Chapter 6

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Martin's brows rose so high, his forehead shrank. "What did you say?"

Robert pointed to his ear. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you repeat it?"

I knew I'd regret this, but to solve a case that had many pieces to the puzzle, I needed help.

"You heard me perfectly," I said, trying to be nonchalant.

"Did you hit your head or something?" the chief said.

I gave him a deadpan look.

Robert grinned. "He definitely said he needed my help."

Martin joined in the amusement. "I never imagined I'd get to witness this. You sure you're alright?"

"Yes, now could you please give us a minute, chief?" I said. "And could you please call Henry?"

"Fine. Wow."

The grin remained on his face even as he left. I turned my attention to the idiot in front of me.

"It's amazing. I wonder what happened that you need my help," Robert said, lifting his chin high. "As unexpected as it is, why should I help you?"

"Because they assigned our team to this case. That includes you," I replied. "Right now, we need answers. That's what you want, right? To solve this case and take the credit? Nobody's getting anywhere on their own. I think we can get to the bottom of this if we work together. Beats chasing after diamonds and arresting the wrong people, right, Robbie?"

His grin dropped. "What do you want?"

"I need you to get that inhaler. Unfortunately, I can't get it on my own because of obvious reasons."

"You want me to steal evidence?"

"Can you do it?"

"And risk my ass?"

"This is the only way to get real answers. I thought you were resourceful."

"I am." He pondered for a minute. "Fine, but I get the credit for solving this case. And you tell everyone what a brilliant detective I am."

"Fat chance."

"Guess you're not getting my help then."

I huffed. "Fine. I'll publicly congratulate you on completing the case."

"You got yourself a deal," he said, smirking.

Once he left, I turned around and found Martin frowning suspiciously at me. It nearly startled me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said.

I hoped he didn't eavesdrop on the conversation, else I'd land in a load of trouble. He didn't fully trust me as it was. I walked out of there before it got awkward.

In the meantime, I had to wait for Henry. I wanted to know if I was right. If it really was Toby who broke into my house, Martin would get off my back. He'd released me on Henry's word, but he still wanted confirmation on the intruder's identity.

If that's what he wanted, he's going to get it.

***

I sat on a desk at the HQ, twirling a pen between my fingers. It was getting late. I wanted to go home and take a hot shower.

Henry arrived. "Good news. The intruder is, in fact, Toby. The prints on your doorknob were a match. Forensics confirmed it."

I smiled. "I never doubted you."

"And—" He raised a finger. "I tracked down the culprit too."

He gestured to a couple of cops behind him. They brought Toby in, handcuffed. The sight of him brightened my day, or rather, improved my night. Finally, I could have some questions answered.

I got off the desk, clapping Henry's shoulder. "That's more like it. That's why you're my favorite."

He smiled. "I better be. Speaking of which, I got your call. You said you needed my help. I also heard you asked Robert for help. I mean, wow. Did you—?"

"No, I did not hit my head, and there's nothing wrong with asking for help."

"Of course not. I simply didn't expect you of all people to ask for it, especially from your rivals. As I recall, you do things your way. This is... spectacular."

"Who told you... oh." I gave a mock laugh. Robert, that piece of shit. "I'm gonna kill that guy."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to test some samples I found at a crime scene. I explained everything to Robert already. He'll brief you about it."

When I saw his grin, I stopped.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, it's just surprising that for once you're not taking Robert's name to insult him," he replied. "You sure you're not coming down with something?"

"As a matter of fact, I am actually. It's called insanity."

"Thought you were born like that. You need to get your head examined."

"I was thinking the same thing. Now can we please get back to business? Go do your science stuff and let me know what you find."

"If this is from a crime scene, then forensics must already be doing their 'science stuff'. Why do you need me?"

"I need a second opinion. Do you have any more questions or are we good? I need to interrogate Toby."

That grin reappeared. "No questions, Your Highness."

Hilarious. It did not surprise me that Robert went around boasting about how I asked for his help. A few officers, before Henry, had also asked me if I was feeling alright. To everyone else, it was a big deal. For me, it was humiliation.

Robert made his way to us. Speak of the devil.

"Did you get it?" I asked.

"We're not allowed to take evidence once it's with forensics," he answered. "So, if I get caught for this, you're a dead man."

"Relax. Nobody's gonna get caught."

He held out a vial of blood and the inhaler and handed it to Henry in plastic packets. I instructed Henry to find out all he could from them, and to make sure Martin didn't find out.

"How fast can you do it?" I asked.

Stupid question, judging by Henry's expressionless face.

"Okay." I patted Robert's shoulder. "Thanks, Robbie."

He slapped my arm away. "Call me Robbie again, I'll break your nose."

With a scowl, he walked away.

"I still can't believe he helped you," said Henry.

He went to the lab to work on the evidence, while I headed to the interrogation room. Martin was already inside, speaking to Toby. Their voices were muffled from outside the door, but I could hear their conversation somewhat. I watched them from the vision panel on the door. Toby couldn't keep his hands still, fidgeting as he spoke. He stuttered and refused to answer Martin's questions.

He flinched when I barged in. Good. Bastard caused me a hell of a lot of trouble.

"I thought you would show up," Martin said. "Here's your guy."

"I suppose you'll let me off now?" I asked. "Give me the reins?"

"As long as you don't do anything stupid. I can't keep a watch over your ass every single time. I'm not your babysitter."

"Is this your way of hiding your concern for me? You know you suck at that."

He ignored my comment and rose from the chair. I noticed he had dyed his hair black, unlike before this case began, when his silver hair showed in all its glory.

I grinned. "You look younger, old man."

"Shut up."

He leaned against the wall opposite the two-way mirror, crossing his arms. I sat opposite Toby and sighed in relaxation.

"I've been looking forward to this," I said. "For you to come here. Time for you to give me some answers. And please, don't dodge my questions or lie. I'm not like the other cops. I'm not a cop at all. At least, not at the moment."

"I know who you are, detective," Toby said.

"Oh, he's not—" Martin spoke.

"Yes, I am." I brought my hands to the table. "I am the detective you heard of."

Martin tilted his head at me.

"I already gave an important piece of evidence to one of your cops," Toby said, "It should be enough."

"I bet it would be," I said. "If it wasn't missing."

His face turned ashen. "Wait, what? Wh-what do you mean it's missing?"

I frowned. Fear reflected in his eyes as they darted elsewhere. I had to get him to focus.

"Hey, over here." I snapped my fingers in front of him. "Listen, we'll get to that. First, you need to tell me who you work for."

"What're you..." he stammered, "talking about?"

"You heard me perfectly. You murdered two innocent men, one of whom was Gary. The thing is, for a murderer, you're an amateur. You didn't even try to clean up after yourself. Left your prints everywhere. I know you broke into my house and planted the diamond there. So, either you suck at committing crimes or someone is coercing you to do their dirty work and take the blame." I leaned forward. "I'm going to ask again. Who are you working for? All I know is he's the diamond thief."

"I can't tell you. He'll kill me."

"If you don't tell me, I'll kill you."

Martin rubbed his forehead. "Aidan."

Toby grew agitated. "Look, I'm in enough trouble already. I gave you the surveillance footage, and you lost it. I don't know who he is. He just calls himself the Trickster. I've never seen him. We only speak on the phone. He tells me what to do and I have to do it, or he'll—"

"He'll what?" I asked.

His eyes darted away again, in nervousness. "Oh my God, he's going to kill me. Please, you have to let me go. He already knows I gave you the evidence. He has leverage against me, against Dustin, Mary Coleman—"

The last name grabbed my attention.

"Wait, did you say Mary Coleman?"

"Yes. I'm begging you. Let me go."

"What will happen is you're going to spend some quality time inside prison," Martin said. "You deserve it for the lives you took."

I stared at nothing as I disappeared into my thoughts. The other security guard and the woman from the surveillance footage are involved in this too.

"How did you get the footage?" I asked.

"I stole it," Toby replied. "I thought you cops would help, but now I'm as good as dead."

"You're in a police HQ. Nobody can get you here."

"The Trickster can. He knows everything. You're his mission."

So, I was the endgame. At least, that was established. I tried to remember all the criminals I encountered, all the enemies I made. I didn't remember any Trickster. However, it explained why Mary acted strangely in the surveillance video. Maybe she helped with the heist. I needed more proof to back up my theories. The missing footage was the answer.

Martin came to me as I stood. "What now?"

"We need the evidence," I said. "I'm going to dig deeper. For now, we need to keep watch on him."

I left the room. Outside, the analyst from the crime scene—the one who had the audacity to talk to me—greeted me. His ID read Nick Rowley.

He handed me a file. "Autopsy report. There's nothing much, other than that Gary Spence was asthmatic. He was shot at point-blank range and died instantly."

I opened the file and browsed through the report. "And what about the inhaler?"

"Regular prescription drug. Couldn't find anything on it."

"Okay, thank you."

He glanced at the interrogation room. "Is that him? The murderer?"

"Yes."

"I've never seen a live interrogation before. Have you questioned him already?"

"Yes."

"What did he tell you?"

I didn't want to continue this conversation. His inquisitiveness put me off.

"Not much," I said. "You wouldn't mind if I keep this report, do you, Nick?"

"Not at all."

I walked away from him. Ever since I got involved in this case, everyone seemed to behave rather oddly, starting from the woman at the jewelry store, then Toby, then this analyst. Then again, odd was part of my job description. And me.

Henry showed up with a file in his hands.

"Done with your interrogation?" he asked. "Here's the autopsy..."

I put up a hand to shush him before stealing a glance to see if Nick was out of earshot. He couldn't know I asked Henry to conduct a separate investigation. The news would eventually reach Martin. I didn't trust Nick.

I held Henry's arm and pulled him along. "Ah, the interrogation didn't go so well. Toby was scared of spilling the beans..."

He frowned. "Is that so?"

I glanced at Nick again. He headed to the elevators.

Henry frowned at him. "I didn't know he was in the forensics department."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"As far as I know, he's a medic. I mean, I know him somewhat. He used to help Gary with his asthma."

Did he now? Well, that added a new perspective.

"Interesting."

"Anyway." He handed me the report. "I spoke to the medical examiner, who is an old friend of mine, and my buddies at the lab. This is what they found. It's strange. The cause of Gary's death is kidney malfunction and respiratory failure."

That grabbed my attention. "How's that possible?"

"They found traces of mercury in the inhaler and Gary's blood. He's been taking that medicine without knowing what's in it. It poisoned him."

"Poor soul. There are reasons I wanted you to see to this. First, I trust you the most."

He smiled. "I know."

"Second, Nick over there faked the autopsy report." I handed him the file I previously received.

He glanced at it. "What? Why would he do that?"

Before I could reply, my phone pinged. I checked it to see a new message from Wyatt:

'You might want to see this.'

The message contained an image attachment. My brows rose when I opened it. This was the biggest piece of evidence we'd received. It could've saved us a lot of trouble if only we'd received it earlier. Henry's gaze darted between me and my phone. I showed him the image and his lips parted in surprise.

"I know who killed Gary," I said.

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