More Suspects

Everleason Police Department, 9:47 A.M, Interrogation room B.

Daniel was watching Paul Armadan and Scarlett talk. Paul was a man who was a few centimetres taller than Daniel, he wore a grey suit jacket and a white shirt with a rose red tie. He had long navy pants and an expensive black belt with a gold-plated belt. He had black pointed shoes. His skin was tan, and he wore a blue watch. His hair was black and had a bit sticking up. His hair shined in the light of the single light affixed to the ceiling.

Bill soon opened the door and bought a friend with him. This man was striking, tall, and with a nice youthful face that was so clean shaven that it looked like if you felt his face, it would feel like you were caressing a newborns skin. His blonde hair was tied in a nice long ponytail with blue hair ties. He wore a bronze suit jacket, and his white tie was embellished with images of Flames. He wore a dark blue shirt and the most beautiful silver pants Daniel had seen.

"Who's this?" Dan inquired.

"This is one of my friends. Leon Karbos." Bill announced with some flair.

"Leon Karbos? As in 'District Attorney Leon Karbos?'" Dan replied.

"That's right." Leon spoke with a mid-tone, yet somewhat fun voice. "I am the district attorney.

"Are you here to plan some sort of deal?" Dan asked.

Leon shook his head. "We'll see how this goes first. I know that Scarlett talks a big game, but she is as harmless as a fish that was just taken from the water."

"A lot of killers may appear that way at first glance. But I do believe that Scarlett isn't responsible, however, her connection to this case is undeniable."

Leon nodded in agreement. "You must be speaking about those scissors that were lodged into the victim's heart."

Daniel was shocked. "Who told you that?"

"Why, Bill did." Leon stated.

Daniel gave Bill a disapproving look.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm the Lieutenant." Bill added.

"By the way, that is a lovely outfit you're wearing." Daniel stated toward Leon.

"Oh, this? Yes, Phoebe Carr made this for me personally, she's been looking into suing the victim of this case." Leon stated.

"Phoebe Carr? Why was she planning to sue Myriam?"

"She stated that prior to Myriam ripping off Scarlett's designs, that she was ripping off her designs for four weeks." Leon relayed.

Daniel put his hand to his chin in thought. "Scarlett stated that there was a two-week period of 'originality.' Perhaps that period was the same time she was actually stealing designs from this Miss Carr. Was Phoebe well known?"

"She was doing art classes and Myriam was the teacher's assistant, they and Phoebe's father, and me, are the only ones I know for certain are aware of her work, until now that is. I wonder how he feels about all of this?" Leon explained.

"He? Are you speaking about Phoebe's father?"

Leon nodded. "Yes."

"Why would he have any feelings about this?"

"He was Myriam's doctor, the one she always went to when she was unwell with minor things."

Daniel nodded with some interest upon his face. "We shall speak with both of them later, however, their connection to this case is a bit obscure, but maybe as we keep looking into things, the picture will become clearer."

Paul knocked on the door. Bill opened it and allowed him in.

"Scarlett is ready to speak now." Paul announced. "But she only wants to speak with Daniel."

Daniel nodded and he and Paul went into the room to speak with Scarlett.

"So, Scarlett," Daniel stated. "Are you willing to talk to us now?"

"Yes, Paul and I have discussed it at length. I am willing to admit that I was at Myriam's place within 24 hours of her body being discovered, in fact I was there the night prior to her body being found." Scarlett stated.

"Why were you there?" Dan asked.

"To confront her about taking credit for other people's works."

"I see, and you took a pair of scissors with you too?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, my travel pair, you never know when the artist flair will strike."

"So, you gave those scissors to Myriam."

"When I saw the atrocious state of her scissors, I had to take action to teach her a lesson, I gave her my travel scissors and I promised her that I would get her scissors sharpened. Look, I have them here." Scarlett took a pair of monogrammed scissors with the letter M.S on them. They looked newly sharpened.

"Were you aware of the fact that Myriam had a second pair of scissors?" Daniel inquired as he put the scissors below his seat.

"No, but she did go to fashion school and one of the first things you learn is to keep a second pair of scissors."

Daniel nodded. "So, you weren't angry at her?"

"Yes, but the best revenge is to help. I would have done everything in my power to prevent her from stealing more designs. I was on her side. Sure, we weren't friends, but if she wanted to be a rival of mine, I wanted her to at least present a real challenge."

Daniel nodded. "That's such a good plan. Adam Bolmer would be proud of you. Well, please keep in touch and I'll make sure you don't get charged."

"Charged? For what?" Scarlett inquired as she got up and collected her stuff.

"Carrying a concealed weapon into a police station." Daniel stated with a chuckle as he put the scissors back onto the table.

"Oh." Scarlett chuckled. "I forgot that was a no-no." She picked up the scissors. "But who gets them now that Myriam no longer needs them?"

"Do what you want with them. As long as it's not illegal, as far as I'm aware you've kept your promise and you made a trade which was accepted. They are your property as far as the law is concerned and they don't have enough relevance for the police to induct them into the evidence room."

Scarlett nodded. "I see. Oh." She handed him a business card. "If you need me to speak again, here's my number."

Daniel took the card. "Thanks."

Scarlett and Paul left the room and made their way out of the station.

Daniel knocked on the mirror and Bill and Leon made their way into the Interrogation room.

"What are your thoughts Daniel?" Bill inquired.

"I think pursuing Scarlett Myth as the criminal would be a fruitless endeavour." Daniel replied.

"I was surprised when she pulled out that pair of scissors and you acted so nonchalantly." Leon added.

"I'm willing to forgive a few transgressions. Besides she seemed very honest." Dan added.

"Drop the naiveté, Daniel, we both know that 'seeming innocent' is a well-known trick of the most masterful criminals." Bill interjected.

"There was something in her eyes. It was the same spark I saw in Elizabeth's eyes when she said I do. I'm willing to trust Scarlett. Why aren't you?" Dan relayed.

Bill shook his head. "Whatever, you are free to do what you wish."

Shortly after their conversation, Bill's phone began to ring. Bill took it to his ear. "Hello, Lieutenant William Storm, A.K.A, Bill, hoe may I help?... Really?... Thank you."

"What was that about?" Dan asked.

Bill gave an angry sigh. "There are clear and concise fingerprints on the handle of the scissors."

"That's great news, but I don't see why you have some anger about it." Daniel replied.

"They didn't match anything we have on record." Bill stated.

"That's impossible." Dan and Leon spoke simultaneously.

"Yeah. I know." Bill relayed.

Daniel hummed in thought. "You did check against everyone currently involved in this investigation?"

Bill nodded. "Of course, we did."

"Do any of the people we know are involved have any relatives who are police officers?" Dan asked.

Bill looked at Daniel in shock. "You're not saying that one of our officers did something terrible, are you?"

"Please, just answer the question, we need to find the truth." Dan spoke politely and with a tone of patience.

"Yeah, Felix Charris has a brother, has the same name as you." Bill added.

"Go collect him for me and have his fingerprints compared to the ones with have for Felix." Daniel stated. "I'll meet you in my office."

Daniel journeyed back to his office and looked into Daniel Charris, he needed to know why, if he removed Felix's fingerprints, he would go against the police station rules. It was clearly written.

It was clearly written... Daniel checked Mr. Charris' library history and his browsing history. Turns out that Mr Charris had an eReader, also all of his previous loans from the library were all of large-print books. Daniel had a theory. Do he printed off a document that listed the punishment for the offence that he believed Mr. Charris had committed.

Soon there was a knock upon Daniel's door. He opened it to see Bill and a man who looked 70% like Felix Charris, he was slightly taller and looked like he was in his 30s, his hair was short, dark brown and shimmering hair, it was a professional cut. He also had short eyebrows a small beard and a EPD uniform.

"Daniel Smith," Bill announced, "meet Daniel Charris."

Daniel Charris had stars in hid eyes. "Detective Daniel Smith. Ever since you solved that mystery in Japan, you've been making a bigger and bigger name for yourself. But, what would someone as big as you want with a desk jockey like me?"

"First things first, Bill, what were the results of the test I asked you to run?" Daniel Smith asked.

"Yes, and it was a match. I don't know how you guessed that." Bill replied.

Dr Smith shrugged. "It was the best explanation I could come up with."

"What is this all about?" Mr Charris asked.

"You swapped your brother's fingerprint records with your own, and we want to know why." Dr Smith explained.

"So, you know. It was just a small prank, nothing to bad." Mr Charris relayed.

Daniel presented the document about showed the offence that Mr Charris committed and what the punishment was for such a misdemeanour. "Daniel, it says here due to what you've done, you'll be fired." Dr Smith explained.

"It must be weird saying your own name when speaking to another." Bill relayed.

Dr Smith gave Bill a sharp stare as Mr Charris began to sob.

"I didn't know." Mr Charris explained.

"You haven't admitted your secret issue either, have you?" Dr Smith inquired.

"What is that?" Charris asked between sniffles.

"You are nearsighted. You can't see things from far away perfectly well and therefore reading the general font from a normal distance is impossible for you."

Charris nodded. "It's true. I'm sorry I never told anybody, I just didn't want to look like a dork with glasses and I'm hypersensitive to contacts."

Dr Smith patted Charris on the shoulder. "It's okay. I lied to you, you're not getting fired, you'll get a reprimand some training. I figured that you wouldn't be able to read the punishment and crime on the sheet I printed, and you confirmed your near-sightedness by believing what I said because the writing was blurry for you. The d rules about the dos and don'ts of evidence procedure and organisation are written in ink only. If there was a digital copy of it, you may never have done what you did."

"Also," Bill interjected. "Who cares if you wear glasses, this is Rhombodian and the EPD is part of FORMAL, we have an ironclad anti-bullying rule, where anyone making fun of others in spite or hate or whatever reason will be fined $3000. None of us like taking hits to our wallets, so we never bully."

Charris' sad tears turned into happy ones. "Thank you, and I'm sorry. It will never happen again."

"Head to Edwin and go receive your punishment." Dr Smith stated.

Charris nodded and headed out.

"So, I guess we go reprint this fellow, huh." Bill stated.

"Why do you sound so huffy? The task is below your pay grade. We'll send out a patrolperson to pick him up during their beat and get him printed. But for now, we should look into another potential suspect." Daniel replied.

"Who?" Bill asked with a slight tone of confusion.

"Phoebe Carr." Daniel relayed and went to his door, getting his hat from the hatstand as he went.

"You can't be serious." Bill replied. "She's only 16."

"When you have a lead, chase it. That's what David told me; besides, teenagers commit crimes."

"Yeah, vandalism and thievery, but seldom murder."

"Seldom still means there are numbers that say that teens have committed murders. Come on."

"When did David tell you that, by the way."

"Between cases."

So, off they went, this time to Bill's car, and the headed to the Carr residence. Surely Phoebe couldn't have committed this crime? It was still a possibility, Daniel hadn't even met her yet, he didn't know her personality in the slightest. But he had a feeling that she was close to the heart of the case, if not the heart itself.