Hunt Down Rose

Chapter 2: Deception (Part II)

Waiting outside the large entrance door of the mansion I started timing their arrival just to estimate each second I'll be using and will be consuming in the next couple of hours or so. I like having things done with exact estimation on my time, I don’t want Galvez making some unnecessary sermons on what I do.

After 5 minutes in rounded digits, they finally reached the place with the rest of the vehicles having some trouble on the route. They arrived at the entrance after a few trial and errors on their way. It's a good thing I got here first even though the gap is a close call. There I saw the team unloading their stuff and Melissa, wearing a pair of glasses as she got outside the van with a peculiar set of clothing just for the sake of her fashion statement. She would be willing to practically do everything just to look cool at this point. 

Giving the papers to the main police, Sergeant Espejo assigned different teams to handle the negotiation inside. The doors opening and the maids inside are aligned on the carpet welcoming our arrival. And there the Butler, Mr. Ivan Soltair is on the center greeting us with a few crumbs of Danish biscuits on his beard.

"Hello my dear friends." Well said with his distinguishable German accent.

"Greetings Mr. Soltair, I think you are already aware of our purpose," I said to him handing the copy of the search warrant.

"Yes, yes Indeed." reading the paper with a monocle eyeglass. I began to memorize his gestures to compare it to any European national that I’ve met. He seems to have acquired the ability to analyze things with only one clear view. The monocle states that very well along with the way he holds his composure at such a situation.

"I guess we should proceed with our measures if you may," I said, with the rest of the crew behind me waiting to bust the doors open.

"Go ahead. I will have some of our maids to escort you to any necessary location you wish to go to." He replied in a calm manner. Noticing his left arm, I can see it being covered by a black sleeve, with a mannequin-like structure showing itself from the wrist of the gloves he is wearing. It must've been sliced off with something.

I continued my way to the central stairs having a copy of the floor architectural plan for a faster way of isolating rooms. Looking at it from page to page, I had the rooms Mo-Na-Co, the tea room, and the master’s bedroom cleared and isolated. Plus I have ordered all of the maids not to dispose any dirt or any existing piece of evidence on each room. Or if they did, they are supposed not to throw the items out. With my orders taking place I have to check every corner of the mansion.

Starting from the kitchen, the dining area, and his private meeting place. Completing my list there are no traces of any other events in this place. Only a crumpled letter on the basement trash can stating a poem connected to the kitchen's framed motto saying "To the best, it shall be given." It has ventilation connected to the basement down to the meeting room.

Each air vent measures a square foot per side with a movable sliding glass allowing the user to open and close the vent. Then with Melissa, I examined the master’s bedroom carrying a few tools. Opening the door I immediately saw the same type of vent inside the kitchen but the difference here is that the vent is located above the drawers connected to the tea room.

The tea room stands in between the Mo-Na-Co room and the master’s bedroom with that suspicious ventilation. Focusing on the room, I got down and rolled my body throughout the diminished area of the carpet since that is where Mr. Yun's body was found along with his blood. I began to mimic the same crime scene his body was found. Noticing the mark according to the reports on the tiles my conclusions are right indeed. Smelling any traces of substances on the carpet, my nose lead me to something. I followed the scent (take note that Melissa is watching me) and found something splattered on one of the drawers, left side of the windows near the bed. 

"Lubricant!" I said to her getting a small cutter and swab with chemicals.

"Lubricant?" she replied

"So you mean he does some industrial stuff like cars and vehicles?"

"No he doesn’t. As a matter of fact he never even had any experience of driving his own cars. So why would he even bother fixing it or even have the slightest interest on any of his cars?" Cutting a piece of the carpet with the traces of lubricant, I applied some chemicals on the swab making the sample functional for analysis.

"I still need to check something here." I stood up and looked around the place.

Opening the drawers one by one with the objects inside thrown to the ground, I held the drawer upside down and saw a piece of receipt stuck with the tape on the back of it. Reading the receipt "It states the items bought such as bolts and nuts with a can of lubricant under Mr. Yun's name with the use of his credit card. And at the back of it is something written in Cantonese. 

The inscription and the pressure on each character indicate that it is Mr. Yun's handwriting. The same handwriting is written on the piece of paper I found in the basement, the only difference is that it is in English letters."

"So do you have any idea on what it means?"

"They seem to be related but in order to prove that we still need to find the rest of the items on the list."

"Those things must've been disposed by the killer."

"It could be but there is only one way to find out." Pointing to the vent

"What about the vent?"

"There is a scratch mark on the movable glass so that means that thing was open when the murder incident happened and something ricocheted to the other side of the tea room." moving to the tea room I saw the butler talking to some of the police.

"Melissa"

"Yes"

"I want you to get these samples and this piece of paper examined. Any traces of fingerprints could be useful so make sure you get the process properly as stated by the chemist."

"Sure, I'll be back in less than 20 minutes with the results. Just don't forget to check your phone for messages." She left the place passing through the door.

Then the butler saw me upstairs and went to my place.

"Ahh, how is your investigation going Mr. Thomas?" he asked me with quite a deceitful smile.

"Fine and still in progress." 

"Are you to check the tea room?"

"Yes"

"We might as well have some tea and biscuits prepared. Let's have a little chat - that is if I could be of any help in your account."

"Sure, why not." Walking inside the tea room I can see the maids preparing some tea and Danish biscuits. The same thing he ate with some crumbs annoyingly left on his beard a while ago.

Looking at the architectural designs everything is luminous with the flooring made up of white tiles. The walls are engraved with angels on each side and the size of the room is at least 400 square meters. The dining set is all made up of glass and its design explains the seven days of creation with the thirty glass chairs designed with angelic faces and feathers. 

Four topiaries are set inside the room with each specific look, a rabbit, goose, duck, and a parrot. I guess it the mistress's choice of design based on the planning of the entire place, a wide balcony with open windows leading you to the entire view of Forbes, allowing the birds to come inside with no boundaries. With the Tea and biscuits set, we started conversing with no restrictions. 

(To be Continued)