The Professor's DEATH

CHAPTER 1:

Present

KAORIE POV:

Staring at the sky, it was too dark and gloomy. 'Something's odd', I said to myself. I'm about to sip my coffee when I suddenly saw my bracelet's screen turned into a red one.

'Code RED.' Something must have happened.

This bracelet was given to me and my teammates by our Head Officer, a high-ranking official in the agency where I'm currently employed. A particular color is an indication of emergency. Its normal color is green and will turn red during the 'call of emergency'.

My phone beeped for a second.

'M.I. Chem Lab, NOW!' As expected, it was from Detective Dash 'The Great' Calderon.

"Y? What happened?" I replied out of curiosity.

"Just come here!" He replied

Without further ado, I grab my car's key and stormed outside my office. My eyes automatically landed on my co-workers who are busy chit-chatting with each other.

"Where are you going?" Juniel, the Marites #1 asked

"Another case?" It was Steff, Marites #2.

Marites is the Philippines' popular term used to address those persons who love gossips and interfering onto someone's business.

"Victoria." I said

"Huh?" The two asked in unison

I just shrugged off my shoulders while saying, "Secret."

"Victoria Secret? You're going to join a bikini pageant?!" Tsk! Steff and her slow mind. Couldn't imagine myself joining such. Ehe!

"Nah! I'm gonna tell them to put your name on the lists of model who wants to join such pageant. Sounds interesting, right?" I laughed mentally because of my own joke.

"What the f**k! Seriously?" She exclaimed

"I'm dead serious, Steff. Now, get your hands off of me, I still have some serious business to deal with. And one more thing, my today's agenda was none of your fuckin' business. Go back to your work and enjoy drinking your favorite Yakult." I smirked at her then walked towards the parking lot.

I turned my car's engine on and drive as fast as I could. Morim Institute was just four minutes away from our office.

As soon as I entered the campus, my eyes got stuck staring on a familiar office. From where I am standing, I can clearly see a lot of students occupying the space outside an office. And that certain office was the one I'm looking for--Chemistry Lab.

"Excuse me"

"Ouch!"

"Give me some space please?"

'Pisting Yawa' I murmured

"EXCUSE ME!"

As I entered on the room, one of the police approached me and says, "Miss, student is not allowed here."

"She's not a student, Sir." Gosh! Thank you so much for saving me Detective Calderon.

Dash Calderon is a famous underground detective who also works as an undercover agent. He is excellent in terms of solving crimes and mysteries. He's so attentive to details and he can give exemplary deductions even to smallest things as long as it can be found in the crime scene.

"So, what's this case all about?" I interrupted

"He's Mr. Froilan Arithme--" I didn't let him finish what he was about to say. I suddenly rushed towards the crime scene.

My knees are shaking as I saw the lifeless body of a man named Froilan Arithmeticùs. His face and upper body was covered with his own blood. This explains why the four-cornered room was filled with nothing but the intoxicating smell of fresh blood.

One word to describe the scene--'tragic'. My tears began to fall without anyone noticing it.

Of all the people, why him? He doesn't deserve this kind of death. 'I promise to give you the justice that you deserve. I'm sorry.' I murmured while tears still flowing down to my cheeks.

'God, why is destiny so cruel to me?' That thought lingered through my mind. I then close my eyes and wipe my tears away.

"Ma'am can you please go outside first? You are not allowed to go here. You might ended up ruining some evidences on this crime." Said by the police.

I got my Identification Card from my pocket and shove it to his face. It's an I.D. which reveals my workplace and a name that will make a man fall into their knees.

Kaorie Francheska Co Gavotte

-Detective-

"Satisfied?" Shock was written all over his face.

"I am not dumb, Sir." He wasn't able to answer.

With that, I faced Detective Calderon and say, "Continue."

"So, as I was saying, the murdered man was a 27-year-old Mathematics and Science professor named Mr. Froilan Arithmeticùs. He was stabbed multiple times on his chest and stomach and died at around 10:35 a.m. The killer's weapon cannot be found inside this laboratory. Definitely, it was thrown somewhere else. The culprit was afraid that we might easily catch and bring him to the custody. As you can see, it's an almost perfect cri--"

"There's no such thing called 'perfect', remember that Detective." Cutting him off was the right thing to do, so I did.

"I know, Ms. Gavotte. So, going back to the topic, It's an ALMOST perfect crime yet the culprit doesn't even aware of what did the victim was doing before he was killed." Oh yeah right, it's an almost and not a perfect one. Still, it will always have its flaws.

"Uhm... is there even a witness? Or a suspect maybe?" I asked.

We cannot just accuse someone without a strong evidence. We can't rely onto each other's hunch. Everyone is a suspect yet they are still innocent until proven guilty.

"Well, there are four suspects to be exact." He stated

"Any possible motive for killing the victim?" I asked again

"Let me discussed it to you. The one who first saw his lifeless body was Mr. Karl Friedrich Gauss." He said while pointing at the man who wears a white polo shirt.

"He's a 19 years old Engineering college student. Basing on his physical appearance, He isn't a perfect suspect for this crime. Look at him, he's too neat to be a murderer." I suddenly got annoyed by his deduction.

"Are you out of your fuckin' mind, Detective? How could you give such deductions by just basing it to the suspect's physical appearance! His physical appearance cannot be made as an excuse for him not be included on the list of suspects that we have. What if He changed his clothes after committing such crime? Just what if!" I explained. Call me a hypocrite or whatsoever. I demand an acceptable and reasonable explanation provided with fact-ful evidences and not just that lame reasoning.

"Okay chill! There's a fact which tells that the victim set up a high standard for college student. And our first suspect often got a lower grades on his professor's subject. Take note, he often got a failing grades only in the victim's subject. That's an interesting story and I wanna uncover everything about it." He continued

"Well, if that's the case, then he has an ultimate motive and he probably is the suspect. Continue." I responded

"The second suspect was an STEM student named Kant Frias Gallòn who came here at exactly 10:15 a.m. just to pass his project." A project? I think he's not suspicious at all, it's a normal thing for a student and a teacher.

"On what time did a student went outside the lab?" I asked while raising my brows up.

"Based on the CCTV, he went inside the lab at exactly 10:15 this morning and went outside at exactly 10:22 a.m. Definitely, he has 7 minutes to do the crime, if he was the murderer. But according to him, he just had a small conversation with the victim after he passed his project to this murdered man. It can also be seen on the CCTV footage that he is really talking to his professor the moment he passed his project. The only suspicious thing here is that, the CCTV camera got ruined while him and the professor are talking to each other inside. So, we don't have any idea of what exactly happened inside the lab after the CCTV cams got ruined. But we can clearly see the time when he went outside the room and there's nothing suspicious about him during that time. In fact, he was smiling from ear to ear the moment he went outside the chem lab." He clearly explained.

Oh God, this is too much to absorb. Too much information for my single question. I need to calm my veins. My brain cells isn't functioning well due to this unexpected incident. It torments and torn me apart. It's like slowly losing your other half in the process of finding a missing pieces of the puzzle.

"Uh, interesting. Why did he smiled? I'm curious. Anyways, what's his possible motive? Does he also hold grudges against the victim?" One will not create a crime if he is in good terms with the person. A person who commit this crime surely have a misunderstanding with the victim, leading him to do such impulsive act which he will soon regrets.

"Well, I don't know the reason behind his smile. But one of his classmate said that, the project that this suspect passed to his professor was already late. So I concluded that maybe, that smile on his face has something to do with that late project of him." He explained

'That could be a possible reason for his smile. But still, he's my main suspect for this crime,' I thought to myself.

"How about the other two? Who are they and how are they became associated with the crime?" I asked

My gaze turned to the two unfamiliar men. They both look so handsome with their suit. Probably, they were on the same age as mine but they still look young if we'll just look at their handsome faces.

"s**t!" I immediately shook my head at that thought. This isn't the right time to compliment them.

"Atty. Chester Valdimorè and Honorable Judge Travis Zy. They are a friends of the victim. They come here to visit their friend. They're from Spain and their plane just landed a few hours ago. As you can see, they even brought his favorite food. But according to them, the moment they saw Mr. Gauss shocked face and pale lips while looking inside the chem lab, they already know that something bad happened to their friend. They said that it was clearly revealed on our first witness/suspect's face. So, they immediately dialled 911. Definitely, they are the persons that we first saw inside the lab along with their murdered friend. Of course, they're grieving for their loss." He thoroughly explained.

Their professional well-pressed suit says it all. A lawyer and a judge has been found along with the murdered victim who happens to be their friends.

"I wanna do the cross examination. Where are they? Uh, I mean the suspects?" Because of his long explanation, I wasn't able to know where did the police took the suspects.

"They're being interrogated by the police." He said

"Uh, okay."

"Are you okay?" He asked

***** To be continue...*****