"Ema…wait, can you say that again? I think I missed you."

"There's no way you missed me. You were paying full attention." Ema stated, not even attempting to hide her exasperation.

Apollo bit his lip. There was no way. "Please, Ema. I really think I misheard."

"Well, whatever makes you happy." She picked another snackoo and held it between her fingers, inspecting the chocolate casing on it with an unreasonable amount of interest. "Damien Nascent. Do you need me to say it again? I know this is a records company, but it's not those kind of records."

"No, it's not that. You don't understand…" Apollo paused for a minute, trying to work it out. This was making absolutely no sense. This Damien Nascent person…when on earth did he even appear in the picture?

"You're wondering how he fits in, aren't you?" Ema offered. Apollo nodded swiftly, too caught up in the scenario to be curious about how she had managed to know exactly what he was thinking. "When we got his fingerprints, we did some further exploration. He was the only employee present during the time of the murder. He claimed he was sleeping on the job when it happened—that's pretty funny, considering he really botched his cover up. I bet the job he was talking about was this one." She smirked, shaking her head. "It was a really poor excuse. The guy said he left right after finishing his shift without even bothering to check with the boss. As if he couldn't be more obvious about it."

"Yeah…you're right, that is really obvious." Apollo said, furrowing his brow. Everything was fitting together. Claiming he was asleep in the office at the time of the murder, leaving without saying a single word to the boss, having his fingerprints all over the murder weapon…Apollo could see the entire situation reconstructing in his mind, with Damien Nascent being a vital addition to everything that had been discovered for a fact. "I get it now. He must have been the only one on the late shift, so he brought a gun with him and killed the boss. Then he might have dropped the gun because he was rushing and couldn't pick it up in the dark, so he decided to just leave and lie about it."

"So basically what I told you in the beginning. This guy shot the boss and left without cleaning up." Ema let out a deep breath. "Sloppy, sloppy."

"There's just a few things I don't understand." Apollo said, running a hand through his hair. It already added up. There was nothing else for him to find, and it was quite a clear cut case. Suddenly, he felt extremely frustrated. "Why am I even here?"

"What do you mean? You're not investigating? I thought that guy was your secretary or something." Ema said. Apollo shook his head vigorously.

"No, no, Damien Nascent isn't our secretary. Aden Guile is." Apollo tapped his foot in his agitation and put a hand on his chin. "Why did they even arrest Aden? This Nascent person has a lot more evidence connecting him to the murder than Aden does. Wait…there's nothing linking Aden to the murder…is there?"

Ema dug around in her plastic bag for a snackoo. "Well, not that I know of. Except…"

"Except? Except what?"

Upon finding no snackoos left, she sighed and picked up a small crumb left in the bag before stuffing it in her pocket. "I think the some detectives mentioned something about this when they were telling me to scan the entire room for traces of DNA and identification. They said I should be really careful because they suspected two people. Apparently your secretary used to work here."

Apollo scoffed. "Come on. Really? Just because he worked there? That's pretty insubstantial considering how the other guy was right there—"

Ema rummaged in her other pocket and pulled out a brand new pack of snackoos, much to Apollo's dismay. He had thought that he would finally be able to ask her more about the case without the fear of getting smacked again. "There's something else, if you would let me finish. When Damien Nascent was arrested, he apparently kept screaming about how he'd been framed by his friend or something along those lines. Turns out his friend was your…Aden Guile person. Anyway, the head honcho of the police department found that a bit fishy, so he thought it'd be better if they accused Aden first."

"Just because he thought it was suspicious? Why would he—" Apollo paused, pondering it for a moment. "Oh. I see. If Aden's proven innocent in the trial, then it proves that there was no plot like that. If Nascent manages to convince them that Aden was part of a larger thing, then…"

Ema nodded and immediately picked up. "Then Damien Nascent goes free. You're on to something."

Keeping that idea in mind, Apollo forced himself to focus. Damien Nascent was the murderer. That much was already established. Aden had been taken into custody because Nascent wanted to frame him from the murder by claiming there was a greater conspiracy at hand.

But…why?

Ema specifically said that Nascent said he was Aden's friend when he was being dragged off. Was that to keep the illusion that he'd been betrayed? Probably.

"Hey, Apollo."

Also, why kill the boss of this company in the first place? Especially such a badly conducted murder. It was almost like he tried to get caught.

"Hello, Apollo?"

If it was premeditated, then it's a pretty poor show of it. But he must have brought the gun that day with a plan, and he immediately accused Aden when he was caught, so…

"I got it!"

Apollo snapped his fingers just as Ema was preparing to throw another snackoo, and she reluctantly ate it when his eyes flicked up to meet her own.

Yes, that was a possibility. And with all the evidence Nascent had set up for himself, it would be far easier to accuse him with this theory—

"Are you just going to stand there looking excited?" Ema asked in the driest tone imaginable. Apollo quickly obliged her.

"All right. I have a theory." Apollo said, remembering the scenario again. "Damien Nascent did kill the boss, but he didn't drop the gun out of panic. I think he wanted to get caught so he could then accuse Aden, have Aden be brought to court under suspicion, and then use an extra piece of evidence to frame Aden for the murder. No one would suspect Nascent because he'll be the one that everyone thinks got framed. Do you get it?"

Ema hesitated, seeming as though she was sorting through everything he just said. "Well, even though you were speaking pretty fast, I guess. Damien Nascent wants to frame your guy by acting like he was framed."

"Yeah! That's it!"

"All right. That does seem pretty logical." Ema admitted, offering him a snackoo. He respectfully declined, although it was quite a rare occasion where she would share her food with anyone. "There's just one thing…if Nascent has a piece of evidence or made up logic that you don't know, you're going to have to find something that deliberately points out that Damien Nascent is the killer."

"Oh…right. A piece of evidence…" Apollo looked around the room and at the chair in front of them, turning back to Ema. "Looks like this is the best place to start."

Ema raised her eyebrows. "You think?"

"Do you want to help me out? You said you analyzed this place already, so you could give me more information on some stuff."

Ema hesitated for an instance. Apollo was slightly thrown off by her silence when he realized that it had been a very long time since they had worked together—in fact, the first time she had spoken to him had been as a result of Mr. Wright, not from his own volition. She scrutinized him for a moment, munching very slowly on her snackoo in contemplation of the request.

After the moment had turned into what seemed to be close to an eternity, she finally shrugged noncommittally. "Investigate away. I'll follow you around, I guess."

"Thanks." Apollo breathed, feeling grateful that Ema decided to pitch in. Now things wouldn't be as difficult to figure out…especially with two brains working together. He looked at the dark stain on the chair first, as it was right in front of the both of them. "So that's the boss's blood?"

"Yeah. His name was Victor Timon. People used to refer to him as Mr. Vic." Ema informed. Her eyes brightened, and she slid on her goggles. "Just look at that stuff glow! It's a really nice find, isn't it?"

"Um…I guess…for you…" Apollo said uncomfortably, watching her look at the blood with complete amazement. He moved away from the chair to the wall, where he recalled where the bullet hole was, and studied it amongst the investigators. "Hey, why are you guys looking at this bullet hole so much? What's so important about it?"

"Helps us find the kind of bullet that was used." Ema replied, speaking up from a little ways behind him. He guessed she was still looking at the blood.

"How exactly is that useful? You have the gun."

"But the gun doesn't tell us the direction of the bullet, how tall the shooter could have been, or whether it was a special type of bullet." Ema clarified. "Everything matters in a crime scene."

"If you say so."

After a few more minutes of hopeless investigating, Apollo almost felt like there was nothing else to be gleaned here. But where else could he search? This was the main crime scene—there had to be something the criminal had forgotten! Going up to the bullet holes for the third time, much to the annoyance of the investigators, he stared at it and shook his head.

"You've been there already." Ema piped up. Apollo threw his head back and ran a hand through his hair.

"I know, I know, it's just…" Apollo opened his eyes. "I can't seem to—woah. All right."

"Why do you keep cutting yourself off?" Ema asked, before her eyes followed his gaze. "Oh. Whoa."

They looked up at it for a few seconds, before staring at each other.

Apollo spoke first.

"I can't believe…"

"How did they miss…"

"It's right there…"

"We never even bothered to check…"

"The goddamn security camera."

They were silent for a few seconds.

"I think I'm going to need new goggles." Ema said.

"No kidding." Apollo shook his head, refraining from smacking his head. All the evidence he would ever need was right in front of him! A rush of adrenaline coursed through his system. Well, at least he had found it now. He turned to Ema purposefully, a new idea lighting in his mind. "Where's the security room? There's got to be a feed on these cameras."

"Right. I'll ask around." Ema started.

"No time for that." Apollo grabbed her hand. "Let's just try to find it as quickly as possible. Camera 3…okay. We have to see what's on there!"

Before she could say anything in return, he was suddenly the one dragging her with him, darting in and out of rooms to find the right place. He had a lead, he had a lead…the investigators all stared at him rather strangely as he accidentally revisited a few rooms, but he didn't really care. There weren't that many rooms in this building, anyway…

Eventually, they did burst into the right room, just as Ema was going to tell him off for wasting so much time running around rather than simply asking in the first place. A few monitors were hooked up to a computer, and some technicians were gathered around it, analyzing the files.

"Excuse me, can I take a look at that?" Apollo said, pushing through them and grabbing the mouse for himself. The technicians looked at him disapprovingly, then at Ema when she accidentally let a cough slip by her, labeling her as the source for this disturbance based on her badge. She waved a hand awkwardly.

"Urgent evidence." she tried to explain. The technicians still seemed offended. "And…it's break, too. Your division leader said you guys can have a break. We're here to take over."

That pacified them far more than the truth. Apollo shot a look at her for lying, but the technicians were already thanking her gratefully for the news and exiting rapidly out the door, leaving them the only ones in the room. She rolled her eyes at Apollo's look.

"What? I'm not getting in a fight with them over you." She gestured back to the screen before he could object. "Find anything?"

"One second, and…yes. Here are the cameras from a few nights ago. What was it? Camera 3, right." He clicked on it. "This should be able to show us exactly what happened in the room that night…"

It was dark.

It remained dark.

There was no sound.

One minute.

"Um, I think there's nothing on the—"

"Shhh." Apollo continued to look at the screen, holding up a hand at Ema. Not yet. This was his chance.

Dark.

Quiet.

Two more minutes.

Nothing.

Still nothing.

It was nearing four minutes.

"Apollo, that passed the estimated time of the murder."

He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Seven minutes.

"Okay, there is definitely nothing on that camera. It was probably off."

Apollo finally gave in. He hung his head and resisted the urge to slam a hand on the desk. Another possibility, gone.

"You're right. There's nothing on there. But it wasn't off." Apollo shifted back to the monitor containing all five cameras, clicking on another one for that night. Camera 1. A feed showed up for an empty room filled with filing cabinets—one they had walked into recently. "Someone wiped the camera records for that specific time. So that person must know how to control the security programs on the computers of the company." He clicked another one, finding the black screen again. Camera 2. "Camera 2. Where's camera 2? What room?"

"There was a camera in the entrance room, with all the desks for the employees. It would make sense if that was blacked out." Ema said. "Damien Nascent said he was sleeping there."

"Right, right. We'll check it on our way out." He clicked Camera 4. An empty storage room. Camera 5. A shot of the front of the company. "There's nothing left." He clenched his hand into a fist. "He erased everything…"

Suddenly, a figure appeared on screen on Camera 5 before disappearing out of range.

Apollo started, and bent over the computer. Ema leaned over his shoulder, her eyes wide.

Gotcha.

He replayed that portion of the tape. A man in a gray hoodie walked out the front door of the company, his hands shoved in his pockets. They could only see the back of him, for his hood was up and it obscured his face, and he had a very closed stance that seemed to cave in on itself. Apollo hovered the mouse over the time stamp in the corner of the video. He nudged Ema but continued to remain transfixed on the screen as he rewinded it again.

"How does that look?"

She nibbled on another snackoo, her eyes brightening. "That's just a few minutes after the estimated time of the murder."

Found him.

"All right. That's…that's great." He quickly added it to his evidence record among all the other things Ema had told him, his heart racing. He felt dizzy from the discovery, incredulous at the sheer fortuitousness of it. "This is it. The evidence we need."

"That was quick. And lucky, too." Ema said, laughing nervously. She also seemed to be affected by disbelief. "You really have everything for the case now? In one visit?"

Apollo considered her words. Everything? Most of it, at least. But there was still something left. "Not quite. Thanks for the help, but I'm going to be heading to the detention center. I have to speak with Aden right now."

Ema gulped in the middle of eating a snackoo, bewildered at his statement. "You need something else? But you just got a tape, and actual fingerprints on the gun! What else could you need?"

Apollo straightened, turning towards the door. Yes, it was true that he had all the physical evidence…but there was one more component. And it would tie the whole case together.

"I'll ask Aden about his so-called friend, Damien Nascent. And maybe, with enough information…I'll find the motive of the murderer himself."