Murder of the 15th VIII

Previously.

Under the jacket was a sewn photo of Sam Gray, wearing a white shirt under her red jacket and black pants. On the printed photo was a handwritten message. Red bold letters from a marker in Levi's observation.

The message says, 'HELLO, DR. GRAY'.

Marco gasped, and a cuss left his mouth "Fuck."

Levi flips the jacket close and stands, then pockets his penlight.

Marco turned to look at Davies, "Did she?" he started to ask. Levi rolled his eyes knowing what he was about to say.

What a stupid question, Levi thought, at least to him the answer was obvious.

Did Sam see it?

Did Sam know?

Of course, she knew, she had been there. She had seen the crime scene before he did. Exactly how it was.

Davies nodded to Marco, and he sighed. "Yes," he answered.

"Well, how did she--" Marco started only to be interrupted by Levi.

"Where is she?" The criminal psychologist demanded as he removed his gloves and threw it in the bin.

Davies cocked his head towards the left direction "At the tent," he says.

Levi turned, spotting the tent easily and he made his way towards it.

Davies stepped forward trying to get Levi's attention, "Wait, what did you get?" he asked behind the blond psychologist.

Levi paused halfway, turned to him, and groaned, "I thought it was quite obvious, Detective Inspector." he said incredulously at the two-man standing behind him.

"The red bold letters with 'Hello, Dr. Gray' on it? Did it seem like a Christmas card to you?" The blond scoffed. Before he turned and moved forward he said, "It's a warning, it's a threat, Detective Inspector."

"You know that's not what I meant!" Davies retorted peeved with the blond's response. Levi huffed exasperated, he walked back towards Davies.

"The killer just changed his M.O for you! Before, he targeted middle-aged people with preexisting health issues to make their deaths seem more natural. Now the latest victim is in her 20's, in her prime! And she seemed to have been drained of blood, a complete 360 from previous victims." Levi says, he expels a breath whilst fixing his tie frustrated.

Levi gestured to the corpse on the ground a few feet away from them, "This is a result of your little press conference. Before he worked in the shadows, now he'd had a taste of the limelight. He's all over the news, and he's loving the attention!"

Levi shifts, ready to move. Go where he was going before, to the tent. "If you're a smart Detective Inspector, you and your people won't breathe a word of this little detail to the media," he says, hinting on the photo of Sam sewed under the denim jacket.

"He'll just love it more," Levi says walking away.

Marco turned to Davies, he knew the older man was peeved at the blond man's smart-aleck response. But then again it didn't make him wrong. "You know him," Marco says almost apologetic, Davies nodded as Marco shifted to follow the slicked blond.

Levi entered the blue and yellow tent, his eyes scanned the place. He spotted the redhead immediately from the pack, standing in front of a group of CID forensic technicians.

Her back was facing Levi and Marco, while she gave each man and woman under her instructions on what to look for around the area.

The slicked blond's abrupt entrance caught everyone's attention, and all 6 of them shifted to look at him. 1 photographer, 1 Photographic Log Recorder, 1 Sketch Preparer, 2 Evidence Recorder/Evidence Recovery Personnel, 1 Specialist.

Sam, the team leader of the crime scene team turned and looked at where they were looking. Stood at the tent\'s entrance was Levi wearing a crisp blue 3piece suit and teal colored necktie. His usual mask of a smile when in front of strangers was nowhere to be found, instead his jaw was clenched and his eyes held anger underneath. And boy, was she glad that that anger wasn't aimed at her this time.

The blond approached her immediately, not giving two shits that she was in the middle of a meeting.

Sam turned to everyone, summarized her instructions, and dismissed everyone. The group all dissipated leaving just the three of them in the Tent to converse privately

"What have you got?" He asked immediately, direct to business.

"Levi!" Marco chided, not aware of the two's reconciliation.

Marco wanted to first ask how the redhead was doing, and not go straight to business like the cad Levi was.

The two looked at Marco, giving him the floor. He seemed to have something urgent to say based on his tone. Marco cleared his throat, even though he was the tallest in the group he felt small under two geniuses observing eyes.

He turned to face Sam, "Are--- are you okay?" he asked. Levi rolled his eyes and expelled a groan.

Sam smiled at Marco, he truly was a gentle giant, she thought. "I'm fine Marco, thank you for asking," she reassures him.

Having wasted enough time, Levi decided to interrupt, "The photo?" he asked, catching the two's attention again.

"Where do you think he got it?" He adds looking straight to her green eyes. "He?" Marco asks, brows furrowed in confusion. "When had we established it was a he?" Marco asks, confused.

"The penmanship," Sam informs him. Levi nods in agreement, whilst glaring at his bearded friend for not catching the obvious. There were a lot of things that can be revealed about a person based on their penmanship, not just their gender, but even possibly their current mental and health status and even personality in some special cases. It all depends on how good the graphologist is.

Good thing was, both Levi and Sam knew a few things about graphology,

the analysis of the physical characteristics and patterns of handwriting that can indicate the person's psychological state at the time of writing, or evaluate personality characteristics. However, it is still generally considered a pseudoscience.

Sam turned to Levi, "And about the photo, I do believe it was taken just two days ago, Guy's Hospital parking lot," she informs.

Levi nods in understanding, pinning it in his mind. While Marco frowns in confusion, it was bloody hard to keep up with the two's discussion, they seem to be certain of what they know.

"How? I mean, how can you tell?" Marco asks.

Levi huffs, annoyed that he was asking stupid questions again.

"Oh, Marco, you simpleton. The background, the wall behind her was Guy's Hospital." Levi says.

"And the clothes in the photo I wore two days ago. I returned to the lab around 4 in the afternoon after a shower, that photo must be taken around that time." Sam adds, recalling.

"I've instructed the team to take the body to Guy's, where I will personally be inspecting everything. I doubt I will find any fingerprints, but bloody hell we'll try." Sam says.

"Sorry." Marco interrupts, and the two look at him. "I don't want to be a drag, but...are you sure you're okay Sam? I mean..." Marco threads carefully and Levi scowls.

Levi prefers Sam that way, Levi prefers her logical, reasonable, he was glad he didn't find her an emotional mess when he saw her, instead he was glad she was exactly like that.

Reasonable.

Clever.

Logical.

Sam places a hand on Marco's arm, she squeezed it for a moment, smiling at him sadly.

"Yes, a dead woman has my photo sewn under her jacket," she says.

Davies enters the tent just in time to witness the exchange, "You don't have to be here if you don't want to. I could speak with the Chief, I'm sure he'll understand Dr. Gray." he tells Sam.

Levi scowls, annoyed at the notion of someone second beat handling the case. "Don't be ridiculous, nobody can work on the body better than her," he comments.

Marco turns to Levi, "Levi, a deranged killer is threatening her life! I think she has every right not to take the case. I doubt you are not at the least threatened by this Sam." he reasons.

Sam expels an audible sigh, one that had so much weight on it, causing the three men to turn to her. She looks up at them, she raises her right hand, showing them how it's shaking both in fear and anger.

"I think that's exactly why I should take the case," she says.

She turns to Marco and Davies, "I appreciate the concern Marco, Detective Inspector. But Levi's right, and we have him where we want him." she says.

"Him?" Davies asks, Marco leans closer to him subtly and whispers, "The penmanship." and D.I nodded in understanding.

"And Marco, an innocent young woman just died in an attempt to scare me. And he has succeeded, I am very scared indeed." Sam says, her hands shaking. She expelled a forceful breath and looked at them with her determined green eyes. "But I cannot let this stop me. Now when he has made a bloody mistake."

"Mistake?" Davies asks.

"He has taken this killing as personal, this was a message. The previous killings were detached, a practiced work he perfected. This was not. Leaving more clues than he intended to. He has left his mark. Because he is threatened by her. He wants her to stop searching because he knows she will find something." Levi says, Sam nods in agreement.

"He's a bloody moron. Now, I have more material to burn him." Sam says determinedly.