Chapter 7
Third POV
Timothy Michaels was the name of the victim. A thirty-two-year-old divorcee that was living with his cat. His ex-wife had full custody of their son. He was tall, nearly six feet tall and his official weight was 72kg after the body was measured. Light blue eyes were ripped out of his skull with a spoon. And just like Bonnie expected, the spoon was made of silver. The brunette wanted to vomit in the brown bag that Michael placed in her hand as he excused himself. Her stomach wasn't as strong as Luis, who was composed unlike the others on the scene, who shared the same sentiment with Bonnie.
"The murderer was definitely eccentric this time." Bonnie muttered to herself, wearing her gloves as she picked up the spoon with Luis immediately taking the eyes away, looking at them like she would look at a chocolate layered cake with.
"How marvelous." He said to her. Everyone had learnt how to ignore him, looking around for fingerprints and taking pictures of the crime scene. Michael was still outside, drinking from a bottle, hissing as he drank the liquid. It was the only thing that could distract him from thinking about the sight inside the apartment. He could hear two of his subordinates chattering as usual. It was expected behavior from the two
"More like disturbing." He heard Bonnie's comment. He watched, as Luis carefully turned the body to the side, discovering multiple stab wounds on the victim's back. He quietly approached them, as his eyes darkened at the scene on the body.
"Twenty-four stab wounds. The wounds on the body seem quite fresh. So, it happened in a span of two hours and fifteen minutes." Luis analyzed. Bonnie found a knife discarded away from the body within two feet, under the couch. This indicated the crime was driven on pure instincts, which meant it wasn't planned, or the murderer didn't have enough time to finish what they started. But there was no sign of struggle or attempt to survive. The apartment looked squeaky clean, everything was placed in place, and it seemed to freak her out, yet she hid it very well. The murder was not planned, more of a 'in the moment' type of the moment, despite how organized everything was. Footprints were visible on the rug in the middle of the room.
Which would mean that they immediately dropped the weapon, after the deed was done, she thought. The question that she needed answered was why someone would go through the risk of digging his eyes out of his skull and still try to stab him with a blunt knife more than once.
"Any ideas?" Michael asked them, although they knew the cause of the victim's death after closer inspection but had no clue or any clear idea on the motive of the murderer to make Timothy's last moments excruciatingly painful till his heart gave out. "There might have been more than one person trying to kill him," Luis remarked, while staring directly at the detective. It was the most reasonable explanation for the gruesome scene in front of them. Probably a crime of passion? Perhaps. That was how it seemed to them. They had footprint marks as a clue but the path knowing the murderer's identity was blocked for the time being.
"Why is that?" Michael asked him.
"The removal of his eyes from the sockets in his skull happened after he was stabbed in the back might I add." Luis briefly explained. He looked at Michael before staring at Bonnie, gesturing at her to add the facts she gathered from her observations to the conversation.
"The knife may have been used to hurt Mr. Michaels not to kill him per se," she admitted, receiving a shocked look from Michaels, while Luis continued his observation of the corpse.
"Why is that, Taylor?"
"Quite simple, Detective Jones," Bonnie responded, facing the corpse. She was still squatting, slowly unbuttoning the shirt of the victim, fully revealing the stab wounds but to the brunet's surprise, the stab wounds were rather shallow, as the surface of the skin had been cut through but not deep enough to put him in a life-threatening situation. More like he was toyed with until the murderer was satisfied with letting all their frustrations out on him.
No words were exchanged as they watched the body get carried away from the scene in a body bag to be carried off to the morgue to be studied by Luis.
"So, the blade of the knife was a torture device rather than a murder weapon in this case. How reassuring." Michael sighed, Bonnie remained quiet and sealed the knife and spoon together in separate evidence bags before noticing a strand of hair stuck in the cat's brown fur. She picked up the strand of hair and placed it in another bag she had on her, sealing it shut for further testing in the lab. The cat was physically examined as well by Luis for further clues, the man was rather gentle with the furry creature, having an obvious soft spot for animals, specifically cats.
First degree burns were found on its paws, no traces of claws on it either and the huge gap between the cat and its owner from the beginning made things a lot clearer.
Timothy Michaels was an abusive and uncaring pet owner.
"This behavior of his may have been displayed on his ex-wife and son as well. A very valid reason to get divorced from her side," Luis spoke, ignoring the warning glare from Michael because of his insensitive comment. The former didn't mind offering to take custody of the cat in the meantime, as they headed back to the station to officially start the case. Bonnie had gone off to see Leah, as she was technically an eyewitness that was exempted from being a suspect as her and Luis were with her during the time of the murder. She was also the one to actually call the police after she arrived on the scene a second later after them.
"Let's get to work."
She thought, as she headed back to the station after the short visit. She accompanied Luis to the morgue first, before entering the lab to start examining the samples on hand.