Tuck was the first one to show up for work the next morning. He took the mail up to the main office and opened the doors before retreating to his office for breakfast. He has his usual spread of black coffee with two pounds of sugar and a few cheese croissants, which he usually needed to finish before Edgar arrived or his partner would attempt to steal them. He had always considered buying more to share, but that never really worked out either. While on his way into the office, he had called the bank from his cell to make sure that the two hundred and fifty large was successfully transferred to the account info Devon handed him the previous night. Seemed important to have that taken care of before the rough bounty hunter and his crew woke up that morning. Tuck was in favor of giving them all incentive they needed to get going that morning and the bank confirmed that transfer was completed.

     Tuck took a seat in his office and started to read his mail, and munch on his continental breakfast. While filing through his mail, he noticed something that was rather weird. There was an envelope that had no address written on it. Upon spotting it, Tuck put down his breakfast, and dug into one of his drawers. He put on a pair of latex gloves and handled the letter with absolute care. Tuck slowly used his letter opener and tore one of the sides out with it. There was only one sheet of paper inside and he slowly slid it out of the envelope. Once the two were separated, Tuck grabbed two zip lock bags from another drawer in his desk and immediately put both the envelope and the letter under plastic so that neither would be further contaminated any further than they already were. Only once the two were sealed and secure, Tuck turned the paper over to finally read the contents of the letter:

TALKING TO Ms. JOHNSON WILL ONLY LEAD TO TROUBLE. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING. WALK AWAY FROM THIS CASE WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

     The letter was hand written, but completely printed in block letters so a hand writing analysis would be pretty much out of the question. Tuck could tell the writer used a standard marker, so that would likely lead nowhere as well. He took another look at the letter, and sat back in his chair. At first Tuck thought someone was watching the building, but it was more likely that Ms. Johnson was being followed to see where she was going, and who she was talking too. Since he and Edgar had the pleasure of her company more than once, it was also likely their building was definitely being watched now. He took a moment to think about it while munching down a croissant, but didn't finish them as his appetite was ruined for pretty much the rest of the morning. The next person to arrive that morning was Jerome. He came in carrying a tray with three cups of coffee, which was good since Tuck had just finished what was left of his own. He took the cup from Jerome and held up the piece of paper stuffed in the clear bag.

     "Our first threat." he said with a sarcastic smile.

     Jerome took the bag, and read it. He was also surprised, "I have to be honest... this came a little sooner than I thought it would. I bet they've been following her to see who she talks to."

     "I'm sure the length of her second visit last night didn't impress them too much either." Tuck said as he took a sip of the coffee, "Thanks"

     "Call me a lemming, but it's the best way to start my day." Jerome said as he never took his eyes off the letter, "Did you pull any prints on this?"

     Tuck responded by holding up one of his hands which still had the latex glove on, "Not my first rodeo, kid."

     "Fantastic." Jerome said, "I need a chair, a desk and about two rolls of plastic wrap."

     "You can use my desk, but you'll have to hit the corner store on the first floor for the wrap." Tuck said as he took another sip of the coffee. It didn't taste too bad actually.

     Jerome put he letter and his own coffee down and sprinted out the door. He skipped the elevator and bolted down three flights of stairs and out of the door. He scooted over to his small compact and popped the trunk. His forensic kit was in the back, as it had been since he was first put on probation several months ago. Once he had the kit, he moved to the corner store on the first floor and cleaned them out of clear plastic wrap. There as only five small boxes there and hopefully that would be enough. He took the items and his kit back to the third floor and rushed back into tucks office. By this time Edgar was already there, and munching on what was left of Tuck's breakfast.

     "I need the desk cleared off." Jerome said to no one in particular.

     Tuck did the honor and cleared the desk for him and moved most of his stuff to the top of his filing cabinet for now. Once cleared, Jerome took a basic wooden chair from the lobby. He used the plastic wrap to create and tight seal, using the legs of the chair to create a clear box of plastic that he could use as a mini-incubator. He took the letter out of the zip-lock bag and put it underneath the chair and into this small plastic space. Then he opened up his forensic kit and went to work, putting together a special compound, and putting it into the box as well. Then he took a liquid and put in into the powder in the small cup. Once the two substances made contact, a small vapor started to engulf the small plastic square bubble that Jerome made with the plastic wrap.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

     "We'll need to give this about twenty minutes," Jerome added, "We should have some prints in no time."

     "You see," Edgar said with a hint of pride, "I knew he would be handy to have around."

     "I can see that." Tuck said, rather impressed with the young man's eagerness to find a print.

     Jerome wasn't just doing this to impress his bosses, but also because it was the first time he was able to do the one thing that he loved doing while he was with the force, that being forensic work. He knew that with Edgar and Tuck, he'd have more freedom to use his stuff and do what he likes rather than what he's told. He took his coffee back and sat down in another chair and waited as they all did for the paper to reveal some sort of answer. Twenty minutes later, they hit pay dirt. There were several prints on the piece of paper showing up. The vapor has brought them out perfectly.

     Edgar, who now also had gloves, picked it back up and placed it back into the zip lock bag

     "I'll take this down to the station," Edgar started, "I have a buddy that will run them through the data base. Should be back in a few hours."

     "What are you thinking?" Tuck asked his partner.

     "I'm thinking about that plan of yours," Edgar answered, "It seems to be a little more reasonable than ever."

     "I already made the call, that's being taken care of." Tuck said in complete agreement, "I'm also going to have one of Devon's techs sweep the both place for bugs when he gets in so until then, let's keep things tight-lipped for the time being."

     As if the sound of his name beckoned him to make an appearance, Devon strolled through the front door and into the lobby. He had a smirk on his face about a mile wide which gave Tuck the impression that he checked his bank account the minute he woke up.

     "Gentlemen," the big bounty hunter started, "Since myself and my entire team are now officially on the dime, what would you like us to do first?"

     Tuck didn't respond, but instead grabbed a notepad from one of the desks, and scribbled something down and then handed it over to Devon for him to read. Devon took the pad and read what Tuck had written:

We've received our first threat. We need your tech guy to sweep the office for possible bugs, until then we should keep business chit chat to a minimum.

     "No problem, mate." Devon said as he handed the pad back to Tuck, "Not a morning person, I see. We'll start after lunch then."

     "Sure," Tuck said, "Sounds good to me."

     "Edgar," Devon said, turning to face him. "I just wanted to let you know that the fellow you want tracked will be under full surveillance by the end of the week. Is your client all right with that?"

     Edgar smiled as he realized what Devon was up to, "Yeah, seems pretty reasonable to me. The guy isn't due in court for another three weeks. They just want to make sure he stays in town and makes no attempt to jump bail before the hearing."

     "Alright." he said looking at Tuck this time, "I'll have the boys get on this right away."

     Tuck nodded to understand what was going on, and the biker quickly walked out of the room back to his team that were likely waiting outside for him. Edgar took the letter after Jerome put it back in a secure bag, and left for the station as he earlier indicated. That left Jerome and Tuck there in the lobby again.

     Tuck looked over at Jerome. "Nice job with that letter. Edgar said something about needing some more advanced equipment. Was it for doing neat stuff like that?"

     "Yeah, it is." Jerome said, "I've made up a decent list of things I might need to be more useful around here if you want to check it out."

     Tuck took it and had a quick look. The list was a fair size, but Edgar has asked him to be completely honest with them on what he thought was needed. Perhaps a little too honest, Tuck thought as he noticed there were a few expensive pieces on the list. Yet he also realized that a lot of the equipment Jerome was asking had both brand name and lower brand estimates listed for his discretion.

     "Alright," Tuck said, "I'll have a look at these and call a few contacts. We might be able to get a few of these cheaper if we work directly with the manufacturer."

     "Thanks." Jerome said with a wide grin. He was pleased to see that he was making a good impression with his new employer. He grabbed his cup of hot java and the sports section as this clearly called for a well-deserved coffee break. Just as he was putting his foot up on one of the desks in the lobby, Tuck stuck his head out the door of his office.

     "The coffee break starts after you clean this stuff off my desk." Tuck said, as he didn't want to clear the stuff himself.

     "Yes, sir!" Jerome said, as he jumped up and ran into the office to comply with Tuck's orders. He didn't want anyone to mess with his kit and stuff anyway.