Good morning!  How is everyone doing today?  I know it’s Wednesday and we are all looking forward to Friday, but it’s only a couple days away!  You can do it!  I believe in you!

We are into probably my favorite part of the Winchester Wednesday story.  I took a long time on this crime and it was a lot of fun to write.  I did ask some of my friends for some help with the story, but mostly they just supported me writing.  I hope you are continuing to enjoy the Adventure and I hope you enjoy this part!

The Crime Scene

It was late on a Friday night.  Winchester was sitting on the couch watching reruns of Supernatural on Netflix.  His mom Sarah came downstairs. “You know…I heard the TV but for some reason I thought you were with your dad.  Silly me.” She walked into the living room and sat down on the couch next to her son. “Haven’t you watched every episode of this?”

He nodded.  “Yeah, but I enjoy watching watching it.  Plus I like their last name.”

Sarah rolled her eyes.  “I did not name you Winchester after the show or the gun.  Supernatural wasn’t a thing when you were born, remember?”

He smiled.  “I know. I just like to tease you.”  He scooted over and snuggled into his mom’s arms.  “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course honey.  What’s going on?”

“Do you like me working with dad?”

Sarah let out a sigh.  “Well…yes and no. I like that you are working and making some money before going off to college next year.  And I like that you are actually doing something and not sitting on your butt watching Supernatural all summer.”  They snickered at the thought of Winchester binge watching every season of the show over the entirety of the summer.  “But, I’m always worried for you. I just don’t want you to get hurt. And I don’t want you to get so involved in the work that you won’t be able to focus on your school work.”

West nodded.  “I understand.  But you have to also understand that dad would never put me in harms way.  He doesn’t let me do any interrogations or anything stupid. Yes, I have gone with him to talk to people about the crime, but I dad wouldn’t let me get hurt.  I think he would be devastated if I got hurt.”

“Yeah your father is very sensitive about those things and especially about you.”  She smirked. “Do you remember when you were 10 and you and your dad got in a car accident?”

“Uh…yeah…they hit the trunk of the SUV and spun us off the road.  Why?”

She giggled.  “Well neither of you got hurt and it wasn’t your fault, but your dad apologized to me for probably a month straight because you were in the car during the accident.  He felt so guilty even though it wasn’t his fault. He doesn’t want you to get hurt ever so he just super sensitive about that kinda thing. I am still kind of surprised that he lets you help him now.”

West frowned.  “Does he still worry about me when I work with him?”

“No.  He knows you won’t get yourself in trouble.  I think he was still a little nervous during the first case but he hasn’t said anything to me since.”

Their conversation was ended by the buzzing sound from West’s phone.  He picked it up off the table to see his dad calling him. He slid his finger across the screen and raised the phone up to his ear.  “Hey dad.”

“Hey Bug I need your help.  I need you help on this case but I need you to come out to the crime scene.  Would you feel comfortable driving to the crime scene?”

“Uh yeah that’s fine.  Send me the address and I will meet you there.”  He hung up the phone and stood up. “Well…work is calling.  I need to get over to a crime scene.” He ran up the stairs to put on some sneakers and grab his ID badge.  When he came back downstairs he walked into the living room and hugged his mom. “I will be safe mom, don’t worry.”

She smiled.  “I trust you.  I love you and tell you father I say I love him too.  Okay?”

“Of course.”  He raced out the door and got into his car.  His fingers turned the key to start the car so he could head over to the crime scene.  The address wasn’t too far away, maybe a 10 minute drive. 

On the way to the crime scene he began to think about what he may be encountering.  He had his ID badge so the officers should let him into the crime scene with no issues but he could never be too sure.  What he did know was the he was driving to a nicer part of town, somewhere he had never really been to but had driven through it a couple times.  He could see the red and blue flashing light from patrol cars up ahead so he knew he was in the right area. He saw the yellow caution tape up around the stop signs and a couple officers standing by the tape to make sure there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t supposed to be there.

West parked his car a couple of houses down from the intersection, locked it, and walked up to one of the officers.  The officer stopped him. “Sorry kid, this is a crime scene. I can’t let you enter.”

West pulled the ID badge out of his pocket.  “I’m Winchester West. I’m a consultant for the police department and I received a call from my father, Detective Anthony West, requesting me to come to the crime scene.”

The officer looked at his badge and cocked an eyebrow.  “There is no way you are an official officer. Hold up.”  He grabbed his walkie talkie off of his hip. “Detective West I have your son Winchester here saying that you asked him to come to the crime scene.”

There was a slight pause on the walkie talkie.  “Yes let him in. Bug I’m in the house come on in.”

The officer lifted the tape to let West go under and he made his way to a mini mansion with the doors wide open.  He walked in the front door and saw his dad standing in the middle of the room. “Hey dad.”

Anthony turned around.  “Bug! I’m glad you come.  This one is a doozy and I could really use another opinion.”

West shrugged.  “Okay. What happened?”

“Well…”  Anthony pointed to the body; a man wearing a full yellow suit wearing a tan safari hat.  There was an obvious knife sticking out of his back but a large puddle of blood around his head.  “Apparently Colonel Mustard was killed with the knife in the ballroom.”

Good morning!  It’s another Wednesday, it’s the middle of the week, and I have tomorrow off from work.  So it’s a good day all around.  And!  We get to do our weekly check in on Winchester to see how he is doing with the case.  We will continue on this Adventure and then I will see you on Friday.  Enjoy!

The Final Push

“I told you man, I got nothing to hide.”

“Then why did you run if you have nothing to hide?  If you were innocent you would’ve answered my questions in the gas station.”

Winchester sat on a bar stool in the viewing room watching his father interrogate Marquis.  This was an odd one. He hadn’t pinned Marquis as the killer with his given testimony. It was entirely possible that Marquis had been at home but it also couldn’t be proven that he was there.  He was alone. But when Zara had told them that Marquis would show up unannounced at their place he immediately became a lot more suspicious. It was still slightly strange because Marquis wasn’t a big guy.  He reminded West of himself; tall and lanky with not much meat on his bones and could probably eat whatever food he wanted and not gain weight. Was this guy strong enough to lift his 300 pound brother off the ground to hang from the ceiling?

Marquis shifted in his chair.  “I just…I didn’t feel comfortable answer questions there.  Especially with you insinuating that I killed my brother.”

Anthony shrugged.  “I just have to explore every avenue.  I want to find out who killed your brother just as much as you do.  So I just wanted to ask you a couple more questions.” He flipped open the file to ask his questions.  “So…I’m going to ask you again. Where were you on the night of the murder?”

“I told you.  I was at home by myself.”

Winchester jumped as the door to the viewing room opened.  Lacey walked in a smiled. “Oh perfect! Just the person I wanted to see.  I had a thought about the murder and I wanted to run it by you to see what you think.”

West nodded.  “Yeah, go ahead.  We think we have the guy in there but he hasn’t confessed to anything.”

Lacey looked into the interrogation room and nodded.  “Okay…so I was looking more at the scar on his neck from the rope and it honestly looked like he was lifted by his neck.  Almost like he was sitting or laying down and person who hung him up there had to use like…a pulley system? Like they strung the rope through the loop of the eye hook and pulled him up off the ground and then tied the rope.  There was that weird rash thing on his neck that I kinda dismissed at first because I thought it was just a rash and the more I looked at it the more I thought it had to be something with the rope. So I tested it with a cinderblock and some paint and I got a result that was sorta the same as the victims neck.”  She shrugged. “It also goes to show that a weak person can lift something using a pulley system.”

“How much weight could you lift doing it?”

“Uh I think I got up to 250 pounds before it became extremely difficult, like to the point where I was starting to tear up my hands from the rope.  But this guy…” She gestured over to Marquis. “He should be able to lift 300 pounds in a pulley system.”

Winchester hugged her.  “You are a genius Lacey.  Thank you.” He quickly walked out of the room and opened the door to the interrogation room.  Anthony turned around to look at Winchester. “Hey. I need to talk to you for a moment. It’s important.”

Anthony stood up and walked out of the interrogation room, slowly closing the door behind him.  “I hope this opens up a whole new thing because this guy isn’t budging.”

Winchester nodded.  “Lacey looked at the body again and noticed a rash on Marcus’ neck.  She figured out that it was rope burn from being lifted up from sitting or lying down and the killer used a pulley system of sorts to get him off the ground.  Lacey experimented with it and figured out that Marquis would be the perfect size to lift Marcus off the ground.”

Anthony nodded and turned back into the interrogation room.  Winchester hurried into the viewing room so him and Lacey could watch the questioning.  Anthony sat down across from Marquis. “Do you go to the gym?”

Marquis shook his head.  “No. I mostly run. I do some weights at home but that’s it.  Why?”

Anthony shrugged.  “I was just curious.  Did you know that your brother was hanging from the ceiling of his house?”

Marquis nodded.  “Yes. That’s what the officer’s told me when they told me he died.”

“Did you know that he got pulled up from the floor by a pulley system?”

Winchester watched Marquis get a little more uncomfortable in the room.  “A…uh…pulley system sir?”

“Yes a pulley system.  Your brother was laying on the floor with a rope tied around his neck, after he had died mind you, and the killer led the rope through the eye hook that was on the ceiling, and pulled him up so it looked like he had hung himself.  And you know what else? You don’t have to go to the gym to do be able to lift the weight of your brother off of the floor. My son who is the same build as you would be able to do it. Now what I want to know is why you would kill your own brother?”

Marquis’ face immediately turned sour.  “He…he took Zara away from me. She was my girlfriend and then she left me for him.  I don’t know what she saw in him, obviously I was the superior brother. I wasn’t fat like he was and I was more fun.  He was boring. I took her to parties and we had a great time together, but no. She decided she wanted to leave me for him so I decided to take him away from her.  So I invited myself over and we had a couple drinks so I could soften him up. Then I punched him in the chest to knock him over and he would be out of breath. I grabbed a pillow and stood on his chest to cut off more air flow.  Then I grabbed his tie and tightened it while choking him to kill him. When he finally stopped moving I took off his tie and stuffed it in my pocket so it wouldn’t be found. But I had planned on making it look like a suicide to I wore some gloves and hung the eye hook from the ceiling and hung the rope.  But I couldn’t lift him so I had to use a pulley system to get him off the ground. I thought I did a good job of it but obviously I was wrong.”

Anthony stood up and handcuffed him.  “I hope you know you are going away for a long time.  If I had a brother who stole my girl, I would just talk to him.  Not kill him. But that’s just me.”

Good morning!  How is everyone doing today?  I hope you are having a good week so far and I hope you are ready to see what Winchester is up to!  Is Winchester going to solve the case again or is he going to find a problem in the case?  Find out when you read the next part of this story!

Second Look

Winchester sat at the table in the conference room scouring all of the evidence and writing notes about it.  He looked at the photo of the victim’s body as it hung from the ceiling. The first thing that West looked at was how big the victim was.  Marcus was a large guy so it would’ve been hard for the victim’s girlfriend to kill him and then hang him from the ceiling. Unless she was a bodybuilder, which was a possibility.

He looked at the autopsy report to see that the cause of death was strangulation.  He nodded. “Well..at least that’s confirmed. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that it was from hanging.  Someone could’ve strangled him first and then hung him to make it look like a suicide.” He wrote that down in his notebook so he could check into later.  He looked closer at the pictures of the autopsy to see the wounds around his neck. There was a very noticeable red line by his jawline, presumably from the rope that he was hanging from, but West also noticed a less noticeable red line that was right below Marcus’ adams apple.  He looked closer at mark but he couldn’t prove it was actually something worth looking into.

The autopsy report also stated that there was some alcohol in his system.  Marcus wasn’t much older than 21 so he could legally have alcohol but he didn’t have much.  He had a BAC of .1% os he might have been a little buzzed. Or maybe he and the killer had shared some drinks before the murder happened.  It made West think that the victim definitely knew the killer. The reports said there was no sign of distress or of a fight and there were no superficial wounds on Marcus’ body to show signs of a fight. 

But the closer that West looked at the body he saw something on the victim’s chest.  The more he looked at it, the more it looked like a pooling of blood. Maybe it was nothing but he needed to know more information.  West stood up and walked over to his dad’s desk. “Hey. Can you call the coroner and see if I can go over there? I have some questions about the autopsy report.”

Anthony picked up the phone and pressed a button.  “One sec.” He quieted as the phone rang. “Hey Lacey it’s Detective West.  My son has some questions on the Marcus Fueler case and he was wondering if he could come by…uh huh…okay perfect.  Thanks Lace.” He hung up the phone. “She said you can go on over. You realize the morgue is next door right?”

West started moving toward the door.  “Yeah…thanks dad!” He walked out of the building and jogged to the next building.  He had never met Lacey but he had heard a lot about her being the best mortician in the state.  And he hoped she would give him the answers he was looking for. He opened the door and walked into a small lobby.

A short brunette chick walked around the corner.  Her hair was tied up in 2 pigtails and she wore large hot pink glasses.  She smiled. “Hiya. Can I help you?”

He nodded.  “Hi. I’m Winchester West, Detective Anthony West’s son.  I’m looking for Lacey?”

Her smile widened as she reached over the counter.  “You look just like your dad but much younger obviously.  Lacey Hyland at your service. Let me open the door and I will take you back to see the body.”  She disappeared for a moment before opening a side door and leading West to the back. “So do you go by Winchester or something else?”

He shrugged.  “Either Winchester or West, whichever you prefer.  I go by either.”

They turned a corner into a very cold room.  Marcus’ body was laying on the table with a sheet covering his bottom half.  Lacey grabbed some gloves and snapped them on. “So Winchester. What can I help you with?”

West felt himself starting to become a little uneasy.  He had never seen an actual dead body before and it was really strange.  It also stunk to high heaven. He composed himself before asking the question.  “Uh…did you notice this mark on his neck?”  

He pointed toward the faint mark under Marcus’ adams apple.  Lacey grabbed a magnifying glass and looked at it closer. “Oh yeah…I saw that but I wasn’t sure what it was.  It actually looks like he may have had his tie too tight. It’s the perfect width for a tie…I thought I put it in the autopsy notes.  Did I not?”

West shook his head and showed her the notes.  “No. I did see anything about it. That’s why I wanted to talk about it.”  He pointed to the mark on his chest. “What about that? Do you know what that is?”

Lacey looked at it and furiously shook her head.  “It’s just a pooling of blood from someone not breathing for too long.  Most bodies have it. But…” She paused looking at it closer. “I do have to say that it is larger than a normal blood pool.  I may be from him just being a larger guy.”

“What if…”  West paused, trying to make sure he had all of his thoughts straight.  “What if it’s actually from someone standing on him? You said it looked like a tie which is what I thought as well.  The size is perfect for the size of a tie. But this on his chest looks like someone was actually standing on his chest to help prevent his breathing.  Someone was standing there, on his chest, and pulling his tie tighter and tighter until Marcus just stopped breathing. It wouldn’t take much for him to stop breathing since he was so large.”

Lacey’s eyes widened and she took a step toward him.  “That…makes the most logical sense for this possible.  But I’ll take it a step further. There are no definitive feet marks on the chest so someone could’ve been standing, or sitting on their knees, on a pillow.  It wouldn’t leave footprints or knee marks.” She pointed her finger in his face. “I like the way you think Winchester West. You would make a good detective one day.”

“Thanks, but I have to let my dad know.”  He turned and ran back to the precinct. He quickly walked up to his dad’s.  “Dad. I have a lead. I think that Marcus was strangled by a tie while some was standing or sitting on his chest.  And Lacey confirmed that it was possible.”

Anthony looked at him.  “How can you be sure? The girlfriend was the last person to see him alive and his phone records don’t show him calling anyone.  Same with his internet records like emails and Facebook. We still aren’t any closer.”

Winchester sat down in the chair across from his father.  “Dad. Reports don’t lie. People lie. And these reports are saying that he was murdered by someone strangling him with a tie while standing on his chest.  I think we need to interview the girlfriend again.”