The Third Lie

Lupain Casino, 23 Golden Lane, Yville, Cascoss, 9:10 AM

Daniel had finished compiling his results on his watch.

"Don't you have a phone?" Edwin inquired.

"I'm still reading the manual and looking through the settings. I am already aware it's a touch pad like the watch. It also has downloadable apps, the watch is preloaded, and no additions can be made, so you can see that a cell phone is a bit much for me." Dan added.

"I guess that makes sense." Edwin nodded. "You have to be up to snuff in order to do things, I was quite surprised you even purchased one at the beginning of the month."

Dan chuckled. "I can't believe how affordable it was after my discount. Being a member of FORMAL has a lot of benefits."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Edwin added with a chuckle. "So, what did you gather?"

"Well, from the last two years, an average of 10 people go down the alleyway the victim was murdered in between the hours of 12AM and 4AM..."

"How did you know that Vincent was killed around 12AM?"

"Our mysterious murderer made the first of his four appearances in that alley at 12AM and the body wasn't reported until the homeless person identified as Brian Ravage tripped on it at 4:01, a minute after he entered the alleyway in question."

Edwin looked ahead with a blank look in thought. "Ah yes, that adds up." He said and looked back at Daniel with an expression that informed Dan that he was on the right track. "The fourth visit was to set up the scene one last time with all four lies, which makes sense since my officers believe he was murdered somewhere else."

"Before I return to my soliloquy, I wanted to know if any of us have discovered the true murder scene. After all, that dirt on the victim's pants legs must have come from somewhere, and there was no construction site that was close enough to the alley for any of the sand from said sites to get to his pants."

"We have a feeling that the most likely place the true crime scene is would be somewhere in Bremile. But none of our officers are willing to enter that town for they all fear getting their vehicles tagged. You know, with graffiti. I knew Mr Marlow pretty well; in fact, we have matching signet rings to symbolise our friendship. Neither his mood ring nor that signet ring was on him, perhaps they were left at the place he was really killed."

"If it is in Bremile, then I will go and investigate there, even if I have to go it alone just so they don't see you and mark my vehicle with a red sticker. If I'm alone, then I might get a yellow or even a green sticker."

"You seem to know a lot about Brimile's system."

Dan nodded. "Regardless, about the alleyway, on that night, except for the killer, the victim, my wife, Mr Crysis and the person I believe to be Ivory Lupain, no other person entered the alleyway. Even on the lowest traffic night in those two years, June 13th, 2005, I saw 5 people go down that alleyway between the times I mentioned prior. It seems that someone with a high amount of authority was able to prevent people other than the ones they wanted to implicate for Mr Marlow's demise from entering the alleyway and discovering the body."

"Huh. It sounds like the report we got from the person who reported the body seems true, at least on the fact that he was directed down the alley by an EPD officer."

"One of us? I would never think that any of us would want to kill a guy, I mean some of us have our anger issues, like David Lancer, but he's not bad on that front, and William Storm definitely has his problems, but I don't see him killing people."

"Maybe someone in CORE's ranks had stuck into the EPD and fenced one of our uniforms."

Daniel nodded. "That is a possibility, but what about the FORMAL badge? Didn't the guy see one?"

"He did, it was having a glitch according to him. Besides, the killer is not the only CORE member that has joined FORMAL as a double agent, there have been many that we've arrested and charged for corporate espionage. Members of CORE can be quite dangerous, thankfully there hasn't been a member who have stuck past rank 5000 since Earth year 1845."

"By which you mean that none of CORE's have obtained a higher rank than 5000 in FORMAL since that year."

Edwin nodded. "Anyway, look there's your friend, Jim, he'll know where Ivory is."

Dan and Edwin left the car, and approached a 181cm tall gentleman with a blue Irish cap, and blonde hair that was down to his shoulders, he was 32 years of age and his eyes had light dark circles under his eyes, his nose and brows were both neat and sharp at the same time. He had war paint on his face, and his lips had light signs of cracking.

Jim Hurricane, the 181cm tall man mentioned above was wearing one of those leather jackets with a button on the collar but it wasn't that generic tan colour, it was green, and he was wearing a T-shirt reminiscent of the Flash's superhero outfit. He also wore black jeans with a white chalk stain on his right knee. His shoes were ones that had exceptional grip, they were black.

"Long time, no see, Jimmy." Dan spoke.

"Yo! Smithy, how's it going?" Jim spoke theatrically with his medium -tone voice. "Did you find Rita Thorne?"

"I'm sorry? Who?" Dan inquired.

"That's the lady who was hired to take out your niece-in-law's boyfriend seven years ago, or is it closer to eight now?" Jim replied. "You must really like her, you're wearing that teal suit she got you for your 40th birthday."

"Well, it does look good on me." Dan added and pulled at his suit. "Anyway, we had no idea who the assassin was until you told us."

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"It's not my place to mess in this, but I will tell Eliza as soon as I can."

"How is old triple E anyway?"

"She's good."

"Mind if I say something?" Edwin inquired.

"What can I do for ya, Eddie?" Jim replied.

"Were you on a job earlier?" Edwin replied and gestured toward the chalk.

Jim looked at his pants. "Oh, yeah. Hannah and Ryunosuke Naomi are having a baby and it's a boy." Jim explained.

"So, they had a gender reveal party, and you shot down a balloon." Edwin guessed.

"You got it captain, I was hired to shoot a target, and it was a black balloon filled with blue confetti. Nobody was injured by the round I fired, I took all precautions."

"Is Ivory Lupain around?" Daniel inquired.

"She is. The Casino has been open since 8:00, I believe I saw her dealing at one of the blackjack tables. I'm 85% certain it was her." Jim stated. "Why would you want to speak with her anyway? Our gang doesn't do criminal activities anymore."

"I'm aware of that." Dan relayed. "I'll be frank, Vincent Marlow was murdered."

Jim stumbled in shock. "What?" He spoke sadly. "No, it can't be."

"We are all trying to get through this in our own ways." Edwin spoke. "Dan, David, probably Bill and I are all looking into his death."

"He was a friend and colleague of mine too," Dan added. "I was in every meeting with him and my wife so they could get my input."

Jim sobbed a bit. "This hurts my heart. It really does. Vincent was one of those guys who could make a connection with anyone within seconds. He was such a good fellow, and nobody would want to hurt him, so I'm wondering what kind of monster would want to kill him to begin with."

"That's what we want to find out." Edwin added. "Now, if you wouldn't mind helping us past the bouncer."

"Anything for you, Eddie." Jim added.

They walked up to the main entry and Jim presented his staff card to the guard at the door and the guard lifted the red velvet rope to allow Dan, Edwin and Jim to pass through.

"How's Matilda?" Jim asked.

"She is fine, what gave you the impression that we visited Crysis xXx Theatre today?" Dan replied.

"I figured, since you wanted to speak with the head of our Mafia for the murder of Mr Marlow, that she was being set-up. There are three other crime families that prior to Vinny showing up used to run the Everleason metropolitan area with an iron fist. I believed that it was likely that they may have been set up too. I wasn't sure that you had visited anybody prior, bit I thought to ask anyway." Jim explained.

"Ah, yes. Your thought process was very thorough." Dan relayed.

"She still in love with that racing detective?" Jim inquired.

"You mean Damien Thrifter. Yes, they are still dating." Dan relayed.

"Man, after four years, I mean I understand her waiting for him to get out of Yanaught detective school, but why has Thrifty still not popped the question."

"He's looking for a property to own, he doesn't want to make a fiancée of his landlord."

Jim nodded and giggled a bit. "Yes, that would be rather awkward, now wouldn't it. But it's not like Matilda would dare charge rent to Damien if she got married to him, but at least he wants to better himself and procure a property."

"Is that Ivory over there?" Edwin asked and pointed to a 40 year-old, 177cm tall, silver-haired, green-eyed woman who was wearing a pale red shirt with a black casino vest with a name tag that said 'I Lupain, CEO,' she wore black flax thread jeans and hard-toed black shoes that has some white light reflecting on them. There was a pair of black high heels in a glass container under the table. They clearly belonged to the lady.

Jim examined the lady up and down. "No, that's her daughter Iris." He stated sarcastically. "Of course that's Ivory."

"I would mind that you don't condescend to my captain." Dan replied.

"I thought it was Ivory," Edwin relayed. "Vincent gave me her description before, and I thought that was her. Oh, and Dan, there's no need to defend me like that."

Jim laughed. "I wanted to see Smithy be Smithy, that's all."

"Yeah, you see, he was trying to get a rise from you."

"Thanks," Dan relayed. "I know that now. Thank you Jim, we can take it from here."

"Have fun Smithy." Jim relayed and off he went, walking back out the main doors to do who knows what.

"You're really going to let him get away with calling you Smithy?" Edwin inquired.

"Yes."

"Isn't that a bit childish?"

"Smithy is also a word for a blacksmith, so it's not childish at all and an acceptable nickname for me. Besides, we've known each other for quite some time anyway."

Edwin nodded and before they could even utter the shortest sound they had already arrived at the table which Ivory Lupain was behind. Ivory was described above in a previous paragraph, and now they were closer they noticed some subtle things. Ivory wore a wedding band and a ring with a similar design to Edwin's friendship ring.

"Ivory..." Edwin spoke.

"Ivy is fine too." She interjected.

"Mrs Lupain, is that Vincent's?" Edwin added and pointed to the friendship ring.

"He gifted it to me as a way to remind me to better myself and the world around me, if it weren't for him then I'd still be causing stress to the industries here in Yvelle, the industrial centre of Caliand county. It feels much better helping with kindness instead of influencing with terror." Ivory explained.

"So, you have already read the newspaper informing everyone about his demise?" Dan asked.

"What gave you that impression?" Ivory inquired.

"Now, my doctorate may be in quantum physics, but my English is good enough that the uses of was and were give different strengths depending on the subject. You respected Vincent, as indicated by the ring, which means you used 'weren't' instead of 'wasn't' to imply indirectly that you knew of his passing, even though in general those two words are very similar." Dan deduced.

Ivory smiled. "Elizabeth wasn't lying, you are pretty sharp."

"Does this mean you'll be speaking with us, Ivy?" Edwin inquired.

"Just let me finish this round and then we can go speak somewhere a bit more private." Ivory announced and dealt out the cards for blackjack and another member of casino staff was heading toward the table to take over for when she was done.

None of the people at the table won the hand, and they all seemed sad. Ivory removed her shoes and took the heels from the glass case and put them on her feet, she took off her vest and folded neatly and placed it into the glass container along with the shoes she was wearing prior. "Benjamin, make sure those get cleaned please." She spoke.

Ivory's replacement nodded his head and Ivory led Dan and Edwin to her private quarters.

Ivory Luapain's Private Quarter's Interior, 9:22 AM.

As you'd expect from a casino owner and her husband, this place was elegant, with a gold bed with ruby red sheets and bronze-lined silver curtains draped from the emerald encrusted bed topper. The azure blanket with a teal diamond pattern was neat and freshly cleaned and it smelt like a mixture of honey and roses. On both sides of the king sized bed were drawers, the bronze one, on the right side of the bed from the perspective of someone standing in the entryway belonged to Oliver Lupain, he took his wife's name instead of keeping his own. The white one, on the opposing side, belonged to Ivory. Both were topped with golden vases, filled up to the exact same level with soil and planed inside were roses.

On the wall to the left of the bed, this is from Dan's perspective, he was standing at the door by the way, was an Ivory framed photograph of Ivory and Oliver's wedding day twenty years ago.

Left of the photo was a door, it had 'bathroom' written upon it.

The area on the right was open and you could see a black kitchen table with four golden chairs, each had white cloths upon them for people to place on their laps to prevent their pants from getting dirty. To the left of the table was the kitchen itself, with a counter that had a gold trimming and the pattern upon the stone surface was a marbled one, it was well painted on there and it wasn't just some paper or premade design affixed to the countertop.

Their fridge was titanium white, with silver trimming on both the freezer and fridge doors.

You could also see the room's balcony through ebony and jewel encrusted sliding doors and a man was smoking a cigar out there, it was most likely Oliver Lupain. Who else could have had a key to the private room other than he and his wife?

"Oliver, we have guests." Ivory spoke.

The 185cm tall, 45-year-old, black haired, green-eyed man put out his cigar and turned around to face the kitchen. He had on a top hat, a black suit jacket and a white suit shirt. He also wore black jeans.

"Dr Smith, captain Orange, what can I do for you?" Oliver inquired with his dark voice.

"One coffee with one cream and two sugars for me, if you please." Edwin stated.

"If there's any Earl Grey tea, then I'll have some of that please." Daniel added politely.

"Would you like a lemon in your tea Daniel?" Oliver asked.

"Yes please." Dan relayed.

Oliver prepared the beverages.

"So, what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?" Ivory inquired.

"Well, Ivy, we believe that you've been roped into a conspiracy." Edwin remarked.

"My word, and after all that work we did to get out of issues with conspiracies and crimes." Oliver added as he prepared the milk with the steamer. "You know, committing crimes was terrific, but making people happy through charity, now if there was a word that had 1000 times more impact than the word terrific, not even that word would be able to describe just how good that makes one feel."

"I had a feeling that you'd come here to speak about that." Ivy added. "No doubt that the camera by the Lightly Path entryway to the alley caught me walking into the alleyway. I was shocked when I spotted Vincent Marlow's body, I almost screamed before my fear got interrupted by a police siren. It was so dark along that alley way when I arrived at 2:00 AM, I didn't even notice there was any police vehicles nearby, but for some reason I felt like I saw graffiti from Andre Oilman somewhere close by."

"A Brimile resident? That's impossible..." Edwin noted. "Unless it was painted on the side of a car."

"I didn't see a vehicle there." Ivory added.

"I bet it was a black vehicle, making it bland in with the darkness in the area on that side of the alley." Dan noted. "But there was enough light that the camera was able to catch you, Eliza and Isaac as well as the figure of who we believe to be the true killer enter the alleyway."

"The guy who truly murdered our friend Vincent might have hidden his black vehicle just outside the range of the FORMAL camera watching that area." Oliver relayed; he brought the hot drinks from the counter to the table. Edwin drank his coffee and Dan took a sip of his tea.

"First of all, this cup of coffee is very good, thank you. Secondly, I think you're right Oliver." Edwin added.

"So, since you were there, which of the four lies did you notice?" Dan inquired.

"Four lies? I only saw three." Ivy relayed. "He wasn't wearing that odd yellow shirt in that photograph when I spotted him."

"Good." Edwin added. "Looks like we're just missing the location now."

"What are you guys on about?" Oliver inquired.

"Like I said, the police found four lies. We believed that Mr Marlow wasn't murdered where he was found..." Dan added.

"Say no more. The less you say, the less people you aide in escaping from the law." Oliver relayed.

"You're right, I don't know what I was thinking." Dan added and finished his tea.

"Don't worry about it, Dan. He's a victim, like Vincent." Edwin added. "Ivy, if there's anything else you'll like to provide us, call us." he passed a business card from his silver suit to Ivory.

"If there's something else I remember, you and Oliver will be the first ones to know about it, and that's a promise." Ivory replied.

"You two gentlemen have a good day." Oliver relayed.

"Thank you for the hot beverages, Oliver, you make a good cup of Earl Grey." Dan added.

Oliver gave a bow. "It was my pleasure."

The two detectives smiled. "We'll be going now; it was a pleasure meeting both of you." Edwin noted.

"Yes, and it was good seeing both of you again, I only wish it was under different circumstances" Dan added.

"Go ahead, now, this mystery isn't going to solve itself." Ivory added.

Dan and Edwin made their way back down to the entrance and outside to where Edwin parked Dan's car.

"Hyence corner?" Edwin asked Dan as Daniel entered the passenger side.

"Yes, I still want to speak with the homeless man, I believe Mr Ravage might have been coaxed down the alley by the murderer. He probably didn't want to go down the alley himself if he was really one of us." Dan explained.

"I still can't believe it, could a CORE member really have snuck into the ranks of our very own police department." Edwin added.

"I don't know what the truth could possibly be. But all I know is that we cannot waste much more time."

"I agree Dan. I don't typically say this, but we must stop this son of a bitch."

"Agreed. Let's head over to Hyence corner."

So, Edwin started the vehicle and began the drive to Hyence corner.