With the experience of the previous two cases, the forensic doctor Hila was able to complete the autopsy much faster this time.

"I have finished the preliminary autopsy, and the time of death is between midnight and three a.m.

The car was most likely not the primary crime scene, as there are traces suggesting the body was moved.

The fatal injury was on the neck, where the artery was punctured by something like a syringe needle leading to death from excessive blood loss," she said.

Luke looked around the car; there wasn't much blood inside, consistent with it not being the primary crime scene, but where did the victim's blood go?

"Forensic doctor Hila, do you think the victim's lost blood was left at the primary scene, or was it collected by the murderer?"

Hila thought for a moment, "I can't be certain of that until we find the primary crime scene. Moreover, since the victim was killed by an object like a syringe, it is possible that blood was drawn.

We can only perform a preliminary autopsy here; once the body is brought back to the police station, we will proceed with the next steps of the autopsy, and we will inform you if we find any new leads."

"Thank you," Susan replied, watching as Hila left.

Little Black sighed, "We've been searching for half a day, and we found Darcy, but only as a corpse.

Why did he suddenly die?"

David suggested, "Could he have been silenced by his own supplier?"

Given the involvement in drug trafficking, Darcy was likely not working alone, but rather part of an organization, or he had other collaborators.

Just as the police found evidence of Darcy's involvement in drug trafficking, he was killed. The most probable scenario is that the supplier, in a move to protect themselves, decided to dispose of Darcy.

With Darcy dead, this investigative lead would be severed.

It would also become much more difficult for the police to trace Darcy's sources of drugs.

Luke felt this was a possibility; drug traffickers indeed have such motives for committing crimes.

But there were also inconsistencies.

For example, the manner of the victim's death.

If it was a drug trafficker tying up loose ends, shooting would be the simplest method.

They wouldn't even need to get out of the car, just pull the trigger, kill, and leave, clean and efficient.

Even if they lured Darcy to a secluded place to silence him, shooting him would still be simpler.

If they were worried about the police tracking bullet casings, stabbing would be less troublesome.

However, the victim was peculiarly killed by something similar to a syringe needle, which seemed odd.

To put it unpleasantly, it felt like the murderer was either a pervert or had another purpose.

The possibility of a pervert could be set aside for now, as Luke wasn't a pervert and it could be quite difficult to penetrate the thoughts of one so quickly.

Luke believed the murderer had an ulterior motive.

He thought about Angela's murderer, one who had directly bitten into her neck to draw blood, leading to her death from excessive blood loss.

Darcy also died from excessive blood loss due to a neck injury, the difference being the murderer didn't bite him but used a syringe to kill him.

Luke speculated that the perpetrator used a syringe not just for murder; after all, there were many ways to kill, and using a syringe hardly seemed time or effort saving.

Another use for a syringe is for injection or blood draw.

Viewing it from this perspective, the degree of similarity between the two cases is high, both involving murder and blood extraction, except one involved drinking blood at the scene, and the other preserved the blood.

From another angle, the criminal's methods had escalated.

He was no longer satisfied with drawing blood on the spot but intentionally stored the blood for a purpose.

From a criminal standpoint, this wasn't a good sign.

It indicated he had developed the traits of a serial killer.

Once the stored blood is consumed, he might likely choose to kill again.

In a sense, he has become a true 'vampire'.

The crime scene investigation team had not yet completed their examination of the scene.

On Luke's suggestion, the bloodhounds started a new search—for the primary crime scene.

Led by the bloodhounds, Luke and his team headed east for about half an hour, arriving near a farm.

A police car was parked near the farm.

Little Black approached and inquired, learning a theft had occurred here.

"Woof, woof..."

Before they could ask further questions, the bloodhounds gave an alert.

Entering to check, they discovered some bloodstains on the ground, which, based on the color, likely dated from last night.

Could this be the primary crime scene?

It didn't seem likely.

The amount of blood was too little, too scattered, with too great a distance between drops, more resembling the trail of someone who was injured while escaping.

The question was this: Darcy's injury was to his neck, a vulnerable area where injury would cause a significant spray of blood, not a mere line of droplets.

Furthermore, whether Darcy could have run after sustaining that injury was also questionable.

With these doubts in mind, Luke conducted an investigation on the farm.

The farm owner, Jefferson Cassiri, was a white male in his fifties, wearing a cowboy hat and carrying a revolver on his waist.

He had just finished answering police questions.

Luke showed his badge, "Mr. Cassiri, I am Detective Chief Luke from the Robbery and Murder Department. I'd like to talk with you."

Farm owner Jefferson smiled, "Wow, the Robbery and Murder Department! A name known far and wide. I heard that you solved the recent school shooting case."

This remark pleased Little Black, who replied with a smile, "You're right, we did solve that case.

It was Detective Chief Luke and Detective Marcus.

Together, we captured the shooter."

Farm owner Jefferson seemed unimpressed by Little Black and extended his hand to Luke, "Detective Chief Luke, pleasure to meet you.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.