"Please tell me you are seeing what I'm seeing" Jennings asked weakly as he stared at the now naked body in front of them. Mays and himself had wandered through into the main cutting room after the lab tech had finished undressing the deceased male.
"Or not seeing" Mays muttered "He's missing his…" he motioned to his own crotch and Harry and Leo nodded.
"Yes we can see that" Harry said "and judging by the amount of dried blood I think we can safely say he was alive when it happened"
"Good God" Mays hissed "What kind of psycho would do that, and to his face and hands as well?"
"That's what we need to find out" Leo told them as he handed Harry a scalpel "Now if you would excuse us gentlemen"
Jennings and Mays both nodded and made a hasty escape from the room, not wishing to see the body any longer than necessary.
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I sat in my armchair in the living room with my eyes closed just listening to the sound of the silence though out my house. A smile graced my lips as I thought about the night before, the screams, the blood, then the silence. I took a sip of my wine and my smile grew as I opened my eyes. Oh yes, redemption was a wonderful thing.
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"Okay so we have established that the victim was definitely alive when his face was removed" Harry told the two detective hours later as all four men congregated in the layout room, pictures of the body, autopsy and crime scene on the interactive boards behind Harry at the front "It's surgical. There is no way a normal person can cut a face off with that degree of precision without some sort of medical background"
"What about his tackle?" Mays asked and Leo and Harry shared a look at the detectives choice of words. He had never really respected the dead.
"Most likely cut off before the face was removed" Leo cut in and brought a picture of the crime scene up on the screen. It showed a chair with ropes hanging from it which were used to tie the victim and the seat and floor under it were soaked through with blood. "He died of the combined force of shock and blood loss" Leo continued "Definitely before his face had been completely cut off. I suppose we can thank heavens for small mercies"
"Any I.D yet?" Harry asked and Jennings shook his head and turned away from the horrifying pictures in front of them.
"No. The house where he was found was leased out a week ago but by the looks of things had never been lived since then"
"Do we have a name?" Leo asked and Jennings sighed and nodded.
"John Doe"
"Oh you're bloody kidding me" Mays laughed bitterly "John Doe? I believe the killer knows what he is doing"
"You didn't realise that before?" Jennings said loudly and pointed to the screen "He cut his bloody face and dick off and you didn't think he knew what he was doing until now?"
"Gentlemen please" Leo interrupted, not wanting an argument to break out. These two men had to work with each other. They back down from what was obviously going be a large verbal battle and looked at the older pathologist.
"Sorry" Jennings muttered and Mays only nodded "Can Dr Alexander reconstruct a face for him?"
"I'm sure she can" Harry nodded, extremely confident in his lover's ability "But it's too late for her to start now" he added as he checked the time. He knew once Nikki started to reconstruct the face then she wouldn't stop until she had finished, staying in the lab overnight doing it if she had to and he didn't want her to do that again.
"Right" Jennings nodded and made his way towards the door "I'll see what else my officers have dug up on the flat and I'll get back to you" with that he walked out of the layout room and through the lab to the main door.
"What should I tell the papers?" Mays asked "You know how they get about this sort of thing"
"Just tell them a male has been found dead in his house, don't go into detail just yet" Leo told the detective who was getting out his phone.
"Right, thanks" he nodded and followed the path Jennings had taken a few minutes before. When they were sure he had gone Harry turned to Leo.
"Do you think this will be the only one?" he asked quietly as Leo studied the board in front of them. The older man shook his head and sighed.
"I honestly don't know"
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"How was your day?" Nikki asked when Harry walked into her kitchen as he unbuttoned his jacket and threw it onto one of the kitchen chairs. He then walked over to Nikki and wrapped her in his arms giving her a lazy kiss. "Hello to you to" Nikki laughed and Harry grinned and kissed her again.
"My day was…" Harry tried to think of a word to describe what his day had been like "tiring" he told her "The case, the same one you will be working from now on, a male was found in his house, face cut off, hands burnt by something we haven't identified yet and his manhood not attached to his body"
Nikki frowned at the image this brought into her mind and she shook her head trying to disperse the images that she didn't really want.
"Where was it?"
"We don't know" Harry replied as he pressed a soft kiss onto her forehead "It's probably wherever the face is"
"Surgical?" Nikki enquired and Harry nodded wondering why the man had deserved what had happened to him.
Ha! How evil and twisted am I? It will become clear later on why the victim is like that don't worry, it's not just because my mind is sick and twisted. XD
xxx
