BURN THE TRUTH

Episode Two

The man's head was a little down and he was brushing his hand over his freshly soaked t-shirt with several drops of coffee. Although his voice was sharp, the tone remains strangely calm.

"I'm really sorry" Velda repeated and quickly handed Clyde her almost empty coffee cup and immediately turned to the man, her hands hung awkwardly in the air as she wasn't quite sure what to do. The stranger completely lifted his face and their eyes met for the second time. But this time, their gaze lasted more than a second. His extremely cold face softened a little, but his gaze remained icy.

"I'm deeply sorry" Velda repeated, feeling embarrassed "I was on the wrong. Didn't mean to ruin your t-shirt and -"

"It's okay" he assured with a barely visible smirk "it's just a t-shirt"

"I can-"

"It's not like I'm going for an interview or something. And it quite looks like a new design" He joked earning a slight chuckle from Velda, who quickly stiffen it. It was a bit strange as the stranger never showered any more expression even to his own joke. His expression remained neutral like a Vulcan.

Velda forced a smile "If you say so. Thank you"

The male made a little modest bow which was barely noticeable before he walked past them and headed towards the coffee store while the two stood there awkwardly "Is he Korean or something?" Clyde asked turning to look at Velda.

"I was beginning to wonder if I alone saw him bow" She muttered then turned to look at the coffee cup Clyde was holding “I don't think I'm still in the mood for coffee now, my shirt looks like a crime" she sighed looking down at the stains before flicking her fingers, walking towards his car.

The elevator door opened at the NDC headquarters and the two of them walked out. Velda stopped at Carter's desk while Clyde continued to head for his. "Captain" Carter uttered looking up at Velda. Carter was younger, twenty-five to be precise, eyes a flicker with curiosity. He took out a folder and immediately opened it, placing it on the desk right in front of Velda.

"I checked the surveillance cameras available close to the residence and spotted three cars at the time of the murder. Did some thorough checking and these two belonged to some civilians who reside in the area" he narrated as he pointed his finger at two pictures. "Apparently, this is a cab. I had gone to interrogate the driver and the information he stated was, that he had picked up his passenger at a hotel and dropped him at the residence, with no name. He only identified that the man might be in his late thirties or so" he concluded

"You got the name of the hotel?" Velda inquired resting her palm on the desk.

"Yes everything is in the file,” he told her and Velda seemed to look around the office before turning to ask.

"Where's Louisa?" She stared down at Carter.

"She has been busy with last night’s case with the tech team. Oh, there she comes" He gestured, looking over his computer. She dressed so casually one might mistake her for a Walmart worker. With so much energy running through her, she was obviously the youngest on their team.

"Afternoon Loui" Velda said warmly upon approaching her.

"Hey, Noon. Come check these" She instructed and immediately dragged her seat out and slumped into it before adjusting a bit to make some space and Velda leaned over, her right palm resting on her desk. "I checked every possible location the shooter must have shot from. But regarding the position of the victim when he was shot, the bullet direction point to this building which apparently does extend beyond our original speculations” She explained, zooming in at the building before Clyde abruptly leaned over too while she continued.

"At a short distance, up to 700 meters, a shooter can line a shot up, pull the trigger and, all other factors account for, can hit the target. But beyond 700 meters the bullet begins to drop along its trajectory as gravity's pull starts having a greater effect. So for that not to compromise their shooting, the shooter has to aim above the target to hit it. But the surprising fact is that, even though our unknown shooter had shot from a building above his target, the elevation between them is quite shocking" She turned to look at Velda, her forehead crinkled in awe yet a slight confusion could be detected in her eyes.

"That's a great elevation they had between them," she told Velda with her mouth a bit gaped.

"What's their elevation?" Velda asked looking back at the screen and she immediately turned back to it.

"The shooter had shot from 3,450 meters above his target," She told her.

"How possible is that?" Velda rose a bit "This is more like a tremendous upskill assassin or the military? For the shooter to be able to make that shot, they must have undergone training. Wind speed and direction, humidity, the trajectory of the round, and even the curve of the earth's surface. Like hell, this sucks" Velda sighed now standing up straight, massaging her temple.

9 HOURS 46 MINUTES BEFORE

The night sky was aglow with bright city lights. It was a few minutes before twelve as a man in his late forties began making his way to the spacious balcony of his hotel room, which had a squared-shaped pool. He held his phone against his ear, grinning proudly at his caller's words while he made his way past his escort who stood by the door.

He walked majestically to a corner before he finally ended his call and placed his phone on the table, picked up a bottle of legacy by angostura rum, his rocks glass cup, and began to pour in the drink.

He sipped from the rocks before he began to make his way toward the pool. At the edge, he untied his robe and allowed it to fall off his shoulders, and with that, he gradually sank into the pool. His lower part being buried under the water he called out to his escort for his phone, who immediately brought it to him and back to his initial position.

He was about to dial a line when a bullet buried itself into the frontal bone of his skull.

It was about thirty-seven minutes after when Valor arrived at the scene with Louisa "What do we have here?" Velda asked

"Victim's name is Seymour Otis, four eight, not married. Owner of this hotel. The time of death was Forty minutes ago, the course of death bullet to the head. Our guy there made the call" Clyde pointed at the escort while Louisa and Velda turned in the direction.

"Unbelievable as it may seem, the man was really having a blast. He probably didn't see this one coming" Louisa butt in, eyes training on everything at the same time.

"Were you expecting the killer to knock on his door to tell him they were about to kill him?" Clyde chimed with a none amused expression.

"With the experience, I've had. Anything is possible" She defended.

"I will be back," Velda told them dismissively and walked to the escort "Excuse me" she muttered upon approaching the male. "I'm Velda Dashiell. The detective in charge of this case. I would like to ask you a few questions, okay?"

"Okay" He quickly nodded.

"Your name?"

"Ajax Finlay" He answered and Velda began jotting down his response.

"How long have you been working for Seymour Otis?"

"Seven years"

"You have any idea who might be after him?"

"I can't say for sure. We had just returned from Japan about eight hours ago. That's the very reason he had lodged in here”

“Does anyone know about his lodge?”

“Just the manager of the hotel was informed”

“How long was he in Japan?”

“Six months”

"Why did he return now? Do you have any idea?"

"There's probably someone he was supposed to be meeting, I have no information about it"

"Where were you when he was shot?"

"By the door"

"Can I see the footage?" Velda requested, Finlay nodded in response and Velda immediately gestured Louisa to come over before they followed Finlay to the surveillance room.

"Hey, can you pull up the video of him walking into his balcony?" Velda asked the controller.

"Yeah, sure"

"Keep going, continue. Wait, pause it there" She ordered, eyes fixed on the screen.

"What are you looking for detective?"

"Zoom into the pool. f**k, it's a sniper" Velda muttered. It’s unlikely that he had earlier suspected the escort. “It probably came from one of those buildings with the direction he was facing" She elaborated. "Come along, Loui," She told Louisa and immediately exited the room.

They returned to the balcony and Velda moved to stand by the pool. "If this was his position at the time he was shot, then which of those buildings do you think the bullet likely came from" She inquired pouting at two buildings a couple of meters away.

"This is a difficult one," Louisa told her, eyes training back and forth. "Need to replay that video couple more times to get the exact building. I don't normally say this, but this is gonna be a different one"

"Yeah. One thing for sure, the shooter is definitely an assassin" Velda said turning to face her.

"What have you guys gotten? Any lead?" Clyde asked as he got to them but Louisa shook her head.

"We just need to critically analyze the footage, maybe something might come out of it"

"I suppose we got a lead" Clyde declared and the two turned to stare at him.

"What do you mean we got a lead?"

"I found this in the room" Clyde explain as he stretched out his hand holding a card. "It was next to his laptop" he informed handing the card to Velda.

Velda stared at the card for a while before she moved to Finlay. "Excuse me. You said Mr. Otis was supposed to be meeting someone, do you have any idea where he does possibly put down his plans?"

"His laptop”

"You have his password?"

"No" He slightly shook his head.

"We may need the laptop. We need to be certain"

BACK TO CURRENT

Louisa clicked on a picture "This is the bullet. It's a unique caliber ammunition" she zoomed in, then clicked on another picture "Which brings us to this masterpiece here. That's CheyTac M200 Intervention in its glory" she gently slammed on her desk "Isn't she beautiful?" She turned to glance at Clyde who snorted.

"This cartridge has a streamlined bullet with an advanced patented design. A standard bullet that retains its supersonic velocity at ranges beyond 2,000 meters. It is worth noting at the ranges below 700 meters. Its bullet has more energy than the standard 50 calibers (12.7x99 mm) round. This weapon is used by elite military units, such as the British SAS and Polish GROM. Some sources report that the US Navy SEALs are using this weapon, and that brings us back to the victim. The bullet extracted from Mr. Otis is none other than that of this beauty" She turned to check Velda’s expression.

"Hell" Clyde muttered

"Yeah, hell" Velda repeated. There was a little silence before she spoke again. "Have you checked the surroundings footage, any suspicious vehicle? Anything?"

"Nope. Nothing at all, it's like a ghost operation. No trace, the assassin's practically experienced. Well planned" She told her. “The tech team got some information from his laptop. Mr. Otis was supposed to be meeting an old colleague of his on a golf field. We ran the line and it's supposedly the private line of Mr Everdeen, the owner of Sanford Enterprise" She turned to ask. "What if Mr. Everdeen had intentionally had him return for this?"

"I don't think that's it. There's more to these, just not clear enough. There is no solid theory why Mr. Everdeen would want him dead, but that doesn't mean he might not be a suspect" Velda stated a bit exhausted.

"Rich folks can be mysterious sometimes"

"Let's stop with the assumptions” Louisa interjected “All we need is to get a warrant to be able to interrogate Mr. Everdeen"

"Everdeen's lawyer will argue that all we have is conjecture based on circumstantial evidence, and any judge will agree. We're never getting that warrant" Velda told them resting her asscheek on a desk behind her.

"Or we might just figure a way to make an appointment with Mr. Everdeen" Louisa suggested.

"That could work. But first, we should probably check out the scene of our unknown shooter and the security footage of the building. That's what we're left with for now. Clyde, you should assist Carter with the newest case, I will be going with Louisa” she instructed.

Velda and Louisa got to the rooftop only to sight a well-polished mini wooden box on the concrete floor, about a foot away from the high wall at the edge of the rooftop. “No don’t!” Louisa called back but Velda had already picked up the box.

“You take risks sometimes, you know that, right?” Louisa uttered with a none amused expression, moving to Velda.

“The job is a risk itself. And this isn’t like the person was planning on killing anyone who came up here” Velda told her and slightly shook the box “It's a puzzle box. Guess the killer loves puzzles”

“Same as you. Can you at least solve this?” She asked skeptically placing her hands on either side of her waist.

“Sure, it doesn’t look that complicated” She pushed in a part and another pumped out.

“Be careful” Louisa muttered feeling a bit nervous, yet Velda kept to what she was doing until the box finally opened. Velda frowned slightly, puzzled by the item she was now staring at.

"Could that be an eye symbol we are staring at?" Louisa’s voice pieced through the silence "does that mean, an eye for an eye, or something more?" She asked with evidence of confusion.

Velda slightly tilted her head “Well, ladies and gentlemen, looks like we are tracking a serial killer" she let out.