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Wintertime Murder
Late on a cold December night, a young doctor's life was brutally
cut short. His death has left behind grieving parents and friends,
a four-legged witness, as well as a trail of accusations, threats
and lies.
Shortly after Christmas, forensic pathologist Clark Durand went
to the Lighthouse nightclub with pediatric doctor David Reilly (the
two were colleagues on friendly terms at the hospital). The pair
spoke about David's partner Noah, who's currently out of town. David
expressed his love for Noah, but bemoaned his loneliness due to
Noah's being out of town.
Tom Fiore (an archeology professor and Clark's somewhat obsessive
ex) was also at the Lighthouse, and tried to buy Clark a drink.
After Clark refused, David playfully suggested sending Tom a message
by dancing closely. A drunk David kissed Clark as Tom continued
to watch.
The next day, Clark found out David was run over by a car during
the night. As the last person to see him (Clark drove David home),
Clark became of interest to Detective Mike Fiore (Tom's older brother),
who was investigating the hit & run.
Clark didn't have much to tell, admitting that he really didn't
know David very well. Mike asked if they had been lovers, which
Clark denied. He had no explanation for why David had been outside,
when Clark had seen him enter the house after dropping him off.
Shocked and disturbed by the death, Clark visited David's home to
see where it happened.
Outside, he discovered a shivvering dog with a loose leash outside
the house; a check of her collar tag revealed her name, Sophie,
and the fact that she belonged to David. Since she'd clearly been
out all night, Clark deduced that David had been walking Sophie
when run over.
Entering the house to get Sophie some food -- the door was still
unlocked -- Clark was attacked by a gun-toting man who turned out
to be Noah Morgan, David's British boyfriend, apparently just arrived
from out of town.
Noah grabbed Clark's wallet to check his identity, suspicious of
what Clark was doing in David's house. When Clark reluctantly informed
Noah of David's death, Noah didn't react as expected to the news.
He just left as suddenly as he came.
Meanwhile, Mike was getting the results back from the autopsy on
David's body. The forensic pathologist (a colleague of Clark's)
explained that David was hit w/a pipe before being run over; the
obvious assumption was that the car was used in an attempt to obliterate
evidence of the initial head wound.
 Later,
Tom arrived at the police station with a surprise lunch invitation
for his brother. Spotting information about David's death on Mike's
desk, Tom mentioned the coincidence of having met David only last
night at the Lighthouse with Clark. When Mike described him as a
colleague of Clark's, Tom quickly refuted this -- he revealed that
David must have been more than a mere colleague, since he saw David
& Clark kissing passionately at the nightclub. With new doubts
about Clark's honesty, Mike called Clark for another interview.
Noah appeared on Clark's doorstep at night when Beth, Clark's sister,
was alone. At first she refused to speak to the stranger. But Noah
charmed his way inside by claiming to be a friend of Clark's (using
info he'd seen in Clark's wallet).
When Clark returned, he discovered Noah standing by an unconscious
Beth on the sofa. Noah admitted that he'd slipped Beth a sleeping
pill to get her to relax while waiting for Clark to return. Furious
and scared, Clark prepared to call the police, but Noah made a veilled
threat convincing him to drop the phone.
Noah revealed that his purpose in the visit was to warn Clark against
telling the cops of his presence at David's house, implying a deadly
result to Clark and Beth. Clark didn't respond right away. The next
morning, Clark blew up at his sister for being so gullible and warned
her to avoid Noah.
When Mike interviewed Clark again, things didn't go well when Clark
suddenly clammed up at the mention of David's love life. It became
clear from Mike's questions that he suspected Clark of lying about
his relationship with David due to their intimate behavior at the
Lighthouse. Clark guessed the source for this information -- Tom.
Clark then confronted Tom, accusing his ex of spreading lies out
of spite. Tom tossed back the accusation, insisting he'd only told
the truth about what he'd seen. He wondered if Clark was guilty
of the crime.
Afraid that he'd now become a suspect, Clark turned to his friend
Martina Rosenoff for legal advice, and she agreed to act as his
lawyer (despite being Mike's girlfriend). That same day, Clark and
Martina were attacked in the garage of the hospital by a thug targetting
Martina's necklace. Noah was conveniently on hand to save Clark's
life and stop the burglary attempt with a display of expert fighting
skills.
Though grateful, Clark still didn't trust his ubiquitous saviour.
Mike was also torn between tending to a badly shaken Martina and
trying to interview the elusive Noah, who left town again for the
weekend. With the case stalled, Mike and Martina went away to a
country inn, where Mike proposed to Martina.
Upon return, Mike finally tracked Noah down for questioning. Noah
claimed to be upset about David's death and maintained he was out
of town (due to his job as an art supply salesman) when it happened.
Frustrated, Mike didn't buy Noah's background -- why would an art
supply salesman be an expert in hand-to-hand combat? -- and the
interrogation grew hostile to the point of Mike threatening to arrest
Noah as a material witness (despite not having much cause at the
time).
The tense moment was interrupted when Mike was called to investigate
the discovery of Martina & Clark's attacker, who (after being
let out on bail) had apparently broken into Mike & Marty's house
and trashed it. Now he'd been found dead in an alley. Before leaving,
Mike warned Noah not to leave town again.
Finding Clark at a diner, Tom tried to explain himself to Clark,
who was shocked to hear that Tom claimed to love him. Still hurt
from Tom's cheating ways, Clark mockingly brought up Tom's claim
of having his heart broken by someone in Scotland (where Tom spent
some time a couple of years back). Upset, Tom twisted Clark's arm,
and though he apologized, Clark refused to get re-involved with
a bully.
With no new leads, things were on hold until just recently, when
Mike and Officer Bill Howard went on a routine annoyance call to
MacElroy Dairy Farm to check out an abandoned car. On inspection,
Mike found a suspicious piece of blood-stained material stuck in
the hubcap, and suspected that this might be the car that ran over
David's body.
Despite all this activity, the significant questions remain unanswered:
What is Noah's agenda? Did he kill David for reasons unknown? Will
Tom continue to pursue Clark? Is he behind David's death, driven
by violent jealousy? And what about Clark himself? His sister has
mental problems, and Clark's considered the normal one. But is he
hiding a murderous dark side?
Stay tuned.
POLL:
Who killed David Reilly? Take the poll and see what others think!
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