There were so many things Martial Kim wanted to address: the police vehicles blaring horns and flashing red and blue lights like some kind of ghostly animal; the designs of a modern house compared to that of a straw hut or wooden mansion; not to mention the incredible amount of lights piercing through the darkness was beyond the power of a torch. It all happened in a whirlwind as he was forced to stumble through one line after another.
It was upon reaching the house inside, did he realize the weight of it all.
--- A mother and a child? Such a tragic sight so early in the morning.
In looking for Professor Stone inside of the crime scene, the young master ended up stumbling into the bedroom, where most of the attention buzzed about. There, on the bed he found two bodies: a woman cradling her son in her arms. Honestly, they looked like they were deep asleep, even with all these officers and forensic technicians walking passed them with much commotion and flashing lights.
A sinking feeling hit the young master in the gut, nailing it to the floor.
“There you are Kim!” Professor Stone called out when he spotted his protege in the crowd. “Here use this.”
“I-I am fine, Master—I mean Teacher. This is not the first time—”
“No. I mean, put this on. It isn’t the corpse smell that I am worried about.”
“Wh-what are you putting onto my face, Teacher? It is rather tight!”
“It’s a face mask. It helps to filter out any smells or particulates in the air from getting into the lungs. There was mention of a sort of gas leak, so better safe than sorry.”
“You say that, Teacher, but it is quite—cough—difficult to breath with this alone. I-I can feel my own breath scraping my eyes! A-and are those pieces of human skin!? Why are they coloured blue!?”
“No, no, no, Kim. These are gloves, made of a rubber like material—long story. We put them on, so we don’t leave our own finger prints in the crime scene. It also prevents any skin-contact infections or bacteria in a medical setting, but we’ll get to it later. Stay close to me.”
“Y-yes—cough—Teacher.”
Face mask and gloves. They sound and look so simple to use. For Martial Kim, they were as straight forward as a Rubik’s Cube. It was like everything he did, every step he made, the forensic chemist had to give him a crash course.
Perhaps it was good fortune. Prof. Stone did not mind to answer even the silliest of sounding questions. They were curt, given the situation, but he never failed to explain what was what for the young master out of time to keep up to date with his surroundings.
--- Odd. The walls in the bedroom are pitch black like ink. Yet, the walls outside were a soft peach blossom pink. Am I seeing things?
Martial Kim was neither hallucinating or seeing illusions. After double checking, he did realized the bedroom and living room were divided by an odd contrast in colour. Specifically in the bedroom, the closer he inspected the black colour – the more he realized it wasn’t paint at all.
--- Soot? Why does this pattern look familiar? It reminds me of traces left by a smoke bomb, but this is a deeper colour. I wondered what happened here? A sort of shinobi-style assassination?
As if to answer his question, Prof. Stone hailed a certain officer over to get those details. “Officer Roland! Good morning. What have you?”
Officer Roland had seen many things in his career, more bad than good. However, no amount of training and on-the-field experience prepared him for a jumpscare of a life time. The moment he laid eyes on the young master, he had to drop into his best karate stance to brace himself!
“Oh sh—You’re that Kung Fu Master who whooped out asses!! Wh-what is he doing here!?”
Prof. Stone tried to play it cool, “He’s with me. He’s...my apprentice, so to speak. Perfectly harmless.”
“Harm—Sir, you can’t be serious! I thought Detective Fraulein was kidding when she told me but—”
“The case, good officer. Ahem. What do you got?”
Officer Roland threw a warning glance at Martial Kim for a quick second. When he felt the war was over before it begun, he tried to read the scribbles written on his notepad. Alas his quivering voice wouldn’t stop showing weakness.
“Victim is a Single Mother, age 45. She has an eight year old Son...Only child.”
Prof. Stone and Martial Kim gave a wary glance at the bodies as the coroner was examining them in the side of the room. The forensic chemist then went, “Who found them?”
Officer Roland glanced at his notebook, coughing at the smell despite wearing his own face mask, “Caller is a teacher’s aide from the kid’s school. She handles those with special needs and the Son is one of them. She claimed the Mother called the school yesterday, to ask for sick leave on her son’s behalf. Didn’t give a reason, so it got the teacher’s aide curious. The lady called the home, but no one answered and came to see for herself.”
The officer glanced at his surroundings and sighed, “Knocked on the door, no answer. She noticed the smell of smoke coming from the front door and got scared, so she dialed 911. After the firefighters broke the door open, a patrol unit took a look and...called this in.”
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Martial Kim wanted to be helpful and be less of a burden. But clearly he didn’t understand 9/10 of what Officer Roland just said to paint a full picture in his mind. Teacher’s aide, special needs, phone call, why firefighters, all that. Obviously he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt and ask questions, so he tried to be useful and look around.
That was when his eyes laid upon something that was sitting next to his foot like a waiting dog.
“Kim?” Prof. Stone asked when he noticed the young master’s silence. “You found something?”
“Teacher. Is it customary in this city, to cook inside of the bedroom?”
“What?”
“What?”
Prof. Stone and Officer Roland had to echo each other when Martial Kim came up with that question. Then they figured out what the young master had been looking at.
“This pot of coal,” Martial Kim pointed. “When I came in, I noticed this lavish dinner set out on the table outside. I presume the Mother had cooked them for her and her Son. This is making me wonder, if the households in this city lack a kitchen or—
Officer Roland chewed on his lip and pointed at the pot himself, “That, would be the murder weapon.”
“What!?” Martial Kim couldn’t hold back a gasp. “How can a cooking stove be a murder weapon? Please search properly, constable, this cannot—MMFFHFM!”
“Excuse us, Officer Roland. Teacher conference, real quick.” Prof. Stone dragged Martial Kim to a corner of the bedroom and tried to shush his pupil from throwing a tantrum. Once he felt the latter was calm enough, he let go of his mouth. “Carbon monoxide poisoning. That could be the cause of death.”
“Carbon what, Teacher?”
“You see Kim. When coal burns, it releases a toxic gas into the air. When inhaled it can cause damage to the body, and when breathed in too much it can kill you out right.”
“Impossible! Everyone I know have always used coal to cook! Why, we also use it to keep us warm through the winter! To hear that it can kill us, preposterous! We would have known that!”
“Y-yes, that was back in the good old days. But people later found out, when burned in closed spaces it can actually kill. Essentially suffocates you to death without proper ventilation. Even now, there’s actually places in the world where people buy large amount of coal to commit suicide by smoke inhalation, since coal is readily available in stores and cheap to acquire from local stores. It’s also cleaner and painless compared to slitting the wrist, if you get me.”
“Wh...what!? I-I cannot believe what I am hearing! A method of heating food, a suicide weapon!?”
To us, that was common knowledge.
To Martial Kim, it was telling him everything he knew was a completely lie. Why in fact, before he left Moon Tavern he still remember cooking a dish or two for his customers – with fresh coal.
--- D-did I dodge a guillotine!? For being alive after relying on it so long? It cannot be! The sooner I return home, the faster I can warn my friends or else...Oh god. How I dread, seeing bodies fill the kitchen floor the moment I step back into Moon Tavern!
“Here, take a closer look Kim,” Prof. Stone ushered his apprentice over and pointed at the door. “See the crack under the door? It’s stuffed with rags. Windows all locked and closer. Zero ventilation. These signs alone shows how determined this mother was, to commit suicide...but the question is, why the child as well?”
Officer Roland checked another page, “What I gathered from the teacher’s aide, the Son had high functioning disability. The type where he had to rely on others to just eat, drink, care for him. Not exactly the independent sort. Judging by all the photos of the Single Mother and Son together, and the heap of toys he got, clearly the Mother loved him to bits regardless. My guess, she was scared to leave him alone in the world so—”
Martial Kim could not help and retort, “Still, there is no need to drag the child with her. Would she not have relatives to take care of him!?”
“Well,” Officer Roland shrugged, “Based on shared testimonies amongst the neighbours, they all claim the Single Mother has been living on her own with just her Son. No visitors, no known relatives, almost isolated. Granted whether or not they do have family in or out of town, or if a social worker following their case for that matter, is left to be seen in further investigation.”
“What about a Father? Where is he?”
“Did...you not hear me say Single Mother?”
“If she is a widow, just say so!” Martial Kim yelped, only for Prof. Stone to pull him aside again, “T-Teacher?”
“Sorry to break it to you,” Prof. Stone winced, “Single parenting is a common practice in this day and age. A woman doesn’t need a husband, and a man don’t need a wife to raise a kid. I-it’s complicated, but this is normal.”
“Normal? Normal!? Raising a family is a commitment between lovers! Children are a product of their bond and are a responsibility shared by bother father and mother! This is nothing like playing a game of Xiangqi Chess by yourself!”
“Yes, yes, yes. Holy Matrimony, till death do us part.” Prof. Stone uttered, trying to calm down his companion, “Honestly, it’s hard to explain in a few minutes. Sadly I have to say, it is what it is.”
“But—”
“I-I’ll tell you in more details later. First, we got a case to follow.”
“...Yes, yes of course teacher.” Martial Kim uttered.
Although he felt his mentor encourage him with a pat on the back, none of this made his spirits the better. Not only was the death of a mother and child weighing on his heart, all these strange cultural...blasphemy crawled under his skin like cockroaches.
--- Honestly, is there nothing sacred in this world!? Where is the honesty, the honour, respect and... Who am I kidding? The people here live this life as easy as they breath. Who am I, from this so called Dark Age, be the judge of their lifestyle... Teacher is right. The case takes precedent. Honestly, over 10 years of experience and I have fallen back on my knees as a newbie. I need to re-evaluate my ability to sleuth.
“Cheer up,” Prof. Stone smiled, “There’s much to learn, young Padawan.”
“...P...Padawan?”
What will Martial Kim find out? Was this a suicide, or a murder? What clues would he discover to figure out what really happened in this very house? Better yet, will the young master be able to handle the truth at the end of this case?
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