One more bite won't hurt

"You see what I'm trying to say here Frank?" Joel asked, sat on a chair with his head bent over towards his notes which allowed his hair to sway gently in front of his eyes.
"Um....yes Inspector Merri-"
"Please. Call me Joel, Frank."
"Oh. Okay. Inspe... I mean, Joel" Frank replied sitting opposite him nervously.
"Good. And you being my apprentice means that you'll support me won't you, Frank? if you want to of course" he smiled back at him. He peered up at Frank who nodded his head in agreement.

They sat in one of those fancy meeting rooms with the gigantic table reaching all the way down to the other end of the room and with the blinds which were probably broken as usual. Just the two of them in one room. Frank surrounded by a mountain of notes, disorganised and messy, a few sheets piled neatly in front of Joel.

Frank was, well, he was Frank. Young and passionate about fighting crime and the opportunity to take on this apprenticeship at only 19 years old was a big one. Despite being thrown in at the deep end; working with such a strange person on such a strange case he was coping rather well: constantly admiring the detail that Joel would spend hours letting his brain tick over.
Franks pale skin contrasting fiercely with his dark jacket that he wore over his fitted shirt and tie, he bit his lip piercing nervously as he watched the way in which Joel flicked through his notes and lay the small plastic bags of possible evidence on the desk. Frank brushed his black hair backwards and collected his mess of notes into a pile as Joel stared at them annoyed. Young Frank looked up towards the figure that sat opposite him.

"Joel?" He asked, staring into his almost jet black eyes and watching for his lips to whisper an answer.
"Yes."
"Why do the other officers never believe your theories?" He asked innocently.
Joel's head tilted to the side a little as he thought. "Well, you see, I'm not sure really. I like to think outside the box and I guess that they trapped their mind in there a long time ago." He paused for a second, biting the end of his pen and tapping it against his cheek, "do you believe what I say?"
"Uh, yeah. Of course. It makes complete sense. I don't know why the others don't..."
"Hm." Joel muttered.

"So!" Frank continued excitedly, "what have we got so far?!"
"Good question Frank. Why don't you start us off?" He said smiling, letting Franks eager mind blurt out all the information that had been building up over the past few days of the investigation.
"Okay..." Frank began, "so Kaitlin was found dead in the woods on the morning of January the 8th...yes?"
Joel flicked to his second sheet of paper and nodded.
"Right. She was found with a head injury believed to be caused by a baseball bat which was found 500 metres from her body..."
"But...." Joel cut in, raising his finger.
"But what?" Asked Frank.
"The injuries where mostly to the back of the skull, smashing the parietal bone, the
obelion and severely damaging the occipital bone. I believe that, as the damage was spread over a large surface area, it was in fact the force of her hitting the tree which caused these injuries; if the baseball bat had of been used then the area of damage would be more likely to be more focused in on one area. Furthermore examinations of the baseball bat itself have shown no high impacts on its surface."
"Oh..." Stuttered Frank, amazed.
"Continue...." Joel said calmly, smiling as he did so.

"Okay. Well... Um, also...." Frank stuttered, turning page after page of writing over, "ah, yes. It was first believed that Sebastian Carter, the man believed to have killed Kaitlin Jones (his girlfriend) was under the influence of alcohol when the incident happened as empty bottles of beer where strewn around the ground floor of the house that they shared. However...." Frank trailed off

Joel glanced at Frank, raising an eyebrow towards him. He nodded as a signal for Frank to continue.

"However..." Frank repeated, "however it was later found that traces of the same beer from the empty beer bottles was found in the pipes underneath the sink. A lot of water also was left behind, indicating that someone may have tried to flush the beer down the sink quickly. But why would they want to do that? Seems a little strange to me Joel."

"In this job you'll learn that humans are very strange creatures Frank. Very strange."

Joel now picked up a small clear plastic bag and handed it to Frank who took it gently and held it up to the light: the black flakes of material standing out as a star in the night.

"These...." Frank continued, holding them up, "these are small fragments of black leather gloves that where found scattered around the ground floor of Carter's and Jones' house. They do not match any pair found in the house nor those on Sebastian's or Kaitlins hands. These belonged to another person!"
"Now then Frank, lets not get too carried away. It is possible that these came from another person. But not certain."
"Okay. Well. Good." Frank replied, admiring Joel.
"And don't forget to mention the marks we found on the cigarette packet...."
"Ah, yes. Well....." He looked to his 'boss', "could you explain. I'm still not really sure on the connection there at the moment. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Joel chuckled to himself, "So. The cigarette packet, known to have belonged to Seb, well it looked pretty normal at first sight, if you ask me. Apart from the small areas where the card was lightened and small strips of the outer card had been removed. After further analysis we have found cellulose particles (a fibre produced from plant matter, created from the byproducts of chemically treated petroleum) on the surface of the packet. Cellulose is often used to create the stickiness on the back of adherends. Of sticky tape. Tape was used to remove something from the cigarette packet..."
"And the same particles of cellulose where found on the baseball bat, meaning that there's a possibility that something has been transferred from the cigarette packet to the baseball bat on purpose." Frank exclaimed excitedly, adrenaline rushing forcefully through his veins.
"Yes. Good. Apart from the mud and leaves, the fingerprints being the stand alone suspect on the baseball bat."
"So...." Muttered Frank sounding a little confused, "you're telling me that all of this was planned. Like a cover up?"
"Yes. We are dealing with a very cunning person here, Frank. We must be careful as how we approach this. It could be dangerous and it could be a long battle."

"So when Sebastian Carter goes on trial in about a week, how will we convince the jury? I mean, no offence, the whole police force is against us investigating separately to them. How will we win the long battle if the police aren't even on our side?"
"We don't need them, Frank.." Joel said confidently, "we'll tell Carter's lawyer everything. You'll see. Carters not guilty and we'll prove it. And besides, we have something that the police don't."
"What?" Asked Frank.
"We have a witness...."

Notes

Hiya. I guess that this was quite a long chapter (for me to write anyway). I hope you enjoyed this and the introduction of young Frank Iero. Will they be able to prove that Carter is innocent?
it's amazing to even think that this story has over 600 views in only 9 chapters. You guys are great! Thank you. :) x
-Lou