Chapter Five: It's Not The Fall

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London, England

New Scotland Yard

23 October, 2022

Ever since she was a teenage girl, watching true crime documentaries and shows on Netflix, nothing interested DCI Vale more than how the person got caught. She never cared about who did it or how they did it, she just loved learning about the catch. How the leading detective on the case managed to find the all the scattered pieces and put them together. That's what all murders were. A puzzle.

Meena stared at the whiteboards with her back to the rest of the office, tuning out all the commotion that occurred elsewhere. As officers, Sergeants, and other DCIs moved from desk to desk, her eyes flicked from the photos of the victim to the stills of CCTV footage from outside of the Tower of London. Maps had been printed out and marked up, detailing Winlock's movements before his untimely execution.

"Walker. How old were you when you first snuck out of your bedroom?" DCI Vale asked, her gaze not leaving the boards.

"Um.... Fifteen. Why?"

"Would you say that you got pretty good at it?" This time, she turned around to face her DS. "Sneaking out?"

He let out a small chuckle and said, "Yes, Guv. Knew what time my parents would go to bed and knew how much pressure to apply to the window so it wouldn't creak when I opened it."

"How long did it take for you to figure that out?"

"Six, maybe seven tries," he said.

DCI Vale nodded her head and went back to looking at the board. She snagged a few of the pictures and placed them down on her desk, brushing away everything else in order to make room. DS Walker made some space as well, and moved over to her side of the table clump. Meena placed down the CCTV footage chronologically, hoping that what she was about to say would make sense in the eyes of Michael.

"According to Winlock's brother and wife, Tyler only goes out every Friday and Saturday night. Never misses it," she points to the grainy images of the victim exiting his home, usually accompanied by his spouse. She hated how blurry the captures looked, showing almost no detail. You'd think they'd buy some bloody new cameras. "So, this time, he goes on a Monday night. That's strange, but you know what's even more peculiar? He disappears."

Walker squinted in confusion, and asked, "Disappears? What do you mean he disappears?"

Meena grabbed ahold of all the photos, each one taken at a different location at a different time. Then, she grabbed the packet for Monday the 17th, and only had one picture of him leaving his home. "You told me it took you a few tries to figure out the best way to sneak out of your home, yet somehow, given no prior attempts, that we know of at least, Winlock manages to dodge all the cameras from his home in Blackfriars to the Tower of London. How?"

Her DS was silent for a moment, glancing at the photos and then eyeing the route Winlock would normally take to get to work. "Is it possible that he got nabbed. I'm sure there's some sort of blind spot that his killer probably used."

"Thought just as much," DCI Vale said. "Since the cameras are on a constant pan, I looked to see the time gap where they don't overlap. Two point one seconds. That's the gap."

"So it is possible."

"Possible, but incredibly unlikely," she said. "I mean, how can one know when the cameras wouldn't be looking at each other? Also, where do you take him? There's no car passing by, and there are no alleyways to pull him into. And how do you manage to get him hidden away without a struggle in two bloody seconds?"

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