Thursday, March 16, 2006 . THE CASE: Chapter 1

I'm currently writing a book: THE CASE. This is the first chapter, just for you guys to read and enjoy. Feel free to leave your views on it on my tagboard. Thanks!

THE CASE

Prologue:

The lights along the street were dim. It was 2a.m. on a Thursday morning. The security guard at the Xishan school gate was asleep. At this hour, most people in Singapore would have been sleeping soundly in their bedrooms, without a care for what was happening around them and their neighbourhood. And that was the time that the sniper chose to kill the only person getting in his way.
It was funny that no one actually heard or saw the sniper. A sniper rifle, with its massive firepower and recoil, would have made a sound that would have rang through the night. Yet, not a single soul heard the sniper.
The sniper’s victim was a strategic one. The sniper was aiming at someone, and not shooting aimlessly.
The security guard at Xishan lost his life that Thursday morning. The bullet that entered his brain ended his life almost instantly without letting his heart beat for even a quarter of a minute. The poor man had died without seeing the light of day.
Those that saw the person who was lurking around the Xishan school gate did not think much about it. These people did not see clearly the man’s look; all the more they did not notice anything wrong with the security guard. All of them saw the man from a distance. There were three in all. The first one was a motorist driving along the same street as Xishan was on. As he slowed down at a zebra crossing, he saw the man. The second individual, a young lady returning home from work saw the man lingering around the Xishan main entrance gate when she glanced down from her flat’s corridor. The third one was a cyclist returning home from work as well. Like the others, he saw the man but found nothing suspicious about him.
The break in could have been avoided if the three persons had been more alert. The man, at this moment, looked all around him, making sure that there was no one in the vicinity. Having found the perfect time, he swiftly climbed up the Xishan main gate and swung himself over. The whole process took no more than ten seconds. Sprinting as silently as possible to the general office, he unlocked the office door like clockwork and entered.
Around half an hour later, he left the school as quickly as he came.
Xishan would never be the same again.






Chapter 1"

The first person to become aware of the security guard’s death was the school caretaker. As she was unlocking the gate, she saw the security guard sitting in his chair, with his head tilted down. As it was still early in the morning, there was not enough light for the caretaker to notice the head wound.
Thinking that the guard was asleep, she went over to pat his shoulder in an attempt to wake him up. When he showed no signs of response, she checked for breath. There was none. Shocked, she went over the other side of the guard and saw the bullet wound. As she tried to take in the horrifying sight, she quickly grabbed her mobile phone from her pocket and wasted no time in calling the police.
_________

Twelve year old Bernand Ong woke up on time everyday for school without having his parents or elder siblings fussing over him. That Friday was no different. He got up, brushed his teeth and showered, then proceeded to eat the kaya bun he’d bought the day before.
He left the house after eating and walked to school. The school was just a stone’s throw away from his home, so going to school took him no more than ten minutes.
As he approached the school gate, he saw police tape cordoning off the student entrance area of the main gate. Students had to enter the school via the carpark through the large main gate.
The familiar red and blue lights of a police car flashed significantly in the carpark. A few curious students formed a crowd at the surroundings of the cordoned-off area. A plainclothes police officer took down notes while a police photographer clicked away at the scene. Visible in that area was a piece of white cloth that covered an object. Bernand presumed it to be a body. He decided to inquire the nearest police officer to clarify his doubts.
“Sir, may I know what’s going on?” Bernand asked politely.
The officer turned and replied, “The security guard at your school has been murdered. By the way, may I know you are…?” He extended his arm out for a handshake.
“Oh, I’m Bernand Tan from class 6A. Nice to meet you,” Bernand warmly accepted the handshake.
“Hi Bernand, I’m Chief Inspector Ramlee from the Criminal Investigation Department. Just call me Ram.”
“I would like to know more about the case.”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you much. I can only tell you the surface details of the case, and nothing deeper, unless you have authority to do so.” Ramlee said with a sigh.
“Well then, I’m a prefect you see, and I’m the head of the Prefectorial Investigation Board in my school,” Bernand said while taking out his PIB card.
Ramlee took a glance at the card and said, “Well, tell me more about the PIB.”
Bernand began, “The PIB is a team of thirty-one prefects ranging from Primary Four to Six that are drafted in through interview. It is entirely voluntary, and prefects that are drafted in usually do well at the interview, has a teacher’s recommendation or both. The initial team consisted of twenty prefects. The Primary Sixes handle major cases, while the Primary Fives and Fours handle minor cases.”
“Tell me about your cases.”
“We’ve handled many kinds, the worst since this murder was an armed robbery. We aid the police in their investigations and we only handle cases that happened within the school premises.”
“Is the cordoned-off area considered part of the school premises?”
“Of course.”
“Having seen your authority in the school…I’ll let you in.” Ramlee lifted the police tape and Bernand followed in.
After giving a brief introduction of Bernand to his teammates, Ramlee slipped on his forensic gloves and showed him the wound.
Pointing to the bullet wound, Ramlee said, “Look at this. We’ve ruled out suicide, because the bullet penetrated through slightly more than half the brain. If it were suicide, the bullet would have been fired from point-blank range, causing the bullet to simply burrow cleanly in and out through the brain.”
“Why would it enter in and out if was fired from a point-blank range?” Bernand asked, puzzled.
“I’ve extracted the bullet. Take a look yourself.” Ramlee handed the zip-lock bag containing the bullet.
Bernand took the bag and inspected the bullet. After looking all round it for half a minute, he said, “This is a bullet that would have been fired from a rifle of 7.62×51mm calibre, most likely a sniper. If you fire a sniper rifle at point-blank range…the bullet just flies in-”
“-and out,” Ramlee interrupted.
“That’s right. I think I would have to call my Elite team to help out in this case. You don’t mind, right?”
“Nah, I wouldn’t mind a bit. Just hope this won’t affect your studies.”
“Rest assured it won’t. Got to go now, bye!” Bernand waved goodbye.
“See you soon!” Ramlee shouted.
“Keep me posted!” Bernand yelled.
“Sure!” Ramlee happily replied.
Bernand made his way to the hall, all the time thinking about the case. Upon reaching the hall, the first thing he did was to find his best friend and sidekick, Louis.
Louis was a prefect like Bernand, and he was the vice-head of the PIB. Having been friends since Primary One, the duo shared a very good and firm friendship. Being side by side in the ranks of the PIB enhanced that greatly.
Both Bernand and Louis were drafted into the PIB in Primary Four. They had solved many cases together as a duo in the past. Close to the end of Primary Five, they and another three friends formed a team called the Elites. All were prefects; all were members of the PIB.

Bernand found Louis at the canteen eating his breakfast, which basically was made up of three fish sandwiches and a cup of Milo. Bernand sat down opposite Louis and greeted him.
“Morning Louis,” Bernand greeted.
“Morning,” Louis said.
“You saw the cordoned-off area?”
Louis swallowed his final mouthful of his second sandwich and said, “Yeah, I did. What about it?”
“Well…the place is cordoned off because of a-”
“-murder,” Louis answered quickly.
“You mean you know about it already?” Bernand asked.
“I asked the officer what happened and he told me our elderly security guard was murdered. Poor guy,” Louis shook his head and sighed.
“I spoke to the officer-in-charge…he’s letting the Elites take part in the investigation of this case.”
“You sure? This could be our big break!” Louis said in awe.
“We’d better start working on the case by today,” Bernand said matter-of-factly.
“We can start now, after my last sandwich,” Louis replied, as he bit away at his sandwich.
“I’d prefer during class time or recess. You’ve got five minutes to eat. Morning assembly is starting soon; I will now go up and inform the other Elites of the case. Enjoy your sandwich.”
“Yeah, see you in the hall then. Bye.”
“Bye.”
_________

Bernand and Louis went back to their classroom together with their class. Settling down at their seats, Bernand and Louis talked about the case while waiting for their teacher.
The class tables were arranged in a special manner in the classroom. The first and last rows were made up of two tables at the front and four columns of three tables each. The centre row consisted of five columns of two tables each. The duo sat at the front of the first row. The three tables directly behind were occupied by the other Elites: Jessica, Kent and Claire.
“We’ve got another case,” Louis told the rest dryly.
“What case?” Kent asked.
“You know the, our security guard was murdered. The body was in the cordoned off area,” Bernand replied.
The girls winced.
“We are taking the case? Who gave you the permission?” Kent inquired.
“The officer-in-charge, Chief Inspector Ramlee, gave us the green light to do so. I spoke to him when I came to school,” Bernand answered.
“Shouldn’t we inform Mr Sim first?” Jessica sounded worried.
Mr Sim was the teacher-in-charge of the PIB.
“Of course. Inform him during recess,” Bernand said.
“Since our form teacher is not here yet, why not we discuss the case first?” Claire suggested.
“Sure,” Bernand said.
“I’m sure you know the most about the case. Tell us what you know,” Louis told Bernand.
Bernand nodded in reply and asked Kent to take out a piece of paper. Kent tore out a piece of paper from his foolscap pad and handed it to Bernand. Bernand took it and started writing down the vital points of the case.
Bernand began, “The bullet was fired from a rifle of 7.62×51mm calibre, which means-”
“What do the numbers mean?” Claire asked, puzzled.
“Just know that calibre is the size of a tube, so the numbers refer to the tube size measurements. In this case, the tube is a rifle’s barrel.”
“So, Bernand, you telling us that our security guard was killed by a firearm?” Kent asked.
“Firearms are banned in Singapore!” Jessica interjected.
“You two have hit the nail on the head. First, the guard was indeed killed by a firearm, a sniper rifle here. The bullet penetrated very deeply into the brain, which showed the bullet must have been fired from a sniper. A sniper rifle’s firepower can be at least three times more powerful than an ordinary rifle. The bullet itself is only compatible with a rifle, since only rifles are capable of having such calibre. As for the firearm ban in Singapore, this tells us that whoever did the murder must have had plenty of guts to commit a firearm murder here, since he would be on triple charges; one for murder, one for illegal possession of firearms, and one for illegal use of firearms. ” Bernand said in one long breath.
“Anyone would have to agree with that,” Louis nodded in understanding.
Kent, Jessica and Claire grunted in agreement as well.
_________

Before long, it was recess. Bernand, as usual, got to the canteen faster than any of his friends and got his food earlier than most people. Kent and Louis had gone to inform Mr Sim of the case; Jessica and Claire were still in class doing up their undone homework.
Bernand sat down at the table and began eating his chicken rice. He did not have to wait long before Kent and Louis came to buy their food. After buying their food, they sat down opposite Bernand and started talking about the case.
“How did the chat with Mr Sim go?” Bernand asked.
“Wasn’t really good. Mr Sim said that he wouldn’t let us take the case if he had the authority to do so. But he mentioned that since the police were very happy to work with us, he allowed us to do so,” Louis said wryly.
“Well, anyway, he says he wants to see you after your meal,” Kent told Bernand.
Bernand paused. “You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why would he want to see me anyway?”
“Dunno. Maybe to talk about the case.”
“Okay then. I’ll go. Where do I meet him?” Bernand said as he cleared his plate.
“In his office,” Louis replied.
“In any case, good luck,” Kent said nicely.
“Yeah, sure!” Bernand said.
Putting his plate into the used cutlery rack for the chicken rice stall, he thought about what Kent had just said. He had to meet Mr Sim. The chat did not go well. Was Mr Sim unhappy with him for taking such a serious case? Kent wishing him good luck was not an entirely good feeling. Having to wish him good luck only meant that whatever Mr Sim was going talk with him, it spelt trouble. Getting nervous, Bernand decided to get another bite to calm himself down. That came in the form of three deep fried chicken wings. He finished them in less than ten minutes, and then walked to Mr Sim’s office. Wiping his beads of perspiration anxiously, he slowed his walking speed and got ready to brace whatever Mr Sim would hurl at him.
_________

Bernand knocked on the Discipline Master’s office door. Mr Sim happened to be the head-of-discipline when the PIB was formed, so the school decided to place him as the teacher-in-charge for it since the PIB’s responsibility was to handle the discipline of the school.
“Mr Sim, its me, Bernand.”
“Come on in,” Mr Sim grunted.
Bernand pushed open the office door and stepped into the air-conditioned room. Mr Sim sat at his table, typing away at his computer. Looking at Bernand, he motioned for him to take a seat.
Sitting down at the chair opposite Mr Sim, Bernand began the conversation by asking, “Mr Sim, I would like to know…why do you want to see me?”
Mr Sim stopped his typing and turned to focus on Bernand. He laid back in his chair, crossed his legs, and folded his arms. Bernand did not like the look of him. Mr Sim’s face looked frustrated and unhappy.
“I heard that you took up a murder case, more precisely, the murder case of our security guard,” Mr Sim said seriously.
“Er…yup. Why?” Bernand replied.
“Do you know how serious a murder case is?”
“Ya.”
“What was the most serous case you handled so far before this?”
“An armed robbery within the school itself. It was committed by one of our ex-students who entered the school without permission and tried to rob one of our Primary Fours.”
Mr Sim nodded in reply. “Any other serious cases?”
“Er…a case of molest, a big gang fight, theft and extortion in the school,” Bernand said.
“You tell me, are any of these cases close to a murder?” Mr Sim growled.
“Er…none of them are,” Bernand replied weakly.
Mr Sim now got up and started pacing around the room.
“Did you offer your help to the officer-in-charge or did he ask you for it?” Mr Sim asked ironically.
“Well, it was like this, I wanted to know more about the case, so I had to reveal my authority in the school to know more about it-”
“You can reveal your authority, but the officer-in-charge could choose not to ask for your help. Answer my question: Did you or did you not offer your help?” Mr Sim said.
Bernand swallowed his saliva, then said, “I offered him my help.”
“You offered him your help? Do you have any prior experience of a murder case?” Mr Sim hollered.
“Well…no.”
“I am telling you right now, I would NOT let you take this case if the police didn’t support it!” Mr Sim barked. Bernand nearly fell back in his chair.
“But now, since the police force has given you the green light to do so, I have no choice to support it. Do your best for this case. I presume you are going to do this with the Elites right?”
“Yup.”
“I want you to solve this case. Do it before the police does. If you solve it in time, you bring fame and pride to our school. This will boost the school’s reputation greatly as a safe and disciplined school. Think about it, Bernand.” Mr Sim gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder and left the office.
Bernand got up slowly as Mr Sim walked out. A plan to solve the case was slowly forming in his head. Pushing open the office door, he couldn’t wait to tell the others about what he thought of the case.
_________
Having finished their food quickly, Kent and Louis decided to go up to class first to discuss the case. They entered the empty classroom and switched on the lights. Just as they settled down at their seats, the back door opened and in came Bernand.
“Hi Bernand. How did the meeting go?” Louis asked.
“Meeting? More like a lecture!” Bernand replied, frustrated.
“What did Mr Sim talk to you about?” Kent asked.
“All that crap about if he had the choice he wouldn’t let me take the case…all that bullshit,” Bernand said.
“Come to think of it, we have no experience in murder cases, so why take it?” Louis said.
“Louis has got a point there, you know,” Kent said in agreement.
“You two are right. But since now, Mr Sim has accepted the case, why not do our best to solve it?” Bernand said with confidence.
“Yeah, sure!” Kent and Louis said in unison.
The three boys sat together and started their discussion. Bernand asked Kent to take out the piece of paper that they used for their early morning discussion.
“Let’s start. Why do you think anyone would want to kill our security guard?” Bernand said.
“The security guard must have had something to do with the killer. Why would anyone want to kill a security guard for?” Louis said.
“I doubt your idea, Louis. Think about it. You wouldn’t hurt a security guard unless…” Kent said.
“Unless…what?” Louis asked.
“Unless you wanted to break into the school,” Bernand said.
“Yup! Why didn’t I think of it?” Louis said.
“Use your brain more and you will think of it,” Kent mocked.
Bernand crossed his arms and said, “If our school was broken into, I’m not surprised. The school gate does not have any spikes or barbed wire on top of it to prevent break-ins.”
“The burglar would easily enter the school premises, but not the school building itself. There must have been a place where the burglar entered the school building through a door or something,” Louis said smartly.
“Let’s put ourselves into the burglar’s shoes. If you wanted to break in to the school building, where would you enter?” Bernand said.
“Hmm….” Louis racked his brains for the answer.
“Let’s say…the general office?” Kent scratched his head.
“What’s your answer, Louis?” Bernand looked over at him.
“How about the main staircase leading to the hall? There is no way anyone can lock that staircase,” Louis said.
“Oh yes, that must have been the place!” Kent cut in.
“Frankly speaking, I think both could have been possible. A person who does not know the school layout would use the general office. But if the burglar explored the school or knew the school’s layout, he would cleverly use the staircase. We will ask the girls about their opinions later and go check out all the areas suggested. Meeting dismissed!” Bernand said seriously.
_________

An unexpected Science surprise test that took place immediately after recess had greatly reduced the discussion time between the Elites. Jessica and Claire returned to class five minutes before recess ended, so the discussion was only limited to asking of the girls’ opinion of the place of break-in. Jessica thought it was the staircase that led directly from the canteen to the hall; Claire shared Louis’s opinion of the back staircase to the second floor and the hall.
The basketball court and parade square were favourite spots for P.E. teachers to conduct their lessons. The piece of triangular concrete ground beside the basketball court, called the ‘triangle” by students, was also popular among P.E. teachers. All noise generated from these areas could be heard rather clearly from the 6A classroom. It was this noise that caused many students in the class to get distracted. Thursday happened to be a P.E. day for most classes, so the basketball court, parade square and triangle were occupied with noisy students. Bernand felt extremely distracted. He tried to cover his ears to shut out the noise but it did not work. Frustrated, Bernand wrote his answers down quickly.
Louis was not doing any better. To him, the noise was almost unbearable. Can’t those stupid students shut up and play quietly, he thought. He scribbled down his answers as soon as they came to mind.
Kent, Jessica and Claire were doing fine with the noise. They finished the paper quickly without much difficultly, with the exception of Kent, who seemed to have forgotten all his science facts.
Bernand looked at the clock. Five minutes was all he had to complete the paper. And he had still three more open-ended questions to go. Bernand bit his pen for a while, then thought of the answer and wrote it down.
_________

“Now, that’s what I call tough,” Kent said, referring to the test.
“I think it’s because you didn’t do your revision,” Jessica said.
“Whatever you say,” Kent retorted.
“Why don’t we discuss the case now?” Bernand asked.
“Why don’t we leave that to after school?” Louis cut in.
“Fine.”
_________

The bell for dismissal rang at one-thirty in the afternoon. The Elites decided to leave their bags in class since they were going to stay back in school to investigate the case.
They skipped lunch since none of them felt hungry. Bernand had prioritised the possible place of break-in in accordance to their possibility of usage. Louis’s suggestion, the back staircase leading from the void deck to the second floor and the hall was placed first, followed by the staircase from the canteen that led to the hall and finally the general office’s door. Kent wasn’t very pleased with the prioritisation order.
They headed off to the first possible break-in area, the void deck staircase. They took out their mini forensics kit, which was locked away in Kent’s locker. They slipped on their gloves, which were similar to police forensic gloves.
“Can we cordon off the area?” Kent asked.
“For now, it is not necessary. We will do so if I see the need for it,” Bernand replied.
The team set to work immediately. Taking out the team’s fingerprint brush and powder, Jessica powdered the railing and brushed it for fingerprints.
“I think we’d better cordon off the area,” Kent said.
Bernand looked around. Students from all levels were using that staircase. Any more fingerprints of students could cover up any fingerprints left behind by the burglar.
“Cordon off the area,” Bernand ordered.
Kent did as told.
“Now let me see…what’s this?” Bernand picked up a chocolate wrapper. Holding it up to Jessica, he said, “Jessica, you wouldn’t mind dusting this for fingerprints, right?”
“It’s just your classic litter that is prominent everywhere. Why bother keeping it?” Louis said unhelpfully.
“Everything here is evidence,” Bernand said.
“Hey Bernand, I’m almost done with the railings, I will dust that wrapper in a few minutes time,” Jessica called out.
“Okay,” Bernand replied.
Claire, being the team’s photographer, took pictures of the uncovered fingerprints. The fingerprints were of varying patterns and it was almost impossible to make out any distinctive fingerprint from the myriad of prints.
Bernand looked intently all round the wrapper. Carefully handling the wrapper, he looked at the inside of the wrapper. Bits of chocolate were left inside it. The bits of chocolate were big; whoever ate it did it hastily. Bernand looked at the back of the wrapper. The expiry date read: 08/02/05.
“Kent, Louis, come over here,” Bernand called.
“What is it?” Louis asked.
“Just go,” Kent nudged Louis.
Both of them headed off to Bernand.
“What’s up?” Louis asked.
“Look at this,” Bernand said, pointing at the expiry date.
“8th of February 2005,” Kent muttered.
“That was two days ago!” Louis said.
“You are right. Today’s the 10th, which means if the burglar ate this chocolate bar, he would have been eating an expired one!” Bernand exclaimed.
“Yes! That’s right!” Louis shouted.
“Wait…let’s just say Louis is right: this is just litter. What makes you think this isn’t?” Kent asked.
“First, nobody wants to eat an expired chocolate bar unless he was very hungry or if he didn’t know of the expiry date. The school canteen and the mini provision shops around here most likely do not sell foods that are close to their expiry date. So, if a student dropped this, most likely it would have been brought from the school canteen. I’m not even sure whether this brand of chocolate can be even found in the canteen. This chocolate bar wrapper must have been dropped by an outsider,” Bernand explained.
“A check on the canteen and mama shops (mini provision shop) will confirm your explanation,” Louis said.
Kent wanted to say something but paused as Jessica’s called out to Bernand.
“Bernand! I can dust the wrapper now,” Jessica said.
“We can do it later. I and Kent need to bring this wrapper out from an investigation. Would you mind calling Claire over? I need her to photograph this wrapper,” Bernand said.
Jessica asked Claire to go over. Bernand placed the wrapper in the exact area it was initially found and Claire clicked away at it. She photographed the wrapper from all possible angles to get every detail. Bernand then removed the wrapper and placed it in a ziplock bag.
“Kent, you go with me. Louis, you stay here and hunt for clues. Kent, let’s go!” Bernand said.
“Why am I left out again?” Louis asked.
“Just take care of the girls. We’ll be back!” Bernand said sarcastically.
“What the hell!” Louis angrily shouted back.
Bernand and Kent ignored him.
_________

A check with the canteen and mama shop vendors revealed the brand of chocolate could only be found at petrol kiosks. Other than petrol kiosks, it could also be found at convenience stores. The brand was pretty much uncommon; some petrol kiosks and convenience stores did not sell it. The kiosks and stores near the school did not sell the brand. In fact, a check around Yishun that extended from the school area to Chong Pang and Yishun Ring Road led to the knowing that there was only one petrol kiosk to purchase that particular brand of chocolate: one of the two kiosks in Chong Pang. The petrol kiosk was off a busy straight stretch of road known as Yishun Avenue 5.
Bernand’s first thing to do after locating the petrol kiosk was to call Louis and inform him of what they had found. He told him to search the other possible break-in areas thoroughly on their own until they had returned.
The chocolate bar’s name was ‘Benders’. Strolling casually into the Chong Pang petrol kiosk, Bernand took a brand new Benders bar and looked at the expiry date. He then looked at other Bender bars’ expiry dates. All of their expiry dates were at least six months to a year away. He knew that if the burglar had eaten a Benders bar on the day of break-in, he must have been keeping the bar for a long time.
Kent, meanwhile, took out the wrapper and inspected it. The bits of chocolate were in very small bits, save for one fairly big piece. That piece could help them widely in their case.
Bernand knew that if someone kept a chocolate bar for a long time, it had to be refrigerated. Checking on that large piece of chocolate could reveal whether it was placed in the fridge or outside it.
Bernand then remembered that the big bit of chocolate was found inside of the wrapper, not outside it. If the burglar had simply flung away the wrapper, it would most likely land outside of the wrapper. It looked like the wrapper had been simply dropped to the ground, since the bit was found in the middle of the wrapper.
By knowing how the wrapper was thrown away, Bernand could find out what speed the burglar was moving and how he was moving about.
“Bernand, there’s something strange here,” Kent spoke up.
“What is it?” Bernand asked.
“The school cleaners haven’t been doing their job,” Kent said.
“What makes you think so?” Bernand said.
“If the wrapper had been left behind by the burglar…the cleaner should have picked it up. Even if the cleaners overlooked it, someone would have picked it up,” Kent said.
“So you mean you support Louis’s idea of litter?”
“You can say that.”
“Now, as far as I know this cannot be litter because it had already expired when it was eaten. The brand of bar cannot be found in the canteen, so in no way a students could have obtained it so easily. We’ve to go back now, it’s getting late.”
Kent folded his arms and said, “Okay then.”
_________

“Why are they taking such a long time?” Louis complained.
“I thought their check was going to take an hour or so, didn’t think it is already almost four and they are not back yet!” Jessica moaned.
“They must have found something really big to stay out so long,” Claire said calmly.
“I hope so,” Jessica said.
The trio had just finished combing the staircase from the canteen leading to the hall. They thought it was not a possible place of break-in, basically because there was a gate that locked out anyone who tried to move to the hall using that staircase. Although it was highly unlikely the gate would have been carelessly left unlocked in the night, it was still possible for that to happen.
Fingerprint recognition had been around for a long time. Morden technology enabled the reading of one’s age through a fingerprint. The trio figured that the burglar, if there was one, would have definitely been an adult. The fingerprints uncovered were photographed and would be taken back to the Criminal Investigation Department’s forensic lab for analysis. For now, Louis kept the fingerprint samples.
As the trio were moving to the general office, they heard familiar voices. They turned. Bernand and Kent were running towards them, shouting “Wait for us!”
“Yes! We made it…just in time…” Kent said in between breaths.
“Sorry for being late. We…had a hard time finding a place that sold the Benders bar,” Bernand apologised.
“What have you found?” Claire asked.
Bernand took a few deep breaths, and then began, “This brand of chocolate can only be found at the petrol kiosk in Chong Pang, the one directly off Yishun Avenue 5.”
“So you are saying it’s hard to find,” Louis said.
“Yes,” Bernand replied.
“Is this the only clue we have got, other than the fingerprints?” Kent inquired.
“Yup. We couldn’t find any more clues,” Claire said.
“Come on, let’s move to over to our next search area.
Kent cordoned off the general office, allowing only teachers, parents and staff to enter in and out. The rest set to work instantly.
The search revealed nothing much. Other than the usual fingerprints, there was no visible clue or unusual item in the general office. Bernand asked the office staff if anything was missing. There was nothing missing or extra in the office. Everything was alright.
They left the school that day pretty much dejected. Bernand took care of the chocolate wrapper as if it was a gem; that was their only clue.
Bernand received a call from Bernand that night; Bernand happened to be having dinner at that time, so Ramlee called back an hour later. It appeared that he wanted to know what Bernand and his team’s take on the case.
“Hi, Bernand. How are things?”
“Fine so far. I expect, you are calling about the case right?”
“You got it! You know…the only clues we’ve got are from the body itself. What have you got at the other side?”
“Nothing but a chocolate wrapper. A Bender bar, to be more precise. We found some fingerprints too, but it seems they all belong to staff and students. We are sending them to the CID’s crime lab for age testing. In this way, we can know if the fingerprints belong to a student or staff. I reckon most of it would be student fingerprints.”
“Er…Bernand, I would like to ask you and your team to come down to the CID Headquarters to look at the autopsy results, and to discuss the case with my team. I will text you the details later. Got to hang up. Bye!”
“Okay. See you, bye!”
Bernand pressed the red call end button on his phone and thought about the case. It was the most difficult, most perplex case he had ever done. Even Ramlee didn’t sound confident just now. Bernand decided to settle his mind on more enjoyable thoughts as he lay back in his chair and closed his tired eyes.

- this theoretic realization... 4:26 PM
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