The incident happened more than several months ago.
If the murderer, or murderers, were smart enough in this day and age they would have surely cleared any traces of the crime as thoroughly as possible. And with the passing of time, even anything small or over looked would have been buried in the dust and lost forever.
Yet, Professor Stone was confident in finding the answer several months later.
“Teacher, I’ve been meaning to ask you. What are these silver boxes your team always carry?”
“On the surface, they look like regular metal suit cases. To forensics, it’s our secret weapon.”
Professor Stone thumbed the sides of the suitcase, making both locks pop off at command, and opened it like a treasure chest. In fact, ‘treasure chest’ seems to be appropriate, as Martial Kim was exposed to a myriad of devices and chemical equipment he had never seen before.
There were too many to address, or even describe, and the details revolving around their purpose would involve a whole new Encyclopedia Britannica volume. So, the young master could only focus his listening skills on the ones his mentor was about to introduce.
“Kim, grab me that hammer you just showed me a moment ago. Yeah that one.”
“What is that small fluffy stick, and that sheet of paper?”
“Cotton swab, or Q-Tip, and a paper filter. Watch closely, because the ‘magic’ only happens once. All I have to do is spray some chemical on the hammer, swab the Q-Tip on some places, rub it on the paper filter like so, give a couple of drips of this solution aaaaand--”
“Oh! The paper is bleeding!”
Martial Kim watched as the blank white surface of the paper disc slowly turned a bright shade of crimson. Just when he though the whole disc would have been soaked in scarlet, it only stopped – or was trapped – right in the small circumference in the center of the paper disc.
“You see, Kim,” Prof. Stone explained, “This is a rapid testing kit. It allows us to check to see if any potential murder weapons had any blood. Even if they washed the murder weapon with water and soap, the chemical residue of blood would still linger. Granted it’s not 100% accurate, but saves us time to get some answers while we’re at the crime scene.”
“Incredible. To think you can reveal the invisible, without any sorcery!”
“Honestly Kim, the more I hear about your obsession for magic and the arcane, the more I am led to believe you used to be a street magician like David Copperfield or something.”
Prof. Stone called for a forensic technician to collect the hammer as evidence. While several officers came down to start taking photos of the cellar, the master and disciple ended up staring at the ground.
Martial Kim crouched down to touch the concrete floor, “Should we use the same rapid test, to check the floor for any blood.”
“Not to rain on your parade, Kim, but the rapid testing is good for small objects or small sections of surfaces. This is an ENTIRE floor we’re talking about. Finding perhaps a spot of blood is like playing Minesweeper.”
“M-Minesweeper?”
“Er. Needle in a haystack in other words. No, we need the big guns.”
Guns? Martial Kim wondered, what does the weapons the police carry on their hips have to do with forensics? It was when Prof. Stone asked him to grab one more thing from the forensic van and bring it to him.
The young master watched as his mentor assembled this new box with a hose on the front and flicked on some switches on the back – making the face light up like some sort of robotic elephant.
“Put these one, Kim.”
“Whatever for? I don’t need glasses. I have perfect vision!”
“These goggles are not to help you see better, they’re to help you not go blind.”
Martial Kim didn’t understand what his mentor meant, but he put them on anyways. Cold hard plastic with a strange amber tint. Although he had no trouble seeing through the lens, the face it constricted his face made him a tinge claustrophobic.
That was when Prof. Stone revealed the truth behind both those goggles and the elephant like box.
His eyes widen at a brilliant blue light shooting out from the tip of the hose, lightning up the concrete floor.
“Teacher, this is? Oof. Even with these goggles, the light is as bright as the sun!”
“Ultraviolet light. It was developed in the early 20th century and it has been known to make certain substances that would normally be invisible to the naked eye, completely visible. Such substances would then react and give off this fluorescent glow, like: bodily fluids, semen, invisible ink, scorpions if you can believe it, and especially blood.”
Prof. Stone would move high and low across the basement workshop, scanning the area with the UV light hose in his one hand. “Given it’s practical uses in forensics, it was adopted as a crime fighting method in the 1930s, allowing us to track blood trails or reveal things that have been hidden in plain sight. And it is BECAUSE ultraviolet light have the same intensity as sunlight – keep those goggles on you at all times.”
--- Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. To be able to harness the power of the sun in the palm of your hand, shining a light to reveal the true nature of hidden truths and lies. This is a sort of power even the great Emperor of our Jade Dynasty would desire. To think such grand ability was this convenient, and applied to criminal investigation. Honestly, even with Teacher as my guide – I simply cannot keep up with everything I am seeing with my own eyes!
The forensic investigators took a good hour to examine the floor. Every nook and cranny was not spared. Why, they even double checked with any other tool hanging on the shed. Martial Kim was expecting a ghost of a glow to leap out at them the moment the U.V. light shone onto them...but...
Stolen novel; please report.
“...Teacher, are we expecting something to happen with this ultraviolet light? It’s been a fair minute.”
“Should be. If this was the murder scene, there should be some remnants of blood splatter somewhere on the floor...unless.” Prof. Stone chanced to rub a finger across the floor and check the thickness of the dust, comparing it to the thickness on the ancient looking tables. “Damn. They must have used bleach.”
“Bleach?”
“Yeah. It’s available in every household.”
“Every? You’re not suggesting, that everyone can be a killer and erase their tracks, right Teacher?”
“Wh-what? Oh no no!” Prof. Stone objected with a wave of his hand, “Bleach is a cleaning agent. Often used to kill germs and bacteria – er, very infections – super effective in sterilizing floors and removing any pests. The smell, on the other hand, is a whole can of worms. Bleach is strong enough, to break the remnants of blood down to the molecular structure...M-meaning, it can erase blood stains entirely.”
Martial Kim hummed with a frown, “To think, even the mighty ultraviolet light would have a rival of equal power.”
“You...can say it like that, Kim.” Prof. Stone pursed his lips as he looked around. “Looks like the trail’s gone cold at this point.”
“Whatever do you mean, Teacher? We have a murder weapon yes? The hammer you used the rapid testing on. You confirmed, it is blood.”
“I hate to say this Kim, but the rapid test is to give us a head start to figure out if anything is the murder weapon. We still have to bring it back to the lab to confirm, for sure, it is human blood and that blood sample belonged to the victim. I mean take a look around you.”
Prof. Stone gestured to everything sharp and dangerous in the room. “This is a workshop, someone’s bound to cut or hurt themselves and have blood stains on them. Normal hazards, as you call it. Second, the rapid testing cannot differentiate between animal blood, or even certain types of flower pollen. So who knows if the owner once smashed a rat to death with that hammer.”
Martial Kim felt fire burning in his stomach and he tried to quell the flames with a straight voice, “So what? That’s it? We are to walk away? Nothing here will help us discover the truth?”
“Well if there was any signs of blood on the floor, or the walls, this would give us MORE reason to believe something happened here. But with what we can see now – it looks like the owner, or owners, did a terrible job cleaning up. Only scrubbing one place and not anything else.”
“Surely, there must be a trick in your sleeve – or in your forensic armaments, that could prove these relatives are the murderers!”
“Kim, Kim, Kim, slow down.” Prof. Stone pulled his protege to the corner before anyone could over hear his outburst. “Look. I know you’re angry, especially what happened to the Drain Victim.”
“How could I not? Young and innocent, clubbed on the head and her neck snapped in two! If she didn’t die instantly, she surely would have suffered. And what about her dignity, being stuffed in a drain like so!?”
“Ssssssh...I hear you. But as a forensic investigator, we can’t go jumping on stage and point who is the killer. Our job is to collect evidence and make a plausible deduction, for Detective Fraulein to find the killer. And she isn’t stupid, no doubt she’s trying to tear a new one into the relatives. She has her job, we have ours.”
Martial Kim was seething at this point. It was only by looking into the calm within Prof. Stone’s gaze did he realize his rash emotions was getting ahead of himself. He used a meditative skill to calm his inner flame and try to find the same peace a lake would carry on a sunny day.
“Still, Teacher. There has to be something more we could do.”
Prof. Stone patted his protege, “There is. Between you and me, I feel something happened in this cellar. Look at how dusty this place is, yet the floor is cleaner than the cobwebs. We got to keep looking, don’t rush it.”
“Yes Teacher...”
Martial Kim would follow his mentor’s lead, trying to look for anything that could shed light, or glowing light for that matter, to what happened to the Drain Victim. However, curiosity got the better of him and he chanced to ask.
“By the way, Teacher. This ultraviolet light. Where could you get one?”
“Oddly, you can get them any where?”
“W-what? Your secret weapon is public?”
“Nooot, exactly,” Prof. Stone gave one more look around as he continued. “There’s all sorts of ultraviolet light products in the industry. Some used to sterilize meat before putting them on shelves, and hand held wands to check for money forgery – as the bills we use have secret ink that show up to determine if they are the real deal or made from a printer.”
“...So...your ultraviolet light is different? A closely guarded secret I hope.”
“Kind of, but yeah the ultraviolet we use for police investigation are heavy duty and closely circulated within the law enforcement community. So I doubt even if you went behind my back and open your own forensic company you can’t just up and order this online. You need credentials and—”
“T-Teacher! I would never betray you! I am not that kind of person!”
“Relax, relax. I was joking. Breathe. Breeeaathe.” Prof. Stone pat his protege on the shoulder to assure him. “There is an alternative, much like the ghetto superglue with tree sap method: Rice vinegar.”
“R-rice vinegar?”
“Yeah. I read some investigators in the past, when there were no such thing as ultraviolet light or even rapid testing kits, they use splashes of rice vinegar to reveal any blood that may have been washed away. Now granted, modern forensic does not condone that method – as it would contaminate the blood and may ruined the D.N.A. composition in the blood stain. So sure, you can still see the blood – but you can’t tell if it matches the victim or not.”
--- Rice vinegar...I wonder, if I could try that when I return home to Moon Tavern. Surely this technique, along with everything Teacher taught me, would be valuable in my future investigations...My future, huh.
The workshop in the cellar gave the forensic investigators no further clues to work with. So they had no choice but to pack up and leave. Just as they were on their way to the surface, Martial Kim lagged behind – not because he wanted to triple check the potential crime scene again.
--- Why do I feel so hopeless? The thought of returning home? This sensation in my heart, am I finally realizing how homesick I have become? I wonder, how is everyone faring back in Moon Tavern. Is Martial Blue Sister taking care of herself? She’s simply too scared to ask others for help. Is Martial Red Sister butting heads with her friends? I’ve always warned her to keep her hot temper in check. Oh god, Martial Yellow Sister? Is she getting into more trouble without my supervision......And I wonder if Fae Fae and Inspector Lee are also—
Creaaaaaak—SNAP!!
“OH!”
“Huh? KIM! WATCH OUT!”
Halfway up the stares, Martial Kim felt his hopelessness tip him off his feat. The ground under him gave out with a snap and he could see the world spinning around him.
The last thing he saw – was his own blood splashing across his eyes.
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