Day 212

[from Murder by Pixels]

Harry, Sapphire, and Lt. Hawke returned to the police headquarters, and Harry set about collating what they knew so far. He had hooked his computer up to an interactive whiteboard on the wall, and was using that to project his notes for the rest of the team to read. Right at the top, highlighted in bold, were the three key questions: "WHY DID CARLO NEED MONEY SO BADLY?", "WAS HIS DEATH MONEY-RELATED; OTHER POSSIBLE MOTIVES?", and "WHO WOULD KNOW DETAILS OF CARLO'S WORKPLACE?"

Meanwhile, Lt. Hawke set about procuring the warrant for Carlo's house, while Sapphire fast-forwarded through the security tapes from the kitchen, checking that the manager's claim about no-one going in or out was true. "I've finished going through the tapes", she concluded finally. "Nobody goes in or out of the kitchen between the time Carlo arrives and the time he drops dead. The shooter must have shot him through that gap in the shutters."

"I thought so," said Harry. "You notice anything else on the tapes?"

"Only that watching security tapes is extremely boring," said Sapphire.

"You're telling me," said Lt. Hawke, who had just arrived back at that moment. "You find anything, though?"

"Nothing we didn't already know," said Harry. "Nobody came in or out of the kitchen prior to Carlo's death."

"Alright," said Lt. Hawke. "Well, I've got the warrant sorted out, so let's see if we can learn anything about his financial situation."

Harry nodded. "Sure," he said. "Let's go."

***

Carlo's address turned out to be a small suburban terrace, only a few minutes away from the restaurant. "Well, I'm guessing he wasn't struggling to make his rent," Harry remarked as they pulled up outside.

"Wouldn't have thought so," said Lt. Hawke. "But hey, you never know. Let's go find out."

The trio got out of the police car and headed towards the front door. Carlo's personal effects, including his house keys, had been taken from his body as evidence, and Lt. Hawke fished the keys out of his pocket as they approached. Although the house itself was not a crime scene, all three were wearing fresh pairs of latex gloves, to avoid contaminating any potential evidence they might find. Hawke unlocked the front door, and the detectives proceeded inside.

"Where should we start?" Sapphire asked.

"I think it makes sense for us to split up," said Lt. Hawke. "You two look down here, I'll check the upstairs rooms."

"Alright," said Harry. Lt. Hawke headed up the narrow staircase, while Harry and Sapphire entered the living room and spread out to search. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the décor, and nothing that jumped out at them as unusual. That, of course, didn't mean they wouldn't find anything.

"You know what I'm thinking, Sapphire?" asked Harry, making his way towards a chest-of-drawers.

Now that she and Harry were alone, Sapphire's accent reverted to her natural Irish lilt, something she reserved only for those she felt comfortable around. "What would that be?" she asked.

"In order for him to have needed so much money so urgently, he must have been spending a lot of money on a regular basis," he said, as he opened the first drawer. "You know what I think he was spending it on?"

"Drugs," said Sapphire suddenly.

"Exactly," said Harry. "He must have had a pretty bad habit. Maybe not heroin, perhaps something like cocaine. Whatever it was, it was bleeding him dry, so, like many addicts, he resorted to theft." Harry closed the drawer and opened the next one. "Now, if I were a crack addict, where would I hide my stash…?"

"I think I know where," said Sapphire.

"Where?" said Harry. He turned round to see that Sapphire was in fact holding up a bag of what was presumably cocaine, having retrieved it from a small decorative box on a shelf. She glanced at it anxiously, before glancing back to Harry. "Ah," said her fellow detective. "When you said 'drugs', you meant, 'I've found some drugs'…"

"I have," said Sapphire. "Or at least, I think so…"

"Well, he's not gonna be hiding sugar in a box, is he?" said Harry, heading over to take a closer look. "So yeah, I'd say that's coke." Turning towards the doorway, he called up to the lieutenant. "Hey, Hawke! I think we found something!"

The lieutenant quickly rushed back downstairs to join them. "What is it?" he asked, as he entered the living room.

Sapphire held up the packet of cocaine for him to see. "Looks like Carlo was a crackhead," said Harry. "He must have been stealing from the workplace in order to fund his habit."

"I see," said Lt. Hawke, taking the bag. "Nice find, you two. I'll get this to the forensic lab so they can analyze it… no prizes for guessing what they'll find, though."

As Hawke sealed the bag inside a larger evidence bag, an idea suddenly seemed to strike Sapphire. "Actually…" she said.

"Actually… what?" asked Lt. Hawke.

Sapphire look down at the floor, clearly unsure about what she was about to say. "Well… you know how all drug dealers cut their drugs a different way? Like in Breaking Bad, with the blue meth? It's like a signature. Theoretically, we could compare that batch to any other batches we have in the evidence lock-up, and pinpoint who Carlo's dealer might have been."

Though Sapphire did not seem too confident in the idea, Lt. Hawke did. "That's actually a pretty good idea," he said. "You think he might have had something to do with Carlo's death?"

"He could have done, yeah," said Harry. "Carlo's late making a payment, the dealer gets angry with him… it's possible."

"Alright, then we'd better get this to the lab," said Lt. Hawke. "Unless you think there might be some other clues lying around here?"

"Well, we'll never know unless we look, will we?" said Harry.

"Good point," said Hawke. "Alright, let's split up again and have another look. Who knows, maybe we're barking up the wrong tree with this drugs thing, and there's something else here we're missing."

"That is the second key question, after all," said Harry. "Was his murder money-related, or something else?"

"Well, let's find out," said Lt. Hawke. "Call me if you find anything else." With that, the lieutenant headed back upstairs, leaving Harry and Sapphire to resume their search.

Day 156

[from Murder by Pixels]

As soon as Sapphire heard the news, her eyes lit up like fireworks. Hurriedly snatching up her phone, she selected Jesse's name from her contact list and put it to her ear, impatiently waiting for her to pick up.

When Jesse finally did answer, it sounded as though they had just woken up. "Hello?"

"Jesse! Jesse!" Sapphire's voice was filled with an uncharacteristic excitement, her Irish accent blossoming forth as it always did when she got emotional. "Have you heard the news?!"

"No, what is it?" asked Jesse. "I haven't heard you this excited since…" There was a brief pause, as Jesse began to realize what Sapphire was talking about. "Wait, don't tell me-"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Sapphire. "The Supreme Court just ruled! Gay marriage is legal in all fifty states!"

There was a stunned silence on the other side of the phone as Jesse took in the news. When they spoke again, they were still noticeably tired, but also unmistakeably happy. "It's about time," they said. "It's not gonna solve all our problems, but it's a big step, that's for sure."

"I know!" said Sapphire. "First my country of ancestry, and now my country of birth… oh, I'm so happy, Jesse! I'm so happy I could cry!"

"Need a shoulder to cry on?" asked Jesse. "If my dad finds out about the ruling, then I might wanna get out of the house for a while anyway."

Sapphire nodded. "Sure," she said. "Come right over. We could celebrate with an Orange is the New Black marathon or something."

"I thought you'd prefer Steven Universe," Jesse remarked.

"Oh yeah, good idea," said Sapphire. "We'll watch that instead, then."

"I'll be right over," said Jesse. "I'll call you back when I'm outside, okay?"

Sapphire nodded. "Okay," she said. "See you soon."

"See you," said Jesse, before hanging up.

Sapphire put down the phone and leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. It was certainly true that this wasn't going to end discrimination - there would certainly be plenty of people resenting the decision - but in terms of equal rights, it was a massive step forward. I'm glad I lived to see this day, thought Sapphire.

***

[from Project Nero]

Summer was relaxing and watching TV when her phone suddenly vibrated on the table in front of her, heralding a text message. Picking it up, she unlocked it and saw that Melody had sent her the following message: "WE DID IT! Gay marriage now legal in Vale :D #LoveWins"

Summer smiled, and quickly fired off a reply: "Nice. So, fancy getting married next weekend? I'm free if you are~ xxx" When Melody did not respond, Summer realized she'd gone a bit too far and quickly fired off another: "Relax, I was just joking. I know you don't go that way. Still, that's pretty great news, huh?"

Summer could almost hear the little sigh of relief coming from Melody, as the girl finally responded. "I thought you were joking :3c", she replied. "But yeah, it's fantastic news. Everyone I know is happy to hear it."

"I'm sure they are," Summer replied. "I'm happy to hear it as well. It's about damn time."

"It really is ^_^" Melody texted back.

***

[from Aishiteru! Hikikomori-san]

"Hey, Yuuichi, you hear?"

"Hear what?" asked Yuuichi.

"United States legalize gay marriage," said Ilana. "Gay people can get married there now."

"Yeah, I heard about that hours ago," said Yuuichi. "It's all over Chirper and Nicebook."

"Oh," said Ilana. "I wonder if Katarina hear about news, wherever she is… I sure she be happy to hear it."

"Not really," said Yuuichi. "Not when it's still illegal in her own country. Hell, it's still illegal here."

"It is?" asked Ilana, surprised. "Why?"

"I dunno," said Yuuichi, shrugging his shoulders. "Guess this country's still a bit old-fashioned, in some ways."

"Maybe," said Ilana. "Is better than Russia, though, in many ways."

"Sure is," said Yuuichi. "Who knows, maybe we'll be next."

"Maybe," said Ilana.

***

[from Striker Man]

"Gay marriage is legal in America? Hah, took them long enough," said Striker Man. "We've had that here in Britain for years."

"You're the fifth person in this post to say that it's "taken them long enough"," said The Genius. "I think the writer has made his point clear by now, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, but I think what he wants is to show just how much the decision means to the LGBT community," said Striker Man.

"We're not lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, though," said The Genius. "We're stick figures, we have no concept of sexuality."

"Doesn't that make us asexual, which still comes under LGBT?" asked Striker Man.

This threw The Genius for a loop. "...you know, I can't argue with that," she said.

"Can I marry this pickle jar now, then?" asked Stuporwoman excitedly, holding up a jar of pickles.

"No, Stuporwoman," said Striker Man, "you can't marry a jar of pickles."

"Why not?" asked Stuporwoman.

"Because a jar of pickles is an inanimate object, and you can't marry inanimate objects," said Striker Man.

"Why not?" asked Stuporwoman.

"Because... uhh... damn, this is harder than I thought," said Striker Man.

Luckily, The Genius picked up the slack. "You cannot marry an inanimate object," she said, "because an inanimate object cannot love you back. Would you not want a partner that can love you back?"

"It does love me back!" said Stuporwoman. "It loves me back with flavour!"

"How can someone so stupid make such valid points?!" remarked Striker Man.

"I think the same about you sometimes," said The Genius.

"Disclaimer: the author does not condone, nor promote, the idea of marriage between humans and inanimate objects," said Striker Man. "In fact, I don't even know why he brought this whole discussion up, to be honest." Stuporwoman represents the crazies who think same-sex marriage is a slippery slope, and that next you'll be able to marry your dog, or your brother, or a helicopter, or an ice cream cone. "Ah, I see."

"...so can I-" You can't marry a pickle jar, Stuporwoman, end of story. "Awww." You can marry someone who likes pickles, and eat pickles together with them, though. "Ooh, that sounds even better! Okay, I'll do that then!" Good for you.

Day 86

[from Murder by Pixels]

The three detectives met up again outside the kitchen. "I couldn't find any fingerprints," said Sapphire. "The killer must have been using gloves."

"Ah well, never mind," said Lt. Hawke. "No guarantee their prints would have been in the database anyway." Hawke held up a labelled video tape. "I've got the security footage, I'll be going through that once we get back to the precinct."

"Alright," said Harry. "I've got a couple more questions, actually, so bear with me a minute."

"Alright, we'll be right here," said Lt. Hawke. Harry nodded, and headed over to the manager, who was still standing nearby.

"Hey," he said. "Harry Payne, consulting detective. I'd like to ask you a few more questions, if you don't mind."

"Of course," said the manager. "Ask away."

"Did Carlo ever ask for a raise, or an advance on his paycheck, or something?" asked Harry.

"Actually, now that you mention it, he did ask for an advance a few months ago," said the manager. "I said I couldn't do that. Come to think of it, that might not have been too long before things started going missing from the kitchen. I guess that was when his money troubles started."

"I see," said Harry. "What about thefts from the register? Did any actual cash ever go missing?"

"No," said the manager. "I do all my accounting myself. If any money had gone missing, I would have noticed."

Harry nodded. "Did Carlo's behaviour ever seem… strange, or erratic?"

"You're asking the wrong person," said the manager. "I spend most of my time in my office, he spent his in the kitchen. You should ask them." He gestured at the other chefs, who seemed to have recovered slightly from their initial shock;  the female chef had stopped crying, though her eyes were still red. Having heard the question, they looked up at Harry as he turned to look at them.

"Uhh… I didn't notice anything," said the female chef. "He seemed pretty normal, really."

"Pretty normal?" pressed Harry.

"Well… sometimes he got angry if things didn't go right, but I thought he was just being hard on himself," she said.

"I see," said Harry. "Alright, that'll do. Thank you."

"You'll catch whoever did this, right?" said the female chef suddenly.

"Oh, of course," said Harry. "That's what we do."

"If there's anything else we can do to help you, just ask," the male chef chimed in.

"We will," said Lt. Hawke. "That'll be all for now, though. If we have any other questions to ask you, we'll be back, but for now we're gonna head back to the station and piece together what we've learned so far. Thank you for your co-operation."

"Of course," said the manager. "So long for now, and good luck with the investigation."

"Thank you," said Lt. Hawke. "Goodbye for now."

***

As the trio ducked under the police tape, Harry turned to Lt. Hawke. "Now, whenever Sapphire and I start working on a case like this, we always set ourselves three key questions," he said. "We find the answers to those questions, we solve the case."

"Alright," said Lt. Hawke. "So, what are the key questions here?"

"Well, we know Carlo was stealing equipment from the kitchens," said Harry. "We can assume he was then selling it in order to make money. So the first question: why did he need money so badly that he was willing to steal from his employer?"

Lt. Hawke nodded. "Second question should be: was his death linked to his money situation, or is there another possible motive we don't know about?" he suggested.

"Good question," asked Harry. "Sure, that'll be question number two. Question three, then… Sapphire, any ideas for question three?"

Sapphire thought for a moment, as the trio climbed back into Lt. Hawke's squad car. When she spoke, a slight Irish lilt had crept into her quiet voice, a sign she was becoming more comfortable around the lieutenant. "Well… whoever committed the murder must have known where Carlo worked," she said. "They also must have known about that rear entrance. So… who would have that information?"

"That's also a good question," said Harry, nodding as he fastened his seatbelt. "Alright, those are the three questions we'll be trying to answer, then. So, which one do we focus on once we get back?"

"I'd say the first one," said Lt. Hawke. "I'll get a warrant to search Carlo's house, we'll probably find some clues there as to why he needed all that money." Hawke carefully pulled away from the curb, heading back towards the precinct.

"So you want us to check the security tapes in the meantime?" asked Harry.

"That'd be great, thanks," said Lt. Hawke.

Day 59

[from Murder by Pixels]

As it happened, it was a few days before Harry and Sapphire were called into action. Lt. Hawke put down the phone after a brief call and stood up, clapping his hands together. "Alright," he said, "we've got our first homicide investigation. Get yourselves ready, and we'll be heading out as soon as possible."

The trio swiftly moved into action, getting ready to head out on what would be their first investigation together.

***

"So, what are the details?" asked Harry, as Hawke drove them to the scene in his police car.

"Victim's name is Carlo Bernardi," said Lt. Hawke. "Thirty-two years old, works as a chef at a restaurant downtown. Earlier today he was found shot dead in the kitchen. The manager insists that nobody's been in or out of the kitchen all day."

"So it was one of the other chefs," said Harry.

" There's only two other chefs working there, and the manager says they're both innocent," said Hawke. "Of course, it's our job to determine that, but…"

"So we could be looking at a locked-room mystery, then," said Harry thoughtfully. "Now that'd be an interesting first investigation."

""Interesting" isn't the word I would've used," said Lt. Hawke.

***

A short time later, the car pulled up outside the restaurant, which was already cordoned off with yellow police tape. Ducking their way under the tape, the three detectives entered the building. The manager, an old man who had to have been at least seventy, was stood solemnly nearby, while the other two chefs, one male and one female, were sat at a table in a state of shock, being consoled by another officer.

"I'll talk to the manager, get some more details," said Lt. Hawke. "Harry, you go talk to the chefs. Sapphire, go ahead and check out the kitchen. Change your gloves first, though."

Sapphire glanced nervously at her hands, covered as ever by her black fingerless gloves. Instead of removing them as instructed, however, she proceeded to put on the forensic latex gloves over the top of them.

"She has to wear those," Harry quickly explained. "It's for a, uhh, medical condition."

Lt. Hawke got the suspicion that they were being less than truthful, but it really wasn't worth causing a scene about it, so he let it slide. "Alright, fair enough," he said. Sapphire, looking a little uncomfortable with the attention being paid to her, quickly headed off towards the kitchens at the back of the restaurant, sweeping her magenta-tinged fringe to one side as she did so.

As Harry headed over to interview the chefs, Lt. Hawke made his way over to the manager. "Lieutenant Matthew Hawke, Jacksonville PD," he said automatically, flashing his badge. "I'd like to ask you a few questions about Mr. Bernardi, and the circumstances of his murder."

"Of course, of course," said the man, nodding. "Ask away."

Lt. Hawke pulled out a pencil and notepad. "When you called, you said that nobody had been in or out of the kitchen since the chefs arrived for work that day. Do you know that for a fact?"

"I asked the chefs and they verified it," said the manager. "Nobody but them has been in there all day. I imagine the CCTV footage will show the same thing."

Lt. Hawke nodded, scribbling a note down. "So there's CCTV cameras in the kitchen?"

The manager looked a little troubled suddenly. "Yes, there are."

"Something wrong?" asked Lt. Hawke, picking up on the man's unease.

"Well… it's unfortunate, but Carlo was actually the reason we had those installed," said the manager. "I might as well be completely honest with you… Carlo wasn't exactly a model employee. As a matter of fact, I'd already given him his two weeks' notice. He was supposed to be leaving in a few days."

"Why?" asked Lt. Hawke. "What'd he do?"

"A few months after he arrived, I noticed that things were starting to go missing or broken a lot more frequently than they used to," explained the manager. "Almost every week or so, he'd come to me saying that a stack of cutlery had gone missing, or the blender had broken. Bear in mind that the equipment we use in our kitchen isn't stuff out of Home Depot: it's premium-grade culinary equipment that can cost hundreds. At first I thought maybe he was just clumsy, but the other chefs were growing suspicious of him, and after a while, so did I. A few weeks ago, I installed the CCTV system without telling them, and I soon realized that Carlo wasn't losing or breaking the missing items. He was stealing them. I confronted him about it, and gave him his notice."

"So he'd been stealing from you all that time?" asked Lt. Hawke.

"Yes," said the manager, "and I wish I'd realized it sooner. It would have saved me thousands of dollars, and… it might have saved Carlo his life."

***

"I don't know what happened," said the female chef, as her male colleague gently patted her shoulder. "I was cooking a lamb shank for a customer's order, and then suddenly there was this huge bang. At first I thought something in the kitchen had exploded, then I saw Carlo lying there… and all the blood everywhere… oh God-!" Unable to continue, the woman covered her face with her hands and started to sob quietly.

Her colleague seemed slightly more composed. "We know Carlo had his… problems… but he was a great chef, and a great colleague. I can't believe anyone would want to do this to him."

"You didn't see anyone else in the kitchen?" asked Harry. "Or anything suspicious at all?"

"No," said the woman, wiping her eyes. "We have no idea where that shot came from."

"Now that's strange," remarked Harry. "Were there any open windows? Any openings at all through which the shooter could have fired?"

"I don't… I don't think so…" said the woman.

Harry thought this over for a moment. It was a most perplexing conundrum. Solving it would be most enjoyable. Sadly, he wouldn't get the chance, as at that moment, he and Lt. Hawke noticed Sapphire standing at the kitchen doorway, having apparently found something. The pair swiftly wrapped up their questionings and hurried over to her. "Something wrong, Sapphire?" asked Lt. Hawke.

"No," said Sapphire, "it's just… I found where the shot was fired from."

"Atta girl!" exclaimed Harry, patting her on the shoulder. "Alright, let me see."

The trio made their way through the kitchen, past Carlo's body, which lay where it had fallen, crimson blood pooled beneath it. At the rear of the kitchen was a service door, comprised of numerous metal shutters joined together, similar to a garage door. Whenever supplies were delivered to the restaurant, the door would be raised and the supplies sent in through this back entrance. Sapphire made her way over to the door, and pointed to a gap where two of the shutters had been forced apart.

"Here," she said. "The killer must have prised the shutters apart, poked the barrel of the gun through, and then…" She let the sentence drift away into nothingness, nodding vaguely.

"I see," said Lt. Hawke, crouching down a little to examine the hole. "Check for prints. If the killer never actually entered the crime scene, it might be the only forensic evidence we're able to recover. In the meantime, I'm gonna go get hold of those security tapes."

Sapphire nodded, and began checking the shutters for fingerprints, while Hawke left the kitchen in search of the CCTV footage. With not much physical evidence to go on, they were going to need all the help they could get.

Day 22

[from Murder By Pixels]

This Is The Life

I open my eyes
And a brand new dawn begins
I look through the window
At the sunlight streaming in
You light up my life
Like a firework inside
I feel so much brighter
Now you are by my side

Yeah, this is the life
This is where we want to be
Yeah, this is the life
Rolling around in ecstasy
When you hold me close,
My heart explodes
Yeah, this is the life
This is where we want to be
You and me

I couldn't believe it
I thought it was too good to be true
I didn't deserve you
But it seems I've captured you
Now when we're together
My smile feels a million miles wide
I've never felt better
Since you were by my side

Now, this is the life
This is where we want to be
Yeah, this is the life
Rolling around in ecstasy
When you hold me tight
The world feels right
Yeah, this is the life
This is where we want to be
You and me

This is the greatest feeling
I have ever known
You give my life new meaning
Please don't ever go

'Coz this is the life
This is where I long to be
Yeah, this is the life
When you're lying next to me
When you hold me close
My heart explodes
Yeah, this is the life
This is where we want to be
You and me

This is the life
This is the life (yeah!)
Yeah, this is the life
This is where we want to be
You and me

Shattered

I gave you all my heart

You stood and watched it burn

Now you want for us to start again

I think it's time you learned

What hurts me makes me stronger

And I'm stronger than you now

You won't leave me broken again

I don't want you back now

Yeah, this is goodbye, my friend

You're not gonna break my heart

And leave it shattered again

I'm gonna make a new start

You said that I was guilty

But you're the one to blame

Now I see it, and I'm glad that you're gone

I was sick of all the games

No, I won't take it any longer

And I'm stronger than you now

You won't leave me broken again

I don't want you back now

Yeah, this is goodbye, my friend

You're not gonna break my heart

And leave it shattered again

I'm gonna make a new start

Shattered on the floor, I lay as you left

You'd broken me in two, alone and bereft

If you could see me now, looking back to that day

You wouldn't recognize me as I walk away

And I'm stronger than you now

You won't leave me broken again

I don't want you back now

Yeah, this is goodbye, my friend

You're not gonna break my heart

And leave it shattered again

I'm gonna make a new start

Yeah!

And I'm stronger than you now

You won't leave me broken again

I don't need your love now

Yeah, this is goodbye, my friend

You're not gonna break my heart

And leave it shattered again

I'm gonna make a new start

I'm gonna make a new start

You won't leave me shattered again

You won't leave me shattered again

You won't leave me shattered again

Day 8

[from Murder by Pixels]

"Reassigned?"

Lieutenant Matthew Hawke repeated the word with a puzzled expression on his face. The police commissioner  remained his usual stoic self. "That's right," he said. "I'm putting you in charge of a special new division of sorts, here at headquarters."

"My own division?" repeated Lt. Hawke. "With all due respect, sir, isn't that a little above my pay grade?"

"Perhaps," said the commissioner. "But I've seen your record, Hawke. You're the youngest lieutenant in your precinct's history, and one of the youngest in JVPD history. Play your cards right and you might be sitting in my chair one day. I'm sure you can handle this."

Lt. Hawke nodded. "I'll do my best," he said. "So, what is this special new division?"

"I take it you've heard of Harry Payne and Sapphire Keating?" asked the commissioner.

"I have, yes," said Lt. Hawke, looking slightly bemused. "They're those two kids who solved that guy's murder online."

"Well, from now on they're working for the JVPD, helping us solve homicides on a consultancy basis," said the commissioner. "You're going to be in charge of them."

Whatever Lt. Hawke had been expecting, it hadn't been this. "Wait, you're serious?" he blurted out. "We're hiring a pair of kids to work for us?"

The commissioner didn't take too kindly to backchat. "Considering these kids solved in twenty-four hours, a murder your precinct couldn't solve in three weeks, you're lucky I'm hiring them as your subordinates and not as your replacements. They'd be cheaper, for a start."

"I'm sorry, sir," said Lt. Hawke, realizing his mistake, "that was rude of me. But still, with all due respect, they've solved one murder. Can we be sure that they're reliable?"

"No," said the police commissioner bluntly, "which is why they're only consultants and not full-time employees. I've already spoken to them, and told them what I expect of them as members of the Jacksonville Police Department. That being said, since they'll be under your control, it'll be your responsibility to make sure that they do their jobs properly. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," said Lt. Hawke.

"Alright then," said the commissioner, suddenly getting to his feet. "As I said, I've already spoken to them about this; in fact, they're here right now. Would you like to meet them?"

"Certainly," said Lt. Hawke, getting to his feet.

"Of course," said the commissioner. "Right this way." He and Lt. Hawke left the office, heading  through the building. Soon Hawke found himself standing outside the entrance to what looked like a meeting room. The commissioner opened the door and stuck his head in. "Everything okay in here?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," said a male voice from inside, no doubt belonging to Harry Payne, apparently the self-appointed leader of the pair. "Thank you, sir."

"Alright, good to hear," said the commissioner. "I brought your supervisor over to say hello."

On cue, Lt. Hawke stepped into the room. His eyes were immediately drawn to the two figures sat at the table in the centre of the room; both stood up as he approached. They looked slightly older than Hawke had been imagining, but they still had to have been only around eighteen or nineteen. Dressed in their casual outfits, they looked rather out-of-place as law enforcement officials.

Harry very much looked the leader of the two; his body posture was much more confident than Sapphire's. He also, by Lt. Hawke's estimation, looked like a bit of a nerd. He had scruffy brown hair, thin black glasses, and was dressed in a plain black T-shirt and jeans, possibly in a token attempt to look smart. It didn't really work.

Sapphire, by contrast, looked rather nervous; understandable, given it was her first day on the job, probably the first job she'd ever had. Her appearance, however, was more colourful than Harry's; pink streaks permeated the fringe of her short, jet-black hair. She had piercing green eyes, which clashed a little with her dark blue hooded jacket, jeans and studded earrings - sapphires, Hawke realized, to match her name. He thought he could see the long sleeves of her shirt poking through her jacket sleeves, before he realized she was wearing black fingerless gloves, which struck him as a rather odd choice of attire. Perhaps they were for a medical condition of some kind.

"This is Lieutenant Matthew Hawke," said the commissioner. "From now on, you answer to him. Hawke, this is Harry Payne and Sapphire Keating."

"It's nice to meet you both," said Lt. Hawke, extending his arm.

"Nice to meet you too, sir," said Harry, shaking the lieutenant's hand. His grip was firm, but his arm barely moved.

Hawke moved on, offering his hand to Sapphire. She hesitated for a moment, as though unsure of herself, then gently took it. She said nothing as the lieutenant shook her hand, only a faint "Mmh" of acknowledgement and a nod of the head. Perhaps she wasn't nervous after all, thought Hawke; just shy.

"They've gotten the grand tour already," said the commissioner, as the trio sat down, "so you three just get to know each other for now. They can show you to your new desk whenever you're ready. I gotta go make some calls, so I'll leave you to it. Good luck to the three of you," he added as he turned to leave. "I'm expecting good things." With that, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Silence fell, as the three people left in the room tried to think of some kind of conversation topic. The longer the silence went on for, the louder it grew, and the more awkward the atmosphere in the room became. Finally, Harry cleared his throat and said, "So, you're gonna be our new boss?"

"Uhh…I guess so," said Lt. Hawke. "I mean, I was only told about this, like, five minutes ago, so-"

"Really?" Harry smiled, as though this amused him. "Well…anyway, I look forward to working with you, Lieutenant. So is Sapphire, even if she seems a bit shy about it." Sapphire quickly nodded in affirmation.

"I look forward to working with the two of you as well," said Lt. Hawke. "Though hopefully, not for a little while yet."

Harry got the meaning pretty quickly. "Yeah," he replied, "this is kinda the one line of work where you don't want work."

"I guess so," said Lt. Hawke. "Sadly, we can't stop every murder from happening; we just have to make sure we solve the ones that do happen. That's what it's all about."