Part 21: Episode 21: The Couple
This update covers:Naomi Kimishima 4 - Behind the Lies (part 1 of 3)
Introduction
Naomi: The suspect is her husband, Joseph Parker. I have a picture of them here.
Naomi: The woman is the victim, Alma Parker. She has beautiful white hair as well. Not surprising, considering her age.
At the moment we've got nothing to go on. Of course, we haven't examined anything yet. We'll start with the body and personal effects.
Naomi: I've never seen anything like this. Is it something congenital?
Naomi: It would take a great deal of force to leave this mark. Was she struggling against the murder?
There's a hell of a lot of clues to be found in people's hands, huh?
Naomi: From the shape of this wound, the weapon must have been cross-shaped. What sort of weapon has a shape like that?
This wound is on the corpse's front. Maybe we ought to check the opposite side?
Interesting. It's the same shape, but smaller, and on the other side. Seems she was stabbed completely through.
This one is just strange. That's everything on the body itself. Now we'll check the clothes.
This is an obvious candidate for analysis.
Naomi: That's bizarre, because Alma and Joseph have white hair.
That's everything we can get on this body.
Alrighty. First up: it was pretty clear that the two cross-shaped wounds indicate something.
Naomi: They're different sized, but have the same shape. We can deduce that the weapon penetrated the body. If that's the case, then the entry wound was her chest, since the entry wound would have to be at least as large as the exit wound. This weapon would have needed to be at least 20cm long to pierce her entire body. It doesn't identify the weapon, but this gets us one step closer.
Okay. We'll analyze the blood on the sleeve first.
LG: Dr. Kimishima, do you need an analysis?
Naomi: Well, I'm not here to ask you on a date. Look at these bloodstains from the victim's left sleeve.
LG: That's odd. This blood isn't the victim's. The results say only the H-type antigen was detected. That makes this blood Type O.
Naomi: The victim has Type A blood. What about the husband?
LG: He has Type O. Does this mark him as the culprit after all?
Naomi: Let's not jump to conclusions. If this blood came from him, he must be wounded.
We can't follow up on that just yet, but we can analyze the hair we found on the corpse's sleeve as well.
LG: This isn't human hair. It seems to have come from some sort of animal. Did the victims have any tame household creatures?
Naomi: You know, they're called "pets." And no, there weren't any signs that they had any.
LG: Strange. Still, this is obviously not human hair. I see cuticles, so it's not synthetic hair or a fiber either.
Naomi: Can you identify what animal it's from?
LG: No, that's beyond my expertise. I do see something odd, though: the hair has a tip, but no root on the other end.
Naomi: That means it was cut. Why would something like this be on the corpse?
Now, we actually need to go back and take the card we got for determining the weapon's length. You can have Little Guy look at it.
Naomi: Can we determine the shape of this weapon?
LG: I think so, yes. I'll need some information, though.
[Naomi recaps the size (over 20cm) and shape (cross-shaped) of the weapon]
LG: I see... this isn't a cutting tool, like a knife. It's like a spike or spear-- something meant for piercing. This isn't your usual murder weapon.
Ah, but the husband has been claiming that he stabbed her with an ordinary knife. Combining those cards allows us to proceed.
Naomi: Something's not right. The knife isn't long enough, and it's nowhere close to the correct shape. Something else has to be the real murder weapon. This also proves that Joseph is lying.
We now have the first golden card: "Husband's Lie".
LG: He's definitely lying about something, but we still don't have a clue what the real weapon was, or who the killer is.
Naomi: Stay calm. We just have to think about it.
That's everything we can figure out at the moment.
Naomi: I'd like to listen to the recordings. I need to know if the blood on the victim's sleeve was his or not.
LG: I've already sent you the data.
Joseph: I was angry at my wife and I stabbed her. That's all there is to it. So what if I'm in a wheelchair? Doesn't mean I can't stab someone! She was standing in front of me, so I just shanked her right there. I turned myself into the police right after. You know what happened after that. What? What about my hand? I injured it! That's all! How I injured it has nothing to do with this! I accidentally cut myself when I stabbed her. I know, stupid, right?
Well, we can at least confirm the existence of an injury from that.
Naomi: The blood on the sleeve is Type O, and Joseph has a wound on this right hand while he himself has Type O blood. There's little doubt that those bloodstains were left by him. That doesn't prove that he killed Alma, though. We need more evidence.
We now have our second golden card: "Joseph's Bloodstain."
LG: You don't think the husband is the killer?
Naomi: Who knows? There are two things that suggest he didn't, though: firstly, he hid the murder weapon. Secondly, he can't stand. It would be difficult to pierce Alma all the way through when he couldn't even stand under his own power.
LG: His hospital records make it clear that he can't stand up at all. I don't get it: people usually lie to avoid being blamed for a crime.
Naomi: You have a lot of experience with lying, Mr. Investigator?
LG: Hey, we agreed not to bring up the past, didn't we?
Naomi: Ha. But why would he want to make himself the criminal?
LG: The only reason I can think of is that he's defending somebody else.
Naomi: Or he's covering up an even bigger lie. That doesn't change what I need to do. Contact HQ about the inconsistencies we've discovered and interrogate the husband again. I'm going to the crime scene. Tell them that, too.
We can finally do some on-scene detective work in this case. We'll be heading to the Parker's home now.
There are three points of interest here, although they aren't all that obvious at first glace. Of course, since this is a mystery story, we should always check the fireplace for secret passages and the like.
Naomi: There are traces of something having been burned in the fireplace. Something other than wood.
Naomi: There's something else here, too.
Well, that's a couple of unusual clues. This might have something to do with the fur from earlier. Now, our next point of interest is the clock on the table, visible in the previous shots.
Naomi: "To my loving father and mother, from Abby." A gift from a family member? This decoration looks familiar. It's the same shape as the bruise on the corpse's head. The murderer might have struck the victim with this clock. I'll need to take it back and investigate it.
The final point is a tiny object underneath the table. No fingerprints or hidden blood this time, I'm afraid, but the ALS will respond to this one, making it easier to find.
Naomi: Supposedly, only Joseph and the responding officer were at the murder scene. If that's the case, then it's odd because
And we're done here, too. It's impossible to piece much of this into a coherent narrative yet, but at least we have some leads.
To start with, we'll have Little Guy examine our glass shard.
LG: Hmm. There's some kind of compound on the concave surface here. It's... wine. Yup, no mistake.
Naomi: The shard must come from a wine glass.
LG: Probably, but you never know. There might be some oddballs who drink wine straight from the bottle or something.
Because you wouldn't find wine residue on the bottle unless someone was drinking out of it. Wine is literally a ghost liquid until poured.
Naomi: Let's assume for the moment that it's from a wine glass. Can you analyze it some more? All we know for now is that it came from a wine glass.
LG: All right. I'll need some time to do that.
Now, the card for the fur from the fireplace can be combined with the fur found on the body's clothes.
Naomi: They appear to be the same. If that's the case, then the hair from the fur was on the victim's clothing. Why, though?
Furthermore, we'll compare the bruises on the head with the clock, since they seem to have a connection.
Naomi: The decoration matches the victim's head wound, but this couldn't possibly have been the fatal blow. I need to know exactly how this wound would have affected her.
You can go present the clock to Little Guy now.
LG: I'll look into it right away.
We've run out of ideas again. Time to back out.
LG: Ah, Dr. Kimishima, I have to tell you something.
LG: No... bad. Another corpse has been found.
Naomi: Give me a break! I'm already in the middle of investigating a case for you.
LG: Well, the thing is... it might be related. A female corpse was discovered in a warehouse at the harbour. The victim is identified as Abigail Parker. She's Alma Parker's daughter.
Naomi: What!?
Next time: There's another body to examine, and a deeper mystery to solve.
Medal Challenge
I guess the Parkers were also med students because they have a medal challenge nestled in the books at the back of the room. I find these ones to be a little bit more sane than the previous two.
