Chapter 96 Another Murder.

"His name is John Kerry, a sergeant from the thirteenth reconnaissance team." Alice spoke, introducing the victim to Sam who had just arrived. "Acoording to witness reports he returned with his squad yesterday afternoon after which he spent most of his time resting in his room. Around midnight he went out to play cards with some acquaintances, something he's used to do while on break. The game went on till 03:00. That was the last time anyone has seen him alive."

Sam went down on one knee and removed the white sheet covering the corpse. The victim was a man in his late twenties with long blond hair and very handsome face.

The cause of death was a strong blow to the back of the head. The corpse was found behind the cafeteria by one of the staff as they went to prepare today's breakfast.

"I don't really recognize him…" Sam said, unable to remember if he had seen the man.

"Actually he is one of the three suspects in the case of your assault from a while back." Alice said.

"... what?" Sam turned to look at the white haired beauty, his face showing a confused expression. It was only a few seconds later that he remembered what she was talking about.

"Yeah, right, that did happen, huh…"

A little over a month ago Sam was attacked at night by what he suspected to be some Valkyrie fanatics. Though it had been a major inconvenience he forgot all about it as soon as he completely recovered.

"Huh? Did you really forget?!" Alice asked looking quite baffled.

"Yeah, I had a lot of things on my mind so…" just then Sam seemed to remember something important. "Wait, if he's one of the suspects does that mean…"

"Yes, he's one of sergeant Clementine's acquaintances." Said Alice.

Not only did he forget about the time he got assaulted, he had also forgot about how he had discovered Jordan's corpse as he headed for the nuclear shelter.

'So that's why they're giving me those looks…'

Sam glanced at the crowd standing behind the yellow caution tape surrounding the crime scene. Many had suspected him for the murder of the orange headed soldier even though he couldn't have possibly done it. This time however things are different.

Sam has already recovered from his injuries so it wouldn't be difficult for him to kill someone by hitting them on the back of the head. And the biggest problem would be his lack of alibi.

No one can prove that he was in his lab the entire time and he couldn't just say he was sleeping with one of the Valkyries.

'Well, we can always look at the maintenance area's entry records.'

The maintenance area where his lab is located was a building connected to the Valkyrie residence. A special ID is required for entry and exit and a record is kept of each along with the footage from the security cameras placed around.

,m As long as it's proven that he hadn't left the maintenance area for the past few hours he wouldn't be in trouble.

"Commander." One of the female soldiers approached Alice with a tablet in hand. "I've checked the security footage, however there are no signs of the perpetrator leaving the crime scene."

Alice took the tablet, grimacing after a while. Standing up Sam asked her to show him and he immediately understood the reason behind her visible displeasure.

The forty sixth base was in a relatively peaceful part of the frontline. Well, as long as the past few incidents are ignored. With the enemy they're fighting being inexplicable manifestations of horror very little resources were out into equipping the bases to deal with human caused problems.

Because of that many parts of the base have blind spots which aren't covered by the security equipment. The place where John got ambushed was at the back door of the cafeteria which is mainly used by the kitchen staff and the only ways to reach it are two small alleys, one beside the storage room and the other beside the outer wall of the base.

The security footage showed John walking toward the cafeteria, probably wishing to buy something from the vending machines placed nearby. He came to a stop looking toward the alley between the cafeteria and the storage room. After a couple of seconds he walked over and disappeared behind the building. There is no sign of anyone leaving the area for the next hour until the ones who found the body appeared.

"It looks like he was looking for something here." Sam said, rewinding the video to just before the blond guy went into the alley. "Maybe he heard a sound of some kind and went to check?"

The man didn't act surprised when it happens so either he was expecting it or he was seeing something they aren't able to see from that camera angle.

"Now that you said it…" Alice took the tablet and began checking the footage once more.

"There are no other ways to leave the area, right?" Sam turned to the ones who discovered the corpse with that question.

The one to answer was a grey haired man that seemed to be in the later half of his fifties.

"Well, the shelter under the building has tunnels that lead to different parts of the base. However the gates leading to it can't be opened without the commander's permission."

Sam turned to look at Alice, who shook her head slowly.

"I made sure they weren't opened since the last time the shelter was in use."

'So you're telling me we are dealing with an invisible enemy?' Sam thought. 'Or maybe it's one that can go through walls.'

Sam heaved a long sigh. As if they didn't have enough problems already, now they are forced to play among us instead of trying to survive the apocalypse.

The worst part is that he couldn't get angry even after his moment with Zero Five got interrupted. He didn't really care about the guy named John but it would be really heartless for him get annoyed by someone's death.

'Damn it…'

Sam was forces to leave Five's room soon after receiving Alice's message. Though he wanted to make it more special he ended up kissing her only once saying they would continue later on. Sadly with the situation being like this the arousal he was feeling earlier vanished and he felt that it'll be a while before he could find an opening to do it with the Valkyrie for an entire day.

As his thoughts wandered he spotted a familiar red hair in the corner of his eyes.

"Rough day, huh, Doctor?" Melissa said with a wry smile.

"Indeed." Sam replied. "You know anything about him?"

Melissa glanced at the corpse for a couple of second before talking.

"As I remember John was one of the Zero Three devotees." She said. "He's known to cross the line when it comes to his favorite idol. Back when we were deciding on those who would be allowed to interact with the Valkyries he almost lost it when he wasn't picked for Zero Three's group."

'Come to think of it…'

Back when they were planning things Sam had informed the fan club president that the young Valkyrie would most likely stick close to Shizuru who she was already acquainted with, because of that the ones who got picked were mostly the Asian girl's colleagues.

'I guess that's another reason for him to have a grudge against me…'

"I don't see Brandon around." Melissa commented. "He was close to both John and Jordan. Maybe he knows something."

"Alright. I'll ask the commander to send someone to look for him."

Sam was about to go tell Alice but felt his arm being grabbed. The red haired woman motioned for him to come closed then whispered in his ear.

"You should take a shower before you meet your girlfriend." She said. "She isn't the one you've been fucking before coming here, am I right?"

When Sam gave her a surprised look, Melissa wincked at him with a mischievously smile then turned around and left. Turning around he realized that Alice was looking his way with half lid eyes.

With how urgent the situation was he had no chance to wash after what he did with Nine and with how close she was to him the white haired beauty must've noticed ad well.

Normally she would suspect that the one he was with is his other girlfriend, Shizuru, however as soon as she realizes that he didn't leave the maintenance area since yesterday it'd be easy to connect the dots.

"Sergeant Sanderson, can you come to my office?" Alice said, her expression as serious as it could get.

For a while he though that his crime has been exposed. Following behind the commander, Sam began to think of some kind of excuse to save himself.

He could say that he was too busy and forgot to bath, but that might not work depending on how strong Alice's sense of smell was.

A couple of minutes later the two entered the commander's office.