Dumpster Fire
Detective Moore is sitting at his desk in his private office. On the broad, wooden surface, nearly all the documents he requested for the case are meticulously spread so that he can easily find the information he's looking for. He looked thoroughly into every document, hoping for details or a piece of information to hint at the investigation's direction, but unfortunately, this was all a waste of time.
It's been a week and a half since he received the case. However, one piece of information is still missing: the filled reports involving the flammable chemical and arson fires, previous and new cases of the local police departments surrounding the crime scene, and the document listing all the filed delinquents of the nearby institutions.
A faint sound of someone knocking at the door interrupts the man's train of thought, ''Come in, Aubrey,'' he says, recognizing the woman's timid demeanour.
''I'm sorry for the interruption, sir. I encountered a problem when I was putting together the requested documents,'' she explains as she crosses the room to hand a sheet to Daniel.
Daniel frowns as he scans the information written on the paper, ''Thank you for your hard work, Aubrey,'' he says.
''Take the necessary steps to gather a team with the task of monitoring all the social media and platforms likely to share these videos and compile any relevant details to build a report on the matter,'' He instructs the woman.
''I'm on it, sir,'' she replies, rushing to her new assignment.
Daniel keeps staring at the sheet, extremely annoyed. He suddenly snaps out of his disarray, grabs his phone to call David, and asks him to come to his office for an emergency meeting.
Around an hour later, two loud bangs strike the door, followed by David barging into the office, ''I have something important to tell you!'' He breathlessly says to Daniel, waving a crumpled stack of papers. Daniel immediately stands up and pulls a chair for his exhausted friend. When the seat is close enough, David crumbles on the tiny furniture and takes a minute to calm down. In the quiet room, we only hear the man's heavy breathing slowly stabilizing as he cools down. Daniel feels it will take a while, so he leaves the office and returns shortly after with a large glass of cold water, which he places on a coaster beside David. The drained man stayed quiet for a few minutes before finally grasping the transparent container to take a long and satisfying sip of the liquid. Daniel waits patiently for his friend to settle down and start speaking.
''Dan, Aubrey was too busy gathering the required data to build up your report, so she asked if I could handle some of her workload. I wasn't so busy, so I told her I could research all nearby institutions for delinquents or arson fire incidents.'' He explains, waiting for a signal from Daniel to continue.
Daniel is now sitting in his chair, his elbows on each armrest and one hand supporting his head. He stares into his co-worker's eyes with the most intrigued and grave expression. The man sits like a statue. His silence indicates David to elaborate on the situation.
''I went to all the elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and specialized formation institutions potentially using chemicals and universities...''
''Can you cut to the chase and tell me if you found anything relevant?!'' Impatiently interrupts Daniel.
''Yes, look at this!'' David answers as he hands over the stack of crumpled paper.
Daniel gives him a very dissatisfied look before taking the unprofessional-looking ''document'' from the other man's hand. He tries to tidy them up before starting his reading. The detective's eyes widen as he processes the information written on the pages. He falls back in his chair as the shock keeps increasing.
On the paper, a report lists all visited institutions, with arson fires and similar incidents rolling down beneath each one. All of them have at least ten reported events. Daniel reaches for the paper he received from Aubrey earlier and passes it on to him.
''I heard something about it during my investigation,'' Says David, frowning at the document.
''Go on,'' replies Daniel, already sick of that case.
''In the neighbouring district, a university investigated a bullying case internally,'' informs David.
''A bullying case?'' repeats Daniel, very interested.
"Yes, four female students locked their classmates in the restroom to pull the prank mentioned on Aubrey's document," he relates as he pulls a heavy pile of documents from his suitcase and puts them on the desk.
''It's reported that the victim joined a sorority but didn't want to take part in the initiation ritual, which consisted of joining a fraternity party. The sorority leaders decided the appropriate consequence was...'' He points to the document, gesturing for Daniel to read it.
''I already asked for a team to be gathered to monitor social media platforms. We need to mobilize teams nationwide and collect all the information we can to analyze patterns and know what we are dealing with,'' briefs Daniel as he reviews the document.
''I'm on it,'' promptly responds David before leaving the office.
Aubrey bursts into Daniel's office two weeks later, leaving him speechless. The woman then stomps to the desk to place an open laptop before the staggered man. On the screen, it's a live stream of a trashcan.
''Is that....?!'' Asks the man, who cannot believe it.
''Yes, it is!'' Proudly confirms the woman.
''Did you call the nerd?'' He asks.
''Yes, I called Mr. Coleman,'' She answers, emphasizing the name.
''He is looking for the location and any relevant information on the streamer. He said it's a matter of a few minutes...''
A notification sound cuts the discussion short. Aubrey immediately rushes next to Daniel, standing slightly behind him. She reaches for the mouse pad and opens the message: ''URGENT: Requested Information on Streamer - Case #4587XCY.''
''The streamer is a 22-year-old man named Luis; he lives nearby,'' She murmures.
''Get a warrant and bring him here for an interrogation,'' Daniel commands, smirking satisfactorily.
''Consider it done!'' She smiles broadly as she takes her laptop from the desk and leaves the room hastily.
The warrant was subsequently issued. The young suspect sits alone in the interrogation room, his legs wide open and fidgeting. The only moment he is not clutching his arms around his torso is when he needs to soothe himself and bite his nails off. Daniel intensively scrutinizes him through the surveillance camera in an adjacent room when the detective in charge of interrogating the young man enters the room and prepares the necessities for the interrogation.
''Hi Yan, how are you doing?'' the officer greets.
''I'm...'' Yan sights without finishing his sentence.
''I understand you must feel anxious,'' Starts the officer, looking at the young suspect with compassionate eyes.
''It's normal, and I understand. I want to let you know that we still can work on something for you if you help us.'' He reassures the man, waiting for an answer from the suspect.
''I will tell you what you need to know in that case,'' Yan answers tremblingly.
The young man's fidgeting slowly stops as he lowers his gaze, keeping his head low.
''Thank you for your cooperation, Yan,'' says the officer softly.
''There are a lot of problems related to the chemical you used for your streaming. Some of those problems involve awfully dangerous people, so we need to investigate everybody who owns the combustible fuel named Methanol and sort them to find the dangerous individuals we are looking for,'' Explains the detective.
''I understand, sir; There are a lot of dangerous people out there,'' answers Yan, quickly tensing down at the sound of the officer's words.
''That, you don't need to tell me, son,'' acquieses the chuckling officer.
The young suspect raises his head and looks at the amused officer, then cannot help but chuckle in turn. As a result, the tension in the interrogation room drops immediately.
''So, can you tell me what happened, and how you ended up live streaming invisible trashcan fire?'' interrogates the officer, keeping his tone sympathetic and expression understanding.
''It started when my little brother told me about this weird, well-paid job that he found out of nowhere,'' recites Yan.
''Can you tell as many details as you know on this ''weird job'' please?'' asks the officer, his expression quizzical.
''He told me a recruiter approached him to solicit his services on a freelancer platform. He works part-time as a landscaping assistant,'' explains Yan.
''How old is your brother?'' interrupts the officer, noting everything on a pad.
''He's almost 19 years old now,'' he answers.
''At the time the man contacted him?'' questions the officer.
''No, he was about 17 years old at the time. Now, he's almost 19 years old'' rectifies Yan.
"Thank you, Yan. These details will be of great importance. " The officer gestures for Yan to continue.
''My brother replied to the man's offer, but the job's details were somehow off. The man needed a landscaper for a prank requiring his knowledge. The job was to light a fire for a live stream in a public place to film passersby's surprised reaction to the heat. My brother was told that the proper authorities knew of their project but needed professional assistance for safety reasons. The pay was tempting, so the man didn't have a hard time convincing him.'' elaborates Yan.
''Do you know exactly the arguments used to convince your brother?'' questions the officer.
''I know that the scouter needed a landscaper to make sure the fire is ignited in a safe place and doesn't spread wild. I also know that the nearby fire departments were warned about the project in case of an emergency and to make sure they were not losing time for something under control; there were also explanations about an ongoing trending prank named 'Is it water?' after showing him few videos, they said they wanted to find a safer way to pull the prank and gain popularity,'' explains the young man.
''I see. I'm assuming that with the well-paid remuneration, the fact that the fire departments would not agree with this didn't cross his mind,'' scolds the officer.
''Mine either, I'm sorry...''Yan apologies, ashamed.
''I understand, Yan. We all have these moments when we look back and think that we should've known better,'' comforts the officer.
''Can you tell me more about when you started, why, and your thought process?'' He inquires calmly, ensuring the young suspect's trust doesn't slip through his fingers.
''After a while, my brother earned a small fortune only by choosing the right location and setting everything up for the streaming scene. The only information I have is that they were streaming the scene my brother prepared for them, so I thought that if they could pay my brother that much, they were undoubtedly gaining a massive amount of money from the streaming itself. Two weeks ago, I looked on the internet for more information about it but strangely, found nothing. I assumed they were using some private selling platforms and grabbed the opportunity to create my own channel on public platforms,'' He recounts to the officer.
The officer excuses himself, explaining to the interrogee that he must relay this information and will return soon. In the monitoring room, Daniel is in the presence of a woman who joined him earlier in the middle of the questioning. The agent emerges into the room and observes Yan for a few minutes to see how he's acting when he's by himself.
''What do you think, Annie?'' Sergeant Karl, the interrogator, asks the lady standing nearby.
''Everything he's saying concords with the data we have: he started two weeks ago on public platforms, and he searched on the internet about the streaming. I don't think he's lying,'' she answers, staring at the monitor.
''And Daniel?'' The sergeant throws a look full of anticipation at his colleague, knowing he'd have something pertinent to add.
''Do you think you can convince him to tell his brother to come here without having a warrant issued?'' Daniel asks, his expression sombre.
''That might be challenging. Do we have anything on his brother?'' Karl queries.
''We have nothing; that's why we need him to come forward to testify,'' Daniel says, gently rubbing his jaw bones with his thumb and forefinger.
''I see. Annie, what do you think about all of this?'' He asks so that he can have a better understanding of his goal.
''That young man certainly has a superficial understanding of the real motives behind all this, to go on public platforms without proper anonymization of his device. We need his brother, who probably doesn't know much but can at least direct us to the main character,'' The profiler finally switches her glance at the interrogator as she explains.
''What are we looking for?'' Asks Daniel, interjecting himself into the conversation.
The two officers look at Annie as she positions herself comfortably. She stands with one hip carrying her weight, her arm resting on it, while she gestures with the other arm to emphasize her well-reflected conclusion:
''These two youngsters were deceived. I think the recruiter is the person we are looking for, and this recruiter might also be the bottom of an unhinge pyramid of something bigger than just a prank,'' she states, glaring at the two investigators with gravity.
''You can do it?'' Daniel asks again, locking his eyes into Karl's.
''I have to,'' Karl responds, staring at the corner of the room in deep reflection.