Crime of Passion is the fourth Forensics level in Trauma Team.
Story[]
Opening[]
Naomi and Little Guy attend a meeting with Holden, asking her to track down the Raging Bomber. As she leaves, reporters recognize her and gather around, to her dismay. Back at CIFM, the corpse arrives, and so do its final words, revealing that he died suddenly and was cut off.
Investigation[]
Begin by listening to the testimony you already have, from Aidan's manager. She reports that she had heard that the next bomb would target an athlete, and had the security on his house tightened. She found the body from the explosion. Little Guy reports that she's innocent. Card obtained: "Unknown Method". We also receive a recording of a new bomb threat. A young man known as the Revolutionary is speaking over a phone without any digital voice scrambling, taunting Naomi and reporting that the next victim would be a white man. Quiz: "After listening to the bomb threat, it's clear that this person taking the name 'the Revolutionary' is..." Answer: "A young male". Quiz 2: "The next target that the Revolutionary mentioned in the threat was..." Answer: "A caucasian man". Cards obtained: "White Male Target" and "Rev. Is a Young Male".
Examine Aidan's corpse. What stands out immediately is the massive damage to his upper body and arms. In one particularly long wound, a piece of shrapnel is wedged. Quiz: "The reason why that piece of metal was lodged in Aidan's corpse was because..." Answer: "The explosion blew it there". Card obtained: "Mystery Metal". We also notice that his right hand was callused. Quiz: "Aidan Posner's occupation was..." Answer: "Tennis player". Quiz 2: "Aidan Posner was a professional tennis player. Knowing that, we can tell that he is..." Answer: "Right-handed". On the outer edge of his right little finger is a line of black dust. Card obtained: "Substance on Little Finger".
Examine his effects as well. We notice burn marks on his clothes from the explosion, but nothing else of interest.
Go back to your office. Ask Little Guy about Aidan's wounds. Quiz: "After looking at the radial wounds left on the corpse, the distance between the victim and the bomb when it went off was..." Answer: "Within a meter". Card obtained: "Close-Range Explosion". Ask him to check the mysterious dust, too. It turns out to be carbon dust. Card obtained: "Carbon Dust on Finger". Analyzing the metal will report that it's just a piece of steel pipe, but it has black powder on it. Quiz: "Black powder was detected on this metal piece. In other words, it was..." Answer: "Shrapnel from a bomb". Card obtained: "Bomb Fragment".
After doing this, another corpse will arrive, also caught in a bombing. When we try to listen to his final words, we hear nothing, implying that he died before he could say anything.
The corpse has explosion damage extremely similar to Aidan's. There is also one odd similarity: there is carbon dust on the hand, not on the right hand as in Aidan's, but on the left hand. Quiz: "What is the difference between the substance found on Aidan's hand and the black substance on this victim...?" Answer: "The physical location". Quiz 2: "The black substance found on Aidan Posner's corpse was..." Answer: "On the right little finger". Card obtained: "Substance on Little Finger 2".
Examining the effects will also reveal burn damage similar to Aidan's, but nothing more.
Soon we get information on the victim: He was Stephen Eldred, a local college student, and fits the description of the threat. The crime scene is also able to be utilized. Even though the victim's room is trashed, it still holds substantial evidence. Right away, we hear the phone ringing. It's a call from one Michael Lang from Loan & Taxes, calling about Stephen's apparent debt. While poking around the damaged part of the room, we notice another shard of metal stuck in the wall. On the floor is a broken guitar. Turn your attention to the victim's computer; when we try to extract information from it, it refuses to boot up.
Now we can begin sorting through the evidence. First, we need Little Guy to confirm Michael Lang's identity. Ask Little Guy to see if the computer in the victim's room can be repaired. His findings indicate that it's using voice recognition software and will only respond to Stephen's voice, meaning it'll be essentially locked forever. Solid Evidence obtained: "Voice Lock on Computer". Analyze Stephen's wounds. Quiz: "The wounds on Stephen's corpse are very similar to those on Aidan's. In other words, the explosion went off..." Answer: "At very close range". Card obtained: "Close-Range Explosion 2". Compare the wounds from both explosions. Card obtained: "Explosion Similarities". Analyze the black dust on Stephen's hand; it's also carbon dust. Card obtained: "Carbon Dust on Finger 2". Now we have something strange going on. Compare the carbon dust to find out. Quiz: "Carbon dust was found on the two victims, the difference being that..." Answer: "It's on different hands". Card obtained: "Differences in Dust". Analyze the shard of metal found in the room. Quiz: "The piece of metal I found was a piece of steel pipe with black powder on it. In other words, it was..." Answer: "Part of a bomb". Card obtained: "Bomb Fragment 2". You can compare both bomb fragments. Quiz: "The two pieces of metal that were collected were originally part of..." Answer: "Steel pipe". Quiz 2: "The substance found on the pieces of metal from both bombings was..." Answer: "Explosive propellant". Card obtained: "Same Bombs". You can compare the bombs made with the explosion damage caused. Quiz: "The damage to Aidan's and Stephen's corpses can tell us..." Answer: "The bombs had the same power". Quiz 2: "Considering the shape of the wounds on the bodies, the distance between the victims and the bombs was..." Answer: "Both from very close". Quiz 3: "The two bombs were the same type, and went off in the same method. This leads me to believe that they..." Answer: "Were made by the same person". Solid Evidence obtained: "Same Killer". Try to find out something about the guitar. Little Guy will initially recognize it as a priceless instrument and become upset. He will explain to us that this instrument is worth at least $100,000. Card obtained: "$100,000 Guitar". Ask Little Guy to look at it again. While the original owner was right-handed, it has been reset for a left-handed player. Quiz: "What would a left-handed person change when playing a guitar set for a right-handed person?" Answer: "The string orders". Quiz 2: "The guitar in the victim's room was strung to be played by someone left-handed. This suggests that the victim was..." Answer: "Left-handed". Card obtained: "Left-Handed Owner". Compare this fact with the callus on Aidan's right hand proving he was right-handed. Quiz: "Aidan Posner's dominant hand was..." Answer: "Right hand". Quiz 2: "Stephen Eldred's dominant hand was..." Answer: "Left hand". Card obtained: "Difference in Victims". That can be compared to the differences in the dust on their hands. Quiz: "From the information at hand, it's apparent that the carbon dust was found..." Answer: "On the dominant hand". Solid Evidence obtained: "Dominant Dust". Start gathering information about the method. Compare Stephen to the description of the latest bomb threat. Quiz: "Compared to all the previous victims, the biggest difference about the 4th victim is..." Answer: "He isn't famous". Card obtained: "Victim: Stephen".
Little Guy will then bring up some information on Michael Lang, and promise to send a testimony. Listening to it, it's doubtful that he's the Bomber. What he did say was that Stephen Eldred owed his company $100,000, but he made sure he had some way of repaying it. Stephen did make a large down payment, and then some substantial interest payments. After listening to it, we need to do some digging into the victim. Quiz: "The difference between the fourth victim and the previous ones is that..." Answer: "He isn't famous". Quiz 2: "From the information at hand, it appears that Stephen borrowed a large sum of money in order to..." Answer: "Buy a guitar". Quiz 3: "The reason why Stephen wasn't rejected to receive a loan for $100,000 was because..." Answer: "He had a periodic income". Card obtained: "Stephen's Mysteries". After this, we obtain a copy of the third bomb threat. It is revealed to indeed be aimed at an athlete. At the end, he gets strangely cut off, which we have to listen to again to determine. Ask Little Guy to analyze that. Listening again will determine that the phone started ringing in the background. Quiz: "The familiar sound that was heard during the Revolutionary's bomb threat was..." Answer: "A phone in Stephen's room". Solid Evidence obtained: "Familiar Ringtone". We don't have much left to compare or analyze at this moment. We know that Stephen Eldred and the Revolutionary were both young men, and had the same ringtone. Try comparing those two to find out more. Quiz: "What does all the evidence of Stephen's physical characteristics, financial records, and ringtone tell us about the Revolutionary...?" Answer: "It's Stephen Eldred". Solid Evidence obtained: "Stephen Was The Revolutionary".
We return to the crime scene and use the recorded bomb threats to boot up the computer. When it activates, a weird message from the Bomber appears, taunting Naomi to wait for "Round 2".
Ending[]
Naomi returns to CIFM to find Alyssa playing in the yard again. A tall woman arrives with a package from Gabriel, which contains a teddy bear, an odd present from him. As she signs, she notices carbon dust on her hand. Horror-struck, Naomi looks back in the package, only to find the teddy bear gone. Knowing only one person could have taken it, she tries to warn Alyssa, but is too late to stop her house from exploding in flames.
Notes[]
- This episode occurs at the same time as The Simplest Truth (Diagnosis).