Coroner Ke Xue

Someone threw a stone in from outside. This matter is neither big nor small.

After all, this is the home of the head of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters. A big tree attracts the wind, and Hattori Heizo has many enemies.

If the prisoner who threw the stone was acting with some malicious intent, he might do something worse next.

"Well, then let me find him Heiji!"

Lin Xinyi agreed to work with Hattori Heiji to find the truth, which can be regarded as giving practical training to the students.

Mao Lilan does not need to participate in this training——

After these days of study and practice, experience aside, her knowledge of trace inspection is no worse than that of teacher Lin Xinyi.

"First is this stone"

"There's some dirt on it, and the dirt is still damp."

Lin Shinichi didn't need to teach him this. With his detective's eyesight, Hattori Heiji quickly came to a conclusion:

"This stone was just picked up by the prisoner from the courtyard."

"Yes." Lin Xin nodded: "Let's go to the courtyard now."

Just like that, everyone, led by Lin Xinyi and Hattori Heiji, followed them out of the mansion.

Walking into the courtyard and in front of the lawn outside the window of the collection room, Lin Xinyi took the lead and stopped:

"Everyone, please don't get too close, so as not to damage the traces of the scene."

"Since there was fresh soil on the stone, the murderer should have been standing on the lawn with soil and threw the stone."

As he spoke, he led Hattori Heiji carefully in circles around the large lawn.

The visibility is not good at night, and the grass on this lawn is cut very flat and low, so even if there are lodging caused by stepping on it, it is difficult to see.

Lin Xinyi fumbled and took out a flashlight to enhance the lighting, and at the same time, he was ready to spend a lot of effort to identify it.

Then, just listen to Hattori Heiji say:

"Mr. Lin!"

"I found the prisoner's footprints on the lawn—"

"There are a series of traces of fallen grass blades there. They should have been trampled by someone!"

Lin Xinyi: "."

I didn't even take out my flashlight. It's a shame you could find it with your naked eyes.

Lin Xinyi finally discovered it.

From now on, as long as you have a famous detective with you when handling cases, the on-site investigation department can almost be disbanded.

"very good."

"No one has stepped on this lawn from this afternoon to evening, right?"

"Grass has a very strong self-healing ability. Even if it is stepped on and fell down, it only takes half a day to 'stand up' again."

“If it’s in a sunny location with enough light, it may only take a few hours to repair the lodging of the grass blades.”

Lin Xinyi took the opportunity to give his students some science knowledge:

"So as long as no one has stepped on this lawn from afternoon to evening, the 'fallen footprints' on the lawn should have been left by the prisoner just now."

He briefly asked everyone present, and the answers he received were that they had never been to this lawn.

Obviously, this series of footprints can only belong to the prisoner.

"Look at the direction of this trail."

Lin Xinyi squatted down and observed carefully with a flashlight. At the same time, he did not forget to test Hattori Heiji:

"Heiji, you should know how to determine the direction of footprints on the grass, right?"

"of course."

"Tracking is the basic ability of a detective!"

Hattori Heiji is extremely knowledgeable in this area:

"It is mainly judged based on the direction of the grass lodging and the traces on the ground."

"For example, after a person steps on this relatively low grass:"

"The tips of the soles of the feet will press forward against the grass, and there will be traces of slippage on the toes;"

"The grass at the heel will also fall forward, and the grass tips will break forward."

"On a dewy night like now, you can still find mud stuck to the grass blades due to stepping on it."

"That's right."

Lin Xinyi nodded with satisfaction:

"Let's keep watching."

"Bring me the tape measure again and measure the prisoner's stride length."

Footprints on the lawn are almost impossible to extract, and because of the grass mat, many footprint features are not visible.

But at least the distance between each fallen footprint, that is, the step length, can still be seen.

"For three consecutive footprints left during normal walking, the distance from the trailing edge of the heel of the first footprint to the trailing edge of the heel of the third footprint is the single step length."

"Put 'footprint length' and 'single step length' into the formula."

"You can roughly calculate the prisoner's height."

Lin Shinichi taught Hattori Heiji this way.

Hattori Heiji was sent away by him, doing the hard work of lying on the ground and measuring the step length with a tape measure:

Anyway, he has good eyesight and the measurement error is small.

"Height = single step length + 1/2 footprint length."

"Based on this calculation, the prisoner's height should be 165cm."

Hattori Heiji gave the conclusion.

But Lin Xinyi shook his head and lectured:

“In our line of work, we must always be careful with our words.”

"The number cannot be accurate to 165cm, because the height calculated using this method often has a large error."

"It should be said that the prisoner's height is 165 (±10) cm."

"His height is within this general range."

"Leave an error of 10cm?" Hattori Heiji was a little puzzled: "The scope of the investigation is so large. Isn't this the same as not estimating the height?"

"To be prudent, the margin of error must be left a little larger."

"It is better to check more targets than accidentally miss the target."

Lin Xinyi said calmly:

"Of course, during the actual investigation, priority will be given to targets closer to the calculated result of 165cm."

"I see."

Hattori Heiji understood what Lin Xinyi meant, and then he and Lin Xinyi followed the footsteps to check:

Soon, they discovered a strange footprint in the middle of the lawn:

"This lawn has been shoveled a little bit bald."

"And the grass stems did not fall down, but broke, and many broken grass blades flew in front of the footprints."

"And the front of this kick mark happens to be pointing in the direction of the collection room."

"Could it be that the prisoner..."

Hattori Heiji imagined the scene at that time:

"The prisoner didn't throw the stones in."

"He kicked the pebbles away from the grass, and then the pebbles flew into the collection room, smashing the glass and the vase?"

"It's most likely so"

Lin Xin nodded, his expression became a little strange:

"Besides, that prisoner's strength is really extraordinary."

"Forget about this piece of turf that is almost gone with his kick."

"Just by using this kicking method, a small stone can be kicked as fast as a slingshot."

He paused slightly, and then Mao Lilan's figure flashed in his mind:

"The power required may not be available to normal people."

"Uh." When he said this, Hattori Heiji couldn't help but flash the terrifying image of a certain muscular girl in his mind.

"Let's continue looking down."

The two of them shook their heads at the same time, discarding the instinctive associations in their minds before continuing to investigate.

Following the string of fallen footprints going east and west, Lin Xinyi and Hattori Heiji discovered:

"Why are these tracks in such a messy direction and everywhere?"

"Is the prisoner spinning in circles on the lawn?"

"No"

Hattori Heiji's detective mind quickly reacted:

"When outsiders break in and commit crimes, they probably won't have time to wander around on the lawn."

"So this prisoner should be a member of our family."

"He was walking on the lawn!"

"But for some reason, he suddenly kicked his foot while he was walking. As a result, he accidentally kicked the pebbles away and smashed my dad's favorite vase."

"Yes." Lin Xinyi nodded in agreement:

By now, the situation is very clear.

This was probably an accident.

The prisoner should be in this house now, but he didn't have the courage to admit that he accidentally broke the vase.

"Let's take a closer look."

The urgency of the case no longer exists.

It doesn't matter whether the prisoner is found or not. What needs to be done next is to carry out teaching and training.

"Mr. Lin!"

The great detective Hattori Heiji soon made a new discovery:

"Look here, this location near the road—"

"There seems to be a dirt footprint!"

There is a small area on the edge of the lawn that is not covered by grass and is "bald".

When the prisoner left the lawn, he happened to step on it, leaving a dirt footprint.

Mud can clearly retain various footprint characteristics, so the significance of soil footprints is much more important than grass footprints.

But it's a pity

There is only such a small piece of dirt that is not covered by grass.

The footprints left by the prisoner when he stepped on it were incomplete, with only half of the footprints of his hind feet.

"But that's enough."

Lin Xinyi said overjoyed:

"Just the incomplete half of a footprint in the soil can help us read a lot."

"For example, this half of the hind foot footprint."

"First of all, it allows us to roughly see the shoe size - the shoe size is not too big, indicating that the prisoner's feet are relatively small."

"And more importantly, there are signs of 'internal bulldozing' near the heel."

"Bulldozing inside?"

Hattori Heiji observed the footprints and asked thoughtfully:

"Mr. Lin, are you talking about the ridge-shaped pile of soil on the heel of this footprint?"

"Yes."

Lin Xinyi explained in detail:

"Due to female physiological characteristics, when women walk, their heels tend to move slightly inward and forward along the ground."

“In this way, a ridge-shaped pile of soil is formed on the inside of the heel of the footprint, and this ridge-shaped pile of soil is called ‘inner bulldozing’.”

“And ‘internal bulldozing’ is one of the important features in judging women’s footprints.”

"That is to say."

Hattori Heiji quickly reacted:

"This prisoner is actually a girl?"

"Yeah." Lin Xin nodded in confirmation.

After coming to this conclusion, both of their expressions couldn't help but become a little weird:

female.

Height is around 165cm.

He is not as strong as a normal person.

He is one of his own in this house.

"Then this prisoner can only be..."

A figure flashed into the minds of Lin Xinyi and Hattori Heiji at the same time.

So they

One looked at Mao Lilan.

One looked at Toyama and Ye.