THE BODY AT LEVEL B2
The underground parking lot smelled of oil, concrete, and something colder—final. Yellow ceiling lights hummed softly, casting dim reflections on polished car roofs and the taped-off space at Level B2.
Officer Rowan stood with her hands on her hips, posture straight, eyes sharp. Around her, officers moved in controlled patterns—photographing tire marks, marking footprints, checking cameras mounted like silent witnesses along the pillars.
“The body was found at 5:42 a.m.,” one officer reported. “No signs of struggle. No blood trail. Cause of death still unclear.”
Rowan nodded, eyes fixed on the man lying beside a black sedan. Mid-forties. Expensive suit. Phone still in his hand, screen cracked but unlocked.
“Which means,” Rowan said calmly, “he didn’t expect to die here.”
She crouched slightly, not close enough to contaminate anything. “Parking entry logs?”
“Clean. Too clean,” another officer replied. “One camera blind spot. Exactly thirty-four seconds.”
Rowan’s jaw tightened. “Thirty-four seconds is a lifetime if you know what you’re doing.”
She straightened and looked around the vast parking level. Cars stood like obedient animals. No panic. No chaos.
A perfect crime, someone had whispered earlier.
Rowan hated that phrase.
A NORMAL DAY ABOVE GROUND
Three floors above the crime scene, the mart buzzed with artificial cheer. Bright shelves. Polished floors. Soft music pretending nothing ugly ever happened underground.
Eli pushed a trolley with exaggerated seriousness. “We need cereal.”
Zane Faulkner glanced sideways, scanning a shelf without really seeing it. “You need cereal. I need coffee.”
“You drink too much coffee.”
“You talk too much.”
Eli grinned. “That’s friendship.”
Zane picked up a box, read the label, put it back. “This one tastes like regret.”
“You’ve tasted regret?”
“Frequently.”
Eli tossed two boxes into the trolley. “You overthink breakfast.”
Zane finally looked at him. Thirty years old, tall, composed, dark blue overcoat draped perfectly even indoors. His expression was relaxed, but his eyes—those eyes never rested.
“Details matter,” Zane said. “Even in cereal.”
Eli leaned closer. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Looking like you’re solving a murder while standing next to discounted snacks.”
Zane smiled faintly. “Old habit.”
THE ENCOUNTER
They took the elevator down.
The doors slid open to Level B2.
Yellow light. Police tape. Uniforms. Silence thick enough to press against the chest.
Eli froze. “Zane… why are there so many police officers in our parking lot?”
Zane didn’t answer immediately. His gaze had already dropped—to the floor, the pillars, the cars, the angles.
Officer Rowan noticed him at the same moment.
Her eyes narrowed. “Of course,” she muttered.
Zane stepped forward casually. “Morning, Officer Rowan.”
“This is a sealed crime scene.”
“And this,” Zane replied gently, “is where I parked my car.”
Rowan hesitated. She knew that tone. Calm. Curious. Dangerous.
“Five minutes,” she said. “No touching.”
Zane inclined his head. “Generous.”
Eli whispered, “You’re going to get arrested one day.”
“Unlikely,” Zane said, already moving. “I’m very polite.”
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Zane stopped a few feet from the body.
He didn’t look at the face first.
He looked at the phone.
Then the shoes.
Then the distance between the car door and the body.
“Huh,” he murmured.
Rowan folded her arms. “What?”
“No blood,” Zane said. “No defensive marks. Shoes are clean. He didn’t walk far after being attacked.”
“Medical examiner thinks sudden internal trauma.”
Zane nodded. “That fits.”
Eli blinked. “Fits what?”
Zane didn’t answer. Instead, he turned slowly, eyes moving from pillar to pillar.
“You said thirty-four seconds,” Zane said.
Rowan stiffened. “How do you—”
“Camera blind spot,” Zane continued. “Right there. Between those two pillars. Someone adjusted the angle recently.”
Rowan stared. “We didn’t release that detail.”
Zane smiled politely. “You didn’t need to.”
THE DECISION
Rowan exhaled sharply. “You’re involved now, aren’t you?”
“Only if you want the truth sooner rather than later.”
Silence.
Then Rowan stepped aside. “Fine. But you stay in my line of sight.”
Eli leaned close. “Congratulations. You’re officially a problem again.”
Zane’s smile widened. “I missed this.”
FIVE THREADS
The victim’s identity surfaced quickly. A corporate consultant. Powerful. Disliked.
Zane listened as Rowan summarized.
“Five people had access to this level during the time window,” she said. “All with reasons to want him gone.”
“Five,” Zane repeated softly. “Good. A neat number.”
Eli frowned. “That’s… not comforting.”
Zane turned to Rowan. “I’d like to speak to them. Separately.”
Rowan hesitated. Then nodded. “I’ll arrange it.”
STATEMENTS IN SHADOW
The first suspect spoke too much.
The second spoke too little.
The third smiled at the wrong moments.
The fourth remembered unnecessary details.
The fifth forgot obvious ones.
By the time Zane stepped back, Eli’s head was spinning.
“They all sound guilty,” Eli said.
“Exactly,” Zane replied. “Which means most of them are lying badly.”
Rowan watched him closely. “And the one who isn’t?”
Zane met her gaze. “Is lying beautifully.”
A CALL UNMADE… THEN MADE
Zane stepped aside and pulled out his phone.
Eli raised an eyebrow. “Calling who?”
“Help,” Zane said.
He dialed.
“Lyra,” he said when she answered, “how do you feel about parking lots?”
A pause. Then: “I feel like hanging up.”
“Excellent. Come down to Level B2.”
“You owe me.”
“I always do.”
He hung up.
Eli smirked. “She’s going to yell.”
Zane’s smile turned unreadable. “Probably.”
A QUESTION WITHOUT AN ANSWER
Zane gathered Eli and Rowan near a pillar.
“Tell me,” Zane said softly, “why would a man walk into a parking lot holding his phone unlocked?”
Eli shrugged. “Maybe texting?”
Rowan frowned. “Or expecting someone.”
Zane nodded. “Good. Now tell me why the phone screen is cracked—but the body wasn’t moved.”
Silence.
Eli opened his mouth. Closed it.
Rowan looked away.
Zane smiled.
Not triumphantly.
Mysteriously.
LYRA ARRIVES
Lyra Vance walked into Level B2 like she owned the concrete.
Heels clicking softly, jacket perfectly fitted, eyes already scanning the scene before anyone could explain anything. She stopped beside Zane, not looking at him.
“I was in the middle of something important,” she said.
Zane tilted his head. “You say that every time you save my sanity.”
She finally looked at him. “This is a parking lot.”
“Yes.”
“With a dead body.”
“Also yes.”
She sighed. “You owe me dinner.”
Eli leaned forward eagerly. “He always owes dinner. He just never pays.”
Lyra smirked. “I already like you.”
Zane cleared his throat. “Focus, both of you.”
Lyra crouched, studying the floor markings, then the pillars. “You called me because something here doesn’t behave like a parking lot.”
Zane’s eyes sparkled. “You’re getting better at this.”
“I was always good,” she replied. “You just like pretending you’re surprised.”
THE FIVE SUSPECTS REVISITED
The suspects were gathered again, standing apart, tension visible in posture alone.
Zane addressed Eli and Lyra quietly. “Let’s walk through them. Slowly.”
Eli nodded. “Suspect One. Nervous talker. Knows too much.”
Lyra added, “Suspect Two. Almost rehearsed silence. Avoids eye contact.”
“Three,” Eli continued, “Smiles when he shouldn’t.”
Lyra frowned. “Four remembers the color of the walls but not the time he arrived.”
“And Five,” Eli finished, “forgot where he parked his own car.”
Zane listened, hands in his coat pockets.
“You both noticed behavior,” Zane said. “Good. But behavior lies.”
Lyra crossed her arms. “Then what doesn’t?”
Zane glanced toward the ceiling lights. “Physics.”
A SIMPLE WALK
Zane asked Rowan for permission, then began walking the distance between the body and the black sedan.
Twenty steps.
He stopped.
“Victim collapsed here,” Rowan said.
Zane nodded. “But he was already dying before he reached this point.”
“How can you be sure?” Lyra asked.
“Because if he collapsed suddenly,” Zane replied, “his phone wouldn’t still be in his hand. The body drops before the object does.”
Eli blinked. “That’s… unsettling.”
Zane smiled. “Truth often is.”
THE YELLOW LIGHT DETAIL
Lyra tilted her head, eyes narrowing at the overhead lights. “These bulbs were changed recently.”
Rowan looked surprised. “Maintenance logs say last week.”
Zane glanced at Lyra. “Yellow light changes perception.”
“Of depth,” Lyra added.
“And distance,” Zane finished.
Eli frowned. “I feel like you’re both speaking another language.”
Zane turned to him. “That’s fine. Just keep listening.”
THE LOGICAL WALL
They gathered near a pillar again.
Eli spoke first. “Suspect Three claims he never left his car.”
Lyra countered, “But Suspect Two insists he saw him walking.”
Zane raised a finger. “And yet both statements can be true.”
Eli stared. “How?”
Zane asked quietly, “What if one of them saw a reflection instead of a person?”
Silence.
Lyra’s eyes widened slightly.
Eli swallowed. “You mean… the polished cars?”
Zane nodded. “Yellow light. Glossy surfaces. Distorted angles.”
Rowan exhaled slowly. “So one witness misidentified a reflection.”
“Exactly,” Zane said. “Which means one timeline collapses.”
THE MYSTERIOUS SMILE
Lyra leaned closer. “You already know who did it, don’t you?”
Zane’s lips curved faintly. “I know who didn’t.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only honest one right now.”
Eli groaned. “You do this on purpose.”
“Frequently.”
THE GATHERING
Zane asked Rowan to bring everyone closer.
Police. Suspects. Silence.
Zane stood calmly in the center, hands relaxed, voice steady.
“Let’s start from the beginning,” he said.
REBUILDING THE NIGHT
“The victim entered Level B2 expecting to meet someone. That’s why his phone was unlocked. He trusted the meeting.”
Zane gestured toward the blind spot. “The killer knew about the thirty-four seconds. That knowledge alone removes three of you.”
Murmurs.
Zane continued. “The attack caused internal trauma. No blood. No struggle. Quick. Controlled.”
He turned to Suspect Four. “You said you heard a sound.”
Suspect Four nodded. “Yes.”
Zane smiled gently. “You heard a car door closing. Not a body falling.”
The man stiffened.
THE TWIST EXPLAINED
Zane walked to a pillar and tapped it lightly. “This pillar holds the answer.”
Rowan frowned. “It’s just concrete.”
“Concrete with a recent scrape,” Zane said. “Barely visible. At chest height.”
Lyra’s breath caught. “Impact.”
“Yes,” Zane said. “The victim was pushed—hard—but not to the ground.”
Eli’s eyes widened. “Into the pillar.”
Zane nodded. “Fatal internal damage. He staggered. Walked. Collapsed.”
THE CONNECTION
Zane turned slowly toward Suspect Five.
“You parked your car here,” Zane said. “Close to this pillar. Convenient.”
Suspect Five shook his head. “That proves nothing.”
“It proves opportunity,” Zane replied calmly. “But not guilt.”
Zane stepped closer. “The real clue is motivation. You weren’t angry at him.”
Silence thickened.
“You were afraid,” Zane continued. “Because the victim knew something about you. Something that would end you.”
Suspect Five’s breathing changed.
THE REVEAL
Zane’s voice lowered. “You confronted him. He laughed. You reacted. Instinctively.”
Zane straightened. “You killed him.”
The name fell from Zane’s lips.
Shock rippled through the group.
Rowan moved instantly.
Eli whispered, “I didn’t see that coming.”
Lyra stared at Zane. “Neither did I.”
Zane’s expression remained calm.
AFTERMATH
The suspect was taken away.
The parking lot felt quieter.
Rowan approached Zane. “You should have been a detective.”
Zane smiled politely. “I prefer shopping.”
She almost smiled back.
THE FINAL WALK
Zane, Eli, and Lyra walked toward their cars.
Eli broke the silence. “So… that reflection thing? Genius.”
Lyra nodded. “You used physics and psychology together.”
Zane stopped.
“One more thing,” he said casually.
Both turned.
“The victim didn’t come here willingly.”
Lyra frowned. “You said he expected the meeting.”
“Yes,” Zane replied. “But not at this level.”
Eli’s eyes widened. “Meaning…?”
“The killer changed the meeting place last minute,” Zane said. “Using the victim’s phone.”
Lyra froze. “So the cracked screen—”
“Was from the victim realizing the trap,” Zane finished.
Silence.
Zane walked on.
Eli and Lyra stood frozen, staring after him.
“Does he ever stop?” Eli whispered.
Lyra shook her head, a small smile breaking through. “I hope not.”
And the yellow lights hummed softly above Level Zero.
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