Seven Deadly Colors Of The Rainbow [#Wattys 2016]

Leads?

The good doctor turned off the microphone when we came in her mini morgue.
"What do you have for us Doctor?" I asked her.

"Ah Mr Bossy and his assistant." She rolled her eyes.

"Just spit it out."

"Well when I opened her up, I didn't see anything unusual. No apparent cause of death but I knew that not what you want to hear."
The Doctor paused to take off her bloody gloves.

"After I dig deeper I saw that she died of cardiac arrest. Now we all know that she is the wife of a guy who owns an ice cream parlour but after I checked I found no blocked arteries. Her cholesterol was down, she wasn't overweight. In fact her lung capacity was greater than the average human and her muscles were lean."

Patrick was busy scribbling away.

"What does this all mean?" I questioned her.

"It means she couldn't have had a heart attack from natural causes unless something really scary was in the bathroom. Her heart imploded on itself." The doctor placed a few images on a slide which projected onto the far wall.
"I might not be a detective but this had me thinking a great deal. I probed even further and it turns out she was stabbed to death."

The image was of a barely visible hole in flesh.

"This image is magnified times 50. A hypodermic needle was inserted here. You know what was in it?"

"Poison." Patrick said.

"No. Something far deadlier. Air." Doctor Sharpe said spookily.

"Air?" I asked I'm disbelief.

"Yes detectives, air. The air caused a cardiac arrest in this young lady. I don't know who did this but they must be pretty strong. I'm sure she wasn't going to let anyone slowing squeeze a syringe full of air in her neck." The doctor found delight in her job.

"Okay, put those on the case files. I'm heading to Dave to see of he has anything useful for me."

"Told you that you're bossy."

"Whatever." I said and left. "Good job."

**********************************************

"See here?" Dave pointed to a screen with the surveillance tape from the bar. "This guy went in directly after her but he checked the men's room first."

"Was the men's room full?" Patrick asked.

"No, two persons were inside. But look here, he spent less than a minute inside. Pretty fast if he actually used the bathroom." Dave captivated our attention.

"Yes but pretty fast for a murder." I said.

"Don't underestimate anyone Detective. You of all persons should know that." Dave tested my nerves.

Hanuka Matana

The screen depicted a man entering the female's restroom shortly after Jessica Walcott. Then he left less than a minute after he went in.
Jessica never came out and she was the only one inside.

Five minutes later our witness tried to go in the bathroom and discovered the body.

"Rewind the tape."

"Stop right here," I said when the man came back in the picture.

"Enhance this, I want his face." The man was dressed like a tourist. Many of those visited each year.

"This is the enhanced version." Dave said.

What?

The feed from the security camera was grainy.  

"This is the best I can do." Dave spoke outloud.

"Well we know that man must have killed her."

"He must have known she was going to be there before hand." Patrick added.

Good observation.

"Dave, add that to the case file." I looked at my watch and left the room.

**************************************

We went back to Darlene who was sitting and waiting eagerly on us.

"What do you have for us?"

"Detective this may come as a shocker but I have nothing!" She said.

"Shouldn't you be not happy while saying that?" I asked.

"Crap, yes I should have." Darlene mused.

"What do you mean by you have nothing?"

"I've tested the papers against everything. Black light, ultraviolet light, I testes it for fingerprints, any special dust. You name it, I've tested it." Darlene rambled on.

"Everything came back negative?" Patrick asked.

"Yes, these are just your averaged colored paper cut down to a small square." Darlene said smiling at Patrick.

"Is that all?" I asked.

She look disappointed. "Yes, I did my job. I should be home already but there is nothing there to do. Here I have you guys to keep my company."

"Well we're leaving."

"Do come back anytime!" She was practically singing the words.

***************************************

After I dropped Patrick home I made a quick stop and went home.

The cool A\C welcomed me home and so did my wife.

"Hey, I just finished cooking." Ashley said when I walked through the door.

"Well I bought pizza."

"What are we going to do with the food?" She asked me smiling.

"Put it in the fridge. Come on, it's half pepperoni and half pineapple."

I knew she couldn't resist it.

"Fine," her smile broke out into a grin.

The night turned out to be pleasant despite no breakthrough on the cases. We talked and ate the warm pizza until late that night.

No one had to go to work tomorrow.