Vin's POV
"Not an accident, but a murder inspector."
Everyone turned their gaze at me. I heard some whispers behind me, gossips filled the air. The voices, both curious and amazed by my presence.
"You again? Why do every time you're around a criminal case happens?" Inspector
"Don't be so harsh to me inspector, maybe the case seeks me and not the other way around."
Inspector returned his gaze to the wrecked car on the street. The fire department did a terrible job in preserving the evidence. The car creaked at it's hinges as the officers tried to recover the body from inside the car.
"So what exactly happened here?" Inspector
"Zaider and I saw this car start rolling down from that slope, I tried to wake up the driver but he didn't respond. I tried to think of a way to open the window of his car, but didn't find anything to pry it open. Then Zaid saw a truck approaching, so I thought of a plan to stop the car from crashing into the house across the street by letting the truck collide with the car."
"You did what?! You let the man die inside of the car?" Inspector
"No, I-"
A crime scene investigator approached the inspector and said something to him.
"Like I said, the man was dead long before the car collided with the truck."
The inspector and the investigator looked at me, surprised by what I've said.
"How did you know?" Inspector
"I saw ligature marks from the man's neck. Too deep to think he could survive being strangled that way."
The inspector confirmed this to the investigator.
"Also, I saw a piano wire at the back of the car, I think it was caught at the wheel of the car. If it's still there, I mean it could be gone now."
The investigator and the inspector quickly ran to the back of the car to check the wheels of the car. Zaider appeared beside me and was looking straight at the victim's body.
"You sure you can handle seeing that?"
As if on cue, Zaider put a hand on his mouth and another on his stomach. He didn't waste any second and dashed right through the crowd.
Well to be honest the victim's body is so banged up from the collision, cuts can be seen from his whole body.
"Do you know the victim?" Inspector
"Nope, haven't seen him before."
"And here I am, thinking you knew everything." Inspector
"Inspector, I found someone who recognizes the car." Officer
It was a woman in her late 30's, probably the victim's wife. She bitterly looked at the car and tears started falling again from her eyes. Behind her were two kids, a second grader and a fourth grader.
Looking at their sad faces made me regret my decision on letting the car collide with the truck. Effing feelings. The guilt is eating me inside, I can't stand it any longer. I walked towards the woman and the two children.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
She looked at me puzzled, wondering why a high school student is respected for her dead husband.
"I know this isn't the right time to ask but, can you think of someone that might want to hurt the victim?"
"And who are you supposed to be?" Wife
"Oh, sorry. I'm Vin Santos, a high school detective. I help the inspector on numerous cases."
"Aren't you a little young to be a detective?" Wife
"Yes, yes I am. Now back to the question if you please."
"Liam is a good man, he never made any enemies. I don't think anyone would want to hurt him." Wife
"Is it possible that this is suicide not murder?" Inspector
The inspector appeared beside me, looking at me like he wanted to say that he was right and I was wrong.
"Liam wouldn't harm himself, he has two kids, I doubt he'll ever leave them." Wife
"What motive does the killer have to kill him?"
I pulled myself out of the conversation the wife and the inspector are in. Deep in my thought, I walked back to the car, circling around it and watching the investigators pull useful evidence from the wreckage.
"Are there any fingerprints aside from the victim's?"
"Nope, either the killer wiped it or there was no killer to begin with." Officer
But something's not right with this case. If it is suicide then many pieces of the puzzle don't fit. If this is murder then, why kill him? What was his motive?
I searched for Zaider in the crowd. He looked sick after seeing the man's body. In the corner of my eye I saw him standing in front of the house across the slope. I walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"You all right?"
He nodded, still staring at the house in front of us. I did the same, I stare at the front of the house trying to figure out what Zaider is looking for. A second later I gave up. I looked back to the slope and up to where the car started rolling down.
"Hey Zaider."
"Hmm?" Zaider
"Do you know who lives in this house?"
"I don't really know his name but I recognize him by his face." Zaider
I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell.
"What are you doing?!" Zaider
The door opened and a man appeared in front of us.
"What do you want?" Man
"I was just wondering if you saw the incident happened earlier."
"Yeah, I saw it. Wait, you're that kid."
He let us into his house and led us to the living room.
"Do you want anything? Coffee, juice?" Man
"Thank you, but can I have just a glass of water?"
The man went into the kitchen. Zaider looked at me like he wanted to say something but can't seem to let it out.
"What is it?"
"That man. He was a doctor from the hospital they used to take me when I was young." Zaider
"The man in the car?"
"No, the man who lives here." Zaider
"Does he still work at that hospital?"
"There was an accident last year. The operation he was performing on a patient got complications. The patient died, but the parents of the patient can't accept the death of their child. They started suing the doctor. Saying that the doctor was incompetent and can't perform a simple operation on a patient. This hurts the doctor's reputation, and less and less patients want to be associated with him same with the hospital. They said that his failure would tarnish the hospital's good reputation. In the end the doctor got fired and no hospital would take him in." Zaider
The man returned with two glasses of water on a tray.
"What do you want to know?" Man
To Be Continued…