Zam the Hybrid

16. The Only Lead

"You sure this is the place?" Zam asked.

"This is the address the boys at the station gave me," Emily shrugged, rereading her notepad, double checking the address.

"Apparently being a professional poker player doesn't pay very well," Zam commented, glancing around at the dingy hallway. The door to the flat that allegedly belonged Phillip Vine, their main suspect, was dirty beyond belief, covered in a thick layer of dust and grime.

"I mean, he did lose everything," Emily pointed out. "I guess he was forced to... downgrade."

"Still, this is not a nice area," Zam said. The area of Goldenrod they were in had the highest crime rate of the city.

Emily knocked on the door, no doubt causing need for extreme sanitation later, and said, "Phillip Vine? It's the police, open up!"

They waited for a few moments but there was no response. "He doesn't seem to be in," Zam said.

Emily sighed. "Well I can try and get a warrant but I doubt I'll get it. We don't exactly have any hard evidence, more of a hunch."

"I suppose we'll just have to make do without one," Zam shrugged, before retrieving a large set of keys from his blazer pocket and stepping towards the door.

"What do you mean?" Emily said, no doubt eyeing him with great suspicion as he inspected the lock on the door carefully.

"Well, we've got to get in somehow haven't we?" Zam said, picking what seemed to be the best key for the job. He inserted it and began tapping and attempting to turn it.

"No!" Emily said in a harsh whisper. "We're not breaking in!"

"Well turn your back if you don't want to see it."

"Zam no—" Just then, the lock clicked and the door swung open. He turned to her and grinned, only to meet a look of utter confusion. "How did you do that?"

"It's a bump key," Zam said, showing her the seemingly unimpressive key. "Works on most locks, especially in a place like this where security is somewhat lacking. Honestly, do they not teach you about these sorts of things?"

"We usually try not to break the law," Emily said, shaking her head.

"We haven't broken any laws!" Zam protested. "We opened the door with a key! That makes it legal."

"Let's just get in and get this over with," Emily sighed, taking a step into the room and immediately coming to a halt. "You smell that?"

"Oh yeah," Zam nodded. The vile smell that filled their nostrils was particularly distinctive.

"Bedroom?" Emily asked, pointing to a slightly ajar door to their right.

"Emily, I'm flattered," Zam replied, "But this is hardly the time or place, and, according to Taylor, sex with other women is strictly prohibited unless she deems a threesome to be acceptable which I apparently shouldn't get my hopes up for."

"Just follow me," Emily sighed, trudging through junk and garbage that lay littered about the filthy room. Slowly, she pushed the bedroom door open, revealing a man, lying face down on the bed. There was no life in him whatsoever. The smell and sight had only one conclusion: the man was dead.

Zam and Emily barely showed even a moment of emotion. They simply got to work examining the scene and the body, trying to find out how this man could've died. Emily put on a pair of white gloves and inspected the victim, turning out his pockets, lifting up his arms, checking behind his ears, doing everything in her power to find a cause of death or a sign of struggle. Meanwhile, Zam searched the room for any trace of evidence left behind by a potential killer, looking for any sign of intrusion. The room was messy but did not appear to have been disturbed in any way. Dust seemed to have begun to settle on everything that lay around the room and he couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.