Simona Davis

12: The Scent💮

Two days after the Steve Phill case was officially closed after his sentencing.
.....
Jones sat in the police cafeteria munching on a tomato sandwich, his thoughts on his daughter's Halloween concert. Things were back to normal. He had finally spent time with his daughter even if it was for only one day.

He proceeded with the Mafia-Assassin case since Walter was sent to jail- something he hadn't really thought about ever since. Something that would wreck his mind if he thought about it. The trial was shallow and fast. Evidence was given and Walter was sentenced. It's as if someone was playing to their side to give them a walk-over. He had come back to his office after the trial, when he realized he left the orange fur and the autopsy files behind. He was confounded because he intended to present all of the information he had to the court but somehow forgot. Strange.
But the case was solved. What was done,was done.

Carl knocks on the table."Earth to Jones." He chuckles.
Jones blinks twice and looks up at the Forensic Investigator.
"I've called you like thrice now.What's eating you?" Carl smiles as he sits.
Jones huffs out and grabs his mug of coffee.
"Nothing important." He blows the coffee and drinks it.
"What's up?" He asks after he swallows.
"I just wanted to show you something in my lab." He points back. Jones looks at him holding his cup.
"You mean the mortuary." He raises one eyebrow.
"Well, yeah." Carl clears his throat."That is, if you're done eating."
"Yeah,I'll be there in a sec."
"Cool." Carl walks off.
"I'll never have a break." He mutters to himself. People passing by glance at him. He was really going nuts.
He finishes and walks to the lab.

"I'm here. Tell me what's up." He groans as he stretches.
Carl looks at him and gets up from his desk.
"Okay so I know you solved the Phill case but I found some other stuff."
"Are you kidding me? It's solved. There's nothing else to see."

"Just chill first."Carl puts on his gloves and takes out a plastic container from a cabinet. What's this?

He takes out something from one of the containers with a tweezer and shows it to Jones. He moves closer to see it. A curly strand of black hair stares back at him.
"Where was it?" Jones asks,his brain springing back to life.

"Under his finger nails." Jones nods slowly.

"And then this too. I can't believe I didn't see it. It was right in front of me,well, more like around me." He takes one of the handkerchiefs and tells Jones to sniff it. He looks at him and sniffs it. A lavender scent and smoky essence.
"I extracted the smell from his coat when I realized a rather nice smell to him the day we brought him here-- a smell that stood out from his horrible smell." Carl takes a short purple glass bottle from his desk, labelled;Zi Lavender. A woman's perfume.

He sprays it on the other handkerchief and tells him to sniff again. Jones sniffs. It's the same scent as the first.
"It's a match." Jones smiles at Carl.
"Precisely." Carl puts down the cloth on the table." And the smell of tobacco."
Jones looks up at him." Tobacco from a cigar." His eyes widen.

"So that means..." Carl waits for him to finish off the sentence.
Realization hits Jones in the face so hard it knocks out his sleep.
"It means there was a woman that night." Jones smiles at him." A woman that smokes."

"Exactly. The dude was telling the truth. All these evidences are a result of contact;her hair must have been pulled from her head and the perfume together with the cigar smoke latched onto him."

"That does make sense.But how can we know if he was with the woman at that moment? He might have been with her before the murder." Jones asks still putting the pieces together.

"That is true but don't you see? Walter's story matches these evidences.He saw a woman being violated by the man and tried to save her but couldn't because she killed him. We don't have the evidence of her killing him but we can guess she did. Why would he even lie about her killing him in the first place? It's common for women who suffer from rape to be taken by surprise most of the time. It's hard to say she killed him,but he did which means it happened."

Jones nods."That is true. But she was confirmed a ghost. Walter presented a sketch in court and-" Jones pauses. The sketch.
"What?" Carl asks.
"The sketch. The sketch he presented. The woman had curly black hair just like the one you just me showed right now.She is not a ghost." Jones smiles to himself.
"I need to get the sketch from that hot lawyer of his,Jane."
Carl frowns at his answer.
"But I have to get some info from Walter first." Jones smiles,thinking and nodding.

"Thanks a lot Carl. Keep up the good work." He shakes his hand and pats him on his shoulder and turns for the door. Carl stares at his figure as he walks to the door.
"Yeah,Carl, why don't you come with me?" Carl mutters to himself." Maybe if you weren't number one in chemistry,and more active in sports,you would've been a cop,Carl. How about that?"

He scolds himself as he puts back the small pieces of the ghost woman,unaware of their significance that would lead to a horrid fate of Detective Jones and the people he loved.

......
I know this is out of topic but to all my fellow girls out there;please take self defense classes. I know some of us aren't fearless as Simona👀 but just learn some kind of move to be able to escape a sexual predator. It's really important. Or just carry a gun,I'm kidding,don't. Carry a pepper spray instead. This world is not exactly safe for a woman. So it's better to take caution and prepare beforehand. And just keep in mind it can happen any time. Especially if you are one to make a lot of friends,just keep tabs on the guys you familiarise yourself with,because those are the ones who do this.
Right. Peace out.✌🏿✌🏾✌🏽✌🏼✌🏼