2 Chapter 2: Conscience

Third-person POV:

Caron planned to interrogate Sergey regarding the murder of Leader. Judging by his intense fear, he might know something about it.

Caron phoned Sergey, but all her calls were left unanswered. It might be awkward for Sergey to talk to her due to the horrible mistake he caused yesterday.

Today, Caron decided to visit Sergey. She would tell him that his retaliation was understandable, so he didn't need to feel guilty about it. However, Caron didn't actually forgive Sergey. She just wanted Sergey to calm down so she could interrogate him.

However...

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Goddammit, Sergey! Open your door! I know you're there!"

Sergey completely ignored her. Caron kept knocking until she got frustrated enough and decided to stop.

"Damn, that Sergey..."

Caron lightly kicked the door in annoyance. She had enough of playing the nice guy and decided to break in.

However, this side of the street was quite busy. Caron decided to be careful not to do anything that made her look suspicious.

"Woof!"

A dog approached Caron, it was Sergey's dog. It was a medium-sized one, not sure what species, the name was Hans generation 5. Its job was poison tester. You can guess what happened to Hans1-4.

"Woof!" 

Hans5 noticed Caron and begged her for food. Caron took out some dog treats and fed the hungry dog. 

The appearance of the dog lifted Caron's mood a bit. She liked dogs but had no time to take care of one. She enjoyed giving snacks to random dogs on the street. That's why she always had some dog snacks in her pocket.

Caron was reminded of how she got into a fight with Sergey when she heard that Hans was a poison tester dog. No animal protection service in this hellhole of a city, in the end, Caron could only witness how Hans1 changed to 2, 3, 4, and now it was Hans5.

"What are you doing out here, Hans? Did you escape from Sergey? Good boy, your human sucks."

Caron petted the dog as it enjoyed the treat and wagged its tail happily. Hans5 didn't even realize that Caron mocked its human.

"How did you break out from this locked house?" 

Caron eyed the dog curiously, wondering how did it get out. Hans5 took the rest of the treat and ran off.

Caron decided to follow the dog. It might go back into the house, possibly through a different entrance.

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The dog was mad agile like a cat. It climbed off the fences, walls, and roofs, taking a roundabout way from other houses to reach Sergey's. Caron almost fell three to four times while trying to keep up with the dog. 

People on the street stared at Caron with judging eyes as she followed Hans5 on the rooftop.

"Hans! Come back here, you little shit!!" 

Caron pretended to be a dog owner that tried to stop her dog from doing mad shit. People laughed and went on with their activities, buying to her lies just like that.

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- Sergey's house -

They arrived on top of Sergey's house. There was an open window that led to the top-floor attic. Weirdly, it was unlocked despite all other windows on the first floor being locked. 

As Caron took a breath for a moment, the dog ran off to the lower floor.

"Sergey won't go rampaging in his own house, right? I hope he's self-conscious enough not to do that... But I can never be too careful."

Caron proceeded to go down to the lower floor while staying on guard.

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The house was oddly quiet and dark. Even when asleep, people wouldn't usually turn off all the lights in the house. It was weird, but Caron decided to shrug it off.

Caron took out a small flashlight from her coat pocket and turned it on. She pointed the light to the wall, searching for the light switch. 

Soon, Caron managed to find one. When she turned it on, the light on the ceiling revealed a living room.

There were broken pieces of ceramic on the floor, which might be part of a plate or cups. Despite that, there was no sign of struggle.

Caron felt discomfort whenever her mind automatically looked for a sign of struggle as it often became a premonition of something malicious.

"Woof!" 

The barking sound broke off the tension. Hans5 asked for more treats, so Caron gave some to the dog. Then Caron realized that those broken cups and plates might be Hans5 trying to eat whatever food that was on the table.

The turned-off lamps... broken pieces of utility that were left alone... A desperately hungry dog despite having a human guardian...

"Why didn't Sergey do anything about these...?"

"What if... he was already..." 

"No, I should stop assuming for the worst!"

Despite convincing herself to stay positive, Caron couldn't help but rush to look for the missing man.

The bedroom was silent,

The kitchen smelt like half-finished food,

The restroom dry and untouched,

Caron checked every single room she came across, but Sergey was nowhere to be found. She had enough of wandering around this house and hoping the next room would be the last.

The moment Caron opened the door...

A rusty smell filled the air, 

The mice ran out of the room, 

And a swarm of flies followed.

Sergey was found dead in the basement of his house, with a bullet lodged on his head.

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- Sergey's House (living room) -

Caron sat on the couch and tried to calm herself down. The fishy smell of the rotten corpse, the rusty smell of dried blood, the sight of lifeless eyes... No matter how many times she saw a dead body, it never failed to overwhelm her.

Caron tried to distract her mind from the vivid image of the corpse. She imagined how Sergey accompanied Leader and everyone else to the afterlife, hopefully, beaten up by everyone else because Sergey made them die a meaningless death. 

It was a failed attempt to humor herself as it didn't lighten the mood at all. Caron had no choice but to wait as the time lessened the stress.

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After a while, Caron felt that her shock had toned down and decided now was the right time to investigate the corpse. She then proceeded to go to the basement.

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- Sergey's House (Basement) -

When Caron arrived at the basement, Hans5 sat beside the corpse.

Hans5 was mourning. The dog understood the concept of death. Despite the hunger, Hans5 didn't eat Sergey's corpse. Caron petted the dog on the head, attempted to comfort it, but the dog wouldn't stop whimpering. 

"You didn't even realize that Sergey made you as poison tester..."

Caron decided to bring Hans5 out of the room. Fortunately, the dog didn't resist.

Caron slashed off a bag of dog food that was in the living room. Its content was scattered on the floor. Hans5 would keep coming back to this place for a while, and he needed a food source. 

Caron decided to come back later to see what she could do for the dog, now back to the corpse.

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Caron had no experience in forensic investigation. She had no clue as to how or where to begin. She desperately tried to find something that even a no-forensic investigator could understand.

She got her suspicions towards the untreated bullet wound on Sergey's leg from yesterday. It might be an indicator that Sergey died before he had the chance to treat his wound. 

This murder, however, looks very amateurish. In Livingstone, the case of missing people was a daily occurrence. Throwing the corpse into the sea and making it a missing person case was better than hiding the corpse in the house as the chance of someone finding it was higher. 

Caron had concluded that...

The murderer

Was so

Fucking

STUPIIIIIID!!!!

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Caron's POV:

- Caron's Home -

Try to guess what was more stupid than an amateurish murder? That was when the murderer's conscience was what did him in. Here the murderer, right in front of me, confessed to all his sins.

The trick, the motive, the exact time of death, who forced him to do so, ALL OF THEM!!

The investigation was a big waste of time, except for being proof that he wasn't lying. The situation of Sergey's corpse matched with how he described it.

"Do you know what did you just said? Emory!?" 

I slammed my hands on the table. Because what the fuck was this situation?!

"I did," 

Emory couldn't bring himself to look me in the eyes. His gaze was on the empty table between us.

"And what do you want from me after confessing it?! A Mercy?! Turning you to the police?! A punishment?!"

"You're correct..."

"What?"

"Your last answer..."

"Emory, you must be joking!"

How I wish I heard it wrong, but deep down, I knew what Emory wanted. I knew him long enough that it was easy to guess what he wanted in this situation.

Emory looked straight into my eyes. It was the first time he had to look at me with that level of seriousness... And maybe, the last...

"Kill me, Caron! Kill me in the worst possible way!"