Another Way

Interlude IV: Investigation

It was as if every new day only made this mess of a case even more utterly incoherent.

The man stared intently at a chalkboard full of scribbles occupying much of his office. This wasn't their investigation to be undertaking. Helping the cops as subject matter experts and for search and rescue operations, sure, but not as a driving force. They weren't equipped, trained, or—for the most part—even willing to have anything more to do with this case than the absolute minimum possible.

And yet, he found it too perplexing to look away.

To the surprise of the woodland authority and law enforcement alike, there just so happened to be several witnesses nearby when... whatever had happened, happened. None of them saw it, but they all heard it. One by one, their statements were taken, contributing valuable knowledge to what had become known as the 'Sue Mullins Incident'.

Contrary to all the throwaway YouTube videos released within the first week of the disappearance becoming public, no witnesses had heard a gunshot. What they did hear, however, were two loud bangs and a woman's scream.

He wasn't supposed to know any of this, but sometimes having a cop 'friend' one barely tolerates pays off.

Quick action and well-detailed maps of the surrounding woods let many witnesses pinpoint their position when they heard it all start. From there, it became possible to triangulate the approximate positions of the bangs and the scream, as well as establish a rudimentary timeline of events.

Which—

*ughhhhhhh...*

The man sighed deeply as he rubbed his forehead, attempting to focus after three shots too many. His every attempt to piece this together had ended the same way—with frustration, inebriation, or more often than not, both. And yet, he just couldn't look away. It was a mess, an intricate mess that had to mean something, but which nobody could crack.

Sound 1—12.04.2023, 2:13 PM local time.

The first bang is heard. The approximate location where it had originated from has been nicknamed 'point beta'. Point beta is a location around 800 meters from where the victim's items were found—nicknamed as 'point alpha'—in the east-southeast direction.

Sound 2—12.04.2023, 2:15 PM local time, described as anywhere from one to two minutes after sound 1.

A scream of a woman in her young twenties is heard, originating from point alpha. It is described as sounding agonized and abruptly cutting off.

Sound 3—12.04.2023, 2:16 PM local time, described as anywhere from twenty to thirty seconds after sound 2.

The second bang is heard, identical to the first one, originating from point alpha.

It was the most obvious instance of Foul Play that most involved in the investigation had ever seen in their lives, and yet they couldn't find a single piece of useful evidence. No traces of third parties' DNA, no footprints, no casings or gunpowder residue.

Nothing that would indicate just what the bangs were, nothing pointing towards any specific perpetrator—

Or at least, that's what the case was until yesterday.

The report that had reached the police—and three hours later, the man's—desk took everyone aback in more ways than one. There indeed was no typical evidence, but a more detailed investigation of points alpha and beta found—

Good fuck, that felt silly to say out loud, but was too significant to not be relevant somehow.

—small amounts of very fine gold dust scattered around the forest floor. And not just any gold dust, radioactive gold dust, enough so for the entire initial search and rescue team to be forced to undergo decontamination. In addition, the air at the two points was also discovered to have a substantial concentration of ozone, and the grass at point beta was noticed to have been slightly flattened in a radial pattern away from a central spot.

What in the hell did any of that actually imply, they couldn't figure out. Just what these two bangs were, they couldn't figure out.

What was the significance of the dead squirrel they found near point alpha, determined to have died by being thrown hard enough at a nearby tree to break its spine while somehow having no foreign DNA on it,

They couldn't figure out.

All the revelations were weird enough to grab the attention of several government agencies—including His Majesty's Revenue and Customs—but they didn't help the actual investigation one bit.

Who knew, maybe it was some sort of centrally planned assassination? Maybe this college student with no friends and no family really knew enough state secrets to where she had to be eliminated in the most baffling way possible. Maybe she had become a victim of a mad nuclear chemist on the run.

Maybe Fate just felt particularly funny that day—

*ba-ping!*

Oh, fuck off.