Investigation in progress (I)

At the Brookline Police Department building, past the lobby, across the open office, and through the passcode-locked door was the designated investigation area, reserved for the detectives, Investigators and trusted officers.

It consisted of a long rectangular table like any meeting room, except there was a corkboard on the wall with all the evidence (photos, files, notes and a police sketch) pinned, along with different colored threads looped around the tacks, each corresponding to different hypothesies.

"So far, we know there were at least four criminals at the scene which the dispatch team pursued." Lead detective, Nicholai walked into the room and wasted no time in debriefing.

"One of them was seen by a witness." He tapped the police drawing of a tan-skinned man with medium-length brown hair and a large V-shaped scar across his face. "Based on the witness statement, this is what he looks like."

"A Violenza scar?" Yvette Pavlovic, the deputy lead detective, exclaimed in surprise and squinted at the sketch, in case she had seen wrong.

"Yes. It seems this gang of criminals is connected to the Donatello Violenza mafia." Nicholai furrowed his eyebrows as he connected a red thread between the drawing and the case file of the Violenza mafia takedown.

"Please keep this in mind as we proceed." Nicholai turned to the detectives seated at the table, who all nodded.

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"Now, if you follow this thread here." He traced the line of white with his finger to a picture of the unlocked staff entrance. "You'll see that the criminals first entered from here, then made their way to the vault room without detection."

He tapped the photo of the opened vault. "It is not clear how they managed to unlock the high-security vault."

He turned to face the team of detectives with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. "Any ideas?"

Detective Isla Sánchez raised a hand from her seat, farthest from the board. "Could it be there's an insider? One of the staff could have given them the information."

Hyejin, who sat across from her, nodded along. "Th-that would explain the already open door and why the c-cameras were all disabled when I che-cked them."

Nicholai sighed then shook his head. "We interrogated all the staff, including the guards on duty and none of them knew anything. When we questioned them, it became apparent that the reason the criminals were able to get in and exit with such ease was due to the incompetence of the workers."

"Then it's possible they left it open by accident and, coincidentally, that was when the suspects decided to break in." Isla threw in another theory.

"I'm not too sure about that." A juniour detective interjected.

"If what the witness said was true—about the scar," He pointed to the sketch that was pinned to the board.

"Then we're dealing with organized gangsters. They wouldn't rely on coincidences to successfully heist the museum's most valuable treasure even if security there is notoriously lax."

"But that's assuming the scar wasn't faked to mislead us." Isla pressed her palms onto the table, leaning forward.

"Let's not speculate. That could be true if the suspect deliberately exposed himselves to reveal the scar, but that is not what happened. He was caught off gaurd by the witness." The juniour detective faced Isla with poise.

With a deep sigh and frown, Isla backed down, sinking into her chair.

Nicholai's had an intrigued expression on his face, concentrating on the man. "So how else do you think they got in?"

"The most plausible explanation would be they have a fifth member who works behind the scenes and is technologically savvy." He explained.

"They would be able to crack the electric lock that would otherwise only be opened with a staff keycard. It would also explain the cameras malfunctioning as well as how they were able to access the vault."

"Now you're the one speculating." Isla muttered and scoffed scornfully.

Nicholai shot her a look that made her instantly staighten back up and bite her tongue.

Nicholai tapped his chin thoughtfully. "It makes sense, but what evidence makes you think there's another member?"

"Simply by analyzing their behaviour." The juniour detective smiled professionally, folding his hands in front of him.

"They knew that there were cameras everywhere – evident by the fact that the suspects removed the barely visable body camera from the guard they attacked, hinting that they already knew it was there – yet they moved freely without any concern of being caught on video during the heist."

"We can cancel out the idea that they did not care if they were captured on the CCTV as per what I just mentioned, since they would not have taken the camera in the first place, so they had to have known it was bypassed."

"Furthermore, they would not be that confident if it wasn't someone they trusted completely. In other words, a teammate who was highly skilled with technology."

The other detectives sat in silence and listened carefully.

Nicholai gave a nod of approval. "I see. That's very sound reasoning."

"You're the new hire, I presume." He approached the man with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Gunner Lawe. Pleased to meet you all." He raised a hand in greeting with a smile.

"I look forward to working with you, Lawe." Nicholai looked at him with a gentler gaze than usual.

Just then, the door beeped before it clicked open. Entrering the investigation room was police sergent Richard Woods.

To be continued...

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