The Untold Story

33. And the demons...

"Max's body is still here?" Nathan asked, surprised when he returned to Natasha's house where Michael was waiting for him with a crime scene investigator and other officers.

"The CSI and forensic pathologist were still gathering as much evidence as they can before the body is moved," Michael replied, putting on a protective white suit that was handed to him at the door before going upstairs with Nathan right behind him, also suited up.

"So his family hasn't been told?" Nathan asked. "If the news gets to them before we tell them..."

"I was containing the situation," Michael cut in. "One of the neighbors, the lady who called in the noise disturbance, was getting too nosy so I just told her there was a robbery. I asked the officers who did the door-to-door to tell everyone the same."

"Is that why you were outside?" Nathan asked.

"Well, that and Lydia's in there too and I think she has her scalpel," Michael replied, stopping outside Natasha's door.

Nathan stifled a laugh. "I can assure you, she doesn't walk around with sharp objects in her pocket. She has a six year old son for goodness sake."

"Not taking that chance," Michael said, gesturing for Nathan to enter the room before him. A wave of nostalgia hit him as his eyes swept over the room, remembering the last time he was in it. His eyes landed on Max, lying pale and eyes shut on Natasha's bed; the area around him painted red by his blood. He was glad that Natasha hadn't seen the horrid sight. Even though she had bad history with Max, seeing him like this would have been traumatic. 

"Hello Detectives," a middle aged male with a full head of blonde hair greeted them, tearing Nathan from his thoughts.

"Hi Luke. Lydia," Nathan said nodding at them in acknowledgement. "Michael said you have something to show us?"

"Okay," Luke said, getting down to business. "I noticed something from the last two Bandieer murders and this third one just confirms my suspicions. At the Henry Bandieer crime scene, the CCTV cameras in and around the house were all turned off but we didn't get very far with that because the staff and family members said Henry usually had them turned off whenever he brought over some lady friends. At Macmillan's office where he was killed, he asked for the cameras to be turned off himself and we still haven't figured out why."

"We thought whoever killed him asked him to do that before she arrived on the scene," Nathan interjected.

"True but nothing in his phone records corroborates that," Luke went on. "Here, the Evans have a camera on the porch and in the main rooms, like the lounge and what we assume to be the judge's home office, and all of those were switched off."

"So whoever killed Max is someone familiar with the home's security system since they turned it off themselves," Michael concluded.

Luke nodded. "Not only that; in all three cases, it seems the victims were familiar with the killer." He looked to Lydia and she stepped forward to explain.

"The other two victims had no defensive wounds on their bodies which means no struggle ensued before the kills. Henry was shot twice; first bullet went into his arm and the second right into his heart. Mac was stabbed in the chest. Considering that preliminary investigations indicate the killer may be a young woman and Mac was a full grown male, the only way she could have gotten an advantage over Mac without any kind of struggle was if Mac was sitting down at the time and didn't see the knife coming, which indicates this was someone he was comfortable with being in the same room with. Switching off the surveillance cameras and dismissing everyone could indicate that the person was someone Mac didn't want anyone knowing he'd met with and he obviously thought she posed no danger to him. Another thing," Lydia said, pausing as she gathered her thoughts. "This is someone familiar with human anatomy because executing a kill shot is rare. The fact that she knew to stab Mac at a point where he would be defenseless, bleed out quickly and die; as with Max and his gunshot wound brings me to that conclusion."