Bloody Roses

Tyler stepped over the remains of the girl carefully, trying not to touch the evidence in the mean time. He approached the clammy bloody red rose, lying so lifelessly on the bedside table. It's petals were drenched and blackened, the stem shrivelled up and wrinkled. Crusty brown blood clung to the drowned dank thing and dribbled down the side of the small wooden table.
"What do you think?" Tyler asked Banes who shrugged.
"We've got a nutcase here," He muttered bluntly. "The bastard didn't just kill the girl, he cut her up and tore her apart. He probably did it out of enjoyment. These types of homicides don't always have to have a reason. It's just too messy to seem like a usual loss of temper or hunger for death. This guy enjoys what he's doing, that's all I can say."
Tyler nodded, "I was talking about the rose," He muttered.
Banes looked over at the rose and sighed, "Honestly Jack, I thought you'd be able to work that one out for yourself."
Tyler raised an eyebrow, "Feel free to enlighten me then."
"Have you noticed how this rose seems to be the only thing covered in blood at this side of the room?" Banes asked and Tyler glanced around the room, realizing that what Banes was suggesting was right.

The blood splatter was up the walls and pools of sticky blackened blood surrounded the body. The killer obviously enjoyed making a mess of the murder but the one side of the room hadn't been touched, there was only the bedside table with the bloody rose.
"Ah, so our killer intentionally covered this rose in blood and it didn't just happen during the attack," Tyler confirmed.
Banes gave Tyler a crooked smile, licking his cracked lips, "Right. And what does that tell us Jack?" Banes asked.
Tyler sighed, looking at the older man in the eyes, "That the blood is probably the girl's own which means the rose was placed here after she was dead." He paused, reading Banes' face before carrying on, "Which suggests that this rose was left here for someone and not for the victim. It wasn't given to the girl while she was alive."
Banes nodded, giving Tyler a smirk. "See kid, you're doing good. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea putting you on homicide after all huh?"
Tyler pursed his lips together and shook his head, turning away from Banes and placing his hands on his hips as he examined the room.

"I'm going to talk to the woman who found the girl. I want you to stay here and look for some more evidence. Did you say she was a friend of the victim?" Tyler asked, looking at Banes.
Banes nodded, rubbing a hand over his tired old face, "Yes, Mrs Rosemary her name is, she was a friend of the victim. She had spare keys to the house and decided to check up on the girl when she smelt the strong odour coming from the house. And this was, unfortunately for her, what she found. She identified the victim as Sally Gardener, only just moved here as well. Be careful though, she's still shaken up by what she's seen. I think officer Dudley is calming her down."
Tyler shook his head, chewing the inside of his mouth before carefully stepping around the crime scene. It was then when he noticed the tiny droplets of blood staining the carpet travelling all the way to the front door. Tyler pursed his lips together, the killer left the scene through the front door then. Treading carefully around the blood splatter Tyler left the house and walked out onto the front garden path. Leaving the horrors of the house and its grim story behind him.

The weather was warm and heated, the sunlight blaring into Tyler's eyes and the heat radiating off the pavement as he walked past several police officers scribbling down notes and giving out orders. Tyler squinted through the blinding bright summer's light and spotted a distraught Mrs Rosemary sobbing quietly next to the comforting Officer Dudley. Tyler approached the two, bring out his leather bound notebook and pencil.
"Hello? Mrs Rosemary?" He asked softly and Mrs Rosemary looked up at Tyler, dabbing her red puffy eyes with a sodden handkerchief.
"Y-yes?" She stammered, her voice strained and bottom lip quivering.
"I'm detective Jack Tyler and I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions involving the incident?" Tyler asked, tilting his bowler hat forward a little in effort to cast a little shade onto his eyes.
Mrs Rosemary gulped, blinking away a through tears. "Well, I-I guess so," She replied shakily, grunting back the croaky sound to her voice.
Tyler nodded, opening is Notebook and writing Mrs Rosemary in his usual formally neat and cursive scrawl at the top of the page under the witness category, carefully underlining her name. He looked up at Mrs Rosemary and pursed his lips together.

"Okay ma'am, you said you discovered the body after you smelt something coming from the house?" Tyler asked, looking into Rosemary's frail old face and trying to read her teary eyes.
It was very unlikely that the woman would lie about something as abominable as this, her friend had been murdered after all. But Tyler could never be too sure in a situation like this, he had to know if the woman was lying about anything or keeping vital evidence quiet.
Mrs Rosemary nodded, "Y-yes, see, Sally was only young and I'm often quite...worried about her. Only just got her own house you see and she asked me to keep a spare key to her house just in case of emergencies. And that smell had been awfully strong, I was worried in case it was sewage problems or maybe a rat had died in the cellar. So I decided to go into the house just to check on her..." Mrs Rosemary stopped, another strangled sob breaking from her throat, "Oh, that was just awful. Promise me you will catch the monster who did this detective," Mrs Rosemary begged, her voice choked up on tears and she looked at Tyler with pleading eyes.
Tyler nodded, examining the woman's aged face. Eyes which had suffered a lot through time and were aged with pain. Her face was a wax sculpture of wrinkles and rough leathery loose skin. Heavy dark bags under the grey clouded eyes and two firm lines representing a trembling pair of lips. The woman's nest of dark grey hair was a loose bun perched on top of her head, wondering strands of hair sticking to the side of her tear stained cheeks.

Tyler nodded, pursing his lips together, "We'll do our best Mrs Rosemary. As always." He looked down at his notebook, glancing up at Mrs Rosemary before adding the new witness information to the case notes. "Can you tell me when the last time you saw Sally Gardener alive was?" Tyler asked, peering at the old lady over his notebook.
Mrs Rosemary thought for a moment, she sniffed, the corner of her mouth twitched. She was hesitating. Thinking about what to say which told Tyler that this was very important information to know.
"Yes, I saw her last night, she had been coming home from a late night out at the bar," Rosemary's voice trailed off, her eyes wondering over to something going on behind Tyler in the distance.
Tyler looked down at the woman's hands, noticing how they were knotted together, one hand fidgeting with the ring on the other.
"Come on Mrs Rosemary, this information could really help us solve this case and find Miss Gardener's killer. If you have something to tell me then please do for the sake of this investigation," Tyler pressed as Mrs Rosemary's eyes flickered back to him.

Mrs Rosemary sighed, looking down at her expensive high heeled shoes. "Of course detective. When Rosemary arrived back home last night...she was drunk. She had gotten a lift off a taxi before stumbling into her house. I saw this because I went to go and close my curtains when I saw Sally getting out the taxi. She looked like she was struggling so I left the house to see if she was all right. When I came out of my house I saw Sally was walking over to her house. And she was in such a state too, so I asked her if she was all right and she said that she was fine and that I was not to worry." Mrs Rosemary shook her head, looking down at her shoes. "Of course I do awfully regret that now, I know that it was my responsibility to make sure the girl got into the house okay," Mrs Rosemary confessed regrettably. "Oh dear, why didn't I just go and help the poor girl into the house?" Mrs Rosemary cried, "She might still be alive then!"
Tyler shook his head, "Mrs Rosemary, there was nothing that you could have done. From the evidence we've found, we're guessing that the killer was probably already inside the house when Sally walked through the front door. If you had gone with Sally then you would both be dead. You can't go blaming yourself ma'am, just stay strong, we'll catch the guy that did this. Can you tell me what time you saw Sally arrive home last night?" Tyler asked.
Mrs Rosemary nodded, "It must have been around 12:30."
Tyler nodded, "And what were you doing up so late? Was something keeping you awake?"
Mrs Rosemary shook her head, "Not at all, I've had this terrible sore throat for a good few days now, so I was out of bed getting myself a glass of water."
"Did you see anyone else that night? Someone walking around who doesn't live on this street or acting suspiciously?"
Mrs Rosemary shook her head, "No, I saw no one else. It was dark so I couldn't see much anyway."
Tyler nodded, "I understand. Do you know any regular bars that Sally visited or was this a one time thing for her?" Tyler asked.
Mrs Rosemary shook her head, "No, she only liked a drink now and again but I've never seen her in such a state as I did last night. But she did usually go to a bar called Baron's bar. It's only a few blocks away."

Tyler nodded, writing down the last of his notes before he looked up at Mrs Rosemary again.
"Thank you for your cooperation ma'am, I'm very sure this evidence will come to good use," He said, cocking his hat downwards more so it concealed his eyes away from the sun completely.
Mrs Rosemary nodded, "Please catch this monster detective," She paused, "I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else."
And with that Mrs Rosemary hobbled away, her walking stick clacking on the concrete as she headed back to her home. Tyler slipped his notebook back into the pocket of his brown tweed jacket before walking back up the cracked garden path. The garden was very plain compared to the rest of the houses in the street. The grass had been recently cut but you could tell it wasn't tended to as carefully as it's adjacent neighbours. Someone had even attempted to plant a few lonely flowers which were sitting there in the ground looking shrivelled up and desperately thirsty for water.

Tyler took a breath before he turned the rusty brass door handle and pushed the old chipped front door open. The bitter sweet smell of decaying fresh was strong outside but inside the house it was unbearable. The harsh smell bit at his throat and made his eyes water. Tyler blinked back the stinging tears, trying his best to breath through his mouth as he walked into the murder scene to find the Coroner had arrived and was perched over the deathly remains of the young girl. Banes was standing at the end of the room, reading some of the letters left in a discarded pile on the young girl's desk.
"What have we got?" Tyler asked and the Coroner looked up, standing and pulling off his bloody rubber gloves.
"Well, the victim has several bruises and deep cuts all over her body. This tells us that maybe the killer and the victim had been fighting before the death. I can't really be sure until after the autopsy. I'm also guessing that the victim was murdered sometime past midnight by the temperature of the body but I'll determine exactly when after the autopsy. There's a fatal head injury at the side of her skull, looks like it was done with a blunt metal instrument. But there are also deep cuts along several fatal parts of her body and some of them look like they've defiantly gone through arteries, any one of these injuries could have been the cause of death. The injuries look like they were cause with a sharp tool, maybe a blunt knife or an axe. Most likely an axe which would explain the head injury, could have been caused by the blunt side first before he went in for the chop," The Coroner informed Tyler as he pointed to various locations on the girl's body.

Tyler nodded, "Okay, thank you." He turned to Banes, "Banes, did you find anymore evidence?"
Banes nodded, motioning towards the messy pile of strewn letters on the desk.
"Got ourselves a few letters here, mostly from a Mr Howard Jones," Banes explained, picking up a letter and showing it to Tyler.
Tyler walked over to Banes, taking the letter and reading it.
"A boyfriend?" He asked Banes, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds irrelevant," He muttered, skimming through the letter.
Banes shook his head, "Not when you read the latest ones sent from the boyfriend. Sounds like this Jones man lives quite a few miles away and they've been keeping in touch through these letters. It gets a little angry in the latest one he sent, sounds like the two were going through a rough time."
Tyler raised his eyebrows at Banes, "You think he's got something to do with this?" He asked.
Banes shrugged, putting the letter back onto it's pile. "Could be. 8/10 of these nutcases always turn out to be an angry boyfriend or husband. Think of it this way: They have an argument- He's getting angry- She says something hurtful or maybe shocking- He looses it and slips out of line. I've seen this so many times before."
Tyler looked at his partner curiously, stepping aside and waving a hand over the gory horrific scene. "You think this was a slip-up?" Tyler turned away from the body, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "Usually it's bruise to the cheek or maybe a shove and she hits her head. I think murdering the girl and slicing her up is a little extreme Banes," Tyler muttered.
Banes shrugged, "Whatever you say. So where are we heading next?" He asked as the two left the room and the house, walking out into the bright sunlight which resulted in Tyler having to adjust his bowler hat once again.
"Neighbour said she saw the girl arriving home drunk late last night, she gave me an address to the bar Sally regularly visited so I thought it would be a good idea to check in there next," Tyler explained.
"You're not going to see this Howard Jones guy?" Banes asked and Tyler squinted at him in the bright sunlight.
"You really think he's got something to do with the murder of his girlfriend?"
Banes shrugged, "Love can drive you to all sorts of crazy unspeakable things," he muttered.