The Devilish Assassin Meets The Angelic Detective

*** At XXX Crime Investigation Headquarters ***

After his conversation with his wife over the phone, Erick continued looking through the CCTV recordings they had gathered from the cameras installed in the vicinity of the theme park.

After an hour, finally, he saw something. He called his team to come over to his office. He wanted to show them what he had found. 

"Look at this," Erick told them as he pointed out the computer screen.

The rest averted their gaze to the person visible on the paused video clips. That person was undoubtedly Black Shadow. 

Based on his spot, they could conclude that he was just near Marie's location. They saw that familiar spot when they visited the crime scene. He was standing just a few meters away from where Marie was sitting while waiting for him.

Everyone had indescribable expressions on their faces.

"Chief, if Black Shadow was standing there then did he shoot her from that certain distance?" Bryan asked him in confusion.

Erick: "..."

April: "..."

Rose: "..."

June: "..."

Rose, April, and June gave Bryan a strange look as if they were looking at a fool. They wanted to hit his head to knock some sense out of him.

"Dummy! How can he do that? He is not stupid like you. Do you think he would shoot her in the middle of the crowd where several people are just around?" It was April who spoke up on behalf of her team.

Rose just shook her head while June clicked his tongue in agreement with April's statement. On the other hand, Erick just chuckled as he remembered Elle's request.

Just a few nights ago, Elle told him about her conversation with Bryan. She tried to tell him that she was Catseye however Bryan thought she was just lying and he concluded something else in his mind.

Elle complained to him and she asked him to bless and impart Bryan some of his logical reasoning skills. She wanted Erick to teach and train him personally.

'I guess I should listen to my wife. She was really worried about my best friend's deductive reasoning skills.'

Meanwhile, Bryan became fl.u.s.tered as he realized his mistake. He was blushing in embarrassment. So he just laughed awkwardly at them as he tried to defend himself.

"I didn't say he shot her. I am just asking. It was a question! Not a statement! Why are you looking at me like I am a fool? Don't you know that my brain is just special? It's just a little bit slower to react compared to yours. You know the words 'loading' right?"

The girls just rolled their eyes at him while June looked at his buddy helplessly. Erick decided to change the topic as he brought their attention back to this discovery.

"This evidence shows us that Black Shadow is not the culprit. It also didn't look like he brought a gun that day." Erick said to them the main point.

Erick clicked the mouse and the video clips continued to play. Then he paused it again. This time, the video showed that a girl with short hair suddenly approached Black Shadow as she grabbed his elbow.

"Who is that?" Bryan blurted out.

"Kelsy Azumi." Erick promptly said as his response.

"Kelsy Azumi? Who is that?" Bryan asked again curiously. Rose and June also had the same question in mind.

It was April who reacted differently among them. She was the profiler of the team so she was somehow familiar with that name.

"She is one of the K2 twins or also known as the Azumi Twins," April said as she informed them.

"K2 twins?" June probed again.

"K2 twins because the twins' First names start with letter K. Her twin brother is Kevin Azumi. They were also infamous assassins. They had the same reputation as Catseye. These twins are very dangerous and cunning." 

April frowned after saying that. This was the first time Kelsy appeared to the public again.

"They belong to the most wanted criminal overseas. I heard before that they were working outside the country for the past five years now. I didn't expect to see her. So this only means they are back to the country."

"But, why was she there with Black Shadow that day? What is their relationship to each other?" It was Rose who raised this question.

"They are both members of Assassin Guild," Erick replied to her.

"Chief, do you think that they were also involved in Agent Marie's shooting incident?" Finally, Bryan had said something significant today. Erick was glad that he brought that up.

'I think my best friend is not that bad at all.' he thought to himself as he smiled inwardly.

"That's one of the possibilities. I think there is an internal dispute between Black Shadow and the Azumi Twins. We could see in the video that Black Shadow was unhappy to see her. Then Marie just got involved since the twins thought she was very close to Black Shadow."

"So, the one who shot Marie could be Kevin Azumi. He was not there in the video. He must be the sniper who was hiding in that building." June also shared his thoughts with the team.

They were in the middle of discussing Marie's incident when suddenly they were interrupted by the ringing sound of a phone which was placed beside Erick's computer. Someone was calling him.

They saw the caller I.D. on his phone screen. It was his mother. They paused for a moment and allowed their Chief to answer his phone first.

Erick excused himself as he moved away to his team. The four continued watching the video while Erick walked in the corner of his office as he took the call.

"Hello, Mom?"

Erick's brows furrowed into a knot when he heard an unfamiliar voice of a lady from the other line. It didn't sound like his mother. There was a hint of playfulness in her voice as she called his name.

"Hello, Chief Detective Erick Lee. It's my pleasure to hear your deep and husky voice. It sounds pleasant to my ears. Because of that, I am dying to meet you face to face soon."

"Who are you? Why are you calling me using my mother's phone?" Erick suddenly got a bad feeling about this. 

Erick was not able to control his voice as he felt anxious. For that reason, he caught the attention of his team. They noticed the changes in Erick's expression.

Then he heard a soft giggle from the other line.

"Chief Lee, don't be so worked up right away. I am just saying my greetings first. But since you are very eager to know me then it is an honor to introduce myself to you."

She paused for a moment before she continued, "I am Kelsy Azumi."

A chilly glint mixed with fear and worry flitted through Erick's eyes upon hearing that name. There was only one conclusion that could explain this: Azumi Twins got ahold of Erick's parents.

"What do you want from me? I am warning you… don't you ever try hurting my parents!" Erick said with his stern voice.

Kelsy let out another giggle as she heard Erick's enraged voice.

"Don't worry Detective. If you want to get them from us and to keep your parents alive then I only have one condition." She told him mischievously.

Erick's grip on the phone tightened. His eyes darkened as he clenched his teeth from anger.

"Bring Catseye to us in exchange with your Parents' lives. We heard that you had a close relationship with Catseye. Let's see if you can deliver him to us within three days."

"Let's maintain our communication open. I will contact you again. I will tell you where and when we will do our exchange gift. Goodluck. I am counting on you. Viola Detective! See you soon...together with Catseye."

After saying that Kelsy hung up the phone. Erick felt like his energy was drained after that call. His parents' lives were now in danger. And the Azumi Twins were asking for Catseye as an exchange for their safety and freedom.

'D*mn! They wanted Elle's life. They already made their moves.' Erick was cursing himself inwardly.

He didn't anticipate this at all. He was too careless. He was not able to warn and protect his parents.

His colleagues had already sensed that something was wrong after that phone call. It was very obvious. They could already tell by just watching Erick's reactions and expressions.