Part 83: Good Cop, Bad Cop - Part 14

Time to see if we can save Alfendi from himself.





Oh, there you are, Lucy. Have you come to a decision?

Aye, I've never been more sure of myself.

There's only one course of action that makes any sense.



Lucy, you must be realistic. These events occurred four years ago. That's a very long--



Huh?

Now now, Lucy. That's not like you.

What's got into you?

You can thank Hilda for that.

Like I said, I'm going to solve the secret of the West Tower rooftop.



Well tell us then, Lucy.

Who was behind it all? Behind the serial killings and Forbodium Castle. Who is this mastermind?



The mastermind of all this is...




Hmph. At least we all know where we stand now.

But if you think I'm just going to admit to it, you're sadly mistaken.

Well I agree with Lucy.

I'm afraid not. Lucy is wrong.

After all, I've admitted to the crime myself.

It looks like we need to have a bit of a reshuffle then, doesn't it?

Yes.




Lucy, I'm sorry but I wasn't paying attention before.

...what?

Can you explain again from the beginning why you believe Justin to be the culprit?

Alright then, I will.

For starters, there's Justin's involvement with Keelan Makepeace.

It looks very likely they conspired together to set up the Forbodium Castle case four years back.

What?

Oh aye. And that's not all.

You figured out Makepeace were the Jigsaw Puzzle Killer long before anyone else, didn't you, Justin?



Is that true, Justin?




Let me talk you through my version of events at Forbodium Castle four years ago.




Now, the person who fired that shot were...




That first shot were fired by Keelan Makepeace.

And who he hit with it were...



That first shot that were fired by Makepeace hit the Prof.

Me? That's absurd, Lucy. I remember it all perfectly.



That's not what the real Al says, I assure you.



That's a bit harsh. Is Alfriendli really any less real because he hasn't been around as long as his original personality?

What are you talking about, Hilda?







Alfriendli flinches both times when Hilda accuses him of not being the real Al.

Lucy, set her straight, would you?



I can understand why Alfriendli never told Lucy the truth (I think it's down to perception whether Alfriendli lied), but trying to get Lucy involved here is a bit nasty.

I don't know, Prof. I really don't know what to think any more about all that.

I may be in the minority here, but I don't actually think Alfriendi and Alfendi are all that different.

But what I do know if that where I work, we don't give up on any case, 'til we've got to the truth.



Lucy, I...

Ah ha ha hah!

I kind of want to know what Alfriendli was going to say there.

And there was me thinking you were just a wallflower. You've got bottle. I'm impressed.

Come on then, I'm all ears.

Right then.

After he shot the Prof, Makepeace took up position in a corner of the West Tower roof.

He were clasping his side with one hand, gun int' other. Exactly as arranged with Justin beforehand.

Meanwhile, Justin suggested that Hilda took the Central Tower to see what was happening.

That left you to take the East Tower, didn't it, Justin? Just where you wanted to be.

You're quite right about that. Justin was leading the search and telling us all where to go.




Once everything were in place, that's when you shouted over to the West Tower, Justin.

'Don't shoot, Al! Stand down!'



Of course, all I could see through the slit window at the Central Tower was Makepeace.



Exactly.

Makepeace's performance and Justin shouting out like he did threw you off. Together those two tricks made you believe that the Prof had Makepeace backed into a corner, defenceless.



It was all set up to make you take the fall, Al.

That's madness.

It's just a fanciful theory, that's all.



Come on, Prof.

If it weren't, how could I possibly remember shooting Makepeace myself?

Come on, don't stop there. Let's hear the rest of this tabloid melodrama.

Hmph.

Obviously after I'd shouted out to Al, all eyes were on the top of the West Tower.

Then what?




Yes, and that's surely the problem with your theory. Lucy. Those two last shots.

Up until now, we've all believed that those two shots were Makepeace and Al shooting at each other.

But if what you say is true, Lucy, and Al was already unconscious on the floor, that can't be.

Aye, it can't be. In other words, someone else must have fired those two shots.

Oh, really?

Well if it wasn't Al and Makepeace taking shots at each other...

…just who was responsible for the two successive shots fired on the West Tower rooftop?




It were Justin who fired the shots, of course.

With the Prof already unconscious, Justin had his gun off him.



That at least would explain how my gun was identified as the murder weapon.



Well said, Al. I was on the roof of the East Tower just moments before those shots.

To get over to the other tower, I'd have had to climb all the way down the East Tower, then up the West.

There's no way in the world I could have got there before Hilda or the Commissioner.

In other words, the killer couldn't have been anyone other than me.



It certainly seems so. Justin simply couldn't have done it. Makepeace was shot by Al. We must accept it.

But if there were somehow a way...



Don't worry, Prof.

That memory won't be troubling you much longer. I'm about to blow it out of the water.





Ah ha hah! I haven't had this much fun in ages. Let's see what you've got, Baker.

Well, at least someone is having fun.

You say I killed Makepeace?



Justin doesn't blink in this pose. I don't think Diane blinked in any of her poses, come to that.

Oh, you killed him. You found your way from the East Tower's roof to the West Tower's.

And you shot Makepeace dead. What proves it is...



These broken creepers prove it.

Creepers?



Ha ha ha. Simplicity itself. Who would have thought it?

Potty Prof!

What are you trying to say, hm?



We're not in the right place here to answer that question.

Ee, what happened to Potty Prof?