"No, I don't think so. When Yumiko entered the guest bedroom at 20 pm, she noticed that it was empty." said Salim calmly.
"Ahh, sorry, I must have been getting ahead of myself." said Hellen while scratching her hair awkwardly.
"But it's still very likely that you kidnapped Hori, Joseph. Maybe Hori came to you, maybe you bonked Hori upstairs and dragged her down. Either is possible. But most definitely you are the guilty party because you must have known what was inside the carton box, before closing it shut." explained Fushichin.
"Yes, I know, it's books, BOOKS!" cried Joseph then continued with aggression "I brought the carton box to my house, brought all the books to my bookcase. You can go check the carton box in my house."
"Not necessary. It's likely that you could have switched Hori with the books before you got to your house." said Klancy.
"But the books should still be in the guest bedroom if that's the case, right?" asked Salim.
"We should call Jude and Yumiko in that case." said Klancy.
With his commands Salim went out and quickly brought those two into the room. They were informed of what was happening.
"Books huh. I don't know. Joseph said he has been carrying books from the library to read but no one really checked how much." said Yumiko with sadness.
"I kept them in the drawer of the guest bedroom all the time. Before I put them in the carton box." explained Joseph.
"Oh, sorry, in that case, I really did not check that place often." said Yumiko.
"Me as well." added Jude.
"Well, shit. That definitely doesn't help me, right?" said Joseph miserably as he crossed his arms.
"It doesn't. But this all is becoming very confusing. Let's establish a timeline of events to make sure we got this right." said Salim and began his exposition.
"At 20:05 Hori exited from Mew's room."
"Wait, Mew's room?" asked Joseph.
Salim said "None of your business. Hori then went down to the first floor, entered the main hall, went to the hallway of rooms then was put inside the carton box. This has to have happened at some point at 20 pm.”
“Umm, 21 pm. I am sure of that time. Because at exactly 21:00 pm, I saw Yumiko enter her own room. Before then Yumiko was with me. So I couldn't have done what you have accused me of doing at 20 pm." explained Joseph.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
"Are you sure about the time Yumiko? It could matter in a lot of ways." asked Hellen.
"I'm sorry, I'm not good with time." said Yumiko.
“Don't worry. This proves what Joseph is saying.” said Galtomor as he scrolled through his phone.
Galtomor showed what was on his phone and said "The unlock lock record shows that Yumiko's door has been locked at 21:00 pm. You were with Joseph before you entered your own room, right Yumiko?"
"Yes, of course, it is as Joseph said." said Yumiko.
"So, that has to be the exact time." said Galtomor.
"I see. So Joseph could have only did his deed starting from 21 pm." said Salim.
"Wait, what the hell." raged Klancy.
"What?" gasped Fushichin.
"Our theory doesn't make sense due to the timing of the events." said Klancy and showed his phone.
"Reiner said he entered the main hall from outside the mansion at 21:05." added Klancy.
"I can attest to that. I was there with him." supported Jude.
"Afterwards he stood guard in the main hall. You can even confirm that he was guarding the main hall until Joseph came, right Jude?" said Klancy.
"Yes, of course." said Jude.
"Then our theory is bogus." said Klancy and his shoulders fell.
He then explained "Hori has to go past the main hall herself or with someone else from 21 to 22."
"Wait, why exactly is that?" asked Galtomor
"Look at the F1 map. The only method to reach the guest bedroom from upstairs is to go past the main hall and enter the hallway of rooms. The guest bedroom has no broken window or openings. Reiner and Jude would definitely see Hori if she tried passing through the main hall." explained Klancy.
[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/774875953654005800/834735419371159583/unknown.png?width=1440&height=497]
"Meaning that Hori couldn't have been inside that carton box?" asked Hellen with surprise.
"Yeah, I believe so." said Klancy.
"But there is a 5 minute gap. Between Yumiko's door locking and Reiner entering the main hall. Couldn't Hori have entered the hallway of rooms in that timespean?" asked Salim.
"It would be extremely lucky. Considering that Jude passed the main hall to go outside and meet Reiner there. And one of you could have spotted someone walking in the main hall since there is a window that connects the main hall and outside, right?" said Klancy.
"I guess I did have the corner of my eye on the main hall. But I wasn't paying that much attention." said Jude awkwardly.
"It's still a tight timeline. I don't think Hori would be lucky enough to pass in that exact 5 minutes and not be seen by these two as well." said Hellen.
"Ughhh, I guess so." said Salim.
"Sorry about that dude. It is now apparent that we have wrongly accused you." said Galtomor with guilt.
"It's fine, fine. I know you cops work it hard." said Joseph with a smirk.
"On another note, man, we're tired. Yumiko, Jude could you make us a feast or something?" asked Fushichin happily.
"Yes, of course." said Yumiko with a bow.
"Gladly." said Jude.
The three suspects exited the room after seeing Fushichin's chill expression. At 11 am, food and drink were placed on the table for the five of them and they ate. They had also served snacks for the other cops as well. After they finished eating, Klancy's radio speaker resounded.
"Hello, Hello, do you read me?" said Zuilin, one of the cyber detectives in Klancy’s squad.
"What is it?" asked Klancy.
"An armed criminal is heading towards south district. We need backup. You guys can catch up to him if you chase the car down." said Zuilin.
"Great, right at this time too. I'll see what we can do." said Klancy.
The radio speaker became silent.
Klancy told Juniper to let the suspects rest for the day and send them back home. Afterwards the five detectives quickly exited the mansion. They split into two police cars and chased after the criminal.