Chapter 454

Chapter 454

A few days later, a murder case occurred in Emerald City.

Sienna was performing an autopsy at the moment.

The body had been discovered at a crematorium. It was supposed to be cremated, but suddenly bright red blood gushed out from the coffin.

The staff were so frightened they immediately called the police.

In the forensic lab.

Sienna's voice was calm, "No obvious fatal injuries on the body's surface. The face was damaged and then tattooed. There's bruising on the neck—initial suspicion is strangulation. The wound on the neck is from a snake bite. No subcutaneous bleeding—the wound was inflicted after death."

Her assistant Sterling spoke up, "All this red stuff can't all be blood, right?"

After death, the body can't produce blood.

Sienna narrowed her eyes, leaned in and dabbed some of the red liquid to smell it.

The odor was pungent. She frowned slightly—it seemed like sulfur.

Sienna went to examine the coffin.

Her tone was serious, "There's mercury in the coffin. In ancient times, mercury was often injected into bodies for preservation."

"Also, when mercury meets sulfur, it creates a chemical reaction that turns red, like blood plasma. Scattering sulfur near the body and using mercury for preservation—this person probably cared a lot about the deceased's remains."

Due to the mercury and blood seeping out, the body's surface had already shriveled somewhat, but you could tell the female corpse had lived comfortably when alive, with delicate skin.

Sienna began the autopsy, "Deceased is 5.51 feet tall. Based on tooth wear, estimated age between 28-30 years old. Smoked while alive."

"Bruising around the waist, slight bite marks on chest, abdomen and neck. Swelling near the vagina—sexual activity occurred shortly before death."

"Clear signs of struggle and fighting on the body surface, broken fingernails."

She carefully scraped around with tweezers, extracting some skin cells, "Send this to Leroy later for genetic testing."

Sterling collected it, wanting to send it over right away.

After confirming there were indeed no other fatal injuries besides the bruising on the neck, Sienna carefully cut open the deceased's abdominal cavity. A large amount of mercury flowed out, mixed with human tissue.

A nauseating smell came from the stomach—alcohol mixed with seafood.

Sterling threw up violently, but Sienna was used to it. She carefully examined the food, roughly determined the time of death, then suddenly picked up a triangular piece of soft tissue with tweezers.

"Starfish."

Sienna narrowed her eyes, placed the item in an evidence bag, then cut open the deceased's uterus.

An embryo lay quietly in the amniotic fluid—it looked about eight weeks old!

The deceased was pregnant?

Sienna lowered her eyes in silent tribute, carefully removed the embryo, confirmed she hadn't missed anything, then finished sewing up the abdominal cavity and left the autopsy room.

In the task force room, everyone was still investigating the deceased's identity. Sienna removed her mask and handed over the report, "Travis, check which restaurants in the city serve starfish, see if any have customers matching the deceased's physical characteristics. There aren't many of these restaurants."

"Travis, one more thing—the deceased has marks from Thermage treatment. There probably aren't many places in Emerald City that do Thermage, and they definitely keep records of client names."

Travis stood up, "No problem, I'll check now."

Arnold had been looking at his computer and quickly sent Travis the locations that do Thermage.

Leroy was testing the male DNA from the deceased's body.

Soon, Travis had results.

That evening, he rushed in, his expression excited, "We checked all the beauty centers in the city. Three women who recently had full-body Thermage match the deceased's physical characteristics. After investigation, one of them, a woman named Mira Collins, currently can't be reached."

He continued, "After checking seafood restaurants, we found an important clue at the Hilton Hotel. Three days ago, the deceased went there with a masked man, looking very intimate."

"But the man only had a sip of soup at the beginning then left in a hurry. When he came back, he put his mask back on, so the waiter didn't see what he looked like."

Travis sighed, "That area is pretty remote, no surveillance footage."

Kelvin asked, "Have we investigated the deceased's social relationships? Contacted her family?"

Arnold scratched his head, "Mira—I checked, she's married. Her parents are in the next city. Her husband—Travis should know him—is a famous local businessman, Gibson Savage."

"But he's been on a business trip abroad for a week."

Sienna frowned slightly.

A phrase popped into Sienna's mind: extramarital affair.

That embryo...

She was a mother herself, and seeing the embryo in the belly really bothered her.

Did the killer know she was pregnant?

"First go to the beauty salon to investigate, ask the staff about the appearance of the man who appeared with her."

Kelvin got up and walked toward the police car. Sienna said from behind, "Then let's split up. I'll go investigate at the deceased's home."

Kelvin looked at her somewhat resentfully.

He simply tossed the car keys to Arnold, "Arnold, you make the trip. I'll go to the deceased's home with Ms. Taylor."

Arnold couldn't stand it anymore—these two had been married for so many years and were still so lovey-dovey it was kind of disgusting. Sometimes he felt like throwing up.

Mira's home was in a wealthy neighborhood. Learning of their purpose, the security guard quickly helped open the door.

The villa was neat and bright—you could tell the lady of the house had put in effort.

After collecting fingerprints, Sienna entered the deceased's room. The first thing she saw was a huge wedding photo of the deceased and her husband embracing, with sweet smiles.

She moved closer to look and suddenly frowned.

The glass was intact, but the wedding photo inside seemed to have a small piece cut out, right at Gibson's face.

Sienna put on gloves and carefully took down the frame. She saw transparent tape stuck on the back of the photo—it seemed someone had cut the photo open, then worried about it being noticed, repaired it this way.

Kelvin also came over to look.

His gloved fingers touched the uneven transparent tape on the photo, and he said quietly, "Looks like we need to do a saliva test."

Sienna stared at Gibson's face. The scratch was clear, as if made with hatred.

As Kelvin turned around, his gaze suddenly fell on a flyer.

This flyer had severe creases. The content was about a very old scenic area in the suburbs, called Paradise Park.

Kelvin picked up the flyer—the date shown was from three years ago.

He put it in an evidence bag and handed it to Sienna.

On the other side, Arnold brought Travis to Elite Medical Spa.

The receptionist, learning of the police's purpose, quickly led them upstairs, "Mrs. Savage was a good person, gentle with us too. Doesn't seem like the type to make enemies. Such a shame."

Travis said flatly, "Could you call Dr. McPherson over? We'd like to ask some questions."

Travis's demeanor was somewhat imposing, making the receptionist shrink back, "Okay, okay, I'll get Dr. McPherson right away. Please wait upstairs."

Before long, an elegant man in a white coat walked into the conference room, with dark bags under his eyes, looking extremely haggard.

"Sorry, I just finished surgery."

Seeing the police, his expression was clearly startled, "Officers..."

The receptionist had just frantically told him to come upstairs without saying what happened.

"We're from the city criminal police department. One of your clients was murdered, so we're here to investigate."

Travis keenly noticed that when Emery McPherson heard "murdered," his face clearly paled and he didn't dare look at him.

His pupils trembled slightly, his voice clearly shaking, "Which client?"

"Mira."

Travis spoke flatly, casually glancing at the red dots on the back of his hand, "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Should be, should be three days ago."

Emery's expression was somewhat uncertain, his speech stuttering, "You found her body?"

This question was somewhat random. Travis frowned, calmly rubbing his fingertips, "Yes. Are she and her husband both members here? How was their relationship normally?"

"I don't see Mr. Savage much, but their relationship should be good."

Emery took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. They were completely red, and his voice was inexplicably choked up, "Mrs. Savage was a good person. She, her husband should have loved her very much, and would come with her for treatments."

Travis looked thoughtful, catching the sorrow in his eyes, and said meaningfully, "You had a good relationship with Mrs. Savage?"

"No, I just feel it's a shame."

Emery shook his head, "Sorry officer, I'm a bit emotional."