INVESTIGATION 4

[umbralant]

INVESTIGATION 4

And the clock ticks down to the end of another week. While the days were no less eventful, the tone set by last Thursday wasn't matched in the same way this time, so perhaps that's a source of relief for some. Looking at it another way though, maybe it was nothing more than the calm before the storm; after all, every Friday has been nothing but bodies upon bodies in some way or another.

So maybe that's why it may be unsurprising to smell something acrid and burnt on the autumn breeze that sweeps through the streets. The bell tolls eight. Time to get investigating.

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[pr159]

[ Lovely. Well, if the whiskey smell is that strong, let's get the burned corpse sniffing out of the way now so he can put this mask back on and move on with his life -- is it more like he was doused in it than like he was drinking it? ]

[umbralant]

[Either doused or having a wild enough time of it that a lot of it ended up on his hair because much of it is coming from his head.]

[pr159]

[ Great. Then let's go ahead and look at that head wound that's marked on the report, since that seems like the logical progression now. What does it look like? ]

[umbralant]

[It's... well, the smell of burnt blood probably indicates that there was blood there at one point which is now just kind of hard to tell from the burnt everything else around here. However, Rideaux would still be able to tell that there was some swelling at the spot too, indicating that it was either done before or during death. With that said, it's nothing like what happened in the first case with a caved in skull or anything, so at least it's not that severe.]

[pr159]

[ Does it look like it was from something jagged or broken, or like more of a straightforward cut, or...? Is there anything in the wound or in his hair besides random ashy stuff? ]

[umbralant]

[It looks more like the kind of laceration you'd get from blunt force trauma, so it's not a super clean cut wound or anything. Beyond burned blood and ashy stuff, there isn't really anything else in the wound.]

[pr159]

[ Anything notable about his face before we move on, aside from... being burnt...? How do his eyes look, idk what happens to eyes on charred corpses tbh and I don't really want to google an image of it right now ]

[umbralant]

[His eyes look as normal as they would considering the circumstances so there's not much you're missing there. But no, the burning is pretty much it!]

[pr159]

[ thumbs up

And speaking of thumbs, we're looking at his hands now. What do we see? ]

[umbralant]

[It might be hard to see with the burns, but there are some patches closer to the ground that are less scorched, so Rideaux can see that there are some minor scrapes and lacerations on both of Alfyn's hands. While he's there, he'll probably notice much of the same happening on his arms too.]

[pr159]

[ Are they more on the back of the hands or on the palms? Or both? Is the minor part referring more to the depth or the size? ]

[umbralant]

[More on the back of the hands than anything else. Minor refers to both depth and size!]

[pr159]

[ Anything to notice with the nails?

Also how is the like... scorch distribution in general? Is it just the parts that were against the floor that are less bad? How was he positioned, exactly? ]

[umbralant]

[Some of his nails may be kind of chipped and broken (truly the real nightmare here) but there's nothing too strange about them otherwise. The burning makes it a little too hard to tell if there is anything significant under the nails, unfortunately.

His body is supine, so basically lying on his back with his arms and legs kind of spread out a bit. The scorch distribution is... more or less random, it appears. There's no particular side of him that's more burnt or anything beyond whatever was closer to the back.]

[pr159]

[ Broken like from a struggle and not just generally insufficient nail care, right? Unlike last week when he couldn't remember what the hell Olivert's coat looked like he's at least worked with Alfyn enough that he probably would have noticed if he'd needed a nail file that desperately??

And all right, is there anything to notice on the sad remains of these already sad clothes... anything visible on the soles of his boots? ]

[umbralant]

[It's hard to say if it's from a struggle or not, but they do look rough so it probably wasn't just from him deciding he needed a manual clipping.

Nothing on the soles, but is Rideaux like... handling Alfyn's body much or.]

[pr159]

[ JUST KIND OF INFERRING FROM THE HAND WOUNDS AND THE BEATEN UP ARCADE MACHINES AND STUFF AROUND HERE...

He hasn't been very much, but he's probably going to carefully flip him over (i'm not making a well-done burger joke here i'm not) in a second here to check if he landed on something or whatever? ]

[umbralant]

[And he is successfully moved! And no, there's nothing really underneath him beyond seeing a nice outline of an area that hasn't been burnt up, but while being burger flipped, Rideaux may have noticed something about Alfyn's ribs; namely, they feel fractured.]

[pr159]

[ Hm! How bad is it, like, as a doctor I can tell this feels wrong, or anyone could notice that these are super broken?

Is there any bruising or anything on his back since that's presumably less burned? ]

[umbralant]

[It's not something that's noticeable unless you touch Alfyn's chest directly, yup. Perhaps if it wasn't for all the burns there'd be bruising and other similar things, but given the extent of the burning...a doctor is way more likely to notice this feels wrong.

The back is indeed less burned, but there doesn't seem to be much bruising here!]

[pr159]

[ Smugly feeling useful... anyway. Anything else noticeable on the body? ]

[umbralant]

[Let's see...

Thank goodness Rideaux is the one checking the body, he'd notice things other wouldn't -- or, in this case, he'd notice the absence of things. For example...the absence of any signs Alfyn asphyxiated.

Is that helpful, doctor?]

[pr159]

[ All these jerks here are so lucky he's still alive!! And yes, it definitely is!

In light of that, to clarify, the head wound doesn't look like it was enough to be fatal either, right? So there isn't actually a readily apparent cause of death? ]

[umbralant]

[The head wound doesn't look that severe, yes. As it is, it's difficult to tell how he died.]

[pr159]

[ All right... if that's all there is to note on the body, he'll set him back down. Gently.

Checking a few other things in the immediate vicinity before he goes... The small bottles do appear to be the same ones they were using for their hair products, as far as he can tell with how warped they are? And the larger bottle -- is it the same size and shape as the fancy whiskey bottles they got before, or does it look different at all aside from the missing label? He's still only halfway through his so he's still looking at that bottle every day. ]