The rookie walked up to the pair. “Are we done here Sarge?” he whined. “I’m getting a major case of the munchies.” The rookie rubbed his stomach to put emphasis on that statement.

“You should’ve grabbed something before we got here, Baughn,” Garfield responded with a hint of exasperation as he shook his head. “The hell am I gonna do with you, kid?”

Jones smiled amusedly at the two partners. “You two go on. Detective Moreau and I can handle the rest of this investigation,” he said to the two men.

Garfield looked towards him with a raised brow. “You sure, detective?”

“Yeah, go on. You two wait any longer, and the Rookie there might go AWOL on you just to get some food,” he responded jokingly.

“I mean, he’s not wrong,” Baughn chimed in, garnering an annoyed look from Garfield.

“Yeah, yeah,” Garfield responded with a flap of his hand. “We’ll catch up with you later then,” he said, looking towards Jones who simply nodded.

“I heard there’s this really nice ramen place in Central Market. Can we try that out, Sarge?” Baughn asked his superior as they departed the area. Jones watched them leave then turned his head back to see his partner standing behind him.

He jumped a barely noticeable bit as he groaned. “Jesus Christ, how many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me like that, Beatrice.”

The woman paid his reaction no mind as she looked down at her scanner. “I managed to find two potential leads,” she responded plainly. “Those being the victim’s weapon and a muddy boot print formed in that puddle over there.”

Jones stood up as he removed a cigarette from a pouch in his pocket, placed it in his mouth, and began lighting it. “Go ahead,” he responded. Beckoning her to continue.

Beatrice nodded as she continued. “Firstly, the weapon. Usually, any and all records of purchases made by individuals are stored in a database that we can easily access along with any other information. Thing is, this weapon doesn’t show up at all. On top of that, Mr. Conner has no recorded weapons handler license on file.”

“So, he obtained the weapon illegally then,” Jones chimed in. “For what though.”

“I’m getting to that.” Beatrice looked back down at her scanner as she continued.

“A few days prior to this incident, Mr. Conner abruptly ended his employment at Tomaru Corp, stating a family emergency as his reasoning. Said his nephew came down with a severe illness and that he might pass and that his sister was in a wreck. Thing is, his sister also apparently moved to Japan and broke all contact with Mr. Conner.”

She looked down at the weapon on the ground, then towards the puddle. “A few days later, on this day, he winds up dead in this alleyway. Which brings me to that boot print. I attempted to construct a possible projection of the assailant off of it, but got nothing.”

Jones placed his index and thumb on his hair-covered chin. “So, he suddenly drops from one of the highest paying positions a person could wish for at one of the most reputable companies in the country abruptly. He lies about family issues being the reason, illegally gets his hands on a sidearm, though, in my opinion, that part is not too outside of the ordinary for this city, and then he is murdered out of the blue.”

Beatrice nodded. “It is my belief that someone had it out for Mr. Conner here. In an act of fear, he broke all ties with the Tomaru Corporation and armed himself, hoping to escape whoever was after him. He was then cornered in this alleyway, where he was killed.”

She turned her head towards Jay as he looked down at the man. “Perhaps Tomaru Corp. has something to do with this, seeing as he left them abruptly,” Jones stated, as he blew out a puff of smoke into the muggy night air. “But it’s just a thought. A big company like that would not be stupid enough to ruin their reputation over one worker. But who knows.”

A few minutes later, Mr. Conner’s body was being loaded up into the back of a medical emergency vehicle. Its red, white, and orange lights illuminated the water-covered street and alleyway as pedestrians moved about, glancing periodically to see what was going on as they moved. This sight was all too commonplace, so people did not really seem too interested. Beatrice sat in the passenger side of an all-black sports car a couple of paces away as her superior talked to the medics for a bit. She looked back down at some of the information on her scanner with slightly furrowed brows.

The one thing that was still bothering her was the lack of anything left behind by the killer. And the fact that she could not even get a trace on the print. Whoever is behind this was good at covering their tracks. Her attention was pulled by the sound of the driver’s side door opening as Jones got in the vehicle.

He let out a long, exasperated groan as he sat back in the seat. “You know, sometimes I wonder why I stay in this shithole,” he muttered as he started the car.

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“So where will it be today?” he asked Beatrice. “Burgers? That ol’ ice cream parlor near the fairgrounds?”

“Home,” she responded nonchalantly.

Jones sighed. “You know, you could stand to have a little fun and relaxation every once in a while, Beatrice.”

She ignored him as she placed two black Bluetooth earbuds in her ears and pulled out a red cellphone to play some music. The faint sounds of some alt-rock music emanated from her earbuds as she laid back in her seat and closed her eyes.

Jones shook his head. ‘Where did I go wrong with this woman,’ he thought as he pressed the start-up button. The engine roared to life and smooth jazz played faintly on the stereo as Jones backed the vehicle out of the parking lot of the restaurant and began driving out onto the main road.

Beatrice opened her eyes a bit to stare out of the raindrop-covered window at all the buildings and lights passing by. They drove up onto a bridge high enough to give her a view of the city in all of its outward glory. She hated this place, truth be told. But, for the past twenty-four years of her life, it has been home.

A home that has taken much more than she can give- that anyone living here could give. She absent-mindedly rubbed her fingers tenderly over the scar on her forehead as she drifted off once more.

The following day, the pair paid a visit to their superior’s office. Chief Nathan Armstrong, a man in his mid-fifties with a bald head and a muscular build. He sat in his office chair behind his desk and went over the two detectives' report on the murder as he stroked his greying beard.

“So,” he began with a slight huff. “What I’m getting here is that you two barely have any clues that may lead us to the killer?”

“Not entirely true, sir,” Jones spoke up as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back. “Detective Moreau managed to spot a footprint within a puddle. She also went through Mr. Conner’s recent records of purchase and discovered that the weapon found with his fingerprints on it did not show up, nor did he have a license to carry a firearm. It is our belief that he illegally obtained one for self-defense.”

Chief Armstrong raised a grey bushy brow. “Aaaaand? How does that help us get a bead on who the culprit is?”

It was now Beatrice’s turn to speak. “A few days prior to his murder, Mr. Conner had suddenly left his position at Tomaru Corp. He was claiming a family emergency involving his nephew to be the issue. Upon further investigation, I discovered that he hadn’t been in contact with his sister or nephew in the past two months as shown by his call history.”

Chief Armstrong leaned in a bit, curious to see where she was going with her train of thought.

“He mysteriously left his job all of a sudden, lied about the reason, illegally got ahold of a firearm, and was later found dead behind that restaurant. On top of that,” she activated her scanner and pressed a few buttons. A few seconds later, Chief Armstrongs' computer sounded with a notification. He opened it up to see a few photos sent through a secure line from Beatrice.

“What’s this,” he questions, as he tapped on the screen and opened the files to see two photos of crushed rounds, presumably from the sidearm.

“I felt like I was missing something, so I returned to the scene for further investigation. I managed to find these two rounds. One in the puddle where the footprint was, and the other just a few inches from where his body was found.” Beatrice leaned back in the chair she sat in and stared up at the ceiling as she voiced her next train of thought.

“So where am I going with all this? I believe something involving the Tomaru Corporation spooked the man. He knew about or had seen something he was potentially not supposed to, perhaps some deep dark secret about his old job. He got spooked, knowing that whatever he did would surely lead to his death- thus got a hold of a sidearm for self-defense and attempted to flee. Assuming it did have something to do with Tomaru Corp., which this next part makes it very plausible, they may have sent an assassin after him.”

The Chief chuckled a bit at her suggestion. “And why would a big named company like Tomaru Corp. go on and kill one of their own guys and not even have the brains to properly dispose of it after the job was done?”

“Beats me,” Beatrice replied with a shrug. “Considering I couldn’t even build a playback or get anything from the scan of the boot print, I’m going to go on a hunch and assume stealth-camo was at play. It’s the only thing I can think of that would be able to mask any reading I could get. Not to mention the two rounds. Whatever he was shooting, he hit it,” she leaned forward as she looked down in thought.

“But whatever was attacking him obviously was armored. My guess based on this information is either some merc or an Auto Droid. Your common criminal most likely wouldn’t have the resources to get ahold of stealth tech and armor tough enough to take two high-velocity rounds point-blank.”

Jones glanced down at Beatrice with a slight smirk on his face as she sat lazily in the chair with a bored expression. 'Look at you,' he thought with pride. 'I taught you well my young padawan.'

The Chief sat back as he gave the photos one last look over before he spoke. “If your theory ends up being fact, we’d be opening a whole can of worms with this case,” he stroked his beard once more.

“With your permission sir,” Jones began, “Perhaps an investigation into the Tomaru Corporation is in order. We can prance around the issue and come up with all the wild theories we want but if they are involved somehow, the best course of action would be to look into the company ourselves.”

The Chief closed his eyes as he contemplated what his decision would be. Jones stood firm and stone-faced while Beatrice played with a few strands of her hair, appearing bored and uncaring towards the current conversation.

Chief Armstrong sighed as he looked at Jones with the utmost seriousness. “Alright, but do this by the book and be discrete. I don’t want you to be making a scene and doing something that could put the whole department in the shitter. Understood?”

Jones nodded. “Understood, sir.”

Beatrice just gave a slight nod and continued to play with the strands of her hair with a bored expression.

“Alrighty then, good work, the both of you. If we find the guy that did this, drinks will be in order,” Chief Armstrong said with a smile.

“So long as you are the one buying, sir,” Jones joked. Chief Armstrong chuckled as he responded, “I already write your checks. Technically I am paying via the money from that check you use, you one-eyed bastard.”

He waved at the two as they left his office.