"Homicide victim, Yuna's case has been handed over to you", said Officer Jones as he handed over a huge pile of files and evidence to me. "I thought Detective Lara was already on the case", I said skeptically as I flipped through the case file. "She has another case on her hands, so you're the only one we can trust with this case", he said, heading towards the huge transparent glass window .
"So, what were the clues and leads on this case?" I asked as I closed the file and turned to face him.
"Exactly!" he snapped, "No clues, no murder weapon... the only evidence is her body", he added as he lit a cigarette. "So, what did you see?" I asked again. "Just the darn body. Bent over the bridge with a huge cut on her head", he replied.
"Jeez! Just brutal", I mumbled. He shook his head too. I flipped open the files again. "But it says here that there were no signs of a struggle. which means the attacker was someone the victim was familiar with", I said matter-of-factly. He leaned in so he could be close to my ear and whispered, "we know that already".
"Have you questioned all her family members and friends? checked her call logs? people's whereabouts?" I fastened my pen in my hair, to make my bun stand high. "Actually, yes we have, but still her cellphone is missing", said Jones as he tossed his cigarette butt into an empty bin near my cubicle.
It made sense. One of the most crucial pieces of evidence, the cellphone was missing. Maybe that was all we needed to solve the case. "So who are we interviewing next?" I asked, sending a 'whatever' emoji to my brother's chat and smiling at his shocked reply. "Umm..." he reached into his pocket and got out a notepad full of names. "Grace Evins", he replied.
I quickly wrote the name down in my sticky notes so I wouldn't forget. "Gosh!" I sighed as I leaned back into my chair, "We just caught the culprit of serial killer week and now this shit came up", a voice popped out of nowhere causing our conversation to come to an abrupt end.
It was the voice of Officer Dave, who was accompanied by Detective Sally.
They were both looking at Jones and I from their workspaces. "Humans are evil", Sally cursed. "What?!" Jones thundered, "I'm not evil", he defended himself childishly. "Beat it dude", she hissed, rolling her eyes at him and turning back to face me. Jones just stuck his tongue out at her and made a funny face, ignoring her comment.
"Wanna grab some coffee anyone?" Dave asked.
"I'm in"
"Only if You're paying", Sally retorted.
"How about you, Hana?" Dave asked, specifically looking at me. Then, all eyes fell on me. "Yeah, why not?" I shrugged my shoulders. Jones cheered as he fished out his phone from his pocket, while Sally just started to help me clear my occupied, messy desk. "Thanks", I mumbled as I got up and got my coat from where I had earlier hung it on the wall.
I slowly buckled my heels and swung my coat over my shoulders and put on my sunglasses. "You look cuter with them on", Sally complimented as we began exciting the cubicle and heading towards the elevator. I smiled at her compliment. I loved them all; they were the best colleagues I ever had. "I feel cool when I have them on", I said as we waited for the elevator to stop at our floor. "The sooner we get the culprit, the better ', Jones whined before pressing the button one more time.
"seriously, I'm getting tired of all the interviews and investigations", I groaned as I took out a sanitizing towel and wiped my hands with it. Finally, the elevator door slowly opened and we made way for those inside to get out of it. Then, we went in.
****
[Wednesday, 6:23pm]
I let out a heavy sigh as I stood in front of the large slide open top-to-bottom door. I was dressed the same way I was in the morning. I wore a long-sleeved coat, with a straight skirt and a turtleneck blouse. I began to wish I just headed home instead of requesting to meet the next suspect on the list.
Before I could raise my folded fist to knock on the door, the door slid open, revealing two of my colleagues, both sitting opposite an unknown girl. I stood unshaken in the same position for close to two minutes before they all turned to look at me simultaneously. As soon as they saw me, they got up and greeted me. "Welcome Detective", George greeted as he walked me from the door to where I was meant to sit.
"Good evening, I'm sorry I'm late", I said, smiling at my second colleague Mary. Obviously, she returned the greeting with a smile too before we all got seated. "So, this is the suspect, Grace Evins", George said. I turned to scan to suspect who was also seated. she was dressed like she just got back from the spa. She had an odd-looking smug smile on her face, and she looked me straight in the eye, like she wasn't afraid.
"Miss Evins, where were you the night Miss Richmond was murdered?" I asked, trying to sound formal and serious. She crossed her legs and smacked her lips before she stared back at me. "What makes you think I'll answer that?" she asked with so much sass. "We have a warrant", Mary spoke up, passing the warrant to her. She took a long look at it, and smacked her lips...AGAIN!!
"I was at my family holiday house in Morocco" she explained. "Morocco? Isn't that in Africa?" I asked. "Apparently, yes" she added. I scanned her all over again. I was certainly sure something was off about her.
"How old are you?" Mary asked. "Is that also part of the warrant?" She snapped. "Manners please", I said as I banged my fist on the table. She slowly rolled her eyes towards my direction. Her eyes literally spelt the word, 'BITCH' to me. I wanted so much to get the truth out of her. But I couldn't.
"So what evidence or witness do you have to prove you were in Africa?" George asked, to which she instantly replied, "Flight tickets? I have them, Accommodation arrangements? I got them. What the hell do you need?" she responded, glaring at us. Both George and Mary turned to me with a confused look, asking what to do next.
"But there is someone I think you should check on", she said, breaking all the silence, and making all eyes to turn in her direction. "Why didn't you say so?" George thundered as he banged his fist on the table, causing her coffee to spill on the table. "Jeez!" she let out, while glaring, "I wasn't asked, duh!".
"Then, speak now", I instructed sternly.
She hesitated, but then spoke, "Her name is Julie Styles. You can get more info from Dunes College. She goes there". Again, they both looked at me for what to do next. I nodded plainly. "Thanks for your time, we hope we won't need to call you again", Mary said as we all got up in unison. "You won't get a chance", Grace mumbled before she put her sunglasses on and left. "Does she think she's a female movie lead, why the sunglasses?" George asked rhetorically, making me to giggle.
Well, once Grace left, both George and Mary left too, leaving me behind to try and fit the remaining pieces of the puzzle all by myself.