Chapter 2110: Criminal Investigation
I was still thinking about how to subtly hint to them, to remind the sheriff and detectives about the missing persons. Calo hesitated for a moment before speaking, “Among those not found, there’s someone suspected of being missing. Please look for them as well.”
“What other issues do you have? Just tell us all at once, so I don’t have to repeatedly issue orders to my officers,” the sheriff said impatiently. These rich merchants were constantly adding to his workload, never speaking their minds clearly.
“No more. And I’m not sure about this disappearance because there are indeed a few people who haven’t returned yet. They might be on the island,” Calo explained.
“Alright, I’ll notify the guards on the island to keep an eye out for your crew members,” the sheriff agreed. After relaying the message to his officers, the investigation immediately began.
First, they questioned the five Mermaids. To their surprise, there was a translator among the officers who understood the Sea Tribe language, someone who could truly hear and sing it, unlike Calo who had to rely on Magic Apparatus for communication.
They questioned the Mermaids in detail about their observations over the past few days. They hadn’t seen anything thrown into the sea from the ship, nor had they seen any corpses being dumped overboard. The sheriff and detectives initially took their statements as evidence, believing that no one had been murdered and thrown into the sea midway.
Next, they went to the scene. Quite a few Criminal Investigators were already collecting information. Due to the decomposition of the corpses and the fact that they had been moved, the scene had been compromised. They could only collect as much information as possible.
“The two corpses are one male and one female. There are no injuries to their lungs or windpipes, and no signs of scratching or struggling on their hands. We preliminarily judge that they did not drown. There are no external injuries, and the blood has coagulated within the body. We don’t believe they were killed by an Artifact,” a forensic examiner reported.
“The victims’ faces are distorted in terror, their eyes wide open in death. After examination, we infer they died of sudden cardiac arrest, possibly from fright,” another forensic examiner added.
“Died of fright?” the sheriff looked at the corpses, not questioning the statement. Many deaths in this world were inexplicable.
Another forensic examiner pricked the crown of the deceased’s head with a silver needle. Upon removal, the needle was unchanged. He then shook his head and said, “The souls of the deceased are gone. Either they died too long ago, or the murderer deliberately sent their souls away.”
Sending souls away could be done in many ways. Both Amethyst Mages and Necromancers could cause souls to dissipate. Followers of Death could send the souls of the deceased to the Underworld, and even many Clerics could achieve this.
This effectively prevented methods like spiritualism from recalling souls for questioning. Unfortunately, Sherris wasn’t with me. Even if she were, I couldn’t have her eat the corpses in public. Otherwise, Cherise should have been able to directly witness their experiences before death.
But this might be for the best. Seeing the terrified expressions on these two, who knew what horrifying things they had seen in life? Having Sherris relive such memories would be a huge risk for her, so perhaps it was better not to.
“Were they lovers? Examine their lower bodies to see if there are any traces of seminal fluid,” Detective Castiel suggested.
“Understood.” They inserted a sterile swab into the female corpse’s lower body, swirled it a few times, and removed it. They placed the swab into a test tube containing a reagent, and soon the reagent turned purple.
“There’s a residual reaction to seminal fluid, but we can’t confirm if it’s from the male corpse next to her. Further examination is needed,” the forensic examiner stated.
Their investigative technology was very mature. They could detect seminal fluid reactions even on swollen corpses submerged in seawater. The previous series of checks were all sound and logical.
“In other words, these two were likely meeting discreetly and saw something during their rendezvous, possibly leading to their deaths from fright. You go spray the surrounding cabins with the reagent. I suspect this isn’t the primary crime scene,” Detective Castiel proposed.
“Yes!” Several officers immediately ran out with the reagents. It was evident they had collaborated with Detective Castiel many times, as they proactively followed his instructions without needing an order from the sheriff.
“Additionally, according to the crew’s testimonies, these two disappeared within the last three days. However, the state of decomposition…” Detective Castiel glanced at the corpses. “Doesn’t look like they could have become like this in just three days.”
“Based on the degree of decomposition and our tests, these two have been dead for at least over a month, and they would have deteriorated this much in very hot weather,” the forensic examiner stated.
“That’s impossible, absolutely impossible. They were doing business with me in our country just a month ago, and I saw and spoke with them every day,” their boss immediately interjected.
“Are the testimonies and the autopsy results contradictory?” The detective pondered for a moment and then suddenly said, “Check the seminal fluid sample from inside the woman’s body. How long ago was it deposited?”
“Yes.” The two forensic personnel immediately complied. After some manipulation, they concluded, and said in surprise, “The seminal fluid hasn’t completely lost its activity. It’s been out of the body for no more than three days, possibly even less than two!”
Amazing, this line of reasoning astonished me as well. They could actually find such a clue, and so quickly. If they had only examined the parts of the male and female bodies, the conclusion would have been that they had been dead for over a month. But seminal fluid is different. Once ejaculated, it’s no longer part of the male. Yet, it exists within the female body but doesn’t belong to her.
In Occultism, there are certainly spells that can accelerate decay, and many spells might have side effects that cause such a phenomenon. However, the rigid nature of magic is that many are targeted. For example, instant death spells are always targeted; they kill that specific person and absolutely do not affect other nearby life forms, not even killing an extra bacterium on them.
So, I thought, even if the seminal fluid was affected and couldn’t provide a normal time of death, they could still discover the discrepancy between the time of death and the degree of decomposition by examining the proliferation of bacteria within the bodies. This is where my expertise lies, as I’ve already noticed that the bacterial count in their bodies is not as high as it should be. Even in such a dirty ballast tank drainpipe, the bacterial population hasn’t reached the normal levels required for such decomposition.
“Hmm, it seems this matter is not simple. For now, let’s provisionally assume their time of death is within three days. Focus on asking what happened during these three days and if they exhibited any strange reactions,” the sheriff also stated.
Just then, a forensic investigator came to report, “The ship owner also hired a Sea God Priest. She claims she has a way to restore the scene.”
