"Oh, boy!" Said Henry as he packed up his bag, "I swear, this case is a huge mess!" He spoke with irritation in his voice.
"What's wrong?" Asked Tracy, sitting at the desk across from his desk, as she finished writing up a report.
"This murder case doesn't make any sense. All the evidence points to Don being the culprit but I still don't understand why he would do such a thing. It's one thing to kill your coworker because he got a promotion but you didn't. However, it's a whole different thing if you kill your neighbor, especially one who's lived near you for years and have been carpooling with."
The blonde woman, still looking down at her document and writing, shook her head slightly, "This happens all the time. People kill other people over lots of things, money, vengeance, lust." The wrinkly woman sounded fairly indifferent to her coworker's displeasure, seeming to be more focused on her paperwork, "It probably doesn't make sense to you since you're a level headed person, Detective Mason. But it sure as hell made sense to that Don Muller sicko." Towards the end, Tracy's tone sounded very vile and malicious.
Henry shook his head, "No, no! I'm aware of that. But the thing is that Don isn't some sicko. In fact, according to his coworkers and other neighbors, Don was always an even tempered guy. In fact, the only time he ever lost his cool was when he didn't get that promotion. And, to be fair, I would've lost my shit too if I never got a promotion after years of working my ass off."
"Well then, that's an even better reason for him to murder Kyle. The younger man with less experience in the warehouse got the promotion before he did. There! We have the man's motive, an alibi stating that he left work early on the night of Kyle death, and the murder weapon; a switchblade that Don has had in his family for generations. All we need now is a confession from the man that he committed the crime and then, boom! Case closed!" The middle aged, Caucasian woman looked over her report as she set her pen down onto the desk. She pushed a few strands of her chin length, sandy blonde hair behind her ear, revealing a studded pearl earring on her lobe.
The man looked down at his desk and shook his head, "I guess …" He sighed as he slowly remembered the dream that Mei had told him about earlier. Henry looked up at his coworker, "Hey, Officer Collin?"
Tracy looked up at him, "Yes, Detective Mason?"
"Detective Li told me an interesting theory earlier today. She said that maybe Mr. Reid murdered Kyle and Mrs. Reid is helping to protect him by framing Don."
"That's ridiculous!" Said the woman with a strong sense of disapproval in her voice, "Why in the world would Charlie Reid ever murder someone? The man is a very reputable manager at Pegson's steel mill. He makes a decent living from a very honest livelihood, goes to church every Sunday, and lives in a lavish condo with his graceful wife. Don, on the other hand …" The woman curled her hands up into fists as she thought about the man, "Don Muller is a low class, dirty felon who should not have been in possession of a weapon in the first place. Those blacks and other colored men are what's ruining our country. Things were great until that Dr. King man, who probably doesn't even have a PHD in anything, decided that his kind should be allowed to invade our spaces."
Henry sighed and looked down, "Oh, dear …" He shook his head in disappointment as he began to murmur under his breath, "Why do I even bother?"
"I'm not trying to say that his kind don't belong here or anything like that." Continued Tracy, clearly not paying any attention to her coworker, "I'm just saying that we were here first. Therefore, they are invading our territory. The other day, I got to meet my new neighbors for the first time and you know what? Their daughter is dating a Mexican. A gosh darn Mexican!" She looked down and sighed, "I just … I just don't know what to do …" She began to sound very melancholy, "It's only a matter of time before colored people start to move into my neighborhood and cause the price of our houses to go down. I feel so … So helpless. Now I know how those tribal redskins felt when the pilgrims took over their land. The only difference is that we improve their way of life by doing so while these colored folks are gonna make our lives worse!"
Henry looked around the room, searching for Mei. *When is that woman coming back?* Wondered the detective, feeling very exhausted, *I can't deal with Tracy's whining anymore!* In the corner of his eye, Henry saw someone approaching him.
"Good afternoon, Detective Mason!" Greeted Nathan as he walked over to the man's desk, smiling.
He turned to face him, "Hello, Nathan!" He smiled.
"How was your shift?"
"Tiring!" Stated the man, sounding very weary, "I feel like I still can't crack this case."
"The one regarding Kyle Wilson's murder?" Asked Nathan.
The man gave him a quick nod, "Yes, that one."
"What's so difficult to understand about it?" Asked Tracy, "We all know that Don murdered Kyle. It's so obvious! How can you not see it, Detective Mason?"
"Excuse me …" Began the lab assistant as he looked over at the woman, "Who are you exactly?"
The blonde woman turned to face him and stood up, "Hi, I'm Tracy Collin! I'm the senior SRO of this precinct." She extended her hand out to him and smiled.
The young man shook her hand and smiled, "Hello, Officer Collin! I'm Nathan Stilton! I work in one of the labs at Krylo Tech."
"Oh, you're a doctor?!" Her eyes widened in surprise as she gripped his hand a bit tighter in excitement.
Nathan gave her a quick nod, "Yep, I'm a doctor!" He attempted to pull his hand away, feeling a bit awkward when she still held onto him. After a split second, the woman finally let go of his hand before Nathan quickly retracted it.
"So what kind of doctor are you?" Asked Tracy.
"Well I'm actually a pharmaceutical scientist but I have a PHD for this position so everyone just calls me a doctor."
"Oh, that's absolutely fascinating! So …" She placed her hands on the table and leaned a bit forward, "What's a young doctor such as yourself doing here?" She asked with a hint of flirtation in her voice.
"I'm here to see Detective Li."
"Huh?" Tracy straightened her posture as a look of bewilderment appeared across her face, "Why her? Did she do something wrong?"
Nathan shook his head, "No, no! That's not why I'm here. I want to see her so we can discuss the case with Krylo Tech."