Police Squad '91

Slipped

"Let's get out of here." Arm said as the policemen sealed the body bag containing the deceased girl.

The team rushed to where the victim was found - an abandoned construction site - as soon as Alice informed them. Squad '91 watched closely as forensic examiners processed the crime scene.

Just as they were leaving, something caught Tay's eyes, causing him to stop abruptly.

"What's that?" Tay curiously pointed at the ground.

Arm crouched down to look closer to where Tay was pointing at. "Looks like..." Arm looked at Tay and then at Off.

"Are there still people from the forensics team here?" Arm shouted. There were faint marks left on wet sand, but they sure look like shoeprints.

"It's going to be hard to find clues based on this, but it's a good find. We almost missed this."said the forensics guy.

"Well, that's new." Off said as they walked to their car.

"Something's definitely off." Tay said as he discards his used gloves.

Arm nodded. "The suspect has been careful for the last three murders. Not a spot left unchecked - no fingerprints, no DNA, no traces on the cctv cameras. Leaving a shoeprint behind is an odd mistake."

"Agreed. On the outside it looks like the typical Nightcrawler modus, but I can't shake off the feeling that something isn't right."

"Seeing dead bodies will never be right, unless you're some psycho killer who preys on the weak when they're most vulnerable." Punn added as he climbed onto the police car with the detectives.

"Wow. For once you sound like you actually care." Off teased Punn, earning him a smack at the back of the head.

"I may not be as kindhearted as my twin but I'm not heartless like you, asshole."

"Speaking of your brother - " Punn shot Off a death glare, causing the latter to zip his mouth. Contrary to what other people may think, Off knows how to read the mood. Right now, Punn isn't having it.

"Punn. You think you can find this guy?" Arm spoke, indirectly reigning in the bickering boys.

"With half a shoeprint? I'm not a sorcerer, Arm. I'm gonna need more than that."

Arm looked at Punn through the rearview mirror. "Then let's get you more."
,
*****

"Toxicology report is gonna take a while so we'll have to wait and see if it's Nightcrawler's signature Polonium poisoning." Alice told the guys.

"For now, we'll treat this as Nightcrawler's fourth case but we're not discounting the fact that this may be a different killer all together." Arm directed.

"Yes, sir." Tay said as he flipped through the inital reports on the crime scene and the body. "Jane Doe - unidentified female. Estimated to be between 19-21 years old. Finger and toe prints were removed, face badly beaten, the word "whore" etched into the victim's skin - just below the abdomen and on both thighs - using some sharp object, presumably a scalpel or some other medical tool. Like the others, she's -"

"She's what?" Off said, looking up from his phone where he's keeping important notes to where his friend is. "We don't have the whole day, Tay. Keep going."

"Fucking asshole." Punn muttered as he peeked over Tay's shoulders to look at the report.

"Signs of sexual abuse noted..." Tay continued.

Off's jaw clenched. "It's either a different killer trying to pass this as a Nightcrawler victim to mislead the investigation, or..."

"He's getting more dangerous. Bolder. More confident that he can get away with these monstrous acts." Arm continued what Off and the rest of the guys are thinking.

"A direct slap on the police's face, huh?" Punn taunted, earning him a warning look from all three men and even Alice. "Just stating facts, man." Punn said in mock surrender.

Even Arm is now pissed at Punn. He's good at what he does but at the end of the day, Arm is gambling his name and his position by trusting Punn and his intel, wherever in the world they came from.

Just before the team dispersed, one of Alice's subordinates arrived to give reports on samples obtained from the dead woman.

"It's Polonium poisioning." Alice declared. The chances that the killer is a copycat is slim now - not only is this chemical hard to find, the type of poision used on the victims is classified information so only a handful of people knows about it.

"We're waiting for a DNA match to identify Jane Doe, but we got a match on the semen found on her body."

That got the attention of everyone in the room. Will they finally put a face on the devil behind these gruesome cases?

Arm wanted to see for himself who the match was.

"Fuck."

"What? Who is it, Arm?"

"Guess we won't be needing you on this one." Arm said to Punn. "It won't be too hard to find this guy."

*****

"No luck." Off said, running his hand through his hair in frustration as he enters the observation room where Tay and Arm watched him interrogate the suspect. "Asshole is intent on keeping his mouth shut until his lawyers arrive."

"Where's Gun? We found his DNA inside a dead woman killed by Polonium poisoning. Isn't that enough to indict him?" Tay said, looking for their prosecutor friend. They can't let the Nightcrawler slip from their hands again.

Off and Tay both looked at Arm who have not said a word since they put the suspect in the interrogation room.

Feeling their gaze on him, Arm bit his lip, as if deeply pondering on how to address his teammates.

"It's Toy Pathompong, guys. Husband of the King's niece. He's related to the fucking Royal family. I can already hear my father screaming at me for even putting him in handcuffs." Arm said.

"So what if he's connected to the Royal family? Damn asshole brutally murdered four innocent girls." Off said.

"I'm with Off on this one. We have to put him behind bars as soon as possible. Letting him go now might mean another dead body by midnight."

"Look, guys. I get where you're coming from, but I want to make sure we corner him. A straight confrssion admitting to the crime is the best evidence." Arm reasoned out. "We need to make sure we cover all bases - make sure he has no alibi during the time of death, we need evidence of him getting his hands on Polonium, cctv footage of him or his car within the vicinity of the crime scene...I want him trapped with no escape."

Just then, Gun entered the room. He took a brief look at Off who remained seated and deep in thought, before taking the seat next to Arm.

"Arm is right. One wrong move and Toy's lawyers can use it against us."

"Hey. Thought you weren't coming. Thanks for dropping by." Tay said.

"I'm expecting his lawyers to use every little thing against us so I wanted to make sure you people stick to the rules." Gun explained

Through the one-way mirror, Gun took a closer look at the guy seated in the next room. "Good job not messing with his face. You read him his rights before cuffing him?" Gun added.

Off nodded. "We followed every damn thing on the book."

Seeing that Toy's lawyers - some of the most elite men in the field - enter the interrogation room, Arm left to attempt to get a confession out of Toy.

Not long after Arm left, Off received a phone call from New.

"Are you with Toy? Shit, of course you are. Stop whatever you're doing. I have something you need to see first."