Chapter 3 - Case One:2

Chapter Two - Case One:2

"Anybody out there?"

"One security guard. In front."

"Do we know him?"

"Yeah, it's Jake."

"Okay, get down, you're heavy."

Ryiza smacked the top of his head. "I am not heavy!" she hissed, then climbed down from her brother's shoulders, dropping to the ground with a heavy thump with a pair of binoculars in her hand.

"You did grab the UV light, right?" Ryan asked in a hushed voice, tightening the straps on the backpack he wore that matched his sister's.

"Yes, would you stop asking?" she pushed him on the back towards the fence. "Now go say hi to Jake."

Ryan took a deep breath before stepping around the gate, Ryiza right behind him. The security guard looked up in surprised, but smiled at the double set of familiar grey-eye children. "Hey you two," he greeted. "How are you?"

"Hiya Jake," the twins returned in sync. "Have you seen our mom?" Ryan continued.

"Sorry kiddos. She left a few minutes ago. If you want, I can call her-"

"Oh no," Ryiza quickly shook her head. "We were actually wondering if we could get a look at the scene."

Jake clucked his tongue. "Ah-ah. I was given strict instructions from your madre that you two aren't allowed to 'help' anymore."

"Please Jake? We promise not to disturb anything. You know us." Ryiza gave her biggest pair of Bambi eyes that she could.

"Nope. Sorry," Jake replied, shaking his head even as he lifted the crime scene tape up. "It's against the rules, anyways."

"Oh of course," Ryan agreed, before the twins slipped under and disappeared into the house.

Ryan swung one strap of his backpack off and removed the photocopies from his backpack. "Alright...garage is this way."

They opened the door leading to the cold room. "Geez...it's like ice in here," Ryan commented, as Ryiza pulled out a digital camera.

"Gotta love chalk lines," she stated with a grin. "Remember we used to draw them around each other on the driveway?"

"What do you mean 'used to'?" he retorted, inspecting the walls. "Well, there's spatter...seems consistent gun fire."

"Is the blood the vic's?" Ryiza questioned as she snapped some photographs for themselves.

Ryan paused for a moment to find the matching evidence tag. "Yep."

"So we assume he was shot here?" Ryiza asked, crouching by the chalk outline. "Single puddle of blood. He fell and stayed where he was." She leaned forward, peering at the cold gray concrete. "Bit of a light spray by his head."

"He was breathing," Ryan stated, joining her. "He might not have moved, but he was breathing."

"Didn't Mr. Jung say he called the police right after he shot Mr. McConvile?" Ryiza frowned. "Wouldn't he still have been alive?"

"Not necessarily. He could have died en route. But it's a possibility he waited to call. Supports the idea Marcus wanted Nick dead," Ryan pointed out. Ryiza nodded in agreement, and took another photo of the spray.

"C'mon, let's go see this kitchen," she started, standing up.

As they walked through the house, Ryan commented, "We need to see that autopsy report. Maybe the shot paralyzed Nick so he couldn't move."

"So if Mr. Jung is to be believed, he shot in self defense while it was Mr. McConvile that freaked out on him. Then why wouldn't he call right away?"

Ryan frowned as they entered the kitchen. "I don't think Marcus is telling the truth."

"Why?" Ryiza asked.

"Attacking your friend over money?"

"People do weird things about money," Ryiza reminded her brother. She looked about the kitchen. "Blood."

"We saw that in the photos," Ryan pointed out as he got a pair of gloves from his backpack, and a magnifying glass. "Careful," he instructed. "There's a ton of blood on the floor."

"But not that much on the cabinets," Ryiza noted, aiming the camera.

"And none..." Ryan side-stepped around the drops of blood. "On the walls or ceiling. Strange."

"Why?" Ryiza asked.

"Well, if the knife was swinging, wouldn't blood on the knife splatter on the walls and ceiling?" Ryan pointed at the spots as he mentioned them. "But it's only drops, on the floor. As if the blood just fell."

"But it was Mr. Jung's blood."

Ryan pulled out their notebook and inspected it. "Yeah. Definitely Marcus', not Nick's or anyone else's."

"Maybe he was attacked elsewhere and made the phone call in here," Ryiza suggested.

"His statement says he was attacked in here," Ryan corrected her. Ryiza frowned, and snapped a few more pictures while Ryan shuffled through the papers from their mother. "The investigators took the knife with them as evidence," he stated, dismayed. "Hand me thhe UV light. Maybe it was cleaned up or something."

"Why would they do that?" she asked, but pulled the battery-powered light from her backpack.

"Dunno. Just wanna check." He slid his glasses on, and motioned to her to turn off the lights. He ran the light up and down the wall, but picked up no traces. He sighed. "Nothing."

After his pronunciation, they heard the front door open and voices echo down the hall. Without hesitation, the twins snatched up their backpacks and materials, then darted into what appeared to be a living room. "Behind the couch!" Ryan hissed at his sister. They crouched behind a ratty-looking sofa, straining to hear the voices.

"Who turned the lights off?"

"Probably the guard."

As the kitchen light came back on, Ryiza dared a peek around the edge of the sofa, close to the ground. She spotted her mother in the kitchen, wearing her vest that claimed her investigation unit. "It's mom," she mouthed to Ryan, who winced. He nodded towards the hallway, and the two quickly moved away from the couch.

Skirting around the kitchen, they made their way to the front door by stepping along the floorboards where they joined with the wall. Ryan carefully turned the handle and pulled up on it as he swung it open, relieving the hinges of the weight of the door so they wouldn't squeak. Ryiza slipped out the opening barely wide enough, and Ryan followed. He shut the door without so much as a click, before darting down the walk after his sister.

"Bye Jake!" he called in a hushed voice.

"Thank you!" Ryiza added.

"Later you two," Jake chuckled as the twins vanished around the gate.



Amy opened the door to her small house as the clock turned to 2:36 in the morning. She stretched as she entered the living room, where the TV was blaring the late night cartoons. She sighed and dropped her bag on the floor, before turning the television off. She moved into the kitchen, meaning to heat up a frozen dinner, but found twinkie wrappers littering the counter.

"Ryan...Ryiza..." she groaned, gathering the plastic pieces up in one hand and dumping them into the trash can. She located a frozen dinner in the freezer and stuffed it into the microwave, before moving down the hall to the twin's bedroom.

She opened the door, and paused as the light from the hallway behind her fell across the bunk bed that crowded the tiny room. Ryiza had snuggled herself into her pillow, clutching a stuffed crocodile to her chest and a book open next to her. Ryan sprawled himself across the top bunk with one of his arms hanging over the side, a gameboy lying forgotten. She turned the small hand-held system off, before gently lifting his arm and placing it beside him. She kissed his forehead as he mumbled in his sleep, before crouching beside Ryiza's bed and picked the book up. She read the cover, FullMetal Alchemist #2: The Kidnapped Alchemist, before chuckling and kissing her daughter's cheek.

She smiled at the two children, and decided not to tell them she had discovered the ice cream fingerprints on her crime scene report as the microwave faintly dinged.

After the bedroom door clicked shut, Ryan released a sigh. "That was close," he whispered, sitting up to remove his sneakers.

Ryiza giggled softly. "Good night Rye."

"Night Rii. Sleep tight," he replied, as he laid back down.

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