《The Software Detective》21. I've solved the case
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On the ride down, I looked through Vivica and Maggie's channel. Vivica's alibi holds up as she was livestreaming Nightmare Chasers while her editor was being murdered. So now we are back to square one. There's no clear suspect, and now I have an epic raid to watch later.
The elevator chimed, then the doors slid open. Standing at the front desk was Bethany and Raj. They were behind the computer desk; Raj was sitting in the computer chair while Bethany stood leaning over him, watching what he was doing.
"I'm just not good with computers Raj, that's why I'm so lucky to have you!" Bethany said, moving the hair in front of her face behind her ear.
"I may be a computer science major, but a basic update to Office 365 isn't rocket science. There are YouTube videos that could have helped you." Raj said clicking the mouse.
"Yeah, but they go too fast, and I can never figure out how to slow down the video." Bethany caught me walking over from the corner of her eye. Turning her head and standing straight up, she waved to me. "Hey there Tom! Now that the storm has died down, the police with the detective will be here any minute."
Now standing in front of the desk, "So what were you two doing while Maggie was, you know..." I said, folding my arms on the table and resting my elbows on the table. "I was just about to fall asleep, but then I heard the screams, and I ran down as fast as I could."
"I was fast asleep, and I heard the screams. I'm not all that great in a fight since I lost my leg in a construction accident. Once the screams died down, I came out to see that horrific scene." Raj said, standing up. "I am going to work on my morning duties. There's no point in going back to sleep now." As he walked away, his leg squeaked all the way to the elevator.
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"I was sleeping here, at the front counter." Bethany said.
"That's probably not something you should admit to a guest." I said, turning back to her. She was sitting at the desk. She clicked the mouse as she stared at the screen.
"I guess not, but I believe in honesty being the best policy." Bethany looked up with a smile on her face.
"Well, that is a good policy to have." I said, pushing away from the desk. "Do you know where I can find Dave, I just have a question for him."
"He's watching the camera footage in the back; I don't think I can bring you in though he's real strict about guest not going back there."
"Would you mind checking for me?" I asked.
"Hmmm on one condition." Bethany said, looking up and smiling at me.
"If it gets me back there, sure, what can I do for you?"
"I want you to take me on a date." Bethany said, pushing her hair behind her ear and putting a seductive grin on her face.
My face immediately turned red. "Uhhh sure, I guess if you are not the murderer. I have a no dating criminals' policy." I said. Is it weird to score a date at a crime scene? If anything else, the girls got moxie.
Bethany clapped her hands and hopped into her seat. "Don't worry, Dave already caught me sleeping during the murder, so I didn't do it." Bethany stood up and opened the door behind her and waved me to come in after her.
Walking around the front counter, I followed her into the back room. At the office desk, Dave sat looking at the computer screen. He glanced over to look at both of us walking into the room. "Dammit Bethany, I told you not to bring guest back here." Dave said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Whatever I know, it wasn't you, Tom. I saw the footage of your floor. You waited so long to come out of your room. I thought it was you that did the murder. But eventually you came out in your boxers."
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Just when my face went back to normal, there it went, going back to being red as a cherry. Clearing my thought, I said, "So I'm guessing you could see the murderer on the security cameras?"
"Unfortunately, no." Dave said. He turned the monitor towards me and Bethany. "As you can see, the camera is broken, so there is no video and we can only hear the audio."
While we watched the video, we heard a door open. Maggie then friendly greeted someone. But it quickly turned into screams of bloody murder. Then it was over. But something caught my attention. "Hey, can you play that one more time? I think I heard something?" I said, getting closer to the screen. Dave rewound the video and then pressed play one more time.
As I listened to the video one more time, I heard it again. I know who killed Maggie.
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