A Sewing Offense

 

    “No,” said Suzan, pinching the corner of the newspaper with such force that it nearly ripped when she tugged away. “It was a suicide,” she concluded. “Won’t you get me a pack of gum? It’s in my purse over there.” The pale, leggy man across the room edged to the frame of the desk, plopping his feet to the ground so that an echo bolted through the building. He jogged to the woman’s purse and yanked out two things; a pack of gum and a single needle with royal blue thread dangling from the little hole at the top. ”A needle,” the man questioned, wondering what a needle and thread were doing, just floating around in Suzan’s purse. He went on without further ado. “His back had been sliced… thoroughly!!” the man exclaimed thoughtfully. “His face had been beaten,” his voice fell silent at the last of the words. Though he’d been working at Branch’s Offense Inquiry for five years, he’d not grown fully accustomed to speaking lightly of such brutality.

    “Gregory, I saw him. Lucile took me in during the autopsy yesterday. I know. Would you leave it be?? It was definitely suicide.” Greg had grown impatient. He stared at the floor for a long moment and then placed his lengthy hands to his auburn hair. “Suzan, I just can’t imagine a man doing that to himself. And it’s not even that, honestly. His body seemed scathed hardly enough for a death-related outcome. It was sickly. Don’t you that if someone were to kill themselves they’d want to keep things short?? Succinct?? It’s just odd.” Suzan briefly jumped in. “Gregory, some people like pain… I know it’s strange but it seems that of all of the suicides I’ve seen, there have been some sick ones. Not everyone wants to…” “I know!!” Gregory was thinking particularly hard, then. He sighed with such force that Suzan looked up for a moment in wonder. “Won’t you do me a favor by not letting these things get to you?? This job is… it’s rough.” She tossed her hair to one side, placing her left hand into her pocket. A single strand of hair clung to her blazer. In angst, Gregory tugged it free and turned his attention to the papers on the muddled, grey desk behind him.

    “Let’s go, Greg.” Suzan was putting on lipstick when Gregory had turned around. His mouth went into a line. “Sue, I don’t feel like going right now. Dinner hardly seems appropriate.” He turned back to the papers. Suzan scowled at his back. “In having this job, Greg, you can’t be swallowed by the things that you’ve seen.” She swabbed her lips once more with the blood-red lipstick. Gregory swung his lengthy arms around. “I’m not!! It’s my case and I… I haven’t even seen the body, anyhow. How am I supposed to just walk away from an uneventful and unsuccessful investigation?? I just can’t.” his eyes met the ground when Suzan spoke again. “Fine. That’s fine. I just don’t see why you’re throwing yourself into this one. I’ve never seen you so intent on a case. I’ve never been so into a case. And I’ve worked in this cruddy old place since I was legally able.” Suzan sighed, this time. “I think you’re going at this too much. And it’s pissing me off. Won’t you just come on?!” She put on her pea coat, preparing for the harsh England winter outside. There was a particular denseness in the manner that she threw on her coat, a piquant arrogance in the way that she wore her lipstick that day. Gregory eyed her strangely as he put on his own cloak for the weather outdoors.

         The pair trudged out to the old yellow Volkswagen. Suzan pried open the door, a slight bounce in her step as she did so. “Suzan,” Gregory whispered. “Yes,” she retorted, puckering her lips as if he’d done something terribly wrong. He stared out into the streets for a moment. “What?!” Suzan shouted. Gregory shook his head meaninglessly, nearly stepping into the car, just as Lucile from the body examination unit sprinted toward the two of them. “Hello… Greg we just got the body in,” the woman paused for a moment. Gregory ogled Suzan. She looked away, caught in the shame of her lie. “Well,” Lucile went on. “There was more damage than we had originally heard from the officer and the man that had found him.” She tugged down her scarf, pulling the end to her forehead, dabbing as if it were possible to be sweating in such arctic weather. “Well,” Gregory questioned. Lucile straightened herself before speaking. “Greg, you’ve done tremendous work. We’ve got some more info in our victim of death, however.” She stopped once again, delaying a bit more to pick at a thread on her jacket. She looked up when Greg had cleared his throat as an implication. “Oh, yes. Well… the victim’s mouth had been sewn shut… with blue thread and an average sewing needle; it seems from my examination not so long ago.”

            The silence had lasted for well over thirty seconds, Greg scowled there in the cold as Lucile stood patiently, expecting nothing of the sort from Gregory’s knowledge. When the silence was uneasy, Suzan coughed. “Well,” she began with her lips poked out again. “That’s just… awful.” Gregory turned around just in time to see her flash the most haughty of smiles.

Author's Note

A very crappy, I'm sure, attempt at something different.
Do tell me what you think.

Reviews

[Broken.]

Well for something different, you sure did well!!
The ending was cute and edgy, I like her character, Suzan, she has a very powerful woman.
And not powerful in the average way people think of it, but a powerful, 'I don't give a damn if they know I killed him but I'll be discreet about it anyway, I challenge you to try to catch me.'
That attitude it what got me into her character :)