Murders of the Past

Slash and Burn

As the fire rages in New Haven...

"Argo, fire is spreading through the city! The Concordian Flying Squad has been called on to help evacuation efforts!" Maddie announces as she stands at the observation deck and watches the flames rise across New Haven, "Chief Wright wants you and Detective Isaac Bontemps to go to Monk Street! As a senior investigator, Bontemps will be a valuable partner."

"Duty calls, Argo!" Isaac declares, "although I do so dread getting soot on my clothes... Let us head to Monk Street!"

Argo and Isaac left the airship and navigated along the smouldering roads to Monk Street. They couldn't drive into the city, so they coughed as they walked through the soot-filled air. Their eyes burned as they reached their destination and found themselves approaching a building with flames creeping closer to it. And if the fire were terrifying enough, the dead body sprawled across the cobblestone made the scene even worse.

The dead woman was young, in her mid-twenties, with fair skin and lifeless green eyes. Her strawberry-blonde hair was pulled into a bun with strands framing her face and a white maid's cap pulled over her head. She wore a maid's uniform consisting of a modest black dress with puffy shoulders, brown shoes and white gloves. The only thing missing was her white apron. Her skin and clothes were stained with soot, but that did nothing to distract from the countless stab wounds littering her body.

Feeling Caspian tugging on his hair, Argo turns his head to see what had caught his companion's attention. A dirty handkerchief was on the ground, a few steps from the victim's feet. It was white (or had been before the soot) with a pretty green floral border and the initial P embroidered in one corner.

"This fire is raging out of control! But it seems everyone has evacuated already, thank goodness!" Isaac exclaims in relief, "except this poor creature. We'll have to evacuate her to the morgue..."

"Oh no, Patty!" a young voice cried, and the detective saw Harriet Patrick staring at the corpse in shock.

"Harriet?" Argo says, surprised to see the Irish immigrant, "what are you doing here?! It's not safe!"

"I was looking for Daisy! She ran away when the fire started!" she cries, "Patty was helping me look, and now she's- she's-!"

"You know this young girl, Argo?" Isaac assumes.

Argo nods, "sì Maddie and I met Harriet during my first investigation."

"I see..." he turns to Harriet, "you know this woman, I presume?"

"Yes, that's Patty Harrigan," Harriet answers, looking sick from the sight before her, "how could this have happened to her?!"

"We're going to find out, Harriet," Argo promises, "please, find someplace safe from the fire, and we will speak with you shortly."

Harriet didn't need to be told twice as she ran from the fire and the dead body.

"That poor girl, having to see something so horrible!" Isaac sighs.

"And what's even worse is that the fire did not kill this woman... These are stab wounds!" Argo uses a crutch to point at the wounds, "this is murder!"

"You're right!" he agrees, seeing the bloody wounds as he picks up the handkerchief, "and this handkerchief has the letter P embroidered on it! Harriet said the victim's name was Patty; this must belong to her! It appears to have been stepped on... Who could have been so callous?"

"Probably the killer!" he suggested.

"Perhaps you could dust this cloth and see what they left behind?" he offered.