North American detective: From scoundrel to god among men

Chapter 14 Case Analysis

On her way back from retrieving the equipment, Starling kept encouraging herself.

Crawford wanted her to take fingerprints and do some routine checks, but she had only taken fingerprints from severed hands sent to her at school, and that was in a well-equipped laboratory with classmates, teachers and professors. She had never taken fingerprints from an intact corpse or a real victim before; this was her first real-world experience.

She noticed a double sink and paused for a moment.

She remembered her father washing his blood-stained police cap when her mother was alive, calmly telling her as he rinsed it, "Starling, go call your little brother and sister for dinner. We'll be alright."

This memory pierced her heart, but it also made her stronger. Some people spend their whole lives healing from their childhood, while others use their childhood to heal their entire lives.

Starling returned to the morgue, where Titus was speaking loudly:

"Gentlemen! Please hear me out for a moment!"

"We need to take care of her. You've come all this way to bring her here, and I know her family will be very grateful to you when they have the chance. Now, please go outside and wait a moment."

Fortunately, everyone became quiet and restrained, urging each other to leave in hushed tones.

"Well done." Crawford patted Titus on the shoulder.

Those who remained in the morgue were Crawford, Titus, Starling, and Dr. Arkin from the funeral home.

Crawford applied some Vickers liniment under his nostrils and then passed it on to the others.

Starling looked puzzled, wondering what this thing was for.

Titus smiled and said, "You'll find out soon enough."

The green body bag was pulled open, and a pungent, soul-piercing scent wafted out. Starling understood the purpose of the liniment.

The victim was a woman with large hips, 67 inches tall, whose head, back, and skin from the breasts down to the knees were peeled off.

Crawford asked, "Starling, what did you see?"

Starling replied, "She's a city girl. She has three earrings and shiny nail polish. There's new fine hair growing on her legs, which means she's used to removing hair. It looks like she's had it waxed. She dresses herself up very meticulously."

But her body was found in still water mixed with oil, filth, and food bags; a fishhook had cut her thigh. Starling thought to herself.

"Both fingernails were broken off, at the base of the nail."

Starling carefully extracted fingerprints from the victim, and then took photos of the inside of her mouth.

She did a great job without any mistakes.

The photo slowly appeared, and after glancing at it, she immediately said:

"What's in her mouth?"

Next, Starling used tweezers to remove the foreign object from the victim's mouth.

Crawford asked, "What's that, a pod?"

Titus's eyes lit up, and he said, "I think this is a kind of insect egg."

"The 'Ghost Swan' only exists in Asia."

"The murderer was breeding it; it was probably imported from abroad and artificially bred in a greenhouse."

Crawford asked, "Are you sure?"

Titus nodded: "It can't be wrong, I've studied this."

Yes, that's how it was written in the original work, Titus thought.

Titus asked, "Were there also these worm eggs in the mouths of the previous victims?"

He remembered that the insect eggs were an important clue and wanted to gather as much information as possible.

Crawford shook his head: "We haven't found anything yet, but I don't think they'll notice this. We'll reinvestigate later; maybe we'll find a new breakthrough. But the victims' families might not agree, you know, some are already buried."

Titus nodded. Whether out of a desire to complete the task or out of pity for the victims, he wanted to solve the case as soon as possible, but he couldn't remember how the case was solved in the original story.

He thought to himself, feeling frustrated, "If only I hadn't kept staring at Uncle Mads."

The three then left the funeral home, and the driver drove back to the station. Crawford sat in the passenger seat, while Tytus and Starling sat in the back.

Crawford asked, "They haven't analyzed the fingerprints yet, and the victim's identity remains unknown. What are your thoughts on her?"

"Say everything you think of without hesitation about whether you should say it or whether it's important. I'll help you judge, because sometimes the details you overlook or don't think you need might be the key to solving the case."

It's not hard to see that Crawford believes these two rookies don't have the keen sense for cases that veteran detectives possess.

Starling pondered for a moment before replying, "The sixth victim, a white woman, had her scalp, back, and lower torso skinned."

"Of the six known victims, she was the first to have her head skinned, the first to die from a gunshot wound to the chest, the first to have worm eggs in her throat, and the first to have diamond-shaped skinning on her shoulders and back."

Titus added, "There are also burns; she has burns on her hamstrings."

"I suspect the killer burned the girl when he placed her on the exhaust pipe in the trunk of the car, and that the burns occurred after her death."

"These kinds of burns usually only occur in corpses that have stopped metabolizing and in the elderly."

"He has a closed van, a truck, it must be some kind of long vehicle, definitely not a sedan. The trunk of a sedan is basically covered, so it wouldn't cause this kind of burn."

Crawford nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but muttered to himself:

"Truck, insect eggs, scalp..."

Starling suddenly exclaimed, "Scalp!"

"I remember Dr. Lecter saying that Buffalo Bill would scalp people; I saw that in the previous interrogation records."

Crawford said, "He doesn't know, there's no basis for it, he's just guessing."

"That's easy. If Bill actually does that, Lecter can swagger around; and if we catch him and still don't find anyone scalped, he can say that you caught him before he was about to do it."

Starling paused, then said, "That's complete sophistry."

She then added, "Dr. Lecter also said that Bill has a two-story house."

She thought for a moment and added softly, "You said, 'Say whatever comes to mind, don't hesitate about whether you should say it or not.'"

Crawford didn't answer, but instead said, "Titus, what do you think?"

Titus replied, "That's very likely correct, but it's still just his guess."

"Of the six victims, two were hanged. Forcibly hanging someone is a troublesome thing, but if you cover her head, make her go upstairs, tell her to go to the toilet or any other reason, and when she gets to the top step, quickly put a noose on her head, kick her down, and the noose will tighten instantly, and you're done."

Crawford and Starling looked at Titus with surprise, their eyes conveying an unspoken message: You sound very experienced, kid.

Titus laughed and said, "I like to read dossiers and detective novels when I have nothing to do."

Crawford nodded, and just as he was about to say something, his pager suddenly went off.

He picked up the pager somewhat impatiently, and after a moment, his expression became increasingly serious, and he hung up the phone.

"The seventh victim has appeared..."