Chapter 2
Chapter 2
“Was there an autopsy?”
“Yes. I was a second-year forensic medicine student at the time and had already taken anatomy, so I asked to observe the entire procedure. Her body showed all the classic pathological signs of death by dehydration.”
Xu Yan patted my shoulder. “That couldn’t have been easy.”
No one could understand what it felt like to watch someone you loved being dissected.
Every cut felt as though it were being made in my own flesh.
The agony was so extreme that it left me numb, unable to shed even a single tear.
“So that was why you transferred from forensic medicine to clinical medicine…” Xu Yan leafed through my résumé and looked at me with sympathy.
“Yes. I developed a severe psychological block. After that, I couldn’t perform another dissection.
“I studied clinical medicine instead. I researched every stress response in the human body and the mechanisms of dehydration. Eventually, I crossed disciplines again and applied to your doctoral program.”
“You applied for a doctorate in criminal psychology under me solely so I could help you reconstruct an old case?” Disbelief crossed his face.
People in the field liked to joke that getting into Xu Yan’s doctoral program was harder than climbing to heaven. This might have been the first time he had ever heard a reason like mine.
“Yes. I needed to meet you, but I also needed to earn the right to speak to you as a peer.
“You’re one of the country’s leading criminal investigators and foremost authorities on criminal psychology. You’ve solved countless difficult cases.
“Please help me find the truth. I need to know whether my sister died in an accident or was murdered.
“I need to know why she died of thirst when she had water.
“If her death truly was a freak accident, then I’ll let her rest. But if someone killed her, I will spend my life bringing that person to justice!”
Despite my best efforts at restraint, I was nearly shouting by the end.
After my sister died, Mom sank into depression and took her own life. Dad lost his sanity and was committed. Our once-happy family was gone.
In every dream I had over those ten years, I tried desperately to hold on to my sister and ask why she had not drunk the water.
I wanted to tell her I wasn’t angry anymore about the biochemistry paper. I didn’t want a rock-chrysanthemum bookmark either. I only wanted her to come home safely.
If she came back, our family would come back with her.
But that could never happen.
After a long silence, Xu Yan said, “Tell me the exact autopsy findings.”
“The body was severely desiccated. Her skin was dry, wrinkled, and almost leathery. Her eyes were slightly open, the globes collapsed from fluid loss. Hemoconcentration made the lividity unusually dark and uneven. The blood in her heart and major vessels was dark red and viscous, and there was very little fluid in the body cavities.”
I had spent so many sleepless nights studying and reconstructing the case that every word of my sister’s autopsy report had been carved into my memory. Even the images from the examination rose before my eyes again.
Xu Yan’s spoon went still.
“Nighttime temperatures at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft on Lion Mountain usually fall below ten degrees Celsius in April. A twelve-year-old trapped there for three full days should normally have died of hypothermia.”
“That was the strangest, most abnormal part of the autopsy.” I drew a deep breath. “Severe hypothermia causes a stress reaction in the gastrointestinal mucosa, producing dark brown hemorrhagic lesions known in forensic pathology as Wischnewski spots. But my sister’s stomach lining was intact. There was no evidence of a low-temperature response at all.”
Xu Yan’s gaze sharpened. “No hypothermia… and signs consistent with heat instead?”
I nodded, my voice trembling beyond my control.
“Yes. The forensic pathologist concluded that the direct cause of death was multiple-organ failure from extreme dehydration—in other words, she died of thirst.
“More horrifying still, her organs showed severe pathological signs of dehydration fever.
“When the body is critically short of water, it can no longer sweat. Its cooling system fails completely. It was as though she had been locked inside an invisible oven and roasted alive by her own body heat.
“As for why hypothermia didn’t kill her, I once spent a night at the site. The bottom of that shaft wasn’t cold at all.”
I opened my bag and spread a yellowed geological survey map across the desk. “I studied Lion Mountain’s geology. The shaft is only a few dozen meters deep, but its bottom intersects an active geothermal fault.
“That fault keeps the bottom at roughly twenty-five degrees Celsius year-round. With no wind, the place is a natural incubator.”
Xu Yan stared at his black coffee, tapping one knuckle thoughtfully against the desk. The office fell so quiet that I could hear the clock ticking.
At length, he asked, “What did toxicology and the differential diagnosis show?”
“Tests on her blood and aqueous humor showed extremely elevated sodium and oxygen levels. She was probably blind for at least a day before she died.
“There was no biological or mineral poisoning. She had only minor abrasions, so physical assault was ruled out.”
“Any evidence of sexual assault?”
I shook my head. “No. But one thing has always troubled me.”
He motioned for me to continue.
“The autopsy and trace evidence indicated that she died sometime between the afternoon and evening of the third day after she disappeared. Her body was found at dawn on the fourth. It was too perfectly timed. Almost as if…”
“As if someone had watched in cold blood and waited until she was unquestionably dead before allowing you to find her?” Xu Yan stared at me without blinking.
“Yes. She was found at exactly the right time.” I nodded slowly. “For three days, she suffered the worst torments of dehydration fever. Even an adult can survive only about three days without water, let alone a twelve-year-old child. The killer timed it to make certain she would die.”
“How was the case classified?”
“Because no one could explain the cause, they still ruled it an accidental death. Officer Zhang, the investigator in charge, objected. He said there were too many doubts and that calling it an accident was irresponsible. Later, some people suggested suicide by refusing food and water. But there was food in her mouth when she was found…”
“Food in her mouth?” Xu Yan cut in.
“Yes.” My eyes stung. “Her mouth was packed full of the snacks Mom had prepared that morning.”
His expression grew even graver. “What about her stomach?”
“Empty.”
His grip tightened abruptly around the coffee cup.
“Were there signs that she tried to climb out? Mud on her clothes or shoes?”
“Yes. All ten fingertips were torn open. The nails on her left middle finger and right index finger were ripped off…” Heat gathered behind my eyes as I forced down the dull ache in my chest.
“She was still clutching a few dried rock chrysanthemums. They were for me…”
Xu Yan fixed me with a steady gaze and spoke each word distinctly.
“No hypothermia. Abnormal dehydration fever. A full bottle of water and a mouth packed with food she never swallowed. He Tian, I am certain of one thing: your sister was murdered.”