Another case of murder

Emotions 😤

Chapter 15

Ashley's POV

The crime scene was swamped, forensics were running in and out. I side stepped some equipment laid out on the floor as I walked into the house the crime was committed.
My two weeks of getting used to my partner situation was over so this was my first case with Harry, he had gotten to the scene few minutes earlier.
The house was one belonging to a middle class earner, by the door was a table with pictures, a probably eight years old holding onto a football with a large toothy smile, he looked really cute with soft green eyes like Harry's, I felt a tug on lips as it tried to pull up a smile, I gently placed the frame back where I got it, there was another of a Caucasian lady, probably in her early thirties, our victim I guessed, placing the frame back in its place, I turned to walk upstairs when I noticed another frame on top of a box under the table, I bent over and retrieved it, it was turned upside down, as I turned it, it was a picture of the woman from earlier, her son, and the boy's father, their resemblance was striking, same eyes, nose, same face in essence. There was only one reason a family picture would be turned upside down, death or divorce, but in this case, I was sure it was the latter. I placed the frame back on the box upside down, in our line of work, its always advisable to leave the crime scene as it was or at least very similar to its original state.

I jogged upstairs, one of the detectives was taking shots of the body, the victim was sprawled out on her bed in a big pool of her blood that had now soaked the sheets and the pajamas she had on.  Harry was bent over the body removing the necklace the victim had on to put into evidence, a girl wearing a forensic vest was checking the stab wounds embedded across the victim's chest, stomach, generally all over her upper body. She was stabbed over and over, her whole chest was a mess, her eyes were still open, scenes like this were nightmare worthy. The metallic, piercing smell of blood was swimming in the air, the body hadn't developed odour yet, I walked up to the body, bending over, I closed the eyes of the victim, that was when Harry noticed my presence
"Lena Brown, divorcee, her husband works in an advertising company, earns large, no relatives except a sister who stayed a while few years back" Harry recited
He was good, just like I thought.
"She has a son, Probably eight or something " I added
He exhaled
"There is a whole lot of emotion in this murder, I mean how many times is this? " he asked, eyes trailed on her mutilated chest
"This had to be personal, a grudge or something, but someone she was personal with " I said
"Well, let's gather as much evidence as we can, we have a case in our hands"
"Was there any sign of forced entry? " I asked
"No, the door was actually locked from inside, we had to break the lock to come in"
"So the murderer had the keys to the house" I murmured
The forensic girl stood up, turning to Harry
"There are signs of struggle, see those lines around her neck? " she asked pointing at red blotched lines that rounded her neck
"And her arms too" she said pointing
"I'd say the murderer had tried to choke her, most probably in her sleep, she must have woken up, then he or she decided to stab her instead, then they must have struggled for the knife a while but she obviously lost"
As I looked at the lifeless body sprawled on the bed I felt sick for humanity. This kill was a beautiful mess, the emotions were raw, excellently communicated to the victim.
"Am Lydia, by the way " forensic girl said stretching out her hand for Harry to shake
"Harry" he said as he took the hand, of course he took the hand
"Yeah I know, you are a bit of topic in the precinct " she said, tucking her hair behind her ears, I know girls like this chick and I don't like them the least bit.
"Really? " Harry asked in his accented voice
"Can we please get back to the case? "
I asked no one in particular
That got them to separate their hands and back away from each other. Right now I had only one thought. Fuck Harry.
"We have to question the neighbors, the husband, sister and most probably the son"
"But he is just eight " miss forensics commented
"Excuse me, did I ask your opinion?  " I asked
"No I just thought....... "
"I do not care what you thought cause your opinion do not matter, so why don't you stick to your forensics business while I do my job" I barked, I disliked the girl for a reason I did not know, I just knew I didn't like her.
"Lee" Harry said reaching for my hands, his charm wasn't gonna work this time. I rose my hand to stop him, as I left the room before I did something I was sure to regret, cause I could feel red raising its roaring head. I walked past the crime scene tapes and ran my hands through my hair. Why was I upset?  I didn't know, I just knew my hands were itching to punch miss forensics across the face. Ashley concentrate, we have a murder in our hands i scolded myself.
I took big breaths to calm myself when I felt hands on my shoulders
"Are you okay? "
I couldn't miss the accent
"Am fine"
"What was that about? "
"I don't want to talk right now, let's do this later, we have a case to solve "
He looked me in the eye for a while, I knew he was trying to read me
"Okay" he shrugged

"He's here " harry informed me, we had finally gotten a hold of Lena's ex husband yesterday, we hadn't disclosed the reason he was being invited.
I gathered a few things, a notepad, a pencil for jotting important information and followed Harry into the questioning room.

Mr brown Andrews was Caucasian just like his wife, in his late thirties with strong features, very piercing green eyes just like in the picture, he was a fine man.

As I settled in opposite him with Harry beside me.
"Good day Mr brown "
"Do I need a lawyer? "
"No we won't be needing that, we just want to ask you a few questions " I said
He looked confused but mumbled an okay
"When last did you contact your wife Lena.... Sorry I meant ex wife" I corrected
"Last weekend, it was my turn to have jack"
I assumed jack was their son
"Tell us all you know about your wife, her friends, relatives, close neighbors, colleagues"
"Did Lena do something wrong? "
"No, but she is uhm... dead" I said straight to the point, my attention switching to his reaction
"What? "He asked wide eyed
"She was stabbed severally across the chest, found her dead body in her bed, her sheets soaked with blood"
I needed him to understand what we were dealing with
"What! " he exclaimed again
"So we need your utmost co operation to nail whoever this is"
Harry held my hand, signalling I should slow down.
As I watched his face turn pale, his hands were trembling under the table, he looked scared, not a guilty type of fear but still....  fear, I knew he wasn't our guy
"I know this is a lot, do you need some water? " Harry said in deathly calm voice
"Yes please" harry passed him a bottle of water, he downed it all in a gulp
"You good? " I asked
"I don't know, when did this happen? "
"We found the body yesterday, where were you 8pm - 9 o'clock Sunday night? "
"Are you suspecting I did this? "
"Its nothing personal, everyone close to her is a suspect right now " harry explained
Brown nodded as he placed his hands on the table trying to still it
"I um... I was at home"
"Any alibis? "
"Yes um the... House cleaner, she came in late Sunday because she had to attend her son's game early Monday morning "
"What can you tell us about Palmer Zachary? " I asked
"She is Lena sister, I don't really know a lot about her"
"Was she close to Lena? " harry asked
"Their relationship had always been strained "
"Any significant thing we should know about? "
"No.... No that's all I know"
"Thank you so much for your cooperation, hope you wouldn't mind us calling from time to time when your attention is needed "
"No... not at all"
"Thank you" harry added and shook Browns hand.

Thank you for the reads and 🙏 please don't forget to COMMENT, VOTE and READ. I don't know why I love this chapter so much, I really hope you enjoy it too. Love ❤️ you guys