บท 10: Chapter 10: Resolution – The Pignite Incident
"Arson and murder are serious crimes, so why are there so few officers here to handle the scene?"
Hugo questioned Officer Jenny as he watched the commotion of the murderer being escorted into a police car. She was busy grooming her Zebstrika nearby, her expression grim.
"Short-staffed," Jenny replied curtly, her tone devoid of any triumph despite having cracked the case.
"Oh?" The detective perked up, shaking off the fatigue of wrapping up the case. He began probing Jenny enthusiastically. "Has the police force noticed the unusual spike in crime in Castelia City this past month?"
"We're swamped! Just this morning, the security division handled four separate trainer brawls. Many officers were injured, and their Pokémon are in critical condition. Other departments are also overwhelmed with incidents of every kind. Everyone's at their wits' end!"
Jenny's voice grew frazzled as she recalled the mountain of pending cases at the station.
"And Hugo," she snapped suddenly, "how long do you intend to keep the truth about this case to yourself?"
"Ah, so that's still on your mind," Hugo responded with exaggerated surprise, his tone making Jenny's frustration boil.
"More than just on your mind! Ever since you suddenly said to me, 'Oh, by the way, the culprit's at the hospital,' I've been completely in the dark about this case!"
Jenny unleashed a barrage of questions: "Why is the culprit a woman? Why did she go to the hospital to retrieve a Liepard? Why did the Liepard suddenly attack the police? And so many other things—I just can't make sense of it all!"
Hugo scratched his head, unbothered. "To a detective, solving the puzzle is the thrill. Once the mystery is cracked, explaining it feels like a tiresome performance."
"Don't you dare call it tiresome! Spill the truth now!"
Jenny and her Zebstrika glared daggers at him. The latter's menacing aura was accentuated by flickers of electricity sparking between its lightning-shaped mane.
Relenting under the Pokémon's intimidating display, Hugo finally began his explanation.
"The most valuable clue to this case lies in the deceitful phone call that reported the crime. That call unraveled the entire mystery for me."
"But it was full of lies!" Jenny retorted.
"Lies can be the key to unlocking the truth," Hugo said, wagging his finger with a sly smile. "Think of it this way: if the culprit went through the trouble of making a false report, the call must have contained information advantageous to the true perpetrator."
"To mislead the police?"
"Exactly," Hugo replied with a satisfied nod. "Now recall, what misconceptions did the police fall into because of that phone call?"
"First, we thought the victim died due to a battle gone wrong… but even without the call, seeing the battlefield-like ground would've led us to that conclusion. The real misdirection was making us mix up the victim and the perpetrator."
"Correct," Hugo praised. "The call's main deception was to confuse the identities of the victim and the killer—making you think the person using Liepard was dead, rather than the student with Pignite."
"Burning the body was to reinforce that false narrative!" Jenny realized. "If it were just arson, we wouldn't have mixed them up."
"Precisely," Hugo said, raising his finger. "Every cover-up leaves traces. Every obfuscation has a reason. Every hint serves a purpose."
Jenny was slowly piecing it together.
"So, the culprit wanted to divert attention to students with Pignite, leading you to overlook suspects fitting the description of the thug. This strategy bought the real killer time. That's when I began working backward—assuming the opposite of the phone call's claims. I hypothesized that the culprit was the thug, and the victim was the student. This leap of logic led me closer to the truth."
"But the police can't work on such assumptions," Jenny protested.
"That's why detectives like me exist," Hugo replied smugly.
Jenny sighed but pressed on. "What about the motive? Why did the culprit kill the victim? And what's the real story between Liepard and Pignite?"
Hugo stretched, seeming relieved now that the hard part was over. "Much like their trainers, Liepard and Pignite had their roles reversed."
"What?" Jenny's confusion grew.
"The thug and the student had swapped Pokémon," Hugo explained. "That's why Pignite attacked its new trainer and was discarded by the thug. Meanwhile, the student's Liepard defended the thug, leading to her retrieving it from the hospital."
Hugo raised a finger again. "This Pokémon swap is the only explanation that ties all the clues together."
Jenny's jaw dropped, and she struggled to respond. Hugo patiently elaborated.
"After the swap, for some reason, the thug grew to hate the student—perhaps due to something involving Liepard. She prepared a knife and gasoline, lured the student to the sewer entrance, and stabbed him. Then she tried to retrieve her Liepard and burn the student's body to destroy identifying evidence."
Jenny hesitated but asked, "And the unforeseen event?"
"The Pignite broke free from its Pokéball in a fit of rage. Watching its former trainer being killed filled it with grief and fury."
Jenny imagined the tragic scene, her heart sinking. Hugo continued, painting the picture vividly.
"In its rage, Pignite lashed out at the thug, but Liepard broke free to defend her. The battle marks at the scene were from that confrontation. Liepard won, but not without injuries."
Jenny began to grasp the scenario. "And then, the thug ran to the hospital to save Liepard, even at the cost of exposing herself?"
"Exactly. She had no other choice," Hugo concluded. "Liepard was her only Pokémon, and without it, she couldn't protect herself."
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