If the meticulous reasoning of the detectives in stories represents an idealized, direct path to the truth, then the painstaking process of solving cases in real life is often filled with the tedious and chaotic details that investigators must slowly digest.
The introduction of "fingerprints" pushed this tedium and chaos to the extreme, especially around this time.
Willie, currently the most talented fingerprint expert in the detective agency, looked more like a "housekeeper" in his current state:
"Everyone, be careful when sorting and placing items. Evidence from different crime scenes must not be mixed together..."
"You say these two fingerprints look similar? Wait a minute, where's the label for this fingerprint? Where was it found?"
"Ahhh! 'Claw,' be gentle when taking fingerprints from the evidence. If you accidentally smudge it, the evidence will be invalid..."
As the detective agency's investigation progressed, the number of evidence collection locations and evidence items increased, and the number of fingerprints that needed to be preserved and extracted doubled.
Currently, the fingerprint numbering system within the detective agency, after several confusions, had been iterated to the third version, personally approved by Wayne, becoming a five-character code consisting of a letter and numbers.
The first letter represents the crime scene number, the second and third digits represent the evidence number collected at that scene, and the fourth and fifth digits represent the fingerprint number found on that piece of evidence.
For example, the fingerprint with the number "A1234" represents the 34th fingerprint extracted from the 12th piece of evidence collected from crime scene A during the detective agency's investigation of this case.
It's a bit long, but as long as the agents look at the label, they will know which crime scene the corresponding evidence was collected from, which room it is currently placed in, and which pile it is in, making it easier to find.
When comparing, a glance at the two numbers can also give a more intuitive understanding of the possible connections between the fingerprints.
Using only letters could make the code shorter, but letters are often not as intuitive as numbers, and the agents found it confusing to look at.
If the files are unified in the main camp in the future, the case number can be added in front, such as "01-A1234". Anyway, everything is for practicality, and it can be changed later if necessary.
After bringing back a carload of new evidence, the detective agency's existing manpower was obviously insufficient.
Wayne, with a strong sense of ownership, personally participated in the extraction of fingerprints.
First, sprinkle fine carbon powder on the areas of the evidence with fingerprints, carefully blow it away, and then use a soft brush to reveal the lines.
Finally, gently stick the softened thin paper on top and carefully peel it off—the fingerprints obtained in this way are often not clear and complete enough.
After preliminary comparison, it is often necessary to find the original object for further comparison.
This is also why the detective agency particularly likes glass now. At least the glass is transparent and has good reflectivity.
Sometimes, the extracted fingerprints can be directly pressed underneath for comparison, saving trouble.
Willie stared at Wayne's operation for a while, and finally couldn't help but offer a suggestion:
"Sir, you've been busy since last night, and it's been hard for you to be out in the field. Why don't you take a break first and let us handle the rest?"
Hmm...
Wayne felt that his skills were being questioned...
But everyone was doing it for work, so he readily agreed, "Alright, I'll go get something to eat for everyone."
Several agents who were busy working nearby raised their heads in shock when they heard this.
Doug was the first to stand up: "Everyone has so much work to do, I'll go."
In the kitchen, Wayne was very puzzled, "Is what I make really that bad?"
Doug didn't know how to answer this, but Lina, who had come to slack off, told the truth: "Haven't you noticed that the flavors Parker makes are different from what you like and what everyone else likes?
And you add holy water to the food from time to time, who would dare to eat what you make..."
Tsk, I won't bother arguing with you foreigners. Sooner or later, I will promote holy water hot pot to the entire extraordinary world.
Collecting fingerprints is a delicate task that strains the eyes. The nighttime lighting in this era is not very good.
Even Willie and the others, who had been initially trained as fingerprint experts, found it difficult to continue working for long periods of time at night.
After the agents sorted and filed the new evidence, they began to take turns guarding or resting.
One of Mr. Morrie's bodyguards was curious about what the detective agency was doing.
When he was called over for a midnight snack, he took the opportunity to ask about it, but Wayne thought about the "silencing" that Lina had mentioned today, and thought that foreign intelligence organizations might be potential bad guys, so he deliberately kept him in suspense and told him to read about it in the newspaper himself.
So people came and went in the "collection room" all night. Although the progress was slightly slower, it was actually progressing slowly.
When Wayne woke up the next day at noon, Ineisha was already waiting for him at the door of the room:
"There's good news. After the collection was completed, Willie prioritized comparing the key items in the evidence brought back last night.
The incomplete fingerprint found on the leopard tooth is currently highly similar to the fingerprint on the poison bottle in the assassin's house, and it is worth focusing on."
It almost directly points to the mastermind behind the scenes. If it can be verified, it would be a great achievement, the kind that can be on the podium during commendations.
Wayne looked around, "Where's Willie?"
Ineisha gestured for Wayne to go to the dining room to eat something first: "Willie was still awake when the results were compared.
He has been busy with fingerprints during this time, and has hardly rested except for relaxing his eyes. He fell asleep while waiting for you. Let him sleep for now."
Wayne recalled as he went downstairs, "I remember we didn't catch the person who liked to touch that leopard tooth before?"
Ineisha nodded: "I interrogated the captured prisoner who had confessed again just now. According to the current confession and comparison results, the person who left the fingerprint is likely the biggest 'boss' who directly manages this group of people—but he usually doesn't live with this group of people, and the contact is also a top-down, one-way contact, so it's probably not easy to catch him now.
It's a pity that I didn't stop the 'correct' carriage when they came to set the fire."
There's no need to dwell on such things...
You can't blame the art academy for the failed art student becoming the leader of a country—someone even arranged for the failed art student to go undercover in a party back then, but they didn't expect that the late harvest would reveal a new talent, and the undercover agent could actually become the party leader.
But when the scientific approach doesn't work, Wayne wants to resort to "metaphysics". Counting the days, Lina can now ask the "Wise Sage" to help find people.
But the "boss" of these guys is probably still a "lackey" in that third-party force, at most a "small head" or "middle level", and there is still a distance from the real "mastermind behind the scenes".
Let's think about it again... If I can catch them myself, let's not waste resources.
