Officer Roland wasn’t a fan of video games, always thought they were a waste of time. That or he was forcefully raised to believed that. Although he knew how to play Chess and Poker, he never really cared much for spending his idle time with such entertainment.
Betting, however, was a different story.
“Murdered? Before he was set on fire?” The officer chuckled and cupped his hands under his bullet proof vest like a hand warmer, “Never took you for a psychic, sir.”
“No psychic, no parlour tricks,” Professor Stone laughed. “How much are you willing to put down, on accident.”
“Weeeeell...Fifty bucks sounds like a sure win to me.”
“You’re on.” Prof. Stone shook gloved hands with Officer Roland, to seal the deal. Then he asked, “Rather confident in your words. Why is that?”
“Pffft. Don’t mean to be rude sir, but as Sherlock Holmes would say ‘it’s Elementary Dear Watson’.”
Martial Kim cocked his head, like a cat.
--- That name. Sherlock Holmes. It keeps coming up, from when I was arrested to even through my forensic studies. I wonder, who is this man they keep referring to – and with much reverence. And is ‘Watson’ truly Teacher’s full name?
Officer Roland show his trump card called a police notebook and opened a specific chapter in his findings, “Burn Victim is a fanatic for cars. Always spends his days fixing, maintaining them, and has done some exceptionally beautiful make overs. Why, he’s done a few favours for their neighbours and helped them to save up some expenses before taking them to a mechanic shop. Now granted, this man is about to enter his 60s, even his last photo had hair whiter than this morning’s snow. I take it, he’s at the age of dropping things or forgetting crucial details and—well, look what happened to him now.”
Martial Kim was about to object, or lecture Officer Roland to not jump to conclusion. One half grin from Prof. Stone was enough to keep him in the sideline and zip his lip.
Officer Roland adjusted his belt, feeling lucky today, “Not to mention, it’s starting to get more than nippy. No doubt the man had to pull out a heater to keep the garage warm while he worked. Given how old everything is in this garage, no doubt a wire or two got frayed and...Well.”
The officer exchanged glances with the forensic chemist and young master, both staring back.
“What!?” Officer Roland yelped, “Come on. I did say no one came in or out of this area last night. No sound of gunshot, even his neighbours didn’t hear any scuffle or fight. Clearly this is any other accident, we get it all the time. I know I’m right on the money!...Also, if you guys would excuse me. Duty calls.”
Officer Roland stepped out of the conversation, only to come back, “Ah yes, Prof. Stone. Keep that 50 bucks warm for me, will ya?”
“Oh. Of couuuuurse.” Prof. Stone chuckled. Once the officer was out of ear shot, the forensic chemist turned to his protege, “Kim? What do you think?”
“I believe foul play,” Martial Kim answered confidently. “The garage doors, the car and its windows, even the glass bulbs in the lights above us – each and every one of them melted and disfigured. This would require a large amount of heat that cannot be naturally possible. I do not know how potent these flammable objects in this room are, but to create such destruction within a short amount of time – and isolated in just this garage – tells me it was man made.”
Prof Stone gave the young master a big thumbs up, “Smart boy. I thought the exact same thing when I came in here. With a fire this terrible, the next door neighbours should be lucky it didn’t make it farther than the hedge. And my team mate mentioned: the fire fighters found the garage door closed, or closed position given how it’s melted through like paper. Essentially when the fire started, this entire room acted like a makeshift oven.”
“In order to raise the temperature and destroy everything. In a short period of time.” Martial Kim checked around him. “The question is, was this a means to murder someone in a deadly trap? Or to erase evidence...Actually, teacher. How do you know, if the victim was dead before he was set on fire? Even with my experience, I have trouble telling at a glance.”
“Magicians never tell the audience their secret! So I’m going to show you.”
image [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/e5d49d01-e685-46aa-8d92-b07d57dc33fb/didaiyy-7cc70b06-faf9-4771-a24f-b7127efe7b76.png/v1/fill/w_1280,h_207/moon_tavern_page_break_by_suimaifiles_didaiyy-fullview.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MjA3IiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvZTVkNDlkMDEtZTY4NS00NmFhLThkOTItYjA3ZDU3ZGMzM2ZiXC9kaWRhaXl5LTdjYzcwYjA2LWZhZjktNDc3MS1hMjRmLWI3MTI3ZWZlN2I3Ni5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.V__LDKPGxPLEElJXKGgxKvmlMcRIG9Nv3hgCGY_VlEE]
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Martial Kim usually learned on the field. Acquiring knowledge and insights in the moment had always been an effective learning tool for him, especially when it came to criminal investigation. It is always a good idea to be part of the crime scene to get a feel and clue of what happened.
So, the moment he was dragged back to the forensic lab to learn this new answer – it threw him off kilter for a bit.
“Teacher...are those...rats?”
“Yep. Freshly donated from the local science university!”
Prof. Stone brought a serving of two well roasted rats on a tray. Although serving is a bit of an exaggeration, the young master cannot unsee the sight of these two cooked rodents being brought to him as if it was tonight’s dinner.
The forensic chemist set them on a counter top and said, “These are lab rats.”
“You mean, just sewer rats?”
“Oh noooo, noooo. Science can be dangerous, so there have been some companies and organizations who breed a certain type of rats or mice which we use for specifically testing. Regular rats out in the world are full of diseases, lice, and what not and would totally ruin the authenticity of experiments.”
--- Breeding rats? I cannot fathom. They bring plague and misfortune to towns and villages, if not pests. Sure, some doctors use rats they capture to test the efficacy of poisons...but to actually breed them to ‘study’ and ‘test’ on...it’s such an absurd concept.
There was also one more thing that bothered the young master, “Teacher. Isn’t this a bit inhuman? How burnt they look?”
Prof. Stone sighed, “Not going to lie, Kim, science is never easy. Sometimes it involves sacrifices and it’s our job to minimize it as much as we can. In saying that, if my theory is right, this sacrifice would become invaluable evidence that no lawyer or judge could ever refute... Y-you get me?”
“...Yes...a necessary evil.”
Prof. Stone patted his protege on the back, “So as you can see, we burnt two rats. This one was burnt alive – sorry Kim. Now, look at the insides of its mouth.”
“It’s all black. Caked with soot.”
“Exactly. And like any animal in danger it would struggle for its life, correct? As it is trying to escape, the rat would constantly inhale more oxygen than normal, and in doing so it would inhale a lot of ashes and smoke into its lunges. If we conduct a full autopsy, you would see the interior of its lungs would be grey or black as its tongue.”
“...Right...I see why this was necessary...But why burn two rats alive?”
“Aha!” Prof. Stone chirped as he brought up the second rat, “What do you see inside this second one’s mouth?”
“Oh! It’s pink. H-how come? Would it not be struggling as well?”
“Why struggle, when it’s dead to begin with.” Prof. Stone’s response spooked the young master so he added, “This second rat was already terminated – humanly of course – before setting it on fire. Because it is dead and unmoving—”
Martial Kim had realization flicker across his eyes, “No struggle. No quickened breathing. No ashes inside of its mouth!”
“Exactly, Kim! If the Burnt Victim was really alive when the fire hit him, we would see a ton of ash inside of his nostril and mouth. However, I saw his nose was more or less clean. Even if this man had a talent for holding his breath for hours – why do that when he could have been trying to save himself?”
The forensic chemist went on to add, “What man alive would casually wait inside of his car for help, surrounding or even consumed by the fire, instead of running for his life? Even the neighbours didn’t hear a cry for help or scream when the fire started. And do you remember, how he was sitting ‘straight’ in his vehicle. Why, even his entire back was clean of any soot or ashes by the time the coroner cream peeled him off the car.”
“Indeed Teacher. I see why you were so confident, even going as far as putting a wager with Officer Roland... Ah. Curious, was the victim’s mouth full of ash?”
“Lips were melted shut,” Prof. Stone drummed his fingers on the counter top. “In fact, I’m waiting for a call from the coroner as we speak—”
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring.
“Oh. Speak of the devil.”
Prof. Stone quickly answered the call. He kept speed running through a lot of the side explanations of the report, in order to skip straight to the one answer he wanted to hear.
Was the mouth black with soot, or pink with nothing?
Place your bets!
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