Chapter 3

Scarlett’s POV fast forward to the crime being processed.

“Wow, what a mess…” I look around to see papers and books everywhere. A lamp fell over.

“Yeah, it must’ve been a bad fight last night between them.” Jax has a look of disbelieve and sadness for her.

“I’m guessing the crying young lady outside found her and called us?”

“Yeah, Alice Brandon, 26, a friend of the deceased. She says that Victoria called her last night to have brunch plans for this morning since she did not want to be left alone. She came here this morning to pick her up and found her like this, then called us.”

“Left alone? Why would she be alone? Where’s Vincent?” I’m confused…I had seen Vincent last night at the restaurant with her.

“Not sure, but from the position of the body she had her phone in her hand about to call him.” She is sprawled out near the front of the desk, her head towards the desk and feet towards the middle of the floor.

“Looks like she also had other plans for the night, by the way she’s wearing a long lingerie nightgown and robe.”

“I’ll see if I can get anything out of the witness.” Jax leaves me to take pictures and sketch the scene. He went outside to talk to Alice to see if she knew anything. Once I finish with the sketches and pictures I talk to our ME, Dr Watson to find out a cause and time of death.

“Good morning Dalton, so talk to me what’s our COD (cause of death) and TOD (time of death)?”

“Obviously not a good morning for our victim. Cause of death looks like blunt force trauma either from hitting the desk or maybe one of these books or maybe something else entirely. I’ll figure that out when I get her on the table, but for now until then I’m thinking blunt force. As for TOD according to her liver temperature it is 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit so a full 12hrs since she has been dead, so the murder happened at 10pm last night.”

“Well that’s the start. I’ll let Jax know and see what he got from the friend.”

“Great, I’ll give you more information when I get her on the table back to our table and her resting place until her family picks her up for funeral arrangements.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s the worst part of the job.”

“Yeah, meeting people on the worst day ever isn’t the best way to meet someone. I usually like to have a supply of flowers in the office to give to the victim’s family.”

“I’m sure they appreciate that. Alright off I go to find Jax on my findings.” I head back outside to find Jax.

“So, what did you find out from the friend?”

“Alice is 26 and she and Victoria have been friends since childhood. Victoria called Alice last night. According to Alice, Victoria was upset. From what she could tell in between her sobbing over the phone, that Vincent had to go out of town for a client, it was their anniversary last night and after they got home from the restaurant they got into a fight, she was angry enough to throw some of his law books at him.” Jax starts to explain things and I get an idea.

“That explains why papers and books are all over the place.” I’m trying to put puzzle pieces together in my head.

“Right, anyway, after throwing books, she went back to their bedroom and the line disconnected.” Jax finishes his story from the witness and I’m trying to collect my thoughts.

“Interesting…well why don’t we check the bedroom since it was her last known whereabouts.”

“Sounds like a good idea. Thank you, Alice you are free to go, but don’t go out of town.” Alice walked away from us. Besides from being a sobbing mess from crying who knows how long, she seemed like a pretty girl. Pixie cut, black hair, 4ft 10, dark brown eyes. Didn’t seem like they would be good friends, but I guess opposites attract.

“Well that helps but let us try looking at her last known whereabouts which seems to be the bedroom.” We go back inside and attempt to find the bedroom. This house is so darn big that I get lost a couple of times. We finally find the bedroom and things are still missing. I put on my latex gloves and look around.

“Well looks like somethings are connecting. These were the clothes that they wore at the restaurant.” I hold up the silver dress that she was wearing and the suit he wore from the night before.

“That’s interesting…” We both looked around for a little while longer when I snoop around in the closets.

“Looks like some clothes and a suitcase are missing. Fits into the story of Vincent going on a trip.” I noticed his and hers suitcases in the closet, one missing one still here so obviously she did not go. “So, she changes from her dress to something sassy hoping to get some action, she gets into a fight with Vincent, fight gets physical, so does Vincent in self defense kill her cause she’s getting physical or does someone else come along and kill her?”

“Footprints and wheel prints on the floor, seems to line up so far with what we know. After the restaurant, they get home, change, they probably have a chat, things get physical and then we don’t know.” Thinking my thoughts out loud helps me sometimes and lets Jax knows where my headspace is at.

“Well, let us check the study again. Maybe the body outline could help us.”

“Yeah, that seems like a good idea.” We go back to the study and obviously it got physical. Papers and books were everywhere…her body was on the floor near the front of the desk…

“Ugh I’m stumped. Maybe we need to take a step back for a little bit.”

“Hang on, do you hear water?” Jax perks up when he hears the water dripping from the bathroom.

“Yeah, maybe the shower?” We head over to the master bathroom and obviously someone took a shower.

“So, one or both of them took a shower…how does that help us?”

“Not sure, but maybe it’s worth noting. We can ask Dr. Dalton about her body when we get back.” Jax looked just as confused as I did.

“From what I knew of the Blackmans they seemed like a nice couple, but did I think one of them was capable of murder no…”