Re: Alley Pond Park, Queens: Cerise & Clem & Cris
[Cerise shook hands like she did most things when around people unknown, taciturn with the brevity of someone who didn't much care for being touched. She was an island, wholly contained. It wasn't shyness, this field of work didn't allow for that, not to mention that her method of eye contact could be overly direct and obnoxiously invasive. There was an unfriendliness to her, and when she spoke, it wasn't with a charming accent.] Detective Cerise Stone. Homicide.
[She listened to the Clementine woman's assessment of the scene, and thought that she was right, it did smell of lighter fluid. The patrol officer near his car was doing a decent job of keeping the gradual accumulation of civilians back, and Cerise turned to look at the scene en masse. The trees, the jogging trail. Clementine said that the accelerant burn pattern started at the woman's groin, and Cerise shook her head with a tense expression aimed at the unmoving blanket.] Jesus.
[Exhale.] Forensics should be able to tell us if she was alive or dead when he burned her. [Yes, he. To hell with proper protocols, she'd already pretty much decided that their suspect was a man.]