Mystery in Misery

Episode 15

Saturday, 2:10PM
By the time Naomi arrived at the station, Joe was already there. He was in a meeting with Detective Emkay and Captain Nate. From where she stood, she could hear them having a heated conversation and the chief seemed angry. She was contemplating going to share what she has found so far but she dreaded being in the crossbar. She however went to the lab, where she met Bob, typing away on the keyboard. She envied him, not that she wasn’t busy herself but the fact that he does all the hard work behind the scene without getting involved on the surface.
She walked past him and he didn't notice. She went to her desk and removed her jacket, hanging it around her chair. “Oh! Almost forgot,” she gaped, as she recalled the handkerchief she had lent to Maryam. She removed her pen from her bag, which she just placed on the chair and used the tip in picking the handkerchief from her coat’s pocket. She headed straight for Bob’s desk.
“Hey! Bob,” she greeted and rested her left palm on Bob’s desk to support her weight. The handkerchief held high on the other with her pen.
“Hey!” Bob answered, not looking up to know who called.
“Eeew.” Naomi squeezed her face. She dropped the handkerchief on Bob’s desk to get his undivided attention.
“What's this?” Bob asked, still not looking up at Naomi.
“It's evidence.”
“Evidence?” This time he looked straight into Naomi's eyes and immediately back at the computer screen. “I thought this was your handkerchief.”
“Yes, it was but” - she rolled her eyes - “long story. Just run a fingerprint analysis on it, aside mine of course!”
“And?”
She bent a little bit to whisper in his ears. “See if there's a match in any of the crime scenes.”
Bob sighed and stopped what he was doing. He turned to face Naomi squarely. “I have a feeling you know exactly whose fingerprint I'm going to find and also” - he held out a finger - “it's illegal running such on -”
Naomi hurriedly placed a finger across his lips and retrieved it once he stopped talking. “Okay, fine. You got me and I need you to trust me.”
“I've never doubted you.”
“Good. It's Maryam's. I have a feeling she's involved one way or the other.”
“Urmm… You need to see something.” Bob withdrew a brown paper box from under his locker. ‘Evidence’ boldly written on it. “These were retrieved from David's apartment. His key, hood, phone and we found hair strand.”
“What has his hair got to do with anything?”
“They aren't his.” He removed a seal bag from the paper box and gave it to Naomi. “That's a long strand of hair” - he pointed to the seal bag now in Naomi’s hand. He and his roommate keep short hair. So?”
“You're thinking this belongs to a lady?”
“Yes, I was.” He faced his computer and punched a few keys on the keyboard. “Then, I ran an analysis and found it's actually a lady's hair. The question is whose?” He showed the result of the analysis to Naomi.
“Maryam?” Naomi moved closer to the screen to get a better view of the hair’s details. “Right there” - she pointed to a section of the screen. “Hair colour is wine, same as Maryam.”
“It doesn't mean it's hers,” Bob objected. “We need to get her hair sample and run a match.”
Naomi looked gloom all of a sudden. She seemed to be in deep thoughts as she sat lightly on the only free portion of Bob's desk. While she was at it, Bob resumed his work. He was analyzing blood samples found on the hood.
“You said you retrieved his phone too?”
“Yes” - he pointed at the evidence box - “it's in there, beneath the hood.”
Naomi searched the box and brought out the phone. She went through it. There was this bizarre look on her face as she checked everywhere for a clue but found none. “No call logs?” She asked.
“I was surprised too?” Bob smirked.
Naomi sighed. She still went through the phone. Few minutes later, she found something useful but needed another gadgets to be sure. “Found a smart watch at his place?” she asked Bob.
“No, why ask?”
“Cause his phone appears to be connected to a smart watch but not anymore.” She sat up. “Whoever wiped his phone didn't wipe the call logs from the watch. Moreover, this cell was pinged a few minutes past midnight.”
Bob scuffed. “Did you say whoever wiped?” He smiled to himself. “He wiped it to protect himself. I mean who else could have done it? His phone has two security systems.”
“Someone who knows his password. Maryam or Michael.”
“Naomi.” Bob punched a key on his keyboard. He had just separated the blood sample and he's now running a match on all databases for the three separate samples found. “I want to believe David is innocent but all evidence points at him.”
Naomi looked sullen. “An hour ago, I would have sworn he's responsible for the murders,” she said slowly, her face down. “After speaking to Maryam, I know he's innocent just as I know he didn't wipe that phone.”
Bob stared at her. “You should know, I looked further into that name. The same one used to purchase a bullet in the black market. You know what I found out?”
“What?”
“That name belongs to Max Bryant, David’s -”
“Father,” she completed.
“Exactly. Maybe you've not been checking the crime update because if you have, you would know that David had told us nothing but lies. His blood was found on the fence, which means he scaled the fence because the gate was locked. This means only one thing, he returned past 12AM, prior to what he told us. He also claimed he doesn't know Maryam but that was -”
Naomi was in a thought of her own. Though, she could still hear Bob talking but her mind was far away. ‘Why would he lie about knowing Maryam? Except he's trying to protect her. I know she lied about many things but there is some truth to what she said. Bob just confirmed that she was at the house that morning but didn't enter because Michael stopped them. Oh! My God. Why will she be at his place that early and her face? Her dress? Wait a minute, the professor was a pedophile. There was a party at Lakers Bar, the professor was going to attend. He was still into Maryam, so he invited her. She agreed. Professor was killed and she ran.’ She furrowed. “Bingo!” She said out loud.
“What's bingo?”
“David mentioned he rescued a girl from two guys, right?”
“Yes, which obviously is a lie too -”
“What if the girl is Maryam and the guys are the ones that murdered the professor. They were after her because she saw them murder the professor. She was at the party.”
“Now, I know you're delusional.”
“You didn’t interrogate the girl. I did!” She yelled. “She seemed scared and there was something off about her friend.”
“Whatever?”
“Could you pull up CCTV footage from the party?”
“All wiped.”
“Of course.” She hit her palm against her forehead. “They were wiped.”
Tsk tsk tsk
Bob’s system gave a beeping sound.
“What's that sound?” Naomi asked.
“The search is done for the blood sample and” - he punched a few keys - “all three samples have more than 70% match and -”
“And what?” Maryam rose from her sitting position.
“Of course, one of it is a 99.9% match with David Cooper” - he scrolled down with a mouse - “This right here, belongs to our mysterious guy, Tibepx. Now known as Max Bryant.”
“The man is dead. How is that even possible?”
“Come on, he's the man’s son. They share the same blood.” He looked at Naomi as he scrolled to the last result. “Probably, a glitch in the system reading one sample as two different people.”
“84% match with Maryam Hussein!” Naomi exclaimed.
“Maryam what?” Bob turned back to the screen and realized Naomi was right. He was going to say something but then another notification came up. ‘4 fingerprint match found for Maryam Hussein. Click to view.’ He glanced at Naomi. She seemed like someone that’s impatient. He clicked on it and the system displayed.
Evidence 05 99% match
Evidence 06 91% match
Evidence 11 95% match
Evidence 23 99% match
Naomi was staring at the same screen as Bob but she didn't quite understand why Bob said she was right. “What's evidence 5?” She asked to satisfy her curiosity. “And 6, 11 and 23.”
Bob rubbed his hand against his forehead and sighed at the same time. “The other fingerprint on your handkerchief belongs to Maryam.”
“Of course, it does.”
“Okay. So, I ran it with all other fingerprints regarding this case. Fingerprints that are yet to be identified.”
“And?”
Bob swallowed. “You were right. Maryam was at the party. Evidence 5 is the professor's jacket. The one he was wearing before he met his death.”
“6?”
Bob pressed a key on the keyboard and each of the evidence names were displayed alongside the evidence number.
“His phone!” Naomi read from the screen.
“Yeah,” Bob answered. “I scanned for fingerprints on it and found 3 distinct matches. One belonged to David. Another to Michael. Your dad kind of took his fingerprint and as it appears, the third belongs to Maryam.
Naomi breathed a sigh of relief. ‘It's all making sense now. One of them wiped his phone. She was at Laker's bar. Oh! She lied. What else could she have lied about?’
“The love emblem you gave to me appears to be David’s key holder. That's evidence 11.”
“The same emblem I found on Crawford Lane.”
“Exactly, that one. She held that key holder which means she was at the murder scene.”
“My theory was right, Bob.” Naomi pointed to the screen. “The last evidence, hood. It means she met with David before he was beaten to stupor.”
“Yeah, it appears so.”
“Believe me now?” She smiled.
Bob smiled back. “You should tell your dad of the new development. I'll work on other stuff here.”
“Sure.” Naomi smiled again. “And thank you Bob.”
“You're welcome.”
Naomi left him with yet another smile. David's phone, which she had pinched from the evidence box, safe in her jean pocket, she took out her phone and dialed Stanley's number. She knew her Dad wasn't going to believe David isn't the murderer. So, she needed video footage that proves Maryam was at the bar. Until then, she was going to persuade David to give up protecting his ex-lover.
‘Hello,’ Stanley said from the other end.
“Hello, I wanted to find out if -”
“Her story checks out. Jane didn't spend the night at home but with a friend.”
Naomi sighed as she stopped dead in her tracks. “And you mentioned that she left Maryam at home before leaving.”
“Yes.”
“And Maryam told her she won’t leave the house?”
“Exactly, as I told you.”
“Maryam lied. She's probably behind all of this and I can prove it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maryam was at Lakers bar last night. She happens to be on Crawford Lane too and at David's apartment. I just need to prove that she lied about where she was last night.”
There was silence on the other end. “Hello,” she said into the phone after a few seconds.
“I'm with you Enpee. I just hope you are not on another goose chase.”
“I hope so too but we keep this between us until we are sure. I can't have my dad chasing after another innocent teenager.”
“Sure. I'll see what I can find in those areas that prove Maryam was there. You do what you need to do there.”
Naomi smiled. Stanley knew what she wanted even without her mentioning it. She spoke softly, “Thanks, Uncle Stan.” She hung up immediately, without awaiting his reply. A drop of tear trickled down her left cheek. She wiped it and sniffed. ‘I need to get something out of David.’ With this in mind, she headed straight for the interrogation room.