Given all the people here at the theatre I suspect two people being responsible for this. Abigail has a past of abusing romantic partners so she and if she thought he was going to dump her than that would give her all the more reason to lash out. Maybe she just tried to injure him with the stage light, but her calculation was off.

  But my primary suspect was Alfred. All the signs pointed straight to him. Alfred’s grudge against Ray may have turned from a simple coworker rivalry to full blow murderous hatred when he found out that Ray would be starring in his dream play. Which makes it probable that Alfred in a fit of rage decided that he wanted to kill Ray so that maybe Broadway would give him a call to replace Ray.

  Now standing in front of the stage light I pulled out my phone. Swiping through my phone I launched the new app I was developing. Essentially using machine learning object detection, it would scan a photo and analyze it for fingerprints then store them so that I can find a match using another photo. I wasn’t dumb enough to put app in the app store, so I had to install it manually from my computer.

  I figured with all the murders happening around me it would be a good idea to build some tools to assist me. You know just in case; I was hoping I would never have to use these tools.

  The results took longer than I expected to complete, this was something I would have to fix in version 2. But when they were finished, I looked at the image and the stage light was covered in fingerprints. Since there were no matching fingerprints yet, each identical print was a different color. There were 4 distinct colors on the light. However, one set of fingerprints literally covered the light. The killer probably took multiple tries to angle the light in many different ways to make sure the camera was in position.

  Knowing that I was going to have to use this tool I made sure to sneakily take a picture of everyone’s hands while they assumed I was taking notes on my phone. Some were easy and I could snap the picture quickly but others it required multiple shots before I could accurately log their fingerprints.

  I labeled each person’s fingerprints so that I could match them later. I pressed the find match button and I received a notification that it would take 3 minutes to find matches.

  Hearing footsteps, the stage crew manager was walking on stage with a tablet. He walked straight without looking up in the direction of the stage lights. Seeing this as a great chance to go up there, and it was also a great chance to find out what he knew about the situation.

  The manager was typing something on his tablet, back against the wall. His eyebrows were scrunched together, creating a deep line across his forehead. He looked to be mumbling something to himself but stopped when he noticed that I was approaching. Meeting my gaze, he tilted his head when pulled out my badge.

  “Hey Antonio, is it? My name is Tom and Investigating what happened to Ray. You mind if we have a quick chat.” I said putting my badge away.

  “Yeah sure, I was just writing a nasty complaint to the people that installed the stage lights. It's fucking unbelievable this happened. The cables were rusting so we had to replace, and the cameras were looking a little dirty and dusty so we hired a company to come and make repairs and give them a proper cleaning. After the accident I ran up there and found the shit job they did. Those bastards couldn’t even do standard procedure for the bolts on the Batton clamp.” Antonio started to speak faster, and the words seemed to rush out.

  With his free hand he wiped some sweat off his forehead and then rubbed them on his pants. The other hand remained on the tablet, if he had the tablet any tighter, I was concerned it was going to leave a permeant imprint of his hand in it. “They were supposed to put a piece of red tape on the bolts. The tape indicates when any of the bolts had slipped. But those dumbasses couldn’t even do that correctly.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “When were the stage lights replaced?” I asked pulling out my phone.

  “They were replaced yesterday; I wasn’t there because the theatre was closed, and I was already plans to attend a festival. Vi did me a favor and took charge of monitoring the installation to make sure it was properly done. Since she had to come in on her day off and was the only one here, I bought her lunch today I trusted her that it was done correctly, and I haven’t been up there at all today. But after the incident I rushed up there and found those bumbling idiot’s mistake.” Antonio’s eyes grew wide.

  More sweat started to form on Antonio’s forehead and his shoulders started to tense up as he started to breath rapidly. Using his free hand, he placed it on the top of his head, breaking eye contact and staring off at the floor.

  “Oh my god, do you think that she is blaming herself what happened to her brother. Damnit, I knew she might not have known to check the bolts to make sure they were marked for slippage. Fuck, I should have been here instead of going to a furry conven… I mean arts festival and none of this would have happened.” Antonio said, I was starting to see small sweat patches forming in his visible under pit.

  “Was that all recorded on the logs? And can I see them?” I said ignoring the that overshare.

  Chest seemed to deflate, and his shoulders looked to be a little bit less tense. I wasn’t sure if that was from me not asking the question or if it was because he calmed down from sending the angry email.

  Probably both

  “Yeah, hold on let me pull it up. The logs are usually not very reliable because people tend to share key cards. But we’re a small theatre so I don’t really enforce it as much because we’re all pretty much family here and very close with one another. Ah here they are.” Antonio said handing me the tablet.

  I started to scroll through the names and there was an assortment of people on the list, Antonio was correct Vi was the only reported name on the list early yesterday morning. Interestingly enough supposedly the only people to have up there today been Vi and Abigail.

  “I noticed that supposedly the only two people to be logged today are Abigail and Vi. Is that normal for the cast to be working so much on the stage lights during the show.” I asked handing back the logs.

  “We may be a small group, but we are a mighty group. We don’t have a dedicated stage crew because it has just been outside of our budget, so we rotate who works the various stage elements to make sure the show comes to life. Today is Vi and Abigail’s turn to work the lights.” Antonio said taking back the tablet.

  “Hmm interesting, where were you in the middle of all this.” I asked.

  “I was in charge of diming and brightening the lights and sound control. The entire show I was in that booth back there.” Antonio said pointing to the studio booth the in the back surrounded by theatre chairs where guest sat.

  “Did you see what time the accident happened.”

  “Yeah, there’s a big clock in there that helps me keep track of time and make sure the show is progressing normally. It was about 9 ish from what I can remember when the stage light fell on him.

  That’s strange supposedly Abigail was up near upstairs near the stage lights just before her scene with Ray.

  “Okay that just about wraps up all the questions I have can you take me upstairs so that can see what happened there.” I asked pointing the door that needed key card access.

  “Not a problem at all, I won’t be able to join you I need to finish this email and then talk to Ruppert about the whole situation.” Antonio said swiping his key card. The red light on the door turned green and he opened it to let me in.

  “Not a problem thanks” I said walking up the steps.

  When I reached the top of the steps, I pulled out my phone and looked at the results of the first picture. The camera contained the fingerprints of the guys that helped pull it off Ray, Abigail’s and Vi’s. But the image seemed a bit off to me.

  To test my theory, I took a picture of each light and each light and each Batton clamp. Then I processed the images and waited for the results.

  After about 3 minutes the results came through and I looked at them, my eyebrow raised as I stared down at the results.

  Well fuck.