Chapter 6: Contagious Presence

Lersne POV:

A rat

Two rats

Three rats

This place was full of rats. A bunch of them chewed on a hand that belonged to an unidentifiable corpse. The hand lost some of its fingers.

This place reeked of death.

"Feel free to take a seat anywhere."

Caron sat on the pile of boxes. Not sure if this was her secret base or an abandoned house to hid her actual secret base.

"There's nowhere to sit."

"I'll give you some of these boxes."

"I appreciate that."

Caron took some boxes and put them beside me so I could sit.

I couldn't help but noticing the bullet hole on her shirt. It was the same bullet hole from yesterday. She wore the same shirt from yesterday.

She had a hard time just moving one box. Obviously, she was exhausted. Wherever Her secret base was, it must be a horrible place to live.

"How's your day?"

I tried to start with something simple as I sat. But a small talk wouldn't lift the tension.

"I'm not sure. My day has just started."

"Just say so if it's bad."

"No, I mean it. My day will be either be pleasant or horrible depending on where this conversation goes."

"Straight to the topic, I see."

Caron nod.

"But you see, detective, before telling you the truth, I want to hear your opinion about this case."

"I'm busy, Caron. I'll appreciate it if we can finish this soon."

"I need to know what this case looks like from the perspective of the unrelated third party. It's easier to clear my name if I know your perspective."

It seemed that Caron chose to retort any wrong statements instead of explaining her situation. Which meant she tried to hold back some information and wouldn't reveal them unless I noticed it. It was a careful move to avoid any accidental overshare of important information. She might hide something important, but as for now, there was no way to tell.

"Okay, I think you are not the culprit..."

"Why?"

"I have no idea about who killed Griff.. Leader, but ever since you visited me yesterday, I don't think it's you... or at least, not anymore."

"I see... However, what I meant was, I wanted to know why you suspected me yesterday. Please exclude the fact that I visited you last night from your deduction."

I had thrown away my original deduction since I knew it was wrong at this point. Still, I have to try to remember why I suspected Caron yesterday.

"Let's start about why I... everybody thought you were the murderer. Your neighbor heard you and the victim Emory argued before the shooting happened. After that, maybe you escaped from the window and made a call using a public phone. It was night, so unless they look closely, people won't notice the blood on your clothing."

"Yes, I wore darker clothing for that purpose. But there was a bit of error here and there, detective."

Caron started her retort.

"After Emory passed out from my shot, I changed my clothing. People suspected me not because of the blood in my clothing. It was because I climbed down from the second floor. I couldn't use the door because people crowded in front of my room."

"Did you just confessed that you shot Emory?"

"I did, but I kill nobody. If that dumbass never wake up again, then I guess he's my first."

Despite being annoyed at her joke, I couldn't help but notice a bit of sadness behind the playful tone.

"Why did you shot him?"

"Detective, I told you that I want to hear your perspective first. So, let's go back to your deduction game."

"Caron, It's not a game."

"Sure, please continue."

"Wait a moment. What do you mean by 'continue'?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, but there were two other cases connected to this one. The murder of Leader and some other people in the abandoned building, and the murder of Sergey in his house."

So my instinct was right. Those three cases were connected.

"Detective, from your reaction, I'm guessing that the public hasn't figured out that those cases were connected?"

"Not yet, but it's just a matter of time. I'm sure the police would notice it once they look into people connected to you."

"We hid our activities and connection. It will take some time until they figure it out. I can say that you're the first one to notice it, so congratulation, detective."

"Caron, I had enough of your joke..."

"Alright. Let's start with your deduction about the murder of four people at the abandoned houses."

The only important thing I confirmed this far was that undoubtedly, Caron was the culprit for Emory's attempted murder case. 

The weird part was, Caron was daring enough to admit the shooting but refused to explain the reason behind it... for now, at least. It might be the pieces of important information that she hid.

"Leader died while tied to a chair while three other people died in a single gunshot. I thought that you, Emory, and Sergey, planned to betray the Leader. Since Leader tied, you might be forcing an interrogation on him for some information."

"Betraying Leader? Nope, never in my life."

Caron chuckled at the statement.

"Then who?"

"I'll tell you later. Please continue, still with the same prediction."

I sighed, then continued...

"After the three of you killed Leader, probably because you failed to force information out of him, the three other people came and noticed that you have killed Leader. Then the three of you shot them dead before they even had a chance to pull out their gun."

Caron seemed to hold her laughter the whole time like she heard something very ridiculous. This reaction was one of the factors that convinced me that she wasn't lying. Faking an amusement wasn't easy, so I could tell how Caron's laughter was genuine. 

"That sounds very... something. Detective, is that your prediction or the public opinion?"

"Mine, please remember that the public had no idea that these cases were related to each other. For Leader's case, the public viewed it as just another gang war."

"Oh right, thanks for reminding me."

"I will continue to Sergey's case."

"Please."

I wanted to hear the truth soon, but she wouldn't tell me before I finished the reiteration of my false prediction.

"You and Emory decided to betray and kill Sergey. Then hid his corpse inside his house and sealed it off. You wandered around Sergey's house while trying to enter it from outside to make people think Sergey had isolated himself."

"Sergey was dead by the time I found him."

"That's it? Anything more you want to add?"

"Later I will..."

For some reason, Caron's explanation about Emory's case was very specific, but the details for the other two cases were very vague. Both cases might have some pieces of information that she decided to hide. But what was it?

"Oh right, how's the dog in Sergey's home?"

"How's that had anything to do with the case?"

"Nothing, I'm just curious."

"I don't know. No dogs were found when the police found the body."

"Guess he ran off. I hope he could find a better home..."

I remembered that Caron was feeding the stray dog in front of my house yesterday. Maybe she liked dogs a lot. While I knew all of Leader's underlings, My knowledge about them was only on the surface level.

"Should I continue?"

"Go ahead."

"You and Emory later argued about something, and you shot him during the argument."

"Your prediction for Emory's case was correct. We did argue, and I ended up Injured him so bad. But obviously, you have no idea about the detail of our argument."

"I'm done with my perspective. Now, would you tell me the truth?"

"Of course, I promised after all."

Caron seemed to be deep in thought. Maybe she tried to choose her words or wondered about where to start.

"The mastermind... was the king. The dead were his victims, and the survivors were his pawns."

"What?"

"I said what I said."

"Wait a moment, why did you suddenly bring up the king into this conversation?!"

"Because unless I did, nobody would notice. Even if someone did notice, they would turn a blind eye on him."

"Are you saying that the king and his soldiers killed Leader's organization and made it looks like an insider's conflict?!"

"Close, but not exactly. He did play us all into his hands, though. Unexpected occurred, but in the end, he conquered the board."

"Stop making it sounds complicated! Just get to the point!"

"I will, but I don't want you to go after the murderer. That's why I have to get your attention to the king first."

"You're protecting the murderer?!"

"I'm not."

"Then why?!"

"Because justice had been served for both murderers in the worst possible way. All that's left was to take down the mastermind."

The fact that the king was involved behind the scene was already confusing enough. On top of that, Caron didn't want me to harm the murderer, yet insisted that she wasn't protecting them. How were those statements not contradicting each other?! did she just made them all up, or...?

"And that is why detective... Promise me that you won't after the murderer, and I'll tell you everything."

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At that moment, a weird surge of information went through my head.

"Because justice had been served for both murderers in the worst possible way."

Both murderers meant there was more than one murderer.

"I don't want you to go after the murderer."

For an unknown reason, Caron only protected one of the murderers. What happened to the other one?

Could it be, one of the murderers was dead, and the other one survived?

"Because justice had been served for both murderers in the worst possible way."

When the 'justice had been served', it was possible that one of the murderers died and the other one survived. Both had been judged, but only one survived. 

I had no idea who was the dead murderer, but I knew who was the remaining ones.

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Third-person POV:

"The remaining murderer was Emory Livell. He's a victim, but also the murderer, wasn't he? The king forced him to kill them. Despite that, you served him justice by injuring him without killing him."

Caron seemed to be shocked for a moment, but a second later regained her composure.

"You're sharp, detective..."

"You can't even deny that because that's what you planned to tell me."

"But you don't have enough evidence to blame Emory."

"I have some friends inside the police force. I could pull some string to get him convicted."

Caron pulled out her gun and aimed it at Detective Lersne. 

"Then, this is where you'll die. Unless you promise me to let him go."

Caron's index finger wasn't on the trigger. It was a threatening stance, but not yet an aggressive one.

Despite at gunpoint, Detective Lersne maintained her calmness, not that she wasn't afraid of death, but she refused to let go of the truth when she almost reached it. Moreover, this case was very personal to her.

"Which murderer among the two that killed Leader?"

"Not him."

"Really? How about this, if Emory wakes up and admits that he was the one who killed Leader, then I have the right to retract this promise."

"Detective, watch your mouth!"

Caron placed her index finger on the trigger, ignoring the trigger safety rule, obviously tempted to pull the trigger out of fear. Not the fear of her safety, but the fear for a friend's safety.

"It's him, isn't it? However..."

BANG

Caron shot Detective Lersne. The impact threw her off to the floor.

"I haven't finished talking Caron!"

Unexpectedly, Detective Lersne stood up angrily. Caron was bewildered until she noticed the lack of blood.

"Anti-bullet armor?!"

"Yes! but first, listen until I finished talking!"

Caron got defensive and pointed out her gun at Detective Lersne once more, still with a finger in the trigger, ready for another attack. Yet Detective Lersne was unfazed as adrenaline took over.

"Even if he's the one who killed Leader, I will still comply with your promise!"

"You will? But you said you will retract your promise if..."

"I was bluffing to get the truth out of you."

"It's very misleading!"

"It won't if you just listen until the end!"

Both of them went silent for a moment. The heavy tension in the air disappeared.

"Just like what you said, bringing down the mastermind is more important than fighting among ourselves. Besides, I've seen lots of people forced to make wrong decisions after being pressured by the king."

"...So, did you trust me, detective...?"

Now that the tension had gone, there was a hint of desperation in Caron's voice. She tried her best to hide it.

"Yes, you haven't told me the full story, but we can continue later."

Caron felt a surge of relief. She had to risk everything to get Detective Lersne's trust, and she managed to do it. After the tension was over, Caron suddenly felt overwhelmed with exhaustion, forcing her down to her knees.

"Oh god... Caron, are you okay?!"

Lersne tried to help Caron to stand up. Caron managed to stand up, but she had difficulty maintaining her balance.

"I'll live, detective... I've seen worse..."

That's what Caron said, but her grip on Detective Lersne's arm was pretty weak. Detective Lersne noticed that.

"Having seen worse is not a reason to be hard yourself! Stay at my place, Caron! Let me help you!"

"There's no reason for you to help me..."

"There's one! Leader gave his best to help you. I won't let his effort gone waste!"

At this moment, Caron was reminded of the time when she met Leader for the first time. It was the time when she was at her lowest, similar to this one.

"Just like Leader... His friends are too kind..."

"It's called being a decent human being Caron! You think I'm kind because you're desperate."

"...You really are Leader's friend."

"Enough about that, let's go."

Lersne pulled Caron by her arm.

"I haven't agreed to..."

"You shot me, Caron! At least listen to me as a sorry!"

"Sorry..."

"Sorry unaccepted! come to my place, and I'll accept your sorry!"

"I guess you won't change your mind..."

This time Caron complied. That day Caron didn't need to eat dog treats to satisfy her hunger.

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Years ago, Caron was saved by Leader when she was at her lowest.

Now, after once again losing everything, Caron was saved by Leader's friend.

Leader's past was a mystery. But his contagious kindness wasn't.