"That's right," another trainee chimed in. "The initial report mentioned that the crime scene was in the second-floor bedroom—there were signs of a struggle, a torn feather pillow, and white feathers scattered across the floor. Some were even carried out the window by the wind. What's unusual about that?"
The room filled with whispers again. The trainees exchanged glances, trying to find the answer, but none could provide a convincing explanation.
Ryan Miller offered a slight smile. He knew the photo was the main key to the case—but the others hadn't even touched upon the core issue.
Nevertheless, Ryan wasn't entirely sure if Ethan truly understood the source of the anomaly.
"Ethan," he said again, "explain in more detail."
"Certainly," Ethan nodded, smiling faintly. "In my opinion, the main issue isn't the feathers, but the spider in the tree outside the window."
"A spider?"
Several people immediately voiced their astonishment. "What does a spider have to do with the time the murder occurred?"
"Can spiders talk?" Lucy Bennett interrupted, shaking her head impatiently. "Ethan, don't keep us in suspense. Just explain it directly."
Ethan remained calm. "The spider is the key," he stated. "From its body proportions, we can conclude that it is a tarantula, approximately twenty-five centimeters long."
"Tarantulas possess venom far stronger than ordinary spiders. They rely on their venom to paralyze prey caught in their webs before consuming them."
"Most importantly," Ethan continued, "the broken spider web still has white feathers from the pillow stuck to it. This indicates that the crime occurred at night—because this type of tarantula is nocturnal. They weave their webs at night and usually destroy them again by morning."
The explanation caused many people to gasp.
The fact that the feathers were stuck to a 'fresh' web indicated that the event had taken place during the night.
With the time of the incident confirmed, the perpetrator's identity became clear—Leo Brown, an unemployed youth known to be a gambler.
"Not necessarily," Ryan Miller suddenly interrupted, deliberately raising the level of difficulty. "What if those feathers came from the floor and were then carried by the wind, sticking to an already broken web outside the window? Wouldn't that make the timing of the incident uncertain?"
The question immediately drew nods from many people.
Criminal reasoning demands near-perfect logic. Although Ethan's analysis sounded plausible, if Ryan's proposed scenario were true, the determination of the crime's timing would indeed still be debatable.
"Ethan Cole, your reasoning is flawed." George Lawson, who had been observing silently from the side, finally spoke up.
However, Ethan Cole did not look embarrassed at all. Instead, he smiled faintly and said with a confident tone, "That factor can be dismissed."
"Hmm? How so?" asked Lucy Bennett, standing beside him, with an expression as curious as an elementary school student listening to their favorite lesson.
"Because it is influenced by the trajectory of a falling object." Data seemed to spin rapidly in Ethan's mind, and then he began to explain calmly,
"The volume, shape, and density of the feathers will affect their trajectory as they fall."
"Generally, density is a physical quantity representing the mass per unit volume of an object. If the volume is the same but the density is different, the mass will also be different. In a vacuum, objects with different densities falling simultaneously will have the same trajectory."
"However, in the real world, when density and mass differ, solid and hollow objects—or round and flat objects—will fall with different trajectories. This is primarily influenced by the magnitude and direction of air resistance. Therefore, the situation you described is nearly impossible."
The audience fell silent again, followed by murmurs of awe from various corners of the room.
Nevertheless, Ryan Miller was highly satisfied. He was well aware that he had deliberately thrown out several red herrings from the start—but Ethan had perfectly circumvented all of them.
Perhaps this was simply Ethan's natural talent in a specific area. However, within the London criminal investigation team, this kind of ability was not just talent—it was a core skill for solving cases.
The workload of the criminal investigation team was always heavy and exhausting. Of the many factors involved, the most challenging was almost always the same: determining the time the crime occurred.
Especially when dealing with cunning and experienced perpetrators, who often possessed strong counter-surveillance capabilities.
Over his many years in the police force, Ryan had handled numerous cases—both large and small. When it came to gathering clues, assessing situations, and drawing logical conclusions, he had to admit that Ethan's level of acumen was exceptionally high.
Perhaps this was what they called "highly gifted," Ryan thought.
Ryan's memory drifted back to when he first joined the police force.
At that time, they were both still trainee officers, facing the same test from the senior detectives. However, the question he received back then felt much easier compared to the one Ethan was currently facing.
More strikingly, Ethan only needed less than eight minutes to solve the carefully prepared problem.
While Ryan himself… took nearly an hour.
The difference felt like a chasm had suddenly opened up.
Ryan didn't understand how Ethan had developed such an ability.
How difficult was it to master this kind of reasoning technique? Methodologically, it was already vastly different from police academy training. There was a huge gap between theory and field practice.
Ryan had majored in criminal investigation and had been one of the top students in almost all his subjects. He had been confident that he would immediately stand out upon joining the police force.
But reality hit him hard.
As soon as he started his internship at the London police station, all the theories he had memorized felt useless.
No textbook could match the intuition and experience of a veteran criminal investigator.
Nowadays, police academy students typically use their winter and summer breaks to intern at police stations, aiming to familiarize themselves with the working world early on.
However, internship opportunities within the criminal investigation team were extremely rare—and often required certain connections. Furthermore, Ethan's internship experience during his breaks had only been at a small, obscure grocery store.
"Could it be… that supermarket sold walnuts that had been squeezed by a door?" Ryan muttered to himself. "They say it can boost mental capacity…"
For the first time in years, Ryan began to doubt the five percent figure he had always believed in.
I don't know if Lucy Bennett was the first to start clapping, but soon after, applause echoed throughout the hall.
Take the brilliant reasoning just now, for example; even Ryan Miller himself couldn't hide his admiration.
In terms of speed of thought, he felt Ethan Cole was almost his equal… well, though there was still a gap.
Ethan had a clear mind and sharp reasoning speed, but Ryan still believed he held the advantage when it came to real-world case experience.
Thinking about that, Ryan felt slightly better.
George Lawson, who had been observing in silence, now smiled broadly, like a priest who had discovered an ancient scripture.
If the entire city were used as a benchmark, the Rosewood Precinct's ability to solve cases could be considered among the best in London.