Veridia is a city of secrets, but none darker than the death in the Zenith Tower. This epic smart detective story throws Kaito into a baffling case: a tech mogul dead inside a locked penthouse. With no easy answers and time running out, Kaito must navigate corporate lies and hidden betrayals to find a killer hiding in plain sight. The deeper he digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes. This fast-paced mystery blends classic detective work with modern tech twists.
Chapter 1: The Glass Cage
Rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows. Kaito stood inside the penthouse. It felt less like a home, more like a display case. Cold glass, steel beams, polished concrete floors. In the center lay Elias Thorne. Dead.
Thorne owned Cygnus Corp. A tech giant. Now he was just a body in an expensive suit.
Captain Moreau grunted beside Kaito. Moreau was thickset, grey hair cropped short. His face was a roadmap of frustration.
“Locked room,” Moreau said. His voice was gravelly. “Solid steel door. No windows open. Security system active. Nobody in or out for twelve hours before the cleaner found him.”
Kaito nodded slowly. He scanned the room. Minimalist furniture. Large abstract sculptures. Everything clean, sterile. Too clean.
“Cause of death?” Kaito asked.
“Single shot. Small caliber. Close range. No weapon found,” Moreau replied. He kicked lightly at the edge of a chrome table. “Impossible.”
Kaito walked around the body. Thorne lay face down. A dark stain spread on the back of his white shirt. Kaito knelt. He didn’t touch anything. He just looked.
The room felt cold. Not just the air conditioning. A deeper chill. Like the silence was heavy.
“Security logs?” Kaito asked, standing up.
“Triple checked,” Moreau said. “The system shows Thorne entering alone yesterday evening. It shows the cleaner arriving this morning. Nothing in between. No forced entry. No alarms triggered.”
“Internal sensors?”
“Motion, thermal. Nothing unusual detected overnight. It’s like he was shot by a ghost.”
Kaito walked to the window. Veridia sprawled below. A million lights blurred by the rain. A city full of secrets. This room held the biggest one right now.
“Who knew he was here?” Kaito asked.
“His security detail knew he was in the building. His assistant, maybe. This penthouse was his private escape. Not many people had access.”
“Let’s talk to the assistant,” Kaito said. He turned from the window. The reflection showed a tall, lean man in a dark coat. His face was impassive. He kept his thoughts behind his eyes.
Moreau sighed. “Alright, Kaito. Work your magic. But this one feels different. This one feels wrong.”
Kaito didn’t reply. They all felt wrong. That was the job.
Chapter 2: The Assistant’s Fear
Elara Vance sat in a stark white interview room at Police HQ. She looked small in the large chair. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but she held herself rigidly. She was Thorne’s executive assistant. Young, sharp, professional even now.
“Mr. Thorne was… private,” Elara said. Her voice was low, controlled. “Especially about the penthouse.”
“Did he have enemies?” Kaito asked. He sat opposite her. Moreau stood by the door, arms crossed.
Elara hesitated. “In his business? Always. Cygnus Corp plays hard. Rivals, disgruntled employees… yes. Many.”
“Anyone specific? Anyone who threatened him recently?”
She shook her head. “Not threats, not exactly. More… pressure. Especially from NovaTech.”
NovaTech. Cygnus Corp’s main competitor. Run by Marcus Vale. A man known for ruthless tactics.
“What kind of pressure?” Kaito pressed.
“They wanted his new project. Project Chimera. It’s… revolutionary. Worth billions. NovaTech tried to buy it, merge, steal key staff. Mr. Thorne refused everything.”
“Did he seem worried? Scared?”
“Mr. Thorne didn’t show fear,” Elara said. A small, bitter smile touched her lips. “But he was more… intense lately. Working late. Paranoid about security.”
“Did he mention anything specific? Anyone he suspected?”
“No names. Just… watchfulness. He upgraded the penthouse security last month.”
“Who installed it?”
“Cygnus Corp’s internal security division. Top of the line. Integrated system. He trusted his own tech.”
Kaito leaned forward slightly. “Did anyone else have access codes to the penthouse? Besides Thorne?”
Elara’s eyes flickered towards Moreau, then back to Kaito. “Officially? No one. Not even me. He changed them frequently himself.”
“Unofficially?”
She paused. Twisted her hands in her lap. “He… sometimes had guests. Very discreetly. The system logs wouldn’t show names, only an override entry.”
“Were there overrides logged recently?”
“Security is checking. But Mr. Thorne could wipe those specific entries himself. He valued absolute privacy.”
Kaito studied her. She seemed genuinely distressed. But there was something else too. Fear. Was it just fear of the situation? Or something more personal?
“What about Project Chimera?” Kaito asked. “Where is the prototype?”
Elara’s breath hitched. “It… it wasn’t in the main lab. He sometimes worked on it… personally. In secure locations.”
“Like the penthouse?”
She looked down at her hands. “I don’t know for sure. He never told me directly. But yes. It’s possible.”
A missing prototype. A dead inventor. A powerful rival. The picture was getting clearer. And messier.
“Thank you, Ms. Vance,” Kaito said, standing up. “We may have more questions later.”
She nodded mutely. Moreau opened the door. As Kaito walked out, he glanced back. Elara Vance was staring straight ahead, her face pale. She looked trapped.
Chapter 3: NovaTech’s Shadow
The NovaTech building was a shard of black glass stabbing the Veridia skyline. Inside, the lobby was all chrome and hushed efficiency. Marcus Vale’s office was on the top floor. Of course.
Vale was the opposite of Thorne. Where Thorne was reportedly reclusive, Vale was polished, public-facing. Silver hair swept back. Expensive suit perfectly tailored. He greeted Kaito with a firm handshake and a practiced smile.
“Detective Kaito. Captain Moreau mentioned you might visit. A terrible tragedy about Elias. A true visionary.” Vale’s voice was smooth as polished stone.
“You competed fiercely,” Kaito stated. No point beating around the bush.
Vale chuckled lightly. “Competition drives innovation, Detective. Elias and I understood that. We respected each other. Mostly.”
“You wanted Project Chimera,” Kaito said.
Vale’s smile didn’t falter. “Who wouldn’t? It’s groundbreaking. We made fair offers. Elias was… stubborn.”
“Did your attempts to acquire it become aggressive?”
“Aggressive?” Vale raised an eyebrow. “We pursued business strategies. Hiring talent, market positioning. Standard practice.”
“Poaching key engineers? Trying to hack Cygnus servers?” Kaito watched Vale’s eyes. A flicker. Barely noticeable.
“Rumors and speculation,” Vale said smoothly. “Cygnus enjoys painting us as villains.” He leaned back in his chair. The picture of calm confidence. “Where were you last night, Mr. Vale?”
“Here,” Vale replied without hesitation. “Working late on our quarterly reports. My senior staff can confirm. Security logs will show I didn’t leave the building until well after midnight.”
“And you didn’t contact Thorne?”
“No. Why would I?”
Kaito stood up. He walked towards the large window behind Vale’s desk. Another panoramic view of Veridia. Rival kings in rival towers.
“Thorne upgraded his penthouse security recently. He seemed paranoid,” Kaito said, turning back. “Did NovaTech give him reason to be?”
Vale met his gaze steadily. “Elias was always paranoid. It fueled his genius, I suppose. But his fears weren’t focused on me, Detective. If he felt threatened, it wasn’t by NovaTech.”
“Who then?”
Vale shrugged elegantly. “Elias made enemies everywhere. Not just in business. He discarded people easily. Colleagues, partners… even friends.”
It felt like a deflection. Too smooth. Too practiced.
“We’ll check your alibi, Mr. Vale,” Kaito said.
“Please do,” Vale smiled. “Anything to help find justice for Elias.”
As Kaito left the office, he felt Vale’s eyes on his back. The man was hiding something. But Kaito couldn’t put his finger on it. The corporate rivalry was strong. But murder? It seemed too crude for Vale. Unless Chimera was truly worth killing for.
Chapter 4: The Ghost in the Machine
Back at his own cluttered office, Kaito stared at the digital schematic of Thorne’s penthouse security system. It was state-of-the-art Cygnus tech. Layers of encryption, biometrics, physical barriers. Supposedly impenetrable.
Moreau called. “Vale’s alibi checks out. Multiple witnesses, timestamped logs. He was at NovaTech all night.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t order it,” Kaito muttered, mostly to himself.
“Maybe,” Moreau conceded. “But we have nothing concrete. Forensics found nothing useful at the scene either. No unknown prints, no fibers, nothing.”
“What about the override logs Elara mentioned?”
“Checked again. The system shows Thorne disabling the guest log feature himself two days ago. Standard procedure for him when he wanted total privacy, according to Cygnus security.”
A dead end. Kaito leaned back, rubbing his temples. Locked room. No forced entry. No signs of struggle beyond the single shot. A ghost killer.
Unless the ghost was already inside.
He pulled up Elara Vance’s file again. Young, ambitious. Rose quickly through Cygnus ranks. Thorne’s right hand for three years. Loyal, efficient. Or so it seemed.
What if Elara knew more than she let on? What if Thorne wasn’t paranoid about Vale, but about someone closer?
Kaito focused back on the security system. Cygnus tech. Installed by Cygnus engineers. Maintained by Cygnus protocols. Thorne trusted his own tech. Was that the mistake?
Could the system itself be compromised? Not from the outside, but from the inside? By someone who knew its architecture?
He zoomed in on the installation records. The lead tech on the penthouse upgrade was a senior engineer named Jian Li. Kaito made a note.
Then he looked at the system logs again. Thorne entering alone. Cleaner arriving. Nothing else. But electronic logs could be manipulated. If you had the right access. The right knowledge.
Kaito remembered something Elara said. Thorne could wipe guest log entries himself. Could someone else do that? Someone with high-level admin access?
He cross-referenced Cygnus admin privileges. Only Thorne and a handful of top security personnel had that level. Including Jian Li. And, surprisingly, Elara Vance. As Thorne’s EA, she had broad system access for scheduling and logistics, including certain security overrides.
Kaito felt a faint buzz. A potential crack in the wall.
He pulled up the building’s external CCTV feed for the street below the Zenith Tower. Hours of footage. He fast-forwarded, looking for anything unusual the night Thorne died. Rain slicked streets, passing cars, blurred figures under umbrellas.
Then he saw it. A brief image, partially obscured by a delivery truck. A figure in a dark raincoat, hood up, getting into a cab about two blocks from the tower. Around 2 AM. Long after Thorne entered. Long before the cleaner arrived.
The figure was impossible to identify. Could be anyone. But the timing was suspicious.
He needed to talk to Jian Li. And maybe have another chat with Elara Vance.
Chapter 5: The Engineer’s Tale
Jian Li was nervous. He fidgeted in his chair in another police interview room. He was younger than Kaito expected. Brilliant, according to his file. A rising star in Cygnus security division.
“The system is perfect,” Jian insisted. “I supervised the installation myself. Mr. Thorne wanted the best. It’s impossible to bypass without triggering multiple alarms.”
“But possible to manipulate logs? If you had the right access?” Kaito asked calmly.
Jian hesitated. “Theoretically… high-level admin access could alter specific log files. But it would leave a trace. A marker in the core audit log.”
“Was the core audit log checked?”
“Yes. By me and by the police techs. It’s clean. No signs of tampering.”
Kaito leaned forward. “Mr. Li, Elias Thorne was paranoid. He trusted his tech. Did he ever express concerns about internal security? About someone inside Cygnus?”
Jian swallowed. Looked down at his hands. “He… he asked me to run diagnostics more frequently in the last few weeks. He asked about tracking specific user access. Especially remote access.”
“Did he say who he was worried about?”
“No. He never named names. Just… general unease.” Jian looked up, his eyes earnest. “Mr. Thorne could be difficult, demanding. But he was a genius. What happened… it’s terrible.”
“Did Elara Vance have the technical skill to manipulate logs?” Kaito asked.
Jian looked surprised. “Ms. Vance? She has admin privileges for scheduling and overrides, yes. But manipulating core logs? That requires deep system knowledge. Programming skills. I wouldn’t think she…” He trailed off, uncertain.
“Think carefully, Mr. Li. Did Ms. Vance ever ask unusual technical questions? Show interest in system backdoors? Anything out of the ordinary?”
Jian frowned, thinking hard. “No… not really. She sometimes asked me to explain override procedures for… guests. Make sure they worked smoothly. But nothing suspicious.”
“Guests?” Kaito picked up on the word. “Plural?”
“Yes. Mr. Thorne had occasional visitors. Ms. Vance sometimes facilitated their access discreetly.”
This contradicted what Elara had told Kaito. She claimed no one else had access. Another inconsistency.
“One more thing,” Kaito said. “Project Chimera. Was any part of it integrated with the penthouse systems?”
Jian shook his head firmly. “Absolutely not. Chimera was kept separate. Air-gapped servers. Highest security protocols. Mr. Thorne wouldn’t risk linking it to anything, especially not a residential system, even his own.”
Kaito thanked Jian Li. The engineer seemed truthful. And genuinely unaware of any way the system could have been beaten. Which meant Kaito was missing something fundamental.
He walked out, leaving Jian looking relieved but worried. The tech wasn’t the weapon. It was the means. But how?
He thought about Elara Vance. Her fear. Her inconsistencies. Her access. And Project Chimera. What if the motive wasn’t just corporate rivalry? What if it was personal? And what if Chimera wasn’t in the penthouse at all?
Chapter 6: The Scuff Mark
Kaito needed to see the penthouse again. Away from the initial chaos, the police crews, the lingering presence of death. He needed quiet.
Moreau grumbled but gave him access. The rain had stopped. Weak afternoon sunlight filtered through the massive windows. The body was gone, of course. A faint outline remained on the polished floor.
Kaito walked the room slowly. Methodically. He ignored the obvious. Looked at the spaces in between. The corners. The edges.
He ran his gloved hand along the base of a heavy steel sculpture near where Thorne had fallen. Smooth, cold metal. Then his fingers brushed against something. A tiny scuff mark on the polished concrete floor, right beside the sculpture’s base.
It was small. Easily missed. Not damage from the fall – it was too neat, too linear. Like something heavy had been scraped across the floor. Very recently.
He knelt, examining it closely. The sculpture was massive. Solid steel. It would take significant effort to move it. Why would anyone move it?
He looked up at the sculpture. Abstract, angular. It sat on a thick base. He pushed against it gently. It didn’t budge. Of course not. It probably weighed a ton.
He walked around it. Looked underneath as best he could. Nothing obvious.
He stood back, picturing the scene. Thorne shot. Falling. Where would the killer have stood? How did they get in? How did they leave?
The scuff mark bothered him. It felt deliberate.
He went back to the security console near the door. The interface was sleek, user-friendly. Thorne’s private system. He accessed the maintenance logs Jian Li had mentioned. Everything looked normal. Diagnostics run daily. No reported failures.
He thought about Elara facilitating guest access. Overrides. Could an override mask an entry? Allow someone in without a trace? Jian said no, the core log would show it.
Unless the entry wasn’t electronic.
Kaito stared at the sculpture again. Then at the floor-to-ceiling windows. Then back at the heavy steel door.
Locked room. No forced entry. System clean.
He walked over to the sculpture again. Ran his hand along the base. The scuff mark lined up with the edge. What if the sculpture wasn’t just art?
He searched the base carefully. Found a nearly invisible seam near the bottom. He pressed it. Nothing. He ran his fingers along it, feeling for a catch, a button, a release.
His fingers found a tiny indentation, almost flush with the metal. He pushed it firmly.
With a soft hydraulic hiss, a section of the sculpture’s base slid inwards, revealing a narrow opening. Big enough for a person to slip through. Leading down.
Kaito stared. It wasn’t a locked room at all. It had a secret passage.
Chapter 7: The Hidden Path
Kaito shone his flashlight into the opening. Steep metal stairs led down into darkness. Cold, damp air wafted up. It smelled stale. Unused.
He drew his service weapon. Took a deep breath. And started down.
The stairs were narrow, spiral. They seemed to go down several floors within the building’s core structure. An emergency exit? A panic room access? Built without official records, clearly. Thorne’s paranoia manifested in steel and concrete.
After about fifty steps, the stairs ended at a heavy steel door. It had a simple electronic lock pad next to it. Kaito examined it. Standard Cygnus tech, but older. Probably part of the original construction, hidden away.
He tried the building’s master codes. Nothing. He tried Thorne’s known personal codes. Nothing.
He thought about Elara. Her access. Facilitating guests. Maybe she knew about this?
He needed a code. Or another way through. He scanned the doorframe, the walls. Found nothing.
He leaned his ear against the cold steel. Silence.
He stepped back. Looked up the narrow spiral staircase. Then down at the locked door. The killer came this way. Got into the penthouse. Shot Thorne. Left the same way. Moved the sculpture back into place. But how did they get through this door?
Did Thorne let them in? Unlikely, given his paranoia.
Did they have the code? Who would have it? Thorne, obviously. Maybe the person who built it? Or someone Thorne trusted implicitly?
Elara’s face flashed in his mind. Her fear. Her evasiveness. Her admin access. Did her access extend to this system too?
He climbed back up the stairs. The penthouse felt different now. Violated. The illusion of impenetrable security shattered.
He stood over the spot where Thorne died. He pictured Thorne working, maybe late at night. A soft hiss as the sculpture moves. A figure emerges from the shadows. Thorne turns, surprised. Maybe not surprised? A single shot. Silence. The figure retreats. The sculpture slides shut. Leaving no trace. Except a tiny scuff mark.
Who had the motive? NovaTech wanted Chimera. Vale had an alibi. Who had the access? Elara. Jian Li. Thorne himself. Who knew about the passage? Likely very few. Thorne. The builder. Maybe someone else?
Kaito looked at the console again. Elara had access. She facilitated guests. What if one guest didn’t leave? What if one guest was Elara herself?
What was the motive? Revenge? Power? Money? Or Chimera? Jian said Chimera wasn’t in the penthouse. But maybe its data was.
Kaito needed proof. He needed the code to that door. Or he needed Elara to break.
He pulled out his phone. Called Moreau. “Get a warrant for Elara Vance’s apartment and her workstation. Now. And get techs back to the penthouse. Focus on that hidden passage.”
Something was about to break wide open. He could feel it.
Chapter 8: The Chimera Key
The tech team swarmed the penthouse. Moreau arrived, his face grim but energized by the discovery. “A secret passage? Thorne really was paranoid.”
“Or careful,” Kaito replied, watching the techs work on the door downstairs.
Meanwhile, another team was searching Elara Vance’s apartment. Kaito’s phone buzzed. It was the lead detective from the search team.
“We found something,” the detective said. “Hidden compartment in her desk drawer. Contains a hard drive. Encrypted. And a burner phone.”
“Anything else?” Kaito asked.
“Bank statements. Large, untraceable deposits over the last six months. Totalling millions.”
Millions. Far more than her salary. Where did it come from?
“Bring the drive and phone in immediately,” Kaito ordered. “And bring Ms. Vance back in.”
An hour later, Elara Vance sat opposite Kaito again. She looked paler, thinner. The rigid control was gone. Replaced by raw fear.
“We know about the passage, Elara,” Kaito said quietly.
Her eyes widened almost imperceptibly.
“We know about the money,” he continued. “Millions deposited secretly.”
She flinched. Looked away.
“We found the hard drive.”
Her head snapped back. Pure panic in her eyes. “You can’t… it’s encrypted…”
“We have ways,” Kaito said. “But you can make this easier. Tell me what’s on it. Tell me what happened.”
Elara stared at him. Her breathing was shallow. “He… he deserved it.”
“Thorne?”
She nodded, tears finally spilling over. “He used people. He used me. Stole my ideas. Claimed them as his own. Chimera… parts of it were mine. He promised me credit, partnership. Then he locked me out. Took everything.”
“So you killed him?”
“No!” She shook her head vehemently. “I didn’t kill him! I wouldn’t!”
“Then who did? And why the money? Why the hard drive?”
Elara took a shaky breath. “The money… it wasn’t for me. Not directly.” She hesitated. “It was from Marcus Vale.”
Kaito stiffened. Vale?
“Vale didn’t want Thorne dead,” Elara whispered. “He wanted Chimera. He contacted me months ago. Offered me money, a position at NovaTech, if I could get him the core data. The key.”
“And the hard drive contains the Chimera data?”
She nodded. “I copied it slowly, carefully. Over weeks. The drive has the core algorithms. The key to everything. I… I used my admin access. Bypassed some protocols Thorne himself taught me.”
“Did Thorne find out?”
“I think he suspected. He got colder. More paranoid. Changed codes. That’s why I had to act quickly.”
“So you gave the passage code to Vale? Or one of his people?”
Elara looked confused. “Passage code? What passage?”
Kaito stared at her. She didn’t know about the secret stairs? Then how…?
“Vale didn’t need a passage,” Elara said, her voice trembling. “He had another way. Something Thorne overlooked.”
“What way?” Kaito pressed.
“The cleaning system,” Elara whispered. “The penthouse has automated cleaning vents. Small. Supposedly impassable. But NovaTech developed micro-drones. Small enough to navigate the vents. Carrying a… payload.”
Kaito felt a chill. A drone. Entering through a vent. Small enough to avoid motion sensors if programmed correctly. Delivering a weapon? Or firing one?
“Vale used a drone?”
“Yes,” Elara sobbed. “He activated it remotely after I confirmed Thorne was alone and had disabled guest logs. The drone navigated the vents, entered the main room, fired… then retreated the way it came. Leaving no trace.”
“How do you know this?”
“Vale told me. After. When he confirmed payment.” Her face crumpled. “He said it was clean. Untraceable. He promised no one would get hurt, just disable Thorne, grab him… but something went wrong.”
“And the hard drive?”
“I was supposed to deliver it after Vale secured Thorne. But when I heard Thorne was dead… I panicked. I kept the drive. Hid it.”
A drone killer. Operated remotely by Marcus Vale. Using information supplied by Elara. Motivated by Chimera. It was cold, calculating, and almost perfect.
“Where is Vale now?” Kaito demanded.
Elara shook her head. “I don’t know. The burner phone he gave me went dead this morning.”
Vale was running.
Chapter 9: Circuit’s End
Kaito and Moreau moved fast. Alerts went out for Marcus Vale. Airport, train stations, highways. But Vale was smart. He wouldn’t use obvious routes.
They hit NovaTech tower again. This time with a full tactical team. Vale wasn’t in his office. Security showed him leaving hours ago, carrying a small briefcase.
“Check his private hangar,” Kaito ordered. “His labs. Anywhere he could hide or escape.”
Kaito stood in Vale’s pristine office. It felt different now. The calm confidence exposed as a mask for ruthless ambition. He scanned the room. Looking for anything Vale might have left behind in haste.
His eyes landed on Vale’s desk computer. It was locked. Techs got to work immediately.
Minutes later, one of the techs called Kaito over. “Detective, look at this. Encrypted files, hidden partition. But we found a deleted communication log fragment. Seems Vale contacted someone just before he left.”
“Who?”
“Name unknown. Codename ‘Silas’. Referenced a meeting point. Coordinates point to the old shipyard district.”
The old Veridia shipyards. Abandoned. Crumbling. A perfect place to disappear. Or to make a final stand.
“Let’s go,” Kaito said to Moreau. “Hit it hard and fast.”
Sirens wailed through the rainy city streets. Police vehicles converged on the derelict shipyard. Warehouses loomed like skeletal giants in the gloom. Rusting cranes clawed at the sky.
Kaito led a team towards the coordinates from Vale’s computer. Warehouse 7. The massive metal door was slightly ajar.
Inside, darkness. The air thick with dust and the smell of decay. Kaito signaled his team to spread out. Flashlight beams cut through the blackness, revealing broken crates, discarded machinery.
A noise from the far end. A scuffling sound.
Kaito moved forward, weapon ready. He rounded a stack of empty containers.
And saw him. Marcus Vale. Cornered. He held a futuristic-looking pistol Kaito didn’t recognize. Standing over another man lying on the ground, clutching his leg. The man looked vaguely familiar.
“Silas,” Kaito realized. Maybe a hacker Vale hired? Or tried to double-cross?
“Detective Kaito,” Vale said, his voice tight, strained. The smooth facade was gone. “Always interfering.”
“It’s over, Vale,” Kaito said calmly. “Put the weapon down.”
Vale laughed, a harsh, ragged sound. “Over? It’s just beginning. With Chimera, I can rebuild everything.” He gestured vaguely with the gun. “Elara gave me the key. Thorne was a fool to trust her. A fool to think his little fortress was safe.”
“You killed him for data,” Kaito said, taking a slow step closer.
“He stood in the way!” Vale snapped. “Progress demands sacrifice.”
The injured man, Silas, groaned. Vale glanced down at him, momentarily distracted.
Kaito moved. Fast. He lunged forward, tackling Vale low. The strange pistol clattered across the concrete floor. Vale struggled, surprisingly strong, fueled by desperation. They wrestled amidst the dust and debris.
Kaito landed a solid punch. Vale staggered back. Kaito swept his legs. Vale crashed hard onto the ground. Before he could recover, Kaito had him pinned, cuffs clicking shut.
Moreau and the team arrived, securing Silas and the weapon.
Vale lay on the grimy floor, breathing heavily, defeated. Rain hammered on the warehouse roof.
Kaito stood up, brushing dust from his coat. He looked down at Vale. The man who thought he could commit the perfect murder using technology as his weapon. But he underestimated human factors. Elara’s guilt. Kaito’s persistence.
The circuit was finally closed.
Chapter 10: Loose Ends
Sunlight streamed into Kaito’s office. A rare clear day in Veridia. The case files for Elias Thorne were stacked neatly on his desk. Closed.
Marcus Vale had confessed. Faced with Elara’s testimony, the recovered Chimera data, and the drone evidence traced back to NovaTech labs, he had no choice. He detailed the plan, the remote piloting of the drone, the murder. He’d shot his accomplice Silas in the shipyard during an argument over payment before Kaito arrived.
Elara Vance faced charges for conspiracy and corporate espionage. Her cooperation earned her a reduced sentence. She seemed broken, but perhaps relieved the lies were over.
Project Chimera was now locked away in a secure government facility. Too revolutionary, too dangerous for corporate hands, they decided.
Kaito stared out the window. The city looked cleaner in the sun. Less burdened by secrets. But he knew better. There were always more secrets. More cases waiting in the shadows.
Moreau poked his head around the door. “Good work, Kaito. Didn’t think you’d crack that one.”
Kaito shrugged. “Just followed the wires.”
Moreau grinned. “Well, take a day off. You earned it. Before the next impossible case lands on your desk.”
Kaito nodded. A day off sounded good. Maybe walk by the river. Forget about locked rooms and hidden passages for a few hours.
He picked up his coat. Glanced back at the closed file. Silent Circuit. A fitting name. A murder committed by invisible technology, undone by simple detective work.
He walked out of the office, leaving the files behind. Ready for whatever came next. The city waited.
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