Wings from Death

Chapter Six

The body of a young woman lay before me. Her clothing; which consisted of a pale pink top and a black skirt, was almost completely soaked in blood. She lay face down, her arms above her head as if she had tripped while running. Three gun shot wounds were scattered about her torso. Her golden hair was messy; the tips bloody from the pool of crismon liquid that had seeped from her body. I was shocked. I wasn't unfamiliar with such tragic sights, however it still got to me.

"Are you alright Dustin?" Scott turned his head towards me.

"Oh, I'm fine."

I had caught myself staring blankly at the victim. There's no time for this I thought. I shook my head slightly, waking myself up. I pulled out my notebook and began jotting down notes and analysing the body. It was obvious the woman was shot from behind. The gun shot wounds were in a close grouping, must have been a trained shooter. There was no other signs of injury, except for a few grazes along the forearms from when she fell onto the pavement.

I moved away from the body, I think I had found enough there. More information would come from the autopsy. I looked over the crime scene. A forensics team were working to collect and document any relavant information: DNA samples, footprints, fingerprints and even down to the invisible details, only seen under UV light. I looked at the walls surrounding us. No windows looked in at the alley at ground level, there wouldn't be any witnesses. The alley stretched a fair distance and any sounds that we made echoed throughout its length. Someone must have heard the gunshots.

"Have we got any ID for this woman?" I called out.

Arden responded "We found a handbag, she must have dropped it while she was on the run," Arden opened the bag and rummaged through its contents. "Mara Delwin. Age 24. 70 Rys Lane" Arden held a licence in her hand reading aloud any relevant information.

"Thanks Arden" I scribbled in my notebook. "Do we have any information on who discovered the victim? We may want to question them later"

Walter spoke up "A man walking home from his night shift in the factories spotted the woman on his walk home. He lives a few apartments down from here. I got his info from when he called to report the crime."

I nodded "We may also want to check any surrounding residents, see if they heard or possibly saw anything from last night."

"I found some bullet casings!" Scott had called from behind me. I turned to face him. "Two-two-three rounds. Three of them. Fairly common calibre in hunting rifles and assault rifles."

"Judging from the close grouping, I'd say it was at least an automatic weapon that could have caused those kinds of wounds." I stated

"The shells were only thirty or so metres back, an automatic weapon would have easily eliminated it's target at that range." Scott paused "And there was only three bullet wounds, meaning whoever shot, was trained to use the weapon to great effectiveness."

"We have a murderer wandering the streets with an automatic weapon" Walter spat "We need to find them. Now!" his voice echoed along the alley.

"Captain!" Arden turned to look at him, like most of us had done.

Walter took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. "Sorry about that," he opened his eyes and looked at me "Dustin, you're coming with me, we'll question local residents. Arden, Scott; you'll search Mara's apartment, find any viable leads. Also see if she has any next of kin, and get into contact with them."

We all nodded in agreement. Arden and Scott turned and walked away. I pocketed my notebook and followed Walter.