"Ms Andrews, I just received an order from your father to withdraw"
The old man asked looking rather puzzled. After all, from his point of view, the case hadn't been solved yet.
"I was the one who requested it and it's not a withdrawal per se, more like diverting our resources to the most important thing— catching our culprit"
"What do mean?"
"You can let the other suspects go, but still keep D here. I want to ask him a few more questions"
The little detective's mind was moving too fast for the old man to keep up. But I guess that's to be expected since her priority wasn't the case anymore but the culprit.
"Hey brat! Do you expect us to just listen to you without an explanation?!"
Sean growled with his usual fire
"Calm down guys, things will be clear soon enough"
I said trying to reassure them that we'll get them up to speed.
The four of us—Liz, Sean, the old man and myself were left in the room with suspect D.
"Uhmm... Officers, why are you still keeping me here?"
"You killed William Munroe..."
"Huh? What are you accusing me of you little brat?!"
"Ofcourse, I don't really care about that. I'm more interested in the person who came up with the plan"
"Just what the hell are you on about?! I didn't stab my client, quit trying to pin me as the culprit just because you're an incompetent—"
*BANG BANG BANG
The culprit nearly wet himself after Liz fired three bullets which all passed above his shoulder and hit the exact same spot on the wall. Apparently, she took the old man's gun before entering the room.
"T-This bi*ch is crazy! Stop him officers!"
Sean tried to intervene but the old man stopped him. He gave him a glare screaming 'don't interfere'
"Listen, like I said earlier, I don't really care about your attempted assault. I want to know what you know about the other two..... Choose your words wisely, I won't miss this time"
She pointed the gun at him. The fact she was doing all this without a single change in her emotionless expression terrified the suspect to no end. He started spilling his guts about his collaborator.
"I-I just received a call from some guy who knew my Mum killed herself after getting scammed by that group. He offered me a shot at revenge and was willing to pay me for it so I took him up on his offer. He got me into the building and I killed the target, that's all, I swear."
"How were you going to get paid?"
"We agreed to hash out the details later, I'm telling you the truth"
I shook my head to inform Liz he was lying. She turned back to the victim
"I see you've chosen death"
"I'm telling the truth!"
"You have three seconds for your final words. 1....2....."
"Okay, okay, okay.... We were going to meet up and he was going to deliver the cash. He said he'll give me the location on the day of"
"When?"
"T-The 18th.... Please don't kill me"
"Tch—"
The man was sobbing heavily. Liz put the gun down and had the four of us moved to another room to discuss things.
"What the hell was that kid? I mean, I can have you arrested for that stunt you just pulled!"
"I didn't do anything. Isn't that right everyone?"
"I saw nothing"
The old man said with a smirk, I responded similarly as well. The other reason we cleared the building was for there to be no witnesses. Sean glared at us in shock.
"More importantly, we can't let the press know we have that suspect in custody, we need him to catch the culprit"
"Didn't you say that guy did it, you little brat?"
"Huh? You still don't get it? What are you, stupid or something?"
Sean was fuming with rage and I once again couldn't blame him. She wasn't just cooking, she was supplying the gas. I stepped in calm the situation.
"Now, now... I'll explain the situation so just calm down"
Sean calmed himself to listen to my explanation and the old man was paying attention as well. Liz lay on a couch to rest while I brought the two detectives up to speed.
"Now then, our suspect believes he stabbed and killed William Munroe. However, the person he stabbed wasn't the real William Munroe. Can't exactly blame him for believing it was though, after all, this was their first face to face meeting so it was difficult to tell the difference"
"Wait, wait, wait.... What do you mean by the 'real' William Munroe?"
Sean asked, still confused.
"Well, the victim William Munroe actually died before any of the visitors even arrived"
My statement shocked both Sean and the old man. Sean quickly refuted my statement.
"No, no, no, that's impossible. The heater was on to mess with the time of death but that hastens rigor mortis lengthening the estimated time of death. The one thing we can say for sure is that the victim was killed after 9 o'clock"
The old man agreed with Sean. I calmed them down assuring them there was a method to the madness.
"Before we get to that, tell me... When you saw the pool of water and glass around the body, what did you think?"
"The culprit staggered towards the phone but didn't make it. He dragged the aquarium as he fell and it landed on his body. That's obvious"
"Think back to the state of the body— the victim was lying on his side but the glass shards surrounded his whole body. If he staggered and fell at an angle that made him lie on his side, the aquarium's shards will be spread across his body, the pattern will be different. At the very least, glass shards shouldn't have reached his backside. However, in the photo, it covered his entire body"
"Hmmm... You're right. So then how?"
"Answer me this.... Why didn't you consider the fact that the body was submerged?"
"Huh? That's obvious. There was hardly any water in his lungs when we examined him"
"Exactly! That's the trap"
Sean was still confused. The old man had started putting the pieces together.
"Are you saying he was submerged as a corpse"
"That's right, old man! Because a corpse has no breathing or gasping reflex, no water entered his lungs while he was submerged"
"Still though, what purpose does that serve?"
"It'll be obvious once we go over the case again from the top"
I took a deep breath and assumed my Kudo Shi**chi pose.
"Our culprit contacted suspect D and arranged for a murder, ofcourse, they agreed the victim will be stabbed. Then, the culprit stabbed William Munroe and killed him. After that, he stuffed the victim in the fridge and set it to fast freeze"
Liz had a feeling that was the case which was the real reason she was checking the fridge back then. Extreme cold slows down rigor mortis as opposed to extreme heat which hastens it.
"Then, he dressed as our victim and changed his hairstyle to match the victim. Since the staff were all new and the visitors were first timers, it'll be tough to differentiate the victim and his identical brother especially if the brother was pretending to be the victim..."
"....Huh?! The brother is the culprit? But they were comrades"
"A falling out isn't all that uncommon among conmen even if they're siblings. Anyway, let me continue"
They kept quiet to allow me spit more facts.
"Our culprit met with the visitors as his brother and was the one stabbed by suspect D. Naturally, he was probably wearing a stab proof vest underneath with blood packets used for transfusion to simulate the illusion that he was stabbed..."
I explained suspect D's locked room trick then continued.
"After D left, he brought out the body from the fridge. He placed the key in the victim's inner pocket to prevent it from floating out while he's submerged because it'll give away the trick..."
This was the contradiction. While the trick can get the key in the pocket, the inner pocket is a different story. No matter how you pull, the line will cut with the key stopping short of the inner pocket.
"..... Our culprit knew that leaving the body to thaw under heat after being brought out of the freezer will leave noticable traces in lividity and rigor mortis that forensics can't miss so he did something to balance it out. He needed to submerge the body in the water for a while before having it exposed to heat"
Submerging a frozen dead body before warming helps to balance the distribution of blood and regulate inconsistent speeds of stiffening of the muscles. It also regulates the copse's cold temperature, significantly reducing the number of noticable spots that would appear if a frozen corpse was instantly warmed.
In the end, while there may be a few inconsistencies, they'll be so minute that you can't catch it without a thorough autopsy. The police wouldn't even know the body was frozen first to slow down rigor mortis.
Unlucky for our culprit, our rude little detective has an exceptionally keen attention to detail. She caught on to those tiny inconsistencies as well as the fact the corpse was submerged while touching the body all over and checking his mouth—examining the body on the stairs.
"How did the aquarium fall then?"
"Well, after removing the body from the fridge,he also removed a slab of ice he was freezing at the same time as the body then used to fridge as a container to reduce the water in aquarium...."
The next part was inspired from a simple science experiment on equilibrium involving a beam balance except the beam here was a box(aquarium)
"Once it was light enough to lift up, he lifted the aquarium moving it to the edge of the table with about 40% of it's body freely suspended in such a way that it almost falls to the ground but is perfectly balanced . He then placed the ice on the edge of the shelf and at the farther end was the stack of books with the aquarium on top of both. Then, he placed the body in the aquarium and added the water, after which he left disguised as a staff member once the final visitor left frustrated"
The staff uniforms were provided by them, ofcourse he would've gotten an extra for himself. I took a deep breath then continued
"With the extreme heat in the room, the ice slab gradually melted. Once it melted, the aquarium tilted moving some water and the body to the front. The change in the weight distribution caused the aquarium to fall and create the crime scene y'all witnessed. As proof this method was used, the inside of the fridge should react to luminol since the stabbed victim was placed there."
I drew a rough sketch of the setup and showed it to them
"The drawing sucks but I get it. And since our suspect sorta believed he was the one who actually killed the victim, once we got a confession out of him, the case would've ended there. Amazing!"
Sean chimed in with a certain degree of awe in his voice. It seems he'd found a newfound respect for Liz.
"You never fail to impress me with your deductions, little lady!"
The old man exclaimed, praising the pint sized detective who just got off the couch.
"Now that you're up to speed, let's work on catching our culprit and the third con artist while we're at it. We know our culprit will be meeting our suspect on the 18th so we can set a trap for him. That said, I'll really love to find him before then if at all possible"
"Yes ma'am!"
The two detectives replied saluting before they left the room. More importantly, she said she'll prefer it if they caught the culprit before the 18th.... Exactly what significance does that day hold aside from that other thing.
"I'll be heading to the station to assist with tracking the culprit. As for you perv, I suggest you head home"
"Seriously?! What happened to me being your Watson for this case? It's not over till we catch the culprit—"
"THE CASE IS ALREADY OVER... All that's left is to catch the culprit. A Watson isn't needed for this so go home"
"*Sigh—"
"Also, don't stalk me anymore. It's creepy"
She dropped that bombshell before leaving the room. Because I could read her mind, I knew her true intentions.... She was pushing me away like she did with everyone else and it was tearing her apart inside.
After all, the main reason she kept blackmailing me was because she desperately wanted a friend to hang out with.
Just what's her deal?! It's obvious she wants to be friends, not just with me but her classmates and the other members of the club so why? Why does she push them away and keep her friends at arm's length when it's obviously tearing her up inside?
I originally started this to find dirt on her but now I was after something more.... I wanted to know the reason behind the tears of this emotionless detective, and I wanted to help her.
That said, her guard is up right now so I won't be able to tail her tomorrow without getting caught. What a pain!
************
I ended up cancelling my plans to tail Lizbeth Andrews on Saturday and instead decided to shift it to the Tuesday the 17th. The idea was to make her think I've given up when she doesn't see me tailing her for three days then strike cautiously once her guard's down again.
I attended school on Monday primarily to confirm if Liz really didn't attend. As expected, she was absent— her one week self proclaimed leave of absence was in effect.
I was strolling down the hall with my headphones on trying to gather my thoughts when a familiar face called out from behind.
"Adam"
It was Sara. She was walking with library girl by her side.
"I-I forgot I had something to take care of. I'll see you later Sara, bye"
Library girl said in a slight panic, excusing herself. She might've forgiven me, but it's still hard for her to be around me. Sara put on her signature mischievous grin.
"Fufu, she still hates your guts I see"
"Leave me alone!"
"Your eyes look deader than usual today. Did you get dumped? Fufu"
" 'Deader' isn't a real word..... And the other thing, what the actual f**k?"
She started slapping my back repeatedly, her mischievous grin wider than usual
"Don't be modest... going on dates with two girls in the same week, look at you being a lady killer, fufu. Do you have a height fetish? Going out with a giant and then a pipsqueak, fufufu"
I was wondering what she meant but....
"Huh?! It wasn't like that!"
She stopped hitting my back and at the same time her expression changed from mischievous to a rather cold, yandere-like expression.
"I seriously hope so.... for your sake"
Her words sent a chill down my spine... I tried my best to maintain my composure and take control of the situation.
"Careful, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were head over heels in love with me"
She was struggling to maintain that yandere expression but it cracked in seconds. She let out a huge laugh
"Fufuhahahahahahahaha..... sorry, I....was...trying to.... tease you but I guess you saw right through me. But still...hahaha"
Quit laughing so hard! it was embarrassing for me to say. She finally stopped after a bit.
"Still though..... Lizbeth is a good girl at heart. She'll try to push you away but that's only because she cares and doesn't want you to get hurt..."
"Tell me what you know"
"It's not my story to tell, I'm afraid. She built walls around herself out fear but I'm sure if it's you, you might be able to reach her....so please, look after her for me"
The sincerity in her eyes made me turn my face away to hide my beet red face. It should be a crime for this psycho to be so cute!
"You don't have to make that request... I had every intention of meddling from the start"
"My hero"
"I'm obviously not doing it for you! Don't get the wrong idea"
"Fufu, if you say so"
We parted ways shortly after and my mind became fully invested in the puzzle that was Lizbeth Andrews.
My Tuesday started bright and early. I got myself ready and stationed myself at a hiding spot outside Lizbeth's house. If I want to make sure I don't lose her, it's best to pick up her trail from a guaranteed starting point.
About 2 hours later, she came out from her home and the tailing began. She went to a gaming cafe and played for two hours then headed to the shopping district and almost like I was cursed, she caught on to the fact I was tailing her...again.
I decided not to attempt running this time. Rather, I'll face her head on with gusto.
"I thought I told you to not to stalk me anymore perv"
"I'll buy you something to eat so please.... don't report me"
I pulled out my trump card— food bribery. The little detective accepted the bribe as expected and we headed to a cafe.
"Hey waiter, get me the most expensive sweet on the menu"
"Hey!"
"It's your treat.... What did you expect?"
"*Sigh— Fine"
She happily scarfed down the jumbo sized parfait before her..... Jumbo sized might be an understatement
"So, have you caught the con men yet?"
"No.... Dad decided the search was a waste of resources so we'll stake it all on the meeting tomorrow"
She said with a sunken expression— spending time with her has helped me identify the expressions on her indifferent face. I filled in the gaps in her statement by myself, her Dad's the captain of the police force.
"Can I come?"
"No!"
"Why? I'm still your Watson, I want to see that guy handcuffed and taken away in a police car. That's one of the best parts of a murder mystery"
"No means No. I'm not taking a useless perv like you for this operation, you'll just get in the way"
Her words were a little harsh but for good reason, I think. Her thoughts were screaming—crying "please... don't show up tomorrow. I'm begging you"
Ever since yesterday, I've been thinking— her monthly leave of absence and Sara covering for her, her 'wall' to keep people at arm's length, what she said about the 'cross she had to bear' , Sara's account and then this..... I was getting nowhere piecing things together in my head so I might as well throw it out there.
"Liz..... What is your curse?"
"Tch"
She knew what I was doing. By asking her out of the blue she'll reflexively think about it and I'll know. It seemed my hypothesis was right.... The root of all this was her curse, and what a dreadful one it is.
"I see....."
Because of her achievements, I foolishly assumed her curse helped her with solving cases— perhaps heightened thinking speed, ultra deduction, her keen attention to detail or maybe her advanced spacial awareness. However, those were all as a result of her natural talent cultivated through endless hours of hard work.
I guess somewhere in my mind I foolishly likened curses to superpowers— among those cursed, I really was one of the lucky ones.
There is no other way to explain it, Lizbeth Andrews truly was afflicted by a curse.
What did she do to deserve something this cruel? She's just a teenage girl. I started feeling angry and a little ashamed at myself for shutting myself in for 5 years because of my curse while Liz tried her best to live regardless. It was like Sara said back then, I really am pathetic.
Lizbeth Andrews, you truly have earned my respect. You've endured far more pain than anyone could've even imagined and you still look to the future with hope. You really are strong.
"*Sigh— Now that you know about my curse, you can see why I don't want you there"
"You're right. Knowing what I know, staying away is definitely the most logical decision...."
I slammed my hand on the table and pulled out an iconic line fit for this situation.
"...DAGA KOTOWARU!"
"Not the time or the place, dude"
"You know as well as I do it's the perfect line to refute your foolish request!"
"Foolish?"
"Now that I know, there's no way I can let you suffer that fate alone. I'll be there tomorrow and next day and the day after that! I'll be with you forever if that's what it takes! I swear on my name, one day, I will break your curse and set you free"
The customers in the cafe started staring at me thinking I was professing my love. Liz got up half annoyed and half embarrassed.
"DON'T SAY IT LIKE IT'S SO EASY! Besides, I got what I deserved. It's my fault I got cursed and now I'm living with the consequences"
"YOU CAN'T BLAME YOURSELF FOR WHAT HAPPENED BACK THEN! You did nothing wrong"
"BUT IT WAS MY FAULT!"
At that moment, the waiter showed up, telling us to keep it down. Liz took her bag and left.
"You'll actually have to find me tomorrow and it'll be a cold day in hell before I let that happen"
She said as she left the cafe fully intent on fighting her fate alone. Ofcourse, there's no way I'm just going to let that happen.
"Don't worry, I will. Count on it!"
***************
TL/N: image link for Adam's drawing on the aquarium setup
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AT2FuwNJWQn9IZJUAciTGgELjFHFXH8Y/view?usp=drivesdk
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