Коллектив авторов - Grantville Gazette 37

"Both blood trails are going in," Georg corrected.

"You couldn't possibly know that unless you saw it happen," Huber stated.

"It's very clear," Georg countered. "The footprints come out to the street. But both blood trails are going back in."

Meinhard took a close look. "Yes."

"You can't tell that . . ." Jost began.

"Yes you can. Blood drops from a moving person aren't round. They're pointed, and they point in the direction of movement."

"I don't believe that," Huber said.

"Please, feel free to cut your finger and walk around," Georg challenged.

"Why, you . . ."

"That's enough, Herr Huber," Meinhard said without lifting his gaze from the ground. "Why do you know all this, Georg?"

"My sister Katharina keeps staying after school for Bibelgesellschaft work. I was bored waiting, so I took the forensics class."

"Forensics?" Meinhard stumbled over the word.

"Crime scene investigation."

"Ah. Herr Frost has told us a little about this. He said he will say more about it on his next circuit. I remember that he said the up-timers have a chemical that shows blood."

"Yes," Georg agreed. "Luminol. It's usually used to see where someone cleaned up blood. No need for it here." Then a thought struck him, and he laughed. "But it wouldn't work here anyway, Watchman Meinhard. You can smell the horseradish, right?"

" Ja ."

"Horseradish causes luminol to show a false positive," Georg said. "If we had any to spray around, I think this whole end of the alley would turn blue."

"Have you used this luminol before?"

"No. I've just seen pictures of it in a book. If there is any left at all, it is not enough to let students use it."

Meinhard was quiet for a few moments. "Could someone have put the horseradish there on purpose so that luminol couldn't be used?"

Georg thought about that. "I believe Herr Frost would say that forensic countermeasures suggest careful planning. Given the amount of blood everywhere, I don't think this was carefully planned. Certainly no one tried to clean up the scene. I think the horseradish is just an accident."

"Good point," Meinhard agreed. He turned his attention back to the scene. "Steps in the blood, tracks it to the street, spills blood there, two people come back this way," he mused. "Steps over here around the blood pool."

"I didn't see that one," Georg admitted.

"It's just blood drops. There aren't any footprints."

Georg cocked his head to one side. "Why not? If there are footprints going out there should be footprints coming back."

"This is hard ground," Meinhard pointed out. "We're not leaving footprints either."

Georg thought about that for a minute. Then he stamped on the ground. "Look – I can leave a footprint if I stomp. But why would anyone stomp after stepping in blood? I'd scuff my shoes to scrape it off."

"He didn't scuff," Meinhard observed. He pointed at a misshapen footprint. "Georg, he slipped !"

Georg understood at once. "He slipped in the blood and stumbled to the edge of the alley. Wait-then he stood around bleeding? Why was he bleeding?"

"He stabs the other guy . . ." Meinhard began. "No, the other guy stabs him. No, that's not right, because they walk off together."

"Do we know they left together?" Georg asked.

"There are the two blood trails," the watchman pointed out. "They never cross." He began again. "The first man walks through the alley and stabs someone. He slips in the blood. The victim injures him at the edge of the street. But the second man arrives. They kill the victim, and they load the body on a wagon, then walk back down the alley."

"Why wouldn't they just ride away on the wagon?" Georg asked. "Especially since the first man was wounded?"

"So there's a third man driving the wagon . . ." Meinhard shook his head. "No, that is far too complicated." He looked at Jost. "Do you have a theory?"

"Not anymore," Jost answered. "But yours has the big blood stain made before the one next to the street. But the one next to the street is dried, and the big one is still sticky. Doesn't that make the one by the street older?"

Astrid watched Georg and Meinhard exchange looks of consternation. Then they both practically dove at the blood stain by the street.

"Where did we go wrong?" Meinhard asked.

"I don't know," Georg muttered.

They kept staring at the blood stain. At length, Georg observed, "It's not just dried. It's clotted."

"Well, yes," Meinhard agreed. "Blood clots."

"The larger bloodstain isn't clotted like this." Georg sounded excited. "It's not older. This one is two different blood types!"

"What?"

"The first man and the second man were both wounded at the edge of the street. This is blood from both of them. It clotted because they're different blood types," Georg pointed. "See the arterial spray there? It's not clotted because it's from only one of them."

"Two men were injured here?"

"Since they were both hurt and left walking side by side, I don't think they could have carried a body," Georg said slowly. "One of them is bleeding badly. He's needs help, and soon."

Meinhard slapped his forehead. "That's why they went back into the alley. The clinic is this way."

Dr. Zapf spoke up. "The university medical faculty is the other way."

Meinhard shook his head. "We've been seeing more and more sick and injured people being taken to the clinic. It's just a couple of nurses. They're not really doctors. But a lot of people don't care.

"Jost, we're going to follow the blood trail. Go back and tell everyone else that if they come, they have to stay back and they have to use a different alley. Georg, let's go find these two men."

They followed the blood drops to the other end of the alley and out onto the next street.

"It's getting hard to see," Georg noted.

Meinhard grunted. "Less blood, too."

Halfway down the block they lost the trail.

"I don't see any more blood," Georg said.

"Me, either." Meinhard turned around. "Form a line."

He put Schwarz, Huber, Neustatter, Johann Gerhard, Niclas Zapf, and Jost in a line across the street, and they started slowly moving forward.

"Blood!" Dr. Gerhard called.

Several yards farther along Schwarz found another drop. After another twenty yards, they heard a hubbub as the crowd caught up to them.

Meinhard made a decision. "Jost, let's just check the clinic. If they're not there, we can come back with lanterns and look for the blood trail."

They were almost to the base when they met Watchman Heinkel coming the other way with three up-timers in tow, two men and a woman. The younger man was wearing USE feldgrau . That probably made him Eric Hudson, although Astrid didn't recognize any of them.

Katharina did, though. " Guten abend , Gena," she called.

"Kat Meisnerin? Georg? Horst? What are you all doing here?"

"The Bibelgesellschaft came to Erfurt to meet with the university theology faculty. But people think that Herr Neustatter and his security service have killed someone."

Gena gave an unladylike snort. "That's ridiculous."

"Gena. Sergeant Hudson. Herr Kroll," Neustatter greeted them.

"What's this about, officer?" Gordon Kroll asked.

Meinhard gave him the short version.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sergeant Hudson drawled. "You think Neustatter and one of his men would attack someone in an alley? And then hide the body? Seriously?" He laughed.

"Why is this funny?" Watchman Jost asked.

Eric Hudson jerked a thumb at Neustatter. "The idea of John Wayne here using a partner to ambush a guy."

"But . . . why is it funny?" the watchman pressed.

"C'mon. Neustatter goes to the movies to watch John Wayne, Harrison Ford, and Arnold Schwarzenagger. He wouldn't knife someone in an alley. He prefers a straight-up fight to all that sneaking around."