At the Carr's House

33 Hundreds road, Everleason, 11:00 A.M

Daniel arrived at the Carr residence and parked across the road.

"Well," Bill stated, "here we are."

"Did you get any news on Felix?" Dan asked.

"Not yet, no new notifications, but I did see something on the footage from the camera that faced toward the front door of the studios. It was the CEO of a chain of department stores, a man named Barry Gribbins. We should talk to him later." Bill stated.

"That's what you were looking at on that strange device?"

"It's called a cell phone, Rhombodian had them 15 years before the earthlings made the first Nokia. It's a Goodlance pro17, state of the art." Bill stated.

Daniel nodded. "So, I guess we have to ask him why he was there, how about an autopsy report, do we have one yet?"

"None have been performed yet."

Daniel looked at Bill with a raised eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Well, Dr Carr, and the mortician agreed that the most likely cause of death was the scissors sticking out of her heart."

Dan stroked his chin in interest. "Well, yes. That would appear to be the case, but wouldn't it be safer to have all our ducks in a row?"

"Sometimes people are just lazy and are just willing to go off first sights without looking for further evidence."

"Yes, I believe you gave a pretty good example of such a mindset earlier today." Dan chuckled.

Bill grumbled. "Let's just go talk to Phoebe and her father."

Dan nodded and they crossed the road.

Daniel knocked upon the door to the Carr residence. A male voice from inside spoke out. "Just a moment please."

Dr Carr opened the door to see the slightly bewildered face of Dan, and the reserved face of William. Nathanial car was tall with dark hair with a blue streak through it, other than that, it was short. His eyebrows were clean, and his facial skin was blemish free. He had no facial hair. He wore a white t-shirt that stated: "don't smoke near me, I don't want second hand cancer." With an image of the no smoking symbol in the middle of its chest. He was wearing some green woolly pants.

"Nathaniel Carr?" Dan asked.

"Yes, that's right." Nathan responded in a light voice but a serious tone.

"I thought you'd be at work today." Dan stated.

"No, they have given me the day off, due to Myriam Scott's death." Nathan replied with a sombre tone.

"So, you are aware of what happened?" Daniel stated.

"I was at the hospital when they bought her body in under that sheet. The mortician asked my opinion on the matter and when I saw the wound in the heart, I thought the cause of death was obvious and that no autopsy needed to be performed." Nathan stated.

"I have heard something similar from Bill. May we come in and speak with Phoebe?" Dan asked.

"But of course." Nathaniel stated and opened the door wider. Daniel and Bill walked past him and went to sit down around Nathaniel's glass coffee table. It had a rainbow pattern on it. A small orb of red was in the middle and the other 6 colours radiated out from that.

"Let me just get my daughter." Nathaniel stated. He went down a hall to his right. As they waited, Daniel noticed framed pictures of Nathanial and Phoebe. She was younger in the pictures, and she was adorable, in the ones where she was above the age of 12, she was wearing dresses that Dan had never seen before, designs never thought of before, unique. There were also drawings of dresses that Dan hadn't seen in any stores across Everleason.

"Bill, you are more attuned to this planet than I am, have you ever seen dresses like these?" Dan inquired ad he walked over and looked at one of the images with a unique dress being worn by a 15-year-old Phoebe Carr.

"Yes and no. I've seen dresses with very similar style, every dress is unique but of course you're an expert you can spot even the minute things that help you figure out if it was created by an artist or a sweatshop worker. When an artist is responsible, like with the ones you see here, you can see the artist's unique flair, their signature if you will."

"You've seen the same signature upon these dresses somewhere else?"

"For four weeks starting about five weeks ago, I had seen dresses designed by Myriam Scott with extremely similar energy to those we see here."

Phoebe, a tall, slender young lady, long and luxurious dark hair, there were very few pimples on her face, she wore a long flowing amethyst dress that glimmered slightly.

"Hello." She stated in a small, nervous voice, she smiled meekly.

"Miss Carr. If I may ask, what are your connections with Myriam Scott?" Dan inquired softly.

"She is like a mentor to me. I go to art school and she is a teacher's assistant there." Phoebe stated. "But, why would the police be asking me this?"

"Let's just say that Myriam Scott is majorly connected to a murder investigation that we are currently pursuing and any information we can get is necessary." Bill stated.

"Bill, please do not stress the youngling." Dan retorted.

"I'm fine with 'little woman,' I don't mind." Phoebe stated.

"Of course, little woman, as you wish. I don't won't to offend you." Dan added.

"You're so weak Dan." Bill rolled his eyes.

"Get back to me when you have children of your own." Dan stated.

Bill froze up and made a face of one who got offended but can't retort since he was gotten good.

"Phoebe, were you aware of the fact that for 2 weeks that Myriam had been stealing your designs?" Daniel inquired.

"Yes. That's why I was pursuing a lawsuit against her and the D.A and Sebastian Stallion had been working tirelessly to help me out. They have been looking for someone to take me pro bono. I honestly don't really want to do it, but as Adam Bolmer would say, 'if someone has done wrong, or has wronged you, they must face their wrongdoing, otherwise they will never learn.'" Phoebe responded.

"By the way, just in case it comes up, I want to know where you were between the hours of 10:00 pm last night and 6:30 A.M this morning." Bill added.

"Well, I was watching TV from 8 to 12 before going to bed in my room. My grandfather with arthritis is upstairs above the living room and my room is next to his, he must have heard me." Phoebe stated.

"Thank you, allow us to confirm your whereabouts." Dan added and they both went upstairs. They knocked on every door until they heard a gruff voice say "Yes?"

"This is the Everleason Police Department, you're not in trouble, but we would like to speak with you." Bill stated.

"Where was that attitude when we were speaking to Phoebe?" Dan whispered.

"Well, she was a suspect, and this guy isn't." Bill replied.

Dan rolled his eyes as they heard the door unlock. They opened the door and saw an elderly man sitting in a wheelchair by a small TV set with headphones on his ears connected to the TV and he was placing a remote on a set of drawers nearby.

"Ooh, a remote control lock." Bill marvelled. "I wanted to buy one for my apartment, but my landlord won't allow it."

"Well, my son allowed it for me." The old man added.

"I take it that you are Nathaniel's father." Dan inquired.

"Phineas Carr, at your service. Can I get you a glass of anything, water, cognac, vodka?" Phineas asked.

"The EPD doesn't accept bribes, my fine fellow." Dan stated.

"My friend, it wasn't a bribe, just an offer. Besides, what is homicide doing here of all places? Did one of my friends get sent to heaven by something or someone other than their own bodies?" Phineas inquired.

"We just wanted to know where Phoebe was during the hours of 10:00 last night and 6:30 this morning."

"She was watching telly until twelve walked up here and snored up a storm until 9:00. Her snoring is a white noise machine to me, without it I toss and I turn so of course I know when she is sleeping and when she wakes."

"Looks like you were right, Bill, she was a dead end after all."

"Are you saying we didn't obtain any info today?" Bill inquired.

"What is your wisdom then?" Dan asked.

"I think it's odd that Nate blocked the autopsy from occurring. As if he had executive decision on this thing."

"But, did you not say earlier that both he and the Mortician agreed that the cause of death was the scissors and that an autopsy shouldn't be done?"

"That's true."

"Anyway, without reasonable doubt we won't be able to have the mortician change his mind. No judge on Rhombodian would issue an autopsy if a mortician already made a decision without a reason to suspect anything other than what is obvious."

Bill nodded. "We should go now, before we accidentally leek all the information to this civilian."

"I agree." Dan stated.

"Hold on!" Phineas shouted.

"Yes?" Dan and Bill replied simultaneously.

"Nathan was gone for about 36 hours and when I asked where he had been, he told me that some really crazy things had been going on and he had to be put on call. He slept at the hospital so the staff could wake him. But when I called later while he went back because he received a call from the mortician, they said that he wasn't there at all." Phineas explained.

"Thank you, we'll keep that in mind." Daniel stated. They headed back to the car. Bill received a notification as they arrived.

"What is it?" Dan asked.

"Jennifer Tryismo notified us that Felix Charris is busy doing deliveries and will not be able to do fingerprinting until tomorrow morning. But he did tell her we should look into Barry Gribbins. She looked at the survalance of the front of the studios. She was able to confirm that he was there that morning as Felix stated, but he was also there between 10 and 12 the night of the murder." Bill stated.

"Intriguing. Things are getting crazier, which means we must be getting closer to answers." Dan stated as he sat on the passenger seat.

"Only in your mind Daniel, only in your mind." Bill retorted with a chuckle. Off they went to Barry Gribbins store.

Barry Gribbins' office, Gribbins and son's fashion outlet, 12 Suave Road, Everleason entertainment district, 1:10 P.M.

Dan and Bill sat across from Barry. He was, as you would expect, short, grumpy and 45 years in age, he had a bold spot in the centre of his head and a ring of grey hair around that. His face had a few wrinkles and definite signs of a lot of anger from the past. He wore a tan suit with a galaxy tie and a t-shirt with an image of the solar system. He had dark pants on, and his shoes were shimmering, almost new, and black as coal.

"Sorry for the wait, fellows." Barry announced with a slight squeaky, but deep voice, taking the pot from the coffee machine behind him and poured himself a cup. He then took his seat. "Things are hectic today. After the news, a lot of people came in to collect as many of the outfits that they could."

"What news?" Dan inquired.

"Myriam Scott's death, of course. What else?" Barry stated.

"Wait, that's in the news?" He stated and gave Bill a cold stare.

"Don't look at me, freedom of the press and whatnot. Anyway, Ulrich Huricles reported it for Everleason local news." Bill relayed.

"But do they know it was homicide?" Dan asked.

"Of course not, just that she is dead. No other details have been revealed even though Ulric knew most of the details thus far."

"Excuse me, I thought you came to speak to me." Barry interrupted.

"Our apologies, Barry." Dan stated.

"What do you mean by 'homicide'? You don't mean to say that someone offed miss Scott!" Barry announced.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to reveal anything, but now the cat is out of the bag, I'm afraid to say that you are a suspect." Dan replied with a solemn tone.

"What?" Barry exclaimed. "Why?"

"Like you don't know why." Bill interjected. "Your car was seen at the studios between 10 P.M and 12:17 A.M. How do you explain that?"

Barry sighed. "When I received the most recent delivery of clothing, I realised that they were blatant rip-offs of Scarlett Myth's designs, I went to confront her. I arrived and heard her talking with Scarlett, I hid and waited for Scarlett to leave and then when she did, I spoke my two cents to miss Scott. But she was alive when I left, I swear!"

"Did you see a pair of scissors that were engraved with the letters S. M on them?" Dan asked.

"Yes." Barry replied quickly.

"You also mentioned how you only recently received clothing in the style of Scarlett Myth but made by Myriam Scott. Our information tells us that she had been making those outfits throughout the last week and that the person who found her body was there for the express reason of taking the clothes she had knitted and to deliver them to you."

"You must have been given misinformation. Felix usually takes whatever Myriam makes to a storehouse on a daily basis, then he and his friends sort them and fold them and deliver them to me on Sunday evening."

"Did you notice anything else out of the ordinary?" Bill asked.

"Now that you mention it, the studio below Myriam's didn't smell." Barry relayed.

"Excuse me, but that place typically stinks? how could you know about that?" Dan asked.

"For the last three weeks. She invited me on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Every time I would visit her and pass by that studio, it would smell like *cough cough* controlled substances." Barry relayed.

"You smelt drugs and you didn't think to report it?" Dan inquired.

"You came here for a murder investigation, and you're concerned about narcotics?" Barry inquired. "I did report it, if you actually read someone else's work, you'd be aware of that. But the police said that since I'm not a tenant or the landlord, they could only give them slaps on the wrist."

"The drugs in question must have been pretty low on the scale, otherwise more would have been done." Bill elaborated.

"So, the place didn't smell? At all?" Dan asked.

"I never entered the studio below the one Myriam lived in. But as I passed it, it smelt fresh and new. Like a meadow full of flowers. It went from smelling like a devil's foot to smelling like the garden of Eden." Barry explained.

"In other words, the old tenants were either pushed out, or offered another place of temporary stay, sufficive to say that it was our killer who made a betterment of the local so they can move at the perfect time to murder Myriam." Dan deduced.

"You sure have a wild imagination, are you sure you're 50?" Bill inquired. "Be realistic. We only really have one suspect left."

"I am being realistic. In my experience, the simplest of answers is not always the right one. Sometimes it can be, but until we have eliminated everything until there's only one thing remaining, I'll hold onto my alternate theories as you can never know if they are true or false." Dan explained wholeheartedly.

"You truly are on a whole other level. But still, until proven otherwise, I'm going with my guts." Bill stated.

"I think it will be best if we head to the car and finish our conversation there." Dan stated, gesturing toward Barry.

Bill looked at Barry and turned the shade of embarrassment and dashed off as if he was in desperate need to use the bathroom. Daniel nodded to Barry and gave him a handshake. "Thank you for your information. We'll keep it in mind for our investigation. Please stay in town until this is resolved."

Barry laughed. "Did you see that crowd? Myriam's pieces will skyrocket in value as soon as they know that she was murdered and who killed her. I ain't leaving for the world."

"You are shrewd, but fair." Dan stated and walked off.

As soon as Daniel arrived at the car, both he and Bill entered it, and safely within its confines, isolated from the outside world, Dan asked: "So, what is your gut telling you?" Dan asked.

"I say it was that delivery fellow. Who else had the perfect opportunity?" Bill stated.

"What about motive?" Dan inquired.

"Killing for fun, he's probably a secret sociopath." Bill quickly retorted.

"Understandable. But why use those scissors? He could have used something else."

"Maybe he wanted to put the blame on Scarlett because he knew those scissors couldn't have belonged to Myriam, and that she recently took up the habit of copying Scarlett's designs. I mean, come on Daniel, how could it be clearer? The dude knew about the key atop the pneumatic piston for the studio's door."

"Who told you that, and how did you know about the key you just mentioned?"

"I've been collecting info too, we're a team, but that doesn't mean we get updated equally. Jenifer told me about how Felix entered the apartment as it was part of the procedure. She was able to get Felix's employers to give him an hour break so he can testify about what he saw. During that conversation he told Kevin and Hugo about the key above the door and that was relayed to me through Jenifer. As for the key itself. Gabriel told me it had fallen from the piston when they knocked the door down as Felix had locked it."

"They knocked the door down because Felix locked it?"

"Yeah, did you think you misheard me?"

"No, I was listening, it's just that is very odd behaviour."

"No, police are knocking down locked doors all the time, we have a training module and an exclusive room for exercises pertaining to the matter."

"I was talking about the fact that Felix intentionally locked the door. Why?"

Bill breathed in to reply, but he didn't have much to say. "What does it matter?" He finally vocalised.

"If I was not me and discovered a body, I would be in so much shock that locking the studio door and returning the key to its hiding spot would be the last thing on my mind, hell, the police would have found that I still had the key in my possession."

"That's a good point. But that further proves my sociopath theory."

"Oh man, I didn't think that I would accidently prove your point. Anyway, let's get a move on, we've had a long day. I think it will be best if we continue this case tomorrow. There's nothing like a good night's sleep to straighten the brain."

Bill laughed and drove back to the station. Daniel clocked out and headed home. After dinner, he and Elizabeth discussed the case at length and Daniel made notes. Elizabeth was on Daniel's side. There was definitely more to this case than met Bill's eyes. Bill must have been wrong about Felix being a sociopath. Right?