CHAPTER 7: HEROES AND VILLAIN
"Officers! Jake Stuart was found dead on his apartment. I need you to check out the crime scene." Chief King ordered.
"We're on it Sir!" Jones grinned. "Let's go!" I nodded, following him.
We arrived at Jake's apartment shortly. We saw Nathan there, together with his forensic team.
"What are you doing here Nate? Missing the field?" Jones teased.
"I got bored in the lab, so I decided to investigate here, for a difference." Nathan said.
"What do you get?" I asked.
"Judging by the body, it looks like the estimated time of his death was about 14 hours." He answered.
I peered down on the body, this is unusual. His eyes were open. He looks struggling for something.
We'll gonna wait for the autopsy results." I said as the forensics take out the body. I look around the room, some of the snacks are on the table, two large lcd monitor on his desk.
"Jake Stuart, aka Lord Raegbond... Huh, what a name." Jones noted, scanning the documents. "He was known to be an internet troll, a hacker?" He added.
"For a hacker, he's also a gamer." I said, showing Jones some of the game installers I found.
I also found his laptop, beside it, was a card, a gift card? To whom it was from? It doesn't have the sender's address. "I have a bad feeling on this card, who send this? If Jake is ever gonna send this card, then why does it looked like someone just opened it?" I stated.
"Clearly, he's the one who opened the card. And you're right Keirah, this has no sender's name, which means..."
"Jake knew the killer!"
We searched through the studio for some clues.
"He's a whiskey lover." I noted, showing the empty bottle that I found under his desk.
"This guy is very depressed." I said.
"How did you know? This looks like he enjoys the things he's been doing." Jones looked around. "Well, except for those bottle of whiskeys. It might be that he had a rough living."
"That is one. Look. Seems the only way to get through from his reality was all of these stuff." I said with pity.
"A good way to end his own life. You think?" Jones pursed.
"So you're saying it was a suicide. Maybe. But I don't see it as a suicide. Usually you have to finish things around you before you began a suicide, right?..."
"All these clutter in his desk, and PC left open seems he's busy doing something when he died." I explained.
Jones nodded. "I see that. But this turn out to look like an accident."
"That's what the Killer wants us to believe." I said.
"They want us to believe this was an accident."
"You have a point. Let's see what Nathan found out." He pursed his lip.
"Guys the kid here was the one who called the police. He's Jerry." Ramirez gestured.
"Inspector Jones and Detective Silvers here."Jones greeted.
The kid got brown hair, has innocent kind look on his face and could be 10 years of age.
"I was about to pick up his garbage that time. I knock several times but he didn't answered." Jerry explained.
"And you think that something's wrong?" Jones said.
"At first I thought he wasn't there. But as I remember we just had a little conversation an hour before I came back to his unit." The kid furrowed.
"Were you and Jake are friends?" I asked.
"Acquaintance I think. We're not that close, I only knew him well coz he played the Dungeons and Dragons." The kid smiled.
"You're playing the game?" I raised my brow.
"Yeah, sort of. He taught me how to play it." He nodded. "Since then, we played sometimes. I can't play that much like he did. I have school works." He shrugged.
"Good thing you still think of that." Jones said. "Keep focus on your studies okay?"
Jerry nodded. "Yeah... So you still searching who killed him?"
"Yes. Did you find something unusual on Jake like does he seems to act weird or did someone came to his unit that time?" I asked.
The kid puckered his brows. "No. He seems to be okay. I don't think he and Dave has misunderstanding either."
"Who's Dave?" Jones asked.
"He was Jake's friend. He sometimes went here everytime Jake got drunk."
"Right. Dave may not heard the news yet. Thanks Jerry." Jones said.
"We might wanna head to Nathan first, let's see what he finds and let's send the card to grace." Jones said and I nodded.
"You guys are right in time." Nathan smiled.
"What ya got?" Jones asked.
"It appears that the victim was allergic to peanuts which also the cause of his death. But what kills him is heart attack." Nathan explained.
"So the victim has a history of a heart disease." I noted.
"The allergy may have triggered the attack." Jones wondered.
"Could be. That explains his horrified look." I nodded.
"It seems that Jake also is a whiskey lover and depressed." Nathan added.
"Told you." I nudged Jones.
"I never said you didn't." He pouted. "Thanks Nathan!"
"Guys I checked the card and it seems that it contains some bits of peanut, powdered." Grace explained. "I'm still wondering why the card has it."
"That's it!" I snapped.
"What?" Jones asked.
"The card contains peanuts which the victim is allergic to. When he opened the card. The peanuts shattered around like a pop up confettis." I explained.
"That's it! I know that kind of cards. It's used mainly in parties and birthday surprises! Confettis will blast out after you've opened the card." Jones said.
"Yes..."
"So this card is your murder weapon." Grace said.
"Yes... Thanks Grace." Jones said.
We gathered up all the infos about Jake. But nothing seems to dig up. "Does he even socialize?" I furrowed. "Seems the only friend he got was Dave and Jerry."
"No families?" Jones asked.
"He has of course but what I mean is, he doesn't have a social life." I said.
"Well for a guy like him. He must have drowned himself all over the games, it must be his reality." Jones waved. "We have to talk to his friend Dave. Maybe he knows better." He said and I nodded. "I'll drive this time." I grinned.
"Be my guest." He ushered me outside.
"Hmmm." Jones hummed as he read Dave Birch's profile.
"What?" I asked, eyes focus on the road.
"Dave's sister, Anna was once Jake's girlfriend. But a year ago, Anna died." Jones said.
"Ouch." I remarked. Jones raised his brows nodding.
We stopped by the front of a bungalo house where Dave Birch lives. And it seems he's not there. We tried several knocks and ring the bell but no one answered.
"Excuse me. Who are you?" A man called.
"Mr. Dave Birch?" Jones showed his badge. "GPD. We're here to ask you a few questions."
"What is this about?" He came up towards the door.
"It's about Jake Stuart. We're sorry to tell you, that he was found dead this morning." I said.
The man halted. He raised his head and glared into space for a moment. He blinked. "What?" He shook his head.
"He's dead. He died from a heart attack and allergy." I added. Dave furrowed.
"So an accident." He said.
"Could be. But also, could be a murder." Jones said.
"Then why and how it is to be a murder when you said he died from a heart attack?" Dave asked.
"You're his friend why does it look like you didn't care about this stuff." I furrowed.
"We're not that close." He said.
"Doesn't it? Maybe you don't like him as your brother in law." Jones snorted. Dave glared. "Your sister..."
"My sister doesn't have to do with this! She's dead!" Dave shouted.
"Mr. Birch calm down. I'm sorry for my partner's rudeness... But we just want..."
"Enough! You already barged in my personal life and you want more from me?!" He said and shut the door.
I glared back to Jones. He shrugged. "What?"
"Nice try making our suspect angry." I said with a deadpan eyes.
"That means he has a motive. The way he speaks about Jake's death. He seems not interested. He's angry about his sister's death." Jones explained.
"I know! But could you just be more polite when interrogating." I rolled my eyes.
He grinned and we head back to HQ.
"Hey Alex." I greeted. "Yeap, Ma'am?" Alex raised his head.
"Can you track down the card's code, we could find out where our guy have bought it." I said.
"No problem. This won't take long." He smiled.
I head back to my, checking some evidence we found. The laptop might help. I turned it on. "Did you find somethin?" Jones peered in.
"Not yet. I was about to check his laptop." I said as a pop up window appeared. Asking for a password.
"Just a piece of cake for you." Jones noted.
"What if I can't decode the password?" I waved.
"Nah. Trust your instinct. I know you can do it." He grinned.
I sighed and let out my tech side, I take the hacking device that I've got from Alex and decoded the password. After several tries, the code got correctly.
"Clever!" I said.
"You really are brilliant Silvers." Jones noted.
I rolled my eyes, and began to check the recent files and histories. All I found was gaming history. Dungeons and Dragons?
"I bet he's a big fan." I noted. "Hmmm. Most played game is Dungeons and Dragons." Jones said.
I check the game and logged in the account. "Woah! He's been active for almost a day! Everyday!" I furrowed in amazement.
"Hey guys!" Alex peered in. We turned to him. "The card was bought on the Ginny's Gift Shop near the Industrial Area.
"Great! We could check out their surveillance later." Jones said.
"Hey! Is that DD?" Alex pointed out.
"Yeah." I snorted.
"Your victim is a big fan?" He raised his brow.
"Yes? Is Lord Raegbond sounds familiar to you?" I asked Alex.
Alex pursed his lip. "I don't think I can? I've met a lot of users in the game." He wondered.
"What server did he usually played?"
I clicked the servers menu and lists popped out. "He played on server 7 last week. But he usually played in server 5." I said clicking the channel.
The lists of the users gathered up in screen. It was like hundreds of them. "Oh golly! How could we track this down?" I glared.
"Maybe I could jot down the users he usually played with? It'll took some time but I can do it." Alex grinned.
"Nice! Okay, you can start to work with that." Jones said. I handed the laptop to Alex.
"We also might need to trace the fingerprint of that card. Maybe we find something." Jones added.
"Good idea." I nodded.
Ashley was there, working on a forensic evidence when we get to the lab. "How's the first week training?" I greeted. She smiled. "Amazing!" she giggled. "You're looking for Grace?"
"Yes, we want to trace some fingerprint from this card." I said.
"Ha there goes the Silvers sisters. How does it feel to be in the team Ashley?" Jones entered.
"I'm so glad to be with here. At least I get to check out my sister." Ashley said.
"Hey if you're thinking to chat along my work desk, that could never happen." I cocked my head.
"I never said that I would go to your desk every moment to check on you, I just want to be in the team, also I want to help out, making sure you're safe." She grinned.
"Aww, you're sweet kid Ashley." Jones commented.
"You think?!" Ashley giggled.
"Okay, enough of chit chat, where's your boss?" I said.
"She's just over there, she's checking out the evidences we're working on." She pointed out the other room.
"Okay, Thanks." I said heading towards the room.
"There you are!" I said as I was about to enter the room, Grace passed by. "What can I do for you Keirah?" She smiled.
"Can you trace the fingerprints of this card. You'll gonna find our prints other than the victim but we're hoping to find a print from the killer."
"Sure can do. I'll call once I'm done." She grinned.
"Thank you Grace." I said.
Ginny's Gift Shop was like a small mini mart across the road. "Good afternoon, Sr, Ma'am how can I help you?" A cashier named Lily according to her tag, greeted us. We smiled in return As Jones introduce ourselves and our purpose. "Jones that's the card." I pointed out on one of the stalls. He nodded. "Yeah, that's it."
"We just want to ask a few questions. Is your manager here?" He asked the cashier.
"I'm the manager." She smiled. "The cashier has her leave for today. What can I do for you, Officers?" She asked.
"We want to ask for a copy of your transaction receipts. Someone involved in the murder bought a card from you." I said.
"We also would like to check the footage of your camera." Jones added.
"I would love to, but the camera on that corner got broke two weeks ago. I called for a technician to work on it but they still haven't been here." Lily said.
Jones shook his head. "But can we at least, have the video tape of the surveillance?" He asked.
"Okay. But can you at least come back tomorrow? It's getting busy and I don't have time, especially I'm the only one working for today." She said.
"We like to Ma'am but, we can't wait til tomorrow. This is urgent." I said.
"This is a murder investigation, and it is very helpful if you cooperate. Please." I said, knowing that she would make another excuse.
She sighed. "I hope you know that this will affect my business." She rushed to the entrance and flip the sign to close the store. She ushered us to the personnel room. She started to work on the transaction copies. "From when would you want to take a copy?" She asked.
"Three weeks until today." I said. She nodded and return to work. Jones looked around and looked at the monitors for the surveillance. There were two cameras in the store and one outside. Though one of them is blank. "The surveillance was open 24 hours right?" He asked.
"Yes." Lily answered. "Can we get the record of those three surveillances?" He asked.
"Okay." She proceed to work on the tapes after.
My phone suddenly ring. "Yeap?" I answered.
"Bad news Silvers." Grace on the line said. "I haven't found anything, just the victim's print and some of yours. "Oh Great." I sighed. "Nyway. Thanks Grace."
Lily finished to gather the records when I came back. "Judging your face, something seems wrong." Jones noted.
"We have our murder weapon but it doesn't contain any clues!" I complained. "This is absurd."
"That's really absurd." He pursed his lips.
"Nyway. Thanks for all your help Lily, stick around." He bid.
We head back to HQ downhearted. I sit back to my desk and review the victim's profile. "Silvers!" Jones called.
"Anna died from a suicide, no reason was stated on the file, but I got a feeling it has something to do with Jake's death. Jake and Anna had been together for a year, Last March, she attempted a suicide." He explained. "Interesting."
"Dave will never want to open up those things... It will be hard for him." I said.
"That's why he's our prime suspect. Dave has a motive to kill Jake." Jones waved.
"We have to go and let Dave talk." I furrowed.
"Alex. How's it going?" Jones asked.
"I excluded down the list of the users and I've found that there are five user who he usually interacts in the game." Alex handed over the lists.
"Good, we'll get back to this one later. Keirah. Let's go talk to Dave first." Jones said.
"Wait..." I turned back to Alex. "Could you jot down the date when the card was bought, check out the code, it could be here." I handed him the transaction receipts that we got from the store.
"No problem." He salute.
"This better be good." Jones said as we approached the door. He knocked several time before it opened.
"You again! Did I tell not to..." Dave blabberred.
"Mr. Birch, if you insist to not cooperate on the investigation, we're gonna have to hold you." I said.
"If you don't want to press charges against you, then better tell us." Jones said.
"I don't do anything." Dave spatted.
"Oh, yeah, consider the fact that you're drunk. Obviously we could smell the whiskey. Is it your kind of perfume now?" I said.
"Look. I have nothing to do against this crap!" Dave said.
"You call this a crap! The victim's your friend and you're okay with that?!" I glared.
"You're very angry at him. You're angry because your sister died because of him. Is he the reason of her suicide?" Jones frankly said.
Dave stared. "You dare talking about my sister! You don't know anything!"
"That is why we came here to clear it out. If you didn't kill Jake then prove it." Jones snickered on what I've said. I glared at him. You're making this harder Jones!
"We happen to read your files and it seems that your relationship with Jake is not how you told us. Please, tell us." I said. "We would like to hear the truth from you."
Dave chilled down, he blinked. "Anna loved him." He sighed. "But I hate the Jerk. I only talked to him because of my sister. I never liked him. Even if we talk much or hang out."
"Why?" Jones asked.
"He's no future. I told Anna that... Anna and Jake were schoolmates, Jake was once a computer nerd. He took computer engineer. He knows every software. But he changed." Dave continued. "Jake was building a business but an accident wiped it out. A fire caught up all his belongings. All that he worked for burned out. Eventually, he tried to take another step. But his mother got cancer, and all his savings are gone. He also got debts and later, his mother died. The only person who cares for him. The only person who supports his dream..."
"Where's his father?" We asked.
"His father never loved him, his parents are divorced since he was in gradeschool. He had a dream once. But he changed after all of that. And his relationship to Anna wasn't going well. After his mother died, Anna kept comforting him. Hoping he would change back, but he didn't. It even affects Anna's job and friends. Then I started to tell to dump that guy." He said.
"What's the reason of Anna's suicide?"
"Him. She couldn't bear anymore from him. And that Jerk! He didn't even care when Anna died." He furrowed. He tried to tell more but he began to hyperventilate. He rubbed his chest.
"Mr. Birch?" We asked.
"I need to take my pill." He pointed but he can't move.
"Panic attack!" I stated and Jones rushed in and finds his medicine cabinet. I helped Dave sit down on the couch. "Nevrax! Please." Dave said.
Jones grabbed the pill and handed it to Dave. I gave him a glass of water and he drank it, he slowly calmed down.
"You've been taking a pill for how long?" Jones asked.
"For a year now. I've been in a theraphy since Anna died. My aunt helped me, I was so depressed that time. It still hurts, remembering all what happened." He said.
I brought him a glass of water and put it on the center table. I noticed a game installer and surprise to find out that it's also the same game that Jake was playing.
"You and Jake have something in common." I said. He looked back.
"He insist me to play that game. After that, we played it often. I tried to forgive him, but it still hurts. This game was the only way we could hang out without seeing each other and it's fine for me."
"We understand you. How are you feeling?"
"Fine..."
"Nice collections you got there." Jones noted the tapestry hunged across the wall.
Dave smiled. "It was from our mother. She loved it. It was made by our ancestors. Mother is scandinavian. Our grandma used to tell stories about that." He said.
"Like bed time stories. You had interesting childhood." Jones grinned.
I took a closer look on the tapestry. It was fine woven. I saw an emblem, maybe their family symbol.
"Who did the tapestry?" I asked.
"My great great great grandmother." Dave snorted.
"Yeah." Jones chuckled. I raised my brow.
"Well, is it okay if we leave you. If you need help just call us." I said and he nodded.
"Look." He said and we turned. "I know that I'm too angry with Jake, but he's still a friend. I wouldn't do such thing to him." He said.
We just nodded, smiled and take our leave.
"Do you think he tells the truth?" I said, buckling up.
"I doubt it. He seems to look someone I couldn't trust." Jones answered.
"Hey guys, wanna check out the video?" Alex announced. "I've gather the remaining footage based on the transaction receipt. The date was last week so I took the footage and tried to recover it. Sadly I found nothing on any of the video. I tried to check every customer that came up but I failed to see any similar card that bought." He played the video and he's right.
"Wow, first, no prints, now, broken video!" I complained. Jones let out a huge sigh.
For a moment there was a silence. I put my hands inside my pocket and felt something. I pull it out. Oh. Yes, this is the list of the user that Jake have been playing to. I stared at it for a moment.
"These users are our suspects right?" I said, the two stared.
"Yeah. I think?" Jones said.
"It could be that one of them is our killer." I looked at them. They both gave an exchange look.
"You're right, but how can we find them?" Jones asked.
"That's a good question." I smiled. "We play the game."
"Oh!" Jones snapped his fingers.
"Awesome!" Alex said.
"Wait you'll gonna track down the killer by playing the game?" Jones cleared out and I nodded.
"I can't wait! I've been waiting for this for a long time Keirah!" Alex clapped.
"Jones you have to join us." I grinned. "We'll teach you."
"Hmmm, okay, for a change." Jones nodded.
"I need to refresh my memory." I groaned.
Alex took some time to teach Jones but good thing, Jones is a fast learner.
"We're gonna start the game later. According to the list you've gathered. Jake was playing from 12am to 4am." I raised my brow. "Night owl." I stated.
"If that's the case, see later at the Dungeons guys." Alex said.
"Hey keep me on the state, I'm still learning." Jones said.
"Don't worry you can do it." I grinned patiing his shoulder.
And so, the gathering of heroes begin. I was downstairs on the livingroom, I don't wanna wake Ashley up by my muttering and blabbering.
We joined the server 5. "Are you ready guys?" I checked my mic and headphones. "We're on." Jones and Alex noted. I could see their characters. Alex' character was a warrior and Jones was a Wizard? "Jones nice pick of a character." I teased. "Hey I want to be a magician when I was kid, and wizards are just the same right." He said.
"Right." I rolled my eyes. "Very childish." I muttered.
"Hey I heard that." He said. "Not to mention, your character was too skinny for a battle." He noted. "She's just like you." He laughed.
"That's an archer. She may be small but she's a baddass. I swear Jones if only you're not in our team, you'll gonna get something!" I said. Alex laughed so hard at our conversation.
"I'm enjoying this. So off we go." He said.
The game allowed only 3 players in a certain team. The goal is to protect the fortress and find a gem on Dragon's cave. You have to defeat the other teams as you go to the quest. Only five groups were allowed in each quest. And maximum of 5 players in each group. So you have to defeat five different groups as you complete the mission.
There also trolls that could encounter on the journey. They are the ditractions in the game, mostly they manage to use out your powers and health.
"Follow me guys. I know where to find a great route, away from the Trolls." Alex said.
Our player ran through the forest when something struck behind us. "Jones! Shield!" I yell and the Wizard built a force field around the players. Shielded from attack. My archer took off an arrow and struck a spell. The attackers finally showed. There were also three of them. And those guys are on the list. I struck off the arrow and burst of Ice and wind struck each of the characters. The warrior then attacked them while they're still in the hang. "Jones use your spellbinding. It will stop their attacks." Alex said.
The archer keep on shooting. Two of them was also a wizard and one is a warrior. Jones' wizard struck the spell to the attackers, once they've halted we shoot them. But the two wizards uses a power to remove the bind.
"They're good." I noted.
"Consider the fact that they're playing with Jake. They are." Alex added.
"Back me up guys, I'll try to use the frost wind." I said. It'll take long for the shot to take effect. It was the final shot and the group was lost.
"We did it!" I squealed.
"DON'T EVER THINK YOU HAD IT. YOU WIN FOR NOW, BUT I'M GONNA GET YA, I'M GONNA MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE!" A voice from the other group said. It was a deep voice. It was the user named Saelborn.
"Uh oh!" Jones snickered.
"That's intense huh." Alex noted.
"I'M GONNA FIND YOU, AND TEAR YOU INTO PIECES!" the voice added.
"That's it, we have to tell them." I said.
"THIS IS GRIMSBOROUGH POLICE. SHOW YOURSELF." I called.
There was a pause for a moment. Then a window popped out. We saw a kid.
"Saelborn?" I furrowed. We began to show ourselves in the camera.
The kid though seems confused. "So... You're a Police?" He stuttered.
"Yes." I said. "You happen to know Lord Raegbond?"
He nodded. "Is it true that he's dead?"
"Yes. What's your name?" Jones asked.
"Henry." The kid replied.
"Did you kill Jake?"
"JONES?!" That's a bit of a straight forward Jones!
"No!" The kid furrowed. "I will never gonna do that!"
"You threaten us." Jones said.
"It's just in the game. We sometimes do that. Raegbond knew it."
"Besides, I'm here in Dublin."
"Dublin?!" We said in unison.
"You'll see." The kid then moved the screen and showed the window. We saw the city lights and scrapers.
"So. Are you going to arrest me?" The kid asked, stuttered.
I just stared in space. I felt so embarrassed.
"No... If you listen to me." Jones said.
The kid furrowed.
"Close this computer now and go to bed. You stayed up all night. You should be sleeping."
"You sound like my mother."
"Listen to me or I'm gonna contact your mother!" Wow Jones could be a strict parent.
"Alright! Alright..."
Few more games we had played but we never find anything from our suspects.
"We stay up all night for nothing!" I complained as I heard Jones chuckled on the line.
"There's still one suspect we haven't see." Jones said. "But I doubt that they will have what we need."
"The last time they logged in was the right before Jake died." I checked on Jakes game histories and found out that the time was just 15 mins. before he died.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence." I told myself.
"What coincidence?" Jones heard that.
"Oh. The time. I checked the time that this Dark Rune user was logged in. Finds out that the last time he logged in was right before Jake died... And he never played until now. Unlike the other players on the list. They're very consistent on their schedule."
I sighed. "What do you think?" Jones noticed my stress.
"I want to sleep." I plopped back to sofa.
"You're right. We need to sleep. We have to work it out tomorrow." He said.
"Yeah. See you..." I hung up.
Downhearted, I slip down to the sofa. But I suddenly realize, I kinda miss the game. I held on to my thoughts for moments not noticing I drifted down to sleep.
"Keirah! Wake up!" Ashley keeps on shaking me. I furrowed as I hardly open my eyes. "How many times do I have to wake you?"
"I'm going to work now. I don't want to be late. Speaking of late. You're late." She crossed her arms.
"What?" I checked the time on the phone and it was already 8am. Blast it! I quickly got up from the sofa. Yes, I didn't even slept on my bed last night.
"I gotta run Sis" Ashley cocked her head.
"Yes. See you around." I shouted upstairs.
"Hey Jones, sorry I'm gonna be late. Don't worry I'll be there in an hour!" I left a message and quickly head to the shower.
"There you are! First time to be late." Jones teased.
"I had a rough night." I said as if we didn't know what happened last night.
"Don't worry I'm late too." He noted. I looked at him. "Just 30 mins. late." He said in defensive mode.
"I'm not saying anything." I said.
"Yeah. Like you're not thinking it."
"Ok fine, let's get to work." I said.
"Officers! Mind telling me why are you late?" Chief King peered in.
We gazed at him. Waiting, who will be the one to speak.
"Uhhh. Sir we're working the case up all night." Jones rubbed his nape.
"Really? So you found out the Killer yet?" Chief King asked.
"Not yet Sir. We haven't found something on our suspects either." I said.
"That's bad... You have to dig deeper. I think you should head back to crime scenes and search for another clue. I'm waiting for your report after this week." He said.
"What now." I turned back to Jones.
"We should get back to the crime scene. Hopefully we'll find the answer." Jones said.
We do as he said. We came back to Jake's apartment. We searched the area entirely again. Checking for something we missed. I dig up to the trash bin. All I found was receipts and beer cans. But also some pieces of papers. The papers looked like cover. Also a note.
"You found something?" Jones came in.
"I guess." I furrowed. "Tear the paper to pieces as you opened this." I read.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jones furrowed.
"Weird, you can't just tell someone to tear the wrap if they want to?" I wondered.
I put down the pieces on the table and tried to piece it back.
"Way to go." Jones commented.
"There you go." I said as I finished putting up the last piece. It was a cover or likely a wrap. Same size as the card.
"Hopefully we can dig up some fingerprints from our killer." Jones noted as I do the work.
We head back to the lab for Grace to inspect the prints
"Hey Guys!" Grace came.
"So?" We turned waiting for an answer.
She sighed. I did find the owner of the prints but sadly it wasn't fro your killer. It was from your victim."
Jones banged his hand on the table.
"Great scott!" I muttered. I came towards Grace and took the evidence. I stared at for a moment, scanning every details of the cover as my mind played in thoughts. When somethings hits my view.
"We have to get back to Dave..." Jones said.
"Maybe we really should." I said as I looked through a lens.
Jones came in. "What did you got?"
I turned up grinning. "Answer!" I showed him what I found. An emblem.
He smiled. "That's what we're looking for."
We found Dave working on his motorcycle. "Dave Birch. We would like you to come with us." Jones said.
Dave frowned. "Why? I told you I have nothing to do with Jakes death."
"We have evidence..." I said.
He glared like he wanted me to prove I'm right.
"The cover of the card that Jake received. We found it. We also found a symbol resembles to your family emblem."
His face turned pale. "That isn't..."
"Yes it is!" Jones grab the cuffs and placed it on his wrist.
At the interrogation room Dave seems quiet. He doesn't like to talk.
"We could do this everyday you know." I told him.
"We have our time!" Jones said with sarcasm.
Dave let out a huge sigh. "He had it coming." he said.
"Few months after Anna died. He contacted me. He knew how angry I am. I don't want to see him." He said.
"So I made a plan. I played Dungeons to make him believe I'm okay now. He feels more at ease and even more like open to me. I know that he has allergy to nuts. I wanted to make a prank on him, or maybe just wanted to make him suffer to revenge my sister's death. So I send a friendly card containing nuts. Then that killed him." He let out a slight smirk.
"You do know that killing Jake won't bring back your sister. Avenging her is not the answer. Do you even think she will like it?" I said.
He looked at us. "It was worth it."
Jones sighed. He placed the cuffs on Dave and exited the room...
The court seems silent as Judge Hall announced the sentence against Dave. Dave yet seems to be calm. He knows this would come and he accpet it. He'll be jailed for years.
"I can't believe Dave would do such thing." Jerry said after the trial. "He is a nice guy."
"He might be." I said as we lead him outside.
"Maybe because Jake hurt him so much he didn't mean to do it." Jerry said. "Did he?"
Jones and I glared at the boy. This kid seems clever.
"Yes, Jake did hurt him so much." Jones cracked the silence. "But it doesn't mean you should hurt other people too, Kid." He added.
"But would you just let other people hurt you while you do nothing?" Jerry asked.
That question surprised us, thinking it came from a kid.
"My mom got killed by a thief. Now I'm with my Grandma. The Cops though caught the thief, but still, it didn't get my Mom back." He looked down.
I sighed and patted the boy's back. "Jerry... I'm sorry for your loss." I said.
"You know. You might be right about not letting the people hurt you or others but that doesn't mean you'll do things that would end up a bad result... What I'm saying is, even if you avenge by killing the one who did bad things to you it wouldn't bring back the things you love. You shouldn't let bad things change you into a bad person Jerry. And maybe that is why the world is full of bad things."
The looked at me. I hope he understands what I said, maybe for a ten year-old boy, he seems a bright kid.
"Mom told me like that once when she was alive." He smiled. "She said even other people do bad things, I should do what is right."
I smiled. "Yes! That's what I mean." Then I gave him a hug.
"This is why we're here kid. The Cops will handle the bad people." Jones said, rubbing the boy's head. "Let's get you home, shall we."
City lights lit up the we arrived back to the Kid's apartment.
I stared through the street, still thinking what Jerry said. Truth is, he made me realise something. What I told him should reflect to me. I admit, I also wanted to retaliate the people who had killed my parents. But what's the cause? Will it change back the time? I know I'll never get back my parents no matter what I do. Do those guys even still alive?
"Keirah to earth?" Jones cracked. I blinked and turned to him. "You seem in a deep thought. I can't even dive down." He joked.
I chuckled. "It's nothing. It's just that, that Kid made me realise something."
"He is? He is a clever one." Jones said. "What is it?"
"I keep telling everyone that avenge is not the answer to what happened to their love ones. When bad things happen, it's like you wanted the whole world to disappear, resulting some actions you shouldn't be doing..."
"But I realise that's what I'm doing."
"You are?" Jones furrowed. "You're not."
"I wanted to chase down the guys who killed my parents, even it was just an accident." I said.
"You wanted to chase them for justice, not to kill them." He said.
"Yes, maybe. But what if I'm wrong. I could have leave what happened in the past but I can't forget what they did. So if chances happened, will I have the temper to just see them in jail. Or will I push a trigger to let them feel the pain?"
Jones was quiet, his eyes focused on the road. But I know he's listening.
"No, you will not... I won't let you do that." I saw a slight grin he made. "Also, how come a good, decent cop like would do that?"
I laughed. "Really. You know me. I can even kill you when I wanted to."
"Ah there you are." He said. Relieved to hear me laughing. "Yes, I know, but you never commit. You know why?"
I furrowed and he looked at me for a second. "Because you're an honorable person." He smiled.
I blushed. Good thing his focused on the road. "Too good to be ture Jones. Okay, enough the praises. I'll treat you."
"I'm telling the truth!" He chuckled. "You don't believe me. Whatever. But I like the treat thing. So where would you like me to treat?" His grin widened.
"Whatever!" I rolled my eyes as we drove through the city.
A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry for a long delay. I'm gonna tell you this. A lot of things happened. My Dad has weakened because of his cancer. He's been fighting it for five years and came at rest just this Dec. 19. It is really a sad moment but we must go on. This life isn't not the way it should be. So keep going.
Sorry if this chapter just finished, it should have finished a long time ago. I know there will be some mistake you might see in this chapter since I didn't proofread it. So sorry.
I also remember, when I'm making one of the chapter of my story ( I can't remember if this is it or the other fanfic) A friend also passed. He also was just like my Dad. And still misses him.
Thank you for all the reviews and support. Keep in touch. The next chapter may be a long time to upload too. I hope you can bear with it.
Stay safe.