At The Scene Of The Crime. (OPEN)

[SophiaM]

Betty West, Investigator for the Galactic Republic Judicial Branch, stepped out of the unmarked speeder and surveyed the scene. She was standing on a narrow street in a section of the warehouse district attatched to the space dock nearest the Jedi Temple. Most of the street had been taped off by the uniforms and people were already gathering at the edges of the scene. She flashed her badge as she ducked under the tape, the uniformed officer gave her a funny look as he realised who she was. Most of the uniforms hated it when Judicial got involved because it meant they wouldn't be able to take the fame for solving the case. The officer in charge soon noticed her as she approached the body of a middle aged man that lay on the ground in a pool of blood, a single sapphire coloured rose layed upon his body.
Get those barriers moved back another twenty feet. I don't want a media frenzy over this one. It's already been on the morning news.
The officer sighed and signaled his men to move everyone back virtually blocking off the entire street.
We don't really need an Inspector like you poking your nose around. I don't even know why you've been called in on this. It's pretty obvious who did it.
Well it's pretty obvious to me that you do need me on this case. Now let me guess, you've found no evidence of a struggle, no biological traces on the body except from his own. And it's pretty much useless scanning for biologicals in this area unless you want to detain several thousand people for questioning.
The officer heaved a great sigh as he knew she was right.
Not to mention that this street is in a security vid blind spot.
For the next half hour or so they stood at the scene, taking what pictures and scans they could. Media and public alike did all they could to get a glimpse of the Sapphire Rose's latest victim.

 

[Phil]

Standing a little ways away from the supposed scene of the crime, a man wearing a dark blue leather trench coat and silver sunglasses stood by, putting his small flask away as he approached the scene. Showing his medal to one of the officers, he approached the scene to get a better look. Looking at the bloody scene that contained a Sapphire Rose on the unfortanete victom, Jacques sighed slightly. "Second one I've seen so far... Damn shame." He said aloud. Taking several more steps towards the body, avoiding the pools of blood, he went to see who the victom was up close, and possible the cause of death, but he knew it would be obvious.

 

[SophiaM]

Betty was crouched over the body examining the slash on it's throat. She looked up as Jacques approached.
I was wondering how long it would be before someone of your rank would turn up to one of these scenes. And for your information this is the fifth victim in the past three months. Whoever this killer is, they're getting ballsy. This is the first victim to be killed out in the open like this. Same M.O. though, slashed throat, traces of poison and that.
She pointed her torch at the rose laying atop the body.
Our current problem is that there's too many places selling these flowers. Artificially grown offworld to produce bright vibrant colours, they are the latest trend. And now they are the calling card of our new friend, people are buying them in droves. We've already had two copycat killings.

 

[Jabberwocky]

(Have no fear the Jedi are here.)

Rain and Ryaco arrived because many people were worried and felt the Jedi could solve the problem quicker. The master and padawan were then sent out to investigate with the Republic. He stepped up to the investigator and said, "Hello, I'm Rain Adler and this is Ryaco Lyper. Pleased to meet you. I'd like you to give me a briefing; I've been given very little information so far."

 

[Aussie Legend]

Ryaco stood beside his master and greeted the man and woman respectively.

He had examined the scene as he and Rain had approached, it was a bloody mess. Ryaco noticed a small sapphire rose lying on the victims body... he found this slightly strange.

He dismissed his thoughts for the moment and continued listening to Rain speak.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Rain extended his hand and levitated the rose up to his eyes. "Don't worry," he said, "I'm not tampering with evidence, there will be no prints of mine here and I'll put it exactly where he was." Rain thought it would be quite a beatiful flower had the speckles of blood not been on it. He sighed and returned the rose to where it was. "Any links to the murders that you've found?"

 

[Phil]

"Which means tracking down those who purchased them will be pointless. These copy cats... these imitators, they would either be with the primary killer or they are just inspired to do the same." He awnsered towards the Investigator before hearing two other voiced. Turning around, he spotted what appeared to be two Jedi in the area. A small smile appeared on the side of his face as he lowered his glasses slightly.

"Master and Student? It'll be helpful to have a Jedi helping in this... considering you two are the types for this sort of thing. I too just arrived, but it appears that there is another unfortunate Sapphire Rose victim again..."

 

[Aussie Legend]

"Master and Student? It'll be helpful to have a Jedi helping in this... considering you two are the types for this sort of thing. I too just arrived, but it appears that there is another unfortunate Sapphire Rose victim again..."

Ryaco looked at the body again, his master examined the flower and placed it back on the body.

"How many others have been murdered?"

He hadn't been paying much attention to the world around him lately, he had been busy in the past few weeks... no news of any murders had been mentioned to him.

 

[SophiaM]

Betty picked up a data tablet from the ground next to her and stood to face the two Jedi.
Four, this will make five pending a tox report. There have been similar killings in the past two weeks, but those victims never had any trace poisons in their systems so we're just pinning those ones down to copycats hoping to get away with it because of these roses. Our main reason for concern is that all the official Sapphire Rose victims so far have been major players in the bussiness world. This gentleman here is one of the CEOs of the two major shipping firms that are currently in the proceedings of a merger.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Rain smiled at the man and said, "I'm glad you think our presence will help."

He then considered what the woman had said and his smile vanished. "Hmm... For now, I have only two questions. You say there is posion on the body but I also notice a slash on the throat. Which was the cause of death? The other is quite crucial. Has any employee from the other company been murdered?" Rain waited for the answer with a solem expression.

 

[SophiaM]

We've yet to figure out the reason for the rather brutal method of presentation when poison is the cause of death. As far as we know there have been no bodies discovered that were employed by the other company. However, all the previous victims were also members of organisations that would have stood to profit due to a deal or merger if it weren't for their death causing stocks to plumit and therefore the overall value of the company to drop forcing the mergers to fall through.

 

[Jabberwocky]

"So it appears money is the motive. There must be a company who would profit if the merger didn't happen." Rain pondered this for a bit then said, "Someone should make orders to tighten security around the other company, we don't need another murder." Rain's mind was circling around the wounds on the bodies. There had to be a reason. It could have been a diversion the first time but the killer must have found out the diversions weren't working. It could also just as likely be a form of identity card. The poison could possibly not be readily available for civilians. "What is the availability of the poison found in the body?"

 

[Aussie Legend]

Ryaco made note of the information being gathered... the rose intrigued Ryaco... something about it felt... strange.

He once again began silently observing the conversation.

 

[SophiaM]

Betty tapped away on her tablet's screen for a moment and frowned.
We're not sure yet. The lab are still having trouble tracing it. It seems that the poison itself comes in two parts, when they combine the victim suffers a reversal of blood flow. Very painful and very slow to say the least. Because of the two ingrediants it's taking longer than expected to find a liable source but to be honest I wouldn't hold my hope up if I were you.

 

[Hanshin]

Hanshin looked over to the crime scene. Interesting things always happened when you were about to be or already gone. He heaved a great sigh of exasperation, and surveyed the scene, hooded in a black cloak with his hands in his sleeves. He needed to find a better robe... this made him look way too much like a Sith Lord. He then realized with a start that this robe would make him extremely conspicuous. He cursed under his breath, and started to walk away.

He had a fleeting thought that it might remove unwanted detainment from his departure if he went and helped a little, but that could also get him into trouble with the... Jedi. He instantly dismissed the thought and walked away at a faster pace.

 

[Aussie Legend]

Ryaco examined the people around the scene, hundreds were walking by and taking a short look at the scene.

One man, however, stuck out to Ryaco.

A man in black robes, much like his own, was looking at the scene before walking off quickly.

Master, follow me. Ryaco said to Rain telepathically, before pulling his dark hood over his head, covering his face in darkness, and walking out of the crime scene and after the man.

 

[Hanshin]

Hanshin stopped, without looking around. Curses, he had gotten too close. He pulled down his ink-black hood and turned around. These Jedi were all the same, which meant that he'd be detained for far longer than he wanted. He knew, however, that even he couldn't outrun a Jedi in this situation, and he didn't want to get into any legal trouble. He just hoped these ones wouldn't start rambling about how he was going down the dark path... what a bunch of weak lunatics.

 

[Aussie Legend]

((Next post is yours Apollo.))

 

[Jabberwocky]

Ryaco had amnaged to comunicate telepathically, Rain was impressed. He followed his Padawan. He smiled at the man in front of him and said, "Hello there. You seemed to be going quite quickly, why?" The man was leaning to the dark side but Rain would only mention that later.

 

[Hanshin]

Hanshin offered a friendly smile back to the Jedi. "I was just about to leave Coruscant. The crime scene just caught my eye, is all." I would also prefer if you wouldn't read my mind. Privacy and all... he conciously forced the thoughts into his mind, testing to see if the Jedi was probing his mind. "I hope I don't look suspicious." He remarked. "I wouldn't want to waste your time." He started to wish he had learned the art of reading minds, but stopped himself in case the Jedi would see the thought. Unfortunately, that was a thought, and he got all muddled up trying to stop himself from thinking too much, so he tried a different approach and thought of why Ewoks were so darned unintelligent.