The Russian Case
After the dockyard case, finding answers on the gangs case seems a mere chance. I couldn't find anything on the said leader of the Vipers, Salvadore Cordero. His profile hasn't had enough data. But I'm pretty sure we're almost there.
"Hey Keirah! Ready for a new case!" Jones snapped out. "You really have enthusiasm finding those Vipers." He noted seeing my screen.
"I'm not only seizing this gang, there's still a bunch of gangster that we need to hold up." I said. "It's just these jerks were on my first lists."
"It's about your parents' case isn't it?" He said.
I shrugged. "Not really. I know that was a long time ago, and I know it won't matter anymore. Their case was unclosed but, they're gone, and maybe those Viper members were also dead, or old. I don't know."
"I just don't want to happen it to someone again. These mobsters are there, they live their life like they own this city. They don't care for everyone as long as they gain for their own."
"Hope you never lose that spirit Keirah." Jones commented.
I smiled. "Hey. I have an affirmation. Now let's go and see Chief."
"There you are Deputy Silvers and Jones." Chief King greeted as we enter. "We have a serious situation here, Anton "White Bear" Levin, the Russian Mafia's head, was killed in his restaurant!"
"A Mafia's head?" I widened my eyes.
"It is really serious." Jones noted.
"If we don't find the killer really soon, we'll have a bunch of bloodthirsty Russians on the loose! You two are our best shot. So handle this cautiously, but quickly!" Chief King ordered.
"I see, no pressure... Don't worry Chief, we will do our best. Right Keirah?" Jones grinned.
"Right you are!" I nodded.
"We should head straight to the Levin's before his henchmen mess up the crime scene. Let's go!" Jones said as we walked fast on the hallway.
"Copy that!" I said.
We arrived at the site shortly. The Levin's Resto seems a bit fancy but not that classy. We secure the restaurant, placing the yellow police tapes around. We head inside and found Anton's body on the corner of the counter. "What a mess... Levin has been reduced to a pulp! The killer obviously held serious grudges against him." Jones said. Seeing the whole bar, seems riot has happened here. "Still it could be a robbery that turned ugly. I've noticed that the register's empty." He added inspecting the counter. "Obviously. It is." I seconded.
"But they didn't steal his phone though." I added. Judging the phone, its screen was broke, maybe the impact of the smash from the killer got into it too. The forensics came and brought the body to the ambulance.
"The autopsy and that phone will hopefully tell us more about what happened here." He said.
I checked the phone if it still works and it turned on. Yet, it was password protected. "Dammit! The phone still works, but it's locked..." Jones said. "Lets see..." I tried to type down a certain password, first attempt was failed. Then I reached for my gadget to hack it. One more try and it worked! "Tada!" I grinned.
"Good job! You really are good at techs." His mouth agape. "Now that you've cracked the password, we can hand it over to Alex and see if he can salvage anything from it." He said.
"Well guys, I identified the phone as belonging to your victim, and you won't believe what I found on it!" Alex showed the photo and zoomed it in. "That's!" I agape. Jones widened his eyes. "What the... A picture of Tony Marconi?! And who's the man he's speaking to?" The man looks neatly dress in a white suit.
"No idea... I couldn't find the guy in our database." Alex said.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Marconi will be more than happy to tell us about his friend. Time to pay him a courtesy visit." Jones furrowed.
Just as we leave Alex, Jones' phone rang. "Yeah, What you get Nate?" Jones stops, and tapped the loudspeaker so I could also hear it. "I've counted 36 oddly shaped wounds on the body, but couldn't figure out what weapon was used." Nathan answered. "However, judging from the penetration angle, i can say the murderer is 6'0'' tall."
"Also, I've found some skin cells under his fingernails. Obviously, Anton died fighting."
"The sample is useless, but it shows your killer will have scratches!"
"Scratches? Interesting, it will make our killer's profiling a lot easier." Jones noted. "Thanks! Nathan!"
"So the killer was 6 ft. tall and could have a scratch." I stated.
"That would'nt be enough information but it might help." Jones said.
"I was also told that Levin had a son, Mikhail. We should let him know his father's dead, what do you think?" He said and I nodded.
Jones knocked on the door apartment of Mikhail Levin. The door opened, revealing a young man with a short blond hair, cold blue eyes and narrowed jaw. He wears a black jumper as inner and a hooded jacket. He wears a gold chain necklace which covers a scratch. A scratch?
Jones held out his badge. "Officer Jones and Silvers of GPD." He said.
"Mr Levin, I'm sorry to inform you that your father was found dead." He added.
Mikhail raised his brows. "What?!" He smirked. "AH! Good riddance! This SVOLOCHE sure didn't see that coming!"
That wasn't expected. Should he supposed to be in panic or whined for his father's death!
"Wow... You're a cold one for sure!" Jones noted.
"You must be having a hard time on him." I added.
"My father and I didn't get along. He never considered me worthy of anything. I bet that old bastard regrets not having me by his side, now." He furrowed.
"Any idea who could have killed him?" Jones asked.
"Not a clue. But you'd better find his killer before I do. Even if I hated him, he still was my father, and his death can't stay unavenged!" Mikhail said.
"Would you mind if we look around in your apartment?" Jones said.
"Go ahead. You won't find anything suspicious at all." He ushered us in.
We started to inspect the living room. I inspect the side of the fireplace. I found what seems to be a torn carton of pregnancy test. A pregnancy test box? I tried to figure it, if it's really what I think it is.
"Jones, this smells a clue to me." I said as he came.
"It looks like someone tried hard to make this unrecognizable..."
I tried to piece it back together and yes, my suspicion was right. It was pregnancy test box!
"Just as I thought!" I muttered.
"A pregnancy test box? Mikhail didn't mention having a girlfriend." Jones said loftily. "You know what, Keirah? It's a long shot, but we should ask Mikhail about her. Maybe she would be more willing to talk than him."
"Mikhail, you never mentioned you had a girlfriend?" Jones asked.
"Yeah, I've got a girlfriend, Eva. Not that it is any of your beeswax. She'll come back from work later if you want to bother her too." He answered.
"We will. What about these scratches on your chest?" Jones asked.
Mikhail smirked. "That's Eva's job... I like it rough!"
We contacted his girlfriend, Eva, for an interrogaton later. Eva Coleman was her name as Mikhail mentioned before we left. We head back to HQ and Ramirez approached us.
"There you are Officers! Marconi is waiting for you in the interrogation room." He said.
"Great! Let's go grill this Marconi!" Jones said.
"What do you want you two... Miss me already?" Marconi snickered as we entered.
"You shouldn't smile, it makes you all wrinkly. Now, who's the guy with you on this picture?" Jones said showing off the photo.
Marconi snorted. "What the... I don't remember, so now you can take it and shove it."
"You think you play coy with us! Derp! Stop snooping around! We know you're involve on Levin's death!" Jones hissed.
"Heh! You think so?! Do you have any evidence!" Marconi said.
"That photo we found was on Anton Levin's phone, surely you must have known Levin? Do you?" I asked.
"I am a busy man, I have talked to everyone around here in town, who knows!" He answered. "Now if you're done wasting my time, I gotta go."
"What a son of a..." I tapped Jones' back, holding him up. "Easy there cowboy! Chill down." I said.
"I know him better than he thinks, and he clearly didn't expect us to have this picture." Jones clenched on the photo. "I'm SURE he's got something to do with Levin's death!"
I grabbed the photo before it turned into a crunch. "Okay. Let's work it out!" I grinned, nudging him. "We better talked to Eva Coleman. She just arrived and waiting for us in the interrogation room. "That would be great!" He said.
We found her waiting in the room, she looks beautiful to be Mikhail's girl. An african american beauty, her long black hair fits her black pashmina or scarf and white dress. Though under that scarf seems to be a scratch?
"Anton is dead?" Eva's eyes widened, hearing the news.
"I take it you knew him well?" Jones noted.
Eva glanced. "What? No... We met only once, before Mikhail and him stopped seeing each other. Anton was a little extravagant, but... nice." She stuttered.
"Yeah... I bet he was, for a mobster. I'm sure he would have been the "perfect" grandfather... You're expecting, right? We found a pregnancy test box." Jones said.
Eva frowned. "That's none of your concern! So if you're done being nosy, I've got to go."
"Interesting reaction, don't you think Keirah? Compared to Mikhail, she seemed rather shaken by Anton's death." Jones commented. "Yeah, she maybe hiding something." I said.
"And did you see the scratches she's trying to hide with that scarf? It wouldn't surprise me if Mikhail was hitting her." He chuckled and I rolled my eyes.
"Well, Keirah, the identity and motives of Anton's killer are still a mystery. Even if we know Marconi is somehow involved, it's not much of a lead." Jones complained, shoving down the documents.
"There isn't much of the evidence... A height and a scratch, isn't much enough information, we couldn't find the murder weapon, yet." I noted.
"Hey guys, what about Bart Williams? He's been dealing close to your crime scene these days. He might know something!" We almost jump on Ramirez' remarks. We didn't even notice he was there.
"How long have you been there?" I asked.
"Uhh. Just a couple of seconds ago." Ramirez chuckled, rubbing his head. "So, why don't you ask Bart about snooping around the crime scene?"
"Oh, come on Ramirez... Bart is a pain in the ass. Everytime I see this kid, I come closer to losing it and whacking him." Jones furrowed.
"Why is he sneaking around the crime scene? Is he hiding something?" I wondered.
Jones sighed. "I guess we don't have any other option right now. Let's go, Keirah."
"I was just passing by, I know this place and I usually hang out here, then I saw these police lines around the restaurant, out of curiousity I just stopped by but I didn't barge in! I swear!" Bart waved his hands in defeat. "You better be honest kid. You said, you knew this place. So maybe you must knew this man?" Jones showed the photo.
"The guy on the picture? He was one of Levin's henchmen." Bart answered.
"You don't know his name, of course... Since you hang around here, did you see anything the night of the murder?" Jones said.
Bart placed his hand on his chin. "Maybe I did... I guess you could "refresh" my memory..."
"Bart, your ass is about to get a fresh memory of my foot. So cut the crap already!" Jones yell.
"Okay, okay, calm down! All I saw was someone dropping some stuff into the sewers outside the restaurant and running away." He explained.
"Sewers?" I wondered and looked around, I turned towards the side of the restaurant.
Jones followed. "Are you kidding me?" he muttered. I looked for a suitable entrance to the sewers. There was a manhole that could be a shortcut. "Could we open it?" I asked.
"Probably." Jones head to the car and get the crowbar. "This might work." He said and placed the crowbar to the hole. He lift it up with a full force. I peered in. "I swear, if this punk sent us off-track he's gonna get it!" He groaned. "I hate sewers... Let's try to find something in this mess before I get sick." he complained.
"Hopefully, we could." I noted.
"Hem... You go first, Keirah, I've got your back." He grinned.
I gave him a sharp glare."Seriously Jones? I will not do this alone!" I said.
"Don't worry, I'm at your back." He chuckled.
We step down through the stairs, the stench and the smell greeted us. We flinched on the smell, it was stronger than digging down in trash. I hate it. I tried to hold my breath. "We should start looking as fast as we can." I groaned. "You go ahead, I'll stay here to watch your back." He said, not following on the sewage. "Really, don't just stand there Jerk?" I said. "You're more handy in this." He pleaded. "Whatever!" I said and started the inspection. Wearing my gloves, I grossed out as I step on the puddled floors. We turned on the flashlight coz it's a bit dark. Trash and garbage are everywhere plus the smell, how am I supposed to search a clue here. I inspect with disgust. I could also hear Jones' muttered as he looked around. "Can't find anything on this mess." I said. "I swear, I'll gonna get sick." He answered.
I turned the flashlight on the sewage part and saw something glinting. As I walked towards it, I accidentally slipped on the puddle. Oh great! Not in the sewer! "Oh blast it!" I shouted, Jones quickly came and helped me up, laughing. "Not funny." I muttered. "What's the matter?" He chuckled. "I think I saw something here." I said and got up quickly. I took out what's seemed to be a golden watch? "Well done Keirah! See? I was right to let you do it! We should examine this gold watch and..." He placed the watch in the evidence bag.
"Eew... Yep, that's Levin's wallet, according to what's left of his ID..." He noted as I showed it to him.
I looked gross. "I never ever get back to that sewers again!" I muttered. "Neither do I." He added.
"You know, you probably should take a shower back at HQ..." He said as we head out. "After you let me do the dirty work?" I stared. "On the other hand, I might be. The stench seems to stick on the clothes either."
Back at the station, I started to examine the wallet after I cleaned up. Still, the wallet was so dirty so I had to put on a glove. I found something that looks familiar, an invoice? "What do you get?" Jones peered in. "An invoice... issued to the Blue Flamingo?" I said. "In Levin's wallet..." Jones noted. "That's Marconi's club!" I said. "I knew Marconi is somehow involve in this!" He furrowed. "There is a signature on it, but the ink is worn out. Let's show this invoice to Marconi, I'm curious to hear what he has to say about it."
"We found an invoice issued to your club in Levin's wallet, and I doubt HE signed it." Jones confronted Marconi. "Oh no, you got me..." Marconi said wryly. "I've done some business with the Russians, big deal. I'm gonna start thinking you really like me, if you keep coming to see me for no reason..."
"Ok, cut the crap "Mario"! We want to know whose signature this is!" Jones groaned.
Marconi let out a laugh. "I guess you'll have to find out yourselves then, pigs." He mocked.
Jones was fuming in rage so I pulled him out before he could do something unusual. "C'mon, we're just wasting our time here!" I muttered as I pulled him out.
"You want me to give you a chair to kick out?" I joked. Jones sighed. "He wanna play? We'll show him how it's done! Let's go back to HQ and analyze the crap out of this invoice!" He said as we head to the car.
"I'll drive. Much better if you chill down a bit." I said. He nodded. "Great idea Kei."
Alex took a few time to analyze the invoice but he did it. "Guys, the signature on the invoice belongs to a certain Dimitri Balanchine." Alex stated. "And this Dimitri must use a LOT of hand sanitizer. I've found traces of this product all over the paper! It's a detail, but it may be important." Grace entered. "That would be great info Grace." I said. "Dimitri might be involve on Levin's state." I added.
"You're right Keira, this Dimitri might be our man! I'll ask Ramirez to summon him for a little chat." Jones contacted Ramirez.
Dimitri sat calmly in a cross leg position as he wait. He's a sturdy man, wearing all white suit just like we saw on the photo. Does he liked the color white?
"Dimitri my name's David Jones, and this is Keirah Silvers." Jones greeted.
"You know why we called you here." He added. "Anton Levin was found dead on his restaurant." I could tell Dimitri smirks as Jones told him the details.
"What does it matter to me?" Dimitri said bluntly.
"We found a photo of you and Marconi, in Anton Levin's phone." I said. He looked at me, his deep blue eyes were deadpan but mocking. I also saw the scratches on his cheek. "Yes. That's me on the picture. So what? Marconi is a client like any other."
"Right! And I'm sure your former boss wasn't so happy to know you were doing business with his competitor." Jones said.
"Talking about business, that's none of yours, Officers." He raised his brow.
"One last thing... What are those scratches on your cheek?" Jones asked.
"Is it relevant to your subject?" He asked coldly.
"Not, unless you get that from fighting Anton." I said.
He smirks. "Such speculation you got there, Sweetie. But pity, I get these when I cut myself from shaving."
"Now, feel free to waste someone else's time." He said in a mocking tone.
Jones banged on his desk in disgust. "That's just it! These mobsters are getting on my nerves, giving me attitude like this!" He said fuming.
"Calm down. It won't help you solve the case." I said.
"Alright, alright... I'm calming down, ok? Geez..." He sighed. "Come on, let's go to the restaurant and see if we can dig up anything about Dimitri's "business"."
"That would be a good idea."
We head back to Levin's resto before night time. Jones searched on the counter while I inspect the tables. I looked underneath it and found a notebook placed under the table cloth. "A ledger?" I noted as I scanned the pages revealing some bank account. "A-HA! I'm sure this ledger will expose some dirty secrets. All entries are coded, but I'm sure Alex will crack it!" Jones said. "As for this bloody napkin I found under the counter, it may reveal something interesting!" he added. "Well done Deputy!"
We gave the ledger to Alex for some analysis. While I examine the bloody napkin. I found out to be different. "This blood had a pinkish color. Strange." I noted.
"Yes, you're right. Let's hand it over to Grace." He said, taking it.
"There you are!" Alex said. "It took me some time and a few headaches, but I've cracked the ledger's code. It's a list of orders and deliveries made by the Levin's restaurant." He announced.
"It looks like someone forged some of the ledger entries to cover up irregular transactions. What's more, the fake entries writing is the same as the one on invoice." he added.
"I knew it! Dimitri was scheming with Marconi against Levin, who found out. Let's go put that under Marconi's nose and see where it goes." Jones said.
"Mr. Marconi, we found your transaction entries to Anton's ledger. You and Dimitri seems really have good arrangements?" I asked.
"Your damn book proves nothing, Deputy." Marconi said coldly.
"Oh but it does! I don't know yet what your deal with Dimitri was all about, but Levin sure didn't like it!" Jones sneered. "Jones!" I sighed. I told him to let me do the chat this time, I know for sure this might not end up so good.
"Russian vodka and caviar at a "fair" price for my club, that's it. Nothing illegal in that. What Anton thought about it was Dimitri's concern." He snorted.
Jones eyed him. "Right... Because you would never even think about disposing of a reluctant business partner..."
"Don't be a smartass! You'll never have anything against me, and you know it!" Marconi said wryly.
It surprise me, if one day Jones had a good mood after talking to Marconi, just like earlier, Jones is much pissed even before. "The only thing that disgusts me more than Marconi is this disinfectant scent he carries around!" He complained. "I told you, to let me talk to him. You always end up pissed when you talked to him." I said.
"By the way, I never thought you dislike hand sanitizers?" I raised my brow.
"Not all of them. But I hate how its smells." He said.
"Have you noticed the scratches on his chest? And I'm sure these don't come from bad shaving skills..." He noted. "Anyway, I don't care what he says. We won't let him off the hook as easily as he thinks, right Keirah?"
We head back to the lab to see what Grace found out on the sample. While we wait, I inspect the gold watch we found on the sewers, it still looks good, for a second someone will be lucky to find this watch. I noticed some bit of a hair strand stuck around its bracelet. I carefully tweaked it out and placed it on the pouch. This might be a clue. "Here, a glimpse of hope maybe." I said handing the evidence pouch. "Nice catch. Of course, considering where we found the watch, this strand of hair could be anybody's..." He said.
"Judging by Anton, obviously, it wasn't from him." I sneered.
"But let's send it to Grace for analysis. We may be lucky!"
Just before we head to her lab, Grace came. "Hi!" she greeted.
"Nice timing! We're just heading to your lab." Jones inquired. "What do you get?"
"Yes. Not only does the blood on this napkin belong to your victim... But it also contains traces of hand sanitizer! The murderer must have used some to wipe his hands!" Grace answered.
"Great... Just about everyone in town uses this product." Jones muttered.
"We also would like to take a look at this hair strand we found on the watch." I said.
"Okay. This won't take long." Grace smiled.
"Thanks!" I said.
"Keirah, I'm positive the strand of hair you found on the watch belongs to an African-american woman!" Grace came in later.
"Keirah, that can't be a coincidence! I'm sure this is Eva Coleman's hair!" Jones glanced.
"If that's the case, she must have come into close contact with the victim for her hair to get stuck in his watch." Grace said.
"Might be, Eva may be hanging around with Anton. She lied to us!" I added.
"She definitely knew Levin better than she made us believe. Let's confront her!" Jones said.
"We've got proof you knew Levin more than you claimed... It's time to tell the truth, Eva." Jones stated.
Eva frowned. "That's true..."
"We have a proof, then how did your hair strand end up on Anton's watch?" I asked. Her eyes widened. "Care to tell what really is your relationship with Anton?"
She looked down. "Anton and I were having... an affair. It's his child I'm expecting."
"That's wasn't I expected!" Jones noted.
"I told him the day he died, but Mikhail doesn't know any of this. I had planned to leave him for Anton, but now..." Eva cried.
"This case is really getting sordid..." Jones shakes his head. "Should we tell Mikhail about it? And, Mikhail didn't knew? All this time?" I said.
"No use speaking to Mikhail about this for now though. Even if he knew, I doubt he would say anything until we can prove it." Jones said.
"We've made some progress Keirah. Not only do we know that Marconi and Dimitri had motives to kill Levin..." Jones noted.
"But it has become clear that Mikhail also had a good reason to do it." He added.
"What if he knows about it? He just keeping it." I crossed my arms.
"I don't know KEi." He sighed. "However, we still have few elements. Maybe we should take a closer look at Mikhail's place."
"Got it." I nodded, I took my jacket and we head outside.
"I may also have a plan to make Dimitri spill the beans!" He said as he start up the car. "Really? You think it'll work." I said. "Hopefully." He pursed his lip then manuevered the car.
"What now?" Mikhail complained. "We would like to check your place for some investigation." I said. He furrowed and let us in. I smell something familiar as we came in. I glanced up to Mikhail who's staring on us. That smell was like some kind of a hand sanitizer. I looked around as Jones proceed to inspect the fireplace. I looked around the entire living room and notice a hand sanitizer on the table. JAckpot! I take it and open it to smell. It smell was the same as MArconi's and Dimitri. "Jones looks like our guys were using the same brand of hand sanitizer." I muttered. I handed him the sanitizer and he tried to smell it. "Aarrgh! Yup that could be." He flinched.
"Now we know that Mikhail and Eva both use hand sanitizer, but that's no big help." He murmured.
"Maybe this old card will tell us more if we can salvage the phone number from it." He said, waving out the card he found. "Nice catch." I said.
"Well, I hope you've found anything suspicous!" Mikhail's words were filled with derision.
"Well, could be." Jones said. "Stick around." He added as we leave.
"Can you work out anything from this card?" He asked.
"My pleasure." I smiled and take the card.
I jotted down the number I've got from the card and hand it to Jones. "Here's what I've got." I said. "Great job with this card, Keirah! We've got our phone number! Now let's see if Alex can find it in the database." He added and we head back to HQ.
"The evidence leads to nowhere. I've check the info and almost all our guys have the preferences." I noted and slapped down the papers on the desk. "Well, more evidence might be lead to one of them soon. Hopefully, Alex will get the answer on the number you've got." Jones said.
"There you are guys!" Alex peered on the desk. "Hey, speaking of the genius, what do you get?" Jones grinned.
"Jones, you won't believe this: the phone number you gave me is Bart Williams'!" Alex raised his brows, shaking his head. We glanced up. "Bart Williams!" Jones yelled. "That's surprising." I noted.
Jones is fuming. "Sneaky little bastard. This time I'm kicking his ass! Keirah, let's go see him. You drive!" He banged his desk.
"Geez. Jones chill out." I said and followed him.
"We found your phone number at Mikhail's! I swear Bart, THIS is the last time you ever lie to me!" Jones hissed.
Bart waved his hands, backing away. "Wow, easy now! Mikhail is one of my best clients, I wasn't going to tell on him like that." He snorted.
Jones puckered his brows. "I don't give a crap! You speak now or I'm ending your business once and for all!" He yelled.
"Ok, ok! Mikhail called me the other day, he was freaking out about his girlfriend's affair and needed a fix to relax." Bart said.
"So Mikhail knew after all." I said, furrowing.
Jones pursed his lips. "Yes he did. Eva was wrong. He won't able to deny it now, we should go talk to him. C'mon Keirah lets give him a visit!"
Mikhail wears a grim look as Jones told everything we found out. "She cheated on me with my own father! He even got her pregnant! How would you react if it happened to you?!" he asked surly.
"I would go pretty mad I guess. Maybe enough to do something I'd regret..." Jones answered.
"You bet I was at first! But it wasn't her fault. My father was a sick bastard, he made her do this!" Mikhail said with dread. "Be sure I'd gladly thank the guy that took him out!" I noticed a slight smirk on his face.
"What do you think?" I asked as we get in the car.
He sighed. "I don't know Keirah. These jerks are getting on my nerves already."
"Mikhail might have a good motive to kill Anton though, but there's not much evidence if he really killed him." I said. "So what now?"
"Where going to have a little chat to Dimitri. Might as well get him talk." He said and maneuvered the car.
"Ah! Here comes the underdog." Dimitri made a sarky remarked. "We had a little chat with your friend Marconi. He sold you out so fast we could hardly keep up!" Jones said wryly.
Dimitri raised his glorious eyebrow. "Did you seriously think I'd fall for that? Marconi knows better than that." He smirked.
"Whatever you say, we know of your deal with him. Anton was an obstacle you had to get rid of." Jones furrowed.
"Did I want his position? Yes. Did his death make my day? Definitely." Dimitri stated directly. Waving his hands gracefully.
"Now, Anton was dead, and seems your plans are working smoothly." I glared. I started to hate this guy.
He stared down at me, and made a crooked smile. "Indeed. Deary."
"But such a bloodshed? I'm more subtle when I "operate", and I'm definitely not stupid enough to leave a trail." he sneered.
"Damn this psychopath! Too smart for us, huh? I'm ready to take another dip in the sewers to prove him wrong!" Jones clenched.
"Wait? Really?" I scoffed.
"Yeah, let's go!" He said.
I would rather dig up a trash bin than to search through this sewer, but Jones was right, maybe we could find some answers here. I tried to hold up my breath as we searched through. And as we're getting close on the gutter the smell is getting stronger. "We've searched all over the sewage. Yet we found nothing." He sighed, covering his nose with his sleeve.
"Keep searching Jones!" I said as I went on the gutter.
Aargh. I groaned as I shoved off the litters flooded down. Just as I pushed down the trashes, I been scratch by something underneath. "Ouch!" I groaned as I flinched out my hand.
"What happened? Are you okay?" Jones came in.
"Yeah, I think." I waved my hand, shoving the pain off, good thing of wearing gloves. "Something got me." I said and digging up the thing. It was a meat tenderizer. "This wasn't looked like it's been here for over the years. It still looks good." I said.
"Great, we've got something at last! This meat tenderizer looks like it could be our murder weapon!" He noted, placing the tenderizer on the evidence bag.
"Look!" I said, picking up a gold chain.
" And there is a chance this gold chain belongs to the killer. Great job Keirah! Let's go back to the lab!"
We send the tenderizer to Nathan. I took a closer look on the gold chain and found a blood spots. "Jones, I better check out this blood sample." I said.
"Good idea Kei." he said.
"Here." I handed him the samples.
"Good job Keirah, this blood sample you found may lead us to the gold chain's owner!" Jones noted.
"Might as well be." I nodded.
While we wait for Grace to analyze the blood sample. Nathan came in with the results. "I have good news, and a bad news." Nathan said. "Okay bad news first." Jones cocked his head. "Unfortunately, the sewage washed off any fingerprints or usable sample from this meat tenderizer." Nathan answered. "Well that will be." Jones sighed.
"What's the good news?" I asked.
"The good news is, it matches Anton's wounds perfectly. You've found the murder weapon, good job!" Nathan grinned.
"Yeah that's great." Jones jeered.
"The blood you found on the chain belongs to the victim. However, its diameter is too small for Levin's neck!" We turned to see Grace grinning. "Which means the necklace belongs to the killer." I noted. "He must have ripped it off his killer's neck during the fight!" Grace nodded.
"Maybe." I smiled.
"Now this is all getting good. Thanks Nate and Grace." Jones said and we head back to HQ.
Jones pursed his lips, thinking. "I'm sure we're this close to solving this case, Keirah, but I don't know where to look for the last pieces of the puzzle..."
"Of course. If only we're able to get the fingerprints, we may have the lead to the killer by now." I said. "But that gold chain, Grace said the killer might be wearing those..."
I furrowed. "Only Mikhail and Marconi matches that evidence..."
"Hey guys, I may have something for you! Some Levin's neighbor called the night of the murder to complain about a fight!" We turned as Ramirez called.
"We could analyze the record, you know, like they do on TV!" He added.
"You kidding?! You had this from the beginning and only tell us now?!" Jones said in a lofty voice.
Ramirez shrugged. "It was an old woman yelling about a commies invasion! And you told me not to bother you with crazy people stuff..." he waves his hands.
Jones sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Okay, let's see it."
We send the record to Alex to scrutinize it. It took him some time to view the record, for it was a bit blurry and indistinctive.
"Keirah, Jones, both of you owe me a round on this one! I've cleaned the record and isolated two voices in the background, as well as fighting sounds." Alex called out. We watch the remaining footage. It was too blurry and dark but their voices could be heard as they fight.
"Both people on the tape were speaking Russian. Considering this happened right before Anton was killed... I can tell you with certainty that your killer speaks Russian!" Alex said.
"As far as we know, only Mikhail and Dimitri do! That's our missing piece of the puzzle, Keirah!" Jones grinned. I nodded and followed him, it's time put arrest on that Killer.
"We know you killed your father after discovering he had an affair with Eva, Mikhail. I guess it's not the kind of "competition" you expected from him, right?" Jones said.
Mikhail furrowed. "White Bear" my butt! My father was a pig! It wasn't enough for him to disown me, he had to make Eva his b*]ch!" Mikhail gritted.
Jones held out the cuffs. "All you've got to worry about now, is not be your prison mate's b*]ch!" he said.
"You're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a Court of Law..." He locked it up around his wrist.
Judge halls raps the gavel as the audience turns their attention. "Now that all elements have been reviewed, does the defense have anything to say?"
Standing at the front of the hall, Mikhail smirked. "That swine can't touch my girl anymore where he is now, nothing else matters."
"I loved him, you sick bastard! He was a real man, not a whiny kid like you!" Eva cried.
Mikhail widened his eyes. "WHAT?! How can you say that?! You are a...!"
"SILENCE, both of you! You clearly have no regrets for what you've done Mr Levin." Judge Hall stated.
"This Court thereby sentences you to 23 years in prison for the murder of Anton Levin." She read the verdict. "Officers, take this man away! Court is adjourned!"
"That was... weird, don't you think Keirah?" Jones said as we head out of the hall.
I furrowed. "Why?"
"I really thought we would get Marconi this time..." He pouted.
""Bravo" Officers!" We turned seeing the crooked smiling Dimitri. "You did a great job here, and a big favor to me..." He gave a slow clap.
"Careful Balanchine! We'll keep a close eye on you." Jones hissed.
"Sure. You two do that." He grinned scornfully and left.
Jones turned his back and sighed. "Come on Keirah, let's get out of here. I really could use a beer right now."
"So beer is the answer when you're stressed out." I teased.
"Hey, it's much better than smoking." He shrugged.
"Right." I rolled my eyes.
"What do you say, the first round is on you!" He smiled.
"Really?" I groaned. He pouted. "Alright! The rest will be yours!" I smirked.