THE INEVITABLE

CHAPTER 2: A Vague Idea

"I'm gonna find the one who did this to my cousin, and make him regret his very own existence. I'll hunt him down, no matter where or who he is! I'll kill him! Not just normal shoot-at-sight . I should see his ruby red blood pouring on the floor, like an uncontrollable flood. I should hear him scream and beg me to let him go. I should smell the rotting stink of his corpse," said Alex, who was flaming with unimaginable rage in his heart.

"Idiot! Calm down! Are you even hearing yourself? You sound like a psychopath. You, of all people, should know to remain calm in a crime scene. Yes, he is your cousin and an irreplaceable part of your life. But he's no longer among the living. One who acts out of rage always fails. Someone as experienced as you should know it. Do you want to find the killer or not?" asked John.

" yes."

"Then think! Acting out of rage isn't gonna get you anywhere. Think about the motive. It could be anyone. Business competitor, someone with a personal vengeance, anything. Now let's head to the station. "

Within an hour, both of them were standing before their chief. The chief, Mr. Harrison had red hair, redder than the blood and black eyes that were as majestic as a lion, and was 5'5".
" As you know, Mr. Raymond was a VIP. A murder of someone as influential as him definitely demands the best in the force. Who's a more fitting cop-detective duo than you two! But there are protocols. You know blood relatives are kept off the case usually. But, I'm offering you an exception, So, I'll be sending  another officer to keep you in check.", said Harrison.

They were at the crime scene once again. There lay, the outline of the body, marked with chalk, at one end of the hall. On the other end was a bloody handprint on the wall. All the scattered blood was cleared, and no good lead came from that. There was a security camera, inside the house, that recorded the happenings of the night.

"There's nothing good about it. We don't have any clues yet, "said Alex.
"Who said so?" asked John.

"The autopsy report says that he was murdered around 4:00 am. The recordings are stored as files with a 15 minute interval. We have the recording between 3:45 and 4:00, and between 4:15 and 4:30. It means that the killer was aware of this, and he has a decent amount of knowledge. Knowledge, enough to hack into the system and delete the file that contained the recording between 4:00 and 4:15. We see the killer, coming to stab Raymond, at the end of the file between 3:45 and 4:00. In the file between 4:15 and 4:30, we see that the killer is gone, and there's a bloody handprint in one end of the hall, and his corpse at the other end. Moreover, the killer is covered from head to toe. What useful information do you get from this?", asked Alex

"You concluded all this with just a glance at the videos. This is the difference between you and me, between a cop and a detective. You just see happenings, but I see the details. I now have a vague idea of how the killer would be."