Hunt Down Rose

Chapter 3: Deception (Part IV)

After several minutes finally Melissa arrived and passed the information on my phone while giving her a special order at the same time. 

"So how did the results go?” I asked Melissa

"The handwriting on the receipt is indeed Mr. Yun’s. For the piece of rag however they’ve concluded that it’s not just an ordinary lubricant." 

"Not ordinary?"

She gave me the copied results of the chemical analysis. “According to this one, the oil found is a type of lubricant used in industrial machines.”

“The question now is why that lubricant is in the master’s bedroom?”

“That is quite odd actually. Knowing that Mr. Yun doesn’t like vehicles like his son, it’s impossible for him to buy these under circumstantial reasons and so on. There’s also no reason for him to be inclined in machinery, he despises even touching most of the equipment in his factory.”

“It’s also hard to say that he was supposed to give this to his own son either since they haven’t seen each other for quite some time now. It’s been years considering his time of exile there in the U.S.” I said to her crumpling the piece of paper.

“Anyways I want you to call Mr. Soltair out of the tea room; I’ll be scanning the entire area immediately before focusing on the other rooms,” I added to her list of tasks for today.

“Is it necessary for me to call him? Why don’t you do it yourself?”

“Simply because I said so.” I pointed my finger to the tea room.

“Grrr.” She replied in annoyance. “Fine.” She added going towards the crowd with the butler chatting with some maids present on the 2nd floor.

Leaving the rest to her as she goes up the stairs to the tea room, I can see her persuade Mr. Soltair with no effort at all. Luring him downstairs to the head police for further questions and for another chat, I immediately walked inside the tea room closed the door, and looked at the floor plan about the dimensions and positioning of each object. 

Each tile is measured 1 foot per unit according to the setup. Plus, the topiary is placed parallel to each other as a form of balance in the room. Analyzing the area while Mr. Soltair was busy talking his heart out, I noticed something weird. Looking at the topiaries one of them doesn’t seem to be aligned correctly. Checking it out, I saw something hidden, its shine could be seen with the sun pointing west side of the mansion. 

"A bolt?" I said to myself proving my conclusions about the receipt.

"This must have been a part of something mechanical." 

Based on the scratches on it, I can say this thing went through intense pressure due to the burnt edges. Friction could do this type of mark along with the melted sides indicating the rest of the details, a stainless bolt with no traces of nuts around the premises would be too clumsy to leave if you were a professional. The floor plan was indeed changed compared to the last visitation by the forensic team here. 

Actually there wasn’t any floor plan at all to begin with. In addition to that, there weren’t many topiaries displayed in this sector extending to the balcony. Given the order that nobody is allowed to move or touch anything, nobody seems to pay their attention to every room just because it doesn’t involve the crime scene.  The tiles would also be less suspicious due to its color, making any form of dust or debris visible to any part of the room.

Returning the topiary on its original position I left the tea room and focused on my list of suspects. Since the Mo-Na-Co room doesn’t fit the description of the crime scene it should be crossed out. Figuring out the truth and motive of the killer is my main goal right now. Being a man with a swordsmanship background, Mr. Yun should've fought back and done some damage to the culprit. However there are no marks indicating any form of struggle, so that means he knows the killer himself somehow, or that’s what I thought of in the beginning. 

Plus, according to the details of the crime scene (I just received it at this moment) the sleeves were folded perfectly. If you are to fight someone, there should be some wrinkles on the upper shoulder since you'll be using your waist to create power---pulling the sleeves back from each swing. The level of sweat that has been noticed by the forensic team on his hands and armpits indicate that there had been intense movement on his body. Therefore it is possible that the killer changed his clothes to prevent us from noticing that he fought back in self-defense, and the original set of clothes were disposed of before our arrival.

I was raising this question earlier in the police debate asking them why is it that this killer wanted to make us think that the victim knows him in the first place. It’s also impossible for the murderer to know the schedule of the people inside the mansion during that day unless there is an informant. Another context that occurred to me is the idea that Yun knows the killer, and the killer changed Yun’s clothes for a reason that is still unknown.

With my ideas almost complete I gave orders to the head police and left the mansion. Going to the Purgatory I set my information on my whiteboard along with some interesting pieces of evidence.

According to the results given to me by Melissa, there we're fingerprints found on the piece of paper that I found in the basement. Two distinguished ones coming from Mr. Hassif and Mr. Yun.  The relation between them is quite complicated due to the family background of their past. Whatever this piece of paper is about, it seems to have a relation to the entire scenario before the crime. The lubricant that I found also determines the specific angle the killer made the s***h. Interesting enough to think that the killer used a mechanical object to cut a perfect diagonal line across Mr. Yun's ribs with less effort. Sadly I'll have to prove all of those on my elimination process. 

Having my list of suspects, I still have a few hours before I make my first visit to Mr. James Calvin's club. It is already 1 o clock at my pocket watch and I'll have my preparations ready without notifying the NBI since they could be a real pain in the ass in the long run of this case. Preparing my knives and Taser I should be able to penetrate the club without any disturbances as long as I keep my disguise ready. Getting my tools to prop up a mask that I'll be using, I dissolved a solution of gel-like plastic resin to be melted in a specific mold that I've created.

This would act as my main face with the contact lens and beard. Melting the resin, I placed it inside the mold and waited for it to cool down. Moving towards the closet I began to pick which clothes would I wear to describe the personality of my identity. Should I wear a black suit and tie or the usual casual wear inside a club? With so many options I took a deep breath and randomly grabbed anything my hand touches. Seeing the visualization of my guess I was relieved to get a red long-sleeve on the closet found on the left side of the crypt chambers. 

The only thing I'm missing now is my lower attire and a jacket to finish the entire set. Waiting for my moment I should take a nap since this would be on a night shift once again and Melissa could be here at any minute to check if I’m doing anything. Benevolent assimilation is the best policy when it comes to my own ways of deducing things out of its source. As I kept my items I sat on my dental chair and rested for a while, not giving a f**k for the rest of the remaining hours...

(End of Chapter)