The Tang Dynasty’s Female Forensic Doctor

“Is that so…” Ran Yan replied absent-minded, and her gaze fell on the blood drops at the riverbank.

In forensics medicine, there is a special study topic on the analysis of blood found at crime scenes: people in different conditions will leave behind different types of bloodstains. When it comes to blood droplets, having a different height and a different inclination can greatly affect how the blood will fall.

The small drops of blood at the riverside were very round and evenly scattered around the surroundings, with an extension range relatively wide.

“Has Seventeenth Miss Ran discovered something?” Liu Pinrang saw Ran Yan staring at the riverside as if in a trance and came over to inquire about it.

Ran Yan pointed at the drop of blood near the tip of her toes, saying: “Look, it’s so spherical.”

Liu Pinrang didn’t understand her meaning, and a confused look appeared on his face as he asked: “What?”

“There can only be one type of situation where the blood drop takes this kind of shape. Only if someone who was bleeding, or someone or something stained with blood, have stopped over here, presumably,” Ran Yan then indicated a height above the waist, “It should be this high, even a bit higher. These blood drops have fallen from this angle, and, when the blood spattered, the body/object that was stained with blood remained motionless.”

“You are this certain?” Although Provincial Governor Liu raised this question, in his heart he was thinking, under what circumstances would a person, or someone or something stained with blood, stop at this place?

“If you (polite) don’t believe, you can use water to test it out. It will have some slight differences, but it has the same general principle.” Ran Yan said.

Liu Pinrang didn’t make the experiment, but anyone who could imagine it would understand the principle behind it: the water that is thrown will assume an elliptical form, and the spattered drops will all present a certain direction, that is, it’s unlikely for them to spread through all the surrounding area. He felt that what Ran Yan said made perfect sense. If the blood drops are this spherical and have such a uniform distribution, the drops could have only fallen from a place straight above it.

“The corpse was dragged halfway yet the trace disappeared. Could it be that it was dragged halfway when the murderer’s accomplice came over and they lifted the corpse until the riverside, then threw it into the river?” Liu Pinrang conjectured.

“There is this possibility, but I’m more inclined to another one.” Ran Yan looked at the boats coming and going on the surface of the river and said: “There is a dock not too far away from here, and the water in its vicinity is deep enough to moor a medium-sized boat.”

Liu Pinrang slapped his head when he suddenly understood what was going on, and said: “So that’s how it is, yes, absolutely! If the murderer moor in this place, set a ramp and use a cloth to wrap the corpse and drag it into the boat, it could explain the bloodstains suddenly disappearing.”

“And the murderer has two people. Right from the start, this person was only strong enough to drag the body for some distance. Probably, his accomplice was well-timed with this matter when he moored the boat at the bank, so, after they finished handling everything, they carried the body to the boat. Although this person’s strength is great, it can’t be regarded as outstanding, therefore, for him to go past the highest place on the ramp which connected with the boat, it required a strenuous effort, and as a result, he must have needed to steady himself before he could go on board.” Ran Yan analyzed.

Liu Pinrang looked at the bloodstains on the dragged soil and discovered that they actually didn’t stop abruptly. Following the absence of dragging traces, there were traces of something being rolled, in other words, there still are bloodstains in front of the place where the ramp was put. The murderer did not directly drag the person to the ramp, and even if the murderer has wrapped the person, it was impossible to not leave any traces behind.

“Some of you go to the dock and search the boats, and some go to the river to search for people, the target is…” For a moment, Liu Pinrang didn’t know what physical traits or distinctive features they should be looking for on a person.

The situating during that Qixi night emerged in Ran Yan’s mind, and she turned to speak: “Two girls, one of fifteen or sixteen years old, that is the Third Miss Yin, and the other is the maidservant who is sixteen or seventeen years old.”

Liu Pinrang gave a slight start, and soon decisively signaled with his hand, saying: “Go now.”

“Yes.”

The entire fubing on the surrounding replied in unison.