Everleason Police Department, 10:00 AM, February 18th
Edwin came out from the police station and came to Daniel's car.
"So, Dan, did you have a decent night's rest?" Edwin asked.
"I have, I haven't heard any bad news from my wife, so you obviously kept your promise and made sure that Bill didn't bring down the hammer, so to speak." Dan relayed in a cheerful tone.
"Yeah, instead of heading for the bosses directly, he's looking into finding the man he believed did it, he's not entirely sure who the killer is, but as his theory is, he believes that the four heads hired the same person or different people who disguised themselves as the same person. He's thinking that they each wanted to start gang wars with each other and the best way to do that was killing Vincent." Edwin added.
"I find it amusing that he has such elaborate theories." Dan remarked as he locked up his vehicle. "But, since the vehicle at the true crime scene matched the details of Bill's car, we may as well look into that. What records do you have of his vehicle?"
"Do you think it was stolen by the true culprit? Right under Bill's nose?"
"Perhaps, and the GPS data recorded by System should help. But if Bill's car really was driven into Bremile, it makes me wonder why Bill would lie about getting a key scratch mended."
"Maybe he was embarrassed to admit that his car was stolen and placed in Bremile, so he would have to go pick it up, it would certainly hurt his credibility as lieutenant of the Everleason Police Department."
"Anyway, see where the car went." Dan relayed.
Edwin hopped into his car and used the police computer inside. A quizzical look appeared on his face. "This is odd."
"What is it?" Dan asked.
"There's no records between 8:00 PM, February 16th and 5:00 AM February 17th." Edwin relayed.
"But he left the office at 8, how did it not record his drive home?"
"The data is completely corrupted, it's unrecoverable."
"Sounds like a CORE device was planted into Bill's car. Bill must have found and destroyed it at 5."
"Well, at least we have the address where his car was repaired was caught by the GPS recording." Edwin noted and Dan looked at the computer over Edwin's shoulder.
"Ol' Sal's paint shop? I guess that makes sense." Dan noted.
"Let's just hope Ted Salamander, the proprietor, is willing to speak with us, I hear his not an easy man to speak with."
"Dang, and I bet he'll tell us he won't speak to us about the truth without a warrant. But it's worth a try." Dan stated and then went over to the passenger side door and opened the door and sat down.
"In my opinion, this is not my idea of a calming drive." Edwin noted as he began to navigate through the parking lot.
"I know you wanted to help me clear my mind, but we can do that on the way back." Dan added.
Edwin nodded and turned onto the main road south of the police department.
#
Ol' Sal's Paintshop, 89 Everleason Mall North Rd, Everleason, 10:10 AM
Edwin parked his car in the lot. A 155cm tall man with a dark green vest and a goldenrod shirt with a paint brush with all the colours of the rainbow upon it, and it was dripping. The hilt of the brush was inside a blue circle. He was wearing dark orange pants with black non-slip shoes.
"Wow, you definitely need a new paint job." The guy stated.
Edwin exited the vehicle and him being the person who was driving the car shocked the fellow. "Oh!" The guy remarked. "Captain Orange. I should have known you'd be driving such an ugly car."
"Hey Ol' Sal. How's it going?" Edwin asked.
"Good, and that must be Dr D S Smith." Ted relayed. "Dr Smith, I am Ted Salamander, but folks around her just call me Ol' Sal. I love how your car looks."
"Thanks Ted." Dan stated.
"Please call me Ol' Sal, please."
"If that is what you prefer Ol' Sal."
"Thanks."
"Let's speak inside." Edwin added.
"Fine, captain, if that's what you want." Ted relayed.
Ted led the two EPD officers into his business. Inside the dark orange interior building, behind the dark grey safety rail was a Ferreri being painted and tuned.
"My office is over here." Ol' Sal remarked and pointed to a room that had a rich mahogany door with a blue opaque windowpane with CEO etched in a light brown colour beneath the window.
Ol' Sal led Dan and Edwin through the office and began making coffee for Edwin and tea for Dan. "You know, Dan, if I knew you were coming, I would have bought some Earl grey, but all I have is chrysanthemum tea, will that do?"
"That's perfectly fine Ol' Sal." Dan stated.
Ol' Sal took out a teabag of chrysanthemum tea. "So why did you guys come down here anyway?"
"Actually, we came to ask about one of your clients." Edwin added.
Ol' Sal spilled some sugar on the table, this had obviously perturbed by this statement. "Do you guys not know anything about professional courtesy? I have an obligation to protect my clients."
"You can at least tell us if a person visited your establishment." Daniel added.
"I suppose I could do that, but I can't inform you of the service I did or what that service mended, due to my private policy, if you want that info you need to come back with a warrant, I'm sure you understand."
Dan nodded, he knew this was going to happen, he predicted it. "Well, could you tell us if lieutenant William Storm paid a visit to your establishment?"
"Yes, he did."
"He told me he had it repainted due to a key scratch, but we believe that he repainted it due to it getting tagged." Dan relayed.
"I'm sorry, but unless you show me a warrant then I'm not telling you anything other than the fact he was here."
"Thank you for your time." Dan relayed.
"What about your hot drinks?" Ol' Sal stated.
"I guess we'll stay and finish those first. You may return to your work while we enjoy our drinks." Edwin announced.
"You best be leaving when you're done, I don't want you scaring off my customers." Sal relayed and placed the drinks upon the table. Dan and Edwin drank away.
After their hot drinks were finished. Dan politely moved the cups to the sink nearby and he cleaned up the sugar that was still on the countertop and placed it in the trash.
"So, now we take that scenic drive, clear your head a bit? You have the answers somewhere in that noggin of yours and we'll get it out of there." Edwin added.
"I hope your right Edwin. I know that the answer exists somewhere in here," Dan patted is hat for emphasis. "I will find it eventually."
"That's the spirit, Dan."
Edwin and Dan silently made their way through the rear side of the workshop and back into the parking lot. Dan and Edwin went into Edwin's car and Edwin drove toward the suburb of Goldberg.
#
Haven street, Goldberg, Cascoss, 10:54 AM
"Well Dan, we've been driving for 30 minutes in complete silence now, has it come back to you yet?" Edwin asked.
"I've been focusing as much as I could, but nothing." Dan relayed.
Suddenly a call came in on the computer and Edwin picked up the radio. "Yes Jennifer?" Edwin asked.
"Not to alarm you sir, but an officer has picked up an alcoholic and we simply don't have enough room for him." Jennifer relayed.
"Alright, see if any other police department's have open cells for the alcoholic to sleep it off."
"Rodger."
"I tell you Dan, it's like an epidemic. More and more people are getting DUIs, what are they even celebrating?"
"Yes, I feel like the cells at the station had been filling up at an alarming rate. To think I almost contributed to the mess." Dan chuckled.
"What do you mean?" Edwin inquired.
"His name was Julian Kinous, and I spotted him swerving on my way to drop off documents at James' house. I gave him a minor DUI." Dan stated.
"Ah, yes. I read that report. You made the right choice."
Two minutes pass. Edwin took note of the silence and when they stopped at a red light, Edwin turned to Dan to see the cogs turning in Dan's mind.
"What's the matter Dan?" Edwin inquired.
"DUI! That's it! That's the contradiction!" Dan announced.
"Sorry, Dan, but you have completely lost me, what is the contradiction?" Edwin asked.
"Take me to my office, and I will show you." Dan added, he then searched his watch and found the copy of the information he got from the Bremile border patrol. He then sent it to the printer in his office so it can be printed. He then found the report about Julian Kinous' DUI and printed that too.
Edwin was still confused. What exactly was Daniel talking about? How could such a minor crime of driving under the influence be the solution to the murder of such an important cop? He'd find out soon enough.
#
Daniel Smith's Office, EPD, Everleason, Cascoss, 11:22 AM
The lot outside was currently missing William Storms vehicle. This did not go unnoticed by the duo as they walked through the police station to get to Dan's office and Edwin did inform Dan that Bill might have just gone out to get something to eat at the mall or a restaurant close by.
Dan opened the door to his office and collected the documentation from the printer.
"You still haven't told me what this is all about." Edwin stated.
"Here, take a look, these two documents will be enough to paint a picture." Dan relayed and passed the two pieces of paper to Edwin.
Edwin looked over it. "Oh... my... gosh." Edwin stated as he looked over the documents. "It can't be, it just can't be..."
"So, you finally see the contradiction I couldn't remember?" Dan asked.
"Oh, I do, I do indeed. According to this Julian was seen entering at 10:10 PM on the night Vincent Marlow was murdered, but his car was impounded at 9:30 PM and was in the lot until he picked it up the next morning at 8:00 AM. So it's impossible that he could have driven his car into Bremile and its impossible that someone else drove his car into Bremile, so how was it that his licence plate was recorded by the person manning one of the Bremile checkpoints?"
Dan printed of some documents from Rhombodian's Department of Motor Vehicles, and he presented them to Edwin. "Look at this, during the day of the murder, Bill and Julian exchanged their licence plate numbers, but when I gave that DUI to Julian, he still had his old licence plates. But now Bill has those licence plates, it's all there in the records."
Edwin looked at it. "You're right, Dan, I think it's time we have a serious discussion with Lieutenant Storm."
"He should be done with his break by now." Dan added and so they headed out to the front of the department.
#
EPD Parking Lot, 11:31 PM
Dan and Edwin watched as Bill parked his car and left his vehicle.
"I see the rear of your car is still quite dirty, William." Dan spoke as William started to approach the entrance of the police department, but Dan's comment made Bill do a heel turn and face Dan. Bill smiled wholeheartedly.
"Dan, I will remind you, I'd prefer if you call me Bill." Bill relayed.
"I'm afraid I can no longer do that, William, not after what you've done." Dan added.
Bill scoffed and the polite mask dropped. "What are you talking about?" He said with a semi-frown.
"I have to say, they did a good job repainting the exterior of your car, but you didn't pay them to clean out the interior. I wonder what else is hiding in that mess." Dan stated.
Bill clenched his fist, there were some bollards nearby, he might have punched or slapped the top of one of them in anger and wouldn't care about the pain he would cause himself. "Dan, you are really starting to get on my nerves, what the hell are you going on about?"
"Your plan was pretty good, but there was something you couldn't predict. You exchanged those nice shiny new plates with Julian Kinous, just so you could avoid any suspicion, but you couldn't predict that he would get drunk, and I would give him a DUI. Now we know the truth, I believe that you killed Vincent Marlow." Dan stated.
"Maybe my vehicle was stolen." Bill added.
Edwin shook his head. "No, that's impossible, not unless they stole your badge, your phone, and your watch. All these things are needed to disable the satellite tracking on your vehicle's GPS." Edwin said smugly.
Bill just froze up; he couldn't deny or rebut Edwin's logic.
"William, open your boot." Dan instructed.
"Hell no! I don't have to listen to you, if you want me to open my boot then you need a warrant. Good luck with that." Bill relayed, now he was the one who was smiling smugly, and Edwin gave a slightly angry look at Bill.
"William, I am your captain, and you are on the clock!" Edwin exclaimed angerly in a military instructor tone. "You are a lieutenant under my control, while you're on the clock I am your god, and you must listen to what I say and open the boot or there will be consequences!"
Bill reluctantly went to his boot and opened it up. He saw something that lowered his spirits, that proved that he was the killer after all, and he just lay on the rear door behind the driver's seat with his hand on his face in defeat.
Edwin looked in the boot and he saw sand... sand from a construction site... "I think a lab analysis of this stuff will prove that this is the same sand that was attached to the victim's pants." Edwin noted.
"Why did you do it, William?" Dan asked.
William got up and walked to Dan and put his hands behind his back so that Edwin could cuff him. "Why did I kill Vincent? Why would anyone kill Vincent Marlow?" William asked.
"You're a member of CORE." Dan stated.
William nodded. Edwin put him in cuffs. "That's right Dan, I am a member of CORE, I knew he killer behind every mystery that you solved. I knew who killed Xavier, I knew who hired Simon George, I knew who killed Myriam Scott and the killer of the other mysteries that we worked on together. I knew about Linda Morris' crazy plan, and I was completely unaffected by her power. Why did I kill Vincent? The four mafias that back in the day controlled the whole Everleason metropolitan area with an iron fist were becoming soft. Soon they disassociated from us, and if there's one thing that I know as a member of CORE is that you can't easily get out without punishment, and I was the one who punished the mobs by killing the one that transformed them." William explained.
"You are one sick bastard." Dan stated, and Edwin dropped his jaw, he didn't expect Dan to say something that would be less surprising if it had come from Edwin or David, but never Dan. "I hope you burn in hell for what you have done, do you know how much sadness you have caused those mafia bosses? You hurt my Eliza, my family, I hope you pay for your crimes!"
"Don't worry Dan, he will be paying for his crimes." Edwin announced and then he read Bill his rights and took him inside the station, of course the cells were still all full, so instead Edwin held him in Bill's office, which would now have to change hands.
#
Press Room, Everleason Police Department, February 19th, 12 PM
Every officer was gathered on the sky-blue carpet, looking ahead at the podium which had a white banner with a no smoking symbol in the middle of it, but the cigarette was replaced with William Storm's face.
Edwin walked up to the podium, led by Leopold Hugo. "My friends, and members of the press, yesterday we discovered that one of our police officers was not who they seemed. We no longer have a lieutenant, so it is time to pass the role onto someone more worthy of the title. The new lieutenant, and the new owner of badge 5559, is..." Damien Thrifter, who was to Edwins left began a drum roll. "Rita Yulen, Rita, please come to the podium."
A blonde-haired woman who was 35 years of age and 158cm tall approached the podium, her hair was golden blonde and looked like angel hair spaghetti, her eyes were sharp yet still youthful, her brow was neat and had sparkles above them, her nose was tall and had a bit of sharpness at the bottom. Her skin was young with very few wrinkles. She had a medium build and may have weighed between 99Kg and 112Kg, she had a B-cup sized bust. She walked to the podium in tan work boots.
"Thanks Ed, this is truly an honour." She relayed as Edwin took out a USB from inside the podium. She gave Edwin a big bear hug and Edwin kept the USB away from her body so that its cold metal port wouldn't touch her fair skin.
As soon as she let him go Edwin took a deep breath. "No, thank you, you should have been lieutenant a long time ago." He was finally able to say. He then took Rita's badge and inserted the USB into it and changed the number on her display from 6886 to 5559. He then turned back to face the microphone on the podium. "Of course, none of this would be happening if it wasn't for the man himself, Dr D S Smith, Daniel, why don't you come to the podium."
Rita stood next to Damien and allowed Dan to pass. Edwin grasped Dan's hand and put his other hand on Dan's shoulder and smiled and a flash came from a camera in the back row where the press was.
"Daniel, for your courage and for doing something that few officers have managed, catching and arresting a member of CORE, l am awarding you with a promotion in rank and in FORMAL badge number. I hereby entitle you with the title of detective first class, and your new badge number is 8667." Edwin announced and used the USB on Dan's badge to 8667.
"It was my pleasure, Edwin." Dan spoke.
"Anyway, see that portal?" Edwin asked as a portal opened nearby.
"Yes, I see it."
"Adam Bolmer has a few words to say to you."
"Intriguing. I shall go see him immediately."
Dan walked through the portal.
#
Greenmoss Hill, Edinine, Illuminaria, Ascossian
Dan was in a golden dome; in the sky he could see stars even though night had not arrived in the country of Illuminaria. They were looking southward toward a town with a tower in it, and north of them was the new Badge castle.
"This place is so pleasant, but any grassy hill reminds me so much of my past." Adam spoke. "I sometimes think about what I could have done to better the world when Reginald Badge invaded my world."
"What is it that you wanted to speak to me about?" Dan asked. "It wasn't just to reminisce, now, was it?"
"Even now, my home universe is in turmoil, do you know of the planet Corial?"
"Yes Adam, I graduated on that planet, in the country of Aporium."
"It seems that a man named Manov Lindrell is causing havoc, and we need to stop him. A few hundred years ago CORE created a subsidiary called Embodiment, here's their insignia." Adam showed Daniel a neon-blue diamond with a royal blue capital E in the centre outlined with black and gold on a piece of paper. "You must not let the public eye know about the significance of this symbol, anyway, Manov is the new leader of this organisation. There are further details in this letter. I wish I could tell you more, but I'm already late for my next meeting."
Another portal to Dan's office and Adam handed Daniel the letter. Dan went into the office to read what Adam wrote.
Dear Dr Daniel S Smith,
I apologise if I couldn't have explained everything during our meeting, so this letter was written beforehand. Since you have this letter, that means I did not have enough time to explain the details, I hope you can forgive me.
Manov Lindrell, a shape shifter and currently leader of the Embodiment, a sub organisation of CORE working on the planet of Corial in universe 772, is trying to invade into our territory.
We believe he plans to kill captain Leo Brawn of the Yanaught Police Department. Since you have already taken down a CORE member and have proven yourself as a great detective, I'm requesting you to go over there and discern the identity that Manov is using inside the YPD.
Yes, you read that right. Twice already has he killed and assumed the identity of two of YPD's finest and found out by captain Brawn.
When you are ready to look into this, please contact David Limitless for more details. You can still solve mysteries on Earth and Rhombodian if you want to during your stay on Corial, that's if you choose to go there.
So Dan, I beseech you, please help.
From the typewriter of Adam Bolmer of Golderian.
Dan could feel an essence of trust from the dragon on the paper. He put the letter away and went home to think about what he should do next.
Aftermath
William Storm was found guilty of killing Vincent Marlow and for attempting to pin the crime on the heads of the four mafia families. He was sent to a prison under FORMAL's main office in the basement of Alcony tower.
Daniel did inform Elizabeth about Rita Thorne. Elizabeth found Ms Thorne and forced her and Alissa to be friends, to have her have a big stake in her life. To help her find new love. To be her maid of honour if she got married.
Rita and Alissa eventually became best of friends, even though Rita was bitter at the beginning for being discovered, and Alissa did forgive her for what she did.
Elizabeth Everstone helped get revenge, not by killing the killer but by making the killer assist Alissa live her best life. The old Rita was gone, killed with kindness.
THE END!