Autopsy of a Mind

"Miss Lewis," the officer bowed, ashamed. 

"Just don't do it again, okay?" I said.

I went into Nash's office and found him holding up something. "What is that?" I asked curiously. 

"Crime scene pictures," he said with a smirk. I took it from him and realized that it was footprints, muddy footprints.

I looked at the prints and had to laugh. "Limited edition shoes, huh? Weren't these selling for a hundred thousand dollars a while back? Pre-order and limited edition too." 

Nash looked impressed. "You know your shoes, don't you?"

I shrugged. "I watch a lot of random content on the internet. Especially what rich people are buying and showing off." I tapped on the picture. "We have a shoe size and by contacting the brand, we will get a list of people who bought the shoes and in what size." 

Nash nodded. "You are not interested in this pointing towards the murderer but proving that they committed a crime, aren't you?"

"I met Collins. I understand what you mean. There is something unsettling about him and he likes to play with people." I paused and had to tell him. "He was trying to talk to the child. I suspect he wanted to know what we already knew and see if he could scare the child into changing his story."

"The bastard is capable of that and more." He pushed the pictures into the file and handed it to me. "He pissed you off, so do you want to question his client and take out your anger?" he asked. 

I looked at him incredulously. "Surely you aren't telling me to go harder on McCain because of who his lawyer is, right?"

Nash chuckled. "Of course I am. The scumbag needs to be put in his place."

"Understood." I took the file and read it carefully.

Muddy footprints found. According to the chart, the shoes were a Size 12. It hadn't rained that day, so the perpetrator hadn't entered through the front door. There was a garden behind the house through which they entered.

I turned to the picture of the little garden and noticed the sprinklers. I put that information at the back of my mind.

Skin residue under the victim's fingers was found, which showed that she tried to struggle. The kid had said that his father put the mother to sleep. If he saw his father stabbing his mother, he wouldn't say that. I tried to remember if there were any strangulation marks and made note of the redness of her throat. So, I could theorize that he had strangled her unconscious and then stabbed her in a location that would make her bleed out.

Then we had the absence of the murder weapon and the perpetrator. This proved that it was a deliberate attempt to murder and evade the law. The distress call had come from a passerby who heard some commotion, so I had to keep that in mind. 

I turned to Nash. "Do we have an ID on who made the call?" I asked. Nash looked up confused. "The person who called, can I hear the call? I find it strange that someone called and tipped the police but we didn't see them on the scene when we arrived. Moreover, the media was there so early."

"You suspect Collins or manipulating the situation to his favor, don't you?" I nodded. 

"They called early enough that the victim wasn't dead but not earlier when the scuffle was still happening. Don't you find it strange?" I looked at him pointedly. "And the media arrived at the hospital too early. We didn't even know who we were dealing with at that point. They shouldn't have found out the victim or the hospital in any case."

"Inside information from someone close to the police force and foreknowledge of the crime." 

"Surely we can pin something on this guy. We could have saved the victim if he had a little conscience," I huffed. 

"Well, he is a cold-blooded lawyer. He only cares about his clients and winning the game." Nash's words made sense. 

"Okay, I will start by taking a footprint, measurement, and DNA samples from McCain. I suspect they will make some fuss about it, but I don't think they know the evidence we found, so I should be able to persuade them." I squinted. "I need to get an alibi. Could you follow up with the officers still at the scene and ask them to get the CCTV footage from the house?"

Nash shook his head. "I don't think there would be footage from the victim's home but if we can place McCain in the locality... I trailed off." He stood up. "I'll go myself, actually. I have a feeling this will be difficult. Keep your cellphone switched on while you interview him and be careful of Collins. He'll try to manipulate you." 

I nodded. "You know me. I don't let people step over me."

"And I am proud of you for it," Nash stated. He patted me on the shoulder.

I exited the office with my mind full of questions I would be asking. I found an elderly couple, crying and waiting outside the child's room, asking to be let in. The officer looked at me hesitantly and nodded. 

"Thank you," I said before turning to the elderly couple. "Are you the victim's parents?" I asked. 

They nodded. They pulled out their identity cards immediately and showed me. I looked at them curiously but checked the identity card anyway. "Maya is our daughter."

I nodded. "Why did you hand your ID to me immediately?" It was a little suspicious, but the genuine grief on their face told me that they were indeed the parents. 

"Last time we came to the police station to accompany the Maya and our grandson, that darned lawyer made everyone question if we were legally family."

A sob ripped through the mother and I tightened my jaw in response. God, Collins was a really hateable man. 

"It is not the case for now," I assured. "We have already taken a statement from your grandson and fed him. He is sitting inside. He doesn't quite understand what is happening, so it would be great if you could accompany him."

"We can't talk to him about what happened, can we?" they asked timidly. "Something about contaminating the story..."

"I can't stop you from talking about it. But I think he needs to slowly understand what happened. It will be too big a shock if he suddenly understands." The couple nodded. 

"That man beat my daughter in front of the child, so he thinks it is normal. It took us months to convince the child that hitting people was wrong and that his dad shouldn't have done it. Actually, Maya filed for a restraining order because he would barge into her house at all hours..."

They trailed off. 

"Thank you for letting me know. Can you give me the case number and the lawyer who was filing it? It would help me immensely."

They forwarded all the information to me and the delay was only a few more minutes until I was in front of the interrogation room. I sucked in a deep breath and entered the room. I had a friendly smile on my face as I usually did, especially in the face of a perpetrator who was used to being flattered by others. 

Therefore, to approach him as a harmless female who was easy to talk to was the way to go. I could forget about the lawyer for right now. A celebrity who beat his ex-wife indiscriminately and wasn't afraid of the public sentiment surely wouldn't mind saying a few extra things. The key was for the lawyer to be a bit late in stopping him from spewing information. 

I beckoned an officer behind me to come in and sit in the corner for a while. He would be the one to take the prints and DNA and take it to the lab as soon as possible. 

"Mr. McCain, how do you do this evening?" I asked casually as I took the seat from across him and Collins. Collins eyed me curiously but didn't say anything. 

"I'm doing okay," he replied. His eyes flashed with interest as I sat down and crossed my legs. "I didn't catch your name," he said with interest. 

"Evie Marie Lewis. Nice to make your acquaintance," I said shortly. "I hope you wouldn't mind providing a DNA sample and footprints for us. We have already taken it from your ex-wife's family." I assured him. 

"Am I being suspected?" he asked, wringing his hands together. I curiously looked at Collins. 

"If you hadn't brought a lawyer, I would have been less suspicious of you. But no, this is standard procedure. Forensics will wipe the house down for all kinds of prints and as you are someone who has access to the house, we need your prints to be sure it doesn't coincide with any foreign prints." 

McCain looked at Collins for approval. Collins was hesitant for a moment before nodding. 

What a fool. So much for being an excellent lawyer. He didn't even know that we had found footprints. I called the officer over and asked him to take the prints and DNA. 

He did so without question and left quickly. I had already texted Nash and the lab to fastrack the results. "Thank you so much for cooperating," I smiled. I could see that Collins was more at leisure with me because I had changed my attitude. He thought I would be going easy on his client. 

Yes, the police force usually didn't mince words, but I had learned from the best. I wasn't afraid to pull out every technique in the book to get a confession and all the information needed to solve the case.