Turnabout Rivals

PreTrial Investigation Part 3

FEBRUARY 13, 12:31 PM
WATERFALL
BASE

While Nicolas made his way to the phone booth to get Dahlia a Defense Attorney, I did my part in examining the corpse of Terry Fawles and Maya Fey. I can't say how these are connected, but I had my suspicion. If I can prove at least one of these two are connected to the accident at Dusky Bridge, then I'd be allowed to take on Terry Fawles' case as well. I also wanted to help my colleague as well. (1) I know finding her sister dead must've been beyond painful for Mia and we will need our cooperation in order to solve the mystery of these two murders and the attempted murder on Miles' life.

The first body I examined was Maya's, since I had a sinking suspicion that this would be the first body the police would confiscate. Ms. Skye took a picture of both bodies, then provided me copies. I noticed bruising marks along the child's fingers. Her feet were also bare, perhaps a result from falling down the waterfall. It was hard to inspect anything else, while the child's front was inside the water. There was also her kimono belt that was missing. I can only guess that the one I found belonged to her.

"Mr. Von Karma!" I heard the bumbling detective call.

"Gumshoe, there you are, I need you to flip over the body," I commanded.

"Sir?"

"I'm certain Ms. Fey would appreciate the help to inspect the front side without sullying the body."

"Right away, Sir!" The detective replied, carefully flipping the body over.

From there, I was able to get a better picture of the body. Her eyes widened, face distorted as if in enormous pain. Despite that, there didn't seem to be injuries, marks or bleeding around the face or neck. Though, there seemed to be some scratches around the front of the neck. No doubt she was strangled, but these injuries seemed to be pointing toward Ligature Strangulation, strangulation using some form of material around the neck by a force other than hanging. This would certainly put Gregory in a deep bind, if there's evidence that Dahlia was the one holding the scarf that strangled the poor girl.

Though, if the girl died by Ligature Strangulation, why are there no marks, signs of bleeding? Perhaps the blood was washed by the waterfall. In that case, the Autopsy will have to find signs of bleeding to prove it was Ligature Strangulation and not Hanging. At this point, it can be either or. For now, I will just have to leave it be. I'm certain Gregory can figure the rest out.

"Let us inspect the body of Terry Fawles," I ordered, having the detective follow me. Inspecting the body of Terry Fawles, I took note of the branch. It seemed sharp and long, covered in blood. "Detective, what is the measurement of the branch?"

"W-Well Sir, I'd say it's 10 inches long and 1½ inches in diameter. I'd say it looks pretty painful. Looks as if it cut right through his trachea, uh... that's another name for windpipe that connects to your-" Detective Gumshoe replied before I cut him off.

"I know what a trachea is! I'm not a dunce! You should learn when to expect others to not be ignorant of such things," I rebuked.