Third.

[trustmods]

This week has been eventful for the lot of you, if a bit political for some; another resistance meeting, petitions everywhere, group dinners, and the new addition of a bunch of chickens to the group have ensured that at the very least, you've all had reason to keep busy. Of course, there's still that incentive to keep in mind, as well as the fact that there's been a murder every Friday since everyone arrived. Either way, the clock chimes in the morning, as it always does; the doors to the kitchen and the mail room unlock themselves, and all seems quiet. Thankfully, today the ballroom is blessedly corpse-free, as is the rest of the first floor. Maybe it would be good to move upstairs, though, just to make sure the rest of the Academy is likewise. >Explore?

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[ninehundredlives]

[There was a pistol incident, but...honestly, she's more familiar with what shotgun wounds look like.

She takes a shuddery breath and kneels down, running her hands down the front of her pants in an effort to stop them shaking. Are her eyes open?]

[trustmods]

[That's fine, actually - as long as you have some idea of what you're looking at, we should be good. There are only so many ways to shoot a person, after all.

Ashley's eyes are open, and what's discernible of her expression is a frightened one.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Well then, she has indeed seen bullet wounds before.

Susan closes them. And takes a second to compose herself.]

I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry, I -

[She furiously blinks back tears. Stupid, useless. What they need now is justice, not apologies.

LET'S CHECK OUT THAT BULLET WOUND]

[trustmods]

[Outside of the blood, the wound itself is dark with residue, and while the forehead injury is definitely punched-in - i.e., not an exit wound, she was definitely shot in the face - the injury is seeming a bit large for the caliber of the weapon; atypical entrance wound, in other words.

Looks like she was shot at extremely close range.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan is going to literally kill someone.

Literally.

Okay, let's gently lift up her head to check for an exit wound.]

[trustmods]

[The exit wound is smaller than the entry wound, again confirming the close-range shot; it's only slightly so, though. So even if it came from a pistol, it's still along the lines of a shotgun wound - that is to say, something shot from something high-velocity.

Kind of overkill, in other words, but given this place that's probably not surprising and possibly unintentional.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan just. Stares blankly at this for a few seconds before snapping out of it.

She doesn't know what to do. So she just sort of glances over the rest of the body - any other wounds?]

[trustmods]

[Actually, there aren't any other injuries, but there is a bit of an issue with Ashley's clothes - that being that there's some definite weirdness with the blood on them.

There are some things wrong with both the parka and the shirt she's wearing. What are we checking out first?]

[ninehundredlives]

[Parka's the outer layer, let's go there first]

[trustmods]

[The hood of her parka obviously has some blood on it, just from the nature of the crime scene; what's unusual is the fact that outside of the expected bloodspatter, there's also a bloody handprint on it.

There aren't any fingerprints or anything, but oddly enough the print is on the outside of the hood.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Susan holds up her own hand alongside the bloody handprint. Bigger or smaller, or about the same?

you know what helps, the right account helps

[trustmods]

[It looks like whomever put their hand there bunched up a lot of the fabric in their hand; more like it was an attempt at grabbing than anything else. So the print's pretty distorted, and it's kind of hard to tell.

It's not noticeably larger, though, so at least there's that.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Well, it was worth a shot.

Is that it for the parka? Can we move on to the shirt?]

[trustmods]

[It was indeed worth a shot! That's it for the parka right now, though, yeah - we can move on to her shirt.

Given the nature of the injury - gunshot wound to the head, apparently while she was on the floor - Ashley's shirt shouldn't have much blood on it, all things considered; the fact is that it does, however, and it's not consistent with either the shot or with being stabbed or otherwise roughed up.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Is it mainly centered on one part of the shirt, or just all over? Does it look like blood spatter, or is it just kinda...smeared?]

[trustmods]

[It doesn't look like bloodspatter, per se; it's tight drops centered near her chest and collar. They're not smeared on, either - they actually look more like they were dripped down from above.]

[ninehundredlives]

[That's fun.

Incidentally, does it look like she was on the floor when she was shot? Like, where did all the blood from that spatter towards?]

[trustmods]

[A lot of it is concentrated around the back of her head - what wasn't absorbed by her hair is kind of soaked into the parka.

So yeah, chances are good that she was lying on her back on the floor.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Any indications she was being held down?]

[trustmods]

[A few indications that she did not go quietly in the general vicinity of her hands. The right kind of has a larger indication than the left.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Let's check that hand out.]

[trustmods]

[It was probably a bit hard to see, given the oversized parka and the blood all over being a little distracting, but it looks like she was holding something when she died.

Namely, a pair of scissors. They look like they came from the supply closet, and they're covered in blood.]

[ninehundredlives]

[Oh, Ashley. Susan is so proud of you.

She's going to gently take those scissors, put them in a baggie, and take them with her. Maybe she'll get a chance to stab the killer again before they die.

Anything else going on here? How about the left hand?]

[trustmods]

[Again, it looks like Ashley didn't go quietly into that good night; it looks like there are some fibers under her nails.]

[ninehundredlives]

[What kind of fibers? It's not totally nondistinct white fuzz again, is it?]