Detective Merlin need to make several stops.

First was Jollibee, breakfast take out. Second was the bin of evidence from the C.I.D. office. Third stop was the Forensic Office. His final destination. He would make his way to board the elevator, going up to a specific floor.

All the while he had one bin under one arm, a breakfast pancake sandwich in one hand, and his ear clipped with a hand free BlueTooth microphone. “What was that Sally? You said an Araki?”

[Yeah.] The voice of Constable Sally returned on the phone call. [That’s who we dropped off the evidence too. Third floor, lab 3. Talk to a Professor Araki he’ll help you.]

“Alright I’ll do that. Thanks.” Merlin let the call end itself as he busied himself eating his pancake sandwich, loaded with bacon, eggs, cheese, and a dash of maple syrup sauce. As he savoured the flavour he looked around, reading the many posters and signs on the elevator walls.

[NO FOOD AND DRINKS]

Merlin slowed his chewing...glanced at his only breakfast...a sigh...and he wolfed it down as fast as three elevator floor rides could give him. Snarf. Snarf. Snarf. By the time the lift doors open, his breakfast disappeared. Licking off a piece of scrambled eggs from his lips he exited the lift with a thick burp and a fumbling whistle.

Thank god no one was there to see it. BURP!

He eventually reached a large double door labelled LAB 3 and entered, back first. Pushing through the doors he entered a large lab. Immaculate white walls, pristine and well polished floors. There were hundreds of work and examination tables, commandeered by multiple teams of men and women in lab coats and safety goggles. All of their hands a soft blue as they sorted through multiple piles of trash, items, or even piece together glasses with a gun shot mark in the center.

Merlin wandered in a bit, hefting the bin of hotel evidence with him. He looked left and right, then softly called out. “I’m from C.I.D. Precinct 9. Is there a Professor Araki in the house?”

“Over here detective.” One of the people in lab coats raised a hand to flag Merlin down. An ‘ah’ and the detective waddled over to bring the bin to their table. The man in the lab coat walked away from his group in greeting. “Nice to meet you. Your name sir?”

“Detective Merlin. Pleasure to make your acquaintance Professor Araki.” Merlin nodded back, exchanging handshakes through skin and glove with the forensic specialist. “Here’s the rest of the items we used. All accounted for and secured.”

“Excellent. We’ll get working on them right away. Oh, by the way.” Professor Araki passed the bin to a colleague and he waved the detective over to the table. “We got a call from your companion, a Detective Romanov. He mentioned you were looking for a button.”

“Oh that. Hah.” Merlin plucked out the brown plastic button from his pocket. “Don’t worry, I found it.”

“Ah. Well.” Professor Araki glanced at Merlin’s brown button...and then at the work table. “I was gonna say we found it as well.”

“Huh?” Merlin made a confused noise and he came over. The forensic specialist passed him some gloves to put on, before Professor Araki waved a hand over the table.

The work table was divided into two halves. One half was a pile of trash: discarded flowers, plastic wrappers, empty tissue box, toilet paper rolls, several random magazines, and so on. The other have were neatly organized in a grid like formation, each of them given a label with what it was, where they found it, and whether or not it had finger marks and or blood.

The second half had the following: empty cologne bottles; empty hand cream bottles; men’s razors; emptied shaving cream can; toothbrush; and etc.

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A single item among them caught Merlin’s eye. Shining Gold, round as the full moon, carved with intricate decorations of horses, laurels, even the smallest of engravings fit onto a surface no bigger than the tip of a thumb.

A button?

“...Hello.” Merlin reached over to pick up the golden button, letting it roll in his palm. Round on the front, half moon from a side perspective. There was golden hook on the back where one would attach it onto a coat – a series of torn strings clinging onto them. “Professor Araki. Where did you find this?”

“All of these were from Room 777. This gold one in particular was found under the couch in the lounge.”

“...Is this real gold?”

“Yes.”

“Holy sh...no way.”

Professor Araki pointed at the button in Merlin’s hand. “Granted, it’s not a king’s ransom, but this button is made with genuine gold material that could be worth a pretty penny. And if you noticed, the carvings. Made with precision and purpose, definitely master craft.”

“...Totally not something you can get from a Michael’s arts and craft store.”

“Oh definitely no.”

Merlin furrowed his brow and he let the golden button bounce up and down his palm. “You think this came from Tessa’s skirt?”

Professor Araki would take a moment to pull out the skirt from the evidence bag. He would then hold it up, to compare it with the golden button. He would angle, tilt, even flex the fabric while glancing between the clothing and the button. “No. It wouldn’t match. If you wish to be sure, we can run some tests.”

“Ah. Might as well test this too.” Merlin passed the brown plastic button to the forensic specialist.

“This one would be more likely.” Prof. Araki held the brown button towards the skirt. “The threads have the same colour, just eyeballing and the fraying is similar.”

“So. That gold one. How much do you think it will cost.”

“I estimate $20,000.”

Merlin sucked the air into his lips, making a sour face as if he bit a lemon. “...Ouch.”

“No kidding. I wouldn’t be surprised if the coat that comes with it is worth 10 times as much.”

“Ooooooh.” Merlin put a fist to his lips to hide his concern. As if holding a ticking time bomb, he gently put the button back down. “Any idea where you can get something like that.”

“My apologies. It’s beyond my area of expertise, but we have several teams who would know. I’ll hand you a report when we’re done examinations.”

“Thanks...Now...what about these?” Merlin walked across the table, his eye caught by two objects.

He pointed at the first one: a blue chip. It was oval in shape. Tiny, smaller than a whole pinky nail. It was transparent with some like smokey blue swirls.

Merlin tilted his head. “Broken glass?”

“No actually.” Professor Araki held it up the blue chip for them to see. “It’s not broken off, the shape is finely cut. Intentionally oval. Feels like plastic, but oddly flexible.”

“And this?” Merlin pointed at a clump of...something. It looks fuzzy. Hairy. Sunrise gold in colour. Small, like a cotton swab, but too loose. “Is that hair?”

Professor Araki used a pair of tweezers to hold it up, turning it about. “It looks like it, but never seen hair like this before.”

Merlin tapped his finger against the table, pursing his lips. “Professor Araki. Do you mind if I take these two, and the golden button with me. I want to look into something.”

“Oh sure. Do you mind waiting at least an hour? We just started our work this morning. I’ll make it a rush job before you head out.”

“Yes, yes of course! All the more reason to sit down and enjoy this fine morning. Hahaha.” Merlin nodded back as he glanced at the layout of evidence again. “Now. Based on your initial assessment, you got any hints or clues you can share with me?”

“Well for sure this button might belong to a very expensive jacket or coat. Fine material, might be custom made. The blue chip, if you look closely, has this well made hole on one end of the oval, enough for a thin wire or fine string to slip through. So, my guess this blue chip could be some piece of decoration for jewelry, I would have to do more research. As for the hair...” Professor Araki shrugged a hand as he stared at it. “Fur coat?”

Merlin wiped a palm over his mouth, “What are the odds all three of them were dropped in a single visit last night.”

“Unless the victim was hosting a cosplay party – very unlikely.”