The trio returned to the office, sitting down with Erika and Lau Sir who has been notified. "It's too coincidental," analysed Louis. "Thinking back, the shelf which we found the head at isn't somewhere Dr Bretton can easily access due to her height, and it was well hidden by containers, hence, if someone had wanted to frame her, they can just plant it there and Dr Bretton wouldn't find it. The killer had fragmented all of the body except for the head and lower body parts, as well as not destroying objects that can point to Amanda's identity, together with the path of disposing the fragments, it really looks like it was intentional, the killer wanted us to figure out it was Amanda who died."
"We can deduce the killer's plan after they failed to dissolve the body is multi-fold. Firstly, throw them in the trash, the most likely chance is that the automated collection system won't find it, and they get away with murder. Secondly, in the event that the body is found, the denatured DNA would delay us in going to the hospital buying them time to frame Dr Bretton."
"But how does the killer ensure that we can find out its Amanda? While we have DNA reconstruction tools it isn't 100%," asked Bryan.
"This is why they left behind clue pointing to Amanda's identity. Before we are 100% sure it's Amanda, we won't have gone to the hospital nor to track her whereabouts," replied Louis. "The reason framing is possible is because they know of Dr Bretton's illegal things, and also must have knowledge of where she went on the night of the 26th and 28th."
"Then, once we arrive at the hospital and is looking for Amanda, they diverted our attention to Dr Bretton and the morgue, knowing that Dr Bretton would definitely try to run away due to her crimes, then we will lock our suspicions on her."
"Why "they"?" asked Phineas.
Erika gasped, realising what Louis is suggesting. Lau Sir and Bryan made a similar expression, having caught up to Louis' tempo.
"Who were the people that implied to us that Dr Bretton has issues and directed us to the morgue?" she asked rhetorically. Phineas gasped, understanding now. "Dr Chan and Javelle Kwong!" he exclaimed, shocked.
Louis nodded. "I went to look at the testimonies provided by the hospital after we arrested Dr Bretton for theft. It appears that the role of the next chief surgeon is contested between Dr Chan and Dr Bretton, so Dr Chan has a motive, to squeeze her away. But he chose to frame her instead of reporting to the police, so that suggests he only has suspicions about Dr Bretton's sexual assault crimes but no concrete evidence."
Just then, Greg and Eddie entered the room, reporting their findings on the nightclub. "Got a big lead boss," reported Greg. "All of the girls involved in prostitution has been found, except for one that has left Hong Kong on the early morning of the 27th on a flight for Shenyang. Her trade name is Tequila, we scanned her photo into the system, AI recognized her to be May Kwong, 20 years old, didn't go to university, repeat gambler. Rina has left for her home in Sham Shui Po to investigate."
"She is the younger sister of Javelle Kwong, and when we further investigated her social life, we learned that Dr Chan and Javelle are dating, starting from last year.'
Eddie opened the hologram projector, swiping through the 3D slides to explain what they found.
"We then checked their phone and online activity and found the following: May called her sister at 11pm of the 26th, then immediately, on the midnight of the 27th, she booked the 8am flight for Shenyang using Javelle's credit card. Javelle then called Dr Paul Chan on 1.30am of the 27th. Unfortunately, GPS tracking wasn't enabled, we don't know where they were at those times."
"Extremely odd times," Phineas commented.
"Then when you guys were at the hospital, Javelle was calling Dr Chan," finished Eddie. Greg took over.
"May Kwong borrowed money from loan sharks last year to fuel her gambling addiction. Unable to pay, the nightclub forced her into prostitution to pay off. They threatened her with nude shots. Her total debt, as of now, inclusive of interest is 88,000 HKD, coinciding with the amount Amanda is suspected to have embezzled."
"Speaking of the Kwongs," said Phineas, "I have some things to add."
He then told them what he had observed at the warehouse.
"The storeroom is big, you say?" asked Louis. Phineas nodded.
Lau Sir then stood up, giving orders to everyone. "Greg, Eddie, Erika, verify Dr Bretton's words, afterwards, track down Amanda, Javelle Kwong and Dr Chan's movements from 26th to 28th. Bryan, Phineas, Louis, investigate the warehouse when it's closed."
"Yes sir."
(Warehouse)
Bryan stopped the worker locking up and showed him his identification and a search warrant. "Sorry Mr, please cooperate."
The man gave an annoyed face, then unlocked the door. Louis asked the worker a few questions, finding out that all the workers have the key.
The 3 walked into the storeroom and started to examine it.
"This place is huge," commented Bryan, placing down a robotic scanner on the floor, while Louis and Phineas fixed one each onto the walls.
"Analysing chemical traces," a robotic voice resonated in the room as the scanners moved, going over every nook and cranny of the area. Soon, they gave a result.
"Floor and walls have traces of detergent and hydrochloric acid."
Louis nodded. "A big place capable of body fragmentation, recently cleaned in detergent, yet the entire warehouse is dirty as a whole, also within the area which we deemed the fragmentation to happen.
They left the storeroom. Louis found a welcome poster tucked into a table in an office in the warehouse. He immediately showed it to Phineas and Bryan.
"Look, apparently the warehouse had an important real-estate developer coming over on the 27th afternoon. It's like an open house. So perhaps this is why the dissolving stopped, they can't have barrels of acid lying around."
"But where did the acid come from?" asked Bryan. The 3 of them thought it through and suddenly an idea struck them.
"Could it be?" they asked rhetorically in unison. Hurrying out to test their theory, they walked over to the chemical warehouse next door. They walked around, scanning the warehouse with their torchlights. Louis noticed an emergency ladder built into the wall of the warehouse, climbing up. Phineas and Bryan followed after him. The 3 found themselves on the rooftop, heading to a door that led to the inside of the warehouse. Louis gave it a push. To their surprise, the door instantly opened, and the 3 walked down the staircase straight into the interior. The interior is messy and filled with all sorts of chemicals, with barely any room to walk, Phineas understood why the killers did not choose to fragment and dissolve Amanda here. No space to do their work.
Just as Bryan was about to take another step, Louis stopped him, pointing to a set of footprints in the dust-caked floor.
"This warehouse has been deserted for ages, someone entered here recently…" muttered Louis. Bryan nodded, carefully waking forward. Together they headed followed the footprints to a door. Phineas pushed the door open, and the 3 entered. Louis flipped a switch and the room lit up, revealing barrels of hydrochloric acid in front of them.
"Jackpot!" declared Louis triumphantly. They walked out, seeing that the footprints exiting the door are joined by a trail left behind by the wheels of a foldable trolley. Phineas followed it down to the first floor, easily unlocking the gate from the inside.
"To steal something from here is just as easy as stealing candy from a baby," commented Phineas when he returned.
Louis nodded as he and Bryan took pictures of and scanned the footprints for AI analysis. They deduced that there are 2 sets of footprints, one left behind by a man and another by a woman judging from the shape of the print and size.
The 3 then exited the warehouse the way they came from to not temper with the evidence.
"All the circumstantial evidence are present, now we just need to prove that Dr Chan and Javelle Kwong had come here. Too bad that there are no cameras…" muttered Bryan. Louis pointed to the cars parked at the car park, suggesting that they can check their Dashcams.
Agreeing, they took down all the car plates of the cars that face the warehouses and returned to the headquarters.
When they returned, they see a flurry of activity in the office. Rina gestured them to hurry over.
Erika has set up the holographic projector, explaining the events that they have found.
"On the 26th, after leaving the hospital, Amanda boarded a taxi at 10pm, because the car plate is obstructed, we cannot determine where exactly did she disembark, but around 10.30pm she appeared in Sham Shui Po, she was seen entering May's apartment by the camera of a convenience store which is right opposite.
"Afterwards, at 11.10pm, Javelle Kwong left the hospital and got onto a van belonging to the renovation company she works under, it was seen at May's home at 11.30pm, and Javelle Kwong went in carrying a huge suitcase, she then appeared again at 12.16am of the 27th, loading the suitcase back onto the van and drove off. We lost the van around Renfrew Road."
"After checking with Kowloon East Police, we managed to prove Dr Bretton's testimonies. She had used fake car plates to avoid detection. What's interesting is that on the 26th, we found Dr Chan's car trailing behind Dr Bretton's car."
Louis exclaimed triumphantly. "So, he knew what she was up to!"
"Now onto Dr Chan. On the 27h after receiving the call from Javelle Kwong, he left his home and drove off, we lost his car around La Salle Road. The car appeared again there at 4am, driving in the opposite direction, and back to his home."
"Dr Chan and Javelle Kwong left the hospital together on the night of the 27th. From then until the early morning of the 28th the van is seen again around La Salle Road. On the night of the 28th during the time we found the suspect discarding the body fragments, both the van and Dr Chan's car were seen in La Salle Road again." finished Erika.
"Good," Louis deduced. "The area where the cameras lost the trajectory of their vehicles is around the locations of the warehouses."
Erika nodded, explaining that they have come to the same conclusion. Eddie then took over.
"After hearing Phineas' comments about Dr Bretton and Javelle's physique, we reanalysed the person cameras at Tsim Sha Shui caught disposing the fragments. Javelle is indeed identified by the AI to be a possible identity. Her van was also seen in the area by cameras. And we also looked into the other path which the fragments were discarded. A figure caught discarding the body on the night of the 28th, same time as the woman in Tsim Sha Shui. By then both Javelle Kwong and Dr Chan have left the hospital. This one is identified to be a male, and AI recognition gave an 79% match with Dr Chan."
"We also interrogated Dr Bretton again after Louis made his suspicions about Dr Chan. She testified that he had helped her to change her tyres once on the 24th. When we investigated the car, we found a GPS tracker hidden in the wheel, its battery is close to dying. Assuming a full charge, it was likely activated and placed on the 24th, and we found Dr Chan's fingerprints all over it. On the 29th, when Lau Sir's group was at the landfill digging for the missing fragments, Javelle Kwong was seen by a camera nearby."
He finished then turned to Rina, who explained that May's home has a dining table which has edges that match the wound on the back of Amanda's head.
"GOT YOU NOW!" exclaimed Louis. Bryan and Phineas then told Lau Sir their findings, who immediately contacted the owners of the cars. Phineas is relived. Dr Chan is already busted, now all they need to prove is that Javelle Kwong is an accomplice.
"What a rational creature, using the brutal death of his mentee as a tool for his success," commented Lau Sir on Dr Chan.
Just then, Greg rushed in. "Good news, Shenyang Police has caught May, they will be extraditing her back to Hong Kong tomorrow."
Louis grinned, declaring that he has already deduced the proceedings of the case, all he needs now is to check it. Lau Sir commended them for their effort, asking them to get ready to arrest the 2 after Javelle Kwong is proved to be an accomplice. He then notified customs, airport, railway and maritime police asking them to intercept Dr Chan and Javelle Kwong should they try to leave Hong Kong.
(31st December 2133, 9.40pm)
Phineas sat in a Mercedes police van, dressed in a black bulletproof vest. Just today they have received the Dashcams of the cars, and true enough, Javelle Kwong was seen dragging the huge suitcase into the warehouse and Dr Chan was also seen there afterwards. The 2 also worked together to steal acid. They had also left the warehouse dressed in raincoats and masks and carrying multiple bags on the night of the 28th. It is now set in stone that Javelle Kwong and Dr Chan are the culprits.
The moment the Kowloon West RCU arrived at the hospital sirens blazing, they stormed into the hospital, heading straight for Dr Chan's office. Dr Chan bumped into them as he is leaving, immediately running away, only to be stopped by another group of officers at the opposite direction led by Greg.
"Police, stop!" yelled Greg, raising his SW Model 10 revolver at him. Dr Chan immediately dashed in another way, Greg and Eddie gave chase. Dr Chan pushed a stretcher into their way, Greg immediately conjured an ice wall using his powers by instantly freezing water vapour in the area in front of him, stopping the stretcher, then resuming his chase.
Seeing them getting closer, Dr Chan grabbed a nurse by his side and pointed a scalpel at her neck.
"CLEAR A PATH OR I KILL HER!" he screamed, turning to face Lau Sir and Erika who had led another group there.
"You don't have to do this, drop the scalpel," persuaded Lau Sir, while keeping his SIG P250 DCC raised, Erika doing the same beside Lau Sir, warning Dr Chan to let her go.
"WHY SHOULD I?!" roared Dr Chan, backing himself into a corner to prevent exposing himself to the guns of the police. Just as he did so, a shot ran out, and Dr Chan fell, releasing the nurse, screaming in pain.
A single bullet casing fell beside Erika, lowering her pistol and heading over to Dr Chan while Eddie and more officers followed after her. She kicked the scalpel away and slipped a pair of handcuffs onto him as he groaned in pain from the wound on his shoulder.
Lau Sir quickly rushed to the still shocked nurse and checked her for injuries, then putting a trauma blanket onto her, escorting her out with Greg and other officers.
"Consider yourself lucky to be shot in a hospital," sneered Erika as she pulled Dr Chan up and pushed him onto a stretcher. Eddie stared in awe at the swift and decisive motion of Erika, finding himself to adore her even more now.
"I am marrying this girl…" he thought to himself. Erika pushed him on the shoulder to snap him out of his trance.
Meanwhile Bryan led a group consisting of Phineas, Louis and Rina to the morgue. To their surprise, Javelle is not there. Questioning her colleague, they learned that she did not come to work today.
"Bloody hell…" cursed Bryan, immediately notifying Lau Sir. Lau Sir then replied that he will lead a group to her home, while tasking Bryan's group to go to the warehouse. Receiving their orders, they immediately rushed out back to the cars and drove off to the warehouse at top speed, sirens wailing.
Javelle Soong is busy unloading goods from a truck. She had excused herself from her hospital job today as she planned to spend time with Dr Chan after his last surgery time. She whistled happily in anticipation. Suddenly, the wailing of sirens enveloped her whistling and she turned, alarmed to see that multiple police cars have pulled up.
Louis disembarked first, rushing over, with Phineas, Bryan and Rina running closely behind. She immediately threw the wood block in her hand at Louis and ran into the warehouse. Bryan quickly generated a fireball using his powers and hurled it at the wood block, burning it into ashes seconds before it hit Louis in the head. Louis is hot on her heels; she pushed her confused colleagues into the way of the police to slow them down. "Stop!" Louis yelled, chasing her out of the warehouse. Suddenly, Javelle Kwong hit him in the head with a steel bar, disorienting Louis then kicking him into a tub of water beside. Before Louis can react, she closed the cover, which locked automatically.
"Police, freeze!" yelled Bryan who had caught up to them. She ran, only to see that police have blocked the entrance of the chemical warehouse. Grunting, she ran to the wall and started climbing the emergency ladder. Bryan immediately climbed after her.
Phineas and Rina opened the tub and freed Louis who is clutching his head. He stepped out and vomited. "She actually tried to drown an amphibian," he laughed. "Though dirt water is really horrible for my gills," he gagged, Phineas patted him on the back, and Louis coughed out water dyed in dust, seeing that Javelle Kwong is scaling the emergency ladder with Bryan behind, they immediately rushed over and scaled up the ladder too.
Javelle Kwong panted heavily as she stepped onto the rooftop, walking forward only to see that police have already climbed up the 3 stories and came out of the door. She turned behind. Bryan, Phineas, Louis and Rina have appeared behind her.
"HOW DID YOU 4 COME UP SO FAST?!" she screamed in disbelief.
"Thank the Sellardraxian's powers, he half levitated us up!" replied Louis, fist bumping with Bryan. 'Maybe you should understand alien anatomy too! You know, so you won't try to drown a Lita?" sneered Louis, pointing to himself. He then sneezed from being wet in winter air.
The police moved in on her. "DON'T COME OVER!" she yelled, waving the steel bar wildly.
"Easy, easy," Rina assured.
Phineas walked up to her; she waved the steel bar at him wildly, prompting Phineas to stop.
"Wang sir," she said in desperation. "You have been kind to me, can you leave a path for me to go?"
Phineas looked at her incredulously. "Aren't you the one who came up here?"
"I AM ACROPHOBIC!" screamed Javelle Kwong.
"Then why the hell did you run up so high?" asked Phineas.
An awkward silence enveloped the rooftop as Javelle Kwong realised her own logical flaws.
Louis cleared his throat. "We know why you did it!" he said, moving forward next to Phineas. Both of them are merely an arm's length away from Javelle Kwong.
"Your sister, May, borrowed money from loan sharks, she couldn't pay up so she was forced into prostitution. To free her, you took a second job in the renovation sector to earn enough money, did I get that right?"
Javelle nodded slowly. Seeing that she has calmed down, Louis continued his deduction.
"Your boyfriend Dr Chan also chipped in some money, and by December this year the 3 of you managed to come up with 88,000 HKD, which is enough to free May. Of course, at this time, neither you nor Dr Chan knew that Amanda was the pimp."
"But Amanda embezzled the money and forced May to continue working. An angry May demanded that Amanda meet her at her home on the night of the 26th, Amanda didn't think too much of it and went."
"At May's home, a scuffle broke out, in the chaos, May pushed Amanda into her dining table, which gave her a concussion and knocked her out. May mistakenly thought that she had killed her. Panicked, she called you for help. So, you arrived at her home on the early morning of the 27th, moving Amanda's body into your van while sending May away to Shenyang to hide. You had planned to move Amanda's body into the warehouse and steal acid from the chemical warehouse to destroy the body. But you needed help, so you called your boyfriend, Dr Chan."
"Then some time while waiting for him to show up, Amanda reawakened, you 2 fought, and you slit her throat with a laser cutter. Dr Chan then showed up on the early morning of the 27th, the 2 of you stole acid from the chemical warehouse. Dr Chan then fragmented the body to speed up the reaction process."
Javelle Kwong nodded, in her mind impressed with Louis' deduction, as if he was there.
"Unfortunately, the acid was not strong enough, and became obvious that it cannot finish dissolving by afternoon when a big buyer is coming over. Then, Dr Chan thought of a new plan to kill 2 birds with one stone. Previously he had seen that there is tension between Dr Bretton and Amanda had somehow gotten wind of Dr Bretton's sexual assault crimes, he roughly proved it on the night of the 26th, unfortunately, he didn't have concrete evidence. Hence, he decided to frame her for the act."
"He faked rape marks on Amanda's body, then the 2 of you boiled the fragments to destroy as much DNA as possible. The plan was 2-fold, you 2 will dispose them off in a blatant manner into trash cans along population hotspots. In the scenario that the fragments were collected by the automated trash collection system and not found, you 2 can achieve one objective, to get away with the murder. Then if it is found, the destroyed DNA will delay us in identifying Amanda, while leaving behind some clues of her identity can help us to identify her, albeit slowly. This buys you 2 time to frame Dr Bretton, Unfortunately, the heavy rain on the 28th toppled a trash can and washed its contents into the wastewater canal, which led to the public finding it on the 29th, hence the RCU soon went to the landfill to dig out the remaining fragments, which you saw and notified Dr Chan. Dr Chan then used your ID and key to enter the morgue's autopsy room and planted the head, you then deleted the records from the system log since you had admin rights. Then all you had to do is to wait for us to show up, and direct us to Dr Bretton and the morgue. You 2 know that Dr Bretton would definitely try to run away, and better still, Dr Chan found out she went preying again on the 28th thanks to the GPS tracker. That was the plan, right?"
Javelle Kwong laughed, she cannot help but to be impressed by Louis' deduction. He is absolutely correct.
"Great job, great detective," she said, pointing the steel bar at Louis. She advanced forward, bar raised. Bryan and at the rest of the police immediately raised their guns.
Suddenly, she stepped onto a glass window, which broke under her weight and she fell into the building. Alarmed, Phineas immediately dashed forward, grabbing her with his left hand before she falls. An iron bar supporting the window stabbed through his left arm, sending droplets of crimson red blood onto a screaming Javelle Kwong. Phineas grimaced in the excruciating pain as he yelled for her to hold on tight. Bryan immediately took a laser cutter to cut off the iron bar while Louis and Rina helped Phineas and Javelle Kwong up. Phineas is then immediately sent away on an ambulance to a hospital while Javelle Kwong is handcuffed.
(5 hours later)
Phineas sniffed, right hand holding on his phone and talking to Louis. After a surgery, his bones and nerves were reconstructed, ensuring that Phineas will have no disabilities. The downside is, he needs to be in a sling for half a month.
"I…am…missing…out…the…new year fireworks…what…a…disappointment," Phineas sniffed in a crying tone, complaining to Louis on the line.
Louis rolled his eyes, sitting at the balcony in his home, typing away on a tablet. "Why so dramatic? It's just the fireworks, not like you can't start 2134 without it. Say, you live next door, right? I can come at fetch you home once you're discharged."
"Sure…thing…" croaked Phineas, he was surprised to find out on the ambulance ride that he and Louis are next door neighbours in his apartment on Hong Kong Island.
Louis comforted Phineas again, then hanging up. He looked at the information on the encrypted line he is going to send, checking through again, he sent it to its recipient, Department NS.
Phineas looked at his phone, finding 3 missed calls from Japan during his surgery. He closed his phone, knowing that it's already light's out on her side. He decided that he will not tell her what happened today if she calls tomorrow. He will feel extremely guilty if his friend has to worry about his wellbeing when she already has her plate full with the wellbeing of Earth.
Finally, Phineas cannot bear it anymore. His sniffs escalated to bawling, turning to the nurse on his left bandaging his arm with medical robots.
"IT FREAKING HURT!" he bawled.