"This is it." Detective Darrow parks the car on the side of an old road overlooking a river. Alois can easily make out the crime scene fenced off with yellow tape while a police car stands guard nearby. The setup sticks out as a splash of color and modernity on what is otherwise an aged pathway mottled with potholes and weeds, halfway through being reclaimed by nature.

Alois steps out of the car with a folder in one hand, feet landing on cracked concrete, and approaches the crime scene. His breath immediately fogs up in the frigid air, made even colder by the body of water nearby. Behind him, he hears a car door slamming shut and the footsteps of Detective Darrow following suit. As they approach the crime scene, the detective breaks off to talk to the police officer in charge. No doubt they've been informed that they would be coming, but formalities must be in order. Alois leaves him behind and scans the area to catalog what was missed in the photographs while the uneven terrain digs on the bottom of his shoes. The detective taking him to Port Roxbury's less-than-stellar side would be an understatement.

What's there is an echo of what happened that night; chalk marks form a body shape on the ground, while little yellow stands with black numbers indicate where evidence was found. The car and the two bodies have been taken for further processing to search for more evidence. The rest of the area is flat and empty. There is Derwood river in its dirt-colored glory and the light blue cast of a neighboring city's skyline on one side. On the other, from a distance, are the glamorous skyscrapers of Port Roxbury. Between the skyscrapers and the road, placed slightly closer, are factories with smokestacks emitting light-colored fumes. 

It's as though he's standing on the other side of the curtain, right on the dark side of the city's otherwise developing state-of-the-art charm. There are fewer eyes and ears here, thus fewer witnesses and therefore less trouble.

Did Samael and Elliot mean to be here?

Soon the two of them will have to deliver death notifications and conduct interviews with people who may have relevant information. Unfortunately, without input from the caller or other witnesses, Alois and Detective Darrow will be forced to run in the dark. Anyone they'll talk with from here onwards could be guilty, and they'll have no way of being able to detect it. It appears as though there isn't much here, but it will have to do. Alois hopes to find some form of leverage, even just the tail end of some form of information that would allow them to sift through the hay.

From behind him, Alois hears footsteps; he turns to see the detective approaching.

"Anything interesting?" Detective Darrow asks.

"Hm. Still looking…" Alois glances at the sleepy lands, turned brown in the wake of winter, inlaid with barren trees gently swaying in cold winds. He continues speaking as the gracious smell of shit introduces itself to his nostrils. "You know, I grew up in this city, but I didn't even know this road existed?"

That statement should make him more nostalgic, but the pang he was expecting to come didn't. He wonders what his family would say about that.

"Really? It's old." The detective is much closer now. His proximity adds the benefit of blocking out the breeze. 

"Maybe it's because I grew up on the other side." Absent-mindedly, Alois responds. He's definitely due for a visit, but the thought alone makes him hesitate.

"Is that how you met Claire?"

  "Since birth. We were neighbors." He can visit his family, or he can see Claire first. He prefers the latter more, plus she missed him a lot anyways. Alois moves away, walking towards the edge of the broken road. There's about an eight feet to ten feet drop towards a rocky river bank from where he's standing. The detective follows. Alois asks. "How busy is this location?" 

If the detective notices the sudden change of topics, he doesn't seem bothered by it. The answer to the question is pretty obvious; however, Detective Darrow only shrugs and humors him. "Not much. Frankly speaking, this is the most action it's ever gotten in the last year… and probably for the next."

"Why is that?"

"No one likes to take this road. It's too out of the way, full of potholes, and dark at night. No attractions, no sidewalks, no proper parking spots, and..." He gestures towards the desolate view. "Everything else. Another road was built, and people preferred that. So this unofficially fell out of use."

Alois looks up at a streetlamp nearby. Its short wooden post and rusted dark-colored rim encapsulate a whole other era on its own. He squints his eyes to get a better look, all in vain. Tsk. No cameras. 

Seeming to pick up his train of thought, the detective pipes up. "A few places from a few blocks away have security cameras. There's nothing conclusive, but we have copies back at the precinct. We've isolated some images that have figures a few hours before and after the incident."

Alois flashes the detective a quick thumbs-up, then opens his folder, thumbing specifically for Samael's background information.

"So, an ex-convict turned zookeeper is found dead in an abandoned road with no surveillance." It sounds like a setup for a joke but plays out like a tragedy. Alois has read his personal information multiple times while riding in the car. Samael Galagher lived up to 26 and passed away during what appears to be the start of a new leaf in his life. "Maybe his past caught up to him. Perhaps, he had enemies or kept in contact with shady people."

"There are two sets of fingerprints on the steering wheel, one of them is Samael, and the other is unidentified. He has a roommate, Tristan Dalisay. He has no criminal record, so we don't have his fingerprint. Yet…"

It's evidence that looks useful but can be ruled out easily. Still looking at the files, Alois brings it up. "Could be because they share cars…."

"... Could be because he's an accomplice?"

Oh? Alois turns to Detective Darrow. "Elaborate."

"Ehm.." The detective scratches the back of his head. "If not Tristan, that pair of fingerprints could still be an accomplice…."

He trails off, momentarily deliberating on how to explain himself.

"He wasn't dead for a long time when they found him– two to three hours top. But Elliot was dead for a whole day before." Detective Darrow leans over and pulls out a photo from Alois' folder, and lays it on top of the page. "There's a possibility that Samael was driving this car around while a dead body lay in the back."

  The photo depicts Eliot in a fetal position, with a rope and tarp under him, his hands cradling the bloodied mess on his chest. Outside of that, nothing else appears to have stains on it, indicating that his heart had stopped pumping out blood long before he was placed on the tarp. If anyone were to see from the outside, no one would be able to tell that there was an extra passenger. 

"I see. Going by the setup in the back, Elliot looks transport ready." Alois muses. "But why was Elliot left behind? Is this where he's supposed to be found?"

"I think it's because that wasn't the plan. Rather, the plan was interrupted." Detective Darrow motions towards the chalk marks. "They stop here to dispose of a dead body in the river, but he backs out at the last minute… He could've been the one who made the call too. That would explain why he used Samael's phone and hung up before the responders could interrogate them. The story fits. It would explain the extra fingerprints, the location, and the setup."

"Hm." Considering the time frame, it's a clean hypothesis. Almost all the available evidence is covered by implicating Samael and the caller. But Alois wonders. Is the hypothesis a little too clean? 

"... I mean, that's how it seems so far." Detective Darrow finishes.

"There's nothing in the car to weigh down a body." Alois points out.

"There's rope and enough rocks by the riverbank." The detective quickly counters. "You can tie some rocks to the body or put rocks in the tarp and tie it close. It's enough to start anchoring the body down."

"Why not a separate assailant? Why an accomplice?"

"There are no defensive wounds on Samael. Whoever it was, he trusted them enough to let them get close. Also, he would know if he was being followed on this road. No one would be here unless they planned to be here."

The lack of eyes is the biggest asset of this location, but the detective makes a good case against an ambush. Alois imagines a high-speed chase and pictures Samael's black van aggressively bouncing on the craggy concrete. He cringes. Not popping a tire or not falling off the edge of Severn Street's winding roads would be short of a miracle. 

Detective Darrow adds on, seemingly rushed. "Samael went in for smuggling. He has experience ferrying illicit goods. It's conceivable that he upgraded."

Alois snaps the folder close. "Okay. Sounds good." So Samael, who may have been planning to dump a body, gets dumped himself. Reasonable. He turns to see the detective with his mouth hanging open; it seems Alois interrupted his defense case. But he never entirely disagreed in the first place? "Derwood River flows towards the sea so, even if it didn't sink, it would just have to sink enough. Either way, it's seabound. It's a good pick for dumping bodies."

Although eventually, the bodies will turn up. Alois may have to start looking into cases of missing people.

"I… yeah."

"That means, when we conduct interviews, we should keep a close eye on anyone else he's close with. If he had a partner, it would be someone he trusts-- a relative, friend, coworker. Maybe we can match them with the voice on the call."

"Roger that."

"Good." Alois grabs a pen and notepad from his pocket and writes some notes down. If Samael is acting as a professional mule, they would need to confirm that he did this out of his own volition and that this is a road that Samael regularly uses. Perhaps, this can be done by observing damage and debris on the car. However, one glaring issue is if this was a crime that the supposed accomplice wanted to back out of. Why call in and risk being implicated? There's a car available as a quick getaway, but they abandoned it and chose to walk in the cold. Moreover, there are materials available for disposing of bodies.

Why not hide Samael and Elliot, and pretend this never happened? Well, it's time to poke Detective Darrow's brain again.

"So that would be hypothesis number one."

"Number… One?"

Alois raises a brow. "There's more to see, right? We didn't drive all the way here for a five-minute talk."

Samael's parents have long passed away; however, he still has a sister who lives in the next town. Maya Newport, a school teacher. She'll be off work in just a few hours, so they'll wait. Out of respect for her, he would prefer to approach her with sensitive news where she can be in the privacy of her residence. In the meantime, they can gather as much information as possible. This way, they prepare how to break the news and give her some answers should she want them.

And, of course, there also lies the possibility of her being a guilty party.

Detective Darrow fishes for words, a slight shift in his posture shows a little restlessness, but eventually, he eases out. "Ah... Of course"

As talented as a detective can be, some of them will take shortcuts when tackling a large number of ever-increasing cases. Often by creating a list of suspects and narrowing it down as soon as possible to quickly solve it and move along to the next one before they pile up. Over time, some will hone great instincts and lightning-quick responses. This works well most of the time … if the crime is petty.

Unfortunately, this one isn't. Alois will have to ask Detective Darrow to be more meticulous. He appreciates the patience.

"Now, you said something about isolated images?"