Despite the early hour, it was already hot in Bangkok as detective Kram jogged up to the front of the building that housed the DSI headquarters His black hair shone with blue and copper highlights in the sun, as its warm golden light sparkling off the glass windows began to peek over the tall city buildings. Squinting, he paused, having spent most of the night awake even this early morning light hurt his eyes. Wiping his brow, he shielded his eyes as he stepped into the cool deep shade of the building's overhang.
The officer in the front lobby waved him though, and for once Kram didn't stop to chit chat. The building was enormous, but felt airy because of the light that streamed in through the glass ceiling. There were shops, cafes, and banks on the lowest level. The ground floor held the immigration department and other offices, the DSI took up the top three floors together with the department of commerce and ecology.
The building wasn't even awake at this hour, the regular daytime bustle hadn't started and the few teams that worked nights were drowsy and ready to head home. It was quiet except for the distant whirr of a vacuum cleaner that echoed around the atrium from somewhere up above. He made his way into the elevator slumping against the mirrored wall as he waited to arrive at the team's office upstairs. Their office was separated from the rest of the DSI. Noh said it was to give them more space, but the team knew it was because their powers and handling magical cases made the other teams uncomfortable.
It had been about 20 years since magic first appeared, theories on why and where it came from were as varied as the different types of magic themselves. Some were born with it; some just woke up with abilities where none had been the day before. The reactions had been wide ranging. Some people thought it was evil, or maybe a sign of the next evolutionary step, some thought it was a curse, others a gift from the gods. At first the incidents of magic were few and far between but as the years passed they became more frequent. Some people went on with their normal lives, while others decided to use their powers for personal gain. Politicians endlessly debated the merits of registering magic users and if they were obligated to use their magic for the benefit of the country. The first to show signs of magic had been a monk at a small temple outside of the city. At the time it had seemed proof of devotion to Buddha, but as more and more people became magic users the awe and reverence had turned some to fear and suspition. It didn't help that they still had no idea what gave someone the ability to use magic, nor could they predict what kind of magic someone would have.
Naturally, with magic came magical crime. That was how their team got started. Someone had to police magic users. Who better than others with power, but having magic users on the force was also divisive. Some felt that it evened the playing field while others felt that magic cops couldn't be trusted any more than other magic users. The result was that a magical task force was set up at the national level to handle magical cases. Local police forces still had police with magical ability, but it was on a don't ask, don't tell basis. If your fellow officers found out and were anti-magic, they might stonewall you off the force completely. The list of applicants to work in this new department had been long. If their team of 5 did well, then others would hopefully be created. Unfortunately, it was a double-edged sword. They got all the glory for solving the hardest cases but if anything went wrong, magical or mundane, somehow they were always to blame. A soothing female voice let him know he was arriving at his floor.
"DSI, magical crimes division, doors opening."
Exiting the elevator, he swiped his card across the reader mounted beside the big glass doors etched with the crest of the DSI. The door to their office opened with a click, and the lights automatically turned on as he walked inside. A bullpen was set up with six desks arranged to face each other, a wall of liquid crystal boards for building timelines and tracking evidence framed one side of the room. Unlike other units, theirs also had a giant wire cage filled with gadgets, a workbench, and a sundry of tools. This was Tan's area of domain, he had a desk in the bullpen but rarely used it, mostly it sat covered in files that spilled over from the other's workspaces. They also had a state-of-the-art computer system that was designed by Love, he watched over it like it was his baby. In his words he didn't want their grubby paws all over something he physically became a part of.
Kram dropped his stuff on his desk and started a fresh pot of coffee. He always said he did his best work at night and last night was no exception. His team had been working on this case for a week and Kram was sure the boyfriend was guilty, all the facts pointed to him, but he seemed to have an airtight alibi. Pouring his coffee into his favorite mug he set about taking the evidence off the board, swiping it away bit by bit back to magically stored files. The timeline and evidence just didn't match up; they needed to start over. He had just finished emptying the board when Love and Noh walked in, followed by Tan and Xavier.
"Morning," they greeted one another sleepily, happy to see the coffee pot full. All five men had been drinking together last night, but only Kram seemed unaffected. Noh yawned.
"What are you working on?" he gestured to the board with his steaming cup.
"After we all went home last night I was thinking about what you said; that the boyfriend has the confidence of someone who knows he won't be caught." Kram quoted Noh.
"I realized we needed to focus on what gives him that confidence. We know everyone is usually nervous in an interrogation room even if they are innocent. We see it all the time, but not him. Why? It's because he controls the narrative of the timeline. He found the body and we know he was at work all day. He even ate lunch with his coworkers, so he couldn't have gone home to kill her." As he spoke Kram approached the board and started to reassemble the timeline and evidence, pulling information, facts and photos from the files he had just reassembled.
"However, what if the timeline is wrong because he made it wrong? The shophouse owned by his family, that he and the girlfriend, Aim, lived in had an industrial cooler in the back because they buy and sell restaurant equipment. If he put her in that cooler, it would have lowered her body temperature, slowed decomposition, and affected rigor mortis. If he took her body out of the cooler before he left for work and turned off the AC, her body would heat up again making it seem like her time of death was while he was at work."
The others had gathered around the board where Kram had replaced the old timeline with this new version as he spoke.
"What do you think?" asked Kram.
They all looked at Noh who nodded.
"It fits our theory that it was the boyfriend, but it isn't enough. We need to prove that really is what happened. Xavier, go talk to the pathologist again and ask them to check for any signs the body was cooled before they release it to the family. I think they are coming in this afternoon. Kram, you and Tan stay here and go over the evidence and witness statements again to see if there is any other conflicting information.
Even if he didn't use the cooler, he could have still cooled her body with other abilities, so Love, you check his records for any signs of magic use. If Love doesn't find any information, then Kram, you go pick him up personally. And Tan, you go put some pressure on him. If he has magic, your heat might press him to show us what he can do. I will go back to the crime scene and talk to the neighbors again. The techs might not have checked the cooler when they were processing the scene originally. Xavier if the pathologist finds anything call Love so we can coordinate through him." said Noh.
The team, feeling more awake and motivated, set off on their assignments. Like all their cases this one was inherited from another police force, many of the smaller areas or villages had fewer resources and sometimes it was a little thing like not checking a cooler that could change the course of an investigation. Kram felt sure they were finally on the right path.
Two hours later they got the call from Xavier they had been waiting for. There was evidence the body had been cooled, but not frozen; it was enough to send out the forensic team to examine the cooler that had, in fact, been skipped. What the techs found was evidence of blood and hair. Not wanting to give the boyfriend any more of a head start, a warrant was issued for his arrest. Relief and pride washed over the team, and most importantly, with the resolution of their questions, came the sweet release of sleep for Kram.
It was five o'clock in the evening, the second-best time of day to sleep when Kram arrived home. Someone else would take care of the formal arrest paperwork. He didn't care about the glory personally as long as the magical unit got credit. They needed all the good press they could get, plus he hated paperwork. The fun in solving cases was in the hunt and solving complex puzzles. In the quiet of his condo, he took his medicine, washing it down with the last swallow of a cold cup of coffee, he collapsed into bed. The trick to sleeping was not to think. He checked that his alarm was set. He didn't want to sleep past ten, four hours from now. Then, tucking his phone under his pillow, he fell asleep to the whir of his ceiling fan.