No More Beatings + Aftermath

Joliet Police Department, November 13th, 10:20 AM

David was waiting for Daniel to arrive. A taxi dropped Daniel off.

"What took you so long, Dan?" David asked.

"I'm sorry, I was just looking into perfume distributors. The store located at 1353 N Larkin Ave, Joliet, which is a H & M beauty supply store seems like a good option. Do you still have that piece of that wool jumper?" Dan inquired.

David searched through his overcoat. "Ah, yes, here it is." David stated as he removed the wool from his pocket. "But what do you need it for, we already have a good suspect. Shouldn't we just take her back here to interrogate her?"

Daniel shook his head. "I don't think intimidation works 100% of the time. We should get some evidence against her before we do a faceoff. Forcing her to confess with intimidation would also be an idea, but there is no guarantee it will work."

David nodded. "Right, sometimes criminals only reveal themselves after the evidence becomes overwhelming. So, I'll go with your plan."

Daniel nodded in agreement. "Hopefully someone there will be able to help us figure out what this scent is and who bought it."

David called for a taxi as one was just about to pass by, the cab stopped in front of it.

Dan and David went into it. "1353 N Larkin Avenue, please." Dan told the cabbie.

"You got it." The male driver relayed and off they went.

H & M Beauty Supply, 10:32 AM

Dan paid the cab driver, and the two detectives made their way into the store.

A man who was 166cm tall with shiny dark hair with a blue streak to the left of the middle of his head approached the two, he wore a gold tie over his H & M uniform. He had a thick brow and well kempt eyelashes. His eyes were a shimmering blue.

"Hello!" He said in a very light and theatrical voice. "I am Alan Ignite; I am the nephew of Natalie Ignite, the manager of this store, and I'm not afraid to admit that I am homosexual."

"We didn't ask." David proclaimed in return.

"Oh, I know, I just thought I'd mention it, because that is sooo me." Alan added with a laugh.

"Thanks, but I'm married to a lovely lady, and David doesn't seem to be the type to be homosexual." Daniel explained.

"I wasn't trying to convert you if that is what you think, I was just gauging your response, as you may have been against my kind, but now I know you can trust you. So, what can I help you two with?"

David removed the piece of fabric from his pocket again and presented it to Alan. "We just wanted to know if you are familiar with this scent." David stated.

Alan took a deep whiff of the woollen piece. "Ah yes, that is from our summer catalogue, it must have been ordered in from a country south of the equator if it was purchased recently." He noted.

"I see," Dan noted, "How traceable is it?"

"What do you mean?" Alan stated with confusion.

"He wants to know if it was something commonplace with a huge list of purchasers or something more exotic and with a short list of purchasers." David explained.

"Ah, yes. This perfume I believe is one of our high-end sellers. Let me just go get a swatch, I'm pretty sure I know which one it is." Alan remarked and then headed off into the aisles of the store. He soon returned with a thin piece of card that smelt the same as the purple piece of wool. "Is this what you were looking for?"

"That's the exact scent. Do you know how many people purchased it?" Daniel inquired. "Say, over the last month?"

"We had a female customer buy two scents from this brand about 1 week ago, she was 169cm tall, medium bust, skinny, showed a lot of her bronze skin, she wore a lot of makeup. She had a mole on her lip and her hair was black, long and braided. She was wearing a ruby top and long denim pants. Strange for her to appear in our store with summer clothes in the middle of winter but I just guessed that she had some sort of ability." Alan explained.

Daniel looked through the photos on his watch and saw a notification was waiting to be opened, he ignored it for now, he found an image of Veronica Deux in her bronze-skin glory. "Is this who you saw?" Dan inquired.

"Yes! That's her." Alan announced.

"Would you be willing to testify as such if you were to be taken to court and asked about her?" David added.

"Well, why would that happen?" Alan inquired.

"It is possible that she is responsible for the train to derail along the R1 route." Daniel stated.

"Ah, so that's why that train line is out, and public transit users are being offered discounts for disrupted travel." Alan noted. "If she ends up in court and I have to testify then I will testify that I saw her order in and purchase two scents from the same expensive perfume brand."

Dan nodded. "One more thing." Dan added. "What was the second scent she purchased?"

"Oh yes, that one is in season, so she found it on the shelf, it was peppermint. You see, it's closing in on Christmas and candy canes are everywhere, so peppermint is becoming quite a popular scent as you can imagine. That girl was the only one in the last week to have purchased the peppermint scent from that high end brand." Alan explained.

"We just needed the scent." David added.

"Roar tiger." Alan stated.

David just gestured toward Alan like 'what the eff?' Dan just shrugged. "Thank you, Alan, for all that you have done for us, now if you please excuse us." Daniel relayed and the two detectives made their way back out into the winter wonderland.

"I saw that notification on your watch." David stated. "What is that all about?"

"I have been sent the keynotes from Britney's research. It seems the main story that most of the witnesses that saw our purple hooded agree with is this: the figure moved to the lead car and removed the sharp piece of metal from the beat-up lead car and took it over to Adrian. After they arrived, they turned Adrian to face the sky and then the figure killed him. The figure then dropped the strength crystal we found under the lead car and limped off favouring their right leg. This must have meant that they had injured their left leg during the crash, but the pain wasn't apparent to the stranger until they had discarded the strength crystal. The crystal can help injured people walk." Daniel deduced.

"I see, that means that the killer was one of the passengers, and if I remember things right, Veronica Deux was among the survivors with an injury to her left thigh." David added.

"That's right. That's what I concluded too. We just need one more thing." Daniel added.

"What's that?" David asked.

"I want to know what she smelt like at the hospital, after all we have already determined that the killer had to change their scent just in case we summoned a bloodhound to assist in our investigation and we know for a fact that Veronica procured two different scents, one which we know was used on the purple jacket. I just want to know if she used that peppermint scent to escape justice."

"Good thinking." David stated and he took out his phone. He dialled the hospital that Veronica stayed at.

"Good morning, this is Silver Cross Hospital of New Lenox, this is Cheryl, how can I assist you today?" Stated a young chipper female voice through David's loudspeaker.

"Hello, this is Detective Sergent David Johnathan Lancer of the Everleason Police Department, we have a question about one of the patients that visited your hospital yesterday." David stated.

"I'm sorry, but we can't tell you anything about our patients' care or how they are responding to that care without a judge issued warrant due to HIPPA, so I'm afraid I can't help you in that regard." Cheryl relayed in a serious tone.

"Actually, the question is not related to the care she received, but to how she was in the waiting room, something that the public eye could have observed, I'm pretty sure that speaking about something that happened in the public eye is against HIPPA now is it?" David inquired.

"Well, if it happened outside of a doctor's office, then I suppose we can discuss it without the hospital being sued out of every dime. What is the question?" Cheryl added returning to her original tone.

"What did Veronica Deux smell like when she arrived and waited for treatment?"

"Sorry?" Cheryl asked in confusion, even though David couldn't see Cheryl, he could easily imagine her cleaning her ear to make sure she didn't mishear what she said.

"Please, I would like to know how she smelt."

"What are you, a creep?"

"Listen, it's important to the case we are investigating, I wouldn't be asking this in any other situation."

"Alright, if you say so." Cheryl added and it was clear that she was not enjoying this conversation anymore. "I see what I can do."

David was on hold for two minutes before Cheryl got back to him. "Sorry for the wait David," Cheryl announced. "According to what I've heard, all that saw her couldn't help but notice that she smelt heavily of peppermint."

"Thank you, Cheryl, I hope I didn't make your day uncomfortable." David stated.

"Well, I only asked what scent she was wearing, which is the not creepy way of asking what a lady smells like, so keep that as a note next time." Cheryl replied.

David hung up the phone. "So?"

"I think we have everything we need to get a confession out of Veronica Deux. I think she should be at her house. Let's get there." Dan added and then he whistled out. "TAXI!" He shouted at the top his voice.

A cap with a female driver showed up. It wasn't the same girl Dan and David drove with the day prior. "Where to gentlemen?" The lady inquired with a New York accent.

Dan and David hoped into the back. "126 E Benton St and take your time." Daniel announced.

"Will do." The lady responded and drove them to the place they requested.

#

Adrian Deux's House, 10:55 AM

The cabbie dropped Dan and David in front of the house and Dan and David walked up to the two-story house.

David whistled. "Sweet house, so this is what a train driver's salary in America can afford."

"The place you own in Argentina isn't half bad either." Daniel noted.

David walked up to the property and looked through the window and could see Veronica laying on a couch, she was wearing a lovely purple dress which had sparkles all over it. "Are you sure she could have pulled this off?"

"Don't tell me you're letting the colour of her skin fool you. We have never met her before, we can't just assume she's innocent nor guilty just from looks alone, and all the evidence we have point to her." Dan explained.

"How come when I think all the evidence points to a person, you go about disproving it, yet when you find evidence that points to a person, I have to take it as true." David added.

"Well, because I do research until I am certain of the truth, and we won't get any closer to the truth unless we speak to her. Now are we going to speak to her? Or are we going to turn away and let a killer go free?" Daniel asked.

"Fine, but you better be right." David said.

"Well, as you said, I am goddamn Detective Dan." Daniel added jokingly.

David knocked upon the mahogany door. Both of them could hear the clacking of Veronica's heels as she approached the door. She spent about five seconds putting on a coat before she opened the door.

"Hello?" Veronica asked in her New Orlean's accent. Her bronze skin was looking jubilant and beautiful, she had little signs of aging for a 31-year-old. "Can I help you?"

"Man, you sure do know how to mourn." David stated.

"I'm sorry?" Veronica asked in confusion, she was doing a good job at hiding the fact that she knew the truth, but nothing escapes Daniel, he knew that she knew what David was speaking about. Regardless he set the newspaper app to the local area to get the newspaper for Joliet for that day. Daniel began perusing it as David thought of what to say next.

"You... You haven't heard?" David inquired.

"Have you read today's paper?" Daniel inquired as he saw that Adrain's death was listed in the article about the train derailment, but it didn't mention anything about the fact that Adrian was murdered.

"I don't read papers, there's too much bad stuff in there about us coloureds." Veronica added.

"May we come in?" Daniel asked.

"I don't see why not." Veronica stated.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your leg in that train derailment." David added as he watched her limp away.

"Oh, it's just bruising, my doctor said to just let it rest." Veronica relayed as she headed toward the kitchen. "Can I get either of you anything?"

Daniel examined the pictures of Veronica and her husband Adrian, he noted that she was wearing a bunch of makeup upon her face in each photo, and even though she was smiling there was a definite sadness in her eyes. A look of terror, of hurt.

Daniel also noted that there were only pictures of the ups, coasters, thier wedding, their birthdays. They were the only two in the photos. Where were their friends and family? Why weren't they in the photos?

"I see you have a had a lot of good times over your relationship." Daniel stated as he joined her in the kitchen. She was using the coffee maker at the time. She turned to face Dan. She looked uncomfortable.

She touched her shoulder and rubbed her hand on herself from her left shoulder, across her neck and down her figure. "Yeah I suppose."

Daniel got out a wipe and cleaned the areas she gestured to and he could see the make-up wash off and he could see the damage beneath. Some cuts and scratches and bruising.

Dan looked at her. She looked at him. She knew it was time, things were not going to be right for her anymore.

"You've been damages by that man, haven't you?" Dan asked.

"I have." She replies.

"You killed him, we have a lot of proof."

"I don't doubt you do." She began sobbing.

"It's okay, I will help you through this. Just tell me honestly, it was you, wasn't it?"

She nodded. "You know about the other girls lives he has ruined, don't you?"

Daniel nodded. "I found out about it yesterday."

"One question nobody ever asked was 'what colour was their skin?' Our people had to endure slavery and still we get mistreated by monsters like my husband." She pointed at the cameras. "No matter how much I try to catch his actions he still got away with them. He beat me mercilessly the day he found out that the ACB was coming over to install them and he gave me a trip to the beach and tied me up in a beach house until the ACB were done at our house. He'd make me feel like nothing every single day and less than that on the three other occasions I tried to inform someone else about his atrocious behaviour.

"If a white woman's voice is silent when something like that happens to her, then you could imagine that my voice was even quieter. Nobody pays attention to people of colour, ever. It's all white, white, white."

"So, he tried to drive you to the point of suicide, just like he did the others because he was spiteful?" Dan asked.

"Yes. The abuse was taking a toll on me, so many times did I want to end things and then I learnt about those other women, and I followed him secretly. I saw him at bars picking up women of different races. It didn't matter if they were Asian, Mexican, African or Indian. He'd only hit on them as long as they were white. I followed him but I never recorded what he did to those he dragged away, because I knew he'd find the footage before I could present it or somehow delete it before I could even do anything with it. Then last week I just had enough. It no longer mattered to me how many people got hurt anymore as long as he died by the end of it."

"So that's when you came up with the idea of derailing the train." Dan added.

"Yes. It was all supposed to go off without an issue. The train would fall over and if he survived, I would use the strength crystal I had to tear off a piece of the wreckage. I know I injured a lot of people due to my actions, but it was for the greater good. Nobody was there to defend me from his abusiveness, so I had to take the burden of defending myself from him and stand up for all those other girls he abused. I say good riddance to bad men."

"You will still have to answer for what you have done."

"I know, so do you want to take me down now, or after I made you some drinks?"

"David, why don't you do the honours?"

David entered the kitchen with his handcuffs ready. "On behalf of Rhombodian and broken women on both our planets, I'd like to apologise for nobody being by your side, any of your sides. I can't promise that a change can be made, but we will pursue it until a change can be made. What happened to you should never have happened and it must be put to an end. But for now, Veronica Kelsy Deux, you are under arrest for the murder of Adrian Deux and the purposeful derailment of the train he was driving." David announced and read Veronica the rest of her rights.

Aftermath

It was a difficult decision after Veronica was charged, it took two days for the jury to judge her not guilty for the murder of Adrian Deux, on account of insanity, however, they couldn't forgive her for what she did. She found the crystal that she used to warp the track and destroy it, however some of the damage was unable to repair itself, so when she had healed and was fully mobile, she was tasked with helping the rail crew fix the damage she had done with the rails.

She was also given the duty to take care of all of the hospital bills that occurred dur to her actions, she paid off as much as she could from Adrian's bank and the funeral insurance and her inheritance, but it was not enough, and she began working for an Anti-Corruption Board in a different county to chip away at her debt.

Trust was forever lost for the Will County Anti-Corruption Board and its office had to be vacated, and it became a rumpus room for the sheriffs to enjoy when their days had come to an end, and they could clock out.

Every other ACB office in Illinois was restructured, and within a week of that being done, 455 people just like Adrian Deux were found, arrested, charged and imprisoned and the men and women they hurt were taking to facilities to deal with their trauma. Nobody could guarantee that something like this would ever happen again, but Illinois was going to do its best to prevent it to the best they could.

THE END!