“I uhh, what do you mean?” said Brad with hesitation.
“Don’t play dumb. You testified about how Viva stabbed the back of the victim with a sickle. You fabricated that testimony because you knew of the wound on the back of the victim, no?” said Klancy.
“I…hehe. I believe it is what you might call a lucky guess? Either way I did say my testimony was invalid. I mistook what actually happened, sorry.” said Brad with a polite smile.
“Don’t play dumb. You lied to us and attempted to frame someone and you knew what you shouldn’t have known.” grunted Hellen.
“For all we know, maybe Brad really was the real killer. Viva, when you found the body, the victim was lying face down, right? I presume he had a wound on his back?” said Fushichin.
“Umm, yeah. I didn’t pay much attention to his back but I do remember his jacket was torn in that section.” said Viva.
“Meaning that Brad shouldn’t have known about the victim’s back wound since nobody should have turned the body face down since.” said Klancy.
“Don’t tell me the back wound was told to him by the police or by Viva?” said Galtomor.
“We told the suspects who died and what killed them after we gathered them here, before we took their alibi. But the back wound was recently discovered by Klancy and you guys flipping the body. Viva did tell us that she flipped the body in her recorded alibi but she didn’t tell us anything about the back wound then.” said Yung.
“So how the hell do you know about the wound?” asked Galtomor.
“I, ehhh, it was when I found the body. Viva was already there. But she wasn’t exactly guarding the body. She was knocking on the door of the entrance to the gallery, calling for help. I…saw the body then. It was facing down. I saw the back wound clearly. I immediately ran back from fear.” said Brad as he awkwardly scratched his head.
“Facing down? So she hadn’t flipped the body yet?” asked Galtomor.
“I found the body, shook him to see if he would wake up. I thought the pool of blood under him could have been a nose bleed, so I hoped. I then tried to get help from outside but the door was locked so I knocked on the door and yelled. After calming down, I realized it might be better to see the man in detail. Thus, I flipped the body.” said Viva with a sad look.
“I see. The details do make sense” said Klancy.
“I didn’t mean to hide it. I just forgot and didn’t realize it was important.” said Viva.
“It’s fine.” said Klancy.
“Gah, you lying bastard! And here I thought we had a closed case!” yelled Schreuder with anger towards Brad.
Hellen turned around to the suspect group.
“Did any of you see the victim, alive?” asked Hellen.
“Good question.” mumbled Fushichin.
Dorj’s eyes lit up and he raised his arm into the air. When Hellen blinked at him, he said “I don’t know what the victim looks like. I’ve been trapped here ever since the case started.”
“Honestly, me too. These detectives are so ridiculous to ask questions like that.” said Gabriel boastfully.
Hellen brought out her phone and showcased the picture of the deceased victim’s face.
“I did meet that person.” said Dorj.
“When?” asked Liu.
“At around 11:50, at the round hallway. I was previously walking around the hallway, viewing the paintings on the walls. He arrived and sat on one of the chairs and was talking to a person on the phone. ” said Dorj.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“So he was alive then.” said Galtomor.
“Now wait a minute. Doesn’t that mean, you have the opportunity to attack the victim? And nobody else would have seen anything?!” yelled Schreuder loudly.
Hellen slapped her face and said “Who let him here?”
She shook her head and asked “When did you depart from the victim?” asked Hellen.
“At 12:00, when I went to the bathroom. When I returned to the round hallway the victim was gone. I went to the weapon’s section afterwards” said Dorj.
“Mighty sus, considering that the keychain with the keys was inside the male bathroom.” yelled Schreuder.
“Oh yeah. I was wondering, could we see the picture of the keychain that you took? You kept yapping about that.” said Fushichin.
“Sure sure. Here is the picture.” said Schreuder and gave his phone to them.
Inside the gallery of his phone, there was a picture of a bathroom sink, under it was a keyring with many keys. The next picture was an extreme close up to the keyring. The silver keyring contained many keys within it that had silver, bronze, brown and yellow colors. Strangely a white knot was tied to the ring and the other end of the knot was tied to a black plastic with a curved rectangle shape. It was specifically tied to the bottom part that had a pole stuck out of it.
“Wait. What is this plastic that is attached to the keyring?” asked Fushichin.
“Pah, who knows. I found the keyring with keys in that exact position. I took the picture before putting it into the evidence bag.” said Schreuder.
The detectives looked suspiciously towards the picture.
“Can we please go? Clearly you have nothing on us.” said Gabriel.
“No, you’re a prime suspect. You locked yourselves in with the locked room. Unless you prove your innocence yourselves you won’t get out!” yelled Schreuder.
Gabriel crossed her arms and pouted with anger. But soon her eyes opened wide and she said with sass “Hah, then I do have proof of my innocence. I can’t believe I forgot that.”
She brought out her phone and scrolled through it and said “Here, these are the pictures I took in the museum. The details of the picture showcase the time the pictures were taken, proving my alibi.” said Gabriel with a wince.
“Tch, we’re not falling for your tricks. You likely took those pictures midst your crimes to prove your innocence.” grumbled Schreuder.
“In any case, we should at least look at them. We barely have anything to go by now.” said Yung.
Gabriel gave her phone to the detectives. They all bumped their heads onto one another and scrolled through the pictures.
The first was a selfie picture taken at the final antique room at 12:40. There were menacing costumes of shamans in the background at the two sides of the door. And someone’s back, a lady’s could be seen at the door. The second picture was taken at 12:30 inside the culture section of the museum. Fancy traditional costumes could be seen in the background. A small black thing, likely a toy was in front of one of the clothes in the stand.
The third selfie was taken at 12:00 at the armory display room. In the background was the giant armor piece. The ground where the victim’s body lay now was visible in the picture as well, but clearly nothing to indicate that there would be a murder soon.
“See nothing. You wasted our time, woman.” said Schreuder with anger.
“Hey, I thought it would help. You cops crave and go mad over evidence, so I gave you one.” said Gabriel with a stuck up tone.
“Your selfies aren’t evidence. You could have committed murder in-between these pictures” grumbled Schreuder.
“Wait…What the hell is that in the background?” asked Galtomor as he pointed towards the small black object in the second picture, the one taken at the culture section.
“Seems like…a toy?” mumbled Fushichin.
“Strange, there wasn’t something like that in this facility, right?” asked Hellen.
“We investigated this museum and didn’t find any kid’s toys.” said Yung.
The K3 detectives looked puzzled a bit.
“Maybe some kid was in this museum and they got out before the murder happened?” pondered Juniper.
They looked back at the picture.
“We need to check the culture section.” said Klancy.
They left the suspects and went over to culture section of the museum. Bunch of traditional robes, dresses and tea sets were displayed surrounding the walls of the museum.
“Hey, how thoroughly did your team investigate? Did you check under and inside of the museum displays?” asked Klancy through the phone.
“No, actually. We didn’t want to disturb or destroy the displays, it would be terrible news if we did.” said Yung.
“Hmm, I think it’s more important that we find the truth of this case. Don’t worry, we will tell you if we have to destroy anything.” said Klancy.
“Hey, wait a minute! I specifically got instructions not to…Ughhhh!” grumbled Yung from the other side of the phone.
Klancy hung up and said “Check inside the display clothes and furnitures.”
They went around the section and investigated. Fushichin went straight towards the clothing that was seen in the background of Gabriel’s selfie. It was a pink dress worn by the ancient queen of Batgardians. He checked the sleeves and inside of the dress, on the floor concealed by the bottom of the robe was a strange finding.
A small black radio-controlled car with big tires was positioned to be hidden from view, concealed by the robe.
“Hey, guys, I found something.” said Fushichin.