“So how do you want to handle this?” Mike was tired. This was the third woman they’d found. Beaten, filthy, with ligature marks from being chained. And always with their throat savagely cut. It was a tough case. He had a sister about the same age as these girls and he hated to think it, but she fit the profile – in her twenties, blonde, tall, athletic and living alone. He was planning to give her boyfriend a call and ask him to stay with her until this was over. He knew she would be furious with him for making that call, but he didn’t care, he wanted her taken care of.
Mike’s partner, Amanda, looked over at him. “Let’s go see the ME, maybe she can give us something new on this girl”. She could see that this one was hitting Mike hard. It was tough on all of them. While they weren’t in a small town, there was still a sense of community here, and things like this always hit hard. Mostly because they were so rare. They had pressure from the media and were all working overtime to close this one.
They headed to the basement and met Maria who talked them through the particulars of the condition of the body. Mike always found this part difficult. The ME seemed so clinical, just seeing a body, but Mike had met this girl’s parents and friends, had seen her room, her photographs, her favourite things. She was more than just a case. She was Juliana, college student, working in a bookstore to cover some costs, her family so proud of her and so devastated by this vicious loss. He’d spent quite a bit of time with them, having met them a few weeks ago when they’d come in to report her missing.
“Mike, did you see that?” He shook himself and tried to focus. Maria was leaning over Juliana’s right side, peering down at the inside of her elbow. Needle marks again, so many this time, and in both arms, which was different to the others. “Have you run a tox screen yet?”
The ME nodded. “Results should be in this afternoon. I hope there’s enough of the drug still in her to give you something this time.”
For Andy’s Dark Side Thursday.
Two stories on this flight! Yes!! (I wrote this last week with the previous story, Hopeful, all part of the same ongoing story). Finally I’m starting to work on the backstory and other characters, complimentary scenes. What are your thoughts on this one?
x desleyjane
Musings of a Frequent Flying Scientist 
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