Mystery in Misery

Episode 8

Saturday, 5:30AM
Naomi was sleeping when a beeping sound woke her. She sprung up and picked up her tablet at once, hoping it was the match that was completed. Her work system had been synced with her tablet and so she thought it was that which rang. On picking it up, she saw that the match wasn't complete yet and was still on 86%. ‘Oops! It’s not displaying search not completed.’ She sighed as she stood up from the bed. The beeping had stopped and she knew it’s only a matter of time before it continued again except she viewed the ping. She strolled tiredly across the room, in her pajamas, and went directly to the shelf, where her make-up was kept. She wasn’t a fan of beautifying her face but yet she had them, probably to make known that this was a girl’s room. Just above the shelf, is a mirror, hooked by a nail on the wall. She viewed herself through the mirror and yawned lousily, before picking up her smartphone from the shelf.
“Not again,” she said out loud after reading the message that came into her phone. It was from the station, requesting all CSI to report to the precinct by 6AM. She checked the time on her phone and it was just 5:38AM. She thought of the list of things she has to do before leaving the house and could only hope that she gets to the precinct before then.
‘What else do I have to do?’ she thought, as she put on her favourite tank top. It was her favourite because it’s a top her mom gifted her, with the inscription ‘Enpee’ on it. It was a name her mom fondly called her before her passing. The top brought back memories but this wasn’t the time to think about the sad memories. She smiled as she viewed herself in the mirror once again. She was putting on a blue tank top on a black jean trouser and a hoodie over the top with the front zip left open. Though it was cold out, she wanted the word ‘Enpee’ to be visible. It was a perfect match, just as she liked it. ‘Touché, Uncle Stan would have said,’ she thought. She misses him for a second but then she is filled with anger again. ‘If he hadn’t called her dad repeatedly that night – ' She took the necessary things she had to and just as she always does, stood for a minute, while she thought on what she might be forgetting.
“I think I’m good to go,” she muttered. ‘Oh! My wristwatch,’ she recalled, just as she was about shutting her door room. She ran back to pick it up. A look at the watchs’ face, she could tell she was late. So she ran quickly to the Peugeot packed outside and drove off to the precinct as fast as she could go.

Few minutes later, she arrived at the station. She was 6 minutes behind time and had no time to park the vehicle properly. She took her things and ran into the building as fast as she could. On getting inside, she saw that virtually everyone was around. It was like they were all waiting for her. She was contemplating on going to her dad’s office first but she decided against it and went straight to the forensic lab. On her way she passed by the same officer who had driven her dad to the second crime scene. They exchanged pleasantries and she used the opportunity to ask after her dad.
“He’s in with the Captain,” the officer responded.
“The captain is in?”
“Of course, he is. He came in few minutes ago.”
“Okay, thanks, officer – ”
“Greg, Officer Gregory.”
“Okay, Officer Greg.” She said and left hurriedly, while Greg headed to the oval office.
She was at the entrance of the lab when a ping came into her phone. It was a message from her dad and it read: Stake out at suspects’ NOW! Do not engage. DAR. She fully understood the message but didn’t quite know who the suspect was. DAR is an abbreviation for delete after reading, so she deleted the message immediately. She noticed about 13 unread messages that had been sent to the platform since the last time she checked, which was when she read Dr. Fabian’s message. She opened the first one and there it was, her father had labelled David Cooper as the suspect and the captain had commented ‘evidence?’ No wonder he’s having a conversation with him, she thought. She was about reading the other messages which were also sent by her dad, when she heard her laptop buzz from a distance. It was then she realized she has been standing at the entrance of the lab for quite some time. She ran quickly to her desk. As she ran, her phone was ringing. She cared less about it as the only thing that interested her was the buzzing sound from her system.
“Morning, Bob,” she greeted as she ran past a fat boy in an orange T-shirt. ‘Eew, he’s at it again. Always eating.’
She got to her desk in no time and the name displayed, shocked her more than the fact that Bob eats more than 6 times daily. ‘No wonder he’s as fat as that.’ She thought and smiled at him, because she noticed he was looking at her.
“Tibep-x,” she tried reading out the word but it made no sense. ‘Is this even a name?’ The word didn’t sound like a real name to her. Her phone rang again and she ended the call this time around. It was from her dad and she figured he only wanted to know if she got his message. So ending the call seems like a ‘Yes, I got your message. You can stop calling now.’ She wrote the word on her notepad and tore it out. She was going to give it to Bob to find whoever the hell that is.
“I will send some shoeprints to you soon,” Naomi said. She had just given Bob the name and was already asking for another favour. “I need you to run each of them with David Cooper’s and the name I just gave you, if at all it exists.”
“Okay, I got you girl,” he said. “I’ll send whatever I find out to you.”
“Thanks,” she held him by the shoulder and smiled. “One more thing. Would you like to keep this between us?”
“Yes, sure.”
With this assurance. Naomi left the GCPD and headed to David’s apartment for a stake out.

We are going back right were we started. Remember, this is Naomi's part of the story.
You get to know more about her but our mystery guy is still unknown. Saving the best for the last... Read on. Your comments matters.