Chapter 9: A Very Unusual Pub Quiz

Jack was still puzzling over the note that had been left in his flat when Nikki and Clarissa arrived at the lab. He quickly relayed the events of the previous night to them making sure he emphasised how useless the police had been when they eventually had turned up. They had brushed it off as a minor incident, assuming it was just kids messing about. But Jack was still uneasy, despite Nikki and Clarissa's reassurances.

He'd examined the note for fingerprints and was annoyed, but not wholly unsurprised, to find there were none. Whoever entered his flat had left no personal details about themselves in the vicinity, except the note. That would suggest knowledge of forensics, or at least how to cover one's tracks. If they knew who Jack was and where he lived they might know of his occupation. If this was the case then they clearly had taken care not to leave any evidence behind, pre-empting his response; now that was clearly not within the 'kids messing about' type of crime.

"What did you find out from the post-mortem?" Clarissa asked Nikki once Jack had finished his story

"It was as we thought. Cause of death was due to a stab wound to the stomach. Although the knife has not yet been found, it seems to be the same as the others. He had no alcohol in his system but vast amounts of belladonna. If it wasn't for the stab wound, I would have said the belladonna was the cause of death,"

"It's interesting," Clarissa pondered "The first victim wasn't particularly drunk and didn't have any belladonna in his system. He put up quite a fight, that was what mislead us at first, but died nonetheless of a stab wound. Victim number two was drunk and had belladonna in his system, hence the few defence wounds. Victim number three was not drunk but had significant quantities of belladonna in his system to the point where there were no defence wounds,"

"You think the killer is perfecting their technique?" Jack asked and Clarissa shrugged

"It's a distinct possibility," she said "Our killer seems to be getting better at rendering our victims helpless. Maybe they originally overestimated their abilities, they tried to stab the first victim but he fought back. Therefore, the killer had to change their technique slightly to compensate. The second victim was already fairly drunk so belladonna here could have been used as a sort of experiment. It clearly worked so it was the sole method of sedation on the third victim,"

"That was seem to make sense," Nikki nodded "From what we can tell, the killer is smaller than the victims which is a disadvantage. Sedating the victims lessens the possibility of being overpowered,"

"Do you think power is a motive?" Jack asked "I mean the killer sedates the victims thus rendering them helpless. They can't fight back and so the killer is in complete control. Speaking from a MMA perspective, that's one of the key things to do in a fight; gain control over your opponent to win. It's all about the power-balance, especially in terms of control,"

"An interesting insight into the Hodgson-psyche," Nikki smiled and Clarissa barely supressed a snort of laughter

"At least I'm trying," Jack protested

"You certainly are that Jack Hodgson," Clarissa quipped and Jack mumbled something in response that sounded suspiciously like a string of swear-words.

"We know how the victims died," Nikki said "But I think we need to know more about the knife and the belladonna. Clarissa, if you could take over Jack's analysis of the belladonna; I want to see if we can work out how exactly it got into the body. Was it ingested, injected or something else?"

"I'll get right onto it," Clarissa nodded

"Jack, I want you to find out about the knives. Go down to one of the supermarket where we think they came from and get a set. I want to see if we can establish anymore about knives. We know the killer is smaller than the victims so why risk being overpowered by stabbing them to death. Surely poisoning them with the belladonna is the less risky option?"

"I would have thought that was a job for the police to do," Jack frowned

"As much as I want to work with the police, it seems we're not in their good books at the moment. DI Harris knows about your little investigations and is not pleased. However, the body count is now three and we need to get moving before victim number four graces us with their presence. If that means overstepping the boundary, then for now it's what we'll have to do. But keep it discreet,"

"Discreet is my middle name," Jack said

"I thought it was Arnold?" Clarissa smirked

"Well it should have been discreet,"

"Right, well hurry along Jack Arnold," Nikki told him "And when you get back, I want you to go through all the cases we've had in the last six months and file all the paperwork. Don't think you're off the hook for your indiscretion quite yet," she told him and he groaned loudly as he left her office.

The supermarket was situated only ten minutes from the pub where two of the three victims had been found. It was small, but seemed to sufficiently meet the needs of the locals. Walking up and down the aisles Jack quickly found the set of knives he was looking for and made his way to the till.

Once more, and he wasn't sure why he was even surprised, he met Molly Williams.

She was paying for her items and was deep in conversation with the shop keeper when he approached

"And how is your father?" the shop keeper was asking her

"Fairly well," Molly replied "A little tired though, he's been working very hard recently. Lots of late nights, out and about,"

"He's lucky to have you," the shop keeper said and Molly just shrugged as she passed over a small amount of cash "And how are you Molly? I know it's the anniversary of your poor Mother's death coming up soon,"

"I'm fine," Molly said curtly

"If you want some flowers to mark the occasion then I'll sell you some on the cheap," he told her

"You're very kind. Now I best be off, Jack Hodgson seems to be in a rush and is getting impatient. Given that he is carrying a set of knives, I think we should be a little concerned," she turned and smiled at Jack

"How did you do that?" Jack said in shock. She had her back turned to him when she approached and hadn't seemed to register his presence at all

"Goodbye Jack Hodgson," she smiled mysteriously as she departed from the shop with her purchases

"Wait," Jack said throwing the money down at the shop keeper and hurtling after her

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it was dangerous to run with knives," Molly scolded him "You have a question for me I assume?"

"How's your ankle?" he asked

"That's not what you wanted to ask me, but it's getting better thank you," Molly said, although Jack noticed she was still walking with a slight limp "What was the real question?"

"Are nursery rhymes descriptive or prescriptive?" he asked and a flash of surprise crossed Molly's face.

Surprise? Or was it fear?

It had been too quick for Jack to fully analyse and Molly had quickly rearranged her expression

"What an odd question," she laughed "May I ask why you're seeking my opinion?"

"Well it came up in a pub quiz," he lied "And I know you seem good at the philosophical stuff. My team was stumped at the time and I thought you could help. It makes no difference now of course as the quiz is over, I'm just curious that's all,"

"Well it must have been a very unusual pub quiz," Molly smiled "Still, nursery rhymes do apparently describe historical events. Supposedly 'ring-a-ring-a-roses' is about the plague but the idea of them being prescriptive is interesting. That would suggest the nursery rhymes and songs serve as a warning. 'Goosy Goosy gander' might be a warning about what might befall those who fail to say their prayers. 'Doctor Foster' might be a warning about the potential effects of H20 on clinicians,"

"Ooh!" she said suddenly "Maybe the reference to cows jumping over the moon in 'Hey Diddle Diddle' is talking about the cows desire to emigrate back to space with the aliens, if that were the case it would seem to solve the calcium deficiency, issue that aliens are having. They could have chocolate and strawberry milkshakes all the time,"

"How would they get the different flavours?" Jack asked. He paused momentarily scarcely believing he'd asked such a bizarre question

"Different coloured cows obviously." Molly said shaking her head, seemingly appalled by his apparent ignorance on the issue "Still if nursery rhymes and songs are prescriptive then I might be a little worried. The Molly in 'Molly Malone' dies of a fever. Still, I suppose I'd be more worried if I were you Jack,"

"Why's that?"

"Your name appears in so many nursery rhymes," she said ominously, before shaking her head as if to push away a bad thought "That was a very interesting discussion Jack. I think I might ask my dad if we should include it in the next edition of our magazine, we'll give you full credit of course," she assured him "It would be a lovely addition to your CV,"

Molly suddenly glanced up at the sky and frowned at the gathering rain clouds "Oh dear me," she said "And it was supposed to be sunny today,"

"I could drop you back?" he offered but she shook her head "My car is just over there," he said gesturing vaguely

"I like the walk and it isn't too far. I'll make it back before the rain gets too heavy I'm sure," she told him "Anyway, it'll be good for my ankle,"

"Well don't overdo it," he advised her and she smiled at his concern

"I hope I helped with your question. I sense you have many more, but they're not for me," she stared at him "Yes, many questions floating through your head. It must be the curse of a scientist I imagine," Molly nodded "My dad used to get the same look in his eyes when he was still writing about science. It's gone now though. It's been replaced by something else…" her sentence trailed off and she became quiet.

Jack noticed her hand was raised to her face, her fingers trailing the bruises that adorned her features and he sighed softly "Molly, how did you really get those bruises?"

"Probably the same way you got that cut on your hand," Molly said noticing the bandage he had on his hand, that he'd used to bind the injury from the glass "Though an unfortunate turn of events,"

"That didn't really answer my question…"

"Take care Jack," she said turning to walk away up the road "And don't go jumping over any candlesticks," Molly called over her shoulder

Jack smiled softly as he walked back to his car. He wasn't sure if the conversation with Molly has quelled or exacerbated his fears. His head seemed so full of questions at the moment. About the note, about the case and also the question that seemed to never fully go away: why did Leo have to die?

Maybe Molly was right, maybe it was the curse of the scientist; always to ask, never to be answered.

Back in the lab, Clarissa and Nikki were sitting in the latter's office drinking coffee and going over their more recent findings

"I can't see any puncture marks on the victims so that seems to rule out the idea that the belladonna was injected," Clarissa told Nikki "They could have ingested it though; we know all three were in the pub before they died. Two had been drinking that night after all"

"As had George Francis," Nikki said showing Clarissa the toxicology report "Seems as though he liked a quick tipple whilst working,"

"So we're working with the hypothesis that the belladonna was slipped into the drinks and was used not as the primary method of killing them but as a sedative. The killer then takes advantage of this to then stab them in the stomach,"

Suddenly they were interrupted by Jack's reappearance back in the lab. Nikki gestured for him to come over and he stuck his head around the door, grinning at Clarissa

"You took your time," Clarissa said and Jack shrugged

"I get caught up with something," he said vaguely "I got the set of knives though," Jack said showing them "I'm still arguing that this is about power,"

"It's a possibility," Nikki agreed "But right now things are still very vague Jack and we can't risk jumping to conclusions,"

"Who's jumping?" he asked as Nikki and Clarissa raised their eyebrows in response "I think it's curious though," Jack pondered "That the stab wound was to the front and not the back. That would suggest the killer was facing their victims face on,"

"Is that more or less cowardly?" Nikki asked "The victims were fairly sedated in the first place. It's hardly likely they would have been able to put up too much of a fight,"

A knock on the office door brought the scientists out of their thoughts. They looked up to see DC Roberts standing there

"I've been asked to come to give you some information in exchange for anything else you've got," he said walking into the office

"By she-who-must-not-be-named?" Jack asked and DC Roberts frowned in confusion "DI Harris," he clarified and the Detective nodded looking a little sheepish

"We've got a list of the people who were at the pub on the night of the murder," he told them "They're a mixture of staff and customers and we're trying to get witness statements as we speak," DC Roberts explained

"Well, we think that the belladonna was slipped into the drinks so that would suggest that the killer was possibly present there that night," Nikki told him as he scribbled what she was telling him down into his notebook

"Apart from that, we've still got little else to go on at the moment. From the victims so far we can tell that the killer sedates their victims before facing them head on and stabbing them in the stomach," Clarissa said

"The MO seems pretty clear then," the Detective said "I just-" but he was cut off by his mobile ringing. Pulling it out of his pocket, he held it to his ear and winced as he listened to the speaker. Sighing loudly, he finished the call and hastily shoved the phone back to where it came from

"You shouldn't let your boss bully you like that," Jack said firmly

"How did you know it was DI Harris?" he asked

Jack smirked "I could hear her dulcet tones from over here," he said and DC Roberts flushed

"Yeah well she just wants me to realise my potential," the Detective shrugged

"Or use you to get a leg up on the career ladder," Jack said and Nikki frowned at him to get him to be quiet

"What did she want?" Nikki asked

"For me to get witness statements from everyone by the end of the day," he sighed "I guess I'll be doing overtime tonight,"

Suddenly a look of clarity crossed his face and he dived into the bag he was carrying "We found the murder weapon," he said pulling out an evidence bag and handing it to Jack "The knife had been thrown into the bushes surrounding the pub. No footprints leading to or away from there though," he explained "I know we haven't had much luck with the other knives, but could you see if you can get anything off it that might help?"

"Sure," Jack nodded

"This is knife number three, the packs are sold in sets of six," the Detective said gloomily "Does this mean we're half way out of the woods?"

"That assumes the killer will stop at six," Nikki sighed "Three murders so far and very little to go on. Why should they stop? They've not been caught yet. Maybe they're just getting started…"

Author's Note: Slightly shorter chapter but it seemed like a good place to stop off for the moment. Things will get very interesting again soon though! Any theories so far? Also thanks for the reviews, once more.