CH 6 Part 2 : The Investigation Continues
Written by Kavya and Concept by Sidhant First go to previous blogs if you have not already....
In the bureau, Detective Cloe was seated behind a desk, surrounded by coffee cups. The case was clearly weighing heavily on her, but she was not one to show fatigue easily. Absko and Soto followed Mr. Daniel into her office, where Soto, after bowing and thanking her for the meal, asked to speak with her privately. Absko raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Once outside the office, Soto wasted no time. "I need to look at the Waaq cutout," he said, his tone serious. Cloe hesitated but handed him the small, golden image. Soto produced a blue LED light from his pocket and, with great care, began to scan the cutout. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he saw something others might have missed.
"Aha," Soto murmured. "This is interesting. What you’re looking at here is a Machine Identification Code—MIC. It's a digital watermark, essentially a flaw, left by certain color laser printers and copiers on printed documents. Most people don’t know about this. These dots are invisible to the naked eye, but under a blue LED light, they appear as yellow dots. This could be a crucial lead."
Cloe’s interest piqued. "And what exactly does this tell us?"
"I will need some time to extract more information, but these dots could tell us which printer was used and possibly even where this document originated."
Detective Cloe nodded, understanding the potential implications. "Please do what you can. We need all the leads we can get."
As the night wore on, Absko, growing increasingly tired, could barely keep his eyes open. "Nothing more can be done tonight," Cloe said finally, her voice soft but firm. "We’ll meet again in the morning. Rest well, gentlemen."
The next morning, after a hearty Finnish breakfast of pancakes, Cloe escorted them to the sauna—where the mystery had begun. It was here that, 15 days ago, four men had gone missing after entering an icy pool, never to return. The only thing near the crime scene had been a robotic pool cleaner, the Shark Nautilus.
"I know this model," Soto said proudly. "It’s a robotic pool boy designed to vacuum and scrub. Smart enough to decide which cleaning tool to use, and it has GPS so it can ensure the entire pool is cleaned."
"Interesting," Cloe mused. "Mr. Soto, I have something important to discuss with you in private."
Absko, who had grown weary of Soto's secretive behavior, spoke up. "I’m only here to help, man."
Soto, not wishing to escalate matters, apologized, but continued. "The yellow dots," Soto said, "gave me a date—December 12th. I’m still working on it."
Absko, intrigued despite himself, offered his own piece of the puzzle. "December 12th is Kenya’s Independence Day."
An African god, Waaq, Kenyan Independence, and now, mysterious deaths in Finland. The connections were beginning to form, though the full picture remained elusive.
They were soon taken to another crime scene, where a family of three had been found dead on a sofa in front of a home theater, poisoned by the same chemical, with a robot vacuum cleaner—Shoomba—found nearby. Soto again showed off his knowledge, explaining how the Shoomba robot could be activated via Wi-Fi and remembered areas that needed extra cleaning attention.
"Could these robots be used to release the poisonous air?" Cloe asked, pressing them for answers. "If so, can they lead us to the culprit?"
Soto, absorbed in his thoughts, replied, "I need to check the master chips of these robots. Only then can we get closer to finding out if they were involved in the deaths."
"Very well," Cloe said, her expression grave. "Mr. Absko, continue your research on Waaq and Kenya’s Independence. It may be connected to the larger picture."
As the investigation deepened, Soto and Absko found themselves drawn into a web of increasingly strange and deadly connections. The robots, the poisoned air, the African god, the Kenyan Independence—each detail seemed to be part of a larger, cryptic puzzle. As they sat in the Finnish bureau, ready to continue their research, they couldn’t shake the feeling that this case was far more intricate—and far more dangerous—than they had first imagined. Soto’s promise to Mr. Handa echoed in his mind: He would uncover the truth, no matter what.
