At 8 AM Squad K3 gathered together and sat in the conference room.

The detectives placed their phones on their tables, recording the conversation they were having.

“Some people may have an understanding that the police don't investigate amongst themselves for culprits. But you’re clearly mistaken if you think so. Justice will be served, even if it means suspecting friends. With that said, let us begin. As I heard, you took Juniper’s alibi?” asked Klancy.

“Yes. And we would like to take your alibi as well. After getting it, I am thinking of visiting Juniper’s apartment janitor. See if there is any way to verify Juniper’s alibi.” said Hellen.

“So where should we start? I’m assuming you guys talked about how I was with Fushichin and Galtomor when they were playing the playstarion?” asked Salim.

“Yes.” said Hellen.

“It may take some time. But let’s hear that recording” said Klancy.

Hellen brought out her phone, plugged it to a speaker and played the conversation for everyone to hear.

People patiently and quietly listened to the conversation until it was over.

“Hmm, I see. You think Juniper lost her gun while in the hot springs. That old lady definitely seems the most suspicious.” said Salim.

“It could also be an outside intruder tho.” said Hellen.

“Hey, Salim. We don’t know what happened to you after you left us at the playstarion place. You left first. Afterwards I left Galtomor to get into the hot spring.” said Fushichin.

“Oh, I immediately left the Konoko building. My friend said they were near and I wanted to talk with them.” said Salim.

“Hmm, wait. I think I saw you. You went past the gallery, right? 18:00 was it?” said Joey.

“Yes, I think I exited around that time. I visited back during dinner.” said Salim.

“Yes. You almost missed out. The food was getting cold.” said Klancy.

“Sorry. I was chatting with my friend for long and it took up time.” said Salim.

“Also, you did have your mustache shaved off then huh. That was surprising.” said Klancy.

Fushichin’s eyes became big and said “Yeah, you did have no mustache then. I remember you saying that you had pride in your mustache. What the hell happened to that?”

“It was itching weirdly. So, I shaved it off before meeting my friend.” said Salim.

“Hmm. Can you contact that friend of yours? If they verify whether they actually met you or not, then that would be nice.” said Fushichin.

“Okay, I don’t think that’s necessary. But sure.” said Salim.

Salim typed on his phone and activated its speaker for everyone to listen to the conversation.

“Hello, Salim?” said a man’s voice.

“Oh, hey Darima. I was just wondering. You and I were together chatting at that café, right? At around 19 to 20.” said Salim.

“Ughhh, oh yeah yeah. Yeah we were. You were talking about worshipping our Lord Hinokaiser. Yes, I remember now.” said the man happily.

“Good. That’s all I wanted to ask you.” said Salim.

“Anything else?” asked the man.

Salim looked at the other detectives and Klancy shook his head.

“That’s about it. Nice talking to you.” said Salim and ended the call.

“Okay, so you have an alibi. Which leaves us with Joey. And some other stooges from Squad L5.” said Fushichin.

“Actually I do have an alibi. I was talking with a friends from highschool. Tim Tucker and Jeremi Lucef.” said Joey happily.

“Oh really?” asked Klancy.

“Yeah. I think we talked from 17:30 to 19:00 at Gallery A of Konoko” said Joey.

“Could we call those people?” asked Salim.

“Oh yes, sure. I’ll call them myself.” said Joey.

Joey brought out his phone, called and put it on speaker.

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“Hey, Joey, what is up?” said a young man’s voice.

“Hello. Tim, I was with you and Jeremi on August 5th, right? We were together from 17:30 to 19:00” said Joey.

“I…yeah. We were. Wow, your memory is really good huh. I almost flabbergasted when you asked me the exact time. Yeah, the three of us chilled and talked. You still know a lot about video games, we should definitely hang out more!” said Tim, sounding enthusiastic.

“Yeah. But I gotta go. Just wanted to confirm this one thing” said Joey.

“Okay, if it helps your job, I guess.” said Tim.

The call ended.

“Was that proof enough?” asked Joey.

“Yeah. I think that’s enough personally. How about you Galtomor, my guy?” said Fushicin with a smirk.

“Of course, you were saying I don’t have an alibi even though I could be considered to have one.” said Galtomor.

“Hey, you’re not without anything. Apparently you did have an alibi with your girlfriend at the time of the murder. Oh yeah, Call your girlfriend! I really wanna hear you two talk sweet nothingness on the phone.” said Fushichin brightly.

“If you’re dying of jealousy, just admit it. But before that I only think it’s fair that we hear Klancy’s alibi. Everyone is equal in front of the truth, whether you’re the head detective or not doesn’t matter” said Galtomor as he frowned playfully towards Klancy.

Klancy winced and nodded.

“Yes. It’s true. I’m glad you understand that. I didn’t do any murder but unfortunately my alibi may be weak. I was watching a cartoon at the cinema of the Konoko resort from 18:00 to 19:40. There were very few people, not a single cop or detective was there, I’m afraid.” said Klancy.

“Well well, how sussy!” said Fushichin with a smirk.

“Your alibi during the time of murder, Klancy” said Hellen demandingly.

“I was sleeping alone in my bedroom at the police station. If some of you actually cared for your work and stayed overnight, you would know I was there.” said Klancy.

“Jeez, nobody is a no lifer like you who sleeps at their workplace, grandpa.” said Galtomor.

“But that is concerning. Nobody was there to know, right? Klancy could have easily slipped in and out of the department” said Hellen.

“No, that is not true. There is a security camera at the entrance of the police station and a guard there at all times. If I exited the department, it would be noticeable. Same thing with the fire exit. We may all have keys to the fire exit door. Doesn’t change the fact that there are cameras there as well.” said Klancy.

“Yeah, that makes sense. Klancy wouldn’t be able to commit the murder.” said Joey.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Mister Klancy’s window opens and has a balcony. His room is on the second floor. All he has to do is throw out a rope through the window and climb down. After committing the crime, he simply had to climb back up with the rope that he had left back into his balcony” said Salim.

“You think an old person like me would be able to do that?” asked Klancy with sarcasm.

“Come on, you’re only 50 years old. And I saw you throw hands against that suspect when he tried to escape. From the case that ended on August 5th” said Galtomor with a smirk.

“But wouldn’t he have to dangle the rope down? There is a window on the first floor under Klancy’s room window. If someone was there, surely, they would see it. He would be leaving his window open with rope dangling from the balcony between 12 am to 3 am.” said Hellen.

“He doesn’t have to leave the rope to dangle there for hours. When he left the police department, all he had to do was dangle two sides of the rope down and hang the middle part of the rope onto something, a pole is the most fitting. After going down through the rope by tugging the two parts of the rope, he pulled down one end of the rope to gather all of the rope. And later tie the rope to a grappling hook and throw it up to the balcony to climb back up.” said Fushichin.

“Where did you bring the grappling hook from all of a sudden? Nothing like that exists in the department.” said Klancy.

“You could have smuggled it into your room. Nobody checks your room. Or buy it after committing the crime.” said Fushichin.

“Still this is all just a hypothesis. There is no proof that he did that. And you’re just plagiarizing from Hori’s case.” said Hellen.

“Hey, maybe Klancy did copy Hori. He is just that unoriginal.” said Fushichin.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm in solving the case, but your slanders are somewhat offensive.” said Klancy with a frown.

“More importantly, could he even steal Juniper’s gun? How did Klancy know whether someone was in the female changing room or not?” asked Hui Ying.

“You would just enter the corner and hear whether people were moving inside, right? There definitely is a small corner for the men’s changing room, I imagine the women’s are the same” said Fushichin.

“And risk seeing by women who were entering from outside?” asked Hui Ying.

“And would anyone’s hearing be that good anyway?” asked Hellen.

“Hmm, we need to go to Konoko if we really wanna identify the culprit. I also saw a security camera at the corner of the hallway that leads to the women’s changing room.” said Klancy.

“Really?” asked Hellen.

“Yeah, there was a camera at the corner. I’m certain of it.” said Klancy.

“Well, shit. Still not as perceptive as mister grandpa huh. I didn’t see it. But I didn’t snoop around the women’s changing room like the old pervert either.” said Fushichin.

“But before we go. We should cross out the people at the women’s bathroom who could have stolen the gun, yeah?” asked Hui Ying.

“We sort of did. Me, Juniper, you, Naran and Betty from Squad L5 and an old lady were there. Juniper was confident that she put the-” said Hellen.

“Hey, you’re forgetting about someone. The lady with the fancy red kimono and a big round hair?” said Hui Ying.

“What? I never saw someone like that.” said Hellen.

“The kimono lady was standing at the corner of the room, inspecting the flowers that were put on the shelves. You were changing clothes in the first row, so it was impossible for you to see. I was in the third row so I managed to get a glimpse of her.” said Hui Ying.

“When did she start to change her clothes?” asked Hellen.

“I don’t know. She never went in with us to the hot springs. You and I entered the hot spring together, right? The lady was still there when I left. She was definitely not there when Juniper and I came to wear our clothes.” said Hui Ying.

“That kimono wearing lady definitely seems suspicious. What other special features did the lady have?” asked Klancy.

“Hmm, she painted her entire face white and I think her lips were painted red.” said Hui Ying.

“Okay, that’s good to know. Anything else?” asked Klancy.

“Not much, other than she was wearing a fancy red kimono and had a big roll of black hair.” said Hui Ying.

“We should definitely check out the security camera footage of Konoko resort. And visit Juniper’s apartment as well” said Galtomor.

“That sounds good. Our team has to visit that VPN hosting company to get the IP address of the creator of that malicious website.” said Klancy.

Klancy looked at Joey and said “You should go with Galtomor’s team. They need extra men and well, you have a solid alibi. It’s better that you guys keep an eye on one another.”

********