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Logging into Decasim was always slightly disorienting, no matter how many times they had done it. Once loaded in, Carl watched as the others appeared, their avatars fading into existence. Harvard, who had gotten in first, pulled up the case details, scanning over them, probably for something they might have missed or a lead they should investigate before the murder happened.
The location they were sent to was a resort, somewhere near on the edge of Broadstone. While there, 26 year old Carlos Reed was found murdered, shot in the head. They suspected he died sometime in the afternoon, between 2pm and 4pm. Since they couldn’t find a culprit, the case went cold, falling into their hands.
Turning to see the resort, it looked like a standard hotel, a few tropical decor around it to spice it up. He couldn’t lie, it was huge, but unless the inside looked grand, it was like any other hotel in the state, no reason for someone to pay as much as people do for this. Or maybe it’s just the rich in him speaking, knowing that he’s seen far more lavish resorts in his life.
Still, putting his bias aside, he walked in with the rest of his team, splitting up to locate the suspect and victim before the incident occurred. Carl was supposed to find Lilith Anderson, a local who had been visiting the resort when it happened. She apparently knew who he was, and was found near the victim, so she was part of the accused
Stopping to talk to anyone who seemed like they had information, he made sure to send it all to the others, specifically Manimani and Harvard, who would need it the most; Harvard for the case board and Mani for profiling. Turning the corner, he spotted the brunette he was looking for.
“Hey wait,” he walked to catch up to her, “You’re Lilith, right?”
She blinked, slightly startled from hearing her name. “Who’s asking?”
He flashed his badge, “Carl Oxford, I’m with the Broadstone Police Department. I’m here because we caught wind of a murder plot, do you happen to know anything about it?”
“Murder!? What makes you think I would know anything about that? I’m just here to visit for the day,” she explained, rubbing her arm. She had a look of surprise that would be hard to fake, his gut telling him to trust her.
“Alright, but please let me or any of my coworkers know if you see anything suspicious.” He went past her, heading to their meetup spot in the lobby to reconvene with anything they learned. Doing a final check around, he landed back into the lobby, where Manimani and Zhang were chatting. He checked the clock above the counter: 2:34pm. They promised to meet here at 2:35, but knowing the size of the hotel, he wouldn’t be surprised if they were a few minutes off.
A gunshot went off, followed by a piercing scream. Their chatter stopped as they moved close together, trying to figure out where the noise came from. Mikey dashed down the stairs to find them, seeing their panicked faces, he knew there was no need to ask whether or not they heard it.
The victim was found in….
“THE SUPPLY ROOM!” Carl yelled, running to find a map of some sort which would show where it was. “Harvard check in.” He had a habit of not answering his comms, but this was serious. They were too late to witness the murder, and they all needed to be together now in order to figure it out.
Finding the supply room, he pushed open the door, scanning the room for a dead body. The room was larger than they thought it would be, the culprit could easily be hiding in here, waiting for them to get away from the door before escaping. Mikey stayed behind, making sure that no one else walked in and disturbed their investigation.
The sound of sobbing was becoming more defined and loud as they adventured through their storage room. Going past a shelf of towels, Carl flinched when they were faced with Carlos Reed and a dead body.
A dead body who was supposed to be him.
The victim was blonde, had a red coat, and-
Wait.
His heart stopped as he put together the pieces of who the body was. He looked to the left, trying to gauge Manimani’s reaction to the body. It seemed to click in her head too, and they stared at each other in shock, both not wanting to see if they were correct.
He stepped over the body as she pulled aside and tried to comfort Carlos, who had been sobbing hysterically, almost hyperventilating. She pulled him out of the room, Zhang following her. This couldn't be who he thought it was, right? There was no way he just died. Flipping over the body, the first thing he noticed was the still bleeding bullet wound in between the victim’s unfocused blue eyes. The second, was that the victim was Harvard.
How did this even happen? They could only lose health during battle, and none of them had been even close to losing all of it. But dying outside of combat? He was tasked with finding the victim, so he probably tried to stay with him until the moment he died, which resulted in his own death.
Why would the culprit even kill him? What made him choose to kill Harvard instead of his original target? He would have to ask him about what happened leading up to it once this was over.
What if he’s dead though? They have no clue what happens when you die in Decasim, especially outside of combat. What if he never woke up, or was brain dead, or-?
Get it together, he isn’t dead. Besides, you have a case to work on. Sighing, he takes one last look at his partner’s lifeless body before leaving the room, seeing the other three outside, along with Carlos, who seemed to calm down.
“He said the culprit was masked, no features that stood out or could really help. At least we know he isn’t the culprit.” Manimani folded her arms, glancing back at the storage door.
“Was it really..?”
“Yep. Same way Carlos died and everything.”
“Damn. Was he purposely trying to stop the murder, or do you think it was just a coincidence?”
“Knowing him, no idea. What I’m wondering is how did they even mix the two up? The killer had to have seen their face if they were shot in the forehead, so they would have had to notice the different hair colors.” He snuck a glance at him, looking for any similarities between him and Harvard.
Sure they had a similar hairstyle, and eye shape, but everything else was wrong. His eyes were brown, unlike Harvard’s blue, and he was a little bit darker than him. Not to mention that Carlos had red hair. It didn’t add up; why would the killer change targets in Decasim?
Zhang entered the hallway, bringing the 3 suspects down with him. All of them had looked confused as to why they were being brought together, none of them knowing each other.
“Why are we here? Couldn’t this wait until later, I was about to get into the pool?” Andrew Ramos, Carlos’s friend, complained. His slides were wet, watery footprints trailing behind him.
“Is everything alright?” The assistant, whose name was apparently Sharon, asked, eyes narrowed. Her foot tapped on the floor, rather out of annoyance or worry.
“Did the murder actually happen?” Lilith seemed to be the most surprised out of the three. Carl nodded, sending all three into different states of shock. They shouted out questions for the detectives, until Mani yelled for them to be quiet.
“Calm down, all three of you are suspects, we need alibis from everyone.”
“How do we know it’s not Carlos, huh? Why isn’t he a suspect?” Accusing your friend of murder is an odd choice, but then again knowing someone next to you is a murderer could put anyone on edge.
“Because he was the original target. You three, where were you?” Zhang questioned, pulling up the case board. The only notes on it was information on the suspects and victim, nothing that could help them figure out who was lying.
“I just said I was at the pool. Carlos was supposed to bring towels for the two of us, but then he didn’t return.”
“Someone checked in, and I was tasked with bringing their luggage up to their room.”
“I was in my room, relaxing on the balcony. You should know that, you were just there.”
“Lilith, Andrew, was there anyone near you while you were there?”
“Some kids in the pool, though I doubt they could vouch since I didn’t go in.”
“No…” Suspicious, but it made sense. It was around lunch time, and check out was coming up, so most people would be away from their rooms.
“Thank you for your statements. We’ll be sure to call you back here if we need anything more.” With that, the three left, Carlos staying behind.
“We haven’t found the gun, right? Wasn’t it missing in the original case?” She grabbed Mikey’s arm, tugging him towards the entrance to the pool. “Let’s go look before it disappears on us.” Zhang sighed as the two left, closing the case board.
“It’s my fault that man died… If I didn’t stay with him, he would still be alive,” Carlos lamented, tears beginning to form.
“Don’t blame yourself, blame the killer. We’ll find them, and bring them to justice.” Carl thought for a moment, then asked, “Can you recall everything that happened before the murder? Like, what were you two doing before they came in?”
Carlos tapped his chin, deep in thought. “Well, he offered to stay with me in case something happened, claiming that a killer would only do it if they were alone. We went to go grab the towels, the door opened, and bam! He was shot right in front of me. They slammed the door and ran off while I stood there frozen,” he recapped, sounding shameful at the end.
So he tried to prevent the murder… It was a good idea, that he can admit, but he didn’t account for the murderer being masked. Did Carlos even know who killed him in real life when he died?
“Tell me about your friend, what was it, Andrew? What’s he like?” He wanted to change the subject to stop him from feeling guilty, but also wanted to know about Andrew. Out of the three, he seemed to be the least likely to kill his friend, being known for his sweet but blunt personality.
“He’s nice, but he’s not a pushover, you know? He doesn’t let his color blindness stop him from pursuing art, he actually just had one of his works featured at a small festival recently.” He kept talking about Andrew, from how he met to why they planned this conversation.
Eventually, Mani and Mikey came back, gun in hand. “Found it. Bad news is that the fingerprints are slightly erased.” She handed him the gun to observe it. A simple pistol, and a look inside showed that it was out of bullets.
“Where was it?”
“In one of the changing rooms. Found it in one of the toilets, which was overflowing with soap. Seems like they tried to get rid of their prints,” Mikey added the fingerprints to the case board, it being almost completed.
“Did they match anyone’s?”
“They seemed to match Andrew’s, though it’s not 100% confirmed.”
“That’s crazy, Andrew wouldn’t try to kill me!” Carlos shouted from where he was seated.
What would he get from killing his friend? From the way he talked about him, he didn’t seem to have any issue with him, maybe it was one sided?
Wait.
“I think I know who the killer is.”
_________________________
It had barely been an hour between when they were first brought together and now. The three suspects, Carlos, and the detectives were all back in the lobby.
“I think we’ve figured out the suspect of this murder.”
“The culprit….
is you, Andrew Reeds!”
A gasp came from the three civilians, and a exasperated sound came from Andrew.
“Me? What makes you think it was me? What would I get out of trying to kill some rando?”
“Let me explain. Around 2:34pm, Carlos and Harvard were grabbing towels for you, only for Harvard to be shot dead. When questioned, you answered that you were at the pool, is this correct?”
He nodded, not understanding where this was going.
“For someone who was at the pool, you seemed pretty dry, especially since you didn’t have a towel. Maybe because, you never went in at all.”
His eyes widened, then relaxed. “I never claimed to be in the pool, just that I was there. I never went in since I was waiting for Carlos. There’s no proof at all, you’re just senselessly accusing me.”
“Why were your feet wet then? The bottoms of your shoes, I can understand, but your feet were soaking wet as well.”
“I- uhm,”
“I can say why, because while you were in the changing room, the toilet in your stalk was broken and overflowing, right?”
“Yes, yes it was broken. I let a worker know right away.”
“But you didn’t, because you were the cause of it. You tried to remove your fingerprints from the gun, using soap and water. You planned to hide it there until you left the hotel, no one would find it suspicious if you went to change before leaving.”
“Okay, sure let’s say that’s true. Why would I kill a random person and not Carlos, if he’s apparently my original target?” He crossed his arms, becoming more and more agitated.
“What color is my jacket?”
“Eh?”
“Answer the question.”
He stood there in thought, before answering, “Beige? How is this important?”
Carl snapped his fingers, “You’re colorblind, aren’t you?” When the man nodded, he continued. “You mistakened his blonde hair for Carlos’s red, causing you to shoot him instead.”
His breath hitched, realizing that he was out of excuses.
“So, am I correct?”
Andrew yelled, stomping his foot down in anger. “IT’S CARLOS’S FAULT! IF HE WASN’T SUCH A GREEDY BASTARD I WOULDN'T HAVE TRIED TO KILL HIM!”
“ME?! THE HELL DID I DO?” Carlos yelled back, angered that he was being used as the reason for a murder.
“YOU CHEATED WITH MY GIRLFRIEND ON ME, THAT'S WHAT!!”
“Don’t blame him for it, I’m the one who hooked up with him,” Lilith butt in, all heads turning to her.
“YOU WERE GOING TO BE NEXT, IF THESE DETECTIVES NEVER GOT IN THE WAY!” He stomped to her, raising his hand before Mikey got in between the two of them, pulling handcuffs from his pocket. The fire in him seemed to have burnt out after realizing he couldn’t hurt her, and he didn’t fight back when being arrested.
Police officers arrived shortly after, putting him in a cop car and driving off, leaving only the detectives behind. Carlos and Lilith both checked out shortly after, no longer wanting to be at the scene of a murder.
Cambridge congratulated them on finishing, not bringing up the fact that Harvard’s dead a few rooms away from them. The briefing went by fast, all there was left to do was log out. He didn’t want to be the first one to do it, the one who had to check if he was still alive. Their instructor would have told them if he wasn’t, right?
Logging out, he watched as the environment changed from coded buildings to the cozy pod. The lid lifted off of him, and he hopped out to find Harvard’s, whose was still closed.
he’s dead he’s dead he’s dead he’s
His pod opened, Carl having to step back as to not get smacked in the face by it. The headset lifted off his face to reveal Harvard, no bullet wounds, no signs of death.
But no signs of life either.
He wasn’t moving, rather unconscious or dead, Carl hoped it was the first.
He lightly smacked his face, hoping to awake him from his slumber. His eyes fluttered open, squinting as he adjusted to the light. He felt as if he could breathe easier. Harvard was alive.
“Yall solve it?” Almost dies and immediately asks about the job, Carl laughs at his dedication.
“Yeah, we did it.” He offered a hand to help him out of the pod, which he gladly took.
“Knew yall could do it.” He ruffled Carl’s curls, smiling proudly at the fact that they completed it.
As they walked out of the office, Carl’s thoughts wandered back to the first day on the job, when he was temporarily held hostage. He would’ve died if Harvard missed the shot or if the old man decided to kill him, and he’s lucky he didn’t. Still, what would have happened if he did die?
“So, what happened when you died?” He didn’t seem to have anything to worry about, since Harvard’s alive in front of him, but he was too curious.
“I took a nap.”
“Eh??”
“It kinda went into a spectator mode. I couldn’t do anything so I just…napped.”
Huh.
“Sorry for worrying you though.”
“Hm?”
“I mean, seeing your dead boyfriend must have sucked. I solemnly swear to not die again.” He put his hand in the air, like a boy scout doing his pledge. Carl snickered, and swatted his hand down.
It calmed his nerves, knowing that nothing would have happened to him on that training day, and that he doesn’t have to worry about any of them dying in Decasim.
Hopefully, they won’t die in real life as well.