Good morning! It is the middle of the week and we are back with another Winchester Wednesday! This story has been really fun to write and express my creativity in a much longer form. And if you didn’t read the last part, click here. I promise that you will want to read part 1 before diving into this part.
This story is an Adventure, but the whole story can be found in the Winchester Wednesday tab in the menu. Enjoy!
And So It Begins
Winchester followed closely behind his father as they walked into the police precinct. It was so bright and open inside: all the walls in the lobby were white and there was a lot of windows. There was a large desk with three receptionists behind it, but none of them seemed to notice that the two men had walked inside.
The two of them walked up to a door and his father slid his a key card through a key slot, unlocking the door with a loud buzz. “Stay close to me. I’ll grab you a visitor badge in just a moment.” They walked through the door and West followed his father closely. This was a whole new place and West refused to get lost as he was following his father. They passed other officers working behind desks, none of them paying attention to the teenager walking by.
Anthony led his son through the building, turning corners and walking down the hallways. They finally came to a stop at a large door and Anthony knocked on it. There was a very faint ‘yes’ on the other side of the door and Anthony slowly opened it. “I’m sorry to bother you sir, but this is very important.”
They walked inside and Winchester saw the police chief sitting behind his desk. “Anthony, what can I do for you?”
Anthony cleared his throat and motioned toward Winchester. “Sir, this is my son Winchester. I had…uh…mistakenly left this file from the Nancy Crowler case and I think Bug has cracked it wide open. He took a look at it and noticed some things that none of us have noticed.”
The police chief stood up and reached out his hand. “Winchester West. That’s a very strong name.”
Winchester felt himself starting to blush. “Thanks sir. But I usually go by West at school, its…uh…a lot easier than Winchester.”
The chief nodded. “That’s understandable. I’m sure if I had a long complicated name like that, I would find an easier nickname.” He laughed. “Heck, my Robert and I go by Bob. But, that’s besides the point. Please have a seat.” All three of the men sat down in their respective chairs and the chief let out a breath. “So…what did you find out?”
West let out a breath. “Okay…so Chief Dyner, I first wanted to apologize for snooping in on an ongoing police investigation. So, I’m sorry for that. But…uh…I noticed some bruising on the victim’s wrists. Look.” He grabbed the folder and pulled out the photo, pointing at the very faint bruising. “See here. It’s very faint but you can see a little bit of blue on her wrist. I may be nothing, but the murderer may have bound her wrists before killing her. Do you know if the coroner took any DNA from under her fingernails?”
Chief Dyner looked quizzical. “Why do you think that it came from the murderer? What if she actually hurt herself before she was killed?”
West shrugged. “I said may, I’m not saying that’s what happened exactly. But it is something to at least look into.”
His father sat there and smiled. “He is right sir, it is something we can explore. I can call the coroner to see if we gathered any evidence from under the victims fingernails.”
Chief Dyner slowly nodded. “Yes. Why don’t we call her and see if she gathered any information. Was there anything else you noticed?”
Winchester grabbed the photos and flipped through them to find the one of the stab wounds. “Do you see this? It’s definitely not from a knife. It’s too odd of a shape. It looks more like a fencing sabre since those are triangular in shape. It looks like the murderer shoved the sabre into her back and then slowly pulled it. The only thing I don’t quite understand is how the sabre actually pierced the skin because it is not a sharp object. It’s actually a blunt object so that way it doesn’t hurt the opponent.”
Chief Dyner sat there with his mouth agape. “And…uh…how do you know about fencing sabres?”
“One of my classmates did a presentation on fencing swords once in a communications class. She is a competitive fencer and brought her swords to demonstrate what the differences were between them.” Winchester shrugged. “I just remember her talking about them.”
“I didn’t even know there was competitive fencing around here.” Chief Dyner sat back in his chair. “Also, none of her family mentioned that the victim was a fencer. Anthony, why don’t you check into places that offer fencing classes and see if Nancy was a part of their class. Maybe one of them would be able to tell us if she had a boyfriend.”
Winchester and his dad stood up then Anthony put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Thank you sir. We will check into those lead. Is there any way that Bug can come with me? I feel like he might have some good insight for the case.”
The chief looked at the two of them standing in front of his desk. “Now…why should I allow it?”
Winchester took a step forward. “Please sir. I found things that your officers didn’t see. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just…sometimes you need an outside perspective. Sometimes you need someone to take a look at things that doesn’t know much about police work. I’m just going off of things that I noticed in the pictures, not what the victim’s life was like or how she was a person. But I looked through all the case notes and I didn’t see anything about the possibility of a fencing sabre or that there was bruising on the wrists. I think this case might benefit from someone who looks over the photos and casenotes when you hit a dead end.” He let out a sigh. “You don’t have to pay me, I’ll do it for free. I just want to help get justice for Nancy and her family.”
Chief Dyner stood up and reached out his hand. “Winchester West. Welcome to the police force as a consultant. I will need you to sign some paperwork to make it official and your father will be in charge of you. But if you do something stupid, I am not afraid to send you out and have you not collaborate with us again. Do you understand?”
Winchester reached out and took Chief Dyner’s hand and shook it. “Thank you so much sir. I will not disappoint you.”
2 Cats and a Laptop 