Prompt

Eye contact, missing item
and security office.

•°☆°•

There is a saying that the early bird would catch the worm, it appeared that today, it was most certainly true. The competition had begun with the two competitors in the running, her cellphone and alarm clock. Their single objective was to determine which one would have her sprinting out of bed first.

The detective woke up groggily to the sound of her cellphone; with a grunt she stretched her hand half-heartedly over the bedside. It was to no avail, as the cacophonous ringtone blasted, regardless of her attempt.

With a sigh and her hazel eyes narrowly opened, she swiped to accept the call. The cold surface of the screen made contact with her cheeck as she willed herself to speak.

"Ye--s," she finally answered, as she stifled a yawn.

"Meiers, get up."

That simple instruction galvanized a groan and an eye-roll as she bit her lip with regret for not checking the caller ID. If she had done that, she would have allowed his call to go straight to voicemail.

Ah, regrets. Pitiful things they are.

"Why?" She asked.

Mitchell's deep voice filled the silence in her room, "Dead body found at Cartier’s. Perpetrator has not been located."

Before Kasey could utter a single word in response, he put the phone off in her ear. Mitchell was not a man of many words, usually when he spoke more than two sentences non-work related, there would be a celebration. It never bothered her though, as she had always spoken the most for the both of them.

The date on her phone caught her attention; her eyes bulged at the realization.

It was her off day.

Now it made sense as to why, he had put the phone off; clearly, he had no time to listen to her feeble protests.

Crime waits for no man; she thought begrudgingly and rose from the bed with purpose. She performed her usual routine methodically and stopped to make coffee before she set foot out the door.

As she left her apartment building, her eyes took a few moments to adjust and soar through the sensory overload she received.

It was an early morning and the ubiquitous wind, passed through her ginger hair in greeting as she made her way to Cartier’s on foot as it was within walking distance.

Cartier’s was the only jewellery store in Copeland. Their collections varied from vintage-inspired jewellery to modern and timeless designs. Given the tight-knit community in Copeland, none of this had happened before.

The yellow taping demanded attention like an eyesore and a few eyewitnesses gathered around the entrance, but the police cars were a dead giveaway that something had happened.

On her way to the store, Kasey wondered whether it was a robbery gone wrong. She decided not to speculate until she had received all the necessary information of what had transpired.

Kasey flashed a smile at one of her colleagues as she entered, whilst Mitchell seemed to be questioning the owner.

Poor Greg, he looked quite unsettled. There was worry engraved on his forehead, and if the constant fidgeting was anything to go by, it seemed like he was accumulating more grey hair now, than during his 41 years of running the shop.

She took the liberty of investigating on her own in the meantime; she scrutinized the body that was covered with a white sheet.

The victim was a caucasian male, based on his appearance she could approximate his age to about in his late thirties.  She knew about everyone in their little town and since she failed to recognize him, she classified that he must have been a newcomer.

She assessed his head and once angled properly noticed the signs that it was blunt force trauma to the left side.

“Where’s the m-”

“Still missing, which means that once we find our murderer we’ll find the weapon too,” Mitchell answered my question as he stood next to me.

“Any useful information from Greg?” Kasey asked as she inspected the walls for any spots of blood spatter, which would aid to locate where precisely in the store, the crime had taken place.

Mitchell nodded as he followed her eyes; he had had similar thoughts, however no opportunity to act on them. “Not particularly, he said that he had been out of town and returned round about this morning. Then two hours later he received a call from Betsy about the alarm that went off at the store.”

“I'm assuming no missing items, since none of the glass cases were smashed, have you checked the surveillance footage?”

“Yes and coincidentally they stopped working yesterday,” Mitchell replied as he looked to the coffee shop across the street.

“They might have the footage of who entered, then at least we’ll have an idea of who wanted our John Doe dead.”

▪▪▪▪▪

As they awaited the arrival of the coffee shop owner, Mitchell remembered that he had left out a vital piece of information. "One thing, that I did find rather odd, was the fact that Shawn, from security, was the first on the scene. Betsy said that within 5 minutes after the alarm sounded, Shawn made his appearance."

"That is rather peculiar, especially since he lives on the other side of town," Kasey filled in, as she tapped her nails along the mahogany table as they waited patiently.

The vibrant woman made her way towards the detectives, somehow she knew it had something to do with a dead body found at Cartier's.

"What can I do for my partners in crime?" She asked with a smile. Lara was known to be a helpful soul and also very much a sleuther in her own right.

"We'd like to see the footage on your surveillance camera's. Perhaps it has video evidence that could help us identify the perpetrator," Kasey explained.

Lara complied to their request, without hesistance, however the footage seemed to have been erased. This too was a dead end. The two detectives realized that whoever murdered John Doe, knew how to cover their tracks.

"Now that I think about it, there were no signs of forced entry which means that, whomever broke in, had a set of passcodes of their own." Mitchell concluded.

"We could ask Greg for the list of names who had access," Kasey suggested. "Or, let's kill two birds with one stone and go to the security office. This way we can see whether or not to rule Shawn out as a suspect."

▪▪▪▪▪

When they arrived at the security office, the two were greeted by an anxious Shawn. "Detectives, any leads yet?"

"None that we can disclose yet, you need to compile a list of the names of people Greg registered for access to the passcodes," Mitchell instructed.

"Of course, anything to help the investigation," Shawn replied, eager to help.

Kasey observed his behaviour and noted something was definitely off. He appeared too eager to help and he constantly avoided making eye contact with either of them. She had the feeling that he would scratch his name off the list if he hadn't already.

"Shawn, what were you really doing at Cartier's?" She questioned directly.

"I was only there because I was notified that Cartier's alarm went off," he answered, diverting his gaze.

Mitchell looked at him skeptically, "So you have said. Betsy said she saw you there within 5 minutes after the alarm sounded, given your address, how was that possible?"

"I was in the area, crashing at a friend's house," he made the mistake of meeting Kasey's eyes as he averted his attention to the paper in front of him.

In that moment she knew, he was the guilty party. "You wouldn't mind writing down that friend's information would you? Just to confirm your alibi," Mitchell informed.

"Of course not," Shawn replied confidently.

"That is, if you can get someone to lie for your sake," Kasey remarked.

Shawn's expression faltered, as he realized they knew more than what they led on. He needed to run, escape and never return. However now, he needed leave their conversation.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he avoided acknowledging the truth.

"You see, what I think is," Kasey began, as she kept eye contact, her tactic to intimidate him, was well underway, "I think that you were first on the scene to respond as security because you were involved in the crime."

"Do you know the victim Shawn?" Mitchell asked in a tone of seriousness.

"Yes..." he answered in a mere whisper. Shawn surprised himself with his confession. It seemed as if the burden had become too heavy for him.

"He was my brother. He had plans to rob Cartier's," Shawn began explaining, "he needed someone to get him in and contacted me since I knew the passcodes..." he paused for a while.

"Can I make the assumption that this is not the first time your brother needed an accomplice?" Kasey piped in.

"Yes. He wanted to rob the centrepiece of Greg’s new collection, the Empress’ necklace." The Empress' necklace was an alluring piece of jewellery, adorned with glossy stones with an intriguing matrix.

"I just couldn't bring myself to do it. My brother tried opening the case but it set the alarm off and I knew that was going to happen. Does it make me a terrible because I hoped that he would get caught?"

"No, it doesn't. But please, continue," Kasey ushered him to continue speaking.

"He started getting aggitated since the alarm went off and explained how he had mountains of debt that he thought would be paid off, with this necklace. We had an argument, words were said and one thing led to another, we brought up the past. Each of us blaming the other. He said he would rather die at my hand than get beaten to death when he returned without the money. So, I fulfilled his last wish."

"I killed him."