11 Chapter 11

"Now what?" Detective Rodney said as he tried to pull the door open.

"It's locked from the outside!" Thlong said exasperately, "This door can lock both ways. If you lock it from the inside, you can still open it from the outside with a key, but if the outside is locked, you can't unlock it from the inside!"

"How is that even possible?" Detective Rodney asked Thlong, "Shouldn't it be using a keyhole?"

"Well, a doorknob only has a keyhole on one side." Thlong said, "Since it was like that, Lucy decided to install a lock, so we could also lock it from the outside."

"Is everything here designed by Lucy?" Detective Rodney asked. "And what's the purpose of locking from the outside?"

"Yes, everything here is designed by Lucy." Thlong said, "As for the purpose, I'm not even sure why he would install something like this in the first place!"

"That Lucy's one shady fellow." Detective Rodney muttered to himself. "We'd better confront him later."

Detective Rodney examined the door. He hit it with his fist. "So, what's this door supposed to be made of?"

"Well, it's made of high quality aluminum." Thlong said, "It'd be hard to break."

"Of course," Detective Rodney said, "The good news is, the hinges are on this side, so we can break it open. The bad news is, we don't have anything to use to open it."

"Whoever's locked us in will get in deep trouble!" Thlong said, "Ugh, the stress is killing me, I'd better call Lucy to get us out." He took out his phone, only to realized that it was dead.

"Darn it!" Thlong said angrily, tossing the phone unto the ground, causing it to break. "I forgot to charge it. Now what?"Detective Rodney took out his walkie talkie and talked into it, "Anyone there? This is Detective Rodney, anyone there?" When no one answered, Rodney did it again, "I repeat, this is Detective Rodney, anyone there?"

"I hear you, sir. What do you need?" An officer finally replied. Detective Rodney continued, "Officer, we need your help. We are stuck in the stockroom on the 1st floor, and we are locked from the outside, please Help get us out."

"Okay then, sir, I got." the officer replied, "I'll try my best. How can you even lock a door from the outside?"

"I have no idea." Detective Rodney said, "Just bring a lockpick, would you?"

"Yes, sir, I'll be there." The officer said, and then hung up.

"Well, then." Detective Rodney said to Thlong and Karma, "They're coming to us. In the meantime, we should investigate this room." Rodney said as he took his flashlight again, "Hopefully, we'll find something useful here,"

"Possibly" Thlong said, going to one side and rummaging crates.

"Hmm, what's this?" Karma said, stooping down and holding up a leaf.

"I don't know." Detective Rodney said, "It's too dark for me to see."

"It's probably just a leaf from a chastetree. We have a lot of those."

"Yes, but why is it on the floor?" Detective Rodney asked.

"You probably bumped into it." Thlong answered.

Karma was searching the shelves while Detective Rodney was investigating the other things. Karma suddenly spotted something and showed it to Rodney.

"Sir, do you think this can help?" Officer Karma asked Rodney, while holding up a fire extinguisher.

Detective Rodney took the fire extinguisher. "Hmm, maybe we can use this to break the hinges." He said.

He went to the door and kept banging the fire extinguisher on the hinges. He did this for several times, and when it didn't break, he stood up and went several paces back.

"Stand back." Detective Rodney told Thlong and Karma, "This is going to hurt a lot."

Detective Rodney ran at the door with the fire extinguisher, and while he did, the door was opened by two officers on the other side. The other officer who was standing right in the doorframe didn't have time to move, and Detective Rodney crashed into him.

"Oof… Sorry, officer, you okay?"Detective Rodney said, getting up and apologizing to the officer while helping him up.

"Uhh, I think so, sir." The officer said, getting up, "What were you doing with a fire extinguisher anyway?"

"I was trying to break open the door." Detective Rodney said, "Anyway, it's good you came."

"Of course, sir." The other officer said, "We couldn't just leave you alone."

"What's going on here?" Somebody behind them asked. When they turned around, they saw a lady in a uniform coming towards them. "Did something bad happen here?"

"Ah, Jeyn." Thlong said, rushing up to her and introducing her to everyone. "This is Jeyn Aetresse, an immigrant fromthe Kingdom of Krushnivania. We have been giving her work, and she works here as a janitor."

"It's good to meet you all." Jeyn said, bowing.

"Ah, it's good to meet you, Jeyn." Detective Rodney said, bowing back. "I'm Detective Rodney, and this is Officer Karma. What made you immigrate to Moony?"

"Well, we're having a really hard time in Krushnivania right now." Jeyn said sadly. "Especially my family. King Eishkov Krush Smernakov VI of Krushnivania just died recently and our new king Smernakov VII is having a hard time right now, fighting rebels on the southern side of the country, and our economy has recently collapsed following the death of our beloved king, placing us in a depression. Even things in the capital Vostav isn't much better, in fact, it's worse, since the king lives there, and he declared martial law. I was forced to find work, and seeing the success of Moony, I decided to come here. Of course, it's hard to find work without a degree, but in the meantime while I'm working here, I'm studying at Eastern Moony City National University."

"Oh, that's great!" Detective Rodney said, "But, how can you fund your education while working as a janitor?"

"I got a scholarship" Jeyn said, "and the pay here's not so bad, at least compared to Krushnivania. 10 000 Moonyvian Mohns, and I get to send some to my family.

"Really? How do you manage to survive?" Detective Rodney asked, amazed. "How much is the current exchange rate for Mohn to Kasch?"

"1 Moonyvian Mohn equals 100 Krushnivanian Kasch." Jeyn said, "And with that amount, you could buy 10 pounds of rice."

"I'm sorry about the current state of your country." Detective Rodney said, "I hope you'll enjoy your stay in the Republic of Moony, and I hope your country will stabilize again."

Detective Rodney then said, "Okay, enough talk, we need to investigate. Jeyn, did you see the set of footprints when you came here?"

"Yes, I did." Jeyn said, horrorstruck, "I cleaned them up. Why, are they important?"

"They could've been." Detective Rodney said, sighing"Do you remember where they lead? Maybe we could still get something out of this."

"Well, I do remember that they turned the corner, and went all the way to the garbage dump at the back alley."

"Okay, that's a relief." Detective Rodney said, "Thanks. Come, Karma, let's go."

They turned the corner and reached the door leading to the alleyway. As soon as Detective Rodney opened the door, he winced back, pinching his nose.

"Oh my, it smells horrible here." Detective Rodney said disgustedly. "Whatkind of garbage do you even throw here?"

"Oh, you know, expired medical stuff like leaves, fruits, things like that." Thlong said. "Anyway, do you mind continuing the investigation? Even I can't stand this place."

"Fine," Detective Rodney said, "let's get this over with."

Detective Rodney, Karma, and Thlong walked into the alleyway. "Karma, stay with me." Detective Rodney said.

"But, sir, wouldn't it be better if we both investigated separately?" Karma asked.

"Well, that would be the case, but I'm not sure I can handle it myself." Detective Rodney said. "Especially since I think I might faint from this smell."

"Okay then, sir." Karma said.

As Thlong was waiting for them to finish while covering his nose, Detective Rodney and Karma looked through the piles and piles of garbage.

"Great." Detective Rodney said, "We'll need more help if we want to finish looing through all this garbage. Let me look for those two officers, while you continue the investigation, Karma."

"Okay sir." Karma said as Rodney left. Karma turned to Thlong. "Aren't you going to help?"

"What? Of course not." Thlong said, "I will watch you, but don't expect me to go digging around in that garbage."

"Fine, whatever you say." Karma said as he continued looking around.

By the time Detective Rodney came back, he still didn't find anything.

"Did you find anything?" Detective Rodney asked Karma.

"No. Not a single thing." Karma replied, "All I found was more garbage."

"Well, we better keep looking." Detective Rodney replied. "I got us some help here."

"Of course, sir." The officer replied, "We will be glad to help."

"Well, I'd better leave, then." Thlong replied. "I can't take this smell anymore."

As Thlong was about to leave, he stepped on a muddy part and slipped, covering himself in mud.

"Argh." Thlong said angrily as he tried to stand up. "Now I'm all covered in mud!"

The officer tried to stifle a laugh as he helped Thlong get up.

Detective Karma suddenly realized something. "Wait a minute, what about the tracks?" he asked Karma. "Did you find the tracks?"

"No, sir, not at all." Karma replied, thinking how foolish he was for forgetting about it.

"Hmm, that's strange." Detective Rodney said, mostly to himself. "If the tracks supposedly led here, then how did they disappear? Jeyn may have cleaned the floor up in the building, but it's impossible to clean up mud here. Unless…" Detective Rodney suddenly got an idea, "Maybe, it could be that the tracks don't lead here at all. Maybe, it could be that they were simply washed away. Or maybe , Jeyn could have been trying to mislead us all along."

"Jeyn?" Thlong asked, amazed. "Why would Jeyn be trying to mislead us?"

"Well, there are lots of possible reason." Detective Rodney said, "She could be the killer, or maybe an accomplice, but we won't know until we fully investigate this case."

"I think it's highly unlikely that Jeyn's the killer." Thlong said, "For one thing, she doesn't even know the victim. There's no motive to kill."

"Well, we'll never know until we investigate this matter fully." Rodney said, "For now, we won't confront her, since we aren't sure yet."

"You too, stay here and investigate." Detective Rodney told the officers, then turned to Thlong. "Thlong, are there any other places that are accessible that are muddy?"

"Not that I know of." Thlong said, "This is the only place that I know that gets muddy."

"Which means that maybe we're on the right track." Detective Rodney said, "Sorry for the pun. But we must find those muddy tracks."

"Karma, come with me, we're going back to the station." Detective Rodney said, "We need to have a look about Jeyn's immigration files."

"Hey, soyou don't trust what I say?" Thlong asked Detective Rodney.

"Of course not. Since when did we ever trust people under investigation?" Detective Rodney said, "We've got to take a look at it anyway, maybe we can find something."

Detective Rodney and Karma went to the parking lot and got in the car when Karma asked Detective Rodney a question before he started.

"Sir," Karma asked Rodney while driving, "who do you think is the actual killer in this case?"

"Well," Detective Rodney said, "I don't know. We haven't investigated this case fully, and between Paradox Industries and Luminescence Corporation, I'd say that they're both pretty shady."

"Do you think we'll actually get to arrest the killer?"

"That's what I don't know, Karma." Detective Rodney sighed, "Hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of this as long as we investigate the case fully. I don't know if we will manage to arrest the killer, but we will try and try, until we find the killer, and put them behind bars. Now, keep your eyes on the road, or we'll crash."

"Yes, sir." Karma said, and as he was driving, he couldn't help but wonder if there was a bigger mystery to this case than meets the eye.