Murder

D.S. Blacks’ phone rang just as she finished her breakfast, early Monday morning, it was The Boss. “I have another case for you to sort out” he said when she answered the phone “how soon can you get here?”
“Twenty minuets” D.S. Black replied, already by the door. She stepped out into the misty morning air, it was early autumn and the colour changing leaves merged with the fiery sunrise, transforming the world beyond her doorstep into a symphony of hues.

It took D.S. Black less then twenty minuets to get to the station, where she was greeted by a smiley receptionist who gave her a file containing information about the victim. She was eighteen years old, and there was a photograph of her, paper-clipped to the front of the file. She was pale skinned and had dark reddish, brown hair, her clothes were dark, mainly blacks, greys and reds, but her smile was bright and it touched her eyes, making them shine.

The first thing that D.S. Black realised was that this could be a possible suicide case, but she ruled this out after reading on. The victim had been found in her bedroom, on her bed, wearing her nightclothes. This made it seem unlikely to be a suicide. How many people killed themselves in bed? ‘Not many’, D.S. Black thought, ‘but then again, nothing is impossible.’ The cause of death seemed to be from blood loss, as there were cuts on the victims’ arms, but the pictures in the file didn’t seem to show enough blood for this to be entirely true. There were also scars where older cuts had been, so there seemed to be a history of depression, or at least of self harm.

The murder was thought to have happened late the night before and the victim, Sam, had been found earlier that morning, by her friend, Gem. They shared a flat as they went to the same university nearby, but Gem was now staying with a friend as the flat was now a crime scene. D.S. Black would have to visit Gem as she hadn’t given a statement yet, but she decided to go to the flat first and get an idea of what she was dealing with.

When D.S. Black entered the flat she was immediately aware of a tension that didn’t quite seem to fit in with the style of the flat. It was small, with only the basics: television, microwave, sofa, that kind of thing, but though it was plain, there was defiantly a feel of comfort, personality and safety. There was also a perfume smell in the air that made it clear that this was a girl’s living space, and a toasted smell, like someone had been making breakfast recently. Or a late night snack.

A guy called Andy, head of the suicide team, filled D.S. Black in on what they had found so far. “The thing is” he said, leading her into the room where Sam was found “we generally find that most suicides happen in a bathroom or another room perhaps, with a door that can be locked.”
“Right” said D.S. Black, looking around, this room seemed no different to the rest of the flat, there were a few photographs around, and the same people were in nearly all of them, D.S. Black recognised Sam from her picture in the file, and she guessed that the other girl was Gem, but there was a boy with them too, who was he?
“I suppose it’s odd for someone to kill themselves in bed then” D.S. Black said
“Yes, it’s clear that she was intending to go to bed. Part of reason that the team are treating this as a suicide case is because her friend said something about ‘sleeping forever’. The only other clues we have to go by are the cuts.”
“It doesn’t quite seem to fit, those cuts didn’t look deep enough, and there isn’t enough blood around for her to have bled to death on her bed” D.S. Black pointed out, like she had thought when she saw photographs in the file.
Andy took D.S. Black into the kitchen. “We believe that the knife that was used to cut her came from this rack. Three knives were missing from here, but we found two of them and they’ve been taken to the labs for testing” he told her. He had the sort of voice that people listen to whether they wanted to or not. His manner of speaking was professional, and he had an interesting accent that she didn’t recognise.
“Did either look like they were used by anyone?” D.S. Black asked looking around.
“We aren’t sure” Andy replied “one was found in the dishwasher, and the other on the side just here” he was pointing to the draining board “so both seemed to have been washed up recently. Though neither of them seemed what we are looking for. They were both either too big or too small.”
“Right” D.S. Black said, ‘if Sam had done this to herself’ she thought ‘then she would have trailed blood everywhere, especially if she washed up the knife. Unless someone else had done it.’

She looked around a bit more, taking in the pictures, the bright colours of the rugs and cushions, an obvious attempt to make the place more personal as it was rented, this attempt added to the idea that there had been a comforting atmosphere here before it had been smothered by the usual tension of crime scenes. This added to D.S. Black’s doubt about it being suicide, the flat seemed to have a mark of sanctuary on it, like the walls had been a shield from the outside world, and the pictures where protective eyes, keeping the girls safe. Though all these things still remained, they blended too well with the feeling of death and seemed be almost taunting. ‘I doubt if the other girl could have stayed here, even if she had been allowed to’ D.S. Black thought, and then she left, eager to talk to Gem.

The spare room was dark, as all daylight had been banished by the thick curtains, and there was a sense of danger and panic in the air, so D.S. Black was immediately on guard. At first glance, the room seemed empty, but Black quickly noticed the hunched figure on the window-seat behind the curtains. “Hello?” D.S. Black said into the dim room, the figure remained like a statue, “I’m here to investigate the death of Samantha Brooke” she continued, she had expected to find Gem here, but the figure in the darkness was certainly not female.

“They said it was suicide” replied a male voice.
“Who are you?” Asked D.S. Black, pushing aside a rising panic, she was in a dark room with a strange man, was he dangerous?
“I’m here because I wanted to see Gem, same as you, but she left.” He said quietly, not answering the question.
“Who are you?” D.S. Black repeated. What did he mean ‘she left’? He rose behind the curtain and emerged; Black took the chance to get a good look at him before he pushed the curtain back across the window, leaving only a slither of light remaining.
“I’m Adam” he said, his voice was calm, but there was something about the way he was talking that seemed strange, he continued, looking down at something in his hands, “Sam was my girlfriend”.
“Ok” said D.S. Black reassuringly “why did you want to see Gem?” His eyes rose to meet hers and stared her silently for a few seconds.
“She knows that I know” he said finally.
“You Know What?” Black asked, she talked gently, trying to keep him calm.
“I know what she did. Gem was angry with Sam for going out with me, she tried to convince her to dump me, they had an argument that night and Gem got even angrier with her. I didn’t know until Sam called me…” his voice faded away.
“Why did she call you?” Black asked, but this was too much, she watched as he walked past her; put whatever he was holding on the bedside table, and turn to come back towards her again. He had reached the door and opened it before she had a chance to react. “I’ll need to talk to you again” she said, but he closed the door without even looking back. She was about to go after him, then she remembered that he was holding something, and went over to take a look.
It was a photograph of the same three people who were in the pictures at the flat. She now knew that the boy with them was Adam, in this photograph, he had one arm around Sam and was looking straight at the camera, perfectly relaxed. Judging by her body language, the girl that D.S. Black assumed was Gem looked almost the opposite but she was smiling at Sam who smiled back with the same bright smile that she recognised from the file. D.S. Black picked the picture up with a bag, and sealed it to send to forensics, she turned to leave just as the door was opened again by a young, dark haired girl; she didn’t look surprised to see D.S. Black in her room.
“Everything he said was true, I was angry with Sam and we did have huge argument, but I didn’t…” Gem was unable to finish her sentence, she had been upset and scared, so D.S. Black had taken her to the station incase Adam had come back. As they sat in the safety of the interview room, Gem explained that she had been outside the room the whole time, hiding from Adam, and had heard everything he’d said. “I didn’t know Sam had called him though, I said she should, but I didn’t think she’d do it.”
“Why did you want her to dump him so much?” D.S. Black asked, she knew this girl was a suspect, but she was clearly shaken by what had happened.
“He wasn’t all that nice to her, he was fine when they were together at Uni, but the things he said to her, and the things he did, he did it all to upset her. She only started self harming a week after going out with him. I never let her bring him to the flat…” She was crying now, but Black still needed to know more.
“Did Sam like being in the flat?” she asked
“Yes, we had rules about being in there, we weren’t aloud to argue in there, and made her promise not hurt herself in there either.”
“Did she keep her promise?”
“She tried her best. If she did then she always told me, and I’d help her feel better, she stopped altogether about a month ago. Or at least she didn’t tell me anymore.”
“So the flat was like a safe place for you two then?” Black asked, Gem nodded.

D.S. Black’s mobile phone began to ring, so she left Gem in the interview room. “We got a match with the fingerprints” said the forensics guy when she answered the phone “Adam, or Nick Byrns as he was formally known, was arrested last year for rape, but was released early as none of his victims came forward. His prints were found in the bedroom and Kitchen.”
“What about Gems prints?” Black asked, watching her through the window.
“Her prints were also all over the flat, the most recent ones were found in the kitchen on the kettle and plates.”
“Right, thanks” D.S. Black put the phone down and went back into the interview room. “What did you before you found Sam?” she asked Gem.
“I wanted to cheer her up after our argument, so I made some toast and put the kettle on. I went in to ask her if she would sit with me...”D.S. Black sat back in her chair. She’d come to the conclusion that it wasn’t Gem.
This left her with only one suspect. Adam.
D.S, Black went to Adam’s last known address. It was a small house, set off from the others, in what seemed a rough neighbourhood. She had backup surrounding the house in case he ran. She walked up to the door and knocked loudly. A few seconds later, he opened it. “What-” he stopped and looked at her, bewildered.
“Can I come in?” Black asked, he was about to shut the door but stopped when she spoke again.
“Why not let me in unless you have something to hide? I said I would need to talk to you again” she said calmly.
Inside the house it was gloomy and dusty like no one had lived there for weeks.
“I had a search done on your fingerprints” she informed him, his face gave away that he knew what was coming.
“So?” he said “what’s your point?” sounding composed, but his face saying otherwise.
“They matched those found at the crime scene; they were found in Sam’s room and in the kitchen. What were you doing there that night?” She asked him, she noticed a knife, a lot like the ones at the flat, lying on the table. Evidence.
“I went to see if she was ok after her argument with Gem” he sounded nervous, like someone was making him say it.
“And was she?” Black pressed.
“Well, yes. She was fine when I got there” he replied.
“But she wasn’t when you left” Black said “and that wasn’t the reason that you went round there. Sam got home after her argument with Gem and, thinking it through for herself, she phoned you to say it was over, she didn’t want to be with you any more. You got angry with her, tried to convince her otherwise, but she hung up on you, so you went to the flat. You forced yourself in and cornered her in her room.” Black stopped to see his reaction “you killed her” She concluded.
He suddenly got up and ran, she went after him but the backup caught him outside, shoved him into an awaiting car, and he was gone…