Violets

Sergeant Jefferson stepped into the only bedroom of the flat and stopped in her tracks. Alex bumped into her from behind.
“Sor –” he started to say but stopped when he saw what was in the room.
The room was quite normal. The paper on the walls was peeling off. There was a single bed and a window with the curtains drawn back. However, what was in the centre of the room was not normal at all.

A young woman lay slumped on the carpeted floor. Her open eyes popped out of her pale face and stared up at the ceiling. There was a huge pool of blood on the carpet under her, half hardened but still sticky.
“Three stab wounds to the chest,” observed Sergeant Jefferson.
The teenager lay near the bed, almost under it. The bed sheet had blood marks on it and there was also a cut that went deep into the mattress.
“She was attacked while she was on the bed and she rolled off and fell to the floor unconscious, where she bled to death,” the sergeant concluded.
Alex eyed the cut in the mattress. “Looks like the killer missed,” he Alex, “She would be moving about and struggling to get away from him, making it more difficult for him stab her”.
“We don’t know it was a ‘him’, Alex. And we don’t know if it was her boyfriend,” Sergeant Jefferson replied. “We don’t know.”

Sergeant Jefferson looked out the window of the bedroom. Killings like this were rare in Adelaide, so she was not used to it. She could see most of the yard from this window. It was well-cared for, with so many lilies bordering the grass and occupying the already small land. At one corner of the yard, where two perpendicular rows of lilies met, there were three violets, right in the corner. They looked like they were hurriedly planted – like an afterthought.
“Alex, look at that,” Sergeant Jefferson showed Alex. After all, nothing should go unnoticed or be overlooked.
Alex said that he thought it looked strange too. “They look so out of place. I want to get a closer look,” he said, and he left the room to go outside.
Sergeant Jefferson didn’t follow, however. She saw a piece of paper from near the bin and picked it up. It looked like it was aimed for the bin but didn’t make it. It was a receipt. It read:

GreenGarden
04.03.09
African purple violet
Qty 5
$9.69 ea.
Total cost: $48.45
Thank you for shopping at GreenGarden!

The date on the receipt told her that the plants were bought last week. This means that the flowers were planted recently. But why are there five? Sergeant Jefferson was thinking. She looked out of the window again. Where are the other two? She saw Alex from the window, kneeling down and peering closely at the violets. He was using his fingers to move the soil. She went out.

As she neared, Sergeant Jefferson saw drag marks of blood in the grass. Alex moved his hand away and Sergeant Jefferson saw…
She gasped. “Is that a a-” She stumbled.
Alex nodded. It was a hand. “I think we’ve just found the boyfriend.”