The next morning in the morgue, Alice received a call from Constable Crowe requesting her presence at another body in the woods. She put on her comfortable shoes, picked up her medical bag and headed out to her car. Just then, Matthew showed up asking if she wanted to travel with him.
"Matthew, is there any link between the victims? I haven't found anything to show any sort of physical evidence that might suggest a link…except…"
Matthew looked at Alice and asked, "…except…?"
"There was some foreign material on the first two bodies that I couldn't identify. I still haven't managed it. It's something I've never seen before." Alice looked over at Matthew and asked, "did you check out that lodge Jean was talking about yesterday?"
"Yes, but there wasn't anything there of any significance. There was a dirty, old sleeping bag on the old bed frame, and some evidence that someone had been dwelling there at some point in the past, but it didn't look recent; there wasn't any clear evidence of recent use."
"Who found the body this time?" asked Alice.
"Dog walker. If I ever think about getting a dog, just say no. I think we see enough bodies without finding more on our walks. I mean when you read news reports…it's usually a bloody dog walker that finds a body!" Alice laughed a little at Matthew's comment but drove on in earnest to see what the next body had to tell her.
"It looks very much like the last few, Matthew. Gunshot wound and a lot of blood. I've had a quick look and there are ligature marks on the wrists and ankles and again, abrasions and cuts on the soles of the bare feet."
Matthew took a deep breath then whispered into Alice's ear, "this is the fourth body we've found like this and we've practically got nothing." Matthew rubbed his temples, feeling a headache building up with the stress he was under. When Melbourne found out about this, they would have his head on the chopping board, faster than you could say teddy bears' picnic.
"Alice have you got time to go over this case later, back at the morgue? I need to bring all of this together and try to make sense of it. What about if we included Jean in our discussions? She always knows far more about local gossip than either of us do?"
"Shall I invite her over to ours and we can cook, or should we go there?"
"Will you call Jean when you get back and ask her if we can pop over? There's more space there anyway and…I'd like to keep "our place" free from all of that for as long as is possible."
That evening, Jean made them chicken, greens and potatoes for dinner and they talked over the details of the case. When they had tidied away, Jean brought out the chalk board for them to put all of the currently known facts there for reference.
Matthew looked over at Alice and asked, "remind me what kind of bullet was found in the bodies Alice?"
"A .308 Winchester it would be from a rifle…a hunting rifle. This type of ammunition would typically be used to kill larger animals…I found one in each of the four bodies. I've sent the last one off today for analysis. I asked the forensic scientists to see if they could tell whether all bullets had been fired from the same gun."
"That's great Alice. Thanks." Matthew looked over and smiled at her.
"What else do we have then Jean?"
"All male, of a similar age, all found in the Enfield woods just outside of town." Jean relayed the information.
Alice continued, "all deaths were due to severe blood loss from a penetrating gunshot wound to the torso. All major organs were missed but death would have been painfully slow. All victims had been bound by ligatures by their wrists and ankles prior to death, as the marks were visible when the bodies were found. They would have been at least 3-4 hours before they died but it could have been within the previous 24 hours. Bruising had yet to present so the marks were fairly recent prior to death. The only thing I have found is some foreign material in the gunshot wounds of all victims. I can't identify it but…"
Alice stopped talking and started pacing around the study. She turned to see Jean and Matthew just looking at her, waiting for her to continue but she motioned to them to continue themselves whilst she was thinking.
Matthew and Jean continued to cover whatever else they could gleam from the files both Matthew and Alice had brought over; when they had covered as much as they could, Matthew looked over at Alice and asked, "anything sweetheart?"
She shook her head and said, "there's something but I just can't put my finger on it…yet."
As they were tidying up for the night, Alice leaned over to Matthew and whispered, "can we tell Jean about the wedding?"
He nodded and said, "you tell her; I told her about the engagement" he kissed her on the cheek and continued tidying up the mess they had all made.
"Jean?"
Jean walked over to Alice and Matthew and raised her eyebrows in a question.
Alice looked at Matthew and said, "we've arranged a date at the registry office for the wedding. Saturday 10th February. I'd love it if you would be beside me and witness the wedding?"
Jean hugged Alice then Matthew and said, "I'd love to. Ooohhh you two! That's amazing but it's only a few weeks off. What about a party or a meal or some sort of celebration? What are you doing about that?"
Matthew looked at Alice then over to Jean and said, "we thought, what with Lucien…gone…at the minute, that we didn't want to…we thought…"
Alice continued, "we just want something small Jean. I was wondering if you'd like to go shopping into Melbourne on Saturday? I need a dress for the occasion."
"Yes! That would be great. What about you Matthew? Who are you choosing as your best man?" asked Jean.
"I would have liked it if Lucien were here…he'd be my first choice…"
Alice saw the look of disappointment on Matthew's face and leaned over, took one of his hands and kissed his cheek. He looked at Alice with a silent "thank you" on his face and said, "I'm going to ask Bill Hobart."
Jean looked at the disappointment on Matthew's face and said, "listen, why don't I make some food and we'll speak to Cec at the Colonists' Club for some alcohol? We could have a small gathering here? I'll make a small wedding cake and you could invite some people from the hospital and the police station? Maybe 15-20 people? You should celebrate this union. You two deserve to be happy."
Alice and Matthew looked at each other, both shrugging their shoulders at the same time and smiling at each other.
Alice said, "Jean it's far too much for you."
"Not at all Alice. Let me do this for you. My present for you both? Please?"
Matthew laughed and said, "OK Jean. That will be lovely."
When they were leaving for the night, Alice told Jean she'd pick her up early Saturday morning for their shopping trip then her and Matthew went home and went to bed.