Caught Red Lipped

Chapter 8

With a loud crunch of gravel, Wesley Morris pulled into the large, open parking lot in front of the headquarters building. He straightened his simple blue tie and waltzed inside, hoping that the evidence had been analyzed already, and that the tests had provided something useful.
At the front desk, Wesley was told to go directly up to the chief's office on the fourth floor. Anxiously, he fidgeted with his fingers on the elevator and hesitantly opened the door to the office.
"Ah, good morning, Morris!" Greeted the chief as soon he noticed that Wesley had entered the room. "I was hoping you'd be here before Alice left."
Alice, the forensics specialist, stepped forward to shake hands with Wesley.
"Yes, we've been going over the results of the DNA test from the kiss print we found on the victim's forehead. Unfortunately the DNA sample doesn't match anyone specific from our database, but we did come across something rather fascinating that the chief thought you should know." She informed in her soft, professional tone.
"I'm listening" replied Wesley intently.
"The DNA was an exact match to the DNA on file from another case almost thirty years ago. Similar to this one, a large red kiss print was left on the victim's forehead, and cause of death was precisely the same."
"Wait, so we know the cause of death as well?" Asked Wesley, his excitement climbing.
"Correct, Mr. Morris. The autopsy revealed that although there were no fatal injuries inflicted on the outside of the victim's body, a high amount of poison had entered his bloodstream. Enough, in fact, to result in a rather quick death. Upon further inspection, we identified the substance to be ___________. "
For a moment Wesley remained silent, pondering all that she had said.
"So you're saying there was an almost identical case to this 30 years ago?" He mused
"Yes, and from what we can tell, there are far too many similarities for it to be simply a coincidence." Alice answered with determination. Suddenly the chief interrupted their conversation.
"Well Alice, thank you very much for filling in Detective Morris, but I think perhaps you should allow us to discuss our next plan of action while you head back to the lab. Let us know if you find anything new."
"Of course." She nodded and exited the room with poise.
A long silence ensued as both men thought intensely. Finally, Wesley turned to the chief for direction.
"What is our next step?" He asked simply.
"We need to get DNA samples from all the guests at that party. The only question is, how do we do it without getting into any legal issues?"
"We could require that the guests from that night  provide a DNA sample, but there are far too many. We would need to narrow down the suspects first." Wesley stated the facts, all the while attempting to think of a solution. Finally, he had an idea.
"I know!" He exclaimed excitedly. "We could ask for a sample from anyone wearing red lipstick the evening of the murder! Since that would significantly reduce the number of suspects, I'm sure we wouldn't run into any problems. We could review photographs from the event and figure out which women were wearing red lipstick, then ask only them for a sample."
The chief raised a wrinkled hand to the protruding stubble on his chin, and stroked it thoughtfully.
"Yes, yes. I suppose it's a start. Ill have my team get on that right away. Morris, you're a genius."
"I learned from the best." Stated Wesley as he shot the man a smile. Then he exited the room to go start reviewing photos from the night of the crime. With his pride boosted by the chief's compliment, Wesley felt as though he could take on the world, but for now he would start with this case.