The Unborn

Chapter 19

Flashing neon lights of red and blue lit up Mayberry Terrace. People from the surrounding houses stood on their front lawns watching, their curiosity apparent. Police officers walked from family to family, scribbling in their notebooks and questioning them about their neighbour at number 42. The striking yellow crime scene tape was wound tightly from Marla’s driveway right across her front yard to the bush land at the end of the cul-de-sac. Barricades were set up in front of the bush land and beside the house. On the front porch CSU dusted the railing, door and windows for prints, their brushes whirling gracefully from side to side, transferring the fine, black powder onto their surface.

Inside, another crew from forensics worked the bedroom where the broken glass and splinters had originated. The crime scene photographer made the rounds of the bedroom, clicking away at every piece of possible evidence from every possible angle. He documented each photograph in a small notebook as he went about his rounds. 'The Duke‛, aptly nicknamed due to his unfortunate name of Earl Lord, busily gathered pieces of the broken window frame and small shards of glass, which were strew about the floor below the bedroom window. These pieces of evidence were placed into small containers and documented according to their nature, relevance and position at the crime scene.

"You get a shot of these here, Matt?" he’d asked the photographer before he touched a single splinter or shard.

"Sure did," was always the reply.

The Duke dusted the remaining window-pane, frame and ledge for prints, not that he expected to find any other than Marla’s. In this day and age of forensic T.V. shows and police procedurals, it was unlikely that any perp left prints anymore, but there was always the small chance that would-be villain would be so involved with the finer details of his or her crime, that they may forget the most basic detail of all… gloves! The chances were slim, but it was still a shot worth taking. He opened the small metal canister of dusting powder, dipped the brush in and coated it lightly with the black powder before swirling it delicately back and forth over every square inch of dustable surface. A number of latents stood out immediately around the edge of the pane, where the window lock sat.

"Get a shot of this for me will you, Matt?" he asked.

Matt stepped in with his camera and clicked away before meticulously noting the shots in his book.

"Thanks," said The Duke and then set about lifting the prints from the window with his sticky tape like, latent’s cards. Once again each individual card was labeled and docu-mented according to where it was found. "Have you photographed the outside perimeters yet? Might be an idea to get to it as soon as possible before the heavy hooves go traipsing through there destroying any value it may hold," he instructed Matt.

Matt shot him a playful wink and replied, "Already done my man, already done!"

The Duke then moved over to the Queen size bed against the wall in the centre of the bedroom. He noted the ruffled covers and disorganised sheets, two pillows were lying on the floor beside the bed and one was crushed up between the bed frame and the wall. He in-spected the sheets for any visible signs of fluids or hairs. He pulled his tweezers and a small orange collection envelope from his case, hoping against hope that he may find something other than the victims hairs caught within the linen. He collected and stored several strands of long 

black hair and sealed them safely in the enve-lope. No fluids were visible to the naked eye, but airing on the side of caution, the entire set of sheets and the doonah were stuffed into evidence bags for closer inspection under the lights and microscopes back at the lab.

He continued on his rounds, using a small vacuum cleaner to sweep the floor of any fibres, hairs and other possibly case breaking evidence. As per the norm, it was all fastidiously documented and sealed within the confines of his evidence bags. He turned back to the photogra-pher and said, "If you’re ready, we’ll move and take a look at the rest of the house, Matt. I think we’re pretty much done in here."