16:30 PM

Galtomor, Fushichin and Hellen entered the interrogation room. Juniper, who wore yellow prisoner clothes stared at them sadly. She put her cuffed hands on the table and sighed.

“You have to trust me. I didn’t contribute to the killing of the Matilda family.” yelled Juniper.

“We trust you. But everything in this world runs on evidence, right. So, we’ll just try to find it.” said Hellen.

“Huh, have you developed the ability to know who is lying or not since these last few months? Why have so much trust? You trusted Hori and she was the culprit.” said Fushichin with a sarcastic tone.

“I don’t need your permission to trust others.” said Hellen with a frown.

“Why didn’t you say anything about losing your gun?” asked Galtomor.

“Cause I thought I would get yelled at! And I also thought it was a goner for sure. I only noticed that it was missing after getting home. Ughh, the swap could have happened anytime. I don’t remember anything!” said Juniper with anger.

“Oh yeah, remembering. Something we’re all bad at.” said Fushichin.

“I really rushed to get to the dining hall. I might have just dropped it then. I had a spare gun in my house. So, I didn’t need to ask for another gun.” said Juniper.

“Do you have any way to create an alibi for yourself? What were you doing between 1 AM to 3 AM on the day of the murder?” asked Hellen.

“I was obviously sleeping in my house. I live alone. So, I don’t exactly have an alibi. My phone rang and I woke up and took it, I remember it as 3:00 AM. I heard that it was an urgent case and that I needed to get to the station. I got a taxi to go there. Then I met you guys at 3:40 AM and we all headed towards Layla’s place together.” said Juniper.

“Does your apartment have a security camera?” asked Galtomor.

“Hmm, I don’t know actually. Maybe you guys should check it. You should talk to the janitor of our apartment, Mr Keeth.” said Juniper.

“Yeah, maybe we will. I’m more concerned about your testimony of the day you lost your gun tho. Cause if you’re telling the truth, whoever stole your gun could be the culprit, or one of the culprits who killed Layla and her family.” said Fushichin enthusiastically.

“Yeah, you’re right. Talk about that please.” said Hellen.

“It’s been over a week. I’m actually having a bit of a hard time jogging my own memories.” said Juniper with sadness.

“We all went to the hot springs together along with Squad L5 on August 5th. After entering the hot springs, we played basketball. Did you not notice whether your gun was in place or not when we were taking off our clothes or when we were putting it back on?” asked Hellen.

“I knew my gun was there when I was taking my clothes off to enter the hot springs. I actually checked it. Yeah, checking my gun in a public place is bad but I know it wasn’t turned into a toy then. And since I had a gun inside, I made sure to lock the door of the locker tight. But I didn’t notice when I was exiting the hotspring. It’s because Hui Ying kept blabbering on about sexism in the workplace and how she is a better programmer than other men! We were late getting out of the hot springs. I rushed to put my clothes on and ate dinner with you guys. Then we played basketball.” said Juniper.

“Yes. I do remember getting out before you two.” said Hellen.

“Huh, I guess that makes you a suspect?” pondered Fushichin.

“Really?” said Hellen somberly.

“To suspect my fellow colleagues of murder does feel weird and out of the norm. It’s a rare experience.” said Fushichin with a smirk.

Galtomor rolled his eyes at the statement and changed the subject.

“If I remember correctly, during our visit to the gym, the women all went into the changing room first. The last to leave the changing room were you, Naran and Hellen” said Galtomor.

“So none of the women could have swapped your gun then. What about the men?” asked Hellen.

“Umm, every woman put their clothes inside the lockers on the right side of the room, right?” asked Galtomor.

“Yeah, I did, we all did. There is a text board that said the place was for the women’s locker. Unfortunately this time I was even more careless and put my stuff in a locker with a broken lock so the gun could have easily been swapped then.” said Juniper.

“Hmm, is that the case tho? The men all entered together and exited together as well. Fushichin, Joey and I were the last to exit” said Galtomor.

“I briefly looked back at the room before exiting. Definitely you were right behind me and didn’t mess with any locker on the right side of the room.” said Fushichin.

“I saw all the other men change. None of them went towards the lockers at the right.” said Galtomor.

“Me too. Nobody went there.” said Fushichin.

“What about when we all entered to change our clothes after playing basketball?” asked Hellen.

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“I was the first one to enter and went directly to my locker. Nobody else went into the changing room before then, right?” asked Juniper.

“As far as I remember. Yeah.” said Galtomor.

“Then definitely the gun was stolen while it was left in the locker of the hot springs!” said Hellen.

“How many people were there when you guys were in the hotspring?” asked Galtomor.

“Hui Ying, Hellen, me. There were Naran and Betty from Squad L5 and a middle aged woman. Yes, that makes 6 of us. I think I was the first one to enter the hot spring.” said Juniper.

“So, Hui Ying could have unlocked your locker before she entered the bath?” asked Galtomor.

“I don’t think that’s possible. I saw Juniper heading out first. But I was somewhat close to Juniper’s locker when I was changing. Hui Ying didn’t approach her locker. I entered the hot spring with Hui Ying. Naran and Betty entered just after us.” said Hellen.

“But more than that, you remember locking your locker, right? So the culprit would have to wait until nobody is there to pick the lock. People would have seen them doing it and it would create sound.” said Fushichin.

“Maybe that middle aged lady did it. She was left alone for how long?” asked Galtomor.

“Five minutes. I guess it’s possible.” said Juniper.

“And how long were you girls inside the hot spring until one of you exited? Just tell us the exit order.” asked Fushichin.

“The old lady exited. Right afterwards, Naran and Betty. I didn’t pay much attention afterwards cause I was talking to Hui Ying. But when I looked, Hellen was gone too.” said Juniper.

“Hmm, I think we need to think of a way an outside intruder could have picked the locks. We can’t just focus on that lady. As far as I remember, between the middle-aged lady entering and exiting the hot springs, it was around 30 minutes. Naran and Betty exited the hot springs, five or so minutes after the middle-aged lady. I exited 5 or so minutes after them. I was looking at the clock mounted on the wall. I counted 45 minutes as the time I spent there.” said Hellen.

“Oh then I must have been there for about an hour. How hard is it to even pick the lock?” asked Juniper.

“It was a wafer lock. The most common and cheap option. An expert wouldn’t have much of a problem at all with it.” said Hellen.

Fushichin put his finger on his chin for a while. His expression became serious then said “Hey, Galtomor, what were you doing at this time? During the 30 minutes the women’s changing room was empty.”

“How am I supposed to remember that? What time was that?” asked Galtomor.

“19:00 PM to 19:30 PM. I looked at the time and it said that.” said Hellen.

“Oh, I was still playing on the playstarion.” said Galtomor.

“By yourself?” asked Fushichin.

“Yeah, I didn’t move from my spot after Salim and you left.” said Galtomor.

“Wow, must have been lonely.” said Juniper with a sad tone.

“Hey, you have no right to pity me! I was really relieved actually, I played Assassin’s Deed - The Hunterhood all by myself.” said Galtomor proudly.

“Well, too bad. I don’t think there is an actual person who can prove that.” said Fushichin.

“No, there is you dummy. The guy who was charging us. He was sitting in the next room.” said Galtomor.

“The guy was sitting behind another room. Probably didn’t pay attention to you all the time. All you had to do was be there when your time finishes and the guy warns you that you should pay up to continue.” said Fushichin.

“Seriously, do you want me to be the culprit?” asked Galtomor.

Fushichin bit his lips and looked away.

“It’s our job. To suspect and to interrogate. Why are you acting so offended? You should know why I’m acting this way more than anyone else” said Fushichin.

“Ugh, stop creating drama Fushichin. I know I trusted people too much in the past. I know how naive I could be. But we gotta listen to other people and trust them until we have proof to doubt them. You can’t go far by just negatively doubting everyone all the time, Fushichin. Not everyone is out there for your blood.” said Hellen.

Fushichin giggled at her words.

“Practice what you preach, Hellen. You know you’re just as suspecting and angry towards others as I am.” grumbled Fushichin.

Hellen sighed and looked at Galtomor.

“Just tell us what you were doing in more detail.” said Hellen.

“Well, before I got distracted by Fushichin’s antics. I was about to say that the tv was placed at the center of the room and I was at one wall. Meaning that I was looking at the door. I would know if someone entered there. But surprisingly nobody did.” said Galtomor.

“Huh, maybe you’re overestimating yourself. People get pretty heated up when playing video games. You could have missed someone.” said Fushichin.

“No, I didn’t.” said Galtomor.

“Oh yeah. Where did Salim go? I was the one who was in the hot spring with men from Squad L5, Salim nor Klancy entered. Joey and Manish also didn’t enter. Honestly, being the only guy from our squad to be there kinda sucked. That’s super sus of you guys, if you ask me.” said Fushichin.

“How many people were at the male hot springs?” asked Hellen.

“Five of us were at the hot springs. Me, Kyong, Dimitri, Casey, ginger haired guy.” said Fushichin.

Fushichin silenced for a while and shook his head.

“Frankly there are too many goddamn suspects for the thievery. How about this? Why don’t we all give one another our alibis during the day of the murder between 1 AM to 3 AM.” said Fushichin.

“I was with my father. I’m not too sure whether this is considered a good alibi because my father was drunk. A couple of his old colleagues called him for a party. I was called to pick him up at around 11. I went there at 12. I called a taxi and got him home at around 2. He was not well so mother and I were helping him vomit.” said Hellen.

“That’s not a bad alibi, actually. Maybe your father remembers and your mother can back it up. Do you remember the plate number of the taxi you sat in?” asked Fushichin.

“No, not really. I don’t think I even looked.” said Hellen.

Galtomor nodded and said “It’s not perfect. But that could be the truth. I was sleeping with my girlfriend at her apartm-”.

“Wowowowow. You have a girlfriend?” asked Fushichin.

“Yeah, I’m not an edgy freak like you, so women do tend to like me, was that a surprise?” asked Galtomor.

“No, I’m saying why didn’t you tell us? I thought we were partners!” grunted Fushichin.

“You don’t have to know shit about my personal life.” said Galtomor.

“What about your alibi, Fushichin?” asked Hellen.

“Oh, I was sleeping at Shyudharma temple.” said Fushichin.

“A temple?” gasped Juniper.

“What were you doing there?” asked Hellen.

“Oh, Master Kioku was lecturing a few students and we also meditated. I was one of the students. It got a little late so some of us who had a long way home decided to sleep at the temple.” said Fushichin.

“Master?” mumbled Hellen with a raised eyebrow.

“Talk about plot twists yourself! I didn’t know you were religious!” said Galtomor.

“Cause I’m not. Not in the same way Salim and other cults do it.” said Fushichin.

“How many of you were there?” asked Hellen.

“The five of us slept in the same room on the floor with futons. Master didn’t sleep while I was about to sleep tho. Maybe he could give out a testimony if need be. I drove my car as fast as possible towards the police station when I got the call.” said Fushichin.

“No need. You probably have the strongest alibi out of all of us here. But seriously, master? How do you have a master and also act all high and mighty?” said Galtomor.

“Did I act high and mighty? I just acted out of my own feelings and intelligence. Otherwise, I’m a pretty humble guy.” said Fushichin with a smirk.

“Oh bullshit!” yelled Galtomor.

“That is pretty surprising. But we’re not here to judge. It’s getting late. I guess we’ll end the interrogation here. Tomorrow we’ll check to see if the janitor of your apartment has footage for your alibi.” said Hellen.

*********