"The one holding the gun to me was that black man,"
"Did they have any distinct features in their clothing?"
"No, they just seemed to be wearing dark T-shirts."
"What about the car?"
"I only remember it was a black pickup, I couldn't see anything else."
"Where did the car come from, and where did it go?"
"It came from the east, and when it left, I didn't dare to look. It was a long time before I checked, and by then the car was long gone."
Luke jotted down the direction from which the car came, "Was anyone else present at the time?"
Luke thought for a moment, "Why didn't they kill you?"
"I don't know, I was also worried they would kill me and throw me into the sea, but they didn't do that.
Truth be told, I was somewhat grateful to them afterward," Jamie said, his expression complex.
"When they dumped the body, did you get a close look at it?"
"No, I was terrified myself. And the body was swept away by the sea water, it was very dark, and it's dangerous to go into the sea at that time, so I didn't dare get close to look for it.
It wasn't until the morning when I saw the body again that I dared to get close,"
Luke sighed, as expected this was just the dumping site, with the body being washed by the sea, many clues would have been lost. If Jamie had seen the body before it was washed away, he might have provided some valuable clues, but now it was obviously impossible.
After asking a few more questions, Luke left a business card and departed.
Luke suddenly thought of his own uncle, who would have probably ended up homeless and on the streets too, if it weren't for a reliable father and sister.
Luke briefly reported the case to Susan.
The tech team also quickly completed their examination of the scene.
They did not discover any valuable clues, nor did they find any items that could prove the victim's identity.
The forensic doctor Hila, however, did make a discovery.
After completing a preliminary autopsy, Hila called Luke and the others over, pointing at the body, "The victim was soaked in sea water prior to death, which to some extent affected the determination of the time of death, roughly estimated between 9 pm and 2 am.
No definitive features were found that could ascertain the victim's identity.
She was approximately 25 years old, around 165cm tall, with numerous abrasions on her body, including defensive wounds from while she was alive and post-mortem scratches, but none were fatal.
There was one particularly unusual injury on her neck," Hila pointed to the bite marks on the neck, "You can see here, there are clear signs of tearing and biting, sadly, after being washed by sea water, it's very hard to extract any valuable biological material from it."
Luke looked again at the neck wounds, asking, "Was she bitten by a person?"
David said, "From my experience, it's unlikely, a human can't make two puncture holes like that, it looks more like an animal's fangs, longer and sharper."
"You both are right, and yet not entirely,"
"Most of the biting marks on the victim match the characteristics of human teeth, but those two puncture holes could indeed not have been caused by human teeth, they indeed resemble animal fangs.
So..." Hila seemed to have trouble making a definitive judgment.
Jenny said, "This looks a lot like the legendary... vampire."
Hila nodded, "Yes, it does look somewhat similar."
"Come on, such creatures do not exist in this world. Even if they did, they would have been eradicated by humans a long time ago," the deputy scoffed.
Susan asked, "What was her actual cause of death? The tearing and biting on her neck?"
Hila shook her head with a sigh, "No, she had no fatal wounds."
"Then how did she die?"
"She died of fright."
Luke thought he had heard wrong, "You're not joking, right?"
Hila explained, "No, when a person is in a state of extreme fright, the adrenal glands suddenly release a large amount of catecholamines, which cause the heart to beat rapidly and blood pressure to rise, and the oxygen consumption for myocardial metabolism to increase drastically.
The rapid circulation of blood, like a flood, assaults the heart, tearing the myocardial fibers and causing hemorrhaging in the heart, leading to sudden cardiac arrest and death.
This matches the condition of her autopsy, so, she was essentially scared to death."
Jenny took a deep breath, "How can someone be scared to death... Could there really be vampires?"