CHAPTER 3
"Okay, PI, crime scene number two. Our victim was found here." Michael Hoyt pointed to the left side of the theater, eight rows from the back.
Once again, Matt pulled out his flashlight and shone it on the crime scene, this time starting with the arm rest. Once again, he found a black rose.
"Damn it! That's twice the CSI's missed it. Once is understandable, but twice?" He got on his phone and called the tech that had come to the last crime scene. "Yes, again! Well it's certainly not my fault that your people didn't catch it. I'm just glad to have someone with me who was able to spot it." He hung up.
"Well, as most strangulations occur with the perpetrator attacking from behind…" Matt moved back a row and started looking at the seat right behind the victim's seat. "But I'm not seeing anything." He handed the flashlight to Hoyt who also inspected the area.
"I don't see anything either." He handed the flashlight back to Houston. "I just cannot believe the CSI's didn't see the roses. Everybody makes mistakes, but those folks just seem to see everything."
Matt nodded his agreement. "Just out of curiosity, what movies were being played when the victims were killed?"
"I don't know. But we can sure find out." Hoyt led the way to the manager's office. "Mr. Frederickson, this is Matt Houston, a consultant to the police department." Houston shook the man's hand. "Could you tell us what movie was being shown in the theater where Mrs. Oppenheimer was found?"
"Sure. It was a remake of a classic: "Don't Look Back.""
"Well, that seems like an appropriate title, huh?" Matt looked at Hoyt. "How about we make a phone call to the other two theaters and find out what they were showing?" He and Hoyt walked out into the lobby. As the lieutenant was making the phone calls, Houston wandered around the lobby looking for anything else that might help them. After coming up with nothing, he returned to Hoyt.
"Both of the other theaters were playing the same movie when the murders were committed." He started pacing around the area. "This is just weird. Is there a connection between the murders and the movie, or is it just coincidence?"
"Don't know. But it is definitely strange. I don't remember much about the original movie, do you?" Matt was looking at the poster for the movie that was hanging on the wall.
"If I remember right, it was something to do about some heiress inheriting a mansion, but she would only get it if she managed to last the weekend in it." Hoyt was never a big fan of the movies: he preferred books.
Houston nodded. "Guess I'll have to watch the original and see if it can give us any clues. I'm certainly not going to watch the remake in a theater."