The Questioning of Kevin Bully

Kevin Bully's office. 9:02 A.M

Damien knocked upon the door.

"Who is it?" Inquired the voice inside.

"This is Detective Damien Thrifter with Doctor D S Smith, we are with the Everleason Police Department, and we are here because of what happened in the other room."

"Oh, come in." The man announced and the door clicked as the lock unbolted.

Damien opened the door to a room with a mahogany-coloured carpet with dark blue images of sapphires at different angles as the pattern, walls that were bright white with a noticeable hint of yellow, a white desk and dark wooden chairs with comfortable seating stacked 3 seats high against the wall to Dan and Damien's left.

Upon the white desk was a photo of the year that Kevin and his twin graduated, Kevin, August and one more male inside the photo. They were each wearing the same class ring, the unknown man was in between the two twin brothers. The twins were fraternal, so they were distinct in looks. Kevin was the taller of the tall and his face was confident. His brother however, his face was brave bit his eyes hid a sense of nervousness. The numbers under the year of the class' graduation year were also different strings of 12 numbers.

Kevin was sitting and writing, working through some paperwork. His right hand had a wedding band on it and there was a lighter skin tone on his pointer finger, as if there were a ring there before. His hair was dark, his roots were blonde, he needed to touch up his hair dye and probably hadn't realised it yet. His eyes, although still blue, had lost the excitement that they had in the image described on the desk.

He wore a dark blue suit with a checkerboard pattern tie, he wore a white shirt below, there was a small brown stain from the curry he'd been eating earlier, Dan and Damien could still smell its rich aroma, albeit faintly.

"So, what crime did I do to get your attention?" Kevin asked in his light voice. "Is it being handsome? Only my wife can arrest me for that." He laughed heartedly at his own joke.

"Mr Bully," Dan stated. "Where's your class ring?"

"My class ring? Oh, I'm not sure, it went missing." Kevin stated.

"Mr Bully," Damien stated. "Why didn't you report the crime at 7:40?"

"I don't know what you are implying."

"Listen, the body was there at 7:40, and Mrs Brave did see you go into the mayor's office at that time."

"Maybe it was my brother in disguise." Kevin stated. "We're not so dissimilar that he couldn't pull it off."

"You would like us to present evidence that it was you on the scene at that time, isn't that right?" Daniel stated.

"That would be more than acceptable." Kevin added and drank from a coffee cup with the image of a cute little kitten on it. "That is the only way you can convince me to speak further on the matter. But if you don't have evidence, then I won't say another word."

"So, not even a cash payment would satiate you?" Damien asked.

"Damien, you young sprite, bribery is unacceptable in the eyes of the government, and the mere mention of it could lose you your badge." Kevin relayed and slammed down his mug to emphasise his point.

Damien took Dan outside and closed the door behind them. "This guy isn't cracking." Damien stated.

"Yes, it would appear that we would need to find something to convince him to tell us what he is trying to hide. He's putting up a convincing act, but the cracks are there, we just need evidence to break them open." Daniel replied.

"Do you think it's possible that he committed the crime?" Damien inquired.

"Possibly, after all, he's to take the mayor's place until the next election in 2008." Daniel added. "But to kill for that power even though he would be in the running for the mayor because he has prior experience seems a bit ludicrous."

"Maybe he is like Simba in the Lion King, he couldn't wait to be king." Damien added.

Daniel nodded. "That is possible, and the victim already had relations with the mayor, both of them graduated the same year too." Dan stated as he looked through the photos from the scene. Noting the victim in the photo of him lying on the desk had a class ring on his right hand on his pointer finger. It was from the same year Kevin's ring is from.

"Just because there is a possibility that they knew each other prior to when Kevin was hired, doesn't mean that he wasn't planning on killing him. Besides, he has already waited 2 years, why decide not to wait 2 more?"

"I'm guessing you know how Rhombodian politics work around elections?" Damien asked.

"I do. Mayors can sign on for up to 8 years with an appointed aide, every 2 years he and his aide are put up for election and if the aide gets elected, then a new election can take place with others putting their names into the hat so to speak and if the mayor's aide still wins, then they get to sign on for 2, 4, 6 or 8 years."

"So, you understand that not only did John win two years ago, he also won again this year. Maybe his aide was angry that he lost out on a chance to become the mayor. Have you seen how power can corrupt an intertidal?"

"I know about that, Damien, and I haven't dismissed your theory, if that is what your asking. But just to air on the safe side, we shouldn't arrest him, we just don't have a strong enough case against him as of yet. If he gets double jeopardy, whose fault would that be?"

Damien nodded. "I never thought of it that way, Dan. I was getting ahead of myself. I just want to be as good as you."

Daniel patted Damien on the back. "It's okay to have these thoughts, at least you are openly discussing these opinions and not keeping them bottled up."

Damien nodded in agreement. "But if evidence is what is need to persuade him, then where do we find this evidence?"

Daniel looked up to the ceiling. "The mayor's office has a camera, right? It was malfunctioning. Does the aide's office have one to?" He stated.

"Now that you mention it, it does."

"Good, then I'll call the security office in the basement of this town hall and ask the person on the clock for the footage as well as a zoomed version of the image taken at 7:40."

"You should also ask him how the camera took a photo at 7:34 instead of taking it at the expected time."

"That's a good idea."

"Well, I just want to be on equal footing with you."

"You've said something to that effect already."

"Well, that's how important it is to me."

Daniel tapped on his watch to call downstairs and you could hear it dialling the phone.

"I've been meaning to ask." Damien added. "When did you learn how to use that? I'm still waiting for my one to be ready."

"I learned it from the manual included in the box on the day I received it, that was 4 days after I solved that mystery at the circus." Dan explained.

Damien nodded in understanding as Marco Cosmello answered Daniel's call. "Hello? Who is this?"

"My name is Daniel Smith; you may shorten that to Dan if you wish. I also go by Dr D S Smith as well." Daniel replied.

"Ah, yes, the detective. I saw what happened in those photos, I was the one who printed them after all. Is there something else my department can do for you?" Marco asked in a very chipper tone.

"Yes, firstly, do you think you can send me the footage from the camera inside the aide's office from the time he entered his office till the time we arrived at the scene of the crime? I would also like an enhanced version of the photo taken at 7:40."

"Footage from 7:00 to 8:35? Yes, that is possible for me to do, I'll send the footage to your watch. Also, you're talking about the photo with that hand holding a blood-soaked document with that class ring on its index finger. I'll zoom in so you can get that twelve-digit number and reference that to the database of graduates of Ornateville High School."

"I was wondering where that class ring was from, are you certain that it was from that school?"

"I graduated from that school too, five years after the guy in the photo did, so I have a different year and the year is a different colour as well. But other than that, my ring is the exact design as the one in the photo."

Daniel nodded, even though he knew Marco couldn't see him. "I would like to apologise for you, you weren't here when these things went down, if you were, maybe the scene wouldn't look as messy as it did."

"I bet it would, Lucy has been trying her hardest throughout the week to get a replacement."

"By the way, I have one more inquiry."

"Shoot, the data is almost downloaded to your watch and a technorack is working through your other request."

"Thank you for the update. Had you noticed that one of the images were off?"

"You're speaking of the one that occurred at 7:34 even though it should have been taken four minutes earlier."

"That's right, I believe the killer altered the time that photo was to be taken in order to pin the blame on Katrina, if the camera did in fact take the photo at that time, the same moment Katrina entered, then the killer wouldn't have been able to make it seem like Katrina committed the crime."

"Wow, what they say about your deductions is true. Anyway, are you looking for an explanation?"

"That is correct."

"Altering the time of a limited camera is as easy as removing is back panel and adjusting the delay from 0 to whatever amount of time you think you need, up to nine minutes."

Daniel nodded again. "That's what I needed." Daniel's watch buzzed with a notification informing him that the footage that he requested had been downloaded to his watch. "Looks like the footage is here."

"Okay, I'll leave you to it, a system representative will contact you when the photo has been enhanced." Marco then hung up on his side.

Daniel started watching the footage, and he saw that Mr Bully did lie. In the footage you could see his class ring on his hand as clear as a cloudless sky. After he re-entered after his visit to the mayor's office he was playing with his ring and there seemed to be a bulge in his back pocket, it wasn't there when he initially entered his office just before the clock on the camera ticked over to 7:01. Daniel noted that after Kevin's wife entered his office, Kevin gave her a hug for dropping off the food which she appeared to be slightly taken aback by, after which the ring was gone.

Daniel and Damien both saw the footage and they both had the same thoughts. There was no doubt in either of their minds. During that one hug, Kevin had deposited his class ring into Ebony's pocket without the camera catching it. Daniel, however, knew this would not be enough, not yet. He might try to explain it away. He needed more solid proof tying the ring in the image to him before Daniel would confront him.

Damien looked at Daniel and he realised it too. Kevin wasn't going to go down without a fight and he too realised that they didn't have the weapon they needed to take him down. There was also the mystery surrounding the cameras, they kept getting replaced with vegan meals somehow. Was this tied into the murder?

"So, I guess we just wait for the image to be enhanced?" Damien asked.

"We can continue our investigation elsewhere if you like." Daniel added. "They are doing their best. Although the results shouldn't take this long. Must be a backlog of requests and issues, nevertheless we should be getting the evidence we need soon enough. For now, let's look into how it is possible that the cameras went missing and how food from the Golden Chariot ended up in their place." Daniel relayed.

Damien nodded. "I agree, let's head off."

So, Dan and Damien went back to the lot and Dan drove down to the train station and they saw across the street from the station a big, red-bricked building with a wooden sign that had a golden chariot painted on it and below that was the name of the restaurant in neon lights. Daniel and Damien wondered what clues could be waiting inside.