Re: Unsolved Murder: Mark's Manor
OoC: Reposted and we're back in action! : D
IC:
An interesting company has gathered here, Tracey thought, heading down the hall to the bedroom where the murder, shrouded in mystery, had supposedly taken place. From the moment she had seen those in the house, suspicions arose; and after hearing some of them speak, and watching their behavior for the few moments she had been in their presence, those suspicions only grew stronger. But as she had learned from years of studying the greats--especially Holmes--one should never go into a case with preconceived theories. Then, you're trying to make facts fit into your theories, when you should be making your theories fit the facts.
It was in this clear, objective mindset that she entered the dead woman's room, pulled on her gloves, and took in the scene; blood coated the floor and the once-pure white dressings of the bed, and outlines of the lady's body were imprinted in the various places where she had laid or been placed in the room. Laying conspicuously in the center of this grim sight was a long whip; which, upon closer examination, was confirmed to have human blood upon it, and which was apparently crafted of strips of leather interwoven with shards of glass, points of nails, and splinters of bone and other gruesome objects. Most humans would have been too afraid of such a weapon to even approach it; but Tracey found it intriguing in a grotesque sort of way, and deposited it into her bag for further inspection. Even if it turns out to be irrelevant to the case--or even just a distractor--this unique weapon should surely prove informative if I'm ever faced with something similar.
Her interest piqued, the detective moved on from the spot where she had found the whip to take another searching glance about the room. As her eyes fell upon the bed once again, she noticed the mattress was slightly off-level--perhaps nothing serious, but it was worth checking nonetheless. A thorough search underneath it found white strips of cloth, soaked, just as the whip had been, in human blood. This crime becomes bloodier and more violent by the second.
The fact that this cloth had not been out in the open, as the whip had, drew Tracey's attention to the more discreet potential hiding places around the room. She began making her way back over to a dresser near the door, one of the few pieces of furniture in the entire modest room, when she heard a crunch under one of her boots and dropped down onto all fours to find the source; a single, transparent glasses lens, without its pair or frames. From there, her eyes were irresistibly led to something under the dresser that had registered in her peripheral vision. She stuffed her bits of new evidence away in her bag, and then crawled over to it, reaching a tentative hand underneath the dresser, and pulling back a fragment of a blue-print china saucer. Unlike the glasses, the rest of the piece was there along with it--but like the lens, the saucer was blood-free. Curious. Very curious.
Tracey rose and cracked her stiff back, casting her eyes forward as she did so; a splash of color caught their attention, and soon her feet were moving forward to see the cause. Behind the door, there was a single, bright red feather, which was splattered in blood--and beside it, a pair of scissors lay among scraps of what could only be, judging from its thickness and texture, construction paper. After a minute examination of them all with the aid of her magnifying glass, she stored them away with the rest of the evidence, and gave one last search of the room.
Finally satisfied, she left the bedroom and headed back down the hall to the others.
Many interesting threads to follow here--now if I can get some DNA and fingerprint work done on these items, we may have a definite idea of which to follow.