Gods and Monsters

II

Park Lane, London

Peggy shut the door to her car as quietly as she could, still conscious of the nauseating headache she had. She was absolutely exhausted after the last few weeks and was well in need of a rest but with everything happening, the cases, looking for Eugene and the hallucination, she didn't really feel now was the best time. She strolled into the hotel, quickly admiring the architecture of the lobby as she briskly walked over to the elevator and headed up the scene of the crime. She remembered her father taking her sister and her down Park Lane when they were children, showing off all the beautiful buildings. Peggy had always hoped to be able to visit one, although the circumstances would have preferably been different.

She nodded to Atlin who was outside the room with the woman who had witnessed the death but made her way into the room, ducking under the blue and white police tape. Generally, the room didn't look like the scene of a crime. Everything was just how she had expected it to be. The carpet so clean and soft with a beautiful arrangement of flowers on top of an equally beautiful tablecloth. As she wandered through the room, Peggy had a slight moment of nostalgia, a feeling she hadn't really had for quite some time. She felt like she was a little girl all over again and could imagine her father at her side, his hand holding hers. This trail of thought was quickly broken by the putrid smell that was coming from the bedroom. As Peggy entered she saw the victim, Mark Lyneham lying in a rather unnatural position on the floor, his chest cut open and his insides on show. Rachel was knelt down beside him rather fortunate to be wearing her mask. Peggy lifted her jacket sleeve to her face to try and block out the smell but it didn't really help. She looked around the scene for any other pieces of evidence, a weapon or anything but couldn't find a single thing. She backed out of the room waving her hand to get Rachel to follow.

"So, fancy filling me in on what's happened here, Rachel?" Peggy began, thankful to be at least a little bit further away from the smell.

"Well, the cause of death is a single wound to the chest, likely caused by a sharp object of some sorts, probably a large knife. However, there is no sign of a weapon or any evidence to suggest there was anyone else even here. Unless Mr Lyneham's companion is a better liar than anyone is taking her for, there is certainly something unnatural about this case."

"Is it possible that Mr Lyneham's chest did this naturally? Some sort of – I don't know, reaction to something or an accident?"

Rachel gave Peggy a look that told her everything she needed to know about what she thought of the idea. Although they had done a few cases like this, Peggy still found them ironically unnatural. As she began to leave the room to speak with Atlin, Peggy's phone began to vibrate. Mike was calling and attempting a video chat.

"Parker? Can you see me alright?" Mike began, his forehead the only part of his face visible.

"Little lower Mike. As lovely as your forehead is I'd rather see your whole face."

Mike quickly corrected himself, lowering the phone so that his face was visible.

"So Parker, you're with a guy who's been killed, long slit from neck to waist, all his gory insides on show?"

Mike had described the scene pretty well considering he wasn't there.

He continued. "Look a little similar to this?" He moved the camera around to a table of some sorts on which a man was located, his torso how Mike had described.

"But that's...? That's Mark Lyneham, he's the victim here?"

"You may have Mark Lyneham but I have Gary Lyneham. Turns out they're twins and someone seemingly had a bit of a sick vendetta against them to kill them like this. Oh, and you won't believe what we found here." Mike moved the camera around a bit more as he picked something up off the ground with his gloved hands.

"I think we've got our murder weapon." He said as he revealed a large, steel katana.

Park Lane, London

Peggy was now in her car making the short trip to Charlie's now fully operational pub so she could see what he had to say about this. Hyde Park was looking beautiful this time of year and although it was tough to see too much at this time of evening, the lights along the pathways illuminated dog walkers, young couples and people in a rush back home, still completely oblivious to the secrets of the world around them. Peggy did feel slightly proud because of this. Although it wasn't down to her single-handedly, Peggy did feel a warmth in the cliché fact that she was helping keep the city just that bit safer, although, as selfish as it was, she would've preferred to have Nick with her.

According to Rachel and her assistant who had been with Gary Lyneham, the twins had been killed at very similar times and a quick analysis showed their wounds to be possibly identical. Peggy wasn't a person who didn't believe in coincidences but she knew that there was something more sinister going on here. Mike and Rachel were going to travel back to Rachel's lab to get a more conclusive look at the victims whilst Atlin continued to question Debbie, Mark's companion, and ensure she got a full statement. She flipped down the glove compartment whilst stuck at a red light and fumbled inside, between the pill bottles and books she had been meaning to read, to get something to try and stop this headache. She quickly popped two painkillers, downing them with some cold, leftover coffee she still had in the car from the night before, hitting the accelerate pedal just as the light switched from amber to green.

Continued in Part 3