The Owlsburgh Serial Bombing (Day 2)

Victoria groaned as she repeated the same answer. Her eyes were baggy and dark circles surrounded her eyes. "Man, will you please shut up? I've said this so many times already!" she barked.

"Aw... miss..." a reporter in a blue suit drawled condescendingly. "Officer Victoria, so, what's your next step? How will you stop the serial bombings? The citizens are scared."

"I've told you. Please have faith in the Owlsburgh Police. We have stationed our police officers all over the city! Reinforcements from the federal military will also arrive tonight! Please, stay calm!" she reiterated, frustrated.

"May you be more specific?" a female reporter in a white dress asked.

"That's all I know!" she cried out. "Now, if you will excuse me!" She tried to walk out from the bombing site's remains, but the reporters stuck to her like gum on a shoe.

You closed the TV. "Man, Deputy Officer Victoria got it rough. Just right after her promotion, she got a serial bombing case," you observed.

You were in Detective W's apartment again, sitting right next to W in the kotatsu. Detective W was heavily chugging down black tea again. Likewise, Ha-Eun and Ha-joon didn't sleep well. Next to them were coffee cups.

After all, you were part of the first responders to the Ortega Penthouse bombing. Along with Detective W, you sprinted to the penthouse once you heard the bombing. Fortunately, most of the residents there had moved. Those that hadn't moved had retreated to the basement. There was no casualties this time.

Detective W had seen a helicopter flying from the Ortega Penthouse. However, it was impossible for him to discern the figure who climbed up the helicopter, due to the thick smoke. The white marble remains of Ortega Penthouse were still smoldering. You coughed once the ashy smoke hit you.

Without a care in the world, Detective W rushed into the wreckage and started looking for evidence. The subsiding smoke gave him a clearer view of the floor. The only thing he found was rough, tiny black shrapnel.

He thrusted the shrapnel onto Victoria's hands. "Victoria! Once you're finished, please send this to the lab and have them analyze it for me! If they're the same as yesterday--"

"--Thanks, W! Please, wait for the investigators next time!" Victoria was too busy calling fire trucks and the citywide cleaners to look at the evidence properly.

Except for interviewing the nearby people and helping the investigators with evidence, the rest was a blur to you. Once you're finished with the investigation, which was around 3 o' clock in the morning, you waltzed into Detective W's apartment and fell asleep on his desk.

Now, you were getting ready for the second citywide police meeting. This time, you, Ha-Eun, and Ha-joon were allowed to join.

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The Police Station, 11:00 a.m....

Everyone in the meeting room, as far as you could tell, was dead tired. Hollow, sunken eyes were all over the room. Chief Thomas drank another cup of dark roast coffee before he began.

"As the Chief here, I'm ashamed to admit that we couldn't catch the terrorist... again. But, this time, we have a clearer look of the culprit and the accomplice. This time, we shall arrest the criminal, without fail!"

Even though the police force wanted to fall asleep and call it a day, they still vigorously shouted and pumped their fists, "Aye, sir! For Owlsburgh!"

The projector showed a grainy video of the helicopter flying above Ortega Penthouse. Only two things were clear. One: Upon a closer look, the black helicopter with red markings wasn't the police force's helicopter. Two: A stocky, red-suited man pulled the masked man up.

"This was taken from one of our helicopters. At first, we assumed was a police helicopter, and that the victim was being rescued. A closer look at the helicopter's markings told us that we're wrong. Police helicopters in Owlsburgh don't have red markings!"

He took a sip, and continued. "Two-that man in red suit is clearly not police! Whoever he is, he is an accomplice!"

"Pomodoro..." Detective W muttered under his breath. "So, they were behind all of this..."

The rest of the meeting was the police sharing the evidence they found yesterday. Only three caught Detective W's interest.

One was a mysterious phone dropped on the scene. The phone screen was severely fractured, and the home button was caked with soot. The fractures emanated from a small dent on the lower right of the phone. The blue phone case, however, was rather unscathed.

The other one was a stamp-sized, color photo of a woman. The edges were charred, and the photo was placed in a plastic bag.

Ha-joon observed, "Ooh... this woman is pretty. But, why is that there in the first place?"

Detective Mwangi described what the store owner said to him. Basically, the owner-Mr. Ortega III- and the penthouse cleaners had never seen this photo before. According to what they said, the brown-haired, mousey-faced, and green-eyed woman wasn't even a tenant. The photo was found near the ceiling of the penthouse. Detective Mwangi was surprised that this photo survived the bombing.

The final evidence was a criminal record background check of the general suspect pool mentioned yesterday. Out of the general suspect pool, only four had criminal records.

"Investigator Reynolds and Investigator Rayleigh toiled yesterday for eight hours straight just to give us this report! Give them a hand!" Chief Thomas cheered for the two wide-eyed officers.

The room erupted with thunderous applause. The two astounded officers blinked, then blushed. You were among those who clapped the loudest.

Chief Thomas went into more detail. "The man on the furthest left: Herbie Hind. Two counts of aggravated sexual assault and a count of loan sharking. Center left: Budo Shu. 1 count of drunk driving and 1 count of murder. Center right: Blake Smith. Illegal weapon sales and burglary. Far left: Milad Rahbar. 3 counts of shoplifting and 1 count of larceny. All of them had served their jail times already."

All the people in the room took careful notes. You scrutinized the mug shots, and took a photo of each. Blake Smith, a black man with a clipper cut, had dead fish eyes. Budo Shu, a fawn-skinned man with a top knot, was glaring right at you with narrow eyes. Milad Rahbar, a man with big eyes, thick eyebrows and a grizzly beard, had a sorrowful look on his face. Herbie Hind... you felt like you've seen him somewhere before. The wavy hair and the weak jawline...

You put your hand onto your open mouth. "No way...! Herbie Hind was the suspicious one we interviewed yesterday!" you disclosed to Detective W.

"Could he really be the bomber?" Detective W questioned. "There's still many factors that we have to consider."

"Let's just get the low-hanging fruit first and ask him! If he's not, we will move onto the next three!" you urged.

Detective W nodded in agreement. Once the meeting was finished, you guys rushed out of the room and drove to 21st and Pommel Street. Detective W darted to the door entrance, pressed the doorbell, and pounded on the door several times.

A yawning Herbie Hind with pajamas on opened the door. "Who are you?" he asked wearily. "It's 10 o' clock in the morning..."

Detective W showed his license to Herbie. "I'm a private investigator, and I need to know what happened with you yesterday."

Herbie's arms instantly shot up. "Sir, I haven't done anything wrong in the last 17 years! I know raping someone is evil! Please, tell me what I did! I have a family to take care of!" he stuttered, his teary, puppy-like eyes locking onto Detective W's.

"You lied to us yesterday," you warned him. "From your bedroom, there's no way for you to see anything near the bombing site!"

Herbie blinked in realization as he remembered the interview from yesterday. "All right, all right, I admit, I fibbed! I just wanted some recognition! Please! But I did see the bombing! Please believe me!" he knelt on the floor and begged.

Detective W raised an eyebrow. "Where did you see the bombing, Herbie?"

"I work at the pharmacy at 21st and Groundcherry! I work the 12 AM to 8AM shift! I went outside and took a cigarette break! That's when I saw the apartment building collapse! Afterwards, I saw a white car turning north! The pharmacy's security camera should show me outside! I never left!" Herbie blabbered, gasping for breath after each statement.

Detective W knelt down, and assured him with a quiet voice. "I know. Thank you, Herbie, for being truthful to us. We appreciate your honesty, and we never meant to bother you like this. We will be going now."

Herbie got up, shook Detective W's hands, and closed the door. Detective W took a heavy breath, and uttered, "Guys, it's time to go to the corner pharmacy and corroborate his statement. We have no time to lose."

With the permission of the pharmacy owner, the four of you looked at the camera footage. At 3:30 AM, Herbie walked out of the pharmacy, leaned on the lamppost and took a cigarette. He then smoked for 20 minutes, and the cigarette dropped from his mouth. He shook his head left and right, and dashed to the pharmacy door.

"He didn't lie, after all..." Detective W confirmed. "Now one suspect is off the list..."

You looked at the criminal background check photos you took. Thankfully, all of them had their current addresses on the bottom of the mug shot. "It's time to pay those three a visit. Hopefully, they will have some case-changing statements," you told Detective W.

Ha-Eun asked, "Hey, W? What kind of questions do we ask them?"

"Something seemingly innocuous, yet relevant. And, please limit yourself to three or four questions," Detective W replied, and left Ha-Eun pondering on the questions.

The four of you got on the car and drove to Budo Shu's house at 11th and Market Avenue. That took around 10 minutes. You snatched your phone out, while Ha-joon grabbed a notepad. Ha-Eun grumbled as she typed on her phone, "What questions...?"

Detective W gave Ha-Eun a few more minutes to prepare. Meanwhile, Detective W observed the neighborhood. This part of Owlsburgh was busy and loud. Many restaurants operate here, and there were many diners in them.

Ha-Eun tapped Detective W's shoulder, signaling that she was done with her questions. Detective W then walked out and pressed the doorbell.

Budo Shu, wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with a chicken on it, asked, "May I ask who are you people?"

"A private investigator," Detective W told the truth. "Don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong."

Budo's pale face reverted to its original color. "I see. What do you want to know?" he was surprisingly cooperative.

Ha-Eun asked, "Now, if you will answer these three questions, please." She also pulled up the photo of the woman on her phone. "Where were you during the bombing? Did you get a new phone recently? Finally, have you seen this woman before?"

You took the video as Budo answered. "I was at home when the bombing happened. As for this phone, yes, I bought it around 2 weeks ago, but it's an old Samsung. Still works plenty well. As for this woman, I've never seen her before. She looks really pretty, to be honest."

Detective W observed the phone. The phone was enclosed with a bulky case with a circular home button. He then looked at the person. 'No significant signs of leg problems...', he perceived. 'However, there's a bruise on his forehead. Not going to bother Budo with this.'

They quickly thanked Budo and drove to Milad Rahbar's place at 40th and Acacia street. They asked him the same questions.

Milad, like Budo, was reticent in the beginning. But he slowly warmed up once he heard that Detective W just wanted to ask questions. "Oh... I was at home around the bombing time. No, I still kept my old phone. It's been with me for 5 years now. That woman... is Samantha. My ex-wife. We hadn't contacted each other in 3 years..."

A baby could heard bawling in the background. Milad bowed, and apologized. "Sorry, Detective. My baby woke up."

"No worries, Milad." Detective W looked at Milad's phone. Unlike Budo's, it had no home button. The sleek Apple phone had a black casing around it. He then observed Milad. Milad hobbled when he opened the door, Detective W recalled. Milad had a slight bruise on his face.

They finally went to Blake Smith's house at Smalltown Street and Petunia Avenue. The three questions were asked. Blake Smith seemed to be jovial about this interview, however. His usually dead fish eyes brightened up once he heard Detective W was a private investigator.

"Oh, man! Let me tell you all about it!" Blake beamed. "I was at the grocery shop nearby! You can check their security footage, Detective! And, yeah, this new phone! I just got it yesterday! I even have the receipt for it! And, wait, that's Samantha, my ex-girlfriend! Now she's dead."

"You said... she's dead?" Detective W asked again, making sure.

"Yeah." he nodded. "Been dead for 2 years now."

Detective W nodded back, and observed Blake's sleek phone. It was also an Apple product, but unlike Milad's, it had a home button. The phone was covered with a pink casing. Blake, however, had tissues stuffed in his nostrils. Detective W pointed to his nose, and asked Blake about that.

"Oh. I just broke my nose two days ago. This minor injury is not a big deal, Detective!"

A kid with cornrows just hung onto Blake's leg. "Daddy, are you in trouble again?"

"No, Johnny. I'm not." Blake soothed the kid.

You asked Detective W, "Boss. I've recorded all the videos. You need me to replay them one more time?"

"No," Detective W shook his head. "These interviews are still fresh in my mind. In fact, there's a contradiction in one of the interviews. A major contradiction that puts his story in a totally different light!"

"A contradiction..." you stroked your chin like Detective W. "A contradiction... what could that be?"

----------Day 2 Investigation, To Be Continued----------