Prologue
THE DEAD BODY was found in an alleyway
Ruby wanted to throw up when she saw it, the body was mangled and unrecognisable, the person’s body was stripped naked but Ruby couldn’t determine whether the victim was male or female due to the multiple wounds in that area and a white sheet had been thrown over the body. Maybe in an attempt to recover some amount of dignity to the victim, but Ruby couldn’t be sure the one thing that Ruby did knew for sure that they would have to use dental records to get a positive identification of who exactly the person was unless they could find a wallet or purse that gave them a clue as to who the person was
One reason as to why they couldn’t I.D the body was because it so slashed up around the face and across the neck, it was like some kind of animal had attacked him and there was blood splatter all over the wall where he looked like the body had been staged or propped up but the young woman had to wonder as she peered at what was left of the person’s face that it was hard to imagine the person even having a face to begin with. When that thought settled in Ruby’s head bile rose to the back of her throat and she felt like she was going to throw up
She had only been working in homicide for a month and she had to witness this? It was definitely something that was going to leave her with more nightmares -- more than the one she already has and finally, she forced herself to look away from the body and instead focused on the blood splatter decorating the wall
“Gruesome init?” Her partner Detective Mavericks said as he slid in next to Ruby, his eyes going from the body to Ruby’s peakish features and all Ruby could do was numbly nod her head as she looked at Detective Mavericks, his dark features held a weariness about them and his equally as dark eyes seemed to change and age by several years as soon as he saw the body, but at least he didn’t look like he was going to throw up
“Yeah” Ruby agreed, her voice barely even a whisper as she was scared that she was going to throw up if she spoke too much or any louder. She tried to force herself to breathe in and out, just like her therapist taught her to do
Suddenly she was clapped on the back by Mavericks “It gets better y’know you get used ta seeing these things. I’m sorry you’re first official case for homicide was this bad”
“It’s not exactly your fault” Ruby tried to weakly smile but it came across like a grimace so she cast her eyes back downwards, her stomach churning at the thought of the body and she willed herself not to look at it and she forced herself to look back at Mavericks “So have the techs found a murder weapon”
Mavericks shook his head but his hands loosely gestured to the body where the techs were taking photos and doing their thing before Mavericks and Ruby took over and his tone was grim, so different to the tone that Ruby had grown used to “No, but I’d say it’s pretty bloody obvious what the cause of death is”
“Claw marks...Are we sure?”
“Hey I’ve seen weirder in LA”
“Yeah but I’ve only been working in homicide for a month!”
“Well there’s no easy way to experience murder especially your first one if it’s as brutal as this” Mavericks chuckles humourlessly and Ruby frowns, the older Detective seeing this gave the young woman a look “What were you expecting Jenkins? A murder scene all packaged neatly with a vase of flowers?”
“Would be nice”
“Welcome to homicide, you’ll love it! Now let’s get back to the murder”
“But they say this is a murder this just seems like a random animal attack”
“Could be” Mavericks shrugs, but Ruby could tell by his mannerisms that he didn’t agree with her and she let out a little huff “But they want us to check it out, all the same, make sure no foul play is going on”
“We don’t even know who the person is!”
“That’s what you have to figure out and how he ended up here covered in claw marks”
Ruby rolled her shoulders, and grits her teeth by now she was used to being pushed around by Mavericks a little but this was a whole new ball game. She had barely been in a homicide a month and was supposed to try and solve a murder that had no murder weapon other than claw marks...Which was strange for a murder Ruby had to admit. On top of that, there were no witnesses or suspects
So basically all she had was a dead body with an untold story
Hopefully when they get a positive identification on the body Ruby can start looking into their past and digging out suspects from that. There was no doubt that it was going to be a long process but she couldn’t deny it was the only way.
Unless witnesses or a murder weapon suddenly fall out of thin air
Mavericks and Ruby were called over by a CSI tech and Ruby swallowed down more bile as she wandered over and attempted to do her job. It wouldn’t be a good look if she threw up her dinner all over the dead body
After they had finished processing the body and searching for prints which not surprisingly there was none but even more surprisingly there was hair at the crime scene but it didn’t appear to be human hair but it was put in evidence all the same and Ruby just hoped that forensics would be able to pull a print from it
Two hours later they were allowed to go home to get some rest for they had a busy day and their chief didn’t know whether they would be able to go home until late tomorrow, the only problem being Ruby was sure the scarring image of the dead body had been seared into her brain and she wouldn’t get sleep.
