To Catch A Killer

To Catch A Killer (3) A look into the medical (Watty Award 2012)

This chapter will be the last I will be able to post for a few weeks because of exams! Sorry! I hope you enjoy it. And just to let you know the killer is not based on anyone I know and I do not share and of their attitudes! Enjoy <3. Edited!

The inside of the house was light and open with almost no walls separating the ground floor.  The living room and dining room were connected by an archway in the wall and the kitchen was through a white door on the right. There were two large cream leather couches in the living room and it was carpeted in a thick beige colour. What was most striking was how cold and almost empty the room was as the entire room was void of any mementos or decoration. It was less of a home and more of a show room house. If I hadn’t been told that the deceased and her family had lived here for over 5 years, I would have suspected that they had just moved in and were awaiting the rest of their things to be delivered.  

“So where’s the body then?” I asked the nearest officer

“It’s over here,” a female voice said from behind one of the cream sofas. “Tommy I didn’t know that they were bringing you onto this case. If I had I would have done my make up!”

I smiled slightly at the small almost dumpy looking woman who stood up, smoothing out her grubby white lab coat and pulling a white surgical mask from her face. She was a tiny woman who had short curly brown hair shot through with iron grey strands. Her face was formidable but her eyes held humour that could warm even the coldest heart. It baffled me as to how she had ended up in such a morbid profession, but she was most definitely the best in her branch.

“Hello Dr Setwell.” I replied warmly walking over to the back of the sofa.

I peeked over the edge and saw the body lying on the floor. She could have been sleeping if it weren’t for her lack of breath and the angry dark bruising around her neck. The scene was sickeningly familiar and flashes of my ex-wife’s body, sprawled on the bed in the house that she shared with her fiancé, filled my mind.

Obviously seeing the look on my face, Jane, Dr Sitwell, drew my attention back to her by saying “Look, Thomas, if it was up to me I wouldn’t have you in on this one all things considered.”

“Don’t worry about it Jane.” I said smiling slightly at her.

“Damn Donald! If he hadn’t retired last month then you wouldn’t have to be here.  Hell they shouldn’t have even allowed you anywhere near this case, what was DSI Jennings thinking? This case too similar to-” her voice died as she realised where her rant was taking her. “Well you’re here so, I’ll have to carry on. There’s little either of us can do about this situation no matter what we want.”

murder of my ex-wife retired. If he had waited a few more weeks then he would be heading this case and not me. But I didn’t mind, in many ways DCI Donald Wright had done me a great service in retiring. If he hadn’t I would never have been included in this investigation at all and I would be completely out of the loop.

“So, what can you tell me Doc? About the body I mean.” I asked walking around the sofa.

“Well, as far as I can tell them most probable cause is cerebral hypoxia, originally thought to have been caused by ligature strangulation.” I stared at her blankly for a moment before. “Honestly Tommy! You should know by now that cerebral hypoxia is, in layman’s terms, when the brain cannot get enough oxygen and brain tissue dies causing a stroke. In this case it seems to be a silent stroke as there are no outward symptoms. At a guess I would say that she died after a struggle, judging by the bruising on her neck. There are only one set of finger marks and they are hers. We were able to identify that it was actually manual strangulation, as she appears to have been strangled with her own hair, so the killer would have had to have been restraining her in order for him to do it. Of course we aren’t ruling out poison or drug uses but it does seem very unlikely.”