The Hit and Run Mystery (Day 3)-The Pursuit of Truth

Detective W hated getting chewed out from Victoria. After all, she was well known in the local police department for her strictness. Detective W sighed as she ranted on again in his office.

"Look, W, I've said this many times already, but you can't expect me to somehow bail you out whenever you hand me illegal evidence! W, if the public knows this, they will be in a uproar!" Victoria pushed her glasses upwards as she raged.

"I get it... I get it..." Detective W sighed. "Thank you, Victoria, for doing this as always. Next time, lunch is on me, as usual."

Victoria slammed on his desk. "No! I don't want lunch! I want you to rely on the police more when it comes to evidence handling!"

"But... I clearly did..."

"Look at me in the eye when you say that!"

"Fine." Detective W stared at Victoria with his cold black eyes. "I, Detective W, swear on my name that I will let the police handle the evidence investigation and handling."

"What if you broke that promise?" Victoria looked down at Detective W, her arms crossed. She wasn't having any of it.

"Fine, fine! If I break it, I will stop being a detective! Is that good enough?!"

Victoria bit her lips and just stood there, looking at the ground. After a while, she nodded. "All right, then! I will hold you to your words! Please rely on the police more next time! Thanks!" She stormed away from the office, mumbling to herself as she furiously walked.

Detective W smirked. After all, Victoria did give him the results of the lab analysis of the knife. He scanned the document quickly. The blood on the knife matched the victim's blood. Also, there were fingerprints on the knife that were different from your assistant's. "Looks like I was right after all..." He tapped the paper on his hands, and looked out the window, thinking about what to do next.

You just arrived at the office. "Why was Officer Victoria walking out angry? What did you do, Boss?" You placed your backpack on the wooden chair.

"Just some police stuff. Nothing so serious." Detective W twirled on his swivel chair. "However, we do have some good news."

"Good news?" You swiped the sweat from your forehead. You quickly drank the entire bottle of water you had in your backpack.

"Yep. It's as I suspected. With luminol testing, the police determined that there was blood. With the blood analysis, we've found that the victim's blood was on the knife."

"Wow..." you said. "So, what do we do now?"

"We now put the final piece in place and pursue the truth! Time to catch that criminal!"

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"Check his social media. Did he post anything about his missing knife?" Detective W instructed.

"Yeah. He seemed to have forgotten about us, though..." you replied. Harry wrote on his post, "My favorite knife is missing. If anyone find it, let me know!"

"Well, luckily for us, he's acting very predictable, "Detective W said. You two were observing the highway at Exit 9 in Detective W's black SUV. The waxing crescent moon shone brightly on the obsidian night sky. During this time of night, very few cars were on the road. Only one car passed the lit exit ramp every twenty minutes.

You two kept looking at the highway, waiting patiently. Detective W gave you his last piece of beef jerky as he kept watch. As per Detective W's words, a green, rather beat-down car stopped right in front of you. Out came the disheveled Harry Bolls with a green T-shirt. "10:30 p.m.," Detective W noted. "Let's keep watch here for a while, and then we nab him."

"How are we going to approach him? I don't think approaching him directly is going to work this time?" you asked.

"Obviously. Hmm... I do have the police on hold, so if he tries to escape, we will nab him at once!"

"Answer the question, please, boss."

"All right. Let's hope that we get really lucky... and that he acts dumb enough..."

"Do you always solve your cases like this?!" you exclaimed. Now, you were kind of regretting getting this part-time job.

Detective W shrugged. "No. Not at all. I can force a quick conclusion, but that usually don't end well."

Surprisingly, Harry Bolls went up to Detective W's SUV, and knocked on the window. "Excuse me!" Harry shouted. "Can you help me with something?!"

"Just as expected," Detective W confidently muttered. You shook your head in utter disbelief.

Detective W rolled the window down. "Absolutely!" he exclaimed while grinning. "What can I help you with?"

"Can you help me find my knife? I lost it somewhere here!"

Detective W silently signaled at you to start recording the conversation. "Sure? A knife? What type of knife is it? What does it look like? Where did you drop it?"

"I... I lost it somewhere on this highway! It's a hunting knife with a green handle-my favorite hunting knife!"

"Cool! I will help you find it! My kid! Help this man with finding his knife!"

You silently glared at him, mouthing, 'Since when am I your child?'

'Just play along for now!' Detective W silently urged. His deadpan stare shut you up.

You got out of the car, shivering. "My kid and I will search that area!" Detective W pointed forward as he locked his car. "You look here."

"Thanks, man!"

You two quickly ran about forty feet away from the car. "Now, what's next?!" you whispered.

"Let me see... call the police for now. Have them be here by around an hour. I will get him to admit his guilt within an hour!"

"Roger, boss."

As you called the police, Detective W observed the shoulder and the guardrail with a flashlight. 'Well, this is where Ahmad fell for his dear life... I believe... let's see if there are any additional clues that could be found here?' Detective W thought.

Once you're finished talking to the police, you joined Detective W and helped him find any other extra evidence that could help him in this case. Unfortunately, there wasn't any extra evidence to be found, even with the help of the flashlight.

"Guess two days worth of wind did clean everything away..." Detective W mused.

"So, we're just gonna be lame ducks here? That's kind of disappointing..."

"No. Be quiet. I'm thinking what to do next now..."

Regrettably, Detective W couldn't come up with anything in the end. You looked at the watch, pretending to help Harry with the knife. "It's less than ten minutes left before the police arrive! What are you going to do?!"

Detective W grumbled, "I do have enough evidence... even though some of them might be circumstantial. I just need one direct evidence that will help me... put the final nail on to this coffin!"

WOOOO... the police sirens sounded as two police cars arrived at Exit 9. Harry was about to run into his car, but he saw you two just calmly standing there. He stared at you two, agape. "What are you two doing? Run!"

"Run? Did we do something bad?" Detective W asked, shrugging. He was playing innocent.

Harry instantly stammered. "No! No! Of course, you didn't!" Harry's eyes narrowed in slight suspicion as he somehow slowly put two and two together. "Wait... you guys didn't call the police on me, didn't you?!"

Lay, the tanned-skinned Cambodian policeman, shined his ultra-bright flashlight. "Hands up, Harry Bolls! You're under arrest!"

Suddenly, Harry blinked, and cried out, "I remember you two! Ahmad's friends, my ass! You were in cohorts with the police!"

You whispered softly, "He still doesn't remember about knife?"

Detective W shrugged. "That's not the main point here..."

"I will have you know, I'm innocent!"

Victoria, the lead officer in this part of Owlsburgh, asked, "W! I thought your assistant and you have definitive proof he killed Ahmad! Why are you still standing there?!"

"Do you have proof that I killed Ahmad?! We're best friends!" Harry screamed. "All right! I am gonna sue every single one of you!"

"Boss, we know that he's lying, and he will obstinately lie. Where's that one evidence to shut him up for good?!" you exclaimed.

"I'm thinking, my friend... thinking... " Detective W uttered. "Where should I continue to look? His car? The highway crime scene? Or... his house?" He stroked his goatee as he contemplated.

"You can't search any of my belongings! Got a warrant?! I demand privacy rights!" Harry screeched. Detective W suddenly slammed on his SUV, and shouted, "Harry! You want to make a bet?!"

"A bet?! What kind of bet?!" Harry exclaimed warily. "How do I know you're not gonna trick me?"

"Okay! If I lose this bet, I will turn myself in jail and tell you where's the knife! How does that sound?! But, if you lose, you will have to tell the truth and go to jail!" Detective W roared back. But, he was crossing his fingers in his pockets, praying, Please take the bet, please take the bet!

"All right! Now, what's the bet, loser?!" Harry cackled gleefully. Detective W took a deep sigh of relief, and exclaimed, "All right! I will search for the decisive evidence for Ahmad's murder in one of these three places: The car, the highway crime scene, or the living room in your house! If I can't find evidence in the single place that I choose, I lose!"

"Oh, so you're gonna pick, huh? Which place are you gonna choose, loser?!" Harry sneered.

"Boss," you looked at Detective W, concerned, "You know which one is the correct one?"

Which place should Detective W look at to find the final, decisive evidence?! You only have one shot!

Day 3... ALMOST THERE!

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