Murders of the Past

In the Line of Fire

"Argo, I cannot believe the New Haven Police Station has caught on fire!" Maddie exclaims, "what's worse, I hear the fire started in the evidence room... and that's where we store the evidence from our own cases, as well! We must go make sure we can salvage as much as possible! Onward!"

In front of the New Haven Police Station...

"Detective O'Malley! Detective Argo! You've arrived in time!" a fireman pants as he removes his hat to wipe sweat from his brow, "I'm Billy Thompson of the Concordia Fire Brigade. We've just put out the fire!"

"Pleasure to meet you," Maddie responds, "we're here to oversee the salvaging efforts of the evidence room! We do hope there hasn't been too much damage!"

"That will have to wait! We lost one of our best firemen to the flames!" he sighs, "his name was Otis Kidd. I found his body in the station lobby. I cannot believe he's dead!"

"Our condolences, Mr. Thompson, but-"

"That's not all!" he interrupts, "we have reason to believe the fire was not an accident!"

She gasps, "dash my wig! Arson and a dead body? Argo, we must get to the bottom of this!"

Argo nods in agreement, "sì! Signor Thompson, we'll take over from here! Maddie, there's no time to waste! Into the police station we go!"

With the station being declared safe for investigation, Argo and Maddie carefully climbed over the rubble partially blocking the doorway to enter the lobby. True to Billy's word, they immediately found a dead firefighter lying on top of a pile of fallen cement and wood just inside the entranceway. As Maddie inspected the body, Argo and Caspian walked further into the room. They navigated around the debris until they found a chard metal barrel knocked onto its side behind a fallen support beam. The barrel was badly burned like the rest of the room, but its contents looked salvageable.

"Oh my, Argo! This man's nearly all burned up!" Maddie says as she notices a large blood stain on the man's back, "however, I don't believe it was the fire that killed him! It appears he's been shot in the back!"

"Then this man's death must be murder!" Argo deduced.

"I imagine Mr. Thompson will be saddened by the news. A colleague dying in the line of duty is heroic, but one dying by a gunshot is murder!" she sighs, standing up, "this murder could be connected to our arson investigation! If that's the case, we must solve it at once!"

"And this charred barrel might hold some clues!" he suggested, tapping it with a crutch, "let's search through it!"

"Also, since the fire started in the evidence room, it's best if we speak with Officer Whimple, the evidence room clerk!" she replies, looking around in hopes of using the station's telegram machine to contact the team.

While Maddie searched for the telegram machine, Argo searched the burned barrel. He puts his gloves on to protect his skin from the remaining embers smouldering inside as he sifts through the papers, photos, and glass bottles filling the container. He found a strange wooden cup in the barrel that wouldn't have been so suspicious if it wasn't for the bloody handprint on it.

"I managed to send word to the team of Otis Kidd's murder, so Dick should be here shortly!" Maddie reports as she returns from her telegram hunt.

"Maddie, this wooden cup is stained with blood!" Argo announces, holding up the cup for her to see, "perhaps the killer tried to get rid of this!"

"With blood on this cup, the best person to see is Viola. We must get this to her immediately!" she urged.

With the message sent to the airship, Argo and Maddie searched the station for Officer Whimple. Near the back half of the precinct, they found him attempting to clear the rubble from the hallway blocking the path to the evidence room. There were a lot of stones and wood littering the hall, but Edward was making headway with his efforts.