A POUND OF FLESH

It happened on Wentworth

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IT HAPPENED ON WENTWORTH

2

Click. The shutter quickly closes and opens, and for a brief second Emma meets darkness. The splotches painting the trunk of the tree can almost pass of sap. Click and the moment is captured. A generic brand of chap stick lays half hazard ten feet away. Click. Another moment to time stamp.

There is a buzzing in the background as the officers around her take notes, talk, and record. She barely needs her flashlight this evening with all the lights of the cruisers flashing, she can not recall the last time she has arrived on scene with this many officers still present.

Emma had just finished her primary walk through and after she had established an overall feeling, she had cleared her head and was taking pictures of everything on the scene. Whitby did not have a lot murders and Emma had always felt that it was a safe place to be, however as she walks through the area she is starting to wonder about her assessment.

Emma's abilities lacked in the visual medium department so Ethan, her partner, is walking through the scene sketching frantically and videotaping. Emma always preferred the camera - she felt that the stills captured so much more. Typical to her nature she starts at the furthest North corner of the scene and moves in a circular pattern, taking a picture every three feet. She captures every finite detail of the scene, even a lady bug, because once they were gone she could take the same pictures, in the exact same place, but they were never the same. She also liked to be extra careful with outdoors. Mother nature can be damning.

Emma does her best to ignore the people of importance who are already making themselves known. It has little impact on her activities to be completed this early morning. The district attorney had come and gone. The city owned the property and after a few calls, they were not going to need a warrant, at least not one at 4AM.

"You know, this used to be Camp X." Ethan always a history buff. Ethan's appearance matched his behavior - his mop of orange hair tangled in every direction, a pencil tucked behind one ear and a pen behind the other. The corner of his wrinkled button down shirt hanging absently from his belted khakis. He is every much the contrast to his partner who sported a low ponytail and stiff dress shirt. Even the dark denim of her pants appeared to be pressed. Ethan's jacket lay sprawled across the top of his kit while Emma's fit properly across her shoulders. Regardless of appearance, their passion matched in intensity.

Emma nods and Ethan continues to talk, Emma tunes out what she knows to be useless information to the case and checks her notes to make sure she has captured every possible entrance and exit to the scene. Other than at the body there is not a lot of blood. They could have entered the park from anywhere.

"The examiner is here, who is taking the evidence?" An officer that Emma does not recognize has come over and interrupts Ethan's grand adventures. The glazed over look in his eyes leave as he comes back to reality.

"I'll take the collection and he will record. Is that okay?" Ethan nods and turns the camera back on.

The medical examiner was a rather large man with a commanding present. Standing well over six feet, he towered over the two technicians. He brushed his hand across his mustache and mouth before letting out a sigh of exasperation and dropping the portable kit on the ground; close enough to the body but as not to contaminate the scene.

He did not like any nonsense when he worked, he did not like early mornings or late evenings and simply wanted people to do their job without actually speaking to him. Working with the dead was a well suited profession for him; he lacked some necessary social skills. Emma liked him just fine because he was good at what he did and did not ask her questions about her personal life.

Before he starts Ethan scans over the body with his camera as Emma does the same with hers. She does her best to note all the wounds, a difficult task considering the amount of dried blood.

Emma tags, logs and packages some of the smaller belongings. Earrings and a bracelet - both costume - seventy five dollars and a handful of breath mints. He tells her where each come from and any disturbances to the body it causes.

"No substances found," the examiner talks out loud as he works. Something he always does, even when they were not in the exam room.

He takes a deep breath. There is a lot of attention on him this evening. This was not your typical car accident, hunting accident, domestic situation ...and even those could be ugly. . The detective in charge stood to the side, taking notes furiously.

"I would put time of death around 2:30 - 2:45 this morning. Toxicology reports will be run at the lab, however to note again there are no substances found on the body or within the direct vicinity."

He stops and looks at Emma and Ethan, they shake their heads in agreement.

"There are thirty nine wounds in total, the majority of which are focused on the torso." Emma looks over the body ensuring she captures the details on film. Her arms lay by her side, almost as if she had just passed out next to the tree, with the exception of her mini skirt hiked up.

'Focused on the Torso was being nice,' Emma thought. 'Whoever had killed her obviously had female issues.' Her breasts and genitalia nearly hacked away.

"It looks like some major organs have been hit, but I won't know the exact cause of death until I complete a full autopsy. Surprisingly no defensive wounds found on the arms or hands. Some bruising is present. The blood is pooled beneath the body there is some splatter, indicating that this is the location of death and that the body has not been moved overly." He pauses for a second before adding, "Your killer is right handed."

"Crime of passion?"

"Detective, that is for you to find out, I am just here to tell you how she died." The examiner waits as they load the body onto the gurney.

"Autopsy later today Emma?" Emma shakes her head and tells the examiner she will wait for his call to schedule the exact time.

She watches as the ambulance slowly drives down Wentworth and out of site before turning back into the park to finish collecting the evidence.

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I appreciate any comments or critiques. What are you enjoying so far? What do you think of Ethan and Emma?