FRACTAL 2014/12/26(Fri)19:10 No. 615715 ID: 6b7ea4
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i know i do. i can feel it in my god damn gut.

the problem, as always, is getting proof.

"listen, maxine." my partner, buxley, hasn't taken his eyes off the body since we got here. it's unsettling to anyone who doesn't know him, but after three years together, the staring is one of those things you just get used to. "i know who you think did this, but -"

FRACTAL 2014/12/26(Fri)19:10 No. 615716 ID: 6b7ea4
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i want to snap that i don't just THINK it, but another thing i've learned is that buxley wilson is un-interruptable, so i let him finish.

"- this doesn't even match her mo. which is a long shot, because we don't even know if she has an mo. but the one you've been chasing is careful. meticulous." he gestures at the dead lamb. "this isn't her mark, max. why would she ever leave a sloppy scene like this?"

Because this was a message to somebody. And also because she knew it'd make you say something like that, Buxley.

>why would she ever leave a sloppy scene like this?
...emotion. If something threw her off her game. Challenged her. Mad her mad enough. That would make her slip up.

Maybe she has a student, and they did a crack job.

Look, listen to your partner. You're assuming that it's her, but you're a FORENSICS EXPERT. It's your job to analyze, perhaps even theorize, but not assume.

If you find the b1+(4, you can deal with her yourself. But you're not a dumbass with a fake degree - do your job, analyze as impartially as possible, THEN decide whether or not you think it's related to her.

Does seem more likely that she had some sort of accomplice in this.
She's meticulous... if its bloody, then maybe its not planned?
Like, her and her accomplice had to do something quickly?

Also, its clear the assault happened extensively before the death, so you may want to review what motive someone so particular could have in a situation like this.
It could be that she was attempting to extract information? It would have to be important if they didn't have time to clean up.

why DO you think you know who did this?

any signs of torture? was this an interrogation?

>>615716
>"You are right. It doesn’t look like her modus operandi. I won’t fully rule out her involvement at this moment, though. Let’s gather some info first."

FRACTAL 2014/12/29(Mon)16:52 No. 616586 ID: 6b7ea4
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"it's a message, buxley," i insist. "plus, who's to say she didn't do it like this just to throw us off? or maybe something threw her off her game, made her angry enough that she-"

"make the story fit the evidence, max, not the other way around."

"don't give me that detective 101 bullshit!" it comes out way louder than i wanted it to, and a few of the forensic specialists stop what they're doing to stare. i clear my throat. "come on, buxley. you know as well as i do that it's her. can't you just tell?"

"no, i can't 'just tell,' which is why our job exists." he finally takes his eyes away from the body to give me a stern look, and i sigh. he's right, of course, but it's hard to let go of my instincts.

"you're right, buxley. i'm sorry. let's see if we can find out what happened here."

FRACTAL 2014/12/29(Mon)16:52 No. 616587 ID: 6b7ea4
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a photographer is finishing up with the body and moves out of our way to take pictures elsewhere in the warehouse.

"do we have an id?"

"marie talbot, 31. her mother called the police this morning when she woke up and found that her daughter hadn't returned from her job at the charity clinic by the red light district-" i open my mouth, but he gives me a steely look and i close it again, letting him continue. "but ... well, you know how it is. not a missing person unless it's been 24 hours."

i exhale through my teeth. "gonna be a fine time explaining that to her mother now."

Please forget, for five minutes, that "she" exists, and do your job. You're a professional, not a tabloid conspiracy theorist.

Inspect the bloodstains and bruise marks. Figure out the types of attacks that were used, and which ones killed her. Figure out what skills and traits the killer would need to cause these wounds.

Then take a look at the cross on the floor. You might be able to find a fingerprint or shoeprint that doesn't belong to the victim.

inspect the necklace. does it belong to the victim? is there any blood on it

We need to send detectives to investigate her place of work. Get any security footage from any nearby place. Hopefully the clinic has some sort of footage to go off of.

Dust everything for fingerprints, if it isn't obvious.
Confirm cause of death. And get a proper profiler around. Hopefully they'll at least back up your message theory, if not at least that it isn't from her.

you know, i'm not getting the 'trying to send a message' vibe from this. when you're trying to send a message you cut off the head, stuff it with something intimidating then shove it into the corpse. you do something so messed up people just KNOW it's a message.
this looks more like whoever did this just tied her up and beat her over a few hours. could be a sadistic torture thing but she has all her ears and eyes so probably not. really doesn't ring a sexual violence vibe either. i'm gonna bet interrogation.

FRACTAL 2015/02/27(Fri)15:34 No. 626902 ID: 219868
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we examine the body first. it's not as grisly as many of the scenes we've seen, but for some reason it still turns my stomach in a way that's unusual.

"all blunt force trauma, from what i can see," buxley notes, and i nod. "but the restraints indicate that it wasn't done quickly. especially considering the victim's size, an attacker who could cause injuries like this wouldn't need to restrain her this extensively to kill her."

"so it was torture."

"it doesn't seem sadistic, though. true sadism would have some variety."

"an interrogation, then."

buxley rubs his hand over his mouth, his brow furrowed. "what kind of information would she have? she's a nurse who lives with her mother. coworkers say she kept to herself, went straight home after work. i can't imagine her being involved in anything illegal."

FRACTAL 2015/02/27(Fri)15:34 No. 626903 ID: 219868
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i turn to examine the rest of the evidence, first using my pen to pick up the cross necklace on the floor by the chain. "the victim's?"

"probably," buxley replies, taking a few steps to stand behind me. "victim was religious, like her mother."

"the chain is broken. probably ripped off her neck as an intimidation factor." i set it down again, exhaling softly. "but after they'd already roughed her up some, since there's blood on it."

"so she wasn't breaking at first. they felt like they needed more psychological leverage."

i narrow my eyes. "buxley."

"hm?"

"people don't resist interrogation in that way unless they know something."

"what do you mean?"

i stand up and begin to pace. "the kind of resistance that would prompt something like this - the kind of resistance that would make the attacker angry, make them feel they need to terrify and psychologically compromise their victim - it's not just 'i don't know anything, i swear,' or anything like that. it's 'fuck you.' she must have been antagonizing them."

"that's a big jump to make, max."

i brush him off and move to the next evidence marker. "what was under marker 3?"

"a cigarette butt. it's already been bagged and sent to the lab, high priority."

"any idea on how long it'll take to get it back?"

"six hours, if my guy comes through." he tilts his head at me. "that's what i mean, max. that's a level of sloppiness that's almost unprecedented in any kind of organized crime."

Well, nobody said this was organized crime. This woman was running a shelter - maybe she protected the wrong unfortunate and got tagged by a stalking [[list of people who hunt down civilians for various reasons]].

she runs a clinic
for people who maybe don't dare go to a regular hospital
for people who need help, maxine!
the attacker was angry. the attacker was slipping and needed information FAST. that means theyre trying to find someone on the run, and that they need them back urgently.
who in this city thrives on showing off their power?
who in this city intimidates into submission?

>>626903
Everyone make's mistakes. Everyone gets stupid at least once. Even the organized become disorganized.
God, I hope she did. That means if that cigarette butt's hers, we got her! (Even if that isn't true, because I imagine a significant amount of visitors to this clinic are smokers, and this butt could have been from before the murder, but whatever).

>>626903
Then it's someone who thinks they don't need to take precautions. Someone who thinks they're above the law.

maybe the evidence was planted, then. to throw us the wrong way.
or it was someone for-hire. idk! time will tell.
what would a young woman like her know? she certainly wasnt involved in anything shady in her personal life. try her workplace. did she work in a hospital? did she work anywhere else? maybe someone came in that prompted this- either someone was looking for them, or they were trying to get something out of her. she's definately a pawn, though-- this doesnt have anything to do with her personally, especially since what was done to her wasnt passion-drived sadism.

>what kind of information would she have? she's a nurse who lives with her mother
Then she's a nurse who saw something. Have we checked records where she worked? It could have been someone she took care of they were interested in.

FRACTAL 2015/08/14(Fri)20:47 No. 662468 ID: a6f913
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“we need more information,” i say, “and until your guy from the lab comes through i think we’ve gotten as much as we can from here.”

he nods. “we have two directions we can go – the clinic, and the victim’s mother. the clinic is the most likely to have ties to whatever information the victim could have had, and the victim and her mother were close. if she knew something, she may have shared it.” together we start to walk towards the door of the warehouse. “you take one, i’ll take the other.”

Take the clinique

go to the clinic!

Clinic. Get a small team to the mother, have her placed in protective custody.

go to the clinic, why not?

Clinic. More likely to be witnesses if she got involved in something there, like you suspect.

FRACTAL 2015/08/19(Wed)14:22 No. 663945 ID: a6f913
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"i'll take the clinic," i tell him. "see if you can get the victim's mother in protective custody, too."

buxley sighs. "that might be a bit of an overreaction at this point in the process."

"i wish someone had overreacted for her daughter," i snap.

"max."

"i know! shit. i know. i'm sorry." i lean against my car when we get there. "you gonna come back to the station when you're done?"

"marcus works third shift. i have to go home first to check on the kids."

"okay. call me, then."

"i will." he turns to leave for his own car, then pauses. "max."

"huh?"

"are you alright, lately?"

I'm just tired of the crimes in this town. Little christian lamb trying to do some good, help the poor and all that, and gets killed and tortured for it? To send a shitty kind of message that's super vague? It's all fucking broke. The fucking murderer is done in this town.

You've worked together for three years, right? maybe share what's on your mind/ what's going on in your life. you don't need to overshare or launch into a novel. but he asked, and he's concerned. so tell him.

>are you alright, lately?
...I'm in something of a rough spot, I guess you could say.

It won't stop me from getting the job done.

no

We're the best forensics in the city and yet all we've done for the past three years is write closure for important unsolved crimes so that the police get to throw away their workload and connected criminals get to lose the heat. I've lost my sense of self-worth because my entire salary is now dependent on police corruption; even if it gets me jailed, for once I want some of my best work to DO SOMETHING.

FRACTAL 2015/08/28(Fri)20:34 No. 665480 ID: a6f913
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a lot of different answers cycle through my head before i finally settle on one. "not really."

he waits for me. i manage to get a little more out, and then the words are stumbling over each other in an ugly rush. "i'm just - i'm really tired of this, buxley. i'm tired of the bad guys always getting away. i'm tired of being the only two on the whole force who give a shit. i'm tired of always ending up by myself and-"

he stops me there. "what do you mean, by yourself? you're not -"

"jesse kicked me out! okay? he dumped me and he kicked me out of the apartment and it’s just more proof that this is what’s always gonna happen.” i’m kicking myself even as the words tumble out of my mouth, but i can’t stop myself. “everyone gives up on me one at a time until i end up by myself again.”

FRACTAL 2015/08/28(Fri)20:35 No. 665481 ID: a6f913
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“when did this happen? why didn’t you tell me?” he takes a step closer but then seems to think better of it. “where have you been staying?”

i shrug defensively. “it’s been working out because i’ve been pulling a lot of all-nighters at work anyway.”

“you’ve been sleeping at the station? max, you could have told me, you could have stayed at my house –“

“what, so your husband and kids can watch me lose my shit every night, too?” i laugh, bitter and loud.

the conversation dies horribly. i can tell he’s trying to decide whether or not to go back to his car without saying anything and i don’t know what i want.

it might be good to let him help you, even just for a few nights or a week or two. even if it's awkward and uncomfortable.

it's going to be bad no matter where you go, and it's generally not a good idea to pile everything onto one person, but it looks like you could do with a few nights of support and security.

you'll be in no condition to catch the bad guys if you sleep at your desk every night

take him up on the offer at least once so he can feel like he's helping, stay at a motel the rest of the time. don't sleep at work unless you have to, that isn't gonna help anything and it'll give you an awful crick in your neck

>>665481
right now you want the tgchan special. a hug.

you seem really stressed out. if you continue to sleep at the station (or not sleep at all) your mood surely won't improve. but a good night's sleep might make you feel better enough that everything that's going on won't look quite so large and daunting.
it's okay to need help. it's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to accept help from others.
i'd take buxley up on his offer.

You need a proper night's sleep in a real bed. Take Buxley up on his offer. He seems like a good person, he wants to help you, and let's face it, you could do with some help. You could also use a hug but that might be too awkward from your colleague.

>>665600
;n;

oh dear.
apologize for not telling him, you just didnt want pity, and promise that youll take care of yourself.

Apologize for freaking out. Say it's just the lack of sleep talking right now.

Just go with your buddy. You know you want to and your going to anyway.

FRACTAL 2016/02/07(Sun)10:32 No. 699753 ID: 8679fe
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"i'm sorry." it feels weird to say, but it feels kind of good, too. "i just didn't want pity."

"oh, max." he takes the full step towards me now, no longer hesitant, and pulls me into a firm hug. his coat is new, so it's stiff and it crinkles awkwardly when my face pushes into it. "it's not pity," he says. "it's just care."

i feel my throat going raw and my eyes prickling. i don't know how long the hug can go without getting weird, but i know that even if he started to get uncomfortable he wouldn't let go first, so i decide to play it safe and step away. i know we're both silently agreeing to pretend that i'm sniffling because of the chilly night air.

"so. meet me at my place after you're done?"

"yeah." i wipe my nose with the heel of my hand and nod once, too stiff and too fast. "see you later."


i give myself a second to breathe once i'm behind the wheel of my car. stuff has always been kind of weird and stilted with buxley. we're definitely friends, but he's ... weird about friends. that was the first time we'd ever touched beyond incidentals or accidents. i can count the number of times i've been over to his house in the past three years on one hand, and half of those times were probably work related. i've only met his husband once.

i shake my head to loosen all the thoughts and brush them away. now's not the time. i know where the clinic is, so i can get there without gps, but the drive seems to take so much longer than it should. i play my music a little too loud to stave away any more unproductive thoughts.

FRACTAL 2016/02/07(Sun)10:33 No. 699754 ID: 8679fe
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knock knock knock, this is detective capello, i have some questions, etc. i rattle it off on autopilot into the intercom. the response is almost instantaneous, and soon i'm let in by a weary-looking young girl.

"um ... the director isn't here right now," she says to me. "i guess i can answer questions if you don't want to come back tomorrow, though. i was here the ... the." she pauses, and i wait. buxley's always telling me not to rush the witnesses. "the .... last time marie was here."

the second she says it she looks like she has a bad taste in her mouth, and she looks around as if hoping to find something she can use to rinse it out. her hands twist anxiously over her stomach. "would you like some coffee, or - or water ... or should we sit down? i've ... i've never had to talk to the police before ..."

I feel like ^&*( too today. But you have it worse than me, so take your time, I'm not in a rush.

However, I will need everything you can give about this case. There's a lot at stake this time; any detail could contribute.

Sitting down is fine. Try to keep her as comfortable as possible.

Coffee sounds nice.

>>699759
>>699769
These.

FRACTAL 2016/02/07(Sun)11:42 No. 699787 ID: 8679fe
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"coffee would be nice, thank you. let's sit down." i motion for her to lead the way, and she takes me into a staff room - formica table, humming vending machines, harsh fluorescent lights. she pours out some coffee, watery and too pale, from the coffeemaker sitting on the wall counter before joining me to sit at the table.

"thanks." i take a sip and i don't make a face. "so, uh ...?"

"lucy." she's picking at her cuticles, but she at least seems a little more relaxed sitting down than she did in the hall. "my name's lucy montrose."

"okay, lucy. i'm max." i pull at my notepad and pen and set it in front of me, slow and easy.

"hi, max." she says it automatically, and it sounds silly and thin. she's looking everywhere but at me, eyes moving fast. "um ... what do you need to know?"

Ask about what kind of information Marie could've had, but like, in a nice and gentle way. Maybe ask if she knew what Marie was up to in her spare time, or if they were friends?

anything unusual happen recently? was marie behaving strangely?

ask the default stuff. was marie acting off, anything unusual, etc.

also, something for max to answer for us. who do we think did this? who's this person max is chasing?

What did anything happen on Marie's shift?

>>699787
The last people to see Marie, coworkers, patients, etc. Who doesn't like Marie that you know? What do you know about Marie?

FRACTAL 2016/02/09(Tue)10:19 No. 700482 ID: 8679fe
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"it's important for me to figure out what was going on with marie before she went missing," i explain. "how well did you know marie? were you guys close?"

lucy fidgets. "uh ... i mean. i don't know. i just started here a few months ago ... and, uh. nobody was really close with marie." her voice drops conspiratorially, fingers guilt-twitching across the table. "she was ... she was weird, okay? i know you're not supposed to say bad things about dead people but ..."

i keep the corners of my mouth still and nod mildly. "it's okay, lucy. i want to know what you think."

"she was weird," lucy repeats, after a beat. "and nobody really liked her. i mean, she never talked to any of us. she didn't even try. you started to get bored of saying 'hi, how are you,' and having her just stare, you know?"

i write down victim was isolated from peers and coworkers. lucy cranes her neck - and she thinks she's being subtle about it - but i keep my hand casually positioned at the top of my pad. "so it was normal for her to be quiet and reserved when she was here?"

"yeah. and it was the same way last night," lucy affirms.

"okay. can you tell me how last night went? what patients you had, what marie did? did anything feel out of place, or unusual?"

"it was the overnight shift, and actually normally we don't get anyone. but we had two patients, and marie took care of them. hookers," she adds emphatically. "she didn't ask for any help or anything, and when she wants to do something herself there's no use trying to tag along, so i don't know anything about the two. a cat and a rabbit, but that's all. marie probably only wanted to take them so she could like, stare them down and stuff. she was super judgemental. one of those, like, born-again jehovah's witnesses or whatever, you know?" she pauses, tilting her head as she thinks. "oh, yeah, and then there was a guy who came by looking for the two girls. marie handled that too, so i don't know what was going on with that. it happens a lot, since a lot of people who come here are like, running from abusive husbands and stuff. you're just supposed to tell them nobody's here, but he like, wouldn't leave, and i guess actually one of the girls did want to talk to him after all. after that the patients left - by themselves, not with that guy - and then, um. nothing happened for the rest of the night. the next shift girls came in at 6, and i left at like 6:30. marie probably left a few minutes after me."

>>700482
Well, let's see, there's the hooker lead and then her home life. Statistically speaking, we do need to check out her family as a priority. For the hookers, our best best is honestly street CI's, either to find them or their employers, and this dude they talked to. Though, without a discription of the dude, he'll be nigh unfindable.

Ask for security footage.

hey so. how does lucy know marie is dead? we just found her body, everyone should still think she's missing until we tell them...

How about we go find her family and try to let them know what happened.

>>700483
security footage, dude description, hooker description, thank for cooperation

How does lucy know they were hookers?

She's lying. Jehovas Witnesses do not use the cross in their worship.

>>700521
She said or whatever. She doesn't care enough about Marie's religious life to get it accurate. She just knew that she was religious and Jehovah's just came to her lips at the time.
Not enough evidence to call her out, we'll just unnecessarily piss her off if we think she's lying right now.

i agree, let's ask for security footage

>>700520
true! how does she know? i dont think they said anything. did she just assume they were sex workers bc of their appearance and the fact that the clinic is close to the red light district? kinda weird of her to tell her assumptions as if they were fact

>>700490
There's something weird with the timeline. No one should know Marie is dead. Suspicion cast on Lucy.

Actually, that's true... earlier in the thread Maxine said something about having to explain things to Marie's mother. It's pretty much implied that Marie's body was found very recently and that her own mother doesn't even know she's dead yet. Why would Lucy know, then? Especially when she's apparently not close to Marie at all?

I think we have to call her on it. She WILL get angry, but this is too suspicious to pass over. Maybe ask for surveillance footage/patient records/etc. first, THEN ask about how she knows the girls were "hookers"/that Marie is dead, so that we don't close off any possible information.

She knows more than she should, and is uncomfortable lying about it. Ask some leading questions, like "who told you what happened to Marie" or "when did the two girls' employer get involved" and see if she blurts out anything contradictory or otherwise incriminating.