<h4>Chapter 1421: Chapter 1345: Time to Keep Secrets</h4>


    When Jiang Yuan first arrived in Ningtai County, he worked on many cases with Wei Zhenguo.


    As the deputy captain of the Sixth Squad of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, the disappearance case of Wei Zhenguo’s wife not only caused a stir at the time but was also something Jiang Yuan always kept in mind.


    Jiang Yuan had memorized the fingerprint characteristics of Wei Zhenguo’s wife, Li Huimin, very early on, and as his fingerprint technology improved, he also memorized the tertiary characteristics of Li Huimin’s fingerprints.


    Therefore, even though the fingerprints Jiang Yuan collected were less than a third of a normal fingerprint, as soon as he saw the tertiary fingerprint features, Jiang Yuan immediately recognized them.


    Jiang Yuan raised his head, looked around, but didn’t rush to exin.


    This matter is very serious for the police officers in the Ningtai County Bureau. Even though Jiang Yuan is extremely confident in his memory, he has to approach it carefully.


    Jiang Yuan first checked the evidence bag and thebels on it, then asked Wang Chuanxing to bring over his notebookputer, ready to cross-reference with the materials inside for a new confirmation.


    The internalwork naturally has fingerprint and rted information of Li Huimin, but the internalwork stores data ording to its rules, which is far less rich than what Jiang Yuan had previously collected himself.


    Just like the tertiary characteristics of fingerprints, they are generally not stored in a fingerprint database; like voiceprints and irises, they are used only for one-to-oneparison.


    Jiang Yuan only obtained very few partial fingerprints, so he needed high-resolution fingerprints forparison.


    On the other hand, Jiang Yuan’s screen was always open for people to see. At this time, checking Li Huimin’s fingerprints was not suitable for others to see; it should only be announced after confirmation.


    Wang Chuanxing quickly went to get Jiang Yuan’s notebookputer and tactfully ced it in a corner, allowing Jiang Yuan to check with his back to others.


    The police present are sensitive and suspicious about this kind of matter; a heart that can sense everything except handling wives and daughters can virtually smell the scent of a case.


    Many people started focusing on their own tasks, asionally ncing at Jiang Yuan from the corner of their eyes.


    Having repeatedly verified Li Huimin’s fingerprints previously collected, Jiang Yuan still did not immediately speak. Instead, he returned to the evidence box location and called over Wang Chuanxing: "Youe to film."


    "Yes." Without dy, Wang Chuanxing picked up the camera, adjusted the parameters, and signaled Jiang Yuan with his eyes.


    Jiang Yuan put on gloves again, and under the camera, took a female victim’s shoe, and carefully detached the upper, leaving only the sole.


    In footprint identification, what truly gets identified is the pressure pattern; the pressure pattern not only exists on footprints but also remains on the sole itself. In fact, obtaining the shoe and observing the pressure pattern on the sole is a more authoritative trace than the footprint.


    All wear on the sole is due to the user’s pressure.


    With this information, Jiang Yuan can easily determine the user’s height, weight, age, gender, and walking habits.


    Jiang Yuan did not even need to match this information with Li Huimin; he only needed to match it with the old shoes left at Li Huimin’s home, which he had long memorized.


    After multiple confirmations, Jiang Yuan had no more doubts. He got up and went to Huang Qiangmin, whispered: "The female victim should be Li Huimin, Wei Zhenguo’s wife."


    He didn’t use any titles for Captain Wei at this time just to be precise.


    Huang Qiangmin’s pupils widened with shock, and after several seconds, he asked, "Confirmed?"


    It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Jiang Yuan; just like Jiang Yuan’s approach to fingerprints, when faced with such crucial information, his instinct was to verify it clearly.


    Jiang Yuan nodded heavily: "Confirmed. Should we ask Captain Wei to confirm the shoe style?"


    "There should be a record of the shoe style in the file, right?" Huang Qiangmin said first, then slowly shook his head: "No rush. Let’s first confirm, is the other victim a male deceased? Can we confirm the identity?"


    "I haven’t started looking yet," Jiang Yuan said.


    "You go ahead and see what information you can find," Huang Qiangmin said, then turned to close the meeting room door, addressing everyone: "Jiang Yuan has a new discovery; the specifics are confidential for now. I’ll reiterate the confidentiality discipline..."


    In the presence of leaders like the head of Anwan City Bureau, Wu Jingwei, and other specialists from Pingzhou Provincial Bureau like Zhang Limin, all listened silently as the politicalmissar of an out-of-town county bureau, Huang Qiangmin, spoke without questioning or refuting.


    Jiang Yuan motioned for Wang Chuanxing to continue dismantling the male victim’s shoe upper and then checked the pressure pattern and photographed it.


    Shortly thereafter, Jiang Yuan returned to Huang Qiangmin, whispered: "Height is 1.75 meters, age 38 years, weight about 70 kilograms, likely frequently drove with these shoes."


    "Driver?" Huang Qiangmin shook his head and said, "That’s not enough for now. Let’s not inform Wei Zhenguo immediately. The information he knows, we also know here."


    As an experienced detective, Huang Qiangmin instinctively suspected everyone.


    Wei Zhenguo was his old subordinate and colleague. When Wei’s wife disappeared, Huang also immediately organized a special task force to investigate.


    But now, having found his wife’s body alongside a male body of simr age, Huang couldn’t help but think more about it.


    With the wife dead, the husband is the first to be suspected. This doesn’t mean Wei Zhenguo is the prime suspect, but Huang’s primary task is definitely not notifying Wei.


    "Let’s have a small meeting." After thinking for a moment, Huang added, "Invite Liu Jinghui over."


    Liu Jinghui, from the Shannan Provincial Department, is an old detective skilled in reasoning, making him suitable for this moment.


    While his subordinates went about the tasks, Huang went to Anwan City Bureau’s director Wu Jingwei and said, "We’ve encountered a clue regarding a cold case. Let’s discuss it ourselves first. Subsequently, this should be our primary focus. It won’t count under your cases."


    "No problem. No need to be that detailed. A 55-45 split will do." Wu Jingwei wasn’t polite, as Huang had priced it so high; now that it was their own case, it was only natural to be calctive about it.


    "Alright. I’d ask you to keep it confidential first." Huang agreed readily.


    "Okay." Wu agreed.


    The two quicklypleted their exchange. Huang picked a few people to go out, casually found a room, and shut the door to start nning.


    Liu Jinghui hurried over, having been in Anwan for a few days. Although he wasn’t necessarily involved in any case, he didn’t want to be home all day with his wife. A man, after all, finds little interest in spending days among the warmth of family life.


    Being led into a small room, Liu Jinghui was still smiling, but upon noticing the unusually serious expressions of Huang and Jiang Yuan, he quickly restrained his smile.


    Liu thought briefly and asked, "Did any cases go awry?"


    "Jiang Yuan, exin it to Liu," Huang said, holding his phone ready formunication with superiors.


    Jiang Yuan briefly described his findings without detailing Huang’s concerns.


    Liu immediately caught on.


    Being from the provincial department and familiar with various criminal police teams, Liu deeply understood detectives like Huang. Initiallyforting, he smiled and asked, "Old Huang, you’re worried about Wei Zhenguo’s involvement? Does he have a motive?"


    Huang, in a bad mood, retorted, "Haven’t you ever thought about killing your wife?"


    Liu paused, thought for a moment, and replied softly, "Not that far... No... You’re muddled because you care too much. This is simple. Even if you consider Wei Zhenguo’s involvement, I’ll give a n. First, does Wei Zhenguo have time tomit the crime? If the car was driven from Ningtai, it’s over 1000 kilometers. Half is on the national highway. Even driving nonstop, it would take over ten hours, plus return time. If hemitted the crime, he wouldn’t dare fly, leaving at least a day’s gap."


    Liu continued, "After Wei Zhenguo’s wife disappeared, did Wei have a lengthy solitary absence? We have the information before her disappearance, right? The disappearance time is roughly established."


    Huang’s expression rxed, as if something inside had been relieved.


    <fnff47> Chapters first released on findnovel</fnff47>


    He eagerly said, "Indeed, post-crime, old Wei was always with the task force. Even if he had solitary time, it was merely hours."


    Liu nodded, "Second, did the care from Ningtai? Can we trace the car information?"


    "Investigating the car is tough," said Wang Chuanxing. "It’s an Anwan Bureau case. After the incident, the task force considered investigating the car’s direction. The license te was removed, VIN erased. The perpetrator is experienced, meticulously handled."


    "Their car investigation failed because they checked Pingzhou vehicles. Do Ningtai County or Qinghe City have records of car theft? 15 years ago... This car’s a Xiali, right? Even 15 years ago, it was valuable. Losing such a car, someone surely reported it. Check for matching report records, and we might confirm the male victim’s identity." Liu’s deduction unraveled the case, peeling ityer byyer.


    "I’ll make a call." While Huang sighed with relief, the pressure of solving the case took over his anxiety.


    Jiang shot a look, and the Cold Case Squad officers, well-trained, immediately began investigating Liu’s suggested information.


    As responses came in, Huang’s expression gradually returned to normal but was terrifyingly stern. He soon picked up his phone to report to superiors.


    Jiang continued sorting through the evidence box.


    Besides physical evidence, there were numerous photos of the scene. Digital cameras 15 years ago were usable but not popr. Storage devices like USB or SD had corresponding retention times, typically 5 to 10 years. So to prepare for today’s scenario, photos taken with digital cameras back then were burned onto discs, an expensive and troublesome process.


    Jiang focused on examining the scene’s condition and the autopsy report, trying to think as a forensic doctor would.