Shattered Glass: A Murder Investigation

Detective Sarah Wilson had been working in the precinct for over a decade, but this was the first time she had seen a case like this. The victim was a young woman, found dead in her apartment. Her body was lying on the floor, surrounded by shattered glass, and her face was contorted in pain. It was clear that she had suffered greatly before her death.

Sarah looked around the room, trying to find any clues that could lead to the killer. She noticed a broken vase near the victim's head, and a trail of blood leading to the door. It seemed like the victim had tried to crawl away, but she didn't make it far.

The detectives on the scene gathered evidence and interviewed witnesses. They learned that the victim's name was Emily, and she had been living in the apartment for just a few months. Her neighbors reported hearing a loud argument coming from her apartment the night before, but no one thought to call the police.

Sarah and her partner, Detective James, decided to pay a visit to the victim's ex-boyfriend, who had been seen leaving the apartment the night before. They found him at a local bar, drunk and belligerent.

"Emily was a good girl," he slurred. "She didn't deserve to die like that."

"Can you tell us anything about her argument with you?" Sarah asked.

"It was nothing," the ex-boyfriend said. "We were just fighting about money. She owed me some, and I wanted it back."

Sarah and James exchanged a look. They had heard that story before.

"Where were you last night?" James asked.

"I was here, drinking," the ex-boyfriend said. "All night."

Sarah and James took down his information and left the bar. They decided to check out the victim's financial records to see if there was any truth to the ex-boyfriend's story.

It didn't take long for them to find something suspicious. Emily had been making payments to a loan shark for the past few months. The payments were small at first, but they had been steadily increasing.

Sarah and James tracked down the loan shark and brought him in for questioning. He was a small-time crook, but he had a reputation for violence.

"I didn't kill that girl," he said, as soon as he saw the detectives.

"We're not accusing you of anything," Sarah said. "We just want to know about the payments she was making to you."

The loan shark looked nervous. "She owed me money. I was just collecting what was owed."

"Did you threaten her?" James asked.

The loan shark shook his head. "I don't threaten anyone. I just do business."

Sarah and James left the interrogation room, feeling frustrated. They didn't have any solid leads, and time was running out. The killer was still out there, and they needed to catch him before he struck again.

As they were leaving the precinct, Sarah received a call from the coroner. "I found something you might be interested in," he said.

Sarah and James rushed to the morgue, where the coroner showed them a small piece of metal that had been found in the victim's body.

"It's a bullet fragment," he said. "It looks like she was shot."

Sarah and James looked at each other. They had missed that in their initial investigation.

They went back to the victim's apartment and found a small hole in the wall, hidden behind a bookshelf. It looked like someone had tried to patch it up, but they had missed a spot.

They dug out the bullet fragment and sent it to the lab for analysis. It didn't take long for them to match it to a gun that had been used in a robbery a few weeks earlier.

They tracked down