Murder, You Say?

drops

‘Murder, you say? Are you sure?’

Hannah Jameson gave a sideways glance out of the corner of her eye at her partner. Dan Davids wasn’t known for being smart, but even he should have realised how obvious this was. Instead of answering him, she decided to continue to process the scene.

‘I think it was suicide,’ Davids called out.

‘I think you’re an idiot.’

‘But-‘

‘There’s no but. The body is hanging from the ceiling, his wrists bound, his ankles bound. There is what…four feet between his toes and the floor, but nothing for him to climb up. He didn’t float up there, did he? No. He was winched up there by someone else in this room. May be even two somebodies given the size of him…’

Davids scratched his head, processing all Hannah had said. He didn’t look convinced, but although he was a good guy, he was a lazy cop and just wanted to go home. He had three weeks of holiday starting tomorrow and this murder was more than a little inconvenient for him.

‘Just go, Davids. I can handle this.’

His eyebrows shot up. ‘You sure?’

‘Yes. Go.’ He was more a hindrance than a help, anyway. When he left, the noise of the other on-scene teams floated through the open door, before being abruptly cut off as it closed.

‘Who are you?’ she whispered, looking at the dead man. He looked so plain and unremarkable, just an average guy you would see walking down the street. He didn’t stand out. He didn’t scream for attention. But he had got someone’s attention, clearly. And that hadn’t ended so well.

The pathologist hadn’t arrived yet but Hannah knew he would be there soon and then the body would be beyond her reach. She needed to find as many clues as she could in the room before she left, before anyone else started interfering in her case and telling her what was what. They were not as easy to dismiss as Dan Davids.

She stepped closer but not close enough to contaminate any evidence. After a few minutes of intense scrutiny. She found it. A small mark above the right heel.

A mark she had seen before.

This was no murder mystery, after all. This was a sacrifice.

This was written for Day 29 of “A Month of Mini Writing Challenges“. See this page here for more details and a list of prompts.