[https://i.imgur.com/vuuKrNP.jpg]
----------------------------------------
On September 05, 2022, Frie proposed that Deshya to join her, Lam and Amora at the 'Beleza Verde' hotel, south of Tetazo: her mother had won four tickets in a game show on the radio, but her parents decided not to go in the end. Deshya didn't hesitate to accept her proposal, especially as the tickets would allow the four friends to go to the new swimming pool, which only opens its arms for the first time this Friday, September 09, and which doesn't accept everyone, only VIPs and those with special tickets.
It's now that one Friday and Deshya, Amora, Frie and Lam are all on their way to the hotel after a good day's lessons. Once there, they wait until 6pm, the minimum time they can enter the 'Beleza Verde', and then have a quick chat with the lady at the entrance. After receiving two electronic cards, which are actually their keys, they take the elevator to their rooms. Deshya shares hers with Amora, Frie with Lam. The four friends put on their bathing suits and head straight for the pool, especially as there's no pool to swim in. It will be much more crowded once the adults have finished their day's work.
After a good hour in the water, they return to their room for a quick shower and then head off to the restaurant to enjoy a nice meal. No sooner has supper been ordered than a dark-skinned girl with big, cute eyes arrives at their table and greets Deshya: her name is 'Aya Deroom', the current girlfriend of 'Maruno Uffite', one of the three members of the Associated Foxes; she's also a good friend of Deshya's. She introduces herself to the other three girls and the five of them talk over dinner, but afterwards Deshya excuses herself and goes up to her room to fetch her phone. Aya follows and chats with her for a while, but Deshya's attention is drawn to someone else: a muscular man in a swimsuit who is sweating profusely and seems bothered by something. He climbs with them to the 13th floor before running down the corridor to the stairs: Deshya decides to follow him, with Aya right behind her. As they arrive on the 14th floor, which is also the hotel's last, a disturbing scene presents itself: a man and a woman banging violently on the door of one of the rooms. Deshya learns of the situation quite quickly: a man called 'Ben', a friend of the three adults, does not answer their numerous calls, either to his family or to his friends’ telephone and voice calls. The man Deshya and Aya followed, 'Gaby', went to get a member of staff to open his door in case something had happened to 'Ben'. Right next to him are two cousins, 'Céline' and 'Daniel', the ones who were banging violently on the door. A member of staff arrives shortly afterwards to open the door for them, but unfortunately this doesn't seem possible: the security chain, impossible to move from the outside, is still on the door. With no response from the room and the lights off, the friends become even more worried and Deshya orders the man to fetch an electric saw to cut the chain. He complies, and a good three minutes later returns with the machine and splits the chain. Deshya forbids anyone to enter the room: after all, if a murder has been committed, then all three of them are suspects. Aya makes sure no one enters the room and Deshya switches on the light. However, it was a second after flipping the switch that the horrific scene presented itself to them all.
The man who answers to the first name 'Ben' is hanging from the ceiling of his room, in the middle of this room, in front of a bright full moon.
CHAPTER 36
⎾The Last Floor's Locked Room ; Part 2⏌
- The police will be here in a few minutes!" says the staff member.
- Ben?! Ben!!! Tell me it's not true!" shouts Daniel.
- B-Ben?!! That's the one! Why is he…
Céline falls to her knees and Gaby starts running inside the room, which attracts Deshya's attention. Aya steps in and tells him not to go, but the man clenches his fist.
- You're just kids, our friend is hanging in the bedroom!
- As long as it's not certain that it's suicide, nobody goes in!" shouts Deshya.
Gaby grits her teeth.
- I don't care if you're a detective or saving people from a train, you can't d—
- I'm also a policeman's daughter, so don't underestimate me.
Deshya frowns as she stares at the man.
- One foot inside the room and you'll be a prime suspect. I'd advise you not to challenge me.
Gaby feels a shiver and freezes in place. Céline looks at the girl in the fox sweater with wide eyes, her cousin right beside her trying to comfort her. What she just said, the way she said it... Céline herself felt a real threat from Deshya.
As if daring to defy it were to play with danger itself.
Gaby diligently calms down and takes a step back, unclenching her fist. Deshya takes a breath and, before checking the condition of the body, which she's convinced is already lifeless, she turns to the staff man.
- Make sure no one approaches the scene, and check that no suspicious person has been seen. There's a good chance this was a suicide, but it's best to be cautious.
The man nods and takes out his phone again as he walks away. Aya continues to shake and doesn't dare turn around, but asks Deshya a question without looking at her.
- You-You think it's possible that this was murder…?
- My father told me that once, when he was with Sammy, a police detective, they thought a woman had committed suicide by hanging herself in her bedroom with the door locked.
Deshya answers Aya by examining the room around her, moving towards the body hanging from the ceiling fan.
- They found a farewell letter, written on the woman's computer, and she had been depressed since the death of her husband from cancer.
Deshya stops in front of the body of 'Ben' and scans the room.
- She should have been home alone, locked in her room, but in reality, she had invited a man who often bought her meals. What's more, she was prostituting herself just for him, and seemed to be close to him.
Deshya doesn't notice any surprising details in the room: her attention is drawn to the chair under the man.
- She hadn't told anyone, even her parents, but she'd invited this man to her house that day and had to spend the whole day with him. However, he was killed because she demanded far too much money from him and was unbearable. Everything pointed to suicide, especially since her paranoia meant that no one but her had the keys to her house and she made sure that everything was locked up. Nevertheless, what she never admitted to anyone was that this man had duplicates of her house in case he wanted to surprise her. He was the only person she trusted, apart from her late husband.
Deshya frowns as she observes the chair. Unsure of what she believes, she hides her hands in the sleeves of her sweater and makes sure she remembers how the chair is positioned, as well as where exactly.
- There wasn't even really a trick or trickery to the investigation, it was simply a murder that had been set up like a suicide, and the reason everything was locked up despite the woman having the keys on her was simply that the man had doubles.
Deshya raises the chair and places it under the hanged man's feet.
- True, there were no fingerprints anywhere, but with a little more thought and research, they would have noticed the few hairs the culprit had forgotten to clean off the woman's bed. However, my father and Sammy quickly decided it was suicide and looked no further. This same man had killed twice before being caught and confessed to everything when he was taken to the interrogation room. He even confessed to the murder of the woman I'm talking about.
Deshya stands up and clenches her fists as she looks at the chair. She then looks at the hanged man and grits her teeth.
- If my father and Sammy had been more careful, they would have been able to stop him sooner, and save two innocent people. Since then, they've assumed that an accidental death or suicide can be a homicide, until proven otherwise.
Deshya looks back at Aya and the three adults.
- Like this case, which is a murder hidden as a suicide in a closed room. An impossible crime.
‘Impossible crime' or 'Closed room'. A name given to a murder committed in a room or place where the culprit could not have escaped, but was not found there. This is the situation in which Deshya finds herself.
- The door was closed by the safety chain, a system that prevents anyone from moving it from the outside, as the door has to be fully closed to put the little metal ball into the channel.
Deshya turns towards the bedroom window.
- What's more, the handle is mounted upwards, which means the French window is closed from the inside. The rubber seals prevent any wires or mechanisms from being installed from the outside to force the handle, so…
Deshya doesn't finish her sentence: her attention is drawn to the same handle.
- It's lifted up, but not all the way..." she remarks.
Céline stands up and swallows loudly.
- Ho-How do you know it's murder...?" asks the woman.
- He's hanged, isn't he?" adds Gaby.
Daniel nods, looking surprised and bewildered. Deshya tucks both hands into her sweater pockets and approaches them.
- The chair that was placed under your friend... It's too small.
- Too small...?" repeats Aya.
She wants to turn around and understand what she's talking about, but the idea of seeing a real dead man in her retinas prevents her from doing so. Deshya places a hand on her curly hair and stares at the three adults in front of her.
- If Ben had stood on the chair, put his head around the rope and kicked the chair under his feet to hang himself, his body should have been lower down. Unless he jumped to hang himself, which makes absolutely no sense, then this isn't suicide, it's murder.
- Maybe the rope was just too small...?" asks Céline, trembling.
Deshya squints, turning to her.
- The rope is attached to the fan and part of it still hangs from the other side, so it's not a length issue. The criminal simply miscalculated the length like an idiot.
Deshya smiles broadly.
- A mistake that will cost them time in prison. I promise.
Even Aya feels that chill again. Deshya returns to the room and puts the chair back in its place before resting her back on the corridor wall, right next to Aya.
- We're waiting for the police now. You're all three suspects, sorry," Deshya told him.
- All three, you say?
Daniel sits on the floor and sighs.
- Then there's 'Justin' too.
Deshya squints.
- Justin...?
- A-Ah, don't listen to him…
- Call him.
Céline opens her mouth and looks at Gaby. He has also sat down, looking downcast and saddened.
- Call Justin here. If she's telling the truth and it's murder, then I'm sure the police will ask him to come down in any case…
- A-Ah... Okay.
Céline nods slightly and takes out her phone. Aya sits back and sighs.
- I'm still impressed that you managed to guess that the chair was too small," she admits.
- It's the same chair as in our bedrooms, so when I saw how high the body was, I had my suspicions.
Deshya squints.
- The culprit must have climbed onto the chair, tied the rope around the base of the fan and quickly carried the victim's body to put his head around the rope, but he must have thought the height was right, given that the victim's feet reach a tiny bit higher than the seat. However, if he had really hanged himself, his feet should have been a little higher, since when he pulls the chair away from his feet, gravity pulls him down and so he drops a little lower than the level of the seat.
Aya listens attentively and Deshya sighs, shaking her head.
- But that's not possible. What's more, even though the fan is at a certain height, I can reach it on tiptoe, so these three could have done it, since none of them is shorter than me.
The woman, with the first name 'Céline', must be 1 or 2 centimeters taller than Deshya, which means she too could have committed the crime. What's more, her exposed belly proves to both girls that she's far from weak: although less detailed than the men's, she too is adorned with abs, and her arms are anything but slender. Deshya is certain that if they were to fight, taking a punch from her could knock her out on the first try. Céline puts away her phone and explains that Justin will be there shortly, which reassures everyone. The girl in the fox sweater wonders who could have done this…
- And how did the culprit manage to get out of this locked room...?
Fifteen minutes later, two police cars and an ambulance arrive discreetly at the 'Beleza Verde' hotel. From one of the cars, a woman with long pink hair emerges, waving it around. She closes the door, looks at the hotel in front of her and whistles.
- What a beautiful building!" she says.
- We're not here to have fun.
The woman turns to another, but her physique is quite different. Short, quickly coiffed blond hair sits on her head and her green eyes show a certain boredom, but far more seriousness than the other pink-haired woman. The latter twirls her detective notebook on her finger before tucking it away in the garment above her gray sweater, between her two breasts.
- I know, I know: we've got a murder case on our hands," she announces, wiping the smile from her face.
Other policemen get out of the other car and the pink haired woman stretches before entering the building.
On the fourteenth floor, Deshya continues to wait alongside Aya and the victim's three — or rather, four — friends. Between the time Deshya realized it wasn't a suicide, but a murder disguised as a suicide, and the time the police arrived, the notorious 'Justin' arrived with them. Like his three friends, he's in a bathing suit, but wearing a fur sweater. Gaby, Céline and Daniel also wore sweaters over their swimsuits: they were getting cold. Deshya made sure they hadn't hidden or fiddled with anything, and Aya even checked everyone's pockets. She too is in her swimsuit, but her upper body is clad in her fox sweater. She feels the cold on her legs, but the inside of the hotel is warm, so she doesn't complain and waits patiently for the police to arrive. She could have called her father herself, but since her phone was still in her room - the very thing she'd come to get when she got on the elevator - she left the job to the staff member. The latter had just gone down to the first floor to fetch the police. Deshya doesn't know if it's going to be her father who arrives or someone else, but she suspects that Sammy will be the one to take charge of this case: he is the detective who deals mainly with murders and kidnappings, after all. Deshya doesn't know much about the workings of their police force, but she does know that each policeman has his own area of expertise. Her father is a detective and deals mainly with murders, kidnappings and even protection, but Deshya knows that anything to do with terrorism, arson and even bombs are not occupied by him. Deshya doesn't know much about the police, as she's mostly accompanied Sammy on certain investigations, and the former detective she saw other than Sammy quit over the summer due to a serious injury.
- The police are here!
Deshya turns her head to the left, from where the staff man is running towards them. The victim's four friends stand up at the same time, Deshya and Aya right after. The girl in the fox sweater checks to see if it's Sammy who's coming towards them, but to her surprise—
It's not him.
A woman with long pink hair and a skirted outfit approaches them, walking in an almost sexy manner, just to her left is another woman, but with a fuller figure and much shorter hair, not even reaching her shoulders. Wearing a police uniform, this woman's expression is much more serious, even angry, while the one next to her smiles faintly and looks much more composed. The pink-haired woman notices the six people in front of her, but her attention is immediately drawn to one of them:
- Ah, Deshya!
She opens her mouth wide and runs towards her.
- Ah?!
The policewoman next to her is pushed slightly by the detective's run and clicks her tongue. Deshya blinks and pulls her body back as the woman stops right in front of her.
- I can finally meet Gatito's little fox, so cute! Can I stroke your head?
- E-Eh?
- We're going to have to investigate a crime scene, so I want to enjoy the calm before the storm! To be able to stroke your reddish hair and—
- Hanoka.
The woman stops suddenly and turns around slowly.
- Y-Yes, Karine...?
The woman with the short blond hair grabs her ear and forces her back. The pink-haired detective lets out little cries of pain, startling everyone in the vicinity. The policewoman next to her pushes her back a little and pulls out her badge, showing it to the people in front of her.
- I'm Karine Shineki, policewoman from Tetazo station. We received a call that a murder had been committed in room 1422 of the hotel ‘Beleza Verde', we've come to see the scene. I suppose you are the one calling us?
She turns to the staff man. He nods, but shyly points at the girl in the fox sweater.
- That's me, but it was this girl who asked me to call you," he replies.
Karine sighs with an annoyed expression.
- Deshya Oveja, the little girl who finds all kinds of things, eh?
- Good evening!" greeted Deshya.
- I'll be frank with you two s'condes, lil’ fox.
- E-Eh?
- Unlike little Hanoka behind me, I'm not a fan of a teenager like you sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. Enjoy your adolescence and let the police do their job. We may be seen as incompetent by most people, but at Tetazo, we're neither racist nor stupid.
Karine beckons Deshya to move over, which she does, looking at Karine with astonishment. She then turns to the pink-haired detective, showing her badge.
- I'm 'Hanoka Atege', police detective! I mostly deal with murders, but I specialize in protection and even kidnappings. I'm so happy to see you in real life!
The woman asks Deshya again if she can stroke her head, which the girl accepts with an embarrassed smile. Hanoka thanks her and rubs Deshya's fox hood, letting her joy radiate from her body. Aya contemplates the scene with amusement, but the question she's been asking herself takes up more and more space in her mind. Hanoka stops caressing Deshya and goes to join the crime scene when the dark-skinned girl takes courage and asks her:
- Say, are you our age?
The woman blinks and stops dead in her tracks. Karine has only just entered the room, but on hearing this question, she starts laughing. Hanoka sighs and lowers her head, a black cloud rumbling in the air above her head.
- That question again..." she blurts out.
- You're just a samll girl!" says Karine.
- And you yelled at me for having fun when it's a crime scene…
Hanoka raised her head and scratched the back of her hair. Deshya was asking herself the same question for the simple reason that this police detective is even shorter than she is. She must be a little taller than 1m55.
- No, I'm not your age. I turned 28 on September 1st! I know I'm 1.57m tall and small, but I'm not a child!
Hanoka passes between the two girls and enters the room in her turn. Deshya turns to her with a smile.
- I'm 6 centimeters taller than her..." she thinks, amused.
Deshya isn't necessarily surprised that some women older than her are shorter than her 1.63m, but she had also thought, on seeing her arrival, that she was a teenager. After observing Hanoka more closely, and listening to her voice, she realized that she really was an adult. Deshya finds her beautiful, especially her fluffy, prickly ponytail, which she has carefully trimmed, but Deshya is aware that this is neither the time nor the place to admire other people's looks: they must uncover the truth behind this murder in a closed room.
- Keep an eye on them, will you?" drops Deshya, addressing her friend who's barely younger than she is.
Aya nods and opens her eyes wide at the suspects, which amuses Deshya. Before entering the room, Hanoka notices the state of the door and turns to the hotel staff man.
- I see that the security chain has been sawn through. Does this mean that the deceased was in this room, locked in by the security chain?" she asks.
- Exactly," confessed the man. The man came and asked me to open the bedroom door, as their friend wasn't answering, which I did, but as the security chain prevented us from entering the room, I went to get the electric saw.
- Eeeeh... Has anything in the room been touched?
Deshya stands in front of the detective.
- I went into the room to check the state of the body and confirm that it was murder, but I didn't touch anything except the chair. However, it's back in its place and I didn't touch the body.
Karine looks at the hanged man and turns around.
- Are you sure it's murder? It just looks like suicide, especially as the French window seems to be closed," says the policewoman.
Hanoka turns back to the hanged man and looks at the chair. She smiles and before Deshya can reply to Karin, the detective speaks.
- The victim was killed or put to sleep and then placed around the rope to conceal the murder, but the culprit miscalculated the height and the body a little too high compared to the chair beneath him, right?
Deshya opens her eyes wide and nods, surprised that she's figured it out so quickly. Deshya expects to be congratulated for figuring it out, but Hanoka shakes her head.
- Although I'm not surprised you found out, you've been to a crime scene, you've touched the chair and I suppose it was even you who asked for the chain to be sawn to get in?
- A-Ah, but—
- You don't have gloves on, I'm guessing, so I hope you didn't put your fingerprints anywhere. I bet you used the sleeves of your sweater, but that's risky. The chair is probably in the exact place you found it, since your dad told me you had a good photographic memory, but it's still something you shouldn't have done. What's more, if it really is murder, that means it's an impossible crime; in short, murder in a closed room. If the chain had been tampered with to allow the culprit to get out, but that trick is now gone because the chain has just been sawed off, it means we may never understand the trick.
Hanoka shakes his head again, admiring Deshya.
- On the cuteness level, you're at 200%. On the intelligence level, the same score. However, on the ‘I-was-going-to-be-a-private-detective-or-in-the-police-when-I-will-be-a-grown-up', you still don't have 50% of the points.
The detective smiles and pats Deshya's head.
- But hey, I'm going to trust you and hope that the security chain wasn't rigged in some very specific way and that we'll never know the truth, which would make you guilty of dashing my hopes of finding the trick to this locked room. I love you anyway!
- Hanoka, serious business.
- Agreed.
Hanoka pouted and joined Karine in sulking. Deshya blinks several times and Aya puts her head close to hers.
- I don't know whether you've been congratulated, insulted, scolded or forgiven..." she confesses.
- I don't know if she was aggressive or passive... Both or neither..." murmured Deshya.
However, Deshya totally understood what Hanoka had just told her: she was absolutely right. Deshya had wanted to get into the room as quickly as possible in case Ben was in danger, and had then touched the chair to confirm whether it was murder, but she should simply have called the police even if it was suicide, without moving anything. She's been incompetent and amateurish, which makes her angry with herself, but she can't let it go: to make amends for this mistake, she vows to find the culprit, as well as the trick behind this closed room. Deshya asks Hanoka if she has the right to help them, and Karine is the first to reply.
- Stay where you are!
Hanoka turns to Deshya with a smile.
- Of course!
The two policewomen look at each other, an angry look on their faces. Karine is the first to give up and shrugs her shoulders.
- Have it your way, kiddo.
- Ki-Kiddo…
Aya starts to giggle and Deshya quickly turns to her, but her friend whistles, moving her body from left to right, as if she hadn't heard a thing. Deshya enters the room in turn, making sure not to touch anything. She notices that to her left, on the hallway cabinet, a drone stored on its stand is silently displaying its beauty. Deshya turns to the suspects.
- Is that his drone? I mean, the victim's, Ben?
Justin, the last of his friends to arrive, nods in agreement.
- Ben has always loved drones. He's also a huge fan of magic, and must have taken some special magic boxes with him.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
- Nothing like that has been found yet," admits Karine, checking the body's condition.
Another policeman arrives and checks the cupboard drawers, but nothing of the sort is found, which intrigues Deshya. She advances towards the two policewomen and Hanoka smilingly passes her a pair of gloves.
- Given all the investigations you've had to deal with, you should probably keep some gloves on!" she admits.
- I'm thinking of doing that, yes..." smiled Deshya as she placed them on her hands.
She prefers this to using the sleeves of her sweater. Not only is it more comfortable, it's less risky when she's touching things. The policeman behind her continues to search the wardrobe drawer, while another checks the bathroom. The long pink-haired detective, Hanoka Atege, analyzes the corpse, assisted by Karine.
- Help me lay the body on the ground," said the blonde policewoman.
- Okay.
Hanoka complies, while Deshya walks past her and looks at the French window. She looks again at the handle, which is not fully raised, but even so, it would be impossible to open the French window. She tries in any case, but as expected, it doesn't move an inch. Karine yells at her not to move and Deshya promises not to play dumb. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices something on the bedside table:
- The room key…
Deshya approaches it, but doesn't take it in her hands. It's identical to his, except for one detail: the number in black is '1422', the number of this room. Deshya then looks at the bed, but apart from the fact that it's a mess, there's nothing noteworthy about it. She returns to the corridor and speaks to the hotel's male staff member.
- Has a key been requested for this room?” Deshya asks.
- No key has yet been lost or claimed," he admits.
- Hmmm…
Aya clenches her fists with joy.
- Did you find anything?!" she asks.
- Not yet. In any case, even with another key, it's impossible to leave the room with the security chain still on…
While she's deep in thought, an elderly lady greets Deshya. Her white hair tied back in a quirky ponytail and her gentle air are so recognizable that the girl could spot her in a crowd of 1,000.
- Hello, Annie!" greeted Deshya.
- Again in a case, right…
- I'm the one who came running this time, ahah…
- This time, it's not with your dad, though. Or Sammy.
- Looks like it.
- Gatito's resting and Sammy's on another case, so I'm not surprised. You haven't met Karine yet, have you?
- Nor Hanoka.
- Oh, nor Hanoka? Well, she only arrived a few months ago, just like the other detective.
- The other detective?" repeats Deshya.
Annie smiles and tells her it's not important.
- Hanoka is intelligent, so everything should work out fine. I can't promise that Karine will be very nice to you, as she's often cold, especially with children," she told her. Anyway, I'm going to check the state of the corpse, and thank you for notifying the police as soon as possible, Deshya.
Annie thanks her with a nod and enters the room first. Aya notices that her friend seems to know some members of the police force, which doesn't really surprise her, but makes her admire her even more. One of the victim's four friends approaches the girl in the fox sweater.
- Do you really think the culprit is one of us?" asks Daniel.
Deshya turns to him and doesn't answer. The man bows his head.
- We came here to have fun and now... Ah…
- Leave it, Daniel. I'm sure it's someone from the outside," Gaby tells him.
Deshya squints and returns to the bedroom, where Annie is analyzing the body, surrounded by Hanoka and Karine. She doesn't want to admit to them that it's unlikely that this is the case, but she needs to find out more first on the surrounding area. Deshya passed by the policemen and stopped in front of the French window. When she went out onto her bedroom balcony, she could see the balconies of the rooms next door, so…
- Say, can I check if there's anything on the balcony Deshya asks.
Karine approaches her and places both hands on her hips.
- Did we photograph the balcony from the inside, as well as the position of the handle?" asks the blonde woman.
- Yes, everything is photographed!" a policeman replies.
Karine agreed to let Deshya open the French window and step out onto the balcony. The girl thanks her and turns the handle downwards, before opening the door with less noise than expected. She admires the starry sky, where the moon shows its beautiful roundness to the world, as well as its pure white rays. Nevertheless, Deshya has no time to enjoy the scenery and scans the balcony, but sees nothing out of the ordinary. The pot full of colorful flowers is where it should be, and the bars of the balcony don't seem to have been moved, broken or damaged.
- We'd have to check just in case, but anyway... Deshya turns her face to the balcony on her right.
It's far too far to reach, even by jumping.
Deshya rests her head on her arms, the latter on the balcony rail. Even with her fox attributes and momentum, she doesn't think she can reach it. A normal person, with as much training as she'd like, simply couldn't get from one balcony to the other.
- The vines and climbing plants on the walls are far too fragile to support anyone, especially as it's far too risky. You'd need a ladder to get from one balcony to the other by laying it flat, but if the culprit wandered the corridors with it, they'd be noticed straight away. If the culprit came from one of the two rooms next door, even further, finding the ladder wouldn't be complicated in any case.
She still has to confirm the residents of the rooms next door, just in case. Deshya is about to return to the room when Hanoka arrives next to her.
- Did you find anything~?" asks the detective with the long pink hair.
- I don't see it that way, but maybe if I look hard enough…
- I'll ask Karine to check out the balcony in detail, then.
- Hm, that would be best.
Deshya nods and returns to the bedroom. Hanoka stays on the balcony a few moments longer, analyzing the walls and the part of the roof visible from there. Annie gets up and chats with one of the policemen. Deshya shoves her hands in her pockets and stops in front of the old lady doctor.
- Did he die of strangulation?" she asks.
Annie turns to Deshya and nods, a serious look showing on her face.
- He was strangled before he was hanged, judging by the marks on his neck, and we didn't find any drugs or sleeping pills in his blood,” she replies. Also, the murder was committed between 6:30 and 7:15 p.m., but I'd even go so far as to say it was between 6:30 and 7 p.m..
Deshya thanks Annie and leaves the room with her before observing the victim's four friends.
- Between 6:30 and 7 p.m... I was at the pool with Amora, Lam and Frie at the time…
While she was having fun with her friends, someone was killed in the same hotel where she was staying. This disgusts her.
- I'm going to find out who's responsible for this murder and go back to having fun with the others.
Hanoka arrives with Karine in the hallway and stands in front of the four adults. Deshya looks at the policewoman in astonishment.
- Shouldn't you—
- I've asked my colleague to take care of it," Karine cuts her off. I'd like to have a quick chat with the four of you.
She addresses the victim's friends in a cold, strict tone. Hanoka pulls an object out from between the folds of her clothing, between her two breasts. She then takes out a bic that was hidden in her shoe and presses it down before twirling it in her hand and placing the lead on the white paper of the notebook.
- Are you all friends with the victim?" asks the detective.
- Right," Justin replies briefly.
Aya warns Deshya that she's going to the bathroom and returns just afterwards. Her friend waves back with a smile and concentrates on the conversation next to her.
- We'd like a little more information about the victim and your relationship with him," says Karine.
- We know his name is 'Ben Tharen', he's 31 and lives alone in the south of Izambar," explains Hanoka.
- He's also the leader of our swimming group," admits Daniel.
- Swimming group?
Daniel nods, but it's his cousin who speaks up.
- Ben and the four of us belong to the same group, which we created ourselves. Twice a week, we meet up at the big pool in Bexel or Lière to train and chat amongst ourselves," she explains. Ben is the one who created the group, so we think of him as the leader, but it's almost a fictional role.
- I see... I suppose the five of you have come here?" asks Karine.
- That's right," confesses Gaby. We arrived a little after 4 p.m., as we all had the weekend off and Friday was a day off from our work.
Hanoka takes quick note of what she hears, attentive to their words.
- Were you planning to stay at the hotel all weekend?" she asks, still with her nose in her notebook.
- Only tonight," admits Céline.
- Even if I don't have to work this weekend, I've got a wife waiting for me at home, so I don't want to keep her waiting too long," smiles Gaby.
- I'm planning to go back tomorrow morning too, as I've got some series to catch up on, and even though the hotel is incredible, the price of a VIP ticket isn't cheap..." admits Daniel.
Deshya looks up at him.
- Do you have VIP tickets?" she asks.
- That's right, all five of us," confirms the man.
- So you've already been to the pool?
- The pool?" asks Karine. What kind of question is that?
- Because they're all in bathing suits and there's a big pool in the hotel that just opened today, but apart from a special or VIP ticket, it's impossible to get in. I thought they'd gone to another pool, but I guess they went to the same one as us.
- You were in the pool, then?" asks Hanoka.
They nod and Deshya squints at them.
- I vaguely remember seeing Justin there, but that's it... If they were all at the pool when the crime was committed, then the murder could never have been committed by them," thinks the girl.
- Forgive me, but before I ask you to state your identity, can I have confirmation of your rooms?" Hanoka asks them.
The woman with blond hair, a little longer than Karine's, nods and speaks first.
- I live in the room just to Ben's left and sleep with my cousin.
She points to the man with the similar haircut and he speaks up.
- We're both from room 1421, as she just said.
- The two of us, in room 1423," confessed Gaby, giving Justin a quick nod.
- So Ben was sleeping alone?" Karine confirmed.
- He doesn't like sleeping with anyone, as he can't rest well afterwards," Justin replies.
- I see…
Hanoka writes down everything she has just learned and closes her notebook, looking back. A policeman is carefully scanning the balcony, assisted by another, while a third is checking every nook and cranny of the room for the slightest clue.
- Can you state your identity one by one?" asks the detective. And where you were at the time of the murder, between 6.30pm and 7.15pm.
One of the men, the one with the short black hair, speaks first.
- I'm 'Justin Berouette', a member of the swimming group like the others. I'm a good friend of Ben's and sometimes play Mahjong or Poker with him, outside swimming. Between 6.30pm and 7.15pm... Around 6.50pm, I got out of the pool and got back in around... Well, 7.15pm, actually.
- Why?" asks Deshya.
- I just wandered around a bit looking at the evening activities. The hotel is big and I wasn't sure where all the information was, so I got lost, to be honest.
- In short, no alibi..." notes Hanoka.
Justin rubs the back of his neck and clicks his tongue, but doesn't reply. Céline is next to speak.
- I'm 'Céline Oveni'. I'm the only woman in the swimming group and I'm Daniel's cousin. Like the others, I was in the big pool for about two hours, but between 6.30pm and 7.15pm…
- You left about 5 minutes before I did," Justin admits.
- Exactly! Around 6.45pm, I went to the bathroom, but I stayed there until 7.15pm, as I came back at the same time as Justin.
Hanoka squints slightly, but doesn't answer, just notes. Karine bites part of her lower lip before asking her question.
- 30 minutes to go to the loo?
Céline blushes and nods.
- I was on my phone, I didn't pay attention to the time…
- And yet, you came back at the same time as Justin…
Hanoka taps the pen on her notebook with a smile.
- Well, I hope you're not lying about your 'alibi' because you were conceiving a child in the—
Before she can finish her sentence, Karine hits her on the head and apologizes on her behalf. Deshya lets out a smile as amused as it was a surprised one, stunned by Hanoka's remark.
- And yet, that's what I think too, ahah..." thought Deshya.
However, such an assumption has no place in this investigation, so Deshya quickly regains her seriousness. Daniel then introduces himself.
- Me, 'Daniel Teri'. I put our towels on our deckchairs and all that before going for a walk at around 6.25pm, but I came back at 6.55pm.
- Can anyone prove it?" asks the long pink-haired detective.
- I don't know, I don't think anyone was paying attention to the people around them... I couldn't even tell who was there.
- Same here," admits Justin.
- I was in the ladies' room, so maybe someone saw me, but I don't remember running into anyone there..." says Céline.
Karine sighs and turns to the last man, Gaby.
- I hope you've got an alibi or that you haven't left the pool, you..." she throws at him.
Gaby scratches the back of his head.
- I stayed in the pool for a few minutes, but around 6:35pm, I admit I went out to spend some time on my phone... I went back to the pool at 7pm sharp, though," he explains.
- Did anyone see you?" asks Hanoka.
- I was in a quiet place with no one around to write lyrics for a song I'd been thinking about in the pool, but since I wasn't convinced about it, I finally deleted it all myself…
- In short, no proof that you've written anything?" asks Deshya, her eyes trained on the man's face.
- Nothing at all... I didn't run into anyone.
- Do you all agree that what we say about others is true?
Hanoka asks for confirmation and, unsurprisingly, everyone agrees. Nevertheless, she is annoyed and scratches her skull with her pen, looking at her notebook. Deshya understands her:
- None of them has a valid alibi and they all left the pool at the time of the murder... In short, any one of the four could be the culprit.
They have four suspects in front of them, but Deshya asks herself a certain question. She hesitates to ask, but Hanoka is quicker.
- I don't want to seem indiscreet, but do any of you four have a motive for killing the victim?
This sudden question takes the four friends by surprise. They give each other quick looks, but no one answers t h e detective's question. Karine becomes impatient and even starts tapping her foot on the floor. Noticing the lack of response from anyone, Deshya decides to step forward and smiles at Céline.
- If nobody says they has anything against the victim, I guess you all have something against him?" asks the girl with the fox sweater.
The woman blinks, but says nothing. However, the man she followed from the elevator takes a step forward, clenching his fists.
- Me... Me, I've got nothing against him!" he shouts. Daniel frowns and is instantly annoyed.
- What are you talking about?!
- H-Huh?
- Like us, he listened to your music on YouTube, but unlike us, he criticized it every time!! You even stopped for 6 months because of his negative reviews!
Gaby grits her teeth and pushes Daniel.
- What about you? I'm sure you hate him because of what he did to Céline!
- Calm down!" orders Karine.
The two men stare angrily at each other, but Justin steps in with Céline. The latter apologizes for their behavior, a forced smile on her face. Hanoka squints at her and taps his notebook hard.
- What did Ben do to Céline?" she asks them.
The blonde woman bows her head and bites her lower lip, offering Hanoka the answer.
- Sexual harassment? Rape? Bullying?
- ...he…
Daniel signals Céline to be quiet and answers for her, remarking that she feels sick just talking about it.
- Ben was annoying with her, hitting on her even when she asked him to stop..." he admits. We all know that here, especially since he's already touched Céline's buttocks without her consent... In front of all of us, with no shame.
- I see. So Gaby was being criticized, to the point of losing her motivation, Céline was touched without consent, hit on relentlessly, and you, as her cousin, must resent her for the same reason, right?
Daniel wants to reply, but closes his mouth and offers his silence as an answer. Hanoka, Karine and Deshya turn to Justin, just as Annie returns to them all. However, she remains silent and waits for them to finish their interrogation.
- Do you have a grudge against him for some reason?" asks Karine.
- We often played together, as I said, but he's a dirty cheater, so I got angry with him several times. He's also a sexual abuser, given what he did to Céline, so I found it hard to see him as a true friend, but he's still someone I liked a lot.
- So they all have a reason to kill him... If Justin was indeed with Céline in the bathroom, or even outside, maybe... No, if they were together, then they couldn't have committed the crime... Unless they were together committing it? Hm…
Deshya ponders the situation: if Justin and Céline aren't lying, then all four of them had the opportunity to kill Ben, find a way out by 'fabricating' the locked room, and then return to the pool. If Justin and Céline were together when they committed the crime, then it means that the two of them found a way to leave the room without a trace, hiding their murder as a suicide. Deshya turns to Karine.
- They never came back, did they?" asks Deshya.
- Who, the four of them?
- Exactly.
- Don't play the detective.
- Eeeh?
- So, I want to know," Hanoka asks him.
- They stayed in the hall for a minute to get a closer look at the victim and confirm it was him, but immediately afterwards, they came out. My colleague was standing next to them, so I'd be surprised if they touched anything.
- Didn't we... Didn't we tell them not to come in?" asks Annie, deciding to break her silence.
They turn to her and Karine crosses her arms.
- If there'd been something near the door to create the locked room thing, we'd have seen it before. They didn't touch a thing, DID THEY?!
- N-No, ma'am!" the four reply in unison.
- If they'd dared, I'm sure my colleague would have noticed. We check fingerprints anyway.
Annie understands and says nothing else. Deshya is less convinced, as is Hanoka, but they assume that Karine had a point: if something had been installed close to the door to escape, this mechanism should have been seen. If it's a hole in the door or in the glass, they'll end up finding it in any case. So far, however, nothing of the sort has been found. Deshya turns to Hanoka.
- What if we check out the two rooms next door?" she suggests.
The police detective agrees.
- I was going to do that.
She then turns to Annie.
- I know they probably already know, but can you ask the police to look for any holes in the door, the balcony glass or the wall? Maybe it could give us a clue as to how the culprit got out of the room," Hanoka asks her.
- Sure.
- Karine, we'll do a quick check of the two rooms next door. If nothing is found in the victim's room, we may need to request a more thorough search of the rooms, or even the entire corridor.
- H-Hey, wait!
Gaby approaches them, sweating again.
- Do you still regard us as suspects? Sure, we all have a reason to dislike Ben, and we're all missing an alibi, but we've got nothing to do with this!
- He's right!" says Daniel. Plus, are you sure it's not a suicide and you're just wrong...? Safety chains are made to ensure that no trick or trickery is—
- It's one of you four, I'm sure.
Hanoka cuts him off and tucks her notebook back between her breasts. She points at the man with her pen and squints.
- There are only two ways out of the room: through the front door or the balcony. However, the door was locked with the security chain, and the window was also closed. What's more, from the balcony, it's impossible to reach another... except with someone's help or by preparing something already on the balcony.
It's the same reason why Deshya is convinced that one of the four friends is the culprit. Aya, who has remained silent until now, rests her chin in her hand.
- So, it must be one of the people sleeping in the room next to Ben... so one of the four of them,” she asks.
- That's exact," confirms Hanoka.
- Tsk.
Gaby clicks her tongue and Céline moves towards them.
- Even if we don't necessarily like it, we're not the type to kill someone!" she admits.
- No matter.
They all turn to Deshya. She has her eyes closed, her hands in her sweater pockets and her head bowed.
- Even the nicest person in the world has thought about hurting someone... It's just being human.
Deshya thinks back to Bibi Derumi's words and wants to smile, but she holds back. She places one foot on the wall behind her and turns her eyes on the victim's four friends. The four suspects in this case.
- The truth will be found, and the culprit will only have to think about what they did behind bars.