Case 7: Nimbostratus Enigma

Diablo's midnight-black eyes turned even darker than it was, rolling them as it happened. A black cloud emanated from his trench coat, engulfing him. The cloud of darkness appeared so thick, no one could find him even with a flashlight.

"Two, one — ... — Wait. Nothing happened? Strange. Oh well, your hint is 'The last victim looks like the faster minute hand victim.' Anywho, SEE YOU SOON. HAHAHAHA!" the recording's last words.

The black cloud dispersed before fading into Diablo's coat. His eyes turned a lighter shade of black, losing its former lacklusterness prior to being enveloped by the dark cloud. The white mark that coated his neck and face disappeared the moment the thick fog revealed him. He squeezed his stomach with one hand and his chest with the other, face scrunched. After a while, his face relaxed. Resting both hands, he took a deep breath.

Hesitant, Diablo took out his phone, "Catter, kindly scan this area. Leave no stones unscanned inside and out."

Catter's cute voice came out, "Aye aye, Cap'n,"

A small silver cube detached itself from Diablo's phone and floated around inside the cave-like structure beneath the club. A silver light projected from the cube, like a barcode-scanner. The projected light touched every surface inside. Every nook and cranny, every rough crust, even the camera, string, and note. The light went up and down, including Diablo himself.

Diablo's eyebrows sunk, his mouth turned into a smile, "Catter, including your own mother? Seriously?"

"Oops," Catter laughed.

The mother and child had a breather for a while before ascending to the surface of the world. Silver cube-shaped Catter latched onto Diablo's phone, Diablo put them in one of his pockets, and the two climbed up to the club.

Before taking the last few rungs of the ladder, the trapdoor opened, revealing an incredibly handsome man, as per Diablo's standards. Diego put his hand out and Diablo took it, pulling Diablo to the surface. Diego closed the trapdoor, Diablo scanned the main hall and kept his sight on a peculiar gathering of Belladonna officers a few steps to the very back of the hall.

The hall looked a bit different compared to before Diablo went down the trapdoor. The hall still had a dark, shiny coating over it. With colourful neon lights being the main source of illumination of the place. The neon lights still lined the edges of some of the circular public seats, it lined the edges of the floors, walls, and ceiling. Other neon lights lit up the glass dance floor from beneath it. A few LED lights lit up the stage, DJ booth, and bars. The black fog that covered the floor before disappeared as the machine that made it got switched off. Diablo frowned and scratched the back of his head, not being able to figure out the difference.

Diego pointed towards one of the corners of the club's main area, another secret passageway. But instead of a trapdoor, this time, the secret area flew right under their noses. Diablo looked into Diego's eyes as his partner told him that a few minutes of him staying in the trap door area, a corpse got discarded through a slope the wall revealed when it moved.

With a smile on Diablo's face, tugging Diego to follow him, the duo walked towards the crowd and get intercepted by Grey.

With a raucous voice, "It wasn't even five minutes when you went down that hatch and the wall just moved by itself." Grey said.

Diablo's stomach churned. He put his left hand on his abdomen and squeezed it. Face scrunched, he opened his eyes and saw pure whiteness. Everywhere he looked, blinding white covered everything. His skin turned cold and pale. Diego turned to his partner with sunken eyebrows. He placed his hands next to Diablo's sides. Diablo lost strength in his legs, his eyes turned all white then closed shut. Diego caught him before he fell on the ground.

Diego put one hand between Diablo's bottom and the floor, and assisted him down, supporting his back after. Grey tried to help, taking one step, but Diego raised his other hand and stiffened his fingers together, signaling him to stop. After about thirty seconds, Diablo opened his eyes and gasped open as he jolted forward, coughing soon after. He took Diego's hand, supporting himself to stand. He patted of a small amount of dust off his coat.

Diablo looked at Grey as if nothing happened, "Sorry about that. Anything important in there?"

Grey's eyes widened, "You sure nothing's wrong with you?"

"Yep," Diablo coughed.

Grey crossed his arms and let out a sigh "A corpse of someone named Malak Callaghan appeared in the other secret passageway Diego probably already told you about. He — said — that there's something about it that the two of you needed to see before taking it into the morgue. I wouldn't allow it at all but since it's you two then there must be something important."

Diablo walked closer to Grey and squeezed his arm twice, "Thanks Grey."

Grey put two fingers to his eyebrow and the Duo went to investigate the carcass, Grey followed from behind.

The corpse's body got blood all over it, possibly from rolling in its own blood when it discarded itself. Hence the bloody sloped opening of the other secret passageway. The stench it gave forced a foul face into the officers close by, with Grey, Diablo, and Diego unaffected by it. Diablo leaned closer and sniffed the corpse before retracting. He nodded, and the two, tall men behind him nodded after.

Grey crouched and pointed towards the corpse's face. Upon closer inspection, the face looked a little too rubbery. Almost as if it was a fake, burnt face glued to the corpse after death.

Though the skin of the face looks burnt, the neck seemed just fine. Provided that strangulation marks around the neck can be considered fine. Stitches can also be seen around the neck and face. Blood covered the arms and bruises along the hands. Besides that, all other body parts have been covered by the corpse's clothes and other things.

Grey put on rubber gloves and touched the body, "Cold and stiff."

No insects or maggots seem to be present, not even the area from which it came from.

No obvious signs of being undressed or dressed again can be found. No hairs, foreign objects, or clear clues that could indicate what the deceased person before them did right before his or her own murder. Murder, because who in the world would burn their own face willingly and put a fake face on.

"This is fresh," Diablo said.

Grey pulled back his hair, "The supposed rotten smell is being emitted by the clothes and not the corpse itself."

"The blood is just hyper realistic artificial blood," Diablo added.

"The face is fake. The real face must've been torn off," Grey added further

"We need to inspect the body further for more clues though," Diablo added even further.

"Already called a party to deliver it to Ale," Grey couldn't add more than this even if he wanted to.

Diablo raised an eyebrow, "Fast. I like that in a man."

Diego coughed, making the two face him. Grey and Diablo laughed, Diego still frowning. Diablo walked up to Diego and wrapped him around his arms, squeezing him until not a single breath remained in his body. After Diego grunted, the two held hands and faced Grey.

Grey crossed his arms, "So the murderer is crafty but kind of dumb?"

Diablo put his hand on his waist, "No. Given the fact that the obvious clues were given to us when they could have gotten away with it, as well as the high probability that they are toying with us. I'd say he's smart. But yes, not — that — smart."

"So, should we play along or do you already have a plan?" Grey asked.

Diablo kept his eyes on the corpse, "I don't really care what happens to this after investigating. But Grey, we need to know who this is."

Grey stood with arms akimbo, "Name is Malak Callaghan. Age thirty plus five. Job is taking care of this bar. And coincidentally friends with the owner of this bar."

Diablo raised an eyebrow, "You're a portable forensic lab team that only needs one look?"

"The face may be faked or altered, But I have already memorized most of the people of our city. No one looks like him besides Malak and it makes sense he was here considering he Maladdor Profumo is the owner," Grey crossed his arms, "he may not be the murderer but I'm positive he has some info on this case. He's also at the police station as we speak."

"Good thing I never underestimated you. That is one scary ability. Anyway, thanks Grey. Let Catter just scan this and we'll handle Mr. owner of this bar ourselves," Diablo waved.

The duo turned and started to walk toward the exit.

"Take care. Oh, one more thing." Grey's face turned grim. "Maladdor is an Oleander, be on guard. I don't trust him"

Diego raised his hand, waving. Diablo said,

"Will do."