Detective Ariana.

Chapter 4

"He's back"

"Who's back?"

He looked at me with a 'You-call-yourself-a-future-detective-and-you-don't-even-know-what-this- sign-means' look. I looked back at him with a 'How-do-you-expect-me-to- know-what-this-symbol-means-or-do- you-actually-think-I'm-an-85-year-old with-time-to-study-in-a-1000-year-old- library-looking-for-symbols?' look.

He gave me a confused look and finally told me the identity of the "He" he had said earlier.

"This is Roman Santiago's personal kill-mark"

"Oh! Why didn't you tell me it was Roman Santiago who was behind all this?!"

"I didn't say he was behind all this, I just said he might have killed them since it's his kill-mark"

"Do you mean them as in just three of them or them as in the entire room?"

"How do you know he killed these people?"

"No no no, I didn't say that now, did I? I didn't use the word kill neither did I use your words, did I?" I smirked

"Ugh! Let's just continue"

"Okay, I just got a text telling me that we should be careful and watch where we step. Dam....."

I trailed off as I saw him about to step on some minuscule but shiny items on the floor, thanks to my contacts, I saw them. I hadn't seen these particular ones since the incident, since... then.

I quickly held his shoulder and stopped him at the last moment. 

"What do you think you're doing?! Didn't you listen to a word I said?"

"I'm sorry but the last time I checked, you aren't my mum or my parent"

"I'm sorry, I over reacted, I'm just tense right now"

"Hey, look at me, if there's anything you want off your chest, just tell me, okay?"

"Okay, thanks"

"Good, now explain why I shouldn't have taken that step"

"On the floor, zoom in your contact lens"

"Wow! What are those?"

"They are SmallSpikes. They're super sensitive and if they detect any trace of movement, they alert the device that was used to program them".

"Wait! So are they are more than we're seeing right now?"

"Well yes, one pack has at-least 1500 and they are minuscule, also we are in a big room so do the math and don't get spotted"

"Okay, thanks. Also how did I not know yet you knew about them?"

"I really don't want to talk about it but if you want to kn..."

"No, you don't owe me anything, let's just continue"

"Yeah, I'd appreciate that" I said on the brink of tears.

He looked back at me with a kind of sympathetic look before straightening up and he told me; 

"Hey, don't get all sappy on me. You always smile, so do that now, if you can't, at least attempt"

I glared at him and then he said;

"At least that's better than the tears" 

I just shrugged that off and then we walked for a while until we got to the middle of the room.

"Hey, tell me, are you observant?" I asked.

"Yes, obviously, if not I won't be fit or this job then"

"Hmm? I highly doubt that because you would have observed that something was out of place in this room"

"Well, there were a lot of bodies here"

"And?"

"And what?"

"Look around"

"I still don't see anything"

"Damien, observe and tell me the difference now"

"Well as I said, the bodies are here"

I put my hand to my forehead in disappointment.

"And what do they all have in common?" I asked as I smirked slightly

"Well, we passed a lot of them with their foreheads etched wit..."

He paused for a long time.

"Finally you realise that that's not normal, but please keep it down because I feel as if something's wrong like someone's watching us"

"Okay"

We made our way to the staircase when I realised something.

"Hey, stop for a moment", I said.

He stopped and waited for me to continue.

'Such a gentleman'

"We were in the building the whole time, right?" I asked, continuing.

"Yes, we were. Why're you asking?"

"Remember the SmallSpikes we found, well... they were modified to do other stuff apart from alerting for intruders about 6 months ago"

"Things like what?"

"Like sending electro-magnetic pulses through hard surfaces like marble"

"So?"

"These people didn't just drop on the floor for no reason, did they?"

"No, they didn't"

"And if they did, we would have known, right?"

"Well yes. So are you telling me these electro-magnetic pulses had a way of neutralising the people without us knowing"

"Well yes, the SmallSpikes' electro-magnetic pulse can make people fall unconscious and without noise. The people systematically drop to their knees and fall without a sound."

"Oh! So the people down there were stunned..."

"...Due to the shocks being conducted by the marble floor" I completed for him.

He nodded his head in realisation but stopped for a while and said;

"But the stars etched into their heads, I don't understand"

"Wait! You said it yourself, right? The lady we saw earlier had a black star etched into her forehead, right? That was probably post-mortem and all these people have stars etched into their heads. The lady's star was probably brutal to kill her because it was by the boss himself"

"Meaning Roman Santiago is in the building"

"Yes but I don't get how all the other people had stars etched into their foreheads unless Mr. Santiago had help"

"Oh! I can only think of a few people who would work for a man as disgusting as Roman. Oh my! I can't believe I didn't realise this sooner. This is the work of the Silent Shadows" He said just as a group of people in black dressed like ninjas came and surrounded us with katanas.