Death, Murder, and Suicide

Chapter 6 - The Investigation

For most people seeing dead bodies would nauseate them, but I am not most people.

Dead bodies were just another part of an investigation. And personally, besides the crime scene itself, it was my favorite part to investigate.

Now, it was my first time seeing the corpse of someone I new, but I didn't know her that well, so it didn't phase me. At least she can finally shut up.

All 4 family members had severe burns everywhere (that was to be expected), but I couldn't help but notice a particular stab wound on Romana. It was a pretty deep cut on the left area on her chest.

None of the other family members had stab wounds.

I walked back into an empty office space occupied with my laptop, some scattered papers, and (of course) Jasper. I still don't know how Jasper did it, but somehow he convinced the police to let me in on the investigation. Which included this (temporary) snazzy office of mine.

I closed my eyes, pulling my eyebrows together, and resting my hand under my chin. I started pacing back and forth. Why is there stab wounds only on Romana? Did she have a mental disorder, leading her to cut herself? No. The wound was too deep and there was only one. But how? Was someone after her? Maybe her death wasn't caused by a 'natural cause'. Maybe it was murder. But that wouldn't explain the execution of her whole family. Maybe-

"You're pacing again." Jasper's voice broke my train of thought and brought me back to reality. He was in the armchair, reading some article on the internet. I sighed, walking over and sitting on the floor next to Jasper's claimed chair. I looked up to see a very focused Jasper.

"Whatcha reading?" I asked moving my eyes from him, up to the blank ceiling.

"Things that can potentially cause fires." He replied only half-listening to me, never taking his eyes off his laptop. I sighed, still thinking about a potential murder-case. Jasper let out a sigh too, resting his laptop on the floor. He practically melted out of the chair to take up my position on the floor.

He stretched his arms over his head, inhaling and exhaling deeply, before asking, "How were the bodies?"

"You know. Dead." I replied sarcastically.

"Anything interesting?"

"Well...," I began. I explained how Romana had a stab wound while none of the other bodies did, and how it looked like it might be another potential cause of death. I explained how it might be a murder, but that wouldn't explain the fire and the deaths of all her family members. I ended with my head resting on my hand, which was resting on my knee. I closed my eyes, smiled, and said, "This is going to be an interesting case."

Jasper looked at me like I just invented sliced bread. I looked at him, back to his computer that was laying beside him. "How about you? Did you find anything?"

Jasper sighed, hanging his head down in shame. "No, not really." He brought his head up and looked back at me. "But I think you have a good lead."

He stood up, holding his hand out to help me up. "I think it would be nice for us to bring this to the attention of your comrades working on this investigation." Jasper smiled that dorky smile of his, still holding out his hand. I took it and stood up.

We walked down the rather confusing halls of offices and interrogation rooms until we hit the Chief's.

Of course, Isla was there. Not something I wanted to deal with, but something I was going to have to.

Jasper walked up and knocked on the door. Isla opened, greeting us with a few snide comments before being let in. We were seated in two large chairs facing the chairman's desk. It kind of reminded me of our school's dean office. School. That was one of the many reasons I liked joining this investigation, skipping school. What was better than that?

"State your business." Chief Smith Adams ordered.

Jasper, having better people skills answered, "We have an interesting insight on the investigation that we think you might peek your interest."

"Oh?" Adams almost looked amused.

"Yes sir." I answered.

"What might this be?" He rested his head on the back on his hands that were intertwined.

I looked him dead in the eye, "We think Romana's cause of death was not , indeed, a quote un quote "natural cause", but instead something much more."

Smith's eyes grew with fear from my piercing stare and my unusual flow of words. He cleared his throat and asked, "And, what might this be?"

The answer was simple. I curled my lip in amusement with my head down, letting out a small laugh. I lifting my head up so it seemed as though I was taller and alpha to Smith Adams.

"Murder."