The Detective Prince

Chapter 131

A Connection Made

There were no words to describe it, and nor did there need to be. The look on his face told the whole story.

"You're surprised," Flash said. "Not that it shouldn't be expected."

"That pretty much answers my question about your association with Wayne," Heiji said. "I expected close tides, but this."

"Not the first thing that would come to mind," Flash said. "But let's skip the small talk for now; we have a lot to go over."

"Are you referring to the case?"

"Yes."

"I'm ready to hear what you have."

"I try never to disappoint," Flash said with a nod to the other side of the room. "Right this way."

He followed him to where the examination tables could be found, not stopping until reaching the second one across.

"Wait here." Flash instructed.

He did what was asked, wondering just what it was he was up to. His eyes traced him all the way to the other side of the room where he watched him come to a stop after reaching something.

"What's that?" Heiji asked not wanting to be kept in the dark on the matter.

It took a few seconds before he replied, clearly seeing that him reaching down to press something.

"A projector," Flash replied. "We're going to use it to go over all of the evidence collected up until this point."

The projector released a sound soon after, clearly loading in its progressions. He continued to look on as he reached up to grab what he believed to be a projection screen. His prediction was proven correct within seconds.

"The information should be ready for display in the next minute or so," Flash informed heading back toward him. "In the meantime I think it would be best if we started going over my latest findings."

"Let's hear it." Heiji said more than ready to listen.

He came back within close range soon after, diving right into it.

"Let's get right into it," Flash said. "Starting with the cause of death, it's just as we had anticipated."

"Which?"

"The gun recovered at the scene wasn't what was used in the assault."

"Something that was obvious from the start," Heiji said not surprised. "The gun found showed no signs of being fired."

"My thoughts exact."

"Has the identity of the deceased been determined?"

"Yes," Barry said quick to reply. "Alfrez, Alfrez Tulak."

"That name… I've heard it somewhere before," Heiji said giving it some thought. "That's right, it came up in a discussion we had with Bruce last week some time."

"I'm not surprised," Flash said. "He was a big time drug distributor down in those parts."

"You mean Gotham?"

He nodded in response.

"Handling weapons was never a thing to be found on his resume," Flash continued. "Which makes it strange to find he was caught up in a heist such as this."

"Whenever there's money to be made you just never know who might come to the table."

"I can't argue that," Flash agreed. "But there's more to this than just uncanny circumstances."

"What do you mean?"

"The time of death," Flash replied. "After running further tests the results came to show that Mr. Tulak had been dead for nearly two hours before the body had been discovered."

"No way, I checked the body myself," Heiji said in disbelief. "It couldn't have been more than an hour, and even that might have been pushing it."

"I felt the same, but the evidence doesn't lie," Flash said. "Someone must have found a way to slow the process of the body breaking down before placing it into the car."

"Placing the body into the car," Heiji questioned. "Hold on, what do you mean?"

"It would appear he was killed and then had his eyes removed for some unknown reason," Flash continued. "We believe sometime shortly after that his body was placed into the stolen car."

"That only brings more questions to be asked."

"Which leads into the second mystery we crossed," Flash said. "The path in which the blood had spewed."

"Let's hear it."

"As if this whole thing couldn't become any more bizarre, the majority of the blood found at the scene wasn't even his."

"What," Heiji exclaimed. "If not his, then who?"

The projector was now fully functional. Flash took this time to direct his attention to the imagery sitting in place. It was then that his eyes came into contact with a profile.

"That man there," Flash informed. "Another resident of Gotham City, Salomon Green."

His eyes widened, instantly recognizing the picture and name that could be seen on the screen.

"Salomon Green… it can't be."

Flash turned at the sound in his tone, seeing a subtle look in his eyes he had not seen up until now.

"You know of this man?"

"You have no idea," Heiji said with his eyes still glued to the projection. "This case has gotten just that much more, interesting."

"I'm not sure if you're aware, but Salomon Green is already."

"Dead, already knew," Heiji replied. "His body was discovered in the ruins of where his home had exploded."

"Jeez," Flash said rubbing the top of his head. "So much for getting you up to speed, no pun intended."

"It's all starting to come together." Heiji said bringing a hand to his chin.

He stood there for several moments to come, thinking back to the details surrounding what had happened to Mr. Green.

"According to Bruce, Green endured some form of torture and had his blood drained which is now intertwined with this case," Heiji thought. "What could this all possibly mean?"

A sudden tap came from his right side, turning to see him standing with a genuine look on his face.

"Not to interrupt, but do you think you can fill me in on what you know about Salomon Green's death," Flash asked. "Since it's obvious you're more educated on the matter."

"The full extent surrounding his death is still unclear," Heiji replied. "The only thing that is certain is that he was caught up in something he probably shouldn't have been involved with."

"Maybe so, but any idea how his blood might have gotten in that car," Flash asked. "No way anyone could have extracted that amount of blood from him after the explosion."

"That's because they didn't," Heiji said. "When his body was first discovered we came to find his body had been drained of a substantial amount of his blood."

"Are you saying you came into contact with the body before the house went up in flames?"

"Not me, but Bruce," Heiji replied. "From the investigation we had been running our findings lead a direct trail to him."

"And when did Bruce discover the body?"

"The night of his death," Heiji replied. "He barely escaped the explosion of the house itself."

"Not surprised," Flash said. "Cutting it close has always been his thing."

"There's more to it than that," Heiji stated. "It wasn't just the removal of his blood, but the scene as a whole."

"What do you mean?"

"What little of his blood that was present at the house had been spread out along the ground, mixed with an oil."

"Really now."

"And that wasn't even the most unprecedented detail to find," Heiji continued. "There was a symbol that was found, drawn out in blood along one of the walls."

"Green's blood?"

"That's what we all believed, at least at first," Heiji replied. "That was until the results came back from the run tests."

"And?"

"A bird," Heiji replied. "The blood type belonged to that of a bird known as the Trogon."

"Can't say I've ever heard of that type of bird before."

"Nor had I."

"I think it's obvious these two cases are linked," Flash said. "The only question is, how?"

"That is for us to determine."

To Be Continued