It had been forty-eight hours since the death of Stevie Cullen, and the crime scene investigators had finished their first search of the massage parlour. Warren decided to drive over and do a walk-through with the crime scene manager, Andy Harrison.
‘We’ve been focusing particularly on the blood spatter, trying to establish the position of the victim when he was stabbed, and any movements afterwards,’ started Harrison. The two men were dressed in white scene suits at the threshold of the back room where Stevie Cullen had his final massage and met his demise.
The building was a converted residential property, and the space they stood in had probably been a dining room once upon a time. Decorated in soothing pastel shades, with thick, blackout curtains, the room had a cosy, almost womb-like feeling. The main ceiling light had been supplemented by dim, wall-mounted uplighters controlled by a separate switch, and wooden shelves with tea-lights. A CD player with speakers sat on a corner table, covered in a cloth. Two days after the killing and the faintest traces of scented oils and perfumes still lingered in the air, valiantly competing with the smell of dried blood.
The scene was exactly as Warren remembered, but now the room was covered in numbered yellow markers. Powerful portable lamps lit up even the dimmest corners.
‘The witnesses stated that the victim was lying on his back on the massage table when he was stabbed,’ said Harrison. He pointed to a pool of blood smeared on the covered table. ‘He certainly bled out on there, but he didn’t stay on there throughout.’
Harrison crouched down, pointing to another large bloodstain a little over a metre from the table and a series of markers between the stain and the edge of the table.
‘Aside from the obvious pool of blood, there are blood spots on the floor here, consistent with dripping from a height of less than half a metre.’
Harrison turned on the spot.
‘There are more drips here, this time hitting the ground at an angle, indicating that the victim was moving back towards the table.’
Warren frowned. ‘Are you saying that the victim wasn’t stabbed on the massage table?’
Harrison shook his head.
‘Not necessarily. The knife was stuck into the victim’s chest. It’s not uncommon for there to be little blood released at the moment of entry. The major blood loss occurs when the knife is removed, especially if it’s twisted.’
‘Which we know the killer did, as the knife wasn’t present when we arrived. The witnesses claimed that the killer took the knife with him when he left,’ said Warren.
‘Exactly, so it’s possible that our victim was stabbed on the table, tried to get up and then collapsed on the floor here. Then the killer retrieved the knife, which caused a more significant loss of blood.’
‘So how did the victim get back on the table?’ asked Warren.
‘Two possibilities. Either the victim clambered back to his feet, then crawled back onto the table. Or he was lifted back on by someone else.’
Warren thought back to the interviews given by the two sisters. They had both stated that they tried to stem the bleeding from Cullen – bloody towels had been bagged as evidence. Neither had said they helped move him back onto the table. Nor had they said that he got up off the table after being stabbed and collapsed onto the floor. He made a note to put the question to them when they were interviewed again.
‘What about the killer’s escape?’ asked Warren.
Harrison moved over to the window.
‘You can see the blood smears on the window frame, consistent with the killer lifting it and climbing out. Unfortunately, there were no fingerprints. Interestingly, there are no blood spots leading to the window, or on the ground outside. Assuming that the killer took the knife with him, it must have been wrapped in something or held so it didn’t drip.’
‘Assuming?’
Harrison shrugged. ‘Just keeping an open mind. We haven’t found the weapon on site, but we only have the witnesses’ testimony that tells us the killer took it.’
‘What else have you got?’
‘There are plenty of bloody footprints in here, and in the corridor and the kitchen. We’ve eliminated the first responders, now we’re going through the rest, but I wouldn’t hold your breath, most of them are partials. So far, we’ve only found impressions consistent with the flat shoes that the two workers were wearing. Assuming the killer was a man, it looks as though he managed not to step in any of the victim’s blood on the way out of the window.’
Warren thanked him. The lack of trace evidence was worrying. Was the killer just lucky, careful, or was there more to what had happened than they had been told?