I spent all these years honing myself to be the best. Not for the sake of reputation or medals but for the good people living in this city.

A man got up from his bed as the alarm clock rang just in time as it struck eight in the morning. He got up and did a few push-ups on the floor. A habitual routine of his, a way to start the morning. According to his terminology, it was a way to prepare for the worst.

RING...

His phone rang, the tune was rather old since it did come from a flip phone back in early 2000.

“We need you detective,” a simple and short sentence coming from the call.

“You got it,” the detective affirmed the call and quick to change to his work attires.

---

Driving his old beige mustang, the detective parked by the side of a street. He was notified from the precinct station, that his case was here down in the Queens. He got out his mustang dressed in a dull grey suit with wide pants. Definitely from the 80s, the detective was out of fashion in a sense. Walking by the crowd as well as the noisy reporters, he was still wasn’t clear about the case. All he knew was it was a homicide case.

“Moretti, over here,” a lady clad in a suit with a pink undershirt called out to the detective.

“It’s a miracle, Lopez being early and with a pink shirt at that,” Moretti threw a sarcastic remark as he walked over to Lopez.

“Stop messing around Moretti. We’ve got work to do and when the hell are you going to stop dressing like those characters from mob movies,” she threw one back at Moretti.

Truth to be told, Moretti was in his late twenties.

“First, they are not characters. They are living embodiment of a true man. You, Lopez, have no right degrading them,” Moretti was getting a bit too antsy.

“Enough of your tantrum, look at this. Female, in her early thirties. Judging from her attire, I assumed she just got back from some late-night clubbing,” Lopez was focused on the job, in turn, he did the same.

Moretti already noticed the pathetic state of the victim. That little skirmish of words he had with Lopez was like a normal routine of theirs whenever they met. So much for being partners.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Guts all over the place, the lunatic must be pretty mess up gutting her right at the back alley,” said Moretti.

“Well, that isn’t the best part. Crime scene did a sweep before I got here and their early hypothesis on how she was gutted was through nails.”

“Nails? The murderers these days are pretty much psychotic.”

“Don’t misunderstand Moretti. What I mean by nails are fingernails,” Lopez added her statement.

Moretti glanced at her giving a doubtful pair of eyes.

“What kind of sick bastards do that,” Moretti was getting revolted by the idea of being torn apart by fingernails.

“Well, he’s there,” Lopez pointed further back in the alleyway.

Moretti was dumbfounded but followed Lopez’s lead. His first response to what he saw was his mouth gap wide open. He even forgot to act out his persona as someone living in the era of mobsters.

“A freak? Or just a good costume made out of high-quality silicone,” questioned Moretti.

“Real skin, the CSI confirmed it. What you see there, is a dead mutated human,” said Lopez.

“Isn’t that a bit far fetch Lopez, we’re talking about reality here,” her partner didn’t agree much with her opinion.

“True, probably not a mutant. But if you ask me, I say this thing here is a goblin,” there was shine within Lopez’s eyes.

Moretti shook his head from side to side.

“Are you hearing yourself, Lopez? That thing you just said, is more ridiculous than the idea of mutants,” Moretti condemned his partner’s ridiculous idea.

Moretti had been disappointed by having this partner of his from a long time ago and today was giving him more disappointment.

“Baldhead, pointy big nose, large pointy ears, and short stature. Besides the dark green skin tone, this thing here perfectly described a goblin,” said Lopez.

She’s a Potterhead and she can’t deny her overwhelming zealous about the mythical world.

“Let’s talk about facts here. If this thing here is the killer, then why is it dead?” Moretti was not playing along with his partner daydream.

He got a case to solve and his reputation was depending on it. Lopez kept quiet as she observed the definite suspect. She found one of its ears being torn apart and stabbed wounds on its flank. She could only see it as the victim fighting back against the goblin.

But in the end, it all ended up as both sides being dead.

She wasn’t sure but she had no idea what happened here.

“I suspect it’s the victim retaliation against the goblin, with both ended up dead,” said Lopez.

“Stop saying nonsense things, that thing there is not a goblin,” Moretti was adamant in not involving himself in some utter bullshit.

He continued.

“Are there any eyewitnesses? Security camera? Who reported the incident?”

Moretti needs answers. Even if up against nonsense shit like this, the procedure of investigation was all the same. Yet before Lopez can answer him, a police officer called out to them.

“Detectives, we’ve got something here.”

Both went and both were shocked. A pile of mush of blood and gooey stuff stuck on the ground. The policeman who found it flashed the light at a certain spot.

“A small hand?” Lopez saw for itself.

“A baby? Did the thing do this too?” Moretti was getting anger seeing this. He has a soft spot for babies and seeing one in a state like this only fueled his anger.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Why did you say that?”

“The skin, it’s the same as that goblin,” said Lopez.

“Again with the goblin, are you freaking out of your mind Lopez,” Moretti couldn’t stand it anymore.

He was at the edge seeing a disfigured hand of a baby and now his partner was spouting nonsense about a magical creature that doesn’t exist.

Moretti was about to give a piece of his mind to his partner a group of people caught his attention.

He could definitely see their identification from their clothes alone.

“FBI, we’ll be taking over this case,” a man flashed his whatever-I-can-do pass and someone else came into the fray.

“This is under the jurisdiction of homeland security,” a new group of people came crashing to the crime scene.

Moretti didn’t know what to say seeing this scene. Two government agencies butting in with their homicide case. He was about to retort, but Lopez was quick on her feet as she hauled him away from the bickering scene between two agencies.

“Don’t do something stupid, Moretti,” she warned him. She’s the type that was quick to catch on. “There’s something fishy going on here, and that goblin there might be responsible for it.”

“Enough with your-” before Moretti could finish his words, Lopez intervened.

“Two big agencies coming down here for a street homicide isn’t that a bit too much. Listen up partner, I think I smelled something big is going on.”