more pleasure reading from Octavius

[OctaviusHunter]

I started this over vacation and I'm not quite done but it'll get there. this was inspired by the Wizard of Oz.
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“This guy was alive when this happened to him.” Duncan Casper stated matter-of-factly.

“Aaaah, how are you so sure about that?” Asked the detective on site.

“Here. Look at the ligature marks around the wrists and neck.” Duncan pointed at the victims wrists and neck. “You see how they’re red, raw and have bled abit?”

“Yeah, So.” Detective Allen remarked.

Duncan blew air out his cheeks quietly, then answered as if he were talking to his five year old son. “Detective, the only way a person doesn’t struggle when they’re being chopped in half at the torso is if they’re dead. These ligature marks can only be made by a struggling human, thus, he was alive and struggling when he was chopped in half buy what looks to’ve been a fairly well honed, ax blade.”

“Hmmm? Ok.” Detective Allen responded as if it really didn’t matter.

“How in heaven did this guy make detective?” Duncan thought to himself as he continued the examination. “That’s about as basic as you get when it comes to forensics.” Duncan Casper, local coroner and private profiling consultant looked around the room and at the body yet again to make sure he’d missed nothing.

Blood drying on the walls. Blood drying on the ceiling. Blood soaked the carpet to the point in which it squished when you walked and splashed up onto your pant legs. Entrails and parts of stomach and organs littered the area in front of the fireplace. The torso of the victim hung in front of the fireplace. He’d been hung from the ceiling joist by his hands utilizing about a four foot rope; the hands were bound together at the wrists and the rope hanging from the ceiling went in between the hands.

The torso was also secured to the wall using a rope tied around the victim’s neck; the rope went around the neck in a half loop and was secured with industrial size staples.

The legs were thrown across the room and had landed on top of the piano; the body had been chopped in half just above the hips. There were bloody footprints but they didn’t make any sense. It looked like the predator had been wearing straw covered moccasins.

Duncan and his team had found a number of very long brownish blond hairs and straw as well as the footprints. They’d found what could be fingerprints but they were oddly shaped and had no obvious ridges or valleys and their was a strange oil attached to them almost like the oil you find covering horse pen fencing.

“Careful where you walk officer.” Duncan heard Detective Allen tell a patrol officer coming on scene. “There’s an awful lot of blood and please don’t throw up on scene.

Duncan turned in enough time to see a very green faced officer run out the front door with his hands covering his mouth, soon followed by retching heard through the open from windows; he’d thought enough to close the door behind him as he ran into the front yard. He and Detective Allen had been the only two who hadn’t yakked all over the front yard, although he’d had to work very hard at it and his stomach still wasn’t real happy about being amongst such charnel surroundings.

He’d been able to account for every organ and body part except one. The victim was missing his spinal cord. It looked like once the predator had gotten the body chopped in half he’d ripped the spinal cord straight down from the skull.

“I think we’ve got us a trophy hunter, Detective.” Duncan said not caring whether Detective Allen heard him or not.

“Still haven’t found the spinal cord, yet?” Detective Allen responded.

“Nope, and I don’t think we’re gonna.”

“So can we wrap this up?”

“Yeah, I think so. Blood, hair, straw, strange oil, tissue samples -- oh, did you get a picture of the writing on the wall?” Duncan asked.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“I’ll get another one J.I.C.” Duncan said. He got his camera out of his investigations bag and went into the kitchen. Written in blood, on the ‘frig were the words, “All I want is some Courage”.

[Zero]

hmm, sort of o'henry pun i guess.