They gather outside the department as the fire gets put out. Mr Detective give his own take on what happened to the fire department, that a candle had fallen where the new guy and Niction himself struggled to put it out. He couldn’t bring himself to interfere with the obvious lie, he knew he should speak up but what could he say? What evidence could he present to make everyone believe him? The sound of a carriage squealing to a stop announces itself behind him, out emerges Ms.Evi Dance, the other evidence technician who worked alongside Tex.
“Shit my work was in there!” Evi yells in rage, stomping her feet all the way to where the new guy and Mr. Detective are standing.
“Oi what's with the waterworks New guy? Not just scared of bodies but scared of fire! You’re really not cut out for this line of works'' she laughs trying to lighten the mood. The rest of the team arrives soon after, all gathering to see the state of the office.
“When is Tex going to show up?” Ana asks, guilt consumes the new guy, sitting like a rock in his stomach. Mr. Detective puts a hand on her shoulder to silence her.
“Tex Niction ended up getting caught in the fire, me and the new guy couldn’t find him in time, were deeply sorry to inform you.” Mr Detective announces the news with a voice as gentle as he could. Rage filled the new guy, angered by the sorrow in the detective's voice compared to how he brutally murdered their friend. The mood immediately changes within the group, everyone quite unsure what to say as the smoke from the building twirls around them.
` “So this murder got another one of us,” states lystcifer gripping his fist tightly trying to hold back his own sorrow.
“Yeah,” the new guy speaks up before the detective could respond, that's all that could be said about the situation.
Eventually everyone either leaves the scene to mourn in private or investigates what's left of the office. Both Mr. Detective’s office and the analyst lab, including all the research and evidence in those rooms, are entirely destroyed. New guy enters his original office, the room where the second murder had taken place since his arrival, looking at the papers too far gone to read, there's nothing left. He takes out a notepad from his cabinet and begins writing down what he remembers from his previous research; the detective has been in the business for awhile, the victim of the last murder has a connection to the detective, the detective is a murder but no one will believe me… the detective has a connection to the victim! His eureka moment fills him with joy as he packs his things and runs out of his own office, he now has a lead.
Arriving once again to the mansion, he can't believe its only been 3 days since his life has been turned completely around. The house feels different without all the police and detectives swarming the scene, its as if nothing had even happened to begin with. He knocks twice at the door and awaits a response. His stomach begins to turn at the memory of his first impressions of the interior, afraid that the damaged furniture and blood would still be haunting the room. However, to his surprise an older lady, one of the members who was being interviewed by the private detective, opens the door.
“Beat it if you're here to solicit,” she gripes, clearly not one for any funny business.
“Can you tell me more about your family’s relationship to Mr. Detective,” New guy states exactly what he wants, coming off as strong as he is.
“Excuse me! We just lost our dearest Martina and you come to our front door with this!” as she slams the door, New guy puts his foot in between the gap.
“Please, you people are my only lead.” New guy pleads, looking as pathetic as he did the first day he was at the mansion. There standoff ends when the woman gives in,
“Hurry in, we've already had enough of your people in our lives.” The woman spats, pulling the new guy inside. The house is now empty, now reeking of cleaner instead of blood. The woman sits him down at the table.
“Her husband is at work at the moment, so i’ll have to answer all your questions.”
“What did the private detective want with you?”
“Wow, you really don't sugar coat anything, He was asking about the case your detective had worked on-”
“What happened on the case”
“I was getting there! Cool it whipper snapper! Back then My Martina had fallen in love with a man, her current husband, but suddenly he had disappeared. She had reached out to your department, years ago ofcourse, but he had completely rejected her! Saying that he had probably left, cheated on her! Obviously this wasn’t the case, and after we hired a private detective we had found out he had been kidnapped. We got him back and the detective we had hired had become famous from the case, his name was Herlock or something.” she waves her hand as she explains,finally the gaps from the research paper have been filled in!
“So Mr. Detective failed that case then?”
“Failed? His reputation was ruined for awhile, that's probably why he came over and murdered our Martina,” the woman sighed,
“Murdered! You knew?” new guy shouts
“Not till last night, the news broke about that private detective, asking the same questions you’re asking now. The detective is probably going to go after you because of this, if he isn’t already,” she looks at him with pity, he really is a pitiful creature at the moment, all he can do is stay silent.
“Her husband is taking me and the other maids to a new place, you should skip town to if you know what's good for ya.” She gets up to pour herself a cup of tea.
“Thank you for your time Ma’am,” The new guy announces as he heads for the door.
“Take care sir,” she hums as he leaves, both reassured and disheartened by the information.