The murder weapon was a coffee-table art book title The End, consisting of glossy photographs of staged bloodstains.
The young detective flipped through the case file. Her first official one, and it was a doozy. Carefully studied the pictures, even though they made her stomach turn. Good thing she hadn't eaten lunch yet. Her mentor repeatedly told her that the devil was in the details, and she should always look for that one thing that stood out. So, A+ student that she was, she took him at his word, and pored over every inch of every glossy image.
Flip.
Flip.
Fl—
Wait a second.
Grabbing two images the forensic photographer had taken, she compared them, turning one of them until...
No way. No fucking way. Had to be a trick of the light or something.
"Uh, sir? Can you take a look at this?"
"What is it, rookie? Think you found something?"
Wordlessly, she placed the pictures on her desk, and pointed at them. Traced the outline of the pool of blood in one of them. Circled the right page the murder weapon had fallen open on in the other.
He grunted when he spotted it too, sounding none too pleased. "... I'll be damned."
A quick phone call later assured her mentor that nobody had been playing silly buggers at the scene, and they'd faithfully recorded exactly how the body had been found, look you can even see the fresh spatter in the gutter between the pages.
"I was afraid of that." He sighed loudly, the look he gave his fresh-faced newest partner indecipherable. "Well, kid, I guess it's time for you to visit the basement."
The young detective grabbed her coat and dutifully trotted after him. "What's in the basement, sir?"
"Remember what I told you about the Devil?" Her mentor gave her a grim look. "Time for you to meet our witch."
