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almost insensible. He was covered in blood, almost as if he’d been sprayed with a hose pipe, and would not respond to any of the officers questions.”
     
       “Mrs Windrow was already dead when they found her. Their 2-year old,”  Arthur consulted his notes again, “Sally, was her name, she was also dead at the scene. At least that is what we assume, it'll take DNA testing on the bones to be sure it’s her. I would say that at first glance though the thighbone length is consistent with a child of her recorded age. It’s hard to be sure but it looks like the cause of death appears to be similar but different to that of Jean-Marie.”
     
      “How, how did it differ?” Elroy dragged his eyes away from the gaping hole in the woman’s stomach.
     
      “It appears that Sally was eaten alive.” Arthur, leaned over the body of Jean-Marie, and almost lovingly used a pair of tweezers to peel back the edge of the stomach wound, “whereas the formally lovely Mrs Windrow, died of blood loss from having half her stomach removed. The splatter patterns on the wall and ceiling suggest that anyway. She was kneeling on the bed at first, then she fell, or was pushed backwards, at which time the blood spray travels upwards on to the ceiling.”
     
      “Judging by the position of the body, the splatter patterns, the blood all over Steven, combined with the traces of semen on the sheets and her thighs. I would say that Mr and Mrs Windrow were having sex when whatever happened, happened.”
     
       “So he killed her while they were fucking?”
     
       “If he did in fact kill her, I'm not so sure, she seems to have almost exploded from the inside, perhaps he’s just an extraordinarily energetic lover.”
     
      Elroy knew that although this was gallows humour there was an element of truth in it. Both he and Arthur had had to clear up after one of The Norseman’s wild parties last year, that man could literally blow a woman’s head off.
     
      “Maybe, but looks like the wrong angle to me. The points of entry and exit don't match up and anyway where's the little girl’s body?” Elroy asked.
     
       “I don't know, I'm assuming in the guts of whatever ate her. There wasn't much left of her you see, just a few bones. She had been almost picked clean.”
     
      “Why call us in so soon, any direct evidence of Metas yet?” Elroy struggled to think of any normal way such damage could be done to a human being, but so far he had not seen any direct evidence of super-powered involvement and it was unusual to be called in so quickly.
     
      Arthur looked at him skeptically, “Well this could just be a normal case of husband killing his wife while in the throes of passion, cutting out her womb, stomach, heart, lungs, most of the major organs, getting rid of them probably by eating them. Then he ate his own child as she slept, right down to the bone. It could be, but for a few simple clues.”
     
      “Ok, stop a minute, how do we know Sally was eaten?”
     
      “There are tooth marks, very little ones, all over the bones, lots and lots of them.”
     
      “Rats?” Elroy said jokingly.
     
      “Maybe, but I doubt it. Just listen a minute, first Jean-Marie was about 9 months pregnant, according to her neighbours she only had a few weeks to go.”
     
      “So?”
     
      “So, where’s the baby? Because it isn't in here anymore,” Arthur waved his tweezers at the open wound. “There's no trace of it at all, it's gone, as is most of her stomach, her womb, and most of her internal organs. Also, before Officer Ditko retired outside to chuck his guts up, he found this on the bed. He said that he would have missed it if it hadn't leaped at his throat. Anyway he managed to catch it by one of its legs and Officer Byrne ran to get a jar from the kitchen. In the process it bit Ditko’s finger, took out quite a chunk too, he'll be lucky if he doesn't lose it. Still they managed to get it into the jar and here