Detective Karma - Chapter 12

Back at Luminiscence Corporation, Thlong rushed to Lucy’s office, and slammed the door open. Lucy was busy reading a book and he looked up at Thlong.

“Oh, Thlong, it’s you.” Lucy said, “Why are you muddy?”

“That’s a long story.” Thlong said, agitated.

“Well? What did you discover?” Lucy asked Thlong.

Thlong slammed on the table. “I should be asking you, how did you manage to get hemlock?”

“How did you find out?” Lucy asked.

“We were locked in that storage room.” Thlong said to Lucy.

“What?” Lucy said, standing up, “What do you mean by, ‘locked?’”

“I mean that we were locked inside from the outside.” Thlong said, “Honestly, why did you decide to install a lock on the outside?”

“It was for times when I need to conceal something, like the hemlock. The lock which only I have the key to.” Lucy said.

Thlong took the lock out of his pocket. “Here’s the lock.” Thlong said, dropping it on the table. “It was on the outside.”

“Wait a moment, let me see that.” Lucy said, examining the lock. “Wait, I don’t use these kind of locks …”

“Well, then, enough about that.” Thlong said angrily, “Why didn’t you tell me you decided to get hemlock illegally?!”

“Well, I knew you wouldn’t like it anyway.” Lucy said indifferently, “It’s not like the police would find out, about it, or so I thought.”

“Well, they almost found it.” Thlong said, “You got lucky this time. Officer Karma saw it, but luckily, they didn’t know anything about plants.” Thlong then asked, “By the way, how did you get it?”

“You know how hard it is to get hemlock.” Lucy said, “And, well, when a certain group offered to sell me hemlock, I decided to accept their offer.”

“Surely not Deyd Krimeenall?” Thlong asked, “If you bought it from him, we will be in bigger trouble.”

Lucy scoffed, “As if he would sell me hemlock. No, I got it from some other group. I’m not telling you the name, though.”

“Anyway,” Thlong asked Lucy,” What’s your shoe size?”

“Is this relevant?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, it is.” Thlong insisted.

“Fine.” Lucy rolled his eyes. “Size twelve and a half.”

“So you’re not the one that put the set of muddy footprints?”

“What? Of course not!” Lucy said, “You know how I love cleanliness.”

“Then someone from the outside must’ve been coming in here.” Thlong said, “There were muddy footprints that came from outside, to the dumpsters, and they also planted jewelry.” Thlong then added, “It’s not yours, is it?”

“Well, it’s not. What shoe size was it?”

“I heard that it was ten and a half.” Thlong said. “Who do you think has been sabotaging us to look like the killer?” Thlong asked Lucy anxiously.

“Whoever it is.” Lucy said slowly, “We have to catch them soon.”

Detective Rodney and Officer Karma went immediately to Chief Ahrest’s office once they reached the station. Detective Rodney knocked first before entering.

“Come in.” Chief Ahrest said, in a way that Detective Rodney could tell that he was angry.

“Something wrong, Chief?” Detective Rodney asked cautiously.

“Hmm? Wrong, well, obviously, something is wrong.” Chief Ahrest exclaimed, fuming. “All that time it took to interrogate Mr. Paradox and Mr. Eclaire and still nothing! And the worst part is, we can only keep them up to tomorrow night!”

Chief Ahrest took out a pill and swallowed it. “It seems I need to be taking these anti stress pills more recently now. Being a Chief is so stressful.” He muttered to himself, but loud enough for Detective Rodney and Karma to hear.

“I apologize for my ranting.” ChiefAhrest said, as he returned to his normal self again. “So, you’re back. What did you discover?”

“Well,” Detective Rodney started saying, “We did find some sort of link with Luminescence Corporation and Mr. Deyd Krimeenall, although at the moment, we’re not sure. We did find a set of footprints, but apparently there was nothing at all at the end.”

“Anything else?” Chief Ahrest inquired.

“Well, we were locked into a room.” Detective Rodney said, “We’re no sure who did it, though.”

“What?!” Chief Ahrest stood up from his chair and exclaimed, “You were locked in a room. I will demand an investigation into that immediately.” Chief Ahrest then walked towards Rodney and said, “And I’m sure you need something. How can I help you?”

“How did you know?” Detective Rodney asked Chief Ahrest, astonished.

“Well, first of all, you didn’t just come in here to tell me about the investigation. All the times you came here, you never did. So, come on, what do you need already?”

“We need to see the immigration documents for Ms. Jeyn Aetress, currently employed under Luminescence Corporation.”

“Oh? What for?” Chief Ahrest asked, “Is it relevant?”

“Well, we do think if there would be something wrong with it, it could be important.” Detective Rodney said, “We’re not rounding her out as a suspect yet, and hope we might be able to find something from her file. She might be an illegal or something.”

“Very well.” Chief Ahrest said, picking up his phone and dialing. “I’ll call up the Immigration Authority and ask them to bring us a file on her right away.”

Chief Ahrest dialed a couple of numbers and was talking on the phone.

“Yes. Yes, I see. Thank you, I’ll be waiting. Please send it as soon as possible.” Chief Ahrest said as he put down the phone. “Well,” He said as he turned back to Detective Rodney and Officer Karma, “they said it’ll take up to a week for us to get the report, so we’ll best hope that it can be sooner.”

“Does it really take that long?” Detective Rodney asked Chief Ahrest.

“Yes, I also hoped it would be sooner, but there’s nothing we can do about it.” Chief Ahrest said. “Hmm, looks like shift is over.” Chief Ahrest said, glancing at his watch which said 8:30 PM. “You should all be going now.”

“What about you?” Detective Rodney asked Chief Ahrest.

“Well, I still have some important matters to attend to. You go on ahead” Chief Ahrest said as he organized important documents.

“Oh, and one more thing.” Detective Rodney said, taking the plastic bag that had the jewelry out of his pocket and tossing it at Chief Ahrest. “Maybe you’ll find something important on this. Send it to forensics.”

Detective Rodney, Officer Karma, and Officer Byron set out when a black limousine suddenly stopped in front of them, and a man and a woman both came out.

“BYROOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“What the-?!” Detective Rodney exclaimed as they came rushing towards Byron.

The woman hugged Byron. “Oh, Byron, it’s great to see you!” she said as she kissed Byron.

“Mom, please stop.” Byron said, trying to get away.

“He’s right, honey, don’t embarrass him in front of his friends.” Byron’s father said, walking up to them.

“Why, I believe we haven’t met yet.” Byron’s father said to Karma and Rodney.

“I am Officer Karma.” Karma started, but was interrupted by Byron’s mother.

“Oh! So you’re that Karma our son keeps talking about!” she said, going up to Karma and kissing him, “Thank you for helping our son through the police academy, he’s not-

“Mom!”

“Come on, now, Jane.” Byron’s dad said, “Stop embarrassing our son.” He looked at Detective Rodney, “And who might you be?” he asked.

“Detective Rodney.” Detective Rodney replied, “Head of the Homicide Department-”

“Ah, so you’re a Detective?” Byron’s mother asked Rodney.

“Well, most obviously, didn’t I just state it?” Detective Rodney said, but she didn’t appear to hear him.

“Ah, so you’re Byron’s superior!” Byron’s mom said to Detective Rodney. “Please excuse my son, he’s a bit.”

“W-well, not exactly his superior.” Detective Rodney said quickly, “I’m Karma’s superior. Byron’s superior is someone else.”

“Enough of the talking.” Byron said suddenly. “Mom, Dad, what are you both doing here?”

“Coming to get you.” Byron’ dad said, “Son, you know how dangerous the streets are at night. We want you to be safe.”

“You know I’m a cop, right?”

“Even cops can be attacked.” Byron’s mom said, “Hey, does your friend want to join us?”

“Err… no.”

But Byron’s mother turned to Karma. “You want to join us, dear?”

“My house is on the other side.” Karma said quickly, and added, “Besides, I’ve got my own car.”

“Ah, okay fine, then.” Byron’s mom said, though she looked disappointed.

“Bye, Karma, see you tomorrow.” Byron said, a bit relieved, as they left.

“Why didn’t you join them?” Detective Rodney asked, “Your house is just a bit farther off than theirs.”

“I didn’t want to embarrass him any further, sir.” Detective Karma said.

“I see. What a bunch of stereotypical, generic people.” Detective Rodney said.

“What do you mean, sir?” Karma asked him.

“We have the donut loving cop, and his overprotective parents.” Detective Rodney said, “Bet you the next thing is that they’ll be fighting.”

Karma was about to go, when Detective Karma called him back. “By the way, Karma, since I’ll be at court tomorrow, you should go to Chief Ahrest’s office, he’ll tell you what to do. Tell him I sent you.”

“Okay, sir.”

After that, Karma left and went home. When he arrived, he went in, and saw luggage packed. His father was nowhere to be seen.

“He must be out again.” Karma thought to himself, “I feel as if he’s leaving. I’ll ask him about it when I see him.”

The next day, Karma woke up late. When he saw the time, he panicked.

“Oh, no, I’m late.” Karma said, quickly doing everything. “He didn’t even have time for breakfast as he rushed to work.

When he finally arrived at the police station, he was wondering why there seemed to be so few people,and he immediately went to Chief Ahrest’s office.

“Come in.” Chief Ahrest said as he knocked.

Karma went in. “Sir, I’m not late, am I?” he asked anxiously.

Chief Ahrest looked at his wall clock. “Um, no, it’s just that I’m early.” Chief Ahrest said, “Karma, why do you look like you’ve rushed everything? You’re thirty minutes early.”

“Really?” Karma said, feeling relived. “Sorry, sir, it’s just that my clock said that I was thirty minutes late, it must’ve been broken.”

“Well, get it fixed next time.” Chief Ahrest said,putting on his coat. “Anyway, Detective Rodney told me you’d be coming here. Since you’re here, we should get going. Since we have to release Mr. Paradox and Mr. Eclaire today, it would be best if we investigated Paradox Industries today. Hopefully, we might find something that will keep them detained for even a bit longer.”

Chief Ahrest and Officer Karma then left the office and went to the parking lot. There, they got into the car and drove off towards Paradox Industries.

While driving, Chief Ahrest suddenly asked Karma. “So, Karma, how is your father doing?”

“Oh, uh, he’s fine, sir.” Karma replied.

“That’s good to hear.” Chief Ahrest responded, “By the way, does he still do police work?”

“Sometimes, sir.” Officer Karma said.

“Well, Karma, he was a great chief, except that he managed to let two criminals named Brad Polesse and Than Long escape.”

“Really, sir?” Karma said, surprised, “I always knew something was wrong when he suddenly quit his work, he always said that it was about time he retired, but I knew he would never do that, so what happened at that time?”

“Well,” Chief Ahrest started, “you see, Brad Polesse was arrested for the murder of the billionaire Mill O. Nair., and after a while in jail, a riot happened. Your father,me, Detective Rodney, along with the warden and a couple of officers quickly put it down, but Brad Polesse and Than Long managed to escape.”

“Why are you telling me this, sir?” Officer Karma asked Chief Ahrest.

“Well, I just thought that you should know.” Chief Ahrest responded, “Oh, and the last words of Brad Polesse was that he would come back, and make an organization called Team Luminescence.”

“Is that why you think there’s some importance in Luminescence Corporation, sir?” Karma asked.

“Yes, but it’s possible that they are totally different from each other.” Chief Ahrest said, “This could be a different company, and the letter that said that Mr. Lusserson had a different identity? It could just mean he’s a drug dealer or an undercover spy. But whatever it is, I can’t be certain until we search them thoroughly..”

After that, Chief Ahrest asked Karma, “Anyway, how close are we to Paradox Industries?”

“We’re almost there, sir, it’s just past the next block.”

“Hm, that was fast.” Chief Ahrest commented. “Well, I hope we’ll find something, anything at all.”

When they arrived, the guards let them in, and they were met by a Mr. Alfard.

“Excuse me,” Chief Ahrest said, “Who are you supposed to be?”

“I’m Alfard.” Mr. Alfard introduced himself, “Henry Joseph Alfard. I’m the Manager of Paradox Industries, and Mr. Paradox put me in charge until he gets released.”

“I’m Chief Ahrest, and this is Officer Karma.” Chief Ahrest said, pointing to himself and Karma, “And, well, we need to investigate again.”

“Very well,” Mr. Alfard said, “I will tell the employees not to bother you. If you need any help in your investigation, you can find me in my office; it’s the one opposite of Mr. Paradox’s office.”

“Thank you, and one more thing,” Chief Ahrest said to Mr. Alfard, “Why weren’t you here yesterday when we were busy investigating?”

“Ah, yesterday, I was off to close a deal on behalf of Mr. Paradox.” Mr. Alfard said, “When you arrested him, he called me up and told me to be temporarily in charge until he gets released.”

“I see. Thank you.” Chief Ahrest said. He and Karma proceeded to go directly to Mr. Paradox’s office. “We didn’t check this place thoroughly enough before,” he said, “there might still be evidence.”

Chief Ahrest and Officer Karma were searching through Mr. Paradox’s things in order to try and find something that they could use to increase his detention time. Chief Ahrest was sifting through the books, while Officer Karma was looking through his desk.

“Karma, have you found anything yet?” Chief Ahrest said while inspecting a book.

“No, sir, not yet.” Officer Karma said as while inspecting things on the desk.

“Well, better keep looking, then.” Chief Ahrest said, searching. “We need to find something, anything, even for a small thing in order for us to keep him detained longer.”

“Okay, sir, I’m searching.” Officer Karma said. He tried to open a drawer on the left side, but it was locked.

“Sir, this drawer’s locked.” Officer Karma said to Chief Ahrest, “Maybe we should unlock it?”

“We’re running out of things to check, so I guess we don’t have a choice.” Chief Ahrest said, “So let’s do it. Let’s get Mr. Alfard.”

Officer Karma and Chief Ahrest went up to Mr. Alfard’s office door and knocked on it.

“Come in.”

Chief Ahrest and Officer Karma went inside Mr. Alfard’s office, and Mr. Alfard greeted them.

“So, what do you need help with?” He asked.

“Well,” Chief Ahrest began, “you see, there’s this locked drawer in Mr. Paradox’s office, and we n3ed to open it.”

“In that case,” Mr. Alfard said, taking a set of keys, “Here’s the keys. Most of the drawers use the same keys so you might be able to use my key for it.”

“Thank you.” Chief Ahrest said, taking the set of keys from him. “We’ll be going now.”

They went back to Mr. Paradox’s office, and, after several attempts of trying different keys, they managed to open the drawer.

“Finally.” Chief Ahrest commented, opening the drawer, “Now, let’s see what’s in here.”

When Chief Ahrest looked in the drawer, there was only an envelope in it.

“That’s strange,” Chief Ahrest said, opening the envelope and pulling out two pieces of paper. “There’s nothing in this envelope, other than these two pieces of paper.”

“Is there nothing written on it, sir?” Karma asked.

“Nothing at all.” Chief Ahrest said, looking at the other side of the paper, “Well, perhaps this may have been written with some sort of invisible ink, so I’ll send it right away to the Forgery Department. It might just be the evidence we need.”

Chief Ahrest put the papers back in the envelope. “Well, I hope this has something incriminating, since we found nothing else whatsoever. We just have to put our faith on it.”

“Of course, sir.” Officer Karma said.

“We should get going now. The sooner we get this over to them, the better. We have to release them today if we don’t find anything.”

“Oh, leaving so soon?” Mr. Alfard said when he saw them leaving.

“Yes, we’ve got what we needed.” Chief Ahrest responded.

Upon their arrival to the police station, they immediately went to the forgery department.

“Oh, Chief.” An officer said upon seeing Karma and Chief Ahrest, “To what do I owe the pleasure now?”

“Hopefully, you’ll be able to find something on these papers, Officer Marge.” Chief Ahrest answered, putting the envelope on the table, “Whether or not we get to lengthen Mr. Paradox’s detention depends on what we can find here.”

“Oh, very well then.” Officer Marge responded, and looked at Karma, “Oh, and who’s the new recruit?”

“This is Officer Karma.” Chief Ahrest answered, “Karma, this is Officer Marge.”

“Pleased to meet you.” She answered, holding out her hand, which Karma promptly shook.

Chief Ahrest’s phone rang suddenly, causing Chief Ahrest to answer it, “:Hello?”

“Chief, where have you been?” The voice on the other side asked.

“Oh, Detective Rodney.” Chief Ahrest answered, “Well, me and Officer Karma were investigating Paradox Industries.”

“Are you still there?”

“No, we’re already done.” Chief Ahrest replied, “Detective, why do you sound tense?”

“You see, Chief,” Detective Rodney replied, tense, “There’s just been a robbery at the “ Newfund Bank.”