Chapter 4
They arrived at a two-stored house, it was not new, but it was well cared for. The front lawn was green and cut, the walls were light green, the windows had small flower pots.
When they entered the house, Gibbs agents were already hard at work, after all Jimmy Palmer does not have the best sense of direction.
" Ah, Jethro. Sorry for the delay, Mr. Palmer seems to manage to get lost in the easiest of routes. What do we- Oh My! "
The inside of the house was the complete opposite of the outside. The furniture was turned over, the portraits and paintings broken or torn. There were blade marks on practically every wall. And blood, lots of it. Everywhere.
" You gonna need more body bags Ducky. " Said Gibbs, his usually emotionless voice was laced with anger.
" How many victims Jethro? "
" 6 "
" Right, Mr. Palmer if you please. "
It took a moment for him to move, after all, Jimmy Palmer was an assistant ME but even him would be affected by that scene. When he got back with the other material, they began to work. The victims were a Lt. Josh Manning, his wife Emily Manning, their daughter Amanda Manning, their son Gerald Manning, the youngest daughter Lisa Manning and the family dog, a brown cocker spaniel. All the bodies were butchered, expressions of horror, all of them with multiple cuts and bruises, the two adults also had broken limbs.
The bodies were spread around the house, one by one they checked the bodies and took them the van. The last one was the Lt. Manning, his body was on the master bedroom, on the bed. His arms were folded around his chest, head on the pillow, legs together. Without the drag marks and clear mutilation of the body, it looked like he was peaceful. But he wasn't, the face was frozen in an expression of pain and fear.
But what really caught the eye of the assistant ME was the wall. And the message that was there, written in blood. He didn't need to wait for tests to tell him that it was blood, he knew. He knew because he knew who had written the message. And for whom was the message for.
There was a symbol, two circles connected forming a sort of infinity symbol, and a line crossing them horizontally. Their symbol.
And the message was for him.
He took a minute to get over his initial shock. Dr. Mallard was already working over the body. He took a deep breath and went back to work. He could lose control later, now was not the time.