The three detectives met up again outside the kitchen.
"I couldn't find any fingerprints," said Sapphire. "The killer
must have been using gloves."
"Ah well, never mind," said Lt. Hawke. "No
guarantee their prints would have been in the database anyway." Hawke held
up a labelled video tape. "I've got the security footage, I'll be going
through that once we get back to the precinct."
"Alright," said Harry. "I've got a couple
more questions, actually, so bear with me a minute."
"Alright, we'll be right here," said Lt. Hawke.
Harry nodded, and headed over to the manager, who was still standing nearby.
"Hey," he said. "Harry Payne, consulting
detective. I'd like to ask you a few more questions, if you don't mind."
"Of course," said the manager. "Ask
away."
"Did Carlo ever ask for a raise, or an advance on
his paycheck, or something?" asked Harry.
"Actually, now that you mention it, he did ask for
an advance a few months ago," said the manager. "I said I couldn't do
that. Come to think of it, that might not have been too long before things
started going missing from the kitchen. I guess that was when his money
troubles started."
"I see," said Harry. "What about thefts
from the register? Did any actual cash ever go missing?"
"No," said the manager. "I do all my
accounting myself. If any money had gone missing, I would have noticed."
Harry nodded. "Did Carlo's behaviour ever seem…
strange, or erratic?"
"You're asking the wrong person," said the
manager. "I spend most of my time in my office, he spent his in the
kitchen. You should ask them." He gestured at the other chefs, who seemed
to have recovered slightly from their initial shock; the female chef had stopped crying, though
her eyes were still red. Having heard the question, they looked up at Harry as
he turned to look at them.
"Uhh… I didn't notice anything," said the
female chef. "He seemed pretty normal, really."
"Pretty
normal?" pressed Harry.
"Well… sometimes he got angry if things didn't go
right, but I thought he was just being hard on himself," she said.
"I see," said Harry. "Alright, that'll do.
Thank you."
"You'll catch whoever did this, right?" said
the female chef suddenly.
"Oh, of course," said Harry. "That's what
we do."
"If there's anything else we can do to help you,
just ask," the male chef chimed in.
"We will," said Lt. Hawke. "That'll be all
for now, though. If we have any other questions to ask you, we'll be back, but
for now we're gonna head back to the station and piece together what we've
learned so far. Thank you for your co-operation."
"Of course," said the manager. "So long
for now, and good luck with the investigation."
"Thank you," said Lt. Hawke. "Goodbye for
now."
***
As the trio ducked under the police tape, Harry turned to
Lt. Hawke. "Now, whenever Sapphire and I start working on a case like
this, we always set ourselves three key questions," he said. "We find
the answers to those questions, we solve the case."
"Alright," said Lt. Hawke. "So, what are
the key questions here?"
"Well, we know Carlo was stealing equipment from the
kitchens," said Harry. "We can assume he was then selling it in order
to make money. So the first question: why did he need money so badly that he
was willing to steal from his employer?"
Lt. Hawke nodded. "Second question should be: was
his death linked to his money situation, or is there another possible motive we
don't know about?" he suggested.
"Good question," asked Harry. "Sure,
that'll be question number two. Question three, then… Sapphire, any ideas for
question three?"
Sapphire thought for a moment, as the trio climbed back
into Lt. Hawke's squad car. When she spoke, a slight Irish lilt had crept into
her quiet voice, a sign she was becoming more comfortable around the lieutenant.
"Well… whoever committed the murder must have known where Carlo
worked," she said. "They also must have known about that rear
entrance. So… who would have that information?"
"That's also a good question," said Harry,
nodding as he fastened his seatbelt. "Alright, those are the three
questions we'll be trying to answer, then. So, which one do we focus on once we
get back?"
"I'd say the first one," said Lt. Hawke.
"I'll get a warrant to search Carlo's house, we'll probably find some
clues there as to why he needed all that money." Hawke carefully pulled
away from the curb, heading back towards the precinct.
"So you want us to check the security tapes in the
meantime?" asked Harry.
"That'd be great, thanks," said Lt. Hawke.
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