Criminal Case: Grimsborough

Chapter 42: Blood and Glory-Part 2

While Jones and Marie were pondering over the case at their desks and Jones came to the conclusion that their victim, Jerry Bigwall, must've overheard something confidential from his club and that's the reason he got killed for it. It was then that Nathan approached Marie and told her that he discovered that the victim was injected with a truth serum shortly before his death. Jones just rolled his eyes and said, "Come on Nathan, truth serum? This isn't a spy movie you know!"

"But it's the truth or a least I think it is. All is know is that when I was sewing your victim back up, I noticed a small puncture wound in his neck. And that's when I caught onto it," Nathan explained.

Curious by what she was hearing, Marie asked, "What we know is that our victim was murdered by swallowing razor blades hidden in a cake. So what could the killer have possibly wanted him to say beforehand?"

"That my friend is for you to find out, but I think I have something that could help. I managed to find submicroscopic dirt particles inside the syringe's puncture wound. I asked Grace to analyze these particles and she confirmed that this type of soil can only be found at the entrance of the Maple Heights bridge," Nathan explained to the two officers.

After they heard that, Jones and Marie set out to seek the truth. Just before they could leave, Ramirez stopped Marie and told her that the chief wanted to talk to her and it was urgent. Once Marie entered his office, King said to her, "Marie, the press has gotten wind of the murder that happened at the mayor's campaign party and it has caused a huge frenzy; they're starting to smell a huge story! The mayor is in a state like I've never seen before so you better go and see him and reassure him that this will all be over soon!"

Marie saluted the chief and told him that she was on it. After she met up with Jones and told him what was going on, she suggested that they talk to the mayor first before they inspect the bridge. After they got to the mayor's mansion, Marie asked around until one of the servants told her that he was at the tennis court. Once Jones and Marie found him, Marie called out to the mayor and he stopped hitting balls that were coming out of a launcher machine. The mayor then looked at Marie and said to her, "Pardon my attire ma'am, but tennis is important for me to remain stress-free. Especially now more than ever! There's also something that you should know; during my party, Jerry told me that he wasn't going to support me this time round cause if some trivial disagreement.

"But if the press ever learnt of this, speculations and accusations would run rampant and it could irreparably damage my campaign! I'm beginning to suspect that someone killed Jerry to harm my campaign. After all, when you're in a place like Maple Heights, to destroy someone you only need to destroy their reputation! Marie my dear, I believe in you and I trust you will catch this killer like you always do, but you need to hurry cause my career depends on it!"

After Marie told the mayor that she will do her best, he started to do his swings again while Marie went outside the court to meet with Jones. Once she was by him, Marie said, "I may not believe this, but from an objective point of view, the mayor has a strong motive for murder. Jerry wasn't gonna support his re-election campaign, but we can't just go around and start suspecting the mayor without proof. We should check around the banquet for more evidence once we're done inspecting the bridge." And Jones agreed and soon they left the mansion and headed towards the bridge.

After they arrived at the bridge, Marie searched around the riverbank until she found the truth serum bottle that was used on the victim. Marie also found a copy of 'The Prince' hidden in the bushes and she saw that the inside of the cover was filled with their victim's signatures. She then thought that she should dust it for prints in order to find out who it belongs to. Back at the station, Marie collected an unknown substance sample from the truth serum bottle for Grace to analyze. After Marie sent the substance to Grace, she brushed her powder over the book until the prints were recovered and she sent them to Alex so she can figure out who would cover the inside of the book with Jerry's signature.