A Past Uncovered (Levihan AU)

Chapter 8 (De Cruz's POV)

I anxiously wait outside the forensic lab with Armani and Gevanni as Dr. Davenport checks to see if there's any proof of her theory. "Well?" I ask as she walks out of the lab. "Did you find anything useful?"

She grins widely like the mad scientist—or doctor—she is. "Yeah," she says with enthusiasm. "It's just as I thought, my theory's correct. Wally was never meant to be a target." She rubs her temples in disappointment. "If only I had paid more attention during the autopsy, then we wouldn't be this far behind."

"What proved your theory?" Armani asks curiously.

"Well," she says raking her fingers through her messy and unkempt ponytail. "It was just a theory at first, but then I started thinking about how none of the pieces fit together. Eventually, I came up with the conclusion that Wally's murder was merely a mistake." She looks up grimly. "Then I remembered seeing something oddly peculiar. It was something that existed only in the second and third victim, while Wally's murder differed."

"What did you see?" I ask impatiently.

"Both the second and the third victim had minor rope burns on their wrists. During those autopsies, I didn't check, but I expected Wally to have the same rope burns too. I was wrong. I just confirmed it by looking at his corpse, there were no rope burns on his wrist, meaning that he wasn't held captive. If the unsub killed his other two victims while holding them captive, why would he make an exception for Wally? That too, when Wally was his first victim?"

"Your right," Gevanni cuts in. "Why else would our unsub kill his or her first victim differently than their second and third? The only logical explanation would be that his death was unintentional."

Dr. Davenport nods. "That's the only logical explanation at this point of time. And another thing," she says snapping her fingers. "Our unsub could have schizophrenia, since it's a mental illness which makes people hallucinate while seeing and hearing things that aren't really there."

"That would explain why he won't stop committing murder even after the trigger of his rage is gone," I say furrowing my eyebrows. "The unsub keeps hallucinating that Wally is alive."

"Which is exactly why he thinks he's delivering Wally justice," Armani says crossing her arms. "So that means we should look up people who are under mental rehabilitation. We should then link it to someone who was close to Wally, specifically someone who went to Montgomery high."

"One more thing," Dr. Davenport says sheepishly.

I inhale deeply and let out a heavy huff. "What?"

"Remember how Dr. Simons said that Wally was brought up in a foster homes throughout his childhood." I nod, oblivious of what she's referring to. "Well, it turns out that Olivia was one of Wally's mothers."

"Really?!" Gevanni and Armani say simultaneously as I gape at her with my mouth slightly agape. 

"I know," she says with a scoff. "Turns out that she was his foster mother when Wally was four. We all know that whoever is killing these people is trying to justify all the torture  Wally went through. It's possible that our unsub killed Olivia Tennison because she abused Wally in the foster home."

"But then they would have to be there with him," Gevanni says furrowing his eyebrows. "They would have to be a part of the same foster home."

"Exactly," Dr. Davenport says in a confident tone. "That deducts the unsub down to being a male or female in their early to mid twenties. They also had to attend Montgomery High six years ago and have to be in physical shape for committing violent murders like this. Our unsub also must have attended the same foster home as Wally, specifically the foster home Olivia Tennison ran."

"I see," I say as my brows knit under concentration. "FaceTime Cooper," I order Gevanni.

He nods and unlocks his iPad, opening up the FaceTime app. "Hey Cooper," he says smiling at the grinning man in the screen. "We need a quick favor."

"Knock yourself out," he says enthusiastically. "I've had three shots of espresso today and I am loaded and ready to go. Ask me whatever you want."

"We're looking for a man who attended Montgomery High five to six years ago, and who also shared a foster home with Wally Patron," I say instinctively.

"There's also a possibility that they have schizophrenia," Dr. Davenport cuts in. "Chances are very likely that out unsub is very in shape, and is strong according to his or her physical attributes."

There's silence in the room as Cooper continues searching for information, the only audible sound being the clicking coming from his laptop keys. "Found it!" Cooper says exuberantly. "I've deducted the search as narrow as I possible with the information  you guys gave me. We have three possible suspects now. There's twenty two year old Amanda Eden, twenty one year old Georges DiGiovanni, and also another twenty two year old Aloisia Tenant."

"Are any of them schizophrenic?"

"All three of them are," he says with his eyes still hovering the computer screen. "The three of them were also present at the foster home Olivia Tennyson ran."

All three of them were in the same exact foster home as Wally, I say to myself in my head. How coincidental.

"Davenport," I say catching the medical examiner's attention. "You're also our Forensic Psychologist, right?" She nods and raises and eyebrow, wondering why I asked. "How likely do you think it is that the three of those foster siblings teamed up together and started killing Wally's wrongdoers?"

"Chances are very likely," she says confidently. "If the three of those haven't made a move in a while, then that means that they must be planning murder sometime soon. Hey Cooper," she says grasping the tenchnical analysts attention. "Do you mind sending us a picture of those three?"

"No problem," he says while typing rapidly on his laptop. "Check you're messages, I just sent them to you." 

I click on the notification I received moments ago. "Wow," I say looking through the three pictures. "Let's check Amanda Eden off the list," I say after last looking at her picture. She looked severely underweight, as her cheeks were pretty much hollow. 

"That would be a good idea," Cooper says with a nervous laugh. "She's anorexic, and an anorexic person wouldn't have the strength to commit murder the way our unsub did. It was a pretty brutal way of killing someone."

"Why do I feel like I've heard those names before?" Dr. Davenport says while clicking her tongue.

"Whose names?" I ask.

"Amanda Eden and Georges DiGiovanni," she says crossing her arms. "Cooper, of you mind finding out what they do for a living?"

"Sure," he says before going back to his laptop. "Um, turns out that Amanda Eden works as a personal trainer here in Montague City and Georges DiGiovanni is a boxer."

"They're both physically fit," Gevanni says looking directly at me. "And they both match the description perfectly. They could've comitted the murder together, but they are also capable enough to commit murder on their own."

"Yeah," Armani agrees. "Maybe we should visit the two of these guys or bring them in for questioning."

"No," Dr. Davenport disagrees. "It's pretty obvious that neither of them are going to admit to committing the murders when asked, so it's a good idea that we don't do that. What we should do," she continues, "is interrogate some of the other people from the foster home Olivia Tennison ran. If one of them was really close to Wally, then they must've complained many  times after Olivia kicked Walls out of her foster house."

"We should do that," Gevanni says instinctively. "You guys should go to Dr. Simons and interrogate him along with Wally's other teachers about which of these two Wally was closer with."

"So it's settled then?" I ask looking around at everyone. "We'll meet at the meeting and conference room at dusk, is that alright?"

We all nod before I leave to exit the building, with Dr. Davenport following closely behind. We're down to the only two possible people who could commit these murders. The question is, which one of them is our unsub?