The news had been swarmed with some of the usual topics the following day. Things like burglary, gang violence and police chasing criminals down the highway at midnight. Usual topics.
Murder was also pretty normal in the town but what made it unusual was the circumstances.
Professor Utonium was at the table, looking through the newspaper. On the front page was an article detailing the murder of Fuzzy Lumpkins. He knew about the guy in previous newspapers and he was known for being rather hostile. It seemed odd that anyone would get close enough to lay a finger on him.
But what was weirder was that the police described a pink-eyed little girl who told them about the death. There was a sketch of her on the next page and to him, it was the cutest little thing he had ever seen. The girl looked no older than the kindergartener who used to live next door to him.
How did she know about the murder? Was she related to Fuzzy? By the description, it didn't seem like the case. Maybe she was adopted by him?
Utonium continued to read and frowned when it had stated that the girl disappeared and no one had seen her since. However, there was a two thousand dollar reward to bring her back to the station for questioning.
He sat the paper down and felt a pit form into his stomach. Why? Whoever killed Fuzzy got a criminal off the street! He should be just a little bit happy, even if there are other criminals out there. Why was he suddenly feeling so uneasy?
He sipped his coffee and stared at the newspaper.
Suddenly, a knock was heard from his door. He raised an eyebrow and rose from his seat before striding to the entrance. He opened it up and was greeted to a plump faced woman with a kind smile.
"Good morning." she greeted. "I'm Margaret Keane. I just moved in next door."
He nodded, peering to the left side of his house to see movers bringing furniture in. He smiled at her and shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Professor Utonium." he then added. "Welcome to Townsville!"
"Oh, I have been in the area for a while now. Townsville isn't new to me. I just needed...a change of scenery from my old home. That and...I'm no longer allowed to live there anymore."
"Where do you work if you don't mind me asking?"
"Townsville orphanage. The only one in the city. We ran out of kids over there so my boss fired all of the workers."
Utonium let out a sigh. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's quite alright."
"Where do you work now?"
"I'm the librarian's assistant. At the Townsville library. The salary isn't much compared to my old job but it pays the bills."
They nodded before shifting into silence. After a while, she asked.
"Did you see the news? Crazy right?"
"Yeah, the state of Lumpkins' body was...horrendous. They said that he looked like he had been cut to pieces with a thin beacon of light."
"And there was so much ammunition on the ground." Keane added, hand to her cheek. "He used two boxes of bullets. About what, one hundred bullets?"
The professor nodded. "I wonder who he was trying to shoot…?"
"Whoever had trespassed."
Utonium scratched his chin. The more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. It didn't make sense from the get-go but he was starting to dive into it more thanks to Keane.
He kind of missed doing this kind of thing with Jo. He'll need to go see him sometime soon.
"According to what was stated in the article, the shell casings of the bullets were cracked." he stated. "It was as if they had fallen from a good distance in the air. But that would mean the person who murdered him was huge…"
"They were also all over the place." Keane let out a chuckle. "It was as if the killer could fly!"
Utonium's eyes were as wide as saucers.
"What next, you're gonna tell me that beacon of light was someone's-"
"Laser eyes." he finished, still in a state of shock.
She nodded, her smile disappearing as a look of concern replaced it. "Uh...are you okay Profess-"
"I apologize Miss Keane but I have to go." he said rather quickly. "It was very nice to meet you and...it was very nice chatting but I-"
"Oh...uh okay." she smiled sheepishly before waving. "I-I hope we can talk again soon..."
He nodded once before shutting the door.
He knew he should've checked on the chemical when Jo left. He had a feeling the timing of him leaving and getting into a relationship was all off. He just had to be so naive, thinking that his friend wouldn't do this. His friend wouldn't betray him like this. They had made the chemical together. Surely he didn't just take it all for himself.
Utonium could feel hot tears stinging his eyes as he rushed down the stairs. So many emotions were running through him after every step. Betrayed, anger, fear, sadness. So many different ways to feel.
He made it to the basement and grabbed the beaker. From afar, it looked exactly the same as the chemical. But taking a closer look at it, he saw that it looked more watery that how it was supposed to be. He put a sample of it under the microscope and confirmed it to be just juice and dye.
Now, he was starting to see the connections. Lumpkin's cause of death, the pink eyed girl, bullets pointed towards the sky.
Jo had the chemical and he had been using it on children.