[Sherlolly fanfiction] Silhouettes

Chapter 30-- Of Rats and Men

(ONE MONTH LATER)

Molly smiles the officers out of the door and once she's sure they're both gone, she spins on her heel, exhaling out loud. She felt sick all of the time and her muscles ached; the list of pregnancy-problems was endless. It was notoriously difficult to hide a pregnancy and it was only going to get worse the further it went on. But still, she intended to stay positive and try to mask her constant pain with a smile and her cringe-worthy humour. She'd had plenty of practice over the years and it now had become her way.

Molly turns back to the body and continues to study it. It was of a man, multiple bullet wounds to his abdomen. She stayed behind to study the corpse further whilst Sherlock was working on the case itself.

She inspects the wounds, assuming that they were all fired from a distance in a frenzied attack, but she then turns her attention to another bullet hole in between the man's shoulder blades. This was the one to cause an exit wound on his front, an ugly one at that--not that exit wounds tended to be pretty or anything.

-muzzle imprints surrounding the central hole. Formed due to combustion gases forcing the skin to balloon outwards at discharge and the skin is forced around the end of the muzzle. Skin is abraded and bruised and imprints the outline of the muzzle.
This occurs during hard contact. This means that the gun was pressed up against his bare skin when it was fired.

-other entrance wounds are slit shaped, they were fired from an angle. Assessing the patterning, the bullets were shot after he was dead or unconscious at least.

She her frown deepens as she sees that the distance bullet wounds were shot through fabric, through the man's clothes. The hard contact wound killed him, but he didn't have clothes on when it was fired. It's unlikely that he was shot, put his clothes on and then got shot again. He would have died within seconds of being hit by the first bullet.

Molly takes the tweezers in her hand and looks closely at the bullet hole in between his shoulder blades. She pokes around inside, apologising to the cadaver as she does so. A green substance tips the end of her tweezers and she pulls them from the corner of the hole. She swabs it and bags it for evidence. She thought it might help hurry the investigation along. Lestrade needed that.

This bullet's exit wound is just above the man's belly button. It was an eyesore, really--the wound, not his belly button. She grimaced at the thought of it being fired, entering his body, rupturing organs, snapping ribs and finally tearing out. But that's what it would have done. This was most definitely the killing shot.
"You shouldn't listen to them. Girls don't dig wounds like they used to." She informs the dead man, bringing vague entertainment to herself.
She finds traces of the green substance inside there too, though, it is surprisingly clean. She'd expected more dried blood, you know, for a wound of this size and power. And especially because it was an exit wound. They tend to be the goriest.
As her investigation deepens, she begins to find this green slime behind the man's ears, in his ear holes and in between strips of his hair. She, once again, collects all she can before finally scanning the body with her eyes, making sure she's not missed anything. She fills in the paperwork, ready to send through.

Just as she's about to pick up the tray containing the bagged gunk, Sherlock pushes the doors open and strolls in, Lestrade scampering at his heels.
"Hello." Sherlock greets.
"How's it going so far?" She asks, not to anyone in particular.
They speak over each other.
"Great--" Sherlock says.
"--not good." Lestrade grunts.
They look at one another, confused by each other's replies. "It's going great." Sherlock insists.
"No, it's not. There aren't all of the blood stains there. There are only three bloodstains from bullet wounds on the mattress of the bed and there are four wounds on the body." Lestrade reminds.
Molly thinks for a moment as Sherlock speaks. "Yes, it's great. All the more mystery."
"All the more work. I've got to be places."
"On Kate." He interjects, unaware of what he was saying could cause offence. It does, it causes offence.
They both turn and stare at Sherlock.
"Sherlock!" Molly gasps.
He then realises that he's taken offence from his statement. "With Kate," He corrects, "no intercourse. Just, chatting."
She brings her hand to her eyes, cringing.
Lestrade stares. "And I suppose you've gotten any further in your relationship?" He chides.
Molly looks up instantly and coughs awkwardly, walking in between them. "Right." She squeaks, shooting a look at both of them, an extra harsh one for Lestrade and another to Sherlock, telling him not to reply. She picks up the tray. "I found this on the body. It's a gel-like substance. It was inside the entrance and exit wound in between the shoulder blades, traces were also found in the hair, in the ears and behind the ears. I'm going to the lab to test it now. Find out what it is."
Lestrade frowns, picking up one of the bags. "Only found in one wound?"
"That was the hard contact injury, the gun was pressed up against his skin when it was fired. It was the killing shot. I'm guessing the others were just window dressing, fired after he was dead." She replies, taking the small bag from his fingers and placing it back in the tray.
Sherlock considers the information. "That would make sense." He admits, looking at Lestrade.
Lestrade glances at him, now knowing that he has--once again--been outsmarted. He shoves his hands into his pockets, taking his phone out and glancing at a new text message. "You'll have it wrapped up within one hour, yeah?"
"Half that." Replies Sherlock.
"Good." They can tell he doesn't mean it. And then he walks out of the morgue, the doors swinging with a certain solemness.
Sherlock turns back to Molly. "What else have you found?"
She looks back at the body, trying to remember her other discoveries but finds herself with brain-block. Finally, she begins, "Um....the rim around the entrance wound on his back suggests the bullets were lead alloy based. But it's unusually clean. It's like it's been washed."
Sherlock takes one of the small bags of green and holds it up to the light. The substance is transparent and a vivid lime colour. Definitely synthetic. "Shower gel." He concludes. "But tests are necessary."
She passes the tray to him and he looks down at it, confused. "I'll let you test them. I'm going to grab some lunch from the cafeteria."
"But you--"
"Yes, I've already had one sandwich. Shut up. I'm going for another one." She says, walking out of the morgue.