Little Red Murder

Chapter 3 - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

William grabbed the two remaining files and pieces of evidence from Alexander's desk. "Scarlett, don't worry!" He yelled into the other room. "You'll be out soon, I promise!"

Soon, huh? Scarlett thought as she sat down. Just how soon are we talking about here? Hours? Days? I didn't abandon you, so I know you won't abandon me.

William started the engine and drove off. The closest reliable laboratory had to be in the next city over, he thought, resigned. Don't lose hope, Scarlett. He parked the car and ran into the laboratory with the files and evidence still in his hands.

Scarlett lied down on the cold, metal bench. She stared at the ceiling and tried to piece together everything that had happened. No witnesses; our fingerprints on the knife; Will's bloodied badge; a plastic glove with dried glue on each of the fingertips; a blood trail. Just what am I missing here? She thought. Maybe Mayor White was right. This may just go deeper. I hope Will manages to find whatever that missing piece is.

In the laboratory, William laid out the evidence and files flat on the table. He opened Scarlett's resume and held up inks of her fingerprints before setting it back down. Alex, if you lied to us, you better hope God has mercy on you because I won't. He carefully placed it down and put on gloves. William removed his badge from the plastic bag and placed it underneath an LED device as he turned off the ceiling lights. It emitted a blue light that shone onto the badge. He added an orange filter and changed the light spectrum.

He turned the badge and found his fingerprints on it. Figures, he thought as he removed the knife from its plastic container and switched it with the badge. Upon closer inspection, he saw the other set of fingerprints. He checked back at Scarlett's file. Prints from her right hand, he thought. That makes my fingerprints the distraction. Why frame her? Why frame me? William turned off the device and opened a drawer. Where is it? It has to be in here somewhere.

He pulled out an infrared camera and snapped a few pictures of the knife handle as he turned on the lights and rushed into the dark room. He developed the film and hung them to dry. William rushed back out and pulled out the plastic glove that Scarlett found previously. Superglue processing, don't fail me now, he thought as he inverted the glove and grabbed a brush.

Meanwhile, Scarlett stared at the television monitor on the corner of the room. It showed the news cycling through the death of Anastasia Volkov, but this time, a reporter was interviewing Alexander.

"The case is still under heavy investigation and we should have the culprit within forty-eight hours from now," Alexander told the reporter. "We have our suspects, but we will not reveal their identities until we are certain we have found the murderer."

Alex, just what's going on in your head? Scarlett thought and closed her eyes. Her consciousness slowly drifted apart from reality and she fell asleep.

Several hours passed as a loud ringing woke William up in the lab. He quickly got up and accidentally hit his head against the LED device. "Ow!" He yelled. How long was I out? He thought and checked his phone only to see it was one in the morning. Seven hours since I let everything dry.

He took out the glove and photographed the fingerprints before mirroring the pictures. "Caught you," he said out loud as he took out the dried film from the dark room and noticed something unusual from the glove.

He inverted it back to normal and peeled off a thin layer of the dried glue. A second layer of fingerprints? He thought as he quickly set it underneath the LED device and turned it on. William placed the film into a projector and compared the infrared prints with Scarlett's. A perfect match. William quickly grabbed the files and the new evidence as he ran out to the car.

Scarlett woke up to the sound of a large bang. What the... She thought and looked around. In the doorway, a policeman fell and his body was dragged out. William stepped through the doorway and ran up to Scarlett's cell.

"Will, what did you do?!" Scarlett demanded. "Please tell me you didn't actually kill them! What time is it?"

"Don't worry," William said as he unlocked her cell. "I just knocked them out. Look, obviously they wouldn't let me through. So, I had to fight my way through. It's three in the morning; we have to get going."

"Was it a fight or did you ambush them?" Scarlett asked as she stepped out of the cell. "And just great, the Witching Hour."

"It was more like I waited for them to turn around before I hit them with a fire extinguisher," William said. "Anyway, look. I found out the culprit's identity."

"Is it Alex?" Scarlett crossed her arms.

"Yes! It's- wait, how did you figure it out?" William asked.

"I didn't. It was just my first guess based on the fact that he didn't question me, take away my stuff or even demand for an alibi." Scarlett sighed. "Where's your evidence?"

"Ironically, the fingerprints," William said. "After this is over, I don't want to deal with any prints for some time. The glove you found had his fingerprints, but that dried glue had two layers: The first was an incorrect order from my hands, but the second layer had the exact order from your right hand. Whatever his motive is, we'll just have to get it out of him."

"Resorting to fear," Scarlett said. "So where are we going?"

"First, his apartment." William answered. "If he's not there, we may find something of his that proves it was him."

"Lead the way," Scarlett said.