White Lies

Suspects

Janus knocked on the door of the apartment. Remy had already given a statement to the police, so his address and contact info was already on file. Based on his statement, Janus and Virgil didn't think he was the one who did anything to Remus. All Remy told them was that he and Remus were having some drinks and dinner, then halfway through Remus started feeling sick so he went home.

The door opened and a man with a leather jacket and sunglasses stood in the doorway. He raised an eyebrow.

"Janus and Virgil Aeneid?" He asked.

Janus nodded, "Remy Kishu?"

Remy nodded as well, "come inside babes, Logan told me you were headed over."

"Thank you." Janus said as he and Virgil walked in.

The apartment smelled like coffee, and almost every piece of furniture looked like the comfiest place to sleep. Remy guided them to the living room, where he gestured for the to sit on a plush couch.

"So," Janus started, "let's get the basic questions aside. Who, what, when, where?"

Remy took a sip of coffee that seemed to have materialized in his hands, "me and Remus, on a date, we got there at about six for happy hour, had a few drinks, dinner, at that bar on first street, uh, Brunos. Then about eight Remus started feeling sick. He stayed for a few minutes but he just kept getting worse, so he went home. I stayed for another ten or so minutes before heading home myself. Then this morning Roman called me asking if I knew were Remus was."

Virgil paled, "so Remus was last seen at eight last night? That means he's been missing for... 16 hours..."

"Is- is that bad?" Remy leaned forward.

Janus sighed, "the first 24 hours of an investigation are the most important. After that, trails go cold. Evidence starts to disappear. That's why it's important to call in a missing person as soon as possible."

"Damn..." Remy sighed.

"Is there anything... Weird? That you remember from that night?" Virgil asked.

"Well, Remus and I both walked to the bar." Remy started, "but when Remus left, I saw him get into a car. I thought he just called an Uber because it was getting late and he wasn't feeling well."

"Do you remember anything about the car?" Janus leaned his arms on his knees.

Remy shook his head, "it was black? Um, a small, four door. I don't know cars, except for fancy ones, so I don't know much else."

"Any identifying features at all?" Virgil asked.

Remy hummed, "it's fuzzy, I was pretty drunk, but I think there was some sort of hood ornament on it. It was oddly shaped, like a... Like a formation of cubes overlayed on one another to form structures?"

"Helpful." Janus rolled his eyes.

"No no, I think that might actually be something." Virgil pulled out his phone, searching for something, "there's a crystal, technically a metal, called bismuth. It has these cube-like crystalline structures. Is this what you saw?"

Virgil showed his phone to Remy. Remy's eyes widened behind his glasses.

"Yeah, yeah that's what I saw." Remy told them.

"A black car with a bismuth hood ornament." Janus nodded, jotting it down in his notebook, "is there anything else?"

Remy shook his head, "no, not really. He checked in with his brother at seven, and then again at eight, right before he started feeling sick. Could you find him? Please?"

"We'll do our best." Virgil reassured him.

"Exactly." Janus nodded, "this information helped a lot."

"I hope so..." Remy sighed.

"Thank you again for helping us." Janus stood up, "if you remember anything else, don't hesitate to call. My brother and I are going to check out the bar now."

"Okay." Remy nodded.

With that, Janus and Virgil left. Virgil felt excitement buzzing in his chest. They had a lead, finally. Janus, though, wasn't as excited.

"Hey Virge," Janus started, "didn't you think it was strange that Remy didn't mention the car to Logan or Patton?"

Virgil frowned, "what? Do you think this is some sort of setup?"

Janus narrowed his eyes, "I don't know. We should tread carefully from now on. And let Logan know about it, see if he can dig up anything on the car."

"Got it." Virgil nodded, "this whole case just feels... Off."

"I know." Janus agreed.