AN: Thank you again, to all of the reviewers, subscribers and to those of you who have added me to your favorite stories and authors lists. I am humbled by your response, and I truly appreciate your readership. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, and please leave some feedback .
I should mention that, the text in italics denotes the events that have already taken place, while the non-italics text denotes the present time.
The events of last week replayed in Arthur's mind, as he finished off the final set of bench presses in the basement of his flat complex's gym.
Who was Guinevere Leodegrance to question his professionalism? his commitment to the citizens of Albion?...to the overseeing of their safety and justice? Why had her words affected him so? Guinevere was not the first attorney to go for the jugular…An image of Arthur's fiancé-former fiancé, flashed in his mind, reminding him of that…and she wouldn't be the last. So why should it matter what she thinks of Arthur? When had Guinevere's opinion of Arthur become his motivator? More importantly, when had Arthur began to seek Guinevere's approval?
"Do we know the whereabouts of the suspect?" As if hearing DI Pendragon's question, Magnus Romney began to kick at the back window of the police squad car, where he was currently seated and handcuffed, in a pathetic attempt to escape, or bid for an officer's attention. They ignored him as Arthur continued,
"Have you questioned any witnesses?"
"Yes. Just the one...Mrs. Randall. According to her statement, she was preparing to retire for the evening when she decided to call her friend to wish her a goodnight. "Instead" Leon continued "It was Mrs. Randall's phone that rang. Tilly Romney was calling, barricaded from within her bathroom, asking Mrs. Randall to try and talk to her husband to calm him down…as she had done in the past. But before Mrs. Romney could finish her plea, Mr. Romney had torn the phone line from the wall, disconnecting the call".
"She's still a bit shaken up, understandably so. We'll be taking her down to the police station to get her full statement. You'll have my full report by morning" Leon concluded.
"Thank you Inspector" Arthur nodded, and left to inspect the crime scene.
Leon nodded in turn, and made to walk away, but not before gently touching his girlfriend's shoulder, sensing her apprehension to go and survey the crime scene. "We can't save them all, Morgana. That's just the reality."
"Then just for once Leon…I'd like to live in a fantasy world…" Morgana said, walking away and following her brother into 21F Main Street.
Arthur stepped over the threshold of the Romney household, the 'Welcome' mat not doing much to make him feel so, with precaution. Judging from the amount of blood that was on Mrs. Randall's nightdress…the crime scene promised to be gruesome. So Arthur took careful steps into the house, not wanting to disturb any bit of evidence that could be used against Magnus Romney for a murder conviction.
What he encountered in the Romney's home was enough to make a grown man wilt…
He heard light footsteps just behind him, and swiftly turned around.
"Morgana" Arthur grabbed her arm, pulling her to the side and blocking her view. "I think you should leave this case to me. Trust me…I can handle it." Morgana may be one of Albion's best detectives and one of the strongest women that Arthur knows…But at the end of the day, he was still her big brother, and it was his job to protect her.
"Arthur, please!" Morgana tried to tug her arm from his grip.
"I'm an adult woman, and a professional detective. I'm not a little girl anymore. You no longer need to check my wardrobe and look underneath my bed…" Morgana quipped, sensing her brother's sentiment.
"Fine" Arthur hesitantly released her arm.
Morgana stepped around Arthur…Tilly Romney's body coming into full view. For a few moments, Morgana actually wished that she was five years old again, holding tightly onto her big brother's hand, peeking out from behind his hip while he checked her wardrobe for goblins. But that feeling quickly subsided, replaced by one of furry and hatred so strong, that her body actually began to tremble.
Arthur sensed her fear-what he thought was fear, until he turned around and looked at her face. Morgana's face was hard as steel. That…along with her glass green stare, were sharp enough to cut a man down. Given the chance, that man would be Magnus Romney…her weapon of choice would be sharper than a stare.
The trail of blood told a grizzly tale of the last moments of Tilly Romney's life…right down to the small bloody fingerprints on the frame of the front door where Tilly, no doubt, made a last ditch effort to escape her attacker…her husband.
According to the crime scene unit, still on site, the attack began in the bathroom-which corroborates Mrs. Randall's statement- where Magnus Romney kicked down the door which Tilly was still standing against, desperately trying to keep him out, and she tripped on the bathroom rug falling to her knees and hitting the toilet bowl-face first, a mixture of her blood and saliva on the toilet's rim and one of her teeth lodged at the bottom of the toilet bowl, being evidence. Magnus then pulled his wife up by her hair, to her feet, dragging her a short distance to the bathroom sink, where he smashed Tilly's face, hard, into the medicine cabinet mirror, severely cutting Tilly's face and breaking her nose, sending the shards of glass, covered in her blood, cascading into the bathroom sink.
He then dragged, a now sobbing, the drops of tears and saliva mixed with the blood on the hard wood floor, being proof, Tilly into the living room, where he pushed her down to the floor, kicking her repeatedly in the ribs and abdomen then kicked her on the chin, causing blood to go flying from her mouth, onto the nearest wall. Magnus then dropped to his knees, straddling his wife, and sat on her abdomen as he proceeded to choke her with his hands, causing her to sputter up blood onto his shirt. Judging from the bloodied boot prints leading to the kitchen, Magnus Romney must have redirected…and that's when Tilly Romney must have dragged herself, leaving a trail of her blood, to the front door, trying to escape her attacker. Her blood covered fingerprints were on the door's knob and frame…but she never made her escape.
Tilly was dragged back down the hall and into the living room, where Magnus pushed her back down to the floor. He reached over to the coffee table, grabbed the crystal ashtray, and subdued Tilly by striking her across the head. He then walked over to an end table, grabbed the phone cords that he earlier pulled away from the wall and started to strangle Tilly. But Tilly was resilient. She continued to fight…to breathe…to live.
Magnus went back to the kitchen and returned with a butcher's knife.
Magnus Romney stabbed Tilly Romney repeatedly with such brutality, that the blood spatter reached the ten foot ceiling above him and the walls behind him…Once finished, he walked down the corridor, with the butcher's knife still in his left hand, dripping with his wife's blood, and exited the house. He made his way down the front steps and to his car, where he sat calmly in the driver's seat smoking a cigarette. That is how Albion's police officers found Magnus Romney when they finally arrived on the scene.
Mrs. Randall peeked out of her window then snuck across the street, two homes down to Tilly's…the minute she saw Magnus enter his car. Mrs. Randall gasped when she saw the state of the house…none of that mattering the minute she saw Tilly's body. She broke down and sobbed, clutching the body of the woman who was not only her friend, but had become sort of a surrogate daughter to her, to her bosom, rocking her back and forth and gently stroking her once wheat coloured, now matted with blood, hair. This…is how Police Constable Percival Gunner had found her, before gently separating her from Tilly's lifeless body and leading her outside.
Now it was Arthur and Morgana who looked down onto Tilly Romney's body.
"What is the cause of death, Merlin?"
"There is blunt force trauma to the cranial structure. Multiple contusions on her arms, legs, ribs, and back; lacerations to her face and neck, and multiple stab wounds to her chest and abdomen" the medical examiner said. "She's been strangled and choked. Judging from the thin lines and the nearby phone cord, I will assume they are to blame for the strangulation…the hand prints and bruising are most likely from her husbands' choking her. Her lungs and heart have been punctured, both from her broken ribs and the nine inch blade…causing severe internal bleeding".
"However, I won't know the true cause of death until I've preformed a full autopsy at my lab" Merlin concluded.
"Thank you Merlin…And you'll call us once you have".
"Of course" And with that, the detectives carefully walked out of the house to leave the medical examiner and his team to finish analyzing the crime scene.
Elyan's car, pulled up to 21F Main Street, Guinevere jumping out of the passenger's side before he could even pull out his keys from the ignition. Gwaine and Elyan stepped out of the car quickly, trying to catch up with her.
"Gwen, slow down".
"Shut up, Elyan!" Gwen spat over her shoulder, picking up her pace.
"Excuse me Ma'am. This is area is closed off. Do you have clearance to be here?" an officer asked Gwen.
"My client is in there…I need to see her".
"Gwen" Percival, having transferred Mrs. Randall to a female officer, caught up with the other PC questioning Gwen "trust me…you do not want to witness the scene. That is not how you want to remember your client".
Guinevere shrank back a step…But she ignored the sinking feeling in her stomach, before squaring her shoulders, tilting her head upward and looking Percival straight in the eye.
"Police-Constable-Gunner" Gwen said through gritted teeth "If you do not grant me access to my client's home, I will have your badge…for hindering prosecution".
One look into the five-foot-three prosecutor's eyes told Percival that she meant every word. So he stepped aside, pulling up the yellow crime scene tape allowing Guinevere, Elyan and Gwaine (for safe measure) to approach the scene.
"Thank you Percy" Elyan nodded at his friend.
"Good call, mate" Gwaine said clapping his friend on the shoulder.
"I may be big…but I'm not thick".
The three shared a laugh.
"What did Percival mean by, '…that is not how you want to remember your client'?" Gwen thought. But she's no idiot. The three police cars, the handful of uniformed officers, the coroner's vehicle…they all confirmed what she had predicted earlier in the courtroom that morning. But she refused to believe it. She just had to see for herself.
Magnus Romney had threatened to urinate in the back of PI Leon's police squad car, so two arresting officers led him to a nearby tree to relieve himself, refusing him his original request to use the bathroom in his house. Gwen was just a few feet away from the Romney's house, stopping short when she locked eyes with Magnus Romney, being led back from his pee-break.
A demented smile slowly spread across his sun-weathered, stubble covered, face. "…Nice of you to pay a follow-up visit, Ms. Leodegrance" the murderer said. His once white t-shirt, now covered in blood, stuck to his chest and small protruding belly.
Just then, Arthur and Morgana were descending 21F's steps.
Gwen began quivering at the site of the blood, but kept her voice level. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing less than she deserved" he said, equally level.
Arthur and Morgana reached the bottom of the stairs, hearing the exchange between the two. Guinevere trembled with a rage that she hadn't felt in years…and lunged at Magnus Romney, fully intent to claw that smug smile right off of his face. Arthur recognizing the look in Guinevere's eyes, having just seen it in his sister's, thrust himself between Gwen and Romney just in time, grabbing hold of Guinevere's waist.
"…You son of a bitch!"
"You sick…son of a bitch!" Gwen screamed and sobbed at Magnus' back, who was now being shoved back into the police car.
"…God!" Gwen screamed up to the sky, finally breaking down, Arthur coming around to face her as she sobbed into his chest. Arthur held her firm, one arm around her waist, the other around her upper back, his hand laced through her curls. They stayed fused this way for what seemed like an eternity to Arthur…until Guinevere suddenly placed her hands, firmly, on his firm chest, and shoved him away, causing him to actually stagger a step.
"This is your fault!" Gwen accused Arthur. "If you would have done your job properly, I would have been able to prosecute that" she said pointing to Magnus Romney in the squad car "animal…and put him the cage, where he belongs!"
Arthur was stunned. One minute, this small strange woman, who he presumed to be a friend or kin to Tilly Romney, is sobbing in his arms. The next…she's blaming him for her death. How was he to be blamed for the murder of Tilly?
"I assure you ma'am, I am not at all responsible for what that bastard did to his wife" Arthur said just as sternly.
"…Really? Tell me then…How many times has your police station received calls to this address in the past year?" Guinevere held her hand up to reanalyze "No…the past month?"
Arthur stood there dejected. She was right. He had asked his chief that very question just before he left the police precinct that night.
"…Just as I thought."
"Time after time, she called to you for help…And time after time you failed her…And then…I failed her" Gwen's voice trembling " I warned Tilly that something like this would happen" Gwen was cut off, as Merlin and his crime scene crew wheeled Tilly Romney out in a body bag. It was zipped to the top, sparing Gwen more guilt…but her eyes welled up, tears spilling anew, as she watched Tilly being placed in the back of the coroner's vehicle.
"I hope that her dead body is enough evidence this time" Gwen addressed Arthur.
Elyan, who had long caught up with her, wrapped his jacket around Gwen and lead her away back to their car, Gwaine following closely behind.
"Come on Arthur" Morgana said to her brother, reaching for his keys "I'll drive".
Arthur didn't remember giving Morgana his car keys. He didn't even remember the drive back to the police station.
All he could think about were Guinevere's accusations…
…All he could see was her tear-soaked face.
Arthur sat on the edge of the bench and took a few deep breaths. His workout complete, Arthur wiped his face with his micro-fiber towel, and took a large gulp of his sports drink. After wiping down the gym equipment, he made his way to the lifts…thoughts of Guinevere Leodegrance still dominating his mind as he reached his flat.