The Case Puzzle

Chapter 3

I had to make sure if I saw correctly or I was mistaken. But if it wasn't a dead body, what could it be? A bag of potatoes?

I headed to the police station again the next day. I looked around but there was no sign of Mr Duncan. I asked one of the constables on his whereabouts and found out that he was away because of a hit-and-run accident that happened nearby.

"I came here yesterday to check the CCTV footage of the Wellsworth Hospital, representing the Harrington law firm. Do you have the CCTV footage? Can I check something for a minute?" I requested.

The constable accepted and directed me towards one of their computers. I sat down and started going through it again. Soon, I became frustrated with the computer. I called the constable again.

"Is something wrong with the computer? Why are there so many glitches on it?"

The constable shook his head and sighed. "I went through the records many times and even checked the computer. Nothing is wrong. I confirmed with other police stations and the prison who received the CCTV footage. All of them got the camera footage and had glitches in them."

"The CCTV footage worked quite fine on Mr Duncan's laptop," I remarked.

"Did you check everything? I'm sure there were some glitches, though he took them directly from the hospital. The people from the hospital themselves stated that there had been some problem with their CCTV cameras for some days and they are being repaired right now. It's useless checking the CCTV footage right now. The police are doing their best looking for the escaped prisoner," the constable explained and walked away.

I rubbed my temples into concentration. Mr Duncan got the footage directly from the hospital and it worked just fine. The camera footage the police stations received was handed over to them by the hospital.

What if the CCTV footage was tampered with by somebody before it was given to the police stations? I slammed my hands on the desk loudly and stood up so quickly that the chair screeched back. Yes, that's it!

Then I noticed the silence in the middle of my amazing temporary conclusion. Everyone stopped their work and were looking at me. I could feel the judgement in their eyes.

I chuckled nervously and clapped my hands in the air. "Ahaha, it's just those flies. They are such pests." And I walked out quickly to avoid further embarrassment.

☆☆☆

I sat at my desk again after lunch, searching for inspiration as I analysed the pictures I took.

"Has the burglary case finally been closed?" I asked Eliyah who was busy typing something on her laptop.

"Yup, I'm just finishing its report right now."

I sighed and looked back at my phone. Eliyah's eyes wandered to me for a second before she continued typing. "What's up with your case?" she inquired.

"Pfft, finally you asked!" I exclaimed and started ranting off about my problems, difficulties, complaints or whatever they could be called.

"I am at a dead end," I finished. By then, Eliyah already stopped typing, closed her laptop and was listening to me.

"Give me your phone," she demanded. I handed it over to her as she looked at the pictures as well.

"Did you search the ambulance in the picture by its licence plate?"

"I did. I looked around for it and asked some of the security guards. They said it was sent for repairs."

"Hmm, you could go check for it wherever it was sent to be repaired. Maybe you could get a little hint by asking around. Like who drove it there or when it was sent there, before the disappearance or after."