to highly match the location where the body was found three years ago."

"Looking at the characteristics of the discovery location, I think there is indeed a clear correlation with the body’s location."

"Could it be just a coincidence?"

Wan furrowed his brows and raised a question, "After all, this water area often has people fishing, and it could also be accidentally dropped by other fishing enthusiasts."

"Coincidence?"

Jiang An shook his head, "If it really were a coincidence, the probability would be too low."

"I am more inclined to think this watch is directly related to the case."

Zhang Yean furrowed her brows and raised a query, "But if it’s the suspect’s watch, why would it fall off so easily?"

"Aren’t watches usually worn firmly?"

While speaking, she took off her own wristwatch and demonstrated in front of everyone.

"See, my watch doesn’t easily come off even with strong shaking unless the strap breaks."

Jiang An picked up the watch from the evidence bag and presented it to his colleagues, "The key is this watch buckle is loose."

"Under normal circumstances, when we wear watches, the strap is tightened."

"But if the buckle is loose, it will fall off with a slight effort."

He gestured to Zhang Yean, "If you don’t believe it, try checking your own watch buckle."

Zhang Yean followed Jiang An’s suggestion, gently snapped her watch’s metal buckle open, and indeed the strap instantly slipped off her wrist.

"It really is like this!"

He said in surprise, "Usually, I didn’t notice this detail."

Immediately after, Jiang An continued to analyze further, "If the deceased had an altercation during the fight back then, it could likely cause the suspect’s watch buckle to loosen."

"In the suspect’s unawareness, a single hand-waving motion could’ve made the watch drop into the river."

This reasonable explanation made all the officers present nod repeatedly.

Wan lamented, "Indeed very logical, this reasoning fits the scene situation perfectly."

"From the watch’s dropping location, state, to the discovery process, it forms a complete evidence chain."

Officers could hardly contain their excitement, with one saying, "We scoured the entire fishpond, screened every inch of mud over, thankfully our efforts didn’t go to waste."

"Not only did we complete the fishing task, but also unexpectedly found such an important piece of evidence!"

Yet Jiang An looked with slight regret at the heavily rusted watch.

He sighed lightly, "What a pity the corrosion is too severe, the brand logo on the dial has become blurry, otherwise maybe we could have extracted the suspect’s DNA sample for comparison..."

Wan came over and patted Jiang An’s shoulder vigorously, praising, "Junior brother, your mind turns really quickly."

"Back then we drained the entire pond’s water, yet you could think of looking for evidence in the sediment layers."