Free Blood & Magic by George Barlow

flopped over his brow. His clothes were torn and bloody, but looked tailored and expensive.
    “Look here,” Chris said.
    He was pointing to a hole in the victims shirt, which revealed another layer of clothing behind it, the material a dark blue colour.
    “From what I can tell, although we will confirm it back at the lab, this is some sort of armour, but not like any I've seen. The force needed to get through it would be quite considerable,” Chris said.
    “Why would he be wearing protective clothing? We thinking possibly police or special forces?”
    “How can I tell that Alex?”
    “No, you are right. We can't jump to conclusions, Christ, that is what put this case into such a mess in the first place.”
    “I would imagine we are looking for a man and quite a strong one at that. I'm not sure I could have pierced it, well, at least not with such accurate lines.”
    Dr Chris Calder was skeletal in looks and stature, which made his extremely muscular physique the ever more pronounced. Alex imagined his life consisted of the morgue and the gym, which seemed to be the general consensus of everyone who knew him. His budget for supplements and protein shakes probably rivalled Alex's handbag budget, which was by no means meagre. Chris was the Home Office Pathologist and, since the case involved a serial killer, he attended every crime scene. He seemed able to shrug off how heinous the crimes he investigated were, focussing on the evidence in front of him. Alex respected that and had no trouble with him. If everyone just got on with their jobs, life would be so much simpler.
    “Has anything been removed from the body?” Alex said.
    “Nothing, the police didn't touch a thing when they arrived. Left just as you see the scene now,” Chris said.
    “Did we recover anything to identify him?”
    “Only a business card. Maybe the killer took his wallet and phone, which wouldn't fit with the other cases,” Chris said. “Perhaps he dropped it, looks like he was first attacked across the park.”
    “We think he ran from his attacker?” Alex said.
    “Maybe, although given the number of injuries he sustained, I can't imagine he could have fled from very far away,” Chris said.
    Chris handed Alex the business card, which had been placed inside an evidence bag. It was dark red with a picture of an intricately stencilled gate on both the front and back.
    “You got any idea what this means?” Alex said.
    “Afraid not,” Chris said, his attention on the body. “Look at this.”
    He adjusted the overhead light, focussing on a rip in the victim's jacket that revealed the skin beneath. A large scab and dry blood surrounded the wound.
    “What exactly am I looking at?” Alex said.
    “This wound must be quite old, see it is already starting to heal over,” Chris said.
    “Are you saying that it wasn't caused tonight?”
    “It can't have been, but then the dry blood doesn't make sense. Unless our victim didn't wash, that blood shouldn't be there.”
    “This guy doesn't exactly look like a tramp.”
    “Maybe the killer held him, before he escaped and fled here, hence this old wound. The guy managed to get this far, before the killer caught up with him.”
    “Anymore wounds like this?”
    “Not sure, but I've only just started looking,” Chris said.
    He started to check across the other rips in the clothing, Alex watching patiently as he worked. Shaking his head slightly, Chris muttered something incoherent under his breath.
    “What have you found?” Alex said.
    Chris took Alex's hand and placed it so that her fingers rested on the man's chest.
    “Feel that?” he said.
    The chest was stained red with blood, but it was only when she felt the skin did she realise what Chris was showing her.
    “What is this?” Alex said.
    “A stab wound. Quite a bloody awful one, you felt the bone underneath? This guy has been stabbed in the chest, with enough force to break bone. It would have reached his heart, he would have died in