100 Ways to Solve a Murder-Chapter 60: Der Tod II

9:15 PM |Evans Residence|

Marco and Lisa were cooking dinner when he heard his mobile ring on the kitchen counter, he looked at the screen and saw Davies’ name.

"Davies, good evening" he greeted, in a good mood that he was spending more time with his wife and daughter. Weeks before had been hectic, both with his day job and with the office.

Davies stood before the familiar view of Sam Gray’s home, police cars, and an ambulance parked in front of the premises. Red and blue lights flashing. The forensic techs were now forming a perimeter using the yellow police tapes.

Air was stuck in his throat, his brows furrowed together and his eyes stung.

"Marco." he greeted grimly.

Marco tensed from where he stood, his available hand subconsciously gripped the cold marbled surface of the kitchen counter.

"What happened?" the bearded man asked instantly. Lisa turned to her husband, recognizing his serious tone. Something bad had happened.

Davies’ eyes scanned the surroundings, the cool air brushing against his aged face.

"Marco, Levi needs you, it’s about Dr. Gray. He found her." Davies said over the phone, not wanting to get into details of the gruesome sight inside her home. Her once neat and tidy living room was ransacked and blood pulled on the floor.

Marco turned to Lisa and she knew he had to go right away, "I’ll be there," he said ending the call. He immediately grabbed his coat, and kissed Lisa, explaining the situation briefly. And getting in his car.

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Sam Gray’s Residence

Marco drove, his heart hammering against his ribcage. Through his windshield, he could see the commotion ahead. He parked across the familiar property, and he ran towards it in a hurry.

"Oi! Let him in!" Kevin shouted to the police standing before the police tapes blocking Marco’s entrance.

Marco ducked under the yellow tapes outside the property and he jogged towards Kevin. He was instructed to get in there ASAP as per the instructions of Davies.

In his way inside the familiar electronic door, a body bag being carried out by two men caught his attention. His chest ached, no, he kept repeating.

"Marco!" Davies’s voice caught his attention. Marco turned, seeing the flabby man beckoning him to come inside the door.

Marco compelled his legs to move forward but his eyes remained at the body bag, thinking.

’Sam lived alone’.

He turned to Davies, his palms pressed against both his cheeks, breathing hard.

"Oh, god. Please no, please don’t tell me." He almost begged. Davies looked at him sadly, his eyes scanned the premises noticing the forensic team was in low spirits. Jones’s eyes and nose were red, as he instructed a couple of specialists to search the surroundings.

Davies walked out the door and beckoned Marco to follow as he approached the body now inside the vehicle to be transported to the morgue.

Marco followed behind, Davies unzipped the body bag showing Marco the face of the woman.

....................................................

Marco approached Levi slowly, the slicked blond was knelt on the floor back facing him. He was inspecting every crevice, every angle of the scene. Like a crazed bloodhound searching for clues.

Davies scanned the living room, he’d been there with the two before. He remembered sitting right there on the couch opposite the sofa.

The once tidy living room was ransacked, papers and books littered the floor. The lamps and pillows all in disarray and broken glass were everywhere. It looked like a storm had walked in and left nothing but destruction.

Marco moved closer behind Levi,

"Levi," he said almost in a whisper, as he clenched his jaw stopping himself from bawling right then and there, as he looked at the pool of blood on the floor.

Levi stopped his frantic movements for a second after hearing the familiar voice of his friend, but he went back to his investigation in a heartbeat.

Careful not to compromise any of the evidence.

"Took you long enough to get here, did you get some drive-thru?" Levi commented dryly.

Davies frowned scanning the room, in all of the 17 years of him working as a detective, he never worked on a case involving someone he knew personally.

He assumed it was going to be difficult, but this was worse than he imagined. He could feel the emotions filling the whole place, anger, sadness, grief, and regret. Not only from Levi and Marco in the room but all that was present.

The whole CID team on sight was on edge, everyone was angry. And even though Sam Gray wasn’t technically part of the force, they considered her one of their own.

She had always been a huge asset to the Department. She had helped in many of their cases, she had consulted and had worked with many of them there personally. They had respected and admired her, and this loss was something that hit home for them. It was too close, that outrage can be felt in the air.

Davies felt his chest ache, looking at Levi. His usually perfect slicked hair was out of place. His always crisp attire was missing a suit jacket. He was only wearing his vest and it was partially undone. His chest and arms were damped and there was a trace of blood on his left sleeve.

The usual smug grin found on his face was replaced with a deranged determined look.

"Sorry," Marco apologized, clenching his jaw. Seeing Levi divorce himself from his emotions was painful to watch.

The blond brushed his hair with his fingers in an attempt to look unaffected, but his mask was breaking into pieces.

"Marco, tell me what you see?" Levi told him, needing to focus on the case.

Needing to distract himself from the person involved.

Needing to solve the puzzle instead.

Marco shook his head wanting to refuse, he didn’t want to do this with him now. He wanted them to leave. He couldn’t bear the state of the place, especially the pool of blood in the center of it all. The determined look in the blond’s eyes made Marco reconsider and he scanned the place slowly.

"I see...Bl--blood," Marco said, his voice breaking at the word.

Levi’s eye bounced on the red on the floor.

"It’s not hers. Rona, I think, is the name of her dog-walker. She had been long dead when I found her." Levi said.

Marco nodded in response, it was the body Davies showed him minutes before on the stretcher. She was so young Marco noted when he saw her, her dark brown hair stood up from the paleness of her skin.

"Now, tell me what else you see." Levi urged.

"There was a fight." Marco thought, looking at the scattered pieces of glass.

Levi shook his head, "This was staged." He claimed, noticing Davies watching silently behind.

Marco furrowed his brows, "Staged?"

Levi gestured to the chaos,

"Look at the place Marco, if it was a real fight, there would have been less damage, this was a scene. A perfectly crafted scene by the murderer."

"Why would anyone go to so much trouble?" Davies asked, confused.

"It was for her," Levi said, and his eyes for a moment turned dark, his nose flared and he subconsciously clenched his hands turning his knuckles white.

"This was supposed to be a scene, to scare her. She wasn’t supposed to be here, it was only 8 o’clock. She was supposed to be at work, like usual." Levi speculated.

"The murderer didn’t expect Sam to walk in out of schedule. She wasn’t supposed to be here. This was just supposed to be a message."

Levi moves to the front door,

"Sam walks in..." Levi starts retracing her steps based on the pattern and evidence of the surrounding.

Both Marco and Davies listened attentively, watching the psychologist.

"She walks in out of schedule and sees nothing unusual when she enters the hall. The door was locked, lights were on...she stopped mid-step, over here." Levi says, stopping at the foot of the living room.

He points at the pool of blood,

"She sees the body, recognizes the face immediately. She ran towards Rona, kneels beside the body..." He continued, careful to not mess the crime scene while he explained.

"She checks her pulse. She found none."

He points at the sofa to his left, "She crawled towards the sofa, Mo, lied there. Lifeless. Then she realizes something is amiss, she missed something extremely important." He says, his hand reaching to his mouth, breathing hard. His eyes reddened, but the tears refused to fall.

"She made a mistake, thinking she was alone. She turned, but it was too late, a hand covers her mouth, and she cannot scream. He was bigger, stronger, she struggled."

Levi points to a syringe lying partially hidden under a rug. "Suspect injects something in her. A drug, paralytic possibly. During the struggle, she was able to escape."

Levi brought them to the bedroom, the door was slightly ajar, and the doorknob was broken.

"She ran to the bedroom. She locks the door in a faint attempt for safety. But she starts to lose her motor functions, only seconds before he breaks the door open....she grabs her phone to call for help..." Levi paused, taking a lungful of breath. The sound of her voice calling his name just half an hour ago still echoes in his mind. The fear in it. He never heard her sound afraid. She was never afraid.

Levi turns to look at Marco, desperation in his hazel eyes. Marco saw the pain in them and tears formed in his eyes.

"And I hear her scream on the other line," Levi says, he was completely mad.

Marco’s tears rolled down his cheeks, Davies turned away sniffing. He was her last call.

"Levi," Marco whispered, wanting to comfort him but the psychologist continued with his deductions.

"He broke the door, not a second later, and smashed the phone to pieces." He says, looking down at the shattered pieces of Sam’s mobile on the floor of her bedroom.

"He drags her out, hand over her mouth. And this time the drug was taking effect, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t scream for help anymore."

Levi continued with his grim tour, he led them towards the big bathroom. He pointed to the empty tub.

"He took her to the bathroom, and she waited...15 minutes before I got here. I reckon she was conscious, while he filled the tub with water, and placed her there to drown." Levi tore his eyes away from the tub.

"I pulled her out of the tub, checked her pulse, and I tried to--. But she... " Levi paused, looking at his still damp shirtsleeve.

"She was already dead." he continued, his tone turned cold, but his eyes locked with the bearded man in desperation,

"Why did she call me, Marco? Of all the people she could call, why did she call me for help?" He asked his best friend, gritting his teeth in fury.

Marco wiped his tears away with the sleeve of his jacket. This was all so new to him, to Levi. More than 10 years and he had never seen that man on the verge of breaking down, not once did he see his eyes reddened. No matter how gruesome or sensitive a case was.

But here, right now. He had a lost look on his face.

Without saying a word Levi turned and walked out of the crime scene, leaving Davies and Marco to imagine just what went on after he checked her and tried to resuscitate her.

Davies turned to Marco,

"He sounded panicked on the phone. I never heard him so alarmed in my life. I never imagined seeing him the way that he was when I got here with the ambulance in tow. He looked so helpless. Medics declared Dr. Gray dead at 8:41 PM. But I think he knew that already." Davies spoke sadly.