Louis frowned worriedly. "This just makes things complicated. If Amanda really is the victim, then her social interaction is a complete mess. Investigating the nightclub will be a pain."
Just then, Senior Inspector Jason Lau and Inspector Erika Chan came in, all sweaty and tired, with a faint, almost unnoticeable smell of trash on them. Eddie immediately locked his eyes onto Erika the moment she stepped in, which did not escape Louis, getting a clearer image of the social circle within this group of the RCU, amused.
"Boss, you found it?" asked an anxious Greg. "My group searching the streets came back empty handed."
Lau Sir greeted Louis and Phineas. "Yeah, we found a sack of human fragments in the pile of trash in the landfill collected from the 28th, and just got word from forensics, time of death is confirmed to be on the morning of the 27th, around 1am."
Erika then took her phone, projecting the images of the sack found. For those not used to murder investigations, such scenes are complete nightmare fuels.
"Appears to be the lower body parts of a woman, as well as some organs, suspected signs of rape found, though that needs to be confirmed by further forensic analysis at the lab, there is also a piece of flesh identified to be from the atlantoaxial joint. Based on the muscle contractions, it is inflicted by a left-handed throat slitting when the victim was alive," she said, reporting her analysis. "Unfortunately, like the rest of the fragments, it's been boiled and DNA denatured, we have to wait for DNA reconstruction."
"Though, the killing cut is done by a handheld laser cutter, the kind you can buy from a hardware store, which is different from how the body is fragmented, which is obviously done by blades."
"We also found a Hermes handbag and shoes in the sack, after the AI compared them with images from Amanda's social media and the sales records of Hermes, these are confirmed to be Amanda's items."
Louis clasped his hands together as he analysed this new information, while Greg and Bryan reported to Lau Sir and Erika the new findings.
"Keeping up?" asked Erika to Louis, armed folded, with a fake smile. Phineas smiled, exasperated. He is too familiar with the haughty and stubborn attitude of Erika from their shared time in the PTU, behaving like a Norse goddess, oddly fitting of her Norwegian-Chinese identity. If not for the fact that her haughtiness can be backed up by her superb skills and her time beating up rioters in the STS, and her beautiful looks that looks like she came out of a fashion magazine, Phineas would believe that she may have been bullied off the force by now.
Louis laughed, "let me guess," he said, tapping on an image. "After finding trash bags full of Romanee-Conti together with the sack. You tasked manpower to search security cameras around high-class restaurants and clubs for the rich in Tsim Sha Shui, right?"
Erika nodded, barely concealing her surprise at Louis' deduction of her plans. Phineas raised his hand, "may I ask how are these events related?"
Erika rolled her eyes, "can't expect much from— "she sneered, only for Eddie to cut her off by knocking her in the shoulder.
Louis smiled at Phineas, "can you afford this on a regular basis?" asked Louis.
Phineas shook his head vigorously.
"Ok, we have many bottles of fancy wine here, this bag of trash is found together with the fragments, suggesting that they are likely from the same bin, now, there is no rich neighbourhood in the path that the killer deposed the fragments along, so where can you find so many bottles at once?" continued Louis.
"Right," Phineas exclaimed in realisation, "so security cameras around fancy establishments may have caught the killer, and the only area which the killer had deposed the fragments that matches is Tsim Sha Shui."
Just then, the office phone rang, which Bryan answered. "RCU," he said. He thanked the caller. "DNA reconstruction of the first few fragments completed, after cross examination against the DNA database, 99% sure that the victim is Amanda."
"Good," Lau Sir exclaimed. "Rina, go help with the security cameras. Greg, Eddie, lead a team to the nightclub, gather as much information as you can about her secret life."
"The rest of you in this room, come with me to the hospital, bring a team of plain clothes as well," ordered Lau Sir. He then turned to Louis and Phineas. "Including you two."
(Kowloon Hospital)
"Never thought there will be a possible crime scene right across the police station," commented Phineas to Louis.
"This killer really has balls of steel," remarked Louis.
"Erika, go with the other plain clothes and hospital security, check through the entire hospital, try not to disturb the patients too much," ordered Lau Sir.
Erika hurried off, while Lau Sir, Louis, Bryan and Phineas followed the dean inside.
"Amanda is one of the new interns that graduated recently, she stopped coming to work on the 27th, as for where she went none of them know, hence her mentor made a missing person report yesterday," the dean said, opening up his office door and showing them in.
A male doctor in his 40s and several other interns sat there, standing up when they saw the police coming in.
"Dr Paul Chan, surgeon, he is mentoring Amanda," the dean introduced. "The rest of them are fellow interns of Amanda's."
Lau Sir smiled at them. "Need not panic, we are here to ask some questions."
Louis took his phone and projected some images, "have you seen these items before?"
They observed the images.
"This looks like Amanda's key…"
"Her coat…"
"The handbag and heels bought by her lover…"
Louis frowned hearing that last statement. "She is dating?"
Dr Chan shuffled uncomfortably, while an intern explained. "We guess she is. She isn't well off, yet able to own such fancy branded items," she pointed to the handbag and heels.
Lau Sir nodded, while Louis turned to Dr Chan with an interested glance.
"Alright then," Louis said, turning off the projection. The dean gestured for them to go back to their work.
"Sir, did something happen to Amanda?" asked Dr Chan worriedly.
The dean opened his mouth, only for Louis to cut him off. "Bring us to the areas where Amanda works at, please."
The dean agreed, bringing them away, while Dr Chan and the interns left to continue their work. Just as Phineas and Louis were about to follow their colleagues, Dr Chan returned and stopped them.
"Sir, I have something I would like to add," he said nervously, looking around to ensure that there are no other hospital staff around them.
"This is just my own suspicions, so I didn't want to talk about it around my colleagues for fear of slandering…" he muttered.
Phineas smiled. "Rest assured; we will keep it within the police." Louis concurred, taking out his phone to record.
Dr Chan nodded, assured. "I suspect her girlfriend is my fellow surgeon, Dr Petra Bretton."
"Why so?" asked Louis.
"I overheard them arguing outside my office when I was updating patient records, wasn't very audible, but I could roughly make out "whore", then I heard a sound which vaguely resembled a slap. I then exited my office pretending to be talking on my phone to see what happened. Amanda then walked past me, angry. Dr Bretton was walking away in the opposite direction, clutching her face."
"When did this happen?" asked Louis. Dr Chan flipped through his work calendar. "Around September 17th."
"Anyone else saw it?" asked Phineas.
"I doubt so, it was late at night, we were working overtime," replied Dr Chan.
"Then has Amanda interacted with Dr Bretton afterwards?" asked Louis. Dr Chan shook his head. "Not to my knowledge."
Louis smiled. "Alright, thank you." Dr Chan then returned to his work.
Phineas then turned to Louis. "Should we find this Dr Bretton next?"
Louis bowed his head, thinking. "I doubt they are aware of Amanda's secret life, so they may have erroneously concluded she is in a relationship. Based Dr Chan's testimony, we can only assume that a fight had broken out among the 2, we need more evidence before we can take action against her."
Phineas concurred, heading with Louis back to the main group.
Meanwhile in a ladies washroom, an Australian doctor is washing a piece of underwear in the sink. Just then another woman entered the washroom, prompting her to immediately hide it with a handkerchief.
"Dr Bretton!" the woman greeted, going to a sink on the other side of the washroom. "You finished for the day?'
"Yeah, going home soon…" Dr Bretton muttered nervously.
"So jealous of you, able to end your last surgery before 11pm," mused her colleague, prompting a chuckle from Dr Bretton.
She finished washing her hands and headed over to Dr Bretton, prompting her to press down on her handkerchief nervously, attempting to hide the fabric below.
"Do you know what happened in the hospital?" she asked anxiously. Dr Bretton shook her head vigorously. Her colleague continued, "there was suddenly a lot of police, the hospital security team was mobilised. I think something big happened. The dean rushed over at once."
Dr Bretton pushed up her spectacles nervously. "No point to think about it, not our job anyways," she replied, trying to appear calm.
Her colleague concurred. Dr Bretton gave her a forced smile. "Alright, see you tomorrow."
She hurried out of the washroom, heading back to her office, quickly stuffing the items in her hand into her handbag, then hurriedly checking out of the building. As she exited, she bumped into Erika, who is rounding up her search of the ground levels.
"Sorry," she apologised meekly, hurrying off, leaving a puzzled Erika behind.
"TOO CLOSE!" she muttered in her mind at her close encounter with the police, immediately hurrying her pace to the carpark and driving back home.
Meanwhile, the dean is bringing Lau Sir's group to the workplace of Amanda. Just as they were about to walk in, the angry ranting of a worker caught their attention.
"The morgue's a mess! I just started my shift and there have already been so many unauthorised entries!" she complained to the other person on her phone.
"Javelle Kwong, a worker here," lamented the dean. "Always so expressive, even late at night."
Louis headed over to her just as she hanged up. "Where is the morgue?" he asked.
"The basement sir, is something wrong?" she asked, puzzled. Louis smiled, gesturing his group over. "Let's go to the morgue first."
The dean nodded, asking Javelle to show them in.
"Why do want to look at the morgue?" Phineas whispered.
"If you want to hide a body, where is the best place to sneak it into?" he whispered back.
"Where there is a lot of dead bodies, the morgue is a good place since the transporting in, storage and subsequent transporting out of bodies are all automated, you can sneak in small body fragments easily and no one will know," whispered Bryan.
"But we can't be sure that it is the morgue?" whispered Phineas.
"Worth a guess," Lau Sir whispered as they arrived.
Javelle grabbed her ID card and scanned it. Phineas looked around, noticing how there is no security cameras in this section of the basement. The door open and a blast of air-conditioning as cold as the winter temperature outside charged at them, prompting them to immediately buckle up their coats. Javelle grabbed a coat from her bag, quickly putting it on over her uniform.
The dean frowned seeing the coat. "Why is there cement dust on your coat?"
Javelle replied sheepishly. "Must have got some after doing the tiles this morning and afternoon…sorry."
"You do renovation?" asked Louis, curious.
Javelle nodded. "Need money to help my sister…" she smiled uncomfortably, "who?" asked Louis, catching his attention. Javelle sighed, "I am not being investigated right?"
Louis tried to press on the question, only for Phineas to cut him off. "Sorry," Phineas apologised on Louis' behalf. "If it discomforts you, you can stay silent."
Javelle thanked Phineas, then directed them to the shelves of bodies. "Look all you want." Louis walked over with Lau Sir and Phineas, examining the closed compartments closely. "When you complained about unauthorised entry, what are you referring to?" asked Bryan.
Javelle pointed to her card. "One needs a pass to enter the morgue. Only high-level administrators, doctors involved in autopsy and workers like me have them. Based on procedure, anyone that enters need to register with the worker on duty, since the morgue isn't exactly a public space. But since that is more of formality, some people just swipe their card and go in."
She showed Bryan and the dean her tablet, scrolling with a stylus using her left hand. "Look, multiple entries in the time I am not here."
"You have system admin?" asked Louis, overhearing them and Javelle replied that she does. Louis finished examining the compartments, then heading to Javelle. "Open up the autopsy room too, please."
Javelle nodded and opened the door with a physical key. She explained that the key is only issued to the current doctor allocated with autopsy, which rotates regularly. Her key is shared by the morgue staff and is locked in the drawer at the worker's table most of the time.
The police dug around the place; Louis' eyes caught attention of a black plastic bag in a tall shelf, well hidden among a bunch of containers. Louis tiptoed, grabbing it out. Its content dropped out, prompting everyone to instinctively back off as they gasped in horror, with the dean so horrified that he screamed in fear and fell to the floor, panting.
A woman's head had fallen out of the bag and rolled to a stop after hitting the wall.
"GET FORENSICS TO THE MORGUE AT ONCE! LOCK DOWN THE HOSPITAL!" yelled Lau Sir into his radio as he asked the dean and Javelle to leave.
They all left the morgue as it is and stepped out, guarding the door. Moments later, Erika arrived with the forensics team who then entered inside.
A while later, a forensic doctor stepped out.
"Head belongs to a human female, appearance wise resembles Amanda, though we need to compare DNA to be sure, there is wound on the back of her head, which is inflicted by knocking against a hard object, like a table. It is not fatal, but has enough force to cause a concussion. Judging by how it is inflicted, it is most likely that she is forcefully pushed downwards by another person," he reported.
Lau Sir turned to the dean. "Who is the doctor allocated for autopsy work now?"
"That will be Dr Bretton," replied the dean, showing the police her image on his phone. Phineas looked at the profile information, noting that she is left-handed.
"I have seen her!" exclaimed Erika. "She bumped into me when I was rounding up my search at the front door, she appears to be extremely stressed and panicky. She was in a hurry to leave the hospital. She had left on a car."
"Did you remember her car plate?" asked Lau Sir. Erika nodded, quickly typing it out on her phone screen.
Louis and Phineas then pulled Lau Sir, Erika and Bryan to one side, telling them the events they heard from Dr Chan. Just then, Rina called Lau Sir, having found the suspect.
"The AI couldn't identify the suspect other than that it is likely a woman, as she was masked and wearing a raincoat. She appeared on the night of the 28th at 11.30pm. AI facial recognition gave a list of possible faces," she showed them the images. "The suspect rode a shared bicycle, and we lost her in the footage as there were too many people there who were wearing raincoats, there was a music festival then, and the rain didn't stop their enthusiasm." She then sent the faces over, which Lau Sir forwarded.
"Dr Bretton," recognised Erika, pointing to a face in the list.
"Dr Bretton has a motive, she was very panicky seeing the police, and appears to be in a hurry to leave once she saw us, the suspect also resembles her…" analysed Erika.
"Detain her first, we can keep her legally for 48h," ordered Lau Sir. "Find her car and determine her whereabouts."
"Can we come along too?" asked Louis and Phineas. Lau Sir agreed.
(Dr Bretton's home)
Dr Bretton sprayed the floors of her home with detergent, then running the cleaner robot over it, cleaning every nook and cranny of her home. As the robot did its work, she grabbed a bag she had taken out from under her bed. After some painful deliberation, she dressed up in an all-black track suit and a surgical mask, grabbing the bag and heading out. She went down to the first floor, then headed out of the apartment complex by the back door. Walking around, she found a ditch that has a loose cover, taking a quick peek to make sure that no one is around and there no security cameras nearby. Ensuring she is alone, she opened the ditch and threw the bag inside, then placing the cover back on. She then swept some dead leaves over to the hide the ditch. Once that's done, she headed back, much more relaxed, deciding to stroll to the front gate and then go home.
Little did she knew that this move placed her in the sights of the Kowloon West RCU, who has just arrived to the front gate, seeing her, they disembarked from their cars, discreetly moving over, surrounding her.
Bryan approached her with Louis, stopping her. "Excuse us miss, are you Petra Bretton?"
She nodded. Bryan then showed her his identification. "Please come with us."
Suddenly, she grabbed a small bottle from her pocket, and before Bryan and Louis could react, she sprayed its contents at their exposed faces, then dashing off in the opposite direction. Bryan and Louis attempted to give chase, only for them both to suddenly feel dizzy and collapsed on to the floor.
"Damn…it…" muttered Louis as he groggily reached for his radio, realising that he and Bryan had been sprayed by anesthetics. "Target…heading…north…has…chemicals…be…care…ful…" he muttered into his radio to his teammates.
"Copy that!" acknowledged Phineas as he ran after Dr Bretton who has appeared in his sight together with Rina. Rina fired a warning shot into the air with her SIG P250 DCC, prompting Dr Bretton to run as fast as she can, in her panic, she did not see where she was running and dashed right in front of an automated taxi, hitting its brakes immediately, though slightly too late and she was knocked down. Phineas immediately rushed over with Rina, checking her for injuries. He breathed a sigh of relief to find her unhurt except for a few scratches, which he bandaged.
"Aren't you a runner, why'd stop?" taunted Phineas as Dr Bretton protested in pain while Rina handcuffed her.
(Kowloon West Regional Headquarters)
"You 2 alright?" asked a worried Lau Sir.
Louis and Bryan nodded weakly as they lied on the couch, having mostly recovered but still dizzy. Phineas poured them a cup of water each. "Yes boss, didn't expect her to throw diethyl ether at our faces," lamented Bryan.
Just then, Greg and Eddie entered the office, with them countless other officers and they brought in all kinds of men and women, handcuffed. Some of them have marks left behind by police batons, tasers and pepper sprays. Greg's forehead is damaged after taking a beer bottle to the face, while Eddie's hand is bruised after using it to block a blow from a steel bar.
Seeing the dizzy Bryan, Greg anxiously checked on his younger brother, ignoring his injury. Lau Sir assured Greg that he is fine.
"What happened to you?" asked Lau Sir. Greg laughed, sitting down on a chair, his vibe no different from the people he brought in, a compete gangster.
"The nightclub turns out to be a small-scale organised crime hot spot, riddled with loan shark, gambling, prostitution, and more, thankfully no drugs and blood on their hands from what I gather. Busted them all in the act, as you can see, turned slightly violent. Now, I will go interrogate them and bust the killer," said Greg.
"Our dragon bro is awesome right?" asked Eddie proudly, making a pun on Greg's Chinese name.
"We have already caught the suspect…" quipped Rina. Greg stared at her with disbelief. "What now?"
After explaining the events to Greg, he rolled his eyes and laughed. "So, I got into a fight for nothing…" Similarly, Eddie sighed in defeat.
"Don't say that, busting a gang like this is an immense contribution to the well-being of Hong Kong too, well done," comforted Lau Sir. "Go home and get some rest, you 2 can interrogate them tomorrow."
"My sister-in-law is going to cry all over you again," laughed Bryan. Greg shrugged, chuckling as he left with Eddie.
Erika entered the room, having changed into uniform from plainclothes. "I will interrogate Dr Bretton, Phineas, you be my partner."
Phineas looked up from drinking his milk tea, which he had reheated for the third time. "Why me?"
"You are the one who caught her, you can pressure her. All you need to do is to stay silent and yell at her when she is uncooperative."
"You are good cop and I am bad cop?" asked Phineas, adjusting his hair and rank plates. Erika nodded, gesturing Phineas to go after her.
Soon Phineas found himself seated in a dimly lit interrogation room. A robot recorder is next to him, capable of recording in video footage and in typed form. He put on a headset and took a seat next to Erika, who is keying into the holographic projector. Outside them is the rest of the RCU, looking in with a one-way mirror, all wearing wireless headsets with built in microphones to hear the conversation inside and speak to Erika and Phineas if necessary.
"Do you think this is a good expression to keep?" asked Phineas, making a face to Erika, prompting her almost choke on her coffee from laughing. "Too cartoonish!"
Phineas breathed, readjusting his face. "Now?"
Erika frowned, instinctively reeling back. "You look like a serial killer."
Phineas sighed, readjusting again. "Much better," replied Erika.
"Comedy gold…" chuckled Louis.
Dr Bretton is the brought in, handcuffed to a chair. She bowed her head, fidgeting her hands uncomfortably and nervously. She peeked at the officers in front, immediately looking away when she locked eyes with Phineas, afraid.
"Petra Bretton, Australian, 35 years old," read Erika.
"Yes," replied Dr Bretton softly.
"You graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor in Medicine," continued Erika. She then smiled at Dr Bretton. "What a coincidence, I studied law there."
Dr Bretton smiled.
"You know what pissed me off the most back in university? Rotating tasks and classrooms, so annoying," Erika lamented. "You find it relatable?"
Rina frowned seeing this interaction. "What is she doing?"
Louis smiled. "Smart move, Erika is luring her into a false sense of security and disrupting her thought process. If she is the killer, she would have thought that Erika is going to ask her about the head, yet Erika is asking her other questions and taking control of the tempo, she wouldn't be able to pre-empt the questions and the chance she will spill the beans increase."
Dr Bretton laughed. "Too relatable," she mused.
"Does that still happen now?" smiled Erika.
"Perhaps? I am not so sure; it's been so long—" began Dr Bretton.
"I am talking about the hospital," interrupted Erika.
"No," replied Dr Bretton immediately. She paused, then silently replying "yes".
"Yes, or no?" pressed Erika. Phineas also leaned forward, locking on his acted fierce gaze at Dr Bretton.
"What I meant to say was, yes, but not regularly," replied Dr Bretton after a long deliberation."
"You're in charge of the autopsy under the current rotation, right?"
Dr Bretton nodded. "Is there anyone else able to enter the room?" asked Erika.
Dr Bretton paused, thinking. After a long silence, she replied that it is the workers of the morgue.
Erika chuckled. "Does this really require so long to think? So, this means that they may have come into contact with your items?"
Dr Bretton nodded. "Officers, may I ask what is it that you found in my autopsy room?"
Erika gave her a toothy grin. "What did you think we found?"
"How am I supposed to know…" lamented Dr Bretton.
"Then why did you run? You were in a hurry to leave the hospital once we showed up and you ran away when we went to find you at your home."
Dr Bretton froze. "Is there a law that says that I can't run?"
"That's a stupid move, you turned yourself into a suspect," laughed Erika. "By the way, why do you have diethyl ether on you? You can't bring that out of the hospital."
"I accidentally brought it out…"
"Accident?" sneered Erika. "That bottle isn't a standard container, your poured it out from another container. You call that "accident"?"
Dr Bretton looked down, gulping saliva. "Uhm," she started, but no other words came out, sending the entire room to silence beside the faint whirring of the robot.
"Answer her question properly," said Phineas in a stern tone, startling her and she buried her face into her hands.
"From what we gather you are one of the best surgeons in the hospital, a strong contender to succeed the chief surgeon, why would you do such a thing?" pressed Erika
Dr Bretton reluctantly opened her mouth. "I admit, I stole it."
"Why?"
"To sell."
"To whom?"
"Not sure yet, but I know that there is demand for anaesthetics in the black market, which I believe you all know too," replied Dr Bretton softly.
"That's why you ran?" asked Erika.
Dr Bretton nodded guiltily.
"Do you think we'd buy that?" asked Erika. Seeing that Dr Bretton did not give a reply, she asked another question. "Today is the 30th, can you tell me what did you do on the 28th?"
"The entire day?" asked Dr Bretton.
"From when you wake up."
She then told them her day fluently, ending with a night jog around midnight before sleeping at 12am of the 29th.
"Then tell me the events of the 28th in the same way," continued Erika.
Dr Bretton gulped, stressed. "Can we not do this back-to-back? It's already quite early in the morning, my brain is in a mess."
Phineas stifled a yawn next to Erika, who is getting worn out herself.
"No harm in taking a break, we already can arrest her for theft," radioed Lau Sir.
"Alright, 10 minutes break, then we will continue," said Erika, leaving with Phineas.
"I suggest that you go home and sleep Phineas, I understand there is live-firing training for the CTRU tomorrow, won't want accidents to happen from fatigue," said Lau Sir. Louis assured that he will stay here and watch.
Phineas agreed and wished them all the best, leaving.
(Hong Kong Island, Phineas' Apartment)
Phineas opened the door and dragged himself in from fatigue. Staying up all night sitting down is more draining to him than staying up all night while doing PT and drills. To his shock, a picture frame on his wall had fallen down, smashing a hole in the tile below. He looked at the frame, finding out that the glue had worn off, he moved it aside to examine the hole made. Fortunately, the hole is at the corner of the tile and did not hurt the rest. He grabbed a laser cutter from his toolbox and carefully cut away the broken tile from the rest, then gently prying it off from the floor.
"Just my luck…" he muttered, going online to buy a replacement. After chatting with the chatbot, he discovered to his annoyance that if he wants it to be delivered to his home, he needs to buy 40 pieces at least, exasperated, he arranged for self-collection tomorrow at a warehouse near Kowloon Tsai Park at lunch time, after his live-firing exercise and before reporting to the RCU.
(Warehouse)
Phineas hummed to himself, stopping his car at a carpark. He is extremely happy with himself for his performance in the exercise, remaining one of the best shooters. He stepped out of the car and headed into the 3 storied warehouse. The first thing he noticed was how big it is, as if he can stuff 5 heavy VTOL Pursuer Attack Drones, each the size of a minivan inside. He wandered about, looking at the workers and robots carrying their merchandise to the automated vans outside for delivery. Piles of building materials lie around the place, waiting for their buyers.
"Anything I can help you with?" asked a worker. She looked in surprise at Phineas. "Hi Wang Sir! What brings you here?" Phineas is surprised too to see Javelle Kwong. "I am here to collect a tile," he said, showing her his order number. She nodded, then leaving to take it for him.
While waiting, Phineas strolled to a door which is semi ajar, he pushed it open, revealing a storeroom the size of a master bedroom. To his surprise, the room is completely empty. He turned to the floor. It is sparkling clean and well-polished, he looked at his shoe bottom which is caked in cement dust, the cleanliness of the storeroom seemed so out of place in the dirty warehouse. Phineas could not help but to wonder why is this room so clean.
Carrying the thought with him, he strolled back, just in time for Javelle to return with his item, which is well packaged.
"Very detailed packing," praised Phineas. "You take your work seriously."
Javelle smiled at the remark, walking with him outside. Phineas looked around, seeing that there is another warehouse next door, though unlike this one, it is locked up and devoid of human activity.
"What warehouse is that?" asked Phineas.
"A warehouse storing chemicals," replied Javelle. "The owner rarely comes here."
"You sure it's a good idea to put a chemical warehouse here?" asked Phineas incredulously. Javelle laughed. "Nothing scary inside Wang Sir, the most dangerous substance inside as far as I am aware is merely acid."
That caught Phineas' attention, in his mind relating it to the acid used to try dissolve the body.
"Something wrong?" asked Javelle, seeing that he has gone silent.
"Nothing," replied Phineas. "Are you going to the hospital tonight?" he asked.
"Of course, why not?" she asked, puzzled.
"You are not spooked by the head?" asked Phineas.
Javelle laughed, perplexed. "Why'd I be? My job involves being around bodies. Thanks for checking in on me anyways."
Phineas nodded, bidding her farewell. She returned to the warehouse. Phineas turned back, realising that her body profile and height is almost identical with Dr Bretton.
"Strange…" he thought to himself as he drove to the Kowloon West Regional headquarters, thinking of the things he noticed at the warehouse.
He pulled up at the headquarters and checked in, heading into the RCU office. Not finding Louis there, he headed into the interrogation room, seeing Louis and Bryan observing the interrogation inside. Louis gestured for Phineas to come over. "We all barely slept 4 hours," he lamented jokingly, handing Phineas a headset. Phineas put it on, hearing the conversation.
"I left the hospital at 10.45pm, then I went out looking for supper to eat and returned home around 2am on the 27h, ending my day on the 26h," answered Dr Bretton, worn out.
"Can you repeat that again?" asked Erika. She remained energetic, though obvious black circles have formed around her eyes from lacking sleep. Phineas peeked at the trash can outside filled with empty energy drinks, sympathizing with their hard work.
"What?" asked a confused Dr Bretton. Erika ordered her to recount again from when she woke up. Dr Bretton shivered, asking for a cup of water, which Erika agreed. She drank it, her hands shivering as she does so.
"It's obvious she is uncomfortable and stressed, possible signs of lying…" commented Bryan, observing the interrogation with Louis. "Erika is drilling her by asking her to repeatedly recount her activities across the 3 days, aka from when Amanda was killed to when the body fragments were disposed."
"But I am concerned if we keep drilling her it will affect the reliability of the outcome," said Louis, worried. "Talk about the head?" asked Bryan. Louis shook his head, asserting that it is not the right time yet.
"I'll go check on the things found around her apartment block," Louis said, putting down his headset and leaving. "You want coffee?" asked Phineas to Bryan. "Yeah, sure man, thanks," Bryan replied, yawning. Phineas chuckled and left.
Louis sat down at a table and pulled out a keypad, looking at the latest information sent over from the forensics team.
"The marks of rape on Amanda's body are analysed to be done by the use of toys, and similar items were found in her home. Her home reeked of detergent when searched, suggesting that she cleaned almost immediately after returning home, cleaning with detergent is a good way to remove biological traces, like DNA especially," Louis thought, analysing the evidence. "What's more is the knives recovered from her home, all brand new, never been used before, can deduce that she had gotten rid of the knives she used to kill Amanda."
"And the bag recovered from the manhole, it is stuffed with ladies' underwear, all different styles and sizes, no way they belong to the same person. Unfortunately, they have been cleaned thoroughly, no useful traces left behind. The bag however, is proven to belong to Dr Bretton as it was issued by the hospital as an anniversary gift. But how is this related to the murder?"
Louis frowned as he further analysed, realising 3 strange things: firstly, the laser cutter found at her home while matching the type used to kill Amanda, judging by the dust accumulated appears to be unused for a long time, secondly, he still cannot piece together how did she dispose the acid, and thirdly, they are still unsure of where is the first scene. Realising these, he figured that he needs to get all the information they need from Dr Bretton fast, he thought of Erika's way of interrogation and suddenly an idea hit him. A smirk crept to his face as he thought of a way to break Dr Bretton. He went through his plan in his mind, nodding to himself in glee.
He returned to the interrogation room, seeing Phineas handing a mug of coffee to Bryan. "Where's mine?" he asked with a smile. Phineas looked at the mug in his hand, looking at Bryan. Bryan immediately turned to one side, sipping away. Phineas then handed Louis' his mug, making a wide-eyed face that resembled a child who is forced to put down his toys. "Thank you~" said Louis in a dramatic accent, taking a gulp. Just then, Dr Bretton is brought out for a break. Seizing this chance, Louis put down his mug and stopped Erika who walked out, stretching. "I will interrogate next; I will do it alone"
Erika frowned, "What do you have in mind?"
Louis smiled. "You can observe here with Bryan and Phineas, if you are concerned."
Erika relented, and soon Louis found himself seating across Dr Bretton in the interrogation room. An almost unnoticeable sneer crept up Dr Bretton's face, seeing a man that she had floored easily with diethyl ether. Louis maintained his emotionless stare, silently laughing in glee at her confident sneer, knowing that she is going to underestimate him.
He cleared his throat and asked Dr Bretton. "You familiar with an Amanda Lok? She's an intern at Kowloon hospital."
Dr Bretton fiddled uncomfortably upon hearing that name, replying that she does.
"What's your relationship with her?"
"That kind of relationship…" muttered Dr Bretton unwillingly.
"WHAT KIND?" roared Louis, slapping the table hardly, startling both Dr Bretton and his friends watching outside.
"Romantic…" muttered Dr Bretton softly, scared.
"Broke up recently?" asked Louis. "On September the 17th, am I right? She slapped you in the face."
Dr Bretton widened her eyes in surprise, asking Louis how did he know, which Louis jokingly replied that she should not have done it in a public place like the hospital. He then suggested that they move on to a different topic, asking her to recount again her activities from the 26th to 28th, which she did painfully.
Louis cross-referred to the version of events recorded by Erika. "Strange, for the 27th, yourrecount, while differing in some minute details are a match, the same can be said for the 26th and 28th but they all differed drastically in the events after you left work on those days, specifically the time periods from the 10.45pm to 2am from the 26th to the 27th and post 11pm on the 28th.In the first period I mentioned, in your past testimonies you claimed to have gone to look for things to eat, but now you just told me that you went to buy alcohol. As for the second, you claimed to have gone for a jog then slept, but now you told me you went to join the music festival first and then went home?"
Dr Bretton shuddered, beads of sweat rolling down her face as she realised what just happened, after being repeatedly drilled, she could no longer remember how she lied and exposed it to the police.
Louis folded his arms and lean back victoriously. "Now, which of these is true, or none are we can check by investigating payment data, everything is digital now after all. What I am more interested now are these:"
He opened the projector and showed her the holographic images of the underwear, explaining that the police found it in a bag around her apartment block after they searched the area following her arrest.
"These aren't yours, right?" asked Louis, to which Dr Bretton concurred hastily, nervous.
"But you owned them, right? You discarded them and tried to hide it, why?"
Dr Bretton protested, "anyone can have done that, why are you claiming it's me? Just because I was outside on the day?"
Louis laughed, showing her the image of the bag. "This is yours, right? It's an anniversary gift from the hospital to all of its staff. Now, you can deny it's yours as there are other staff from Kowloon hospital living in that neighbourhood. But here is something. When the bags were distributed to the surgeons it was short of one, so the hospital made a last-minute purchase from an Algerian vendor that was selling an identical design, the rest of the bags are all made in the mainland. Only your bag is made in Algeria, and this bag is."
Dr Bretton bowed her head, silent. She knows that with this evidence she cannot hide now.
Seeing that she is silent, Louis decided to move in for the finishing blow. He showed her the image of Amanda's head.
"You asked what was it that we found in your autopsy room. Now let me tell you, a human head, we have reason to believe it belongs to Amanda. It is evidence of a murder case. Security cameras identified you in Tsim Sha Shui on the night of the 28th throwing a bag which contained body fragments. Lover's quarrel turned violent? She did slap you in the face after all," pressed Louis hardly. "And her body had signs of rape, we found tools which could have been used to inflict them in your home."
"Louis," protested Erika angrily, knowing that Louis is exaggerating. Louis waved his hand at the one-way window, signalling that he knows what he is doing. Dr Bretton's eyes widened in horror as she shivered uncontrollably, tears started to rain from her face together with sweat.
"You are related to this case," pressed Louis.
"NO, I AM NOT!" she roared.
"You raped and killed Amanda on the 26-27th and deposed the body on the 28th, that's why your testimonies can't match," said Louis with an accusatory tone.
"I did nothing I swear!" cried Dr Bretton.
Louis stood up and walked slowly to Dr Bretton, raising his tone as he spoke. "You got those under wears from the victims, didn't you?"
More tears accumulated on Dr Bretton as she tried in vain to deflect Louis's accusations.
"DID YOU KILL AND FRAGMENT ALL OF THEM? ANSWER ME!" roared Louis. He silently congratulated himself at his superb act of ferocity, already observing that she is on the verge of breaking from the rapidly accumulated tears.
"Where were you at the 2 time periods I mentioned?" asked Louis.
Dr Bretton broke down, bawling loudly, crying into her hands. Louis heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that she is going to spill at last, but her subsequent statement shocked him, as well as the 3 outside.
"I was in Kwun Tong! Both times!" she wailed.
"Who can prove?" asked Louis.
"2 girls! The 2 girls that I sexually assaulted there! I have their pictures in my phone. The underwear belonged to them and all the girls I have hurt all these years in Hong Kong! I am not human! I am a scum! I am sorry! But I didn't kill anyone I swear!" she wailed.
Louis sat back down at the table, shocked. He did not expect things to go this way.
"Then, the diethyl ether—" began Louis.
"Yes! I used it to drug them! I then pulled them into my car! I got away as I picked out people exclusively from poor areas and paid them to stay silent!" she wailed, her face distorted from crying stemming from guilt, shame and fear. "I am sorry…" she cried.
"What the hell…" muttered Phineas in shock.
Louis is in no appetite to hear further as he realised that they got the wrong person for the murder, on the bright side, they managed to uncover a serial sexual assaulter. He printed out the interrogation records and asked her to sign and leave her fingerprint on it. She did after reading the document, and was then pulled out of the interrogation room. Louis walked out to see Bryan with a shocked and disappointed face, while Erika had left to notify their colleagues in the Kowloon East RCU.
Louis paced about at the room, thinking. Suddenly, a realisation hit him like a hammer, he immediately pieced together the information and came to a conclusion. "Could it be?" he muttered, heading out. A confused Phineas and Bryan followed after him.