New Gods of North America.

Chapter 506 Complexity
If the careful reasoning of the detectives in the story represents an idealized simple beauty that leads directly to the truth,
In real life, many of the processes of solving cases are often filled with complexity and confusion that investigators have to chew over slowly.

The introduction of "fingerprints" pushed this complexity and confusion to the extreme in this era.

Willy, who seems to be the most talented fingerprint expert in the detective agency, actually works more like a "housekeeper" at this time:
"Everyone must be careful when sorting and placing the evidence from different scenes. Evidence from different scenes cannot be mixed together...

"You said these two fingerprints look a bit similar? Wait, where is the label of this fingerprint? Where was it found?

“Ahhhh! ‘Claw’, you need to be gentle when taking fingerprints from the evidence. If you accidentally smudge it, the evidence will be invalid…”

As the detective agency's investigations continued, the number of locations and evidence involved increased, and the number of fingerprints that needed to be retained and extracted doubled.
At this moment, the fingerprint labeling within the detective agency has, after several rounds of confusion, evolved to the third version decided by Wayne himself, and has become a five-digit code consisting of letters and numbers.

The first letter represents the crime scene number, the second and third digits represent the number of the evidence collected at the scene, and the fourth and fifth digits represent the number of the fingerprint found on the evidence.
Taking the fingerprint number "A1234" as an example, a fingerprint with this number means that it is the 12th fingerprint extracted from the 34th exhibit at scene A when the detective agency was investigating the case.

It is a little long, but the detectives only need to look at the label to know which scene the corresponding evidence was collected from before and which pile in which room it is now in. It is also convenient to find. When comparing, just a glance at the two numbers can also give a more intuitive understanding of the possible connection between the fingerprints.
If only letters are used, the code can actually be shorter, but letters are often not as intuitive as numbers. The agents found it confusing before, and if they go back to the base to archive them, they can add the case number in front of it, making it "01-A1234" or something like that. Anyway, practicality is the key, and it can be changed later at worst.

After bringing back a truckload of new evidence, the detective agency's existing staff was obviously insufficient. Wayne had a strong sense of ownership and personally participated in the extraction of fingerprints.
First, sprinkle fine carbon powder on the fingerprints on the evidence, blow it away carefully, and use a soft brush to sweep out the lines. Finally, gently stick the softened thin paper on top and then carefully peel it off. The fingerprints obtained in this way are often not clear and complete enough. After the preliminary comparison, it is often necessary to find the original object for comparison.
This is also the reason why detective agencies are particularly fond of glass nowadays. At least glass is transparent and has better reflectivity. Sometimes the extracted fingerprints can be directly pressed underneath for comparison, which saves trouble.

Willy watched Wayne operate for a while, and finally couldn't help but offer a suggestion:
"Sir, you have been busy since last night. It's hard to be out on the field. Why don't you take a rest first and let us do the rest?"

Well……

Wayne felt that his craftsmanship was despised...

But everyone was here for work, so he followed suit, "Okay, I'll go get some food for everyone."

Several agents who were busy with their work nearby raised their heads in shock. Doug was the first to stand up. “Everyone has so much work to do. I’ll go.”

In the kitchen, Wayne was confused. "Is what I cooked so bad?"

Doug didn't know how to answer this, so Lina, who came over to be lazy, told the truth: "Didn't you find that the flavors Parker made are different from what you like and what everyone likes? And you add holy water to the food from time to time, who dares to eat what you make..." Tsk, I won't bother with you foreigners. Sooner or later, I will promote the holy water hot pot to the entire extraordinary world.

Collecting fingerprints is a delicate job that requires eyesight, and the night lighting these days is not very good. Even for Willy and other fingerprint experts who have been initially trained, it is difficult to continue working for a long time at night. After the detectives sorted and filed the new evidence, they began to take turns to guard or rest.
One of Mr. Morrie's bodyguards was curious about what the detective agency was doing, and took the opportunity to ask about it when he was called over for supper. However, Wayne thought about the "silencing" thing that Lina mentioned today, and felt that foreign spy organizations might be potential bad guys, so he deliberately kept it a secret and let him read it in the newspaper himself.

So people came and left the "collection room" all night long. Although the progress slowed down a bit, it was actually moving forward slowly.

When Wayne got up at noon the next day, Inessa was already waiting for him at the door of the room:

"There is good news. After the collection was completed, Willy first compared the more critical pieces of 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 home, so it is worth following up."

It almost points to the real culprit behind the scenes. If it can be verified, it will be a great achievement, the kind that can be commended on the podium,
Wayne looked around, "Where's Willy?"

Inessa motioned for Wayne to go to the restaurant to eat first: "You were still asleep when Willy came up with the results. He has been busy with fingerprints during this period. Apart from relaxing his eyes, he hardly had any rest. He fell asleep while waiting for you. Let him sleep first."

Wayne recalled as he walked downstairs, "I remember there was someone who liked to touch that leopard's tooth. I don't think we caught him before?"

Inesha nodded. "I just interrogated the prisoner who confessed earlier. From the current confession and comparison, the person who left the fingerprints is likely to be the top leader who directly manages this group of people. But he doesn't live with this group of people, and the communication is a single line from top to bottom. It may be difficult to catch him now. It's a pity that when they came to set the fire, I couldn't stop the 'right' carriage."

There is no need to look back on this kind of thing...

We can't blame the college for the fact that a failed art student became the head of state. Back then, someone arranged for the failed art student to work undercover in the political party, but they didn't expect that they closed the net too late, and the undercover with new talents discovered could actually become the party leader.

However, the scientific path was not going smoothly, so Wayne wanted to seek help from "metaphysics" and calculate the days. Now Lina can ask the "wise sage" to help find someone.
However, the "leader" of this gang is probably still a "henchman" in the third-party force, at most a "small boss" or "middle-level person", and he seems to be some distance away from being the real "mastermind behind the scenes".

Let me think about it again… If I can catch it myself, I won’t waste resources.

(End of this chapter)