Harrison was right, the scene wasnt quite as one expected, but then they rarely were. He said as much to the veteran crime scene investigator.
Again its very circumstantial, Andy. I agree its weird that he hung his walking stick off the back of the chair, pushed his frame out of the way then decided to walk unaided. But its pretty clear his bowels were full. Maybe he got caught short and decided he didnt have time to shuffle to the bathroom? People do silly things all of the time.
Harrison still looked unhappy. The man was a highly experienced CSI and Warren could see the mans gut was troubling him, and that troubled Warren.
You said on the phone that you had some concerns about the body as well?
Harrison led Warren over to the broken fireplace. Look at the pool of blood. What do you see?
The puddle was larger than Warren had initially thought, the body having hid some of it. The blood gleamed, wet and shiny against the stonework.
This probably happened in the very early hours; his temperature was already down slightly when the surgeon measured it mid-morning.
Its still wet.
Exactly. It should be sticky by now.
Warren thought for a few moments. Now his own gut was uneasy.
He was the senior investigating officer; it was his call.
Lets call it an unexplained death for now and treat this as a potential crime scene.
* * *
By eight a.m. the following morning, Middlesbury CID was buzzing. The death was still classified as unexplained, but Warren was under pressure to try and decide if it was suspicious or not by the end of the day. His decision would determine how much manpower and resources would be thrown at the investigation. If Warren declared it a suspicious death, then the cost could run into hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds, perhaps for nothing. If he decided to be conservative and treat it as non-suspicious and it turned out to be the result of foul play, valuable clues could be lost and prosecutions placed in jeopardy. In either case, Warren would find himself in front of the chief constable explaining himself. Warren had been promoted to DCI less than a year agohe didnt want the chief to even know his name this early into his career.