The Devil In Disguise

A Helping Hand

Waiting for Claude in his office was a black-haired man in a posh suit, leather briefcase on the floor by his ankle. Claude opened the door and sat down opposite his boss.
"Mr Barrett." He said, "What brings you here?"
"I wanted to check on the progress of the investigation."
"Of course. Well, we haven't got much yet, but it's very early days. One suspect, one potential lead, and a DNA test that we're waiting for."

"Sounds good. Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I'm bringing an amateur detective onto the case to assist you- she's been in the field for a year or so, but not nearly as long as you. I believe this case will be rather big, and I want you to have help."
"Yes, sir. Is she here today?"
"She is." Mr Barrett pressed a button on Claudes desk, which connected them to a secretary. "Hi, can you send in Miss Melissa Blaire please?"
"Of course, sir."

Claude and his boss sat in silence for a few seconds, before the door opened and a brunette woman with startlingly blue eyes entered. She smiled at Claude, and came over to shake his hand. "Hi. I'm Lissa, I'm going to be helping with your case."
"Hi Lissa, I'm Claude. Nice to meet you."

"Right." Mr Barrett said. "Now, I've gotten you two a shared office on the second floor, with your own secretary, desks, whiteboard, and other necessities to help with the case. If you're lucky, I might even let you keep it."
Claude nodded.

The office was a pretty decent size, with big windows facing the city gardens and desks for each of them, as well as a coffee machine- Claude's favourite part- and as promised, whiteboards and magnets. Mr Barrett got an urgent call and left with a quick apology.

While Claude made himself a coffee- his third one of the day- Lissa printed off a couple photos and grabbed a red whiteboard marker. As he took his first sip of the deliciously bitter mixture and let out a contended sigh, he walked over to see her handiwork. A photo of his uncle- of the victim- was there, with a red line to a photo of the house, and one of Mrs Williams. Claude frowned slightly, before stepping up and writing 'knife', 'hot chocolate', and 'laughter', on the board in blue.

"It's always important to add your evidence. Not just suspects and victims."
"I was getting there, I swear." Lissa defended.
Suddenly, the office door burst open and Laura came sprinting in. "Claude!" She said, not even glancing at Lissa. "The DNA results for the hot chocolate came back- no obvious footprints, sadly, but there was some dirt in it."
"That's a lead." He replied. "Do they know from where?"
"They think it's from an area around the victims house."

"Yeah, well, that would make sense." Claude said, sitting back in his chair with a sigh. "Can you email me through the evidence so far?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Oh- me too!" Lissa said.
Laura looked her up and down. Claude didnt notice the slight flare of cruelty in her eyes. "Uh, sure. What's your email?"

Claude tuned them out, opening Google and using his account to log into the security system for the city, which allowed him to watch the security footage from any cameras around his uncle's house on that night.

Most investigations followed the same pattern. First, test any evidence. Second, take fingerprints from anyone who had been at the scene- suspects, victim, officers. Check if they match up. Third, check security cams around the city. Take note of any suspicious activity.

Bingo- a lead. At around ten pm, a silhouette slipped up the porch, fiddling with the lock on the door for  barely ten seconds before entering. They were only in the circle of light- a slightly lighter shade of grey on Claudes screen- for a second. He froze that moment, and zoomed in. He couldn't make out any very defining features, but he printed a screenshot anyway and added it to a new folder for the case.

This was going to be a difficult one.

{695 words}