“Yeah, like a voodoo head or something. Her nose too. The sewing needle’s still attached. That alone would’ve killed her. The plastic bag was just an extra measure.”
“And you consider this a suicide?” asked the Chief.
“Yeah. The woman in the other room is her sister. She said the vic was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia so she called her every day. When she didn’t get an answer for 24 hours, she called the police. She IDed the body.”
The Chief ordered one of the officers, “Check the medicine cabinets. See what she was taking.” Turning back toward Sam, “What else?”
“No sign of forced entry. The door was locked and bolted from the inside. We can’t find any other fingerprints except for the vic’s. Also, no sign of a struggle. No sign of sexual assault.”
“Any note?”
“Nope. We checked her e-mails too. Her sister thinks it was suicide.”
An officer strode over and handed the Chief a hand full of pill bottles.
The Chief examined the bottles. “No. No. Ah Ha! ”Holding up two bottles for Sam to see, “Olanzapine and fluoxetine! Commonly used for the treatment of schizophrenia. Both empty.”
“How’d you know that?” asked Sam.
“I just know things,” said the Chief, handing the bottles back to the uniformed officer. “Call the pharmacy and find out if she called in a subscription. But why go to all the trouble of sewing your mouth and nose shut? That had to be painful. Wouldn’t be easier just to overdose with pills?”
“But if she was hallucinating maybe she didn’t feel the pain.”
“Could be. Keep checking for clues that someone else was here.”
“Chief!” called an officer from the phone, “The pharmacy says she called in a refill four days ago but never picked it up.”
“Thanks.” Then half aloud, “She ran out of her meds.”
The Chief walked over and stood over the body to examine one of the dolls.
The doll looked at him and said, “What are you looking at, fat boy?”
The chief picked up the doll and put it into his coat pocket. Okay, don’t panic. The doctor said this might happen occasionally. It is just a hallucination. Forgot to take my meds this morning, that’s all.
THE END