One thing the Charley Project does, you might have noticed, is that as often as is possible (which isn’t all that often, I’ll admit), if there are tattoos, pictures of the said tattoos will be posted. If not, at least I’ll try to provide as clear a description as possible.
This came to my mind just now as I was writing up a case: numerous sources said the MP, who has several tattoos had “grams and a butterfly on her wrist.” I thought: whaaat? Grams, like the measurement? That would be a pretty weird tattoo. It took some reading before I found an article that clarified it was “Grams” as in the word, as in the nickname for “grandmother.”
That kind of thing happens a lot. Like, let’s say the source just says:
Tattoos: Rose on abdomen
Usually, this would be a tattoo of a rose. But it could be also be a tattoo of the name Rose. Something like that, small as it is, could be vital when it comes to identifying a body.
(There was an MP once where she had a flower tattooed on her ankle, and I could not figure out whether it was the actual flower or the word for the flower. Well, it turned out to be the word, and what’s more, that word was the MP’s daughter’s name. A private detective assigned to the case wrote to me politely asking me to remove that bit of information, in part to protect the daughter’s privacy.)
I don’t have any tattoos, myself. Michael has said if I want to get one, he would pay for it, but I’m not sure I want one and that seems like the kind of thing you had better be sure of. I do think I know what I’d get, if I get one. One of two phrases in Latin: either “deus ex machina” (meaning “machine of God”) or “carpe noctem” (meaning “seize the night” as opposed to “seize the day”, in reference to my nocturnal habits).
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