100 Ways to Solve a Murder-Chapter 139: The Practical Joke V

7 Eastbourne Rd.

Sam watched the blond and her brows creased together in wonder, "Why so serious?" she asked, looking at the focused expression on his face. Levi had always enjoyed psychology, but he preferred a more practical approach in science if he was honest. Like chemistry and physics.

Levi turned to look at her, "You were conducting an experiment all this time." he verified, looking at her bare face. "Why would I wear those bloody heels at work?" Sam deadpanned, she thought he knew. She thought it was obvious, and she believed he knew since he never asked anything regarding it.

"Self inflict pain?" Levi suggested, both amused and relieved. "Is it over?" He asked when he heard her phone ’ding’ in her bag. Sam yawned, taking the available seat beside him on the sofa and looking at the book he was reading with slight interest. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Yep." She answered, earning a satisfied smile from the psychologist after she blatantly ignored her mobile phone. Sam arched a brow, wondering why he was grinning, but she mirrored his smile before realizing it. "What?" She asked.

"Took you long enough. I hated those heels, clicking against the floor. Very distracting." Levi said as he leaned back and closed his eyes, getting back to the case she presented to him. A mental image of her exposed legs in heels caused the corners of his lips to curve upward. He would never admit it, but she looked lovely each time he saw her clad in those figure hugging dresses.

"Stop grinning like that, and solve the case." Sam said, poking his cheek. Levi swatted her hand away and said, "Be quiet." But he was still smiling.

"What’s running in your head right now, I don’t want to even imagine." Sam said, opening his book and reading it. He did have a morbid sense of humor. Only God knows what he was thinking, she thought.

.....

2 AM, Levi’s Flat

"Insulin!" Levi exclaimed hours later, unknown to him, and it was now officially the day later. He had been running all the information in his mind the whole night, missing dinner even. His eyes widened at the realization after looking at the time on his watch. And he thought the redhead probably left already. But her bag and jacket hanging on the back of the door made him think otherwise. He moved around the dimly lit flat; his feet led him to his bedroom with the door slightly ajar.

He pushed it open quietly; lying on the bed was the redhead wearing a pair of his gray shirt and Pajama pants. He walked in and lay on the other side of the bed, causing it to sink under his weight. Sam stirred, "Solve it?" she asked, eyes still closed, wrapped in his blanket.

"Insulin." He said in a hushed tone.

Sam smiled in the darkness, nodding. "How?" Levi asked her. How did she know? It was a tough one, he’d admit, and if he didn’t have some sort of medical science knowledge in memory, he would have never solved it.

"Kenneth Barlow," Sam said, "who’s that?" Levi asked, not familiar with it. "Kenneth Barlow, is the first documented case of murder by insulin. He murdered his 8weeks pregnant wife Elizabeth Barlow by overdosing her with insulin." Sam explained, opening her eyes to look at him in the darkness. She could see that she had his full attention.

"Like the victim Elizabeth in that case, Ruth was a young perfectly healthy woman and dying from no valid cause was rare. Second factor was the set of sweat-drenched pyjamas she was wearing." Sam said, and Levi nodded, understanding the science of it. An insulin overdose would prevent the body from processing sugar and lead to hypoglycemic shock, seizures, coma, and death. But first, one of the signs of hypoglycemia is excessive sweating.

"One of my colleagues, asked me to take a look since he also thought it odd for a perfectly healthy woman to just choke on her own vomit while she was sleeping, when she was not in the influence of any drug or alcohol. During post mortem, I noted that her pupils were widely dilated and that there was bloodstained froth in her nose, mouth and throat." the redhead explained.

"And when I examined samples of her lungs under the microscope, they were bulky, congested and wet. They also revealed fluid retention and small haemorrhages, confirming the initial diagnosis of death by asphyxiation. Apart from that, I found no abnormalities." Levi nodded in understanding, and she continued.

"I took the precaution of collecting blood from a number of different sites in the body as well as some urine from the bladder for toxicology exam, just in case she had been poisoned. And found none of the common poisons. Still, I considered the possibility that she had been injected with insulin. This would explain her excessive sweating and dilated pupils before death." Sam paused, cracking a smile.

"Convinced that this was not of natural causes, I took it to myself to check any purchases of insulin, Novolog was purchased online using the suspects credit card. It was the--"

"Brother in law." Levi interrupted, and Sam nodded, slowly drifting back to sleep. She heard a faint ’goodnight’ and felt lips pressed on her forehead before she drifted to dreamland.

It was 10 in the morning when Sam woke up feeling well-rested. She was lying on her side, and her eyes blinked a few times, adjusting from the darkness of the room and realizing moments later that there was a light snoring next to her, no, behind her. And this person was spooning her. A sigh of relief passed her when she looked at the arms wrapped around her from behind. It was just Levi.

"Levi--" Sam tried to wake him, she had to go to work. She’s already late, not that they’ll mind. Her voice caused him to wrap his arms tighter around her.

"Shut. Up." He grumbled. "Need to go to work." Sam said, craning her neck, trying to see his face, but couldn’t. "Dull." He mumbled, going back to sleep. Sam sighed, so she reached for her mobile on the bedside table and texted Elle that she would not be coming to work.

Levi grinned against her hair when he felt her relax under him. He knew he won; she won’t be going to work that day.