The Beginning

"A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead."

― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

"No, no," Stoick said to his son "Why do you think I'm lying?"

"Cause you're the bad guy," Hiccup responded as though it were obvious "And bad guys always lie."

Stoick pinched his nose with his thumb and forefinger in exasperation, even though his son was seven he had to learn. He needed to know what it takes to be a cop, even if he's smaller than the other boys.

So Stoick knelt down to Hiccup's level and looked him in the eyes.

"What's our motto?" Stoick asked.

"Innocent till proven guilty."

"Even perps are innocent," he told him "You can't dismiss everything a perp says as lies."

Hiccup was confused, Stoick could see it on his face. The way his eyes scrunched up as he tried to process what his father had just told him.

"So they're telling the truth?" young Hiccup asked.

"Not necessarily," Stoick told him "You have to look at everything, including what the perp says, as both the truth and a lie. You need to look at what it would mean if a certain element of the case is true, and if it is a lie. You need to look at the case objectively."

"Oh."

"Do you understand?"

"I think I do," Hiccup said slowly, coming to his realization that he nearly shouted with excitement "I need to imagine that they are telling the truth and telling a lie!"

Stoick laughed "Yes, that's the essence of it."

Hiccup smiled when he heard his father's laugh, he doesn't do it often. His smile soon vanished as Hiccup realized something else.

"Isn't my imagination fake?"

"Well, you're not really going to use your imagination."

"But you said…"

"I said that you need to look at what it would mean," Stoick told him sternly "Using deduction, not imagination and deduction isn't fake."

"What's deduction?" Hiccup asked the obvious question.

"You'll learn that when you're older," Stoick paused for a moment "Right now I want you to question everything, I need you to get into that frame of mind. Always look at everything from every point of view."

And so, Hiccup went to school as any normal seven year old would and question everything, he may not have been the most likeable student for the other children, but his Dad asked him to do this and he did it.

None of what his father would teach him later on would come to fruition till Hiccup is twenty one years old.

Autumn was beautiful time for Berk, the leaves on the trees would turn half a dozen colors and the weather would finally calm from its stormy summers. The air would stay cool and crisp allowing the people to stay up and watch the sun set. The major city area of Berk sat in the middle like a huge stone heart, beating with the sound of traffic and the bustling of people.

Hiccup hated every second he spent here.

When he had turned eighteen he left Berk with no intention of returning. This city held bad memories for him, from being shunned at school for being a little different to his Stoick having him learn the art of deduction didn't help with making friends.

Not that that hasn't come in handy from time to time. Along with his eidetic memory Hiccup had little trouble after high school.

He wasn't here for Stoick nor the memories this place brings. It's only for the anniversary Hiccup thought then I'm gone.

His only real friend growing up was Gobber, which is funny since that's Stoick's friend and ex-partner. Any time Stoick brought a case home with him Gobber would come as well. In part to help and see Hiccup.

If there was one person he'd want to visit it'd be Gobber. He just didn't know where he was. The most likely place he could find information would be talking to Stoick and that prospect brought a sour taste to his mouth.

The second best place to find to info would be the precinct in which Stoick and Gobber had worked at.

When Hiccup arrived at the 44th precinct the first thought that passed through his mind was new. The 44 had always had this presence of cheap and cheesy that everything from the eighties had when compared to how the world was changing to a sleek modern look of the mid nighties.

Now though, the 44 had front doors with frosted glass, stainless steal outer beams and a sleek silver paint. Hiccup had no idea when it had the renovations but the 44 looked good.

The inside looked even better, he entered and barely had time to soak it all in before the lady at the front desk asked him his why he was here.

"I'm here wondering if somebody named Gobber is still working here?"

"The Captain?" she responded.

"No Gobber, he has one leg and one arm."

"That's Captain Gobber now and may I ask whom you are?"

Hiccup didn't respond as he took in the news that his Gobber was now the captain of the 44th precinct. He knew they hadn't talked in awhile but becoming captain should have at least warranted a call.

"Sir, hello?" he heard the lady say.

Hiccup snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her dumbly "Huh?"

"What's your name and why do you want to see the captain?"

"I'm an old family friend," I told her "I was in town and didn't know if he was still working here."

The lady picked up the phone that sat beside her and called somebody.

"Yes, hello sir…. I have a man here saying he's an 'old family friend' and wanted to 'speak' with you." she paused for a moment before asking for my name.

"Hiccup." I told her.

"No your real name."

"That is my real name." Hiccup said annoyed.

She shrugged and turned back to the phone.

"The guy calls himself 'Hiccup'." Another pause before she looked at me then back to the phone.

"I'll send him right up sir." she turned to me but I beat her to the punch.

"I guess I can go up and see him now?"

"Yeah."

I turned and walked a bit before I didn't realize where it was to go up.

"Um.." I turned back to the lady to ask.

"Up those stairs, third door to your right, his name's on the door."

I gave her my thanks and went up the stairs going past the two doors to find myself staring at an oak door with a plaque that read "Captain Gobber".

Wow, I thought why the hell didn't he call? When Hiccup left he didn't leave all of Berk behind, only everybody and everything other than Gobber.

I knocked before I entered. "Come in!" he heard the muffle scottish accent of Gobber called out.

I walked in and saw Gobber where a suit and tie similar to the kind he wore when he was a detective only this one looked more expensive.

" 'iccup!" he cried cheerfully.

"Captain." I smiled back to him.

"Oh don't be tha way 'iccup."

"What?" I still had a cheeky smile on my face "I thought I'd get a call if something big happened."

"It only 'appened a couple o weeks ago, I knew you'd be comin for the anniversary so I thoug't I could tell ya in person."

"Tell me what?" I sarcastically asked.

"If there is one thing I don't miss about ya is your sense of 'umor." He muttered before saying. "I'm the Captain now."

"How did this even happen?" Hiccup asked.

"After being 'ere for 30 years with o'er 200 cases closed the only person who could have been as senior as me would have been your father had he not retired," Gobber told him "So when Harrison stepped down the commissioner asked me and I said 'yes'."

"I'm happy for you Gobber, after all the years you put in here there's no one better for the job."

"I don't know," Gobber looked down to his desk where a manila folder laid "You get wind o these cases and the nostalgia hits ya."

"What kind of cases?"

"Uh," Gobber looked back up to Hiccup "A car crash that happened this mornin, my lead dick says it was a suicide but I don't know 'iccup."

"Something doesn't sit well with you?" Hiccup asked

"My gut says it was murder but I'm the captain now, I can't just go digging around anymore."

"Want me to look at it?"

" 'iccup you need a license to even be able to get near any o our cases."

"I have my PI license." Hiccup told a surprised Gobber.

"So you did take criminal justice? Your Dad would be happy to hear."

"Can I take a look at it now?" Hiccup didn't mean to sound so curt but he didn't really want to talk about how Stoick would be happy for what degree he received in college.

"Yeah, here." Gobber handed the manila folder to Hiccup who preceded to open it up.

What he first saw was a picture of the crash itself, it had the driver side in the frame along with the victim's left arm and hand. Hiccup moved past the picture and saw a run down on the victim himself, a one Donald Vanderburg.

"This the Donald Vanderburg?" Hiccup asked.

"Yup, co-founder of Vanderburg Supplies."

Hiccup skimmed through the rest of the bio for Vanderburg and saw something that peaked his interest.

"He's married?"

"Ya wouldn't have known would ya," Gobber said with a laugh "Always kept his private life just that."

Hiccup looked back to the picture before looking up at Gobber "Your right."

"About?" Gobber asked.

"This being a murder."

Gobber lead him to where the detective's desks were. A large opened room with people walking in and out. Hiccup spotted a group over by a desk in the corner.

"That's them," Gobber said to him before calling "Astrid come here!"

Hiccup look to see his old crush turn around and nearly give him a heart attack. She was still as beautiful as he remembered from high school, more so now that she looked so mature. Her golden braid, deep blue eyes and curves in all the right places always did funny things to his stomach. He used to blame her beauty for being the main cause for his stutter when having brief talks with her. How few of those there were.

Now Hiccup realized she was the lead detective for this case.

"Yes cap?" she said when she had made her way over.

"Tell her 'iccup." Gobber bumped his shoulder.

"Uh…" he was suddenly lost for words when she turned her attention to him "The Vanderburg case is a homicide not uh, a suicide."

Astrid gave him a weird look then glanced to Gobber and then back to him. "What makes you think that?"

"The picture." Hiccup said dumbly, calm down idiot he chastised himself.

"What about it?" she was still giving him that look.

Taking a breath to calm down "In it you can see his left hand with no ring."

It took a second for that to sink in for Astrid as she connected the dots, the weird look went away. "Shit."

Gobber laughed "That was what I said lass."

Astrid turned back to her group and called for them to come over here.

"Fish, you get the tox reports for the Vander case?" she asked the portly looking fellow whom Hiccup had a brief thought that there had been a guy called Fishlegs in his high school.

"No, we're running it through right now." he told her.

"What's this 'bout babe?" The other guy who looked a lot like his third cousin Snotlout.

She glared at him "Say babe again Snot and I break your nose."

So it was Snotlout, was everybody here somebody he knew?

"Astrid who's with the cap?" the final member of their group, a young women, asked.

"My name's Hiccup." I held out my hand for her to shake.

"Ruff." she said as she shook it.

"Cousin!" Snot cheered as he took Hiccup in bone crushing hug.

"Hey Snot." I choked out as his thick arms nearly made him pass out.

"He's the guy that pointed out no ring Vander's body." He heard Astrid say.

When Hiccup was let go of the hug he turned to see Fish's eyes get wide in realization and the women named Ruff have her's narrowed.

"That a big deal?" Snot asked

"If we can't find it at his house or at a cleaners then yeah." Fish informed him.

"It would mean someone took it before he drove off the edge of the cliff." I chipped in.

"Why would they do that though?" he questioned.

"They wanted to take the ring to sell after they killed him." Astrid said as she rubbed her face in exasperation.

"We would need to get the tox report to see exactly what he had in him before we can say it's a homicide." Fish said.

There was a moment of silence before the group turned to Hiccup. "Why did you get to look at the case?" Astrid asked.

"I took him on as a consultant," Gobber told her "He's independent."

That was something that they discussed right after Hiccup showed him the no show on Vander's ring. Hiccup didn't want to follow in Stoick's shoes, he didn't want to be a detective but he could never say no to his curiosity.

"Gobber showed me the case and I put to 2 and 2 together." I told her, this time with no stutter.

"I guess I should thank you then," she turned to Gobber "I'll start looking in on this angle sir."

She turned back and started to walk back to what Hiccup believed to be her desk before Gobber stopped her.

" 'iccup here will help ya, we didn't hire em for the one tip."

Astrid looked at Gobber before she looked at Hiccup with a disbelieving look in her eyes. It was intimidating and Hiccup looked away. It wasn't his idea to be paired up with her, his curiosity was just peaked enough to have him say something to Gobber.

Curiosity did kill the cat, Hiccup just hoped it didn't kill him.

Being in Astrid's car Hiccup wanted to laugh at how cliché a car it is. I mean Hiccup thought if want to play into the stereotypical detective you don't need to own a Crown Vic.

"Where we heading?" Hiccup asked having not heard a word from his companion since she was told that he was to tag along for the investigation.

"We're heading to Vander's home to see if the ring is actually missing and if it is we start questioning his next of kin about the days leading up to his death." she said as though I would have already known this.

"Alright," he said as silence followed before he asked "I never knew you wanted a career in law enforcement."

"There's a lot you don't know." her short response came.

"I have an eidetic memory," he told her "I know a lot."

She laughed "Yeah sure you do buddy."

Hiccup signed, one of the main reason he didn't tell people about his memory was because they would never believe it. For some strange reason Hiccup wanted her to know about it, so he tried to prove it to her.

"Vander was born January 2 1967 to Darien Vanderburg and Linda Vanderburg, an only child," Hiccup started "Gobber has a medal in his actions in '89 with the take down of the Bayside killer whom was a psychopathic suicidal 22 year old man with a history of abuse from his mother leading to his killing of the women who lived by the Berk bay area," he paused for a moment "You also take your coffee without cream and 2 sugars."

In the corner of his eye he saw Astrid glance at him for a moment before turning her attention back to the road.

"Show off." he heard her mumble.

"I never got a chance to show it off before," he confess to her "Not many people know about it."

Another reason why he never told anybody was what Stoick taught him was when Stoick learned of his ability he told him to keep it a secret. Information is key in war, he said, never give the enemy too much of it and you'll be able to keep them off balanced. Even though he disliked the teachings he received from Stoick he understood the thought process behind some of it. He also read The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Hiccup was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't relieve that they had pulled up to the Vander residence.

"Pretty nice place." Hiccup commented.

Pretty nice consisted of a two story mansion with marble columns in the front like the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. It's front lawn was big with perfect green grass and a single tree that shaded part of it. Frosted glass windows adored the second story of the colossal building providing the inhabitants with some semblance of privacy.

When they walked into the house itself Hiccup felt his eyes wander the beautifully clean foyer with a granite floor. A single table stood lone in the middle to which the butler stood at attention next to.

"It looks cold." Astrid commented.

"Hello, Madame Vanderburg will see you in the study," the butler said to them ignoring Astrid's comment "If you will follow me."

Hiccup and Astrid followed the butler down to the left wing which consisted of a long hallway with closed doors on their left and large spotless windows on their right. At the end of the hallway was an opened door that lead into a dark room with large shelves with books on them and large comfy looking leather couches sat in the middle. Mrs. Vanderburg was seated in one of them when they entered.

"Thank you Bueler, that shall be all for now." Mrs. Vanderburg told the butler who nodded and closed the door as he left.

Mrs. Vanderburg was in her late forties Hiccup recalled from the personal records on Donald Vanderburg. She didn't have the wrinkles that we're typically seen in older women but she did have the look of smart women. The same look Astrid had.

"Hello detectives," her smooth voice now addressed them "I was surprised to say the least when you wanted to come into my home to question me about the death of my late husband."

On impulse Hiccup replied "I'm not a cop."

Mrs. Vanderburg gave him a strange look before saying "Than what are you dear?"

"I'm a consultant for the police."

He saw Astrid glare at him from the corner of his eye. What could he say, his mouth was faster than his brain.

"We wanted to ask you if you knew your husband's where abouts last night?" Astrid continued on trying to ignore what he had said.

"He'd been upset for a couple of weeks now so it was no surprise when I found him out of bed pacing around with his head in his hands," Mrs. Vanderburg paused before her smooth voice cracked "He said he needed to go to the… the office, I'm sorry."

She turns away before they see tears welling in her eyes. Hiccup takes this moment to hand her tissues that were on the coffee table in front of the large leather couch.

"Here." he says as hands the tissues to her.

"Thank you dear," she sniffs as she dabs her eyes. "I'm sorry but can I ask why it is you're in my home asking such painful questions."

"We're trying to construct a timeline of events leading up to your husband's death." Astrid said in a somewhat cold voice, not exactly cold but almost trying to move past the crying. Hiccup at least was sympathetic to the loss of a loved one. Knowing you needed time to heal and that sometimes time couldn't even help suture the wounds it has given you.

He was one when his mother died, Hiccup remembers it as he does everything. With perfect clarity he remembers how lost his father seemed in the days after. Almost like the wind was taken out of his sails and he had no land in sight.

Hiccup shook his head to get these thoughts out. Later he thought I don't need to think about this till later.

"Well he came to bed at 10 like always, we fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone." she told them just before the butler came back into the room.

"I'm sorry milady but Mr. Crowler is on the line and wishes for you to speak to him."

"Oh, thank you," she looked back to Hiccup and Astrid "I'm sorry but I'll have to take this. You're welcome to wait so we can continue this discussion."

"Thank you but that should be enough." Hiccup said earning another glare from Astrid. He quickly made his way out of the room and back to the car before she shouted.

"What the hell was that!"

"We got everything we needed." Hiccup tried to keep this calm.

"We barely got shit!"

"No, we got that she was lying," Astrid disbelieving glare told him to continue "When she dabbed her eye, it smudge her makeup."

"She didn't have any makeup on."

"That's the point of it," I told her "to make it seem like she has none on."

Realization is a better look for her "She didn't sleep last night."

"Yup," Hiccup popped the 'p' "She just lied to us that he ever came home."

Don't know when I'll be able to update this, but if you liked it feedback is greatly appreciated.