It was about a **** plus murder case of a female teacher from one of the known second-rate private schools in the city. In a society where much more gruesome murders happen left and right, the case should have been another hateful but typical one. The officers would normally take the details, carefully comb out all possible clues leading to the ident.i.ty of the malefic murderer, and then pacify the mourning family members with their swift enactment of justice.

Unfortunately this time, a few links in the steps were missing. Something was very unscientific with the findings of the autopsy. Even a higher up became greatly alarmed, giving the branch's chief a call the very next day.

"Reporting to the Superintendent, the findings have been double-checked and everything matches the first."

At one corner of the chief's office, Simonne Gomez stood with a straight back as he watched his bitter-faced superior report the whole incident. The worsening expression of his middle-aged chief and the occasional unintelligible shouts he was hearing from the receiver allowed him to perfectly infer how angry the other party was.

He was the one who delivered the report to the man. Of course, the chief didn't like the report but he was not given any time to lash out to Simonne because someone from the main branch called over.

'Poor Chief...'

The balding middle-aged man probably noticed his pitying expression. Annoyed, his chief waved a hand at him, signaling him to leave and return to his post.

Simonne walked out of the chief's office and sighed in depression as he thought of the weirdness of the case.

"This is my first encountering a rape-murder case where the proof of **** is there, but the proof of murder is nowhere. Just how the heck did that happen? And why at sis' school?"

Simonne had not forgotten that her sister, Wendy Gomez, studied at the school where the crime took place. He was left with little breathing s.p.a.ce as before he got included to the workforce in charge of this case, he was previously busying himself with another kidnapping incident and at the same time, trying to work on the recording his sister sent him a few days ago.

Everything tired him so much, both mentally and physically.

As he strode towards the hall where other detectives a.s.signed to the case congregate and brainstorm together, another man in police uniform jogged to him from the nearby cubicle in charge of compiling reports. A stack of papers was in his hands.

"Bro Simonne, the lab sent another report. They triple-checked and worked without rest to speed up the process, but no trace, fingerprints or anything with DNA was left around or even near the neck of the victim." The person was another detective with the same SPO2 rank as him. This one started shaking his head in dismay, the bags under the eyes very dark due to not always getting enough sleep.

Really, in a bustling city like Alina City, crime reports happened from time to time, and the police never had nothing to work on. Society had never been a totally peaceful place.

"Rey, I can't believe it. If there's still no change despite that, then did the victim really die of asphyxiation?" Simonne asked.

The two were now walking side by side while discussing the intricacies found about this rape-murder case.

"The lab attested heavily. It is really the cause, and the reason we're all stuck up in an endless loop about the murder itself is the lack of evidence."

'And that fat man's insistence for us to check a different-murderer angle,' Simmone heard his colleague whispered hatefully.

"How about the **** part? There's a clue there, right? The body has traces of abuse. At the same time, a student was reported suspicious because he suddenly disappeared." He asked after shaking his tired head.

"Your sister, Miss Wendy helped out yesterday and she was the one who pointed that out. The student is known for his playboy tendencies, but n.o.body expected him to go that far as to actually **** a teacher. Still, since Miss Wendy suggested, we looked him up, and all traces of his whereabouts could not be found.."

"DNA samples?"

"We managed to acquire one when his cla.s.smates pointed out to his school bag that has been suspiciously left in the cla.s.sroom. There's a strand of hair on it, also some saliva on the cap of the pen. It's unbelievable. But all evidence clearly points to him as the prime suspect, if not the only one, for the ****... but once again, not for the murder. There's no evidence for the murder whatsoever even after doing our best to find one!"

At his colleague's outburst, he could only say.

"...Logically, it's not really tricky. It's just because the chief instructed us to not a.s.sume it's a work of a single person that we're going nuts here."

Simonne pinched his brows in irritation. The fairly handsome man's head was truly aching. He badly wanted to get some rest as he had spent two consecutive nights awake. He really felt like retiring from this detective case.

He was sure there were more troubling cases out there in the whole world, even brain-wrecking cold cases from decades ago, however, he was confident there should be not many like what they were holding currently that was as tricky as this. Where could you find a corpse obviously dead due to strangulation, but the handmarks found had no fingerprints? The **** was good proof by itself actually. But the higher-ups were not letting their own detectives conclude it just like that. Just what the heck?

"Miss Wendy is still as helpful as before. At least we can have a part of us tracking down the whereabouts of that rapist student while the others depart to trace more clues and get testimonies, even interrogating possible witnesses and suspects. However, I totally believe that student is the culprit."

"I'm thinking we're all idiots to not consider the student doing the strangling with a pair of gloves, or finger gloves... or using his clothes to not leave marks."

The man next to him whose eyebags were glaring at Simonne sneered.

"You're the idiot. The ladies of the department brought that up yesterday but the lab sent pieces of evidence that no gloves are worn, and there is evidence that the victim was strangled with bare hands. I know it's very ridiculous. But like I said earlier, our forensics already triple-checked."

"...Is the killer a magician who can erase traces at will?" Simonne blurted out an impossible angle.

They were already at the front of the room's door. With his right hand turning the k.n.o.b, Rey Salazar hysterically laughed and then sarcastically told Simonne.

"Bro, yeah, maybe, maybe our world is changing into a magical one. Or it is probably ending, and it propels all sorts of criminals to start enacting their immoralities to our fragile society. What say you?"

"... Maybe I lacked too much sleep. Or maybe my detective brain is offline. You know, even a computer frequently running for more than 24 hours can lag."

"This is why handsome boys are weak. Look at me."

The gaze Rey received was a mocking one. "You're ugly. Maybe you're the criminal."

Simonne received a nice smacking on the head and a few jabs to his stomach before he managed to join the clamoring crowd of pandas in gorgeous blue uniforms.

"Wendy, you are here again?"

The reply he got was a giggle, "Brother, you look so terrible as though you're the one raped."

Simonne shook his head and went to his sister's side who came to the station wearing a comfortable blouse and knee-length skirt. He flicked her forehead and messed with her tied up hair. Wendy naturally protested with a few cries but Simonne did not stop ruining her ponytail as he turned to his nearby colleagues. His workmates merely shrugged at his questioning gaze.

"Team Leader Job allowed me in, you know, I can help," Wendy explained, her eyes looked at her brother with confidence as she tried to smooth down her disheveled hair. Then she voiced out with worry. "How's the progress?"

"You knew already because nothing changes."

Simonne took a seat and then watched his scattered colleagues pacing back and forth to debate and come up with few stories and conspiracies.

His team leader heard his report earlier and frowned. After pondering a bit, worked up about what to do next, Team Leader Job wrestled with a few papers containing the details of the victim, family members, witnesses, and suspects. He then clapped his hands and gave out a few orders. Everyone hoped to get more leads. They were all competing with each other for breakthroughs so they immediately dispersed to execute the order.

After this, Job turned to Wendy and inquired.

"A while ago, you told me some information about the prime **** suspect. How sure are you that he is also the killer? What's your take on this?"

Wendy took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm very influential in school so I didn't have a hard time collecting testimonies and clues there. His gang is useless because no one from them saw Floyd before and after the crime. Ugh, why am I mentioning them?

"The thing is, exactly 12 noon, he was seen fleeing from the corridor near the canteen. It's because my friend Sofony Mendez screamed, maybe out of fear from his threats or s.e.xual advances.

"By the way, Sofony alongside me is targeted by that sc.u.mbag. I sent a recording to my brother here about his attempt to investigate and kidnap us. And actually, brother received reports of suspicious sightings of a man lingering by our house. This man even followed me wherever I go this last two days."

"Wendy you're going far from the topic." Her brother chastised.

She clearly felt her brother's freezing gaze, one which was very impatient, so Wendy shrugged, then started a full account of what she found out.

Someone saw Floyd Cruz running towards the main building around 12:07. Please note the main building is only a two-minute walk from the Female Staff's Restroom.

Around 12:15 Mrs. Agatha entered the restroom as said by Mrs. Santiago whose table is just next to Mrs. Agatha Geere.

Mrs. Big, another teacher, repeatedly tried to go to the restroom due to a very obvious reason but was not able to. The place was closed, outside there was a sign saying the room was occupied. It was a single toilet room so she had no choice but check from time to time and wait for the person inside to come out.

"We already had that recorded from Mrs. Big. She also testified that there was no sound from within when she knocked. What else?" Job frowned because Wendy's habit of longwinded explanation was kicking in again.

The team leader, and actually, everyone in the station knew this trait because Wendy had been regularly helping them out ever since she turned fifteen. It started with trouble, of course, because n.o.body liked and believed in a spoiled brat acting detective every time her brother brought her to the station.

However, times and cases proved her competence. In fact, because Wendy had helped out plenty of times, she received her fair share of awards of recognition. Now, the people had long been used to her meddling in cases and long-windedness. The thing was, she would only become long-winded if it's about crime solving. Outside that, she was a witty conversation partner.

As for the achievements she made so far, to Wendy, this was a result of her intelligence and love for brain-twisting real-life mystery solving. It was something natural.

"We knew n.o.body can testify to when the sc.u.mbag left the restroom. We only knew Miss Wayne found the dead body around 1:00 pm. The body had obvious traces of a shameless man's discharges." The look on Wendy's face was that of a woman dying to cut off that said part. Her expression made the two men's lips twitch in annoyance.

"And on her neck, there's evidence of murder by strangulation. We know that. I beg you, what else?" It was Simonne who frustratedly followed up.

"Fine, you already know what I know."

At this reply, the Team Leader almost strangled the beautiful, bossy, longwinded but playful girl.

"You said you can help. Help us get angrier? TL, it's your fault for letting this girl in. Now you see what she can do."

"No, no, brother, hear me out. Actually what I want to bring up is proving that that sc.u.mbag is the killer. Obviously, you already knew how things are amiss with the handprints or handmarks on her neck and body. There are no complete handprints or anything unique to an individual that proves his crime.

"Since this is the case, just prove that he is the only one in the scene aside from the victim. That way, the rapist is also clearly the killer. Actually, from the beginning, they are obviously one and the same but that d.a.m.n strangling makes it complicated.

"So just prove that only Floyd is there. Maybe check the size of his hand, match the size and shape of hands with his traces on his items. It should not be difficult. Even if his family won't let us get something from their house, the bag, and the room has plenty of it. Then checked the footprints. Scale the wall. If there are none... Let see..."

Wendy temporarily stopped and began to think. The team leader looked quite enlightened and immediately phoned people to do as she suggested. Simonne sighed, he already considered this yesterday, but due to knowing that his chief wanted to not pin the sole responsibility to that boy, they tried hard to see if there was a chance of the suspected rapist having an accomplice. He had not yet brought this up to his Team Leader.

'I forgot. Maybe Rey's right, I'm weak to sleeplessness, and now my sister's gonna think every police officer in the world is stupid.'

Wendy resumed speaking just when Job finished all the calls and shouting. "I think we can also try digging his other dubious acts out. That can fortify our pieces of evidence. We're gonna prove that he has the tendency and disposition to commit a crime."

She paused a bit, as something really bugged her from within. With a frown, she voiced out. "How come a personage like Floyd end up in our school? He should be very rich, at least rich enough to get through the backdoor of 'Athena De Alina Learning Academy'. That school should be the school for rich and elitists. It's weird. He's known for being a manwh.o.r.e. The quality of girls from that school should be much superior to ours."

Then she started comparing the upbringing, the number of girls with nicer skin and body. She reasoned out that even though there were quite a few G.o.ddesses-like beauties in Holy Child like her, the number one school in the country doesn't actually lose out on that. No, Athena De Lina should have many high-quality girl students. So how come a lecher like Floyd ended up in their academy?

The team leader snapped his finger to interrupt her roaming thoughts. "It's not really a secret but the Cruz family's heir transferred exactly from that Athena school to your academy, Holy Child."

"Oh?" The girl blinked her eyes and exclaimed. "Why?"

She received no answer. Clearly, the police officer also didn't have an idea.

'The chief knew something. Now I know why he's commanding us to comb out the scene as much as possible for an accomplice.'

This time Simonne's eyes darkened as he spoke.

"I think something is also wrong about that boy's transferring. We're common people but at least we're aware of how important it is for the rich to graduate from that academy. The Cruzes are not exempted from that. TL, let me look into this matter closely."

Job sighed. "Okay. I'll do my best to explain this to the chief. By the way girl, I'm amazed you practically admitted that your academy is not on par with Athena."

"Because it is! Holy Child Academy is just a second rate school. If it's not closer to my house, I won't be attending there."

"Well, Athena De Alina is quite far, at least three hours away."

"Right. Holy Child is at least just a little more than thirty minutes away. But enough of that. Regarding Floyd Cruz, maybe we should also hunt down his friends and close relatives to fish out more information about his past. I'll try going to his student lackeys and pose as a curious student."

"We'll try getting something from the family, but I don't think they will completely cooperate. Everyone else is doing their job to get proof and secure the suspect. Good luck to our side. Wendy thanks for the a.s.sistance."

She shook her head to the mid-thirties man. "I do this because I love crime-solving. And that Floyd who's the prime suspect is someone I hate to death. I will never forgive him for what he planned against me and my best friend. I also hate him for what he did to my best friend yesterday."

Simonne and the team leader did not comment and simply began to work. They badly wanted to finish this already so that they could have their deserved rest.

And as for the girl, she took out her phone to call some people who could help her in her part, unaware of many matters and holes in their conjectures.

No matter how smart Wendy was, her emotions sometimes reigned upon her. She also has an unconditional belief in Sofony's innocence. She would never be able to conclude that it was because Sofony had been targeted that someone Floyd feared acted up, which caused Floyd to **** and kill someone just to get enough points necessary for his escape.

And about Floyd, he was aware that he had left a lead inside the woman's body. He was too lazy to cover up how he raped the woman. He intentionally left that lead, and only requested for his system to mess up with the proofs of murder. The goal was to toy around with the authorities a bit. He was not afraid of being found out since he had already made up his mind to disappear from this city. He just wanted to halve the force dispatch after him by occupying them with a half-a.s.sed mystery.

What he just didn't expect was for a girl to intervene on the investigation, thus steering the procedure to proving he was the sole perpetrator. All this time, he was having this idea that everyone was still busy chasing after the puzzle of 'no murder traces'. And well, even if there was a miscalculation in his part, it didn't matter. The police were not his main concern. They were only idiots not worthy of his real attention.

Floyd Cruz had already escaped. From the magnate demon. That was all that actually mattered.