Chapter 47: Shattered Bones

  He had the clerk responsible for recording the autopsy results note down this discovery, draw a diagram and extract the straw. Then he re-examined the inside of the coffin and found nothing else, only then did he ask Dai Zong: "Where was it that you discovered the deceased's buttocks?"

  "In a clump of grass outside the village."

  Xiao Jiading ordered the coffin maker to re-nail the coffin and bury it again, restoring it to its original state. Then he said to Dai Pao: "Take me to see where the body was found with the buttocks exposed!"

  Following Dai Baozhu, they arrived at the wild land outside the village. Dai Baozhu pointed to a place with dense weeds and said, "Here it is."

  Xiao Jiading looked carefully, the green grass was dense and there was no sign of straw anywhere. Looking around again, it was a slope, except for shrubs and weeds, there were no rice fields, and this place was far from the small road, it was a deserted slope, even if someone carried straw from the small road, it was unlikely that the straw would fall here.

  Was it blown by the strong wind? No, that's not right. The straw was stretched out from the pelvis, which is even stranger. To say that a single straw came with the wind and inserted into the cut-off pelvic cavity like an arrow shaft, this is also unbelievable!

  It is most likely that this corpse was once placed in a haystack! And which place, it is very likely to be the scene of dismemberment!

  Dismemberment must be done in a secluded place, cannot let people see, at the same time, the murderer also burned the corpse, if it is in the wilderness, it is difficult to ensure that no one sees, it is best to do it indoors. With these two points combined, Xiao Jiading began to feel that he had found a direction.

  Xiao Jiading immediately said to Luo Cunzheng: "Take me to Zhao's home!"

  The Zhao family's home was very close to the deceased mother's home, as the two families were relatives. On the way, Xiao Jia Ding asked Village Zheng and learned that Zhao's husband had been following a businessman in a foreign land for many years, rarely returning home. And they didn't have any children yet, so there was only Zhao at home. However, although this Zhao looked quite attractive, she was very virtuous, rising with the sun and resting with the sunset, and never had any rumors about her.

  Xiao Jiading asked as they approached: "Where is the place where Tong said he saw Zhao having an affair with someone?"

  "He pointed to a depression in the ground about a hundred paces away from the two houses: 'That's where she said it was.'"

  Xiao Jiading looked around and indeed saw a few trees, relatively secluded, with no houses nearby. Xiao Jiading asked: "Since this Zhao is alone at home, why not bring him home for private communication? Why do it outdoors instead? It's easy to be seen by others."

  Dai Boutu said, "We also asked about this. Zhao's family denied it, but Tong's family said that maybe because the two families live very close to each other and Tong's children often go to her house to play, she was afraid of being exposed."

  "Hmm..." Xiao Jia Ding nodded, this statement also makes sense. However, compared to outside, it's still much safer at home. If you're afraid of being disturbed, you can lock the door from the outside and climb in through the window. There are many ways to do this.

  Xiao Jiading arrived in front of the house, took a look, and saw that the door was locked with a seal on it. He asked Luo Cunzheng: "Isn't Zhao's husband still not back?"

  Luocun Zhengdao said: "He hasn't come back and I don't know where he is. There's no way to send a message to him. He probably still doesn't know about Zhao killing people."

  Xiao Jiading asked: "How does the village view this case?"

  Luo Cunzhengdao said: "Everyone thinks it's unlikely that Zhao killed someone."

  "Why?"

  "She is very domestic and kind-hearted. To say that she murdered someone and then dismembered the body, this, everyone finds it a bit hard to believe."

  "What impression did the villagers have of her, anyway?" Before Xiao Jiading's eyes appeared that beautiful young woman kneeling in the main hall with a heavy cangue on her neck, looking pitiful.

  "Yes, everyone thinks she's quite good and doesn't really believe she would have an affair with someone. Moreover, the village has a very upright atmosphere and such things as affairs have never happened before."

  Xiao Jiading did not discuss this issue, he ordered Luo Cunzheng and others to wait far away, and there were only three people in front of the house: him, Dai Bu Tou, and Yu Zuo. He asked Dai Bu Tou to open the sealed door, but did not immediately enter. He reviewed the on-site investigation diagram of the case, but it was not as intuitive as the real thing in front of him, which was a flat map, so for the time being, he could not match what he saw with the situation.

  Dai Zhuotu was very good at observing expressions and immediately introduced the situation of the on-site investigation: "The house is nothing special, the kitchen floor is very clean. According to Zhao's statement, the murder scene was in the kitchen, where she pushed her nephew down and killed him, and then dismembered him in the kitchen. However, when we came to investigate, nothing was found in the kitchen, only a kitchen knife was found in a small pond outside the kitchen, which was found after Zhao's confession. There were bloodstains on it."

  Xiao Jiading's heart skipped a beat. If the cleaver was indeed found at the location described by Zhao, and it proved to be the murder weapon used for dismembering, then it would fall under "first confession, then evidence". This means that based on the confession, they had found physical evidence such as the body and the murder weapon, which would make the proof extremely strong and conclusive. However, the problem was that this cleaver now had an inexplicable contradiction with the autopsy results. After cutting through so many bones, the blade of the cleaver did not have even a slight curve or nick. If this major doubt could not be eliminated, then it would be impossible to prove that this cleaver was indeed the murder weapon used for dismembering.

  Of course, in modern society, there is another solution, which is to extract the bloodstains on the kitchen knife for DNA identification. If it proves to be the deceased's, it can be used as evidence. Unfortunately, this is the Tang Dynasty.

  He came to the kitchen, rural kitchens are very large, with several pots on the stove. The ground was paved with green bricks, extremely clean, and this cleanliness seemed to have been washed with clear water. He squatted down, carefully examining the gaps between the green bricks on the ground, hoping to find bloodstains or scraps of meat. But he was disappointed, nothing was found.

  Xiao Jiading hugged his shoulders, looking down at the ground in contemplation. If nothing was found at the scene, with all the key witnesses having turned around, it would be difficult to make a conviction based on the existing evidence!

  He didn't give up and continued to search the scene with his eyes.

  He crouched down to observe, and finally, he found a small hole behind the large water vat in the corner of the wall, which led outside. He quickly exited through the back door of the kitchen, but did not find any drainage ditch at the corresponding position. He then ordered Dai Pao: "Dig here!"

  Dai caught up with a hoe and quickly dug open the mud at the place indicated by Xiao Jia Ding. Soon, he heard a "ding" sound as the hoe hit something hard. Hurriedly digging open the mud, they saw a bluestone slab below. Lifting the bluestone slab, underneath was a drainage ditch that smelled terrible.

  Xiao Jiading had Dai Poutou follow along the drainage ditch and lift up all the bluestone slabs, while he inspected along the drainage ditch.

  There were all sorts of debris in the drain, mostly vegetable scraps and leftover rice. He took them out and placed them on a bluestone slab, examining them slowly.

  Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he saw a small piece of bone in a small pile of garbage!

  He picked up the broken bones and examined them, but couldn't tell whether they were human or belonged to some pig or sheep.

  He put the bone aside and continued searching. Next, he found several small pieces of bones that were too small to identify what they belonged to.

  Unfortunately, it is now possible to determine through forensic examination whether these bones are human or not, and whether they belong to the deceased. But this is the Tang Dynasty.

  Apart from bone fragments, he also found some hair. However, in ancient times without modern forensic identification techniques, it was impossible to determine anything.

  The end of the drainage ditch is connected to a small pond where the kitchen knife was found, in a low-lying area not far from Zhao's house. Near the outlet, some hair and several pieces of broken bones were also found.

  He had the undertaker make a record of investigation and draw a diagram of the scene where the bones and hair were found.

  After checking the scene, Xiao Jiading went around to the back of the kitchen to take a look. As soon as he got there, he found a pile of straw!

  There is hay here, but on the way to the village, many farmhouses have hay in front of and behind their houses. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that the hay at Zhao's house must be linked to the hay found on the corpse, and further important evidence needs to be sought.

  What is the straw doing here? What else can the straw be used for?

  Xiao Jiading waved at Luo Cunzheng who was standing far away. Luo Cunzheng hurried over, panting and looking up at him.

  Xiao Jiading pointed at the pile of straw behind the house and asked: "What are these used for?"

  Luocun looked at him and smiled: "It's used for lighting fires and burning fires."

  "Lighting fires, setting fires?"

  "Yes, we are all paddy fields. Every year after harvesting the rice, the straw is of no use and is dried for use as fuel on the stove."

  Xiao Jiading's eyes lit up as he listened - a stove?!

  He nodded silently and waved his hand, indicating that Luo Cun was allowed to leave.

  After De Luo Cun left, Xiao Jia Ding also entered the kitchen. He came to the front of the stove, squatted down and checked each of the stove mouths one by one. Each one had some ash and some unburned straw! However, on the ground in front of the stove, there wasn't a single piece of straw! It was very likely that someone had cleaned it up.

  Xiao Jiading ordered Dai to lift up all the pots and put them aside. Then, he carefully checked the situation inside the stove. There was nothing unusual. He personally reached in with his hand to slowly search, taking out any foreign objects he found for examination.

  When he was rummaging through the ashes in the largest stove, he felt that there was something in the ashes. He picked it up and took a look, and immediately his eyes lit up!

  However, he didn't say a word and casually threw the thing back into the stove. Then he continued to feel his way down to the next stove.

  After he had felt all the stoves, he let out a sigh and ordered Dai to put all the pots back.