100 Ways to Solve a Murder-Chapter 133: Anatomy of a crime scene II

Restaurant, 62 Warner Close, London

Marco sniffed the air like everyone who heard the slicked blond, but he couldn’t smell anything peculiar, a bit of lemony scent but nothing to be concerned about, he thought. Sam bit her lower lip, absolutely amused, muffled giggles escaping her throat.

Levi knelt on the edge of the couch, studying the pattern on the surface, "What is this smell?" He wondered out loud. Then looking up at the redhead and beckoning her to come closer, "Do you smell it?" the Irishman asked.

Sam approached, sniffed, and said, "Yeah." She had identified that smell the second she made her rounds in the scene, all thanks to her heightened sense of smell. She was familiar with it; she wouldn’t mistake it for anything else.

Levi saw the flushed look on her face, and his eyes narrowed at her, "Do you recognize the smell?" he asked her, tone serious.

Sam nodded, "YUP.," she answered, popping the p, but refused to say more. Marco came closer, wanting to figure out what scent it was. Something even Levi was having trouble deciphering.

The bearded man focused his olfactory sense around where the scent was most pungent. While Levi shot Sam an expectant look, now would be an excellent time to share her knowledge. Sam collected herself; she was at the crime scene. She shouldn’t laugh, so she looked at Levi, who was still sniffing the air above the couch.

"Sex." She answered, and Levi whiplashed towards her eyes wide in surprise. "Come again?" Levi asked, causing Sam to chuckle, which she stifled seconds later, finding it inappropriate. She was a professional, and so she bit her lower lip. ’Come again?’ she covered her mouth to hide her face breaking into a wide smile. Her eyes are teary watering from amusement.

"That scent dear..." she started, earning a frown from him for using a term of endearment. "... is the smell of sex," she added in a motherly tone.

Levi’s face contorted into confusion, then it hit him; his eyes widened, appalled. The pattern on the sofa wasn’t some logical pattern. But merely bodily fluids from intercourse.

Levi’s eyes narrowed at Sam, who pressed her lips together, not wanting to laugh at him in public. Snapping his portable magnifying glass close, annoyed at the fact that she knew what it was, and still let him totter around for her amusement annoyed him. Marco, on the other hand, snorted, now he sees it, rather, smelt it. Yep, it was definitely the after sex scent.

Levi walked out of the room without another word, then headed towards the dining area, where several possible suspects were sitting like petrified sheep. He scanned them for a moment, then moving onward to other parts of the restaurant, to the kitchen, with unwashed dishes on the sink, and rummaging through the trash bins filled with different peels—a couple of empty champagne bottles and whatnot.

Davies stood by the foot of the kitchen entrance, arms crossed in front of his chest. The two talked, or more so, Davies shared his knowledge regarding the suspects in the restaurant. Shared notes on each other’s relationships, at least those he got from the initial interviews.

He told him their background as the slicked blond continued to do his thing. "There is four co-owner of this restaurant, that would be the couple, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, Ms. Downey, and the victim Katherine Elba." Davies said, "Katherine is Mrs. Downey’s best friend, while Mr. Henry and Ms. Downey both went to the same culinary school together. They knew each other quite well, good friends from what they told me." Davies continued.

"You think otherwise?" Levi assumed, noting the man’s hidden tone.

"Gossips from the staff said that there was an affair going on." Davies shared, earning a nod. "Yes, and by the way, Mrs. Henry had been holding her husband. She’s aware of the affair." the slicked blond said.

"Do you think it’s her?" Davies asked, "Too early to tell." Levi answered, walking towards the walk-in freezer.

Davies followed behind, "Any ideas?" he asked, hinting on the cause of death while the psychologist checked the huge refrigerator filled with different sorts of ingredients.

Then his sharp hazel eyes focusing on the ice, he sniffed it once, observing. And sniffed it again, this time confirming what he smelt.

The Irishman gritted his teeth, irked at what he found out. He walked back to the hallway, and his eyes focused on Sam, who was taking her time drinking her coffee in the corner. "Davies, send the other guests away," Levi instructed, earning a curious look from the older gentleman.

"You sure? The suspect can be any one of them." Davies said, "I know who the killer is; you can let the rest go. But Mr. and Mrs. Henry and Ms. Downey should stay." Levi said before walking towards Sam, and he didn’t look happy.

The slicked blond invaded Sam’s space by standing in front of her, too close for comfort in her opinion. And she had to lean back, just to give herself enough room to look up at him without touching him. Marco, who was standing next to Sam in the corner, raised his brows at the two, wondering what was going on and why Levi was standing so close to the redhead.

"Why was I called when you already know the cause of death?" Levi asked pointedly, but in hushed tones that only Marco and Sam could hear. The redhead frowned, pouting suddenly; he already figured it out. "Can you just please amuse them? Drag the time, will ya? I don’t want to deal with these kids any longer." she said, she knew how the woman was killed just like he did, but she didn’t want to expose that so soon. She tried to drag the time as much as she could.

Levi scoffed, glaring down at her. "Why would I? When you let me misread the scene?" he challenged, hinting on the couch-fluid-thing.

Sam pouted up at him, childishly, "It’s not my fault you don’t have a post-coital-scent stored in your mind, Levi." She replied.

Levi’s eyes twitched in annoyance, and his head cocked towards the bearded man’s direction.

"Marco wasn’t able to identify it even with his repeated exploits," Levi shot back. "Marco doesn’t have your refined sense of smell." Sam stated, giving him her best smile, "An attempt at a compliment will get you nowhere." Levi said, annoyed that she solved it before him and that, in fact, he wasn’t needed in the scene. Levi’s lips curled into a side grin, and he will get his vengeance, in this life or the next. "Davies! We know how she was killed and who did it," he said, catching everyone’s attention.

Sam’s shoulder sagged visibly, and she took a sip of her coffee while glaring at the blond Irishman.

Davies furrowed his brows, "How?" he asked the Irishman. Levi turned to Davies then back to Sam, giving her enough space, "Dr. Gray here knew it all along, and for her students’ benefit, she’ll walk you all through it. After her caffeine fix." he said, eyes bouncing to the coffee in her hand.

Sam rolled her eyes at him, "I hate you right now." she whispered to him while everyone looked at the two of them. "Teach Professor," Levi said, and she grumbled under her breath as she pushed herself off the wall.

Sam handed Levi her half-empty paper cup of coffee begrudgingly and walked towards the students gathered in the center of the dining area. While Sam turned to teacher mode, Marco stood behind the other ten students trailing behind her. The funny thing was, Jones and the rest of his team followed like ducklings, even Davies, who tried to play it cool.

Levi scoffed at this, as he observed in a safe distance, he could still hear her voice while she toured the group. One of Jones’s people even had his camera phone recording the whole spectacle.

Sam stopped at the foot of the office door while everyone crumpled on the hallway. She faced her students, "The first thing we do when we arrive at a crime scene is to make sure it’s secure; never move or touch anything for the Integrity of a crime scene is vital in solving any case." she started, earning attentive silence from the flock. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Next is the initial walk-through; it is so that we can get the overall feel for the crime scene. We also need to find out if anyone moved anything before we arrived, and we make a note of the evidence by marking it." Sam continued while the students scribble on their notepads like suck-ups, eager to learn students.

Sam entered the room with everyone following behind at a reasonable distance away from the body, "The body, even though the crime scene has its own secrets to reveal - is the most important piece of evidence in any crime, and we are responsible for unlocking the corpse’s secrets. We examine the body at the crime scene before it is moved. And try to determine the preliminary time of death and cause of death." Sam explained further.

The redhead looked at each of her student’s faces, "Someone tell me the estimated time of death." She said. Jones raised his hand like a student would in class, "1-2 hours ago." he piped in suddenly.

Davies shook his head at his friend/coworker in reprove for acting like a student in front of actual students, while Levi scoffed in disgust in the distance. ’What an eejit,’ he thought.

Jones slowly and quietly pulled his hand down, realizing everyone was looking at him.

Sam sighed, "Embarrassing, nevertheless correct." she deadpanned.

She circled the body, "Rigor Mortis acts as a good measuring stick to estimate the time of death; it’s a natural process that occurs in all of us 2 hours after we die," she said, then gestured at the victim’s face and neck, with her gloved hand. ".. it normally occurs in smaller muscles such as those in the face and neck and will work its way down through the body as the muscles become larger," she said.

She looked back up at her audience, "Of course, let’s not forget Identifying the Victim." she said.

"Sometimes it’s not this easy, like looking at their face and matching them to a description given by a relative or loved one. Sometimes we get a course of grisly cases, from decapitation, disfigurement, to massive head trauma or submerge in water for a long period," she told the group, watching a few of the students scribble hurriedly on their notepads.

"Dental work, blood tests, fingerprinting would go some way in making a positive identification, but there are other things to take into consideration. Like, are these methods applicable? Some people may never have had blood work, some fortunate enough never to have required any great amount of dental work. These records may not exist, and in some cases, fingerprinting is impossible. So we look further, clothing, footwear, items of jewelry unique to individuals and can be identified easily...."

Sam continued giving facts, and sciences behind it, one after the other.