The Genius Female Forensic Pathologist, The Psychological Anatomist - Chapter 47: Reversal of Judgment: Poisoning Methods

Chapter 47

The next day, the toxicology results came in.

Mu Mian reported: “The poison found in the victim’s body is tetramethylene disulfone tetramine, commonly known as tetramine. It’s a colorless, odorless, highly toxic powder. The lethal dose for humans is only 7 to 10 milligrams.

Symptoms of poisoning include tonic and clonic convulsions, loss of consciousness, foaming at the mouth, cyanosis, resembling status epilepticus, and may be accompanied by psychiatric symptoms. In severe cases, convulsions occur almost continuously, even leading to opisthotonus.

We also detected some undissolved soil in the poisoned wine glass, likely impurities from the tetramine.”

Zhang asked puzzledly, “Hasn’t tetramine been completely banned from production and sale for many years? How could the killer obtain such a poison?”

“Tetramethylene disulfone tetramine is very stable. It won’t decompose even after decades,” Mu Mian explained. “It could be from earlier production.”

Fang Rui frowned, “In that case, it’ll be difficult to investigate the source of the poison.”

Mu Mian continued, “Although both Lin Qianjie and Wang Xiaoya were poisoned, Lin Qianjie’s poisoning was more severe, while Wang Xiaoya’s was milder. If medical treatment had been timely, Wang Xiaoya might have had a chance of survival.

There were four wine glasses at the crime scene. We detected tetramine in one glass, but not in the other three. The wine in all four glasses was the same type.

No poison was detected in the wine bottle found at the scene, nor in any other food or containers. This suggests the poison was likely added directly to the glass.”

Fang Rui said, “It seems the killer had a specific poisoning target. They probably didn’t intend to poison everyone, otherwise they would have put the poison in the wine bottle.”

Mu Mian then showed the medicine bottle: “The pills in the bottle are erectile dysfunction medication. Only Lin Qianjie’s fingerprints were found on the bottle, so it likely belonged to him. We didn’t detect any tetramine in it, and the medication doesn’t seem to have been tampered with.”

Zhang exclaimed, “No way, Lin Qianjie had performance issues? How could he still rape those girls?”

Chen Xue gave Zhang a stern look, “It’s erectile dysfunction medication. He just had some difficulties, not complete impotence. Maybe his insecurity about this led to his psychological issues, causing him to rape innocent girls.”

“He’s such a pervert! He’s so rich, why didn’t he just get treatment instead of attacking innocent girls?”

On the night of the incident, there were four people on the yacht: the deceased Lin Qianjie and Wang Xiaoya; and the reporters Chen Dongdong and Xu Qin.

Chen Dongdong was Lin Qianjie’s assistant. He was in a relationship with Wang Xiaoya, and it was because of him that Wang Xiaoya was able to board the yacht that night.

Xu Qin was Lin Qianjie’s new girlfriend. They had been together for about half a year, constantly breaking up and getting back together, but never managing to separate for good.

At the time, Lin Qianjie had just won a lawsuit. He originally wanted to throw a big celebration, but his stepmother had cut off his credit card and ordered him to keep a low profile. Angered by this, Lin Qianjie took his yacht out to sea. He often did this in the past.

Fang Rui decided to take Chen Dongdong’s statement first. Mu Mian said she wanted to join, as she had some questions for them.

Fang Rui first asked Chen Dongdong to recount the incident.

Chen Dongdong recalled, “We were all drinking at the time. Mr. Lin was in a bad mood, so he drank a bit too much. We were drinking with him. But halfway through, Mr. Lin suddenly collapsed. He was convulsing, foaming at the mouth. It was terrifying.

A while later, Xiaoya also collapsed. She was convulsing just like Mr. Lin. I called out to her, but she didn’t respond.

Xu Qin and I were scared to death. We thought we might be next, but after waiting for a long time, nothing happened to us. I quickly steered the yacht back to the dock and called the police.”

“Did Lin Qianjie and Wang Xiaoya drink from the same glass?” Mu Mian asked.

“Well… they…” Chen Dongdong looked uncomfortable and stammered, “We were playing a game. Xiaoya lost, and her punishment was to feed Mr. Lin wine with her mouth. Does that count as drinking from the same glass?”

“Whose glass was it?”

“Mr. Lin’s.”

Mu Mian and Fang Rui exchanged a glance: it seemed the killer’s real target was Lin Qianjie. Wang Xiaoya’s death by poisoning was likely due to that silly game.

“Was everyone drinking the same wine?” Mu Mian asked.

“Yes, Jamaican rum,” Chen Dongdong said. “It’s Mr. Lin’s favorite. We were just drinking along with him.”

“Did he have a habit of taking medication?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Are you sure?” Mu Mian took out the bottle found at the crime scene. “Then what’s this?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Fang Rui crossed his arms. “You know providing false testimony is punishable by law, right?”

“It should be erectile dysfunction medication. I bought it for him from abroad. It works very well,” Chen Dongdong immediately confessed. “He was a bit insecure about that aspect, so he liked using those pills.”

“Did he take any that night?” Mu Mian asked.

“I don’t think so. Mr. Lin wasn’t in a good mood that night, he wasn’t in the mood. He probably didn’t take any.”

Fang Rui asked, “How did Xu Qin and Lin Qianjie meet? Were they close?”

“Wang Xiaoya introduced them. Xu Qin is an art teacher at a tutoring center. She has an artistic air about her, and she’s quite good at pleasing people, so Mr. Lin liked her a lot. But Mr. Lin had many girlfriends, she was just one of them.”

Fang Rui and Mu Mian then took Xu Qin’s statement.

Xu Qin was very beautiful, but she seemed timid, speaking with a stutter, “I don’t know what happened either. Qianjie and Xiaoya suddenly collapsed, convulsing all over. It looked terrifying, just like an epileptic seizure.”

Fang Rui asked, “How did you meet Lin Qianjie?”

“Xiaoya introduced us. I used to work part-time at Xiaoya’s shop, and we became friends. Later, she introduced me to Lin Qianjie. I quite liked him, so we started dating.”

Mu Mian asked, “Who poured Lin Qianjie’s wine that night?”

“Most of the time, it was Wang Xiaoya. She was very enthusiastic towards Qianjie. She even used the game as an excuse to forcibly kiss Qianjie,” Xu Qin said. “Officer, could Wang Xiaoya have been the one who poisoned him?”

“Why do you suspect her?”

“You might think Wang Xiaoya is carefree, but she actually values relationships quite a lot. She used to be very close with Lu Tian, often dining and shopping together. After what happened to Lu Tian, she must have harbored resentment towards Qianjie. After all, she bears some responsibility for what happened.”

Fang Rui then asked, “What was Lin Qianjie’s relationship with Chen Dongdong like?”

“I’m not sure about that. But I don’t think anyone would willingly be someone else’s lackey. He must have some resentment towards Qianjie. Plus, Qianjie often lent him money. If Qianjie died, he wouldn’t have to repay those loans.”

“What about you, Miss Xu? How would you describe your relationship with Lin Qianjie?”

“Me? I don’t love him, nor do I hate him. I’m with him for his money. I certainly wouldn’t want him dead. Where else would I find such a generous sugar daddy?”

After leaving the interrogation room, Fang Rui asked Mu Mian, “Who do you think might have poisoned him?”

“They all seem suspicious. We need to figure out how the killer administered the poison first,” Mu Mian said.

Fang Rui remembered the white medicine bottle and analyzed, “Could the killer have disguised the poison as erectile dysfunction medication and put it in the bottle? Lin Qianjie might have had a habit of putting the medication in his wine. That night, he might have put a poisoned pill in his drink.”

“If the medication was in capsule form, that could be possible. But Lin Qianjie’s erectile dysfunction medication wasn’t encapsulated. If a poison pill was mixed in with the other pills, it would have left traces in the bottle. We would have been able to detect it.”

Fang Rui speculated further, “What if the poison pill was coated with normal erectile dysfunction medication on the outside, but contained tetramine on the inside?”