Rescue Her

Blood Relation

*3021 Longwood*

Ana kept her gaze trained on her husband's back, refusing to even glance at the severed hand he was crouched in front of.

"All right, go ahead and bag it. Scrub the house, print the place floor to ceiling." Hank instructed to a nearby officer as he stood up.

The two Sergeants proceeded to walk over to where Kim, who responded to the original call, was standing by a bed with the corpse of a middle aged man on it. The throat appeared to be slit, the right hand was missing, and the words, "let it be" were painted on the wall above it in what looked like blood.

"Body was cold, no blood splatter, no signs of a struggle, no defensive wounds. I think they cut off his hand after he was dead." The female Officer observed, moving closer to the writing and pointing at specific spots. "But look at this. Look, there's. . . little bits of flesh mixed in with the blood. I think they used his hand as a paintbrush."

"Jesus." Ana hissed, quietly.

Hank just gave her right hand a light comforting squeeze in return.

*A Few Minutes Later*

The rest of the team had arrived and a majority of them were standing around in some variation of a circle.

"Guy's name was David Page, 45. He did okay, middle-manager-of-a-bank type, decent living, little bit of a loner, divorced, no kids. Neighbor said he lived by himself, but was a nice enough guy." Kim reported while Hank and Ana looked at their victim's DMV information currently displayed on the older man's phone.

"Who called it in?" Adam wondered.

"The housecleaners called it in. They have a key. They let themselves in. It's a weekly thing. Victim's usually at work when they get here, but this time. . ." The female Officer trailed off.

"Uh, the ME's prelim says that Page was strangled sometime last night. Weapon was a rope." Jay chimed in after ending his phone call.

"Yo, guys." Kevin called, coming down the stairs with an evidence bag in hand. "We got the victim's wallet. We got his cell phone. The money's still in the wallet. He's got a few decent watches upstairs that we can inventory, but there's no signs of forced entry, so it obviously wasn't a robbery." He explained.

"Someone sure wanted this guy dead and to send a message while they're at it." Hailey reasoned, shaking her head.

"All right, we got some idea of what it isn't." Hank pointed out.

"So let's figure out what it is." Ana commanded with a small nod.

*District 21: Bullpen*

"So where are we?" Hank demanded, coming out of his Office and stopping next to Ana who was in her normal spot.

"Toxicology report says there was a high dose of phenobarbital in the scotch David Page was drinking." Hailey informed from where she was hunched over her desk.

"Page would've been lethargic by the time he was killed." The brunette murmured, thoughtfully.

"Comatose?" The older man inquired.

"Yeah, we broke into the DMs on Page's WhatsApp. He's been a pill-popper for a long time. He's talking about 'rims and tires." We're guessing that's Oxy and Percocet." Jay explained from where he was standing across from his partner.

"Guy was alone in the world looking to numb out?" Kim guessed.

"But then, Page changed his tune about a week ago. No more chill pills. Page was looking to go up. He starts referencing the 'Big C' in those DMs. Coke? Bigger money?" Kevin speculated.