Chapter 3: Getting Nowhere Fast…
Tuesday
morning came in with such a soft wind it barely stirred a leaf. A
light morning fog settled, drifting lazily around. The sun rose
slowly, drying off the light dew in the grass. Just any other day,
and yet not.
Hearing Jennifer sigh softly, Matt stared down at where she lay in his arms. He had been watching her and listening to the rain for the past half hour now. Stroking her cheek feather light with the back of his hand, Matt wrapped his arm around her securely.
Caressing the curve of her hip under the blanket, he watched and observed her. Her skin was so soft, like the silk inside of his suit jackets. It was warm, inviting and comforting. Whether it was her eyes or her skin, he would always manage to get lost in the goddess next to him. Then there was her hair… a beautiful, golden veil of mystery, intrigue and elegance. Whether she wore it sleek and straight or up in a clip it looked amazing. She looked amazing….
Matt looked
over at Jennifer, and couldn't resist brushing a light kiss against
her lips.
Jennifer smiled faintly and opened her eyes.
Gently Matt rolled them both over so that Jennifer lay on the bottom, their lips meeting once again, their kiss was gentle, conveying their love towards each other.
"Matt, I love you." Jennifer whispered, kissing him again.
"Me too Jen, with all my heart." Matt whispered, looking at her in the eyes.
The moment was broken for both of them by the shrill ringing of Matt's mobile. Sighing, he got up and answered his mobile that lay on the dresser by the door. "Ryan… uhh… yep… yeah… ok see you in 10 minutes… yep, bye." Matt hung up his phone and looked over at Jennifer.
"I'm sorry Jen, I have to go." He said, sympathetically.
"I understand." She said, giving him a peck on the lips.
"But see you later today for lunch, ok, I promise." he replied, picking up his clothes that lay scattered around Jennifer's bedroom putting on each piece as he found it.
"Yep, see you then." Jennifer replied, settling back down under the covers.
Matt leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her lips before leaving.
"Bye Jen."
"Bye." She replied snuggling back under the covers, falling asleep once again, thinking of Matt.
--- ---
Matt walked into the office a bit after 4pm; Jennifer was sitting at her desk, head down writing reports.
"Hey Jen," Matt said, walking up behind her.
"Hey how's things?" she replied, turning around in her chair.
"Oh, can't complain. Now, I remember saying something this morning about buying you lunch."
"Defiantly, I'm starved!" Jennifer grinned, getting up out of her chair and making her way to the elevator with Matt right beside her.
The elevator opened, and a young constable stepped out.
Just before they stepped in, their boss, Stanley Wolf, stepped out of his office and yelled out to them.
"Matt, Jennifer, a body has been found down near the water, I want you both on this."
Jennifer groaned in response and Matt replied with, "Yep, got it."
"Good." Stanley replied, stepping back into his office.
--- ---
"Lisa Marsh. A 32 year old mother found by a local fisherman Daniel Richards."
"What
was she doing on the wharf?"
Jennifer shrugged her shoulder,
looking around. Except for the police cars and officers, the place
looked pretty abandoned.
"Yeah?" she replied, speaking to
herself. "What was she doing here?"
"Apparently her husband
owns a boat here." An officer said, looking at Matt and
Jennifer.
"Detectives?" One of the crime scene technicians
approached them.
"Yep?" Jennifer said looking from the officer
to the forensics technician.
"We found this at the scene," he
explained, lifting up a paper knife.
"The murder weapon?" Matt
asked.
"A good bet. I will have to run some tests to confirm it,
but I'm 90% sure this is what was used to kill her."
"An
unusual choice for a murder weapon," Jennifer remarked before
adding, "It's very expensive looking as well," Jennifer
observed, "silver and carved rather delicately. Not something you
see every day."
"It's got an insignia on it," the
technician added, "Times Gifts Co."
"Times Gifts Co," Matt
repeated, "worth checking out who they sell to."
Jennifer looked at her watch before saying, "That can be done tomorrow morning, they'd be closed by now."
--- ---
Within 5 weeks the case had blown out, it just wasn't a case of a simple murder probably committed by the victim's husband, it now included love triangles, greed and suspicious house fires.
"The
paper knife has been sold in 5000 copies to about 15 different shops
just in the Melbourne area. It's about 100 dollars. The prize
varies just a tad from shop to shop." Matt said, they were sitting
in the layout room enlightening every one of their find a few weeks
later.
"A needle in a haystack," Simon muttered.
"Yeah,
but I asked them to give us a list over how many the shops have
actually sold, and we narrowed it down to one." Jennifer replied,
looking at Simon triumphantly. "And it was sold to Lisa Marsh, on
February 4th."
"Good," Stanley said absently.
"And the
coroner says she was killed between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. the body was
discovered at 3.15 p.m. " Duncan said, looking at the coroner's
report in front of him.
"Did
the coroner have anything else to tell us?" she asked Duncan.
"16
stabs. 4 were deadly just by themselves. Whoever did this, did not
like the victim. I have a feeling it's probably the husband."
Duncan said answering her question.
"Guys,
Mr. Henry Marsh is here," a young uniform announced, poking her
head in.
"Right," Jennifer replied, and headed after Matt out
to the interview rooms.
--- ---
"Mr. Marsh, have you ever seen this paper knife before?" Matt asked, laying a photo of the knife on the desk.
"Yes, I have one like it," he replied, looking up from the photo. "My wife and daughter gave me one for my birthday a few months ago." He said looking at them before adding, "What is this all about?"
"Your wife was killed with this knife." Jennifer said matter-of fact.
"What? No, It can't be," he replied, rather panicked. "It was stolen a few weeks ago when our yacht was broken into."
"And that particular knife was stolen as well?" Jennifer said, accusingly.
"Yes, as well as some of my wife's jewellery." He said sternly.
"Did you report the theft?" Matt asked, writing down notes of what Henry was saying.
"Of course I did, what do you think I am? An idiot?" He asked, annoyed.
"That's convenient, the exact same knife that you report stolen ends up being the knife that killed your wife," Matt said then looked over at Jennifer and said, "That's convenient, isn't it Jen?"
"Isn't it, I think that Henry here reported the knife stolen even though it wasn't, and used it to kill his wife. What do you think about that for a scenario Matt?" Jennifer replied.
"That's what I think went down too, and I bet if we get a warrant to search his home, we will find the clothes he wore when he murdered his wife, and there will be traces of his blood on them." Matt said, looking from Henry to Jennifer. "If he hasn't washed them, but I don't think he would have, he isn't smart enough to think of that."
"I'm leaving, I don't have to listen to any of this shit from you anymore, you haven't arrested me, so I'm free to leave and I'm leaving." Henry said, angry, getting up and leaving, slamming the door behind him.
"Well," Matt began, "he defiantly had something to hide."
"Defiantly, did you see the look he gave me when I told him that the" she emphasized her next words with air quotes. "'Stolen knife' was used to murder his wife?" Jennifer asked, walking out the door, Matt tagging along behind her.
"That's a look of a man with something to hide." Matt said as they met up with the rest of the team in the layout room.
--- ---
Hours
later, two empty pizza boxes on the table, and papers scattered all
over, Jennifer had to fight to keep her eyes open. There was nothing
in the records, nothing that stood out. Henry Marsh seemed
clean.
'Seemed' being the keyword. There had to be something in
there.
"There's nothing irregular about either of them," Matt
complained, throwing the file onto the table and leaning back.
"God, I think my eyes are gonna fall out of my head." Duncan said.
"Suck it in Dunny, we're all stuck here, so stop winging." Simon replied, reading some files.
"Oh shut up the both of you!" Jennifer said, annoyed. "Stop acting like five year olds, and act more like Detective's!"
The room fell silent once again.
Matt looked over at Jennifer. She had her head in her hands, massaging her temples. Simon was reading through files and Duncan was skimming through files, not really reading the content of them.
Stanley Wolf walked into the layout room, looked at everyone, Jennifer had leant against Matt looking extremely tired, and Duncan had thrown yet another file onto the table and Simon had started pacing the room.
Handing Jennifer the search warrant for Henry Marsh's residence he said to everyone "Go home, get some sleep, first thing tomorrow morning you can search the Marsh residence."
There were lots of sighs when this was said, everyone gathering up their files and getting up and leaving.
--- ---
Arriving home, Jennifer walked up to her front door, juggling all the files she had in her arms and her keys to open the front door, Matt walked along behind her.
She unlocked the front door, with a little trouble, and opened it, her cat, Jerry, darted out the door, almost bowling Matt over.
Jennifer laughed as Matt almost took a header to the floor.
"That wasn't funny." Matt said when he sat down on her couch.
Jennifer walked back into the room after she had dropped all the files on the table and kicked her heels off and sat down on Matt's lap once he was settled on the lounge.
"I found it entertaining." She said, kissing him on the lips.
"I'm pleased that you find my misfortune entertaining." Matt replied, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Jennifer laid her head on Matt's shoulder, her eyes slowly closing.
"Tired?" Matt asked.
"Mmmm." Was Jennifer's reply.
Matt put his arm under her legs and picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.
tbc…
