14 pm

The sky had become dark and cloudy. It was sure to rain soon. The four of them drove in their cars and arrived in front of Juniper’s apartment.

“Hello, is the janitor mister Keeth here?” asked Hellen upon entering the building.

The door near the entrance opened and a burly bald man appeared.

“I’m Keeth. What are you people up to?” asked the man, a bit annoyed.

“Hi, I’m detective Hellen. I would like to inspect the footage of your security camera, if you have one. It’s necessary for a certain case that we’re investigating” said Hellen as she showed him her badge.

Keeth rubbed his chin for a while and said “Hngh, fine.”

They were all led into a small room. There was a bed and a table in the corner of the room. And on the upper side of the wall there was a shelf with a tv on top.

“Sorry, I only have the footage of the elevator. If someone mugged another person on the staircases, I wouldn’t know. It’s not like the committee has enough money to put cameras everywhere. Nobody said something like that happened to them.” said Keeth.

“Right. Do you have the footage for the evening of August 14th to morning of August 15th?” asked Hellen.

“Yes, we do.” said Keeth as he searched the footage with his remote.

Keeth slowed down the footage starting from 16 pm of August 14th , Sunday.

“Hey, was Juniper working on Sunday?” asked Fushichin.

“No, she was free I think.” said Galtomor.

At 18 pm Juniper was seen entering the elevator from floor 5.

“There she is. Does she live on floor 5?” asked Hellen.

“Yes” said Keeth.

At 19 pm Juniper entered the elevator from floor 1 and exited when the elevator arrived at floor 5. Then Juniper was not seen on the later footage until 3 AM when she entered from floor 5 and exited the elevator at floor 1.

“It’s as she said. She did exit the elevator at 3 AM.” said Hellen.

“But it’s not a solid alibi, right? She could have simply left through the staircase, did the deed and arrived back, walk up the stairs to her floor and use the elevator to create an alibi.” said Galtomor.

“She lives here. She probably knows the elevator has a camera and the staircase does not.” said Fushichin.

“For your information, I haven’t been telling this to everyone. I certainly didn’t tell Juniper this directly but she may have known simply by observing the elevator and the staircase.” said Keeth with a frown.

The four of them exited the janitor’s room. Hellen looked a bit down at her failure but suddenly she bumped into a person.

“Ahh, sorry” said Hellen.

“It’s okay.” said the man.

He had a dark skin, likely burnt in the sunlight and wore dusty ragged clothes that were worn down and cut. On his back was a dirty backpack and he was holding a flattened carton box.

The ragged man passed the detectives and rushed towards the stairs.

“Hey, hold up! You wretched bastard!” yelled Keeth and ran after him.

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The alerted ragged man sprinted and ran away while Keeth chased him.

“We should be going.” said Galtomor but Hellen stubbornly chased after the two.

Hellen rushed along the stairs and she quickly found the ragged man on the ground with Keeth on top him, having pinned his hand behind his back.

“Oy oy. What did I do?” asked the ragged man with a pained voice.

“You filthy wretch! Get out of the apartment! Sick and tired of seeing filthy wastes like you.” said Keeth.

“Hey! What are you doing? What did he do?” asked Hellen with anger.

“Stupid bastard wants to use this place like a house. The staircase isn’t your place to stay old man!” grunted Keeth.

“What is wrong with him being here?” grunted Hellen with anger.

Keeth looked at her furiously and yelled “The bastard’s gonna drink alcohol, poop everywhere, probably would mug the people trying to use the staircase too”

“Well, none of that stuff has happened yet, right? Or does he have any previous offenses?” asked Hellen.

“The bastard was sleeping here for the past few nights. Keeps scaring some of the people living here.” said Keeth with anger.

“But he didn’t do anything to hurt anyone, right?” asked Hellen.

“Yeah, I didn’t even drink alcohol! My liver stopped handling it. This guy here is just nothing but a nuisance!” said Keeth.

“Oh yeah? Well, you definitely took a shit on the sixth floor, didn’t ya?” asked Keeth.

“No, this is conjecture. I didn’t shit here! I always shit outside in the grass!” yelled the man.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you're a shitter who keeps ruining the environment with all your shitting!” yelled Keeth.

“Shit is normal! Where the fuck an old man supposed to shit huh? Shit in my pants? Fuck you! You scoundrels. You treat me like the scum of the earth for being poor! I’ll decide where to shit and not to shit, you annoying fucks! Maybe you should try shitting in an imaginary fancy toilet that you don’t have!” cried out the old man.

“Hey, is this your bag, mister?” asked Fushichin as he examined the run down bag next to him.

“Yeah, it’s my personal stuff. The only thing I have.” said the ragged man.

“Oh, great. You freaking alcoholics, you claim to be poor but you managed to buy a bag of booze?” said Keeth violently as he opened the bag.

But his fierce eyes turned to confusion. He pulled a book out from the bag, the another one and another book.

“These are all just books.” said Keeth distraught.

“Yeah, I told you the truth, but you won’t listen. Books are cheaper than alcohol anyway. Some were even loitering around on the ground.” said the ragged man.

“What is your name, mister?” asked Fushichin.

“Eilam Cruze. I used to work as a retailer but…my family died in a fire. Lost everything to booze. I’ve befriended alcohol for many years. But nah, it was just an abusive relationship just like many other relationships.” said the man in a sorrowful tone.

Fushcihin curiously flipped over the books.

“Literature, cooking and computer software. Interesting collection you have here” said Fushichin as he put the books back into the bag.

“You can’t stay here!” said Keeth.

“Why? It’s august but today seems cloudy. It could rain tonight.” said Hellen.

“He can’t. He just can’t stay here. The staircase isn’t a place to make people sleep. If he sleeps here, this whole place will be infested with drunk and homeless people.” said Keeth.

“Pah, that’s some hilarious fantasy you got there! Don’t think yourself to be that special. Mister Eilam here could just pick any other place if he wanted to. It’s just more annoying to do so.” said Fushichin.

“Let’s stick to the facts. Only Eilam would like to stay here a bit. If more people come you can easily say it’s too much. Mister Eilam himself doesn’t cause problems for anyone. Not causing problem alone should be enough of a reason to leave him be.” said Hellen.

“Ghr. Your job isn’t to tell me how to do my job! Stop abusing your position of powers, detectives!” said Keeth.

“We aren’t. I’m not speaking as a cop or a detective. I’m speaking as a person, saying that you have no rightful reason to kick this person out. You’re just being cruel and selfish. Just like how so many people in the world are that way. Maybe life wouldn’t be such a hellhole if you learned how to lend a helping hand.” grunted Hellen.

Keeth looked at Hellen aggressively but defeated. Eilam mused happily from behind Hellen.

“Fucking stupid. I’ll definitely kick that guy out if he poops or vomits here!” said Keeth and walked downstairs.

“Tch, was that really necessary? I don’t think it’s our business telling people how to handle their property. Honestly it might be illegal.” said Galtomor.

“I wasn’t trying to control him. I didn’t want this person to be forced out onto the streets. That’s all there is to it.” said Hellen.

“Say, mister. You were here on August 4th and 5th? From 19 to 3 am?” asked Fushichin.

“August 4th? The day before yesterday? Yeah, I was here starting from 20 pm. I stayed on the landing between fourth and fifth floor. Read a few books there. Sat down and relaxed. I tried to sleep. But my stomach was not feeling well. I think I might have slept around 4 AM.” said Eilam.

“Oh, so you didn’t sleep that night?” asked Galtomor.

“Yes. That’s what I said!” grunted Eilam.

“Wait. You would notice if someone went from the fifth floor to the first floor using the staircase, right?” asked Hellen hastily.

“Y-Yeah. I guess I would. I barely slept that night.” said Eilam.

“Then that’s perfect. We just need to take your account, sir!” said Hellen and brought out her phone and started the recording.

Eilam repeated what he said and that was it.

*********