Chapter 71: Detective
The empty evidence bag passed from one pair of hands to another.
The young officer insisted he had never broken the seal.
The forensic technician examined every edge under a flashlight.
The detective checked it himself.
Nothing.
No cuts.
No tears.
No signs of tampering.
Yet the watch had vanished.
The detective slowly lowered the evidence bag.
"Everyone stays here."
His voice had changed.
The confidence from earlier had disappeared, replaced by something far more dangerous.
Doubt.
Two officers immediately spread out across the depot while another began searching around the forensic van with a flashlight.
Professor Ellis leaned heavily against Noah.
"I told you."
The detective looked at him.
"You’ve seen this before?"
Professor Ellis nodded.
"I’ve read every surviving report."
"Not one watch ever reached forensic examination."
"I thought it was corruption."
"Or incompetence."
He laughed bitterly.
"I owe a lot of people an apology."
The detective remained silent for several moments.
Finally, he asked,
"Professor..."
"...exactly how much do you know about these murders?"
Professor Ellis looked exhausted.
"Less than I thought."
"More than I wish."
The detective stared at him for another second before turning toward us.
"You two."
His eyes settled on Noah first.
"You called this in."
"Yes."
"And you?"
He looked at me.
"I came with him."
The detective nodded once.
"My name is Detective Inspector Victor Hale."
"I’m taking over this scene."
He slipped a notebook from his coat pocket.
"I want every detail."
"Starting from the beginning."
---
The next twenty minutes passed slowly.
The officers searched the warehouse while Detective Hale questioned each of us individually.
Noah explained the missing professor.
The city archives.
The map.
The abandoned depot.
Everything.
He deliberately omitted Lucien.
Not because he wanted to lie.
Because...
How do you describe someone who appears in six-year-old photographs without aging?
The detective eventually turned to me.
"Mr. Cross."
I looked up.
"You’ve hardly spoken."
"I’m still processing everything."
"I understand."
He closed his notebook.
"But tell me something."
"When you arrived..."
"...what was the first thing you noticed?"
I answered honestly.
"The footprints."
"No."
"The first thing."
I thought back.
The warehouse.
Lucien.
The voice.
Then...
"The pocket watch."
His eyes sharpened.
"You noticed it before anyone mentioned it?"
"...Yes."
"Interesting."
He scribbled another note.
I glanced down.
Only one line had been written.
Cross observed evidence before witnesses drew attention.
Why would that matter?
---
The search continued.
Nothing.
No hidden exits.
No signs of struggle besides where Professor Ellis had fallen.
No Lucien.
It was as though he’d dissolved into the night.
One of the officers returned from searching the eastern tracks.
"Sir."
"No sign of the suspect."
"What about footprints?"
"They disappear."
Detective Hale frowned.
"What do you mean disappear?"
"We tracked them for approximately eighty meters."
"Then..."
The officer hesitated.
"They just stop."
"No vehicle?"
"No bicycle."
"No second trail."
"Nothing."
Silence settled over the group.
Another impossible fact.
Another answer that solved nothing.
---
Professor Ellis had finally been examined by the paramedics.
Apart from a twisted ankle and a minor concussion, he was surprisingly unharmed.
The detective crouched beside him.
"I need you to answer one question."
Professor Ellis nodded.
"When you came here..."
"...what exactly did Lucien say?"
Professor Ellis frowned.
"I..."
He closed his eyes.
"I remember the beginning."
"Go on."
"He introduced himself."
"He knew I’d been researching the Pocket Watch murders."
"He said..."
The professor suddenly stopped.
His breathing grew uneven.
"What?"
"I can’t..."
His hands trembled.
"I can’t remember."
Detective Hale remained patient.
"Take your time."
Professor Ellis shook his head harder.
"No."
"It’s..."
His expression filled with confusion.
"I know we talked."
"I remember listening."
"I remember following him."
"But every word..."
"...is gone."
The detective slowly stood.
"Selective memory."
Professor Ellis looked up.
"You’ve seen this?"
Detective Hale didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he stared toward the dark railway tracks.
"When I was a rookie..."
His voice was quiet enough that only the four of us heard.
"...I worked one of the original Pocket Watch cases."
Professor Ellis froze.
"You?"
The detective nodded.
"My first homicide."
"Twenty-three years ago."
Noah and I exchanged a glance.
Professor Ellis spoke first.
"The official records say the lead detective retired."
"He did."
"I was his assistant."
The detective folded his arms.
"There are parts of that case..."
"...I’ve never been able to explain."
No one interrupted him.
"The victim was a university student."
"Nineteen."
"No enemies."
"No criminal record."
"We processed the scene exactly by the book."
He looked down at his own hands.
"The watch disappeared while my senior officer was holding it."
My pulse quickened.
The same story.
"We both filed reports."
"They were rejected."
"Why?"
"Because..."
He laughed once.
"...they sounded insane."
Professor Ellis slowly nodded.
"So the records were altered."
"They were rewritten."
"The official explanation became..."
He quoted mechanically.
"’Evidence misplaced during transport.’"
Noah frowned.
"Someone changed the report?"
"No."
The detective looked at him.
"I changed it."
Silence.
"I wanted to keep my job."
"I wanted people to believe me."
"So I wrote the only explanation anyone would accept."
He looked toward the empty evidence bag still resting on the forensic table.
"I’ve regretted it ever since."
---
The wind grew stronger.
Clouds covered the moon.
The depot became noticeably darker.
One of the younger officers hurried over.
"Sir."
"We found something."
Everyone followed him to the western side of the warehouse.
There, on one of the old brick walls...
Someone had written a sentence.
Fresh white chalk.
The letters were elegant.
Almost beautiful.
EVERY STORY NEEDS A WITNESS.
Nobody had noticed it earlier.
Detective Hale frowned.
"Was this photographed?"
"No, sir."
"It wasn’t here."
"What?"
"We searched this wall twenty minutes ago."
The officer sounded certain.
"There was nothing."
A chill ran down my spine.
Professor Ellis whispered,
"He left us a message."
Detective Hale walked closer without touching the writing.
"No."
He corrected quietly.
"He left someone a message."
His eyes drifted toward me.
I noticed.
So did Noah.
Neither of us said anything.
---
A familiar blue window appeared.
______
Main Story Updated
Witnesses Identified.
Current Count:
4
• Adrian Cross
• Noah Walker
• Professor Ellis
• Detective Victor Hale
One witness will remember.
One witness will forget.
One witness will disappear.
One witness will choose.
Conditions Unknown.
______
The window vanished before I could process it.
I forced myself to stay calm.
Noah noticed my expression again.
"What is it?"
I looked at the words still lingering in my mind.
One witness will disappear.
I couldn’t tell him.
Not yet.
Because I didn’t know whether the System was predicting the future...
Or merely reading a script that had already been written.
I turned back toward the brick wall.
The chalk message remained exactly where it had appeared.
Yet something about it felt...
Incomplete.
I stepped closer.
Very carefully.
The others continued discussing the scene behind me.
Then I noticed it.
Near the bottom corner of the wall...
Almost hidden beneath years of cracked paint...
A second line.
Not written in chalk.
Carved into the brick itself.
Old.
Far older than the fresh message.
I brushed away a thin layer of dust with my fingertips.
The words slowly emerged.
The first Observer lied.
My breathing stopped.
Behind me...
A pocket watch chimed once more.
Not from the warehouse.
Not from the tracks.
This time...
It came from somewhere beneath our feet.