Just Tourists ✔️

Chapter 22

Used a bit of Italian in this chappie but I used google translate so if you know Italian and spot anything off, make sure to let me know :)

Also remember updates are on Tuesdays but CALIFORNIA TIME cuz that's where I live

"What do you mean it's not Marcos's?" I asked approaching Palma.

"Let them tell us everything they did first," Tiffany interjected as we all gathered in a circle at the center of Marco's room.

"Well, we first checked all the windows and doorways but so far we haven't found any signs of forced entry. No foreign DNA was found in the room either, other than this speck of blood anyways," Bianca began.

"We used Luminol, which is a chemical that exhibits chemiliuminescence and with the proper oxidizing agent it reacts with the iron found in hemoglobin," Palma rapidly explained but we all stared at her in confusion. She sighed and took off her glasses.

"Luminol reacts to blood and glows in the dark so when we sprayed it around the room and turned off the lights, we were able to identify a small speck of blood by Marco's desk," Palma repeated, this time so that we understood her.

"Now DNA usually takes much longer to analyze but since we're in a rush, I used an identifying method that I've been working on that should recognize DNA samples three times faster than usual. According to my method, the blood doesn't match Marco's or anyone else's here at the embassy," Palma summarized.

"So someone was definitely here in Marco's room," I concluded.

"But nothing was caught on camera according to the Prime Minister," Tiffany explained.

"Ok our time for today is nearly up and we still have to report to Head Quarters," Lavender reminded us.

"Lavender is right, but I need to look at the ransom note. It could have DNA that we could match to the blood. We'll look at the security footage tomorrow," I reasoned and it seemed like everyone agreed.

We cleaned up our areas with out disturbing any of Marco's things and Palma made sure to put the blood sample in a biohazard bag so no one could contaminate it. We placed the bio hazard bag and my notes from the interview in one file to give it to my aunt or Sara.

"You know what doesn't add up though?" I asked them as we walked down the hall and towards the staircase.

"What?" Karlie asked.

"The motive. If this is a kidnapping then why Marco? In terms of politics he's basically irrelevant compared to his father or his older brother," I noted and no one responded.

"I don't know but I'm getting an off feeling about Giovanni," Tiffany repeated and we continued through the hallways and out of the embassy all together.

Everyone traveled quietly out of the embassy gates, each stuck in their own world of thoughts. This wasn't a particularly difficult or dangerous case like other's that we have encountered but it was oddly baffling since every clue so far has led to a dead end.

I ended up sitting shotgun in Karlie's VW, or as Akio called it after we told him about it, the Mystery Machine. I felt a lot safer with an actual seat belt strapped safely across my chest this time around. Karie was no better of a driver this time either but at least we were getting to the museum fast.