hick and crisp —far more appetizing of a plate than my daily cafeteria pizza . I inhaled the greasy aroma , and it elevated my mood . My hunger returned.
“They live on Copper Street by Silver Springs Marina, ” he informed, t aking a bite from his hamburger as a sliced tomato slid out from the bottom and onto his plate.
“ O ver by the trailer park,” Lauren added, grabbing the ketchup and squirting an enormo us amount over her French fries to cover them thoroughly . I pondered how she would eat them without covering her fingers in ketchup. Then, she grabbed a fork and stabbed one.
Agent Bronson had eyed Lauren’s ritual with the ketchup , giving me a playful wide-eyed smile before he shook his head and returned to his newspaper.
“Those houses are not very nice, by the way,” Maddie said grimly .
An awkward silence followed as everybody dove into their lunch for the next few minutes.
“Let’s get to the evidence as it stands,” Detective Chase suggested before taking a huge bite of his hamburger, the peach-colored sauce drippin g down his chin.
He arranged the document s in front of him as he chewed , wiping his face and the table with his napkin. He took a big swig of water , and addressed us with the evidence.
“This is interesting. The victim has an odd double stripe tattoo on the middle finger o f her right hand. An officer at the station remembers seeing a few people at the jail having the same tattoo over the years , so he is working on the etiology of this finger tattoo. In the meantime, we’re focusing on the rest of the case such as fingerprints we discovered on the sword —I outlined in results to you yesterday, Fiona.”
“Got it, Detective.”
He continued, “ We’re still looking for the person to match the unknown print . Obviously, it is somebody who isn’t in the I A F IS database , so they’ve never been in trouble before. We did locate a blood sample at the scene and made a match to deer blood. We interrogated the suspects, and Damien Lee reported he recently discovered a deer on the road, hit by a car, dying. He stated he, along with the other cult members, took the deer to the altar in Dracul’s Den and sacrificed it, but did so because it was the humane thing to do.”
“Okay, right. Great story. They’re sick animal killers,” Maddie blurted as she swished her long black hair onto her back to keep it from traipsing across her plate.
“Well, we will take his word on it until we can prove otherwise, Mad ison ,” he countered bluntly.
“What about the autopsy report, Detective . Did you finish it yet ? ” I inquired politely , taking a massive drink of my soda through an over-sized straw.
“Yes, actually I was getting to that. I found bite marks on the victim’s shoulder and right arm. They do n’t appear fresh. I estimate they were inflicted about twenty-four hours or so prior to the victim’s death.”
“We need dental records from all suspects , and we can get a match to at least who bit her, right?”
“Yes, that is in the works, Fiona. I also found chloroform was used to subdue the victim prior to death , and the abrasions found on the back of her legs indicate she was dragged for a distance to the altar . She also has bruises in her armpits where the murderer had a hold of her body. ”
A young boy , probably about three - years - old, who had recently sat down at the table behind us with his parents, stood up in his seat, tu rned around, peering at us over the detective’ s shoulder . For no apparent reason and without warning, he screamed as loud as his lungs would allow, his face turning a purplish hue . The detective cringed, shrinking his head downward into his shoulders. The boy’s parents quickly wrestled with him to get back into his seat and scolded him for the next few minutes. I swore at that moment I’d never have kids.
“Wow,” I sarcastically said. I could tell everybody at my table was taking a moment to recover from the young
“They live on Copper Street by Silver Springs Marina, ” he informed, t aking a bite from his hamburger as a sliced tomato slid out from the bottom and onto his plate.
“ O ver by the trailer park,” Lauren added, grabbing the ketchup and squirting an enormo us amount over her French fries to cover them thoroughly . I pondered how she would eat them without covering her fingers in ketchup. Then, she grabbed a fork and stabbed one.
Agent Bronson had eyed Lauren’s ritual with the ketchup , giving me a playful wide-eyed smile before he shook his head and returned to his newspaper.
“Those houses are not very nice, by the way,” Maddie said grimly .
An awkward silence followed as everybody dove into their lunch for the next few minutes.
“Let’s get to the evidence as it stands,” Detective Chase suggested before taking a huge bite of his hamburger, the peach-colored sauce drippin g down his chin.
He arranged the document s in front of him as he chewed , wiping his face and the table with his napkin. He took a big swig of water , and addressed us with the evidence.
“This is interesting. The victim has an odd double stripe tattoo on the middle finger o f her right hand. An officer at the station remembers seeing a few people at the jail having the same tattoo over the years , so he is working on the etiology of this finger tattoo. In the meantime, we’re focusing on the rest of the case such as fingerprints we discovered on the sword —I outlined in results to you yesterday, Fiona.”
“Got it, Detective.”
He continued, “ We’re still looking for the person to match the unknown print . Obviously, it is somebody who isn’t in the I A F IS database , so they’ve never been in trouble before. We did locate a blood sample at the scene and made a match to deer blood. We interrogated the suspects, and Damien Lee reported he recently discovered a deer on the road, hit by a car, dying. He stated he, along with the other cult members, took the deer to the altar in Dracul’s Den and sacrificed it, but did so because it was the humane thing to do.”
“Okay, right. Great story. They’re sick animal killers,” Maddie blurted as she swished her long black hair onto her back to keep it from traipsing across her plate.
“Well, we will take his word on it until we can prove otherwise, Mad ison ,” he countered bluntly.
“What about the autopsy report, Detective . Did you finish it yet ? ” I inquired politely , taking a massive drink of my soda through an over-sized straw.
“Yes, actually I was getting to that. I found bite marks on the victim’s shoulder and right arm. They do n’t appear fresh. I estimate they were inflicted about twenty-four hours or so prior to the victim’s death.”
“We need dental records from all suspects , and we can get a match to at least who bit her, right?”
“Yes, that is in the works, Fiona. I also found chloroform was used to subdue the victim prior to death , and the abrasions found on the back of her legs indicate she was dragged for a distance to the altar . She also has bruises in her armpits where the murderer had a hold of her body. ”
A young boy , probably about three - years - old, who had recently sat down at the table behind us with his parents, stood up in his seat, tu rned around, peering at us over the detective’ s shoulder . For no apparent reason and without warning, he screamed as loud as his lungs would allow, his face turning a purplish hue . The detective cringed, shrinking his head downward into his shoulders. The boy’s parents quickly wrestled with him to get back into his seat and scolded him for the next few minutes. I swore at that moment I’d never have kids.
“Wow,” I sarcastically said. I could tell everybody at my table was taking a moment to recover from the young
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