The non-smoking gun

Eve finished getting ready and she walked down the stairs in her patterned dress and cardigan, to see her father getting ready to leave the house.

"Good morning, Eve." Taylor greeted her.

"Early investigation?" Eve asked her father.

"Yeah, it's an urgent one as well." Taylor puts on his hat, "I'll see you later, Eve." He smiled as he waved.

"Stay safe, Dad." Eve waves before Taylor shut the door behind him.

"Bonjour, old man." Chifuyu was on the sidewalk a few steps away from the door.

"I have to go, Tsuguha-kun." Taylor fixes his gloves as a carriage stops near them.

"Are you investigating the suicide that happened a few hours ago?" Chifuyu remembered listening to it from his radio, stopping Taylor's pace.

"You keep up with everything going on, huh?" Taylor was somewhat impressed.

"I get bored often, you know?" Chifuyu smiled, "Can I come to the crime scene with you?" he asked the investigator.

"Pourquoi?" Taylor was curious, Chifuyu never asked to go to the crime scene himself.

"I have my reasons, or should I say; suspicions." Chifuyu responded, "I need to see the scene myself to confirm, because from what I heard on the radio, something's off." He added, and Taylor raised a brow at him.

"Fine, let's get going." Taylor agreed, and went to the location with Chifuyu.

They were the a few of the first people to arrive at the scene, an officer and the man who found the victim was standing outside the house of the person who committed suicide. The first thing Taylor noticed Chifuyu did was look around the neighborhood as soon as he stepped out of the carriage, which Taylor finds somewhat out of the ordinary. Chifuyu proceeded to walk around the house and scans his eyes on every side of the house, while Taylor approached the officer and the man.

"Detective Anderson, you've arrived." The officer saluted, "The scene inside is untouched, feel free to enter and investigate." He added to Taylor.

"Alright," Taylor nodded, "Are you the man who found Zachary Jones?" he asked the man with the officer.

"Yes, I'm Michael Jones. I'm Zachary Jones's older brother," the man introduced himself, his words showing grief as he trembled.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Taylor said, "Do you might know why Zachary Jones committed suicide?" he began questioning.

Chifuyu walked around the home and stopped to scan the area when he reached the back of the house, a water tap caught his eye, the handle and spout with residues of water. Chifuyu kept his eye on it for a few seconds, glancing down to the grass to see the wet dirt under the tap.

"Our father is terribly ill currently, and he's probably stressed from the pressure of working to pay our father's medical bills." Michael responded, "But he didn't tell me anything, he didn't tell me he was stressed." He sighed heavily.

"I see," Taylor nodded as he saw Chifuyu returning to the front of the house, after circling the house. "Are you done with your little house tour?" Taylor asked him.

"Yes, sir. Let's go inside," Chifuyu smiled.

"Who's he?" the police officer was confused.

"He's working for me," Taylor responded shortly as he approached Chifuyu, "What did you find?" he asked the 17-year-old.

"Not much," Chifuyu shrugged, and he entered the house with Taylor. Zachary Jones was in the living room between the sofas, lying in a pool of his own blood from the gunshot wound on his forehead and a pistol in his loose grip. Chifuyu dazed at the corpse with an expressionless face, before squatting down to look closer at the wound and the man himself.

"You're not affected by things like this?" Taylor asked him, wondering why the teenager had no horrified reaction to the corpse.

"I watched my family get murdered and already got haunted for two years, this kind of thing doesn't scare me anymore." Chifuyu responded without taking his eyes off of the corpse, and Taylor sighed heavily, regretting his question. "Pardon, do you bring gloves?" Chifuyu turned to Taylor as he rolled up his sleeves.

"I do," Taylor reached into his bag and pulled out a pack containing a pair of rubber gloves, allowing Chifuyu to take the gun into his hand after wearing the gloves.

"Did you question the man anything?" Chifuyu asked as he investigated the pistol.

"He's Michael Jones, the victim's older brother. He said Zachary Jones possibly committed suicide due to stress of paying for their father's medical treatments," Taylor replied as he took a look around the room.

"Zachary Jones's older brother, got it." Chifuyu nodded his head, while Taylor has a marvelled look on his face, wondering why Chifuyu decided to repeat that statement instead of the others.

"A journal?" Taylor found a journal in a drawer in the living room, he decided to pick it up and investigate it. "It's Zachary Jones's journal." He mumbled.

"Old man," Chifuyu made Taylor turn his head as the detective secure the journal in a plastic bag, "At what time is speculated to be the time Zachary Jones committed suicide?" he asked Taylor.

"I assume it's around 4 hours ago, so approximately 4 a.m." Taylor replied.

"Interesting," a smile rose on Chifuyu's face.

"What? Why?" Taylor immediately became alerted.

"Is Michael Jones still outside?" Chifuyu asked back.

"He is," Taylor confirmed after looking out through the opened front door, where the man was still standing with the police officer.

"Can you secure him to take in for questioning? I would like you to ask him a question," Chifuyu requested, "I just wanted to know a small detail," he smiled.

"When are you going to tell me your reasons?" Taylor raised a brow.

"Is the suspense killing you, old man?" Chifuyu smirked, "I'll tell you when the mess here is taken care of," he added.

"Alright then," Taylor was skeptical, but he knows Chifuyu is on to something.

A few hours later, Zachary Jones's body has already been cleared from the crime scene and Taylor returned home from the police office, then entered his office to meet with Chifuyu and Eve.

"Welcome home, Dad." Eve gave her father a smile.

"How was it?" Chifuyu asked as he puts down a folder.

"Why did you want me to ask for his address?" Taylor asked him back.

"Do you want me to investigate myself or something? I thought you don't want me breaking into people's houses anymore," Chifuyu tilted his head.

"You just broke in and spread more possessions yesterday night, it's hopeless to ask you to stop by now." Taylor reminded him with a scowl as he puts down his gear onto his desk, "Wait, are you planning to investigate Michael Jones's house?" he suddenly realized.

"Oh, you finally got my hint. I thought you were so dumb for a hot second," Chifuyu smirked, and Taylor let out a light growl in annoyance.

"Why did you ask for his address?" he asked Chifuyu.

"Michael Jones lived with his father before he went to the hospital, right? I just wanted to search for their father's will," Chifuyu replied.

"His will?" Eve furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Exactly, I want to know the contents of the will if he has one." Chifuyu nodded.

"Are you going to finally tell me your reasons?" Taylor folded his arms, giving Chifuyu a sharp look.

"Bien sûr. I think that Zachary Jones didn't commit suicide, he was murdered." Chifuyu's short statement made Taylor's eyes slightly widen, showing his surprise. "I inspected the pistol in the scene, there was no sign of a recent fire despite the suicide is speculated to take place 4 hours before our investigation. It just seems that he had a gun but didn't eventually fire it," he began to explain his opinion.

"Murder, huh?" Taylor nodded, telling Chifuyu to continue.

"Because of that, Michael obviously lied about his testimony of Zachary Jones committing suicide, and he became my main suspect. So, I wanted see if Michael Jones would have motives to kill his own brother." Chifuyu continued, "The results of my 'little house tour' also gives me a small detail; the small tap handle at the back of the house was in the process of drying, which indicates someone washed themselves around the time after the incident. Judging by the residue, temperature, and current weather, the tap was used around 3 hours before we entered the crime scene. It also indicates that someone else was there, which is practically unlikely since Zachary Jones lives alone." He added.

"True..." Taylor was starting to consider Chifuyu's theory.

"And it's possible for Michael Jones to enter easily because Zachary Jones knows him and would easily let him in the house, which clears out the possibility to have signs of a break in as evidence, making the 'suicide' scenario more believable. When in reality, they probably got into an argument and had a gun face off, with Michael Jones eventually firing a gun and murdered Zachary Jones." Chifuyu added.

"How is the will a part of this?" Taylor was curious.

"Did you not read Zachary Jones's journal before you gave it to me?" Chifuyu asked him back, "The journal contains information that Zachary Jones and his brother argued a lot, and most of them is about the property split written in the will. It doesn't say anything about Zachary Jones's stress at all, which also confirms that Michael's testimony is a lie." He explained.

"I see, your explanation itself is already enough to arrest Michael Jones as a suspect." Taylor nodded his head, while Eve was dumbfounded in amazement. "We'll search Michael Jones's house," Taylor agreed.

"Merveilleux," Chifuyu smiled, "I also wanted to see if he has a gun somewhere in his house, if it shows a sign of recent fire, he's done for." He added.

Chifuyu and Eve went to explore Michael Jones's house after getting permission from Michael Jones's father while Michael Jones was kept in the police office, and the two of them explored the house in search for the will and a firearm.

"Mr. Jones said the will was in the master bedroom, right?" Eve went to the direction of the master bedroom.

"I'll keep searching here," Chifuyu responded as he opened each drawer in the living room in search for a weapon.

"Chifuyu-kun!"

"Yeah?" he stopped when he heard Eve call his name.

"I need you help over here," she said as Chifuyu went to the master bedroom, to see her on her tippy toes reaching for the top row of a tall bookshelf, "It's up there, the brown folder." She gave him an embarrassed smile, as he approached her while looking up to the top of the drawer, then reached the file with ease.

"Shorty," Chifuyu lightly taps the file on Eve's forehead as he sneered.

"Shut up," Eve took the file from his hand and opened it, "Oui, this is the will." She said as Chifuyu leaned closer to her to read the contents of the will with her. The two of them read the contents in silence, but Eve's ears were slowly burning in shyness, Chifuyu's gentle breath was lightly tickling her neck.

"The properties owned will be split into two, and will be given entirely to one with the other passes away..." Chifuyu was mumbling the summary of the will.

"C-Can you not be too close...?" Eve finally spoke up with blushed cheeks.

"Oh, sorry." Chifuyu moved away, finished reading the will. "You're a timid one, aren't you?" he smirked.

"Can we focus on the case, please?!" Eve was embarrassed, not wanting to talk about it. "Do you really think Michael Jones would have a motive from the contents of Mr. Jones's will?" she asked him.

"Absolument, Michael could possibly want the property entirely for himself." Chifuyu nodded, "With this will, Zachary Jones's journal, and the guns as evidence, Michael Jones is going behind bars for sure." He was confident.

"Did you find a gun here?" Eve asked him.

"Pas encore," Chifuyu replied, and Eve's face showed annoyance in an instant.

"Then don't be so confident just yet, mister." She told him.

"I'm sure it's here somewhere, I'll find it soon." Chifuyu's confidence didn't show any sign of dying out, which made Eve roll her eyes as she followed him to Michael Jones's bedroom. "Bingo," Chifuyu just opened one drawer and he found a pistol hidden inside, then he held it in his hands after putting on gloves to analyze it.

"I can't believe it," Eve find it unacceptable that he actually found a gun, just after she mocked him for his overconfidence. "So?" she asked him, and he turned to her with a smug on his face.

"We got our evidence, there are signs of a recent fire here." Chifuyu responded as he placed the gun into a zip-lock bag, "We're done here, and justice shall be given to Zachary Jones." He grinned.

Michael Jones ended up admitting to his crimes, it all happened exactly how Chifuyu speculated it to be and Michael Jones confirmed it himself, which left Taylor in amazement. Taylor left the court room in satisfaction once again, ready to praise the 17-year-old when he gets home when a man in a coat and his face half-way covered by a bucket hat approached him.

"Can I help you-?" Taylor was about to ask the man when he suddenly shot two bullets to Taylor's abdomen before immediately running away, leaving the middle-aged man injured on the floor and bleeding out blood from his wound.

***