“Ahh, glad to see you all made it back.” said Klancy.
“We found out that Juniper is innocent. Let’s take her out of the cell.” said Hellen.
“It better be a concrete reasoning.” said Klancy.
They all went together towards Captain Maksym’s room.
Upon entering they saw Maksym buried under paperwork yet reading the files delicately. His eyes moved upward towards them and he took a sip from his coffee.
“Ahh, team K3. I heard you encountered a rather difficult truth to settle with. What is the matter?” asked Maksym calmly.
“Our team member Juniper has been wrongfully convicted. She was framed.” said Klancy.
Maksym smiled and said “I hope you are not clinging to old relationships out of pity. You know full well how serious her crime is.”
“We know. But Juniper couldn’t have been the culprit in the Matilda family’s massacre.” said Hellen.
“And why would that be?” asked Maksym.
Hellen put her phone in front of his desk and showcased the elevator footage.
“At 19 Juniper entered the elevator and exited at her own floor. Then at 3 AM she went into the elevator and exited. Proving that indeed she was in her apartment at the time of the murder.” said Hellen.
“Hardly. You do know that apartments have staircases, right?” asked Maksym.
“Yes. Which is also why I took the testimony of a person who was at the staircase, awake from 20 pm to 4 AM at the staircase and his words prove nobody used the staircase at this time.” said Hellen and played the recording.
After listening to the recording Maksym asked “Hmm, strange. Why would someone be at an apartment’s staircase for that long.”
“The person in question is homeless. He was there for shelter.” said Hellen.
“Doesn’t seem to be the testimony of a reliable person.” said Maksym and sipped coffee.
Hellen rolled her eyes and said “It is thanks to him that we have the truth now. The person in question has no relation to me or Juniper, he has no reason to lie. The only thing I asked of him was the truth.”
Maksym looked into Hellen’s eyes then smiled.
“I see. I have no reason to doubt you. You may know who Juniper Lawson is better than me. And you seem to be fair in your judgement. So, I trust you.” said Maksym and started typing on his laptop.
********
Upon showing the release note to the guards, they entered the interrogation cell. Soon Juniper exited the room, with her regular clothes on. Her eyes wavered upon meeting theirs, tears appeared inside them.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Juniper jumped and hugged Hellen. Hellen hugged her back with a smile. She then went over to Joey and hugged him as well.
That evening Klancy called Nina’s family, asked to talk with Nina on the phone. They asked whether Nina knew of Harjal’s voice and allowed her to hear Harjal’s angry rebuttals and complaints. Nina confirmed that it was indeed, the voice of the man she had heard.
“Good job team. We captured one of the attackers.” said Fushichin.
“Unfortunately, we still haven’t caught the killer who is hiding amidst the police.” said Hellen with a frown.
“Worry not. Let’s investigate together, ask what the guards were doing at the station that night. I’m sure we will find something fruitful.” said Klancy.
Map of the Police Station Floor 1:
[https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/805112036714479656/1175455026152476702/SPOILER_police_station_F1_map.png?ex=656b4acd&is=6558d5cd&hm=75807d03e8f5768136976237ba4562249d1249f9cb485655e8ab0500d8670fef&=&width=715&height=566]
The detectives walked towards the first floor entrance. There they met Panam, Halbay and Ishi. They were the guards designated to guard the police station during the night on certain days. They were all present and were assigned on the night of August 15th. The detectives asked about what they witnessed
“August 15 ehh? Well, I was at the entrance of the police station, just looking at the cameras.” said Panam.
“I was walking around in the first floor hallway, making sure nobody suspicious was going around.” said Halbay with a smirk.
“Which hallway did you check? I’m pretty sure the hallways have names.” said Galtomor.
“Umm, hallway S. There were a few inmates in the temporary cell and a few people inside the interrogation rooms as well. The doors were locked but just in case something happened, I walked around the rooms. From 21 to 3 am in the morning, I made sure nobody passed through hallway S. Ahh, I suppose Naran did enter the basement at 23 pm.” said Halbay with a smile.
“What was she doing that late?” pondered Fushichin.
“The basement floor has libraries, archives and files on past cases. I bet she was reading that.” said Klancy.
“And what happened after 3 am?” asked Hellen.
“Ahh, I kinda got a little sleepy and dozed off on a chair in front of the accessory room.” said Halbay.
“I see. So Naran was still inside the basement at 3 am? When did she leave?” asked Galtomor.
“Yes, I may have an answer to that. It was around 4 am, I believe. Naran went past me and exited the station through the front entrance.” said Panam.
“I see. Did anyone else enter or exit late?” asked Fushichin.
“No, I don’t think so.” said Panam.
There was a bit of silence for a while.
“Ahh, well, I guess that’s the only question we wanted to ask.” said Fushichin.
“Yes. I presume every window has a bug net installed on them? Have you checked them?” asked Klancy.
“Ahh, I did take a peek at a lot of them. The accessory room, the training room, and cafeteria definitely have nets installed on them. The conference room doesn’t have a net tho. And I didn’t check the windows on the second floor.” said Ishi.
“Cool, good to know.” said Fushichin.
“You guys have any other questions?” asked Klancy.
“No, I’m good.” said Salim.
“You didn’t ask any questions tho.” said Hellen with a smile but Salim only frowned back.
“Okay, great. Could we visit the cafeteria real quick? I’m starving!” said Fushichin.
“Uhh, I’m pretty sure the chefs there all left.” said Galtomor.
“Don’t they have any food left? It doesn’t matter if it’s cold.” said Fushichin.
“The door is locked. The training room and the cafeteria room doors are always locked starting from 19.” said Panam.
“What? When did that start to happen? I swear to god I went into the cafeteria at 20 and ate a bunch of mashed potatoes and leftover fried beef that one time.” said Fushichin with a grimance.
“Wowowow. You eat leftover foods from the cafeteria during the evening?” asked Galtomor with an eyebrow raise.
“...It’s way less pathetic than the way you made it sound. But I did a few times.” grumbled Fushichin.
“You are a detective just like us. You should get enough pay, no?” asked Hellen.
“Well the adventure was half the fun. Sorry if I have peculiar hobbies, okay.” grumbled Fushichin and walked away awkwardly.
******