Chapter 9: The Invisible Man

Caine leaned against a wall, watching his partner converse with another cop who had questioned the neighbors near the crime scene. He looked around; he saw CCTV at the end of the corridor; he saw the door to the crime scene being guarded to prevent people from contaminating it; and he saw flashes of police vehicle emergency lights in the window, guarding the actual building to prevent people from exiting and entering.

Morrel finally completed her conversation with the interviewer and moved over to Caine.

"Nothing," she muttered. "No one saw anyone enter the room between 6 and 11 p.m."

"Not even even hearing anything?"

"Moaning sounds at night are rather common in this area. As for screaming, no. Someone said they heard yelling above, most likely from a fight, but not on this floor."

Caine made a humming sound. "Take note of that yelling. Hmm, the walls seemed to be thin; the person who called 911 must've heard something—maybe a name, maybe a conversation."

"Well, let's talk to her then."

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Caine and Morrel approached a middle-aged woman who appeared haggard. Her black hair was unkempt, and she was holding a cup of steaming coffee in her hands, as though she was trying to relax.

"Could you please tell us what happened in the next room, Ma'am?" Morrel inquired. "Did you happen to hear anything? Screaming, moaning, anything that would lead us to the culprit."

"I told the other officer; I didn't hear or see anything. I simply smelled some kind of metallic odor from outside, and when I glanced around, I noticed the next door's window was open. I went to knock because the scent was troubling me, but it wasn't locked, and when I opened the door, I saw... the body."

"We understand, ma'am, but did you hear anything before you came in?"

The woman made a shaky motion with her head. "No. I- Well…"

She was a bit hesitant to say, but ultimately she relented. "I heard some giggling."

"Giggling?" Morrel lifted her brow, taking notes on what she had heard.

"It was very faint; I'm not sure if it was a genuine giggle or just my imagination. I mean, the room next door is for that kind of thing, you know? I'd heard giggling, moaning, and even shouting before, but not this time. All I heard was giggling; I didn't even hear a man's voice."

"I see…" Morrel hummed, his gaze fixed on Caine, who remained silent. "So the room next door is really a... prostitution service?"

"Yes, you can ask the landlord of this building; many of the empty rooms are used for that type of stuff."

"Do the building's residents ever make use of the services?"

"I'm not sure. People, including myself, normally mind our own business here."

"All right... Do you know who provides these services? The girls, I mean."

Once more, the woman shook her head. "The girls are different every time; I don't even remember seeing the, uh, victim."

Morrel sighed as she drew out her business card and handed it to the woman. "Well, ma'am, thank you for your time. You can contact me if you remember anything."

Caine and his partner then left the woman's flat and stood outside in the corridor. The CSI appears to have arrived and is already searching the crime scene for every available piece of evidence.

"What do we do next? There isn't much to go on at the moment." Morrel stated.

"We've got plenty." Caine remarked. "There's the landlord, the CCTV, and the yelling."

Morrel seemed confused. "The yelling is probably unrelated to the case."

"Every lead must be checked out, Morrel." Caine expressed. "The smallest thing matters."

"Alright, noted." Morrel hummed. "What do you want to check out first?"

A police officer suddenly approached them before Caine could respond, attracting their attention to him.

"Detectives, the tapes have been collected. You can look at it right now," he explained.

Morrel looked at Caine, and he just nodded. "Alright, let's check that out first."

======

Caine and Morrel entered the tiny monitoring room and noticed that local officer Moreno was already there, his face frowning, clearly thinking carefully about what he had just witnessed.

"Detectives, it's good to have you here." Moreno welcomed the pair. "It appears that this case has just gotten a little weirder."

"Can you elaborate on that?" Morrel inquired.

"Take a look at it for yourself." Moreno indicated the monitor. "This surveillance was conducted yesterday around 8 p.m., which corresponds to your observation of the time of death."

When Moreno pressed the play button, a video of the corridor on the crime scene's floor appeared. For a few seconds, the corridor was completely vacant; no one was present, and there was no audio from the camera. But then, Caine could see the female victim climbing up the stairs; she appeared to be talking to someone, but that's the thing: she was alone.

She giggled as she strolled along the corridors, as though someone was flirting with her. She looked to her left repeatedly, her gaze seemingly locked on an empty area just above her head, until coming to a halt at the crime scene's front door.

She was the one who used a key to unlock the door, and once it was unlocked, she pulled the key and opened the door. From the looks of it, she was the only one who entered the room, and the door finally closed, never to be opened again until the neighbor opened it to check on her hours later.

"I... don't get it. Is it edited or something?" Morrel was astounded by the footage she had just seen.

"No, ma'am, that's raw footage," Moreno replied. "She was simply conversing with herself. Except for the neighbor, no other man or woman entered that location again. For the time being, she appears to be the prime suspect."

"She most emphatically did not do it." Morrel murmured. "There was no one entering or exiting the room, officer, so perhaps someone climbed up the window? Wasn't it left open?"

"Now that you say it..."

"Is there any CCTV that could check up on that?"

"They only have CCTV on the inside of the building, ma'am, not on the outside. But we can find something, maybe a witness, maybe another CCTV from other buildings."

"Alright, you get to work on that." Morrel hummed, and Moreno walked out of the room. She then returned her attention to Caine. "What do you think? We didn't see any keys in that room. We might be able to identify the killer using it."

"I have an idea of how the killer did the deed and the motive, but... I still don't know who did it. We don't have an ID on the woman, CSI isn't done, and we haven't completed asking around."

"Would you mind telling me about your 'idea'?" Morrel furrowed her brows.

"No, it's still too early." Caine made a shaky motion with his head. "We should ask the landlord right now."

"Seriously? You don't trust me?"

"It's not as if I don't trust you, Morrel." Caine replied as he walked to the door and opened it. "It's just that you might not believe me if I explain it to you."

Caine proceeded upstairs to the landlord's office, leaving Morrel in the chamber. Morrel simply sighed and followed suit.