Ocean Wise

“Excuse me. Coming through.” Ocean Wise had her eyes on her target. That guy with the black hair and the cheetah glasses. “Excuse me!” She called. “I don’t know your name! Person, black hair, glasses, please hear my call!”

The person turned. Finally!

“Hi, there.” She said. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “My name is Ocean Wise.”

The man’s bright eyes flashed. “And?” He asked.

“Well, I’m a reporter for the wall street journal.” Ocean said. “And I specialize in crime.”

“And?” The man said again.

“Don’t and me.” Ocean said. “I’m Nathan DeVito’s cousin.” She said.

“Really?” The man asked.

“Yeah.” She said. “You’re either Corey Byrd or Milo Chang, right?” She asked. “You’re probably Milo.” She said. “Which means that the guy with the gun I saw the other day was Corey Byrd!”

“Wow.” Milo said. “You’re a genius.”

“Yeah, if you looked up a genius on google you would totally see Ocean Wise there, along with me, of course.” Ocean turned to see a girl and that person who she thinks is Corey Byrd. The girl who had talked had long light brown hair, bright red high tops with black stretchy pants, a white shirt, and a rumpled jean jacket.

“Hi.” The woman stuck out her hand. Ocean shook it. “I’m Dr. Juniper Rice.”

“Nice to meet you.” Ocean said. “I’m, well, I guess you already know my name.”

“Yep.”

“Wait,” Corey Byrd said. “What’s going on?” Corey Byrd had chocolate colored skin, a chiseled jaw, and a sharp nose. His arms were taut with muscles. He was also very tall. Or was Ocean just short?

“I’m your boss’ cousin.” Ocean said.

“Wait,” Corey Byrd said again. “What?”

“I know, it sounds crazy, but you can ask him.” She said. “Anyway, I was looking for you because my boss needs a story, and – “

“No.” All three of them said at once.

“Why not?” She asked. “It’s not like I’m asking you to fall off a cliff or anything.”

Corey Byrd seemed confused by that. “Why would you want us to fall off a cliff?”

“Exactly.” Ocean said. “I’m not asking you to do that.”

“How did your boss find out about this anyway?” Dr. Rice asked.

“Umm, I might have told him?” She said.

Milo Chang sighed and looked away, as if he didn’t want to deal with Ocean anymore.

There was silence. Ocean counted to twenty.

“All right.” Milo Chang said, turning back to look at Ocean. “You can write something small. Don’t give this guy a name.”

“And emphasize the fact that he will be found by law enforcement.” Dr. Rice said. “Not us. The private investigator.”

“And that’s all you can say.” Corey said. “Do not make him feel like he’s doing a good job with these murders. Make him feel insignificant.”

Ocean nodded. She knew these people would change their minds. “Thank you for not getting me fired.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Milo Chang

“So,” Juniper said. “Have you made up your mind yet?”

“What?” It was the next day, and Milo was walking down to the lounge when Dr. Rice came along. Milo was really starting to feel the deadline. Three more days.

“I mean, you keep changing your mind, right?” She said. “First you were like, no kids! And then you said, oh, sneak into this crime scene for me! And after that you still weren’t letting them really help with the case.”

“I never let you help with the case either, and look where that got me.” Milo said.

“I know.” Juniper said. “It’s amazing. You got a doctor on your side, and you didn’t even ask for it.” Milo decided not to mention what Sami had said yesterday about her and Corey.

“Uh-huh.” He said. The two of them got to the lounge. Milo checked his watch. 0900 hours. “We’re going to meet with Corey in a couple minutes.” He said. “Try and see if there’s anything that can help us.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.” Juniper said. “So, kids, or no kids?”

Milo put his hands in his sweatshirt pocket. “I’m not sure.” He said.

“Oh, wow!” She said. “Aren’t you like, supervisory whatever-it’s-called agent Milo Chang? Aren’t you supposed to know everything?”

“Shut up.” He said.

Juniper smiled. Milo did not understand why Corey liked this woman.

“I think that you should keep them on.” Juniper said. “They already know stuff. It’s better to keep them close than to have something bad happen to them.”

Milo nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”

“But, of course, you’re the supervisory agent, not me.” She said. “It’s your call.”

“Fine.” Milo said. “They can stay on.”

“I knew you’d make the right choice.” She said. Milo saw that Liberty and Octavio had just walked into the lounge. Juniper waved them over to where they were standing.

“What made you want to get a PhD anyway?” Milo asked.

“Oh, it was just for fun.” She said.

“Just for fun.” Milo repeated. “Right.”

Octavio Jordan Jr.

After Corey Byrd came into the lounge, Milo Chang made an announcement. Octavio didn’t know what to expect. He had long lost the hope of Milo kicking him and Liberty out and her giving up.

“So,” Milo said. “Liberty, Octavio, you guys can stay. There will be no more arguments about whether or not you guys are staying. But this means that you will have to contribute to the team. All right?”

Liberty nodded, smiling. “You actually said team. Team! That includes me and Otto, right?”

Milo Chang nodded.

Liberty’s mouth hung open. “Oh my gosh!”

“Anyway,” Corey Byrd said. “We need to think of ideas about how this unsub might reveal himself. Our first and only idea for now, anagrams.”

Octavio was a little bit confused. “Why would the unsub make his name an anagram?”

“This happens sometimes.” Dr. Rice said. “The unsub could be a narcissist, and he wants to put his name everywhere. Or it could be the unsub’s idea of playing games, like how he added the joker card at the first crime scene.”

“Yeah, what do we think about the joker?” Milo said.

Dr. Rice muttered to herself. “There’s a Chinese game that involves the joker. I’m not even going to try to say it because I would butcher the pronunciation, but in that game the joker is the card of the highest value, and if you have both jokers you’re basically bound to win the game.”

“So, the unsub put the joker there to show that he’s the most powerful?” Liberty asked.

Milo nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard of that game. But the joker was black and white. The most powerful one is in color.”

“So that means that the unsub hasn’t played his most powerful card yet.” Octavio said.

“He’s going to kill again.” Corey said. “And soon.”

Dr. Juniper Rice

Juniper’s brain was working overtime. He’s going to kill again. His most powerful card yet.

“Do any of you have a piece of paper?” She asked. Octavio took out his sketchbook and ripped out a piece of paper. “Thanks.”

She looked around, and Corey read her mind. He handed her a pen. She uncapped it and wrote: Calvin Cox, on one side and wrote: Amanda Hu, on the other.

“Amanda Hu sounds Chinese.” Corey remarked. “That could give her knowledge about the card game.”

“Or you could look it up on google.” Liberty said. She showed her phone screen to everybody. “It’s pretty easy.”

Juniper started with Calvin Cox. She crossed out letters and rearranged them. She came up with: Xina C V Col

“What does the C V mean?” Corey asked.

Juniper shrugged. “It’s like, H P Lovecraft.” She said. “Just two letters.”

“Huh.”

Juniper moved to Amanda Hu. She came up with, Human Aad, Manda Hua. None of them seemed right.

“Well, Dr. Rice,” Milo said, a smirk on his face. “Are you actually stumped?”

“Now it’s my turn to say shut up.” Juniper said. “Is anyone on your passenger list named Xina?”