Grimsborough… A fairly large city of the coast of California. Like all cities, there is a large amount of crime plaguing the innocent people. However, where there is darkness, there is always light. My name is Kathryn Winters, and this is the story of my career as a Grimsborough Police Officer.

…..

Being fresh out of the police academy, I knew I was in for a ribbing when I walked in to the precinct. However, when I got there, things were already hectic. All around me, cops and detectives were running around trying to get some order. An old man in a suit came out of the Chief's office.

"We've got a body on the edge of town." He called. "We need somebody to get down there NOW!"

An African American cop poked his head out from behind his desk.

"Send Jones down there. He's getting a new partner today isn't he?"

That's when another man, with short brown hair and light skin popped up.

"Well unfortunately, my new partner is late." He replied.

That's when I spoke up.

"Actually, I've been here for a bit."

Everyone turned to see me. I straightened my dark blue uniform and ran a hand through my short blonde hair.

"Officer Kathryn Winters…" I introduced.

The man with brown hair from before stood up and walked over to me, grabbing a jacket as he did.

"Inspector David Jones." He replied. "Welcome to the force."

He shook my hand, then turned to the door.

"Ready for your first case?"

I smirked and walked after him.

"Oh hell yes."

…..

When we got to the edge of town, other officers had already roped off the area and were taking pictures. Jones and I slipped under the tape and I got a look at the victim. She was a teenage girl, a cheerleader by the looks of her; long, curly, blonde hair, fair skin. Had she still been alive, she would have been beautiful.

"Whatcha got for us?" Jones asked.

"Victim's name was Rosa Wolf, age 22. Was reported missing by her mother when she didn't come home one night from class, then a jogger called this in."

I looked closer at Rosa, and found a large gash across her neck.

"Looks like her throat was slit." I called.

"So the attacker either snuck up behind her..." Jones replied.

"Or she knew them." I finished.

I continued looking around the scene, and that's when I saw it. Hidden in the grass behind the Grimsborough sign was a large kitchen knife. What's more, it was covered in blood.

"I FOUND SOMETHING!"

Jones came over as I slipped on a pair of gloves and picked it up.

"I do believe you just found our murder weapon." He said with a smile. "Well done Kathryn."

I slid the knife into an evidence bag and got up.

"Call me Kat."

…..

We returned to the station after that, evidence and body in tow. As Rosa's body went off to autopsy, Jones and I walked into the Chief's office. The old man from earlier looked up and smiled at me.

"Heard about your work at the scene. Good job."

"Thank you." I replied.

"Chief Samuel King." He said, holding his hand out.

"Officer Kathryn Winters." I replied taking it.

Once the formalities were done, He got down to business.

"I want you two to go and check on friends and family. Find out if anyone had a grudge against Miss Rosa."

"Where does she go to school?" I asked.

"Grimsborough University." The chief supplied.

"I'll handle there." I volunteered. "The Dean was a family friend of mine. She'll let me in."

"Go on ahead, Kat." Jones said. "I'll handle the family."

…..

"Rosa's dead?" Donna Walker, the University Dean asked, her voice betraying shock, and sadness.

I nodded slowly.

"She was found this morning… we believe she was murdered."

"How could this have happened?" She asked, leaning back in her chair.

"That's what I'm trying to find out. Did Rosa ever get into any trouble? Did she have any enemies?"

Walker just shook her head.

"No… she was a good girl. Very popular. I can't think of anyone that would want to hurt her."

However, as she said that, her brow furrowed. Having seen that look many times, I knew that meant she was remembering something important.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Not too long ago, Rosa got into a fight with her boyfriend Matt Barry." She explained. "The cause of the fight was never clear, but another name was mentioned. Ash Bison."

I jotted down these two names.

"Thanks, Ms. Walker" I said.

"Kathy… you know you can always count on me."

I smiled and we exchanged a small hug.

"Yes, I can."

…..

I got in my car and pulled out my tablet. There was a video call in progress and I answered it. The screen was immediately dominated by Nathan Pandit, the Grimsborough Coroner.

"Hey there, new girl. Officer Winters, right?"

"Call me Kat." I replied. "Got something for me?"

"You were right in your assumption of our victims C.O.D. The cut across her throat was the only would she sustained, aside from some bruising on her right wrists."

"Meaning she saw her killer and tried to fight them off."

"Correct."

"Thanks Nate. Let me know if anything else comes up."

I ended the call, and as I did, another quickly came on. It was Jones.

"Winters here." I answered.

"Kat, you get anything from the school?"

"Apparently there was a bit of a disagreement between Rosa and her boyfriend. I've got his name, as well as another name that seriously rings a bell."

"Take them to Alex. He can run them through the system and see what comes up."

"Got it. See you back at the station."

…..

Returning to the station, I was almost immediately pulled over by Nathan.

"Officer Winters." He called.

I stopped and turned to him.

"Call me Kat. Seriously."

"I managed to work a little autopsy magic, and I found out that our killer is right handed."

Jones walked over to us.

"Not much to go on. Lots of people are right handed."

"Still it's a start." I replied. "What about the knife?"

"Grace is working on it." Nathan countered. "She thinks she found some prints and she running them through the system."

"Well I need to run a pair of names through the system. Where's Alex."

Jones snorted.

"In his Fortress of Solitude." He replied. "Follow me."

Jones led me down into the labs, and it didn't take long for me to hear the sounds of…

"Is that Galaga?" I asked.

"That it is." Jones replied. "Alex is our resident geek and kind of the nerds."

Suddenly, a guy, no older than 25, with long black hair and large headphones around his neck appeared from behind a large set of computer monitors.

"Don't forget the complete master of technology." He interjected with a grin.

Jones chuckled good naturedly.

"Can't forget that now can we?"

The Galaga noises ceased as Alex came around the desk.

"So you must be Jonesy's new partner."

"Officer Kathryn Winters. You can call me Kat."

"Well Kat, what can I do for you today?"

"I've got two names I need to run through the system. Matt Barry and Ash Bison."

Alex disappeared again and I could hear the sound of some seriously fast paced typing. Jones and I walked around the large desk until we could see the screens. One had the name Ash Bison in the search bar, the other had Matt Barry.

"Let's see here." Alex muttered. "Matt Barry, age 24. Student at Grimsborough University. Football Player. No priors…"

The picture was of a rather buff boy with light skin, brown hair stuffed into a blue cap, and a blue football jersey with the large number 9.

"And here's Ash Bison." Alex said. "Age 35. According to the police database, he's a known associate of the Viper Gang."

I found my fists clenching in anger. I hated Vipers… Then again, who didn't? They were the worst gang that ever crawled out of the ground. Known for selling drugs and vandalism, it was no surprise they were high on the GBPD's hit list. As I looked at the picture of a rather fat guy with the infamous Vipers tattoo and a self-righteous sneer, I could feel my blood boiling.

"Any priors?" Jones asked.

"Nothing yet."

Jones smirked.

"Yet."

…..

Now that I had a face to compare to the name, I decided to pay Matt Barry a visit. Jones accompanied me to Matt's apartment. When I knocked on the door, a tan kid with short blonde hair answered.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"David Jones, Kathryn Winters, GBPD." I introduced, flashing my badge. "Does Matt Barry live here?"

"He's my roommate…" The kid replied. "What's this about?"

"His girlfriend, Rosa, was found dead earlier today." Jones explained.

The blonde kid kind of stood there for a sec, then stepped to the side to let us in.

"Matt just got back from morning practice…" he explained. "Give him a minute and he'll be right out."

As the kid went off to get Matt, I saw what looked like a couple's photo of Rosa and Matt together. She was dressed in her cheerleader's uniform, and he was in his full football attire.

"That was taken after our big victory against the Hindenburg Huskies."

I turned to see Matt Barry standing in the archway leading towards the bedrooms. He had one a blue football jersey with the number 9 on it. Looking at the photo, that was his football number.

"Jason told me this was about Rosa?"

Jones nodded.

"She was found dead this morning…"

Matt seemed to stop breathing for a sec.

"Oh God…. Rosa's dead?"

He sank onto the couch. I sat across from him.

"We're sorry for your loss…"

"How… how did this happen?"

"We're trying to figure that out." Jones replied. "Which is why we need to ask you a few questions."

"Go ahead…."

"Can you think of anyone that would want to hurt Rosa?"

Matt shook his head.

"No… I can't… She was the nicest person I'd ever met. She never did anything wrong, and did her best to fix the mistakes of other people. Everyone loved her…. Especially me."

"Then why were you two fighting the other day?" I asked.

Matt looked up.

"Every couple has their ups and downs. Don't tell me you've never been in a relationship where you never argue."

Jones looked down.

"In my last relationship, we did nothing BUT argue."

I put my hand on Jones' shoulder, but he shrugged it off, returning to business.

"Did anything suspicious happen last night? Did Rosa tell you anything?"

Matt shook his head.

"I was giving her time to cool off after our fight. I haven't spoken to her since then."

We were getting nowhere, so I stood up and handed Matt one of my cards.

"If you think of anything, give us a call, alright?"

"Sure…"

With that, Jones and I walked out.

…..

I was sitting at my desk, just staring at the pictures taken at the crime scene. I was hoping to find something, because at the moment, we had nothing. Jones walked over with a large bag of what looked like Freddy's.

"Tell me there's a bacon cheese burger in there." I asked.

Jones smirked and reached in, tossing me a burger. I opened it and started munching.

"Any new leads?" I asked.

"Nothing yet. But don't worry. Something will turn up soon."

He bit into his burger as well as we looked closer at the pictures. I looked in the background of one and I was surprised to see what looked like an old house.

"Does anyone live here?" I asked, pointing to the house.

Jones looked and shook his head.

"Nope. That place has been abandoned since I was kid."

I pointed to one of the windows.

"Then why is there a figure in the window?"

Jones paused mid bite, then looked closer at the picture. Sure enough, there was a blurry figure just barely visible in the picture. Jones looked at me and I looked at him. We quickly stuffed the remains of our burgers in our mouths, grabbed our coats, and scrambled for the car.

Once we reached the house, Jones quickly moved to the rear of the house. As he slinked along the side of the house, he peeked into the window, quickly ducking back down again. He held up a single finger.

One person inside.

He then placed that finger on his nose and made a snorting motion.

Said person was high on drugs.

I nodded, then approached the main door. I held up three fingers, then two, then one.

BANG!

I knocked down the rotting main door as Jones kicked down the back door. As we did, this very large man with greasy black hair and baggy clothing jumped a mile high.

"FREEZE! GBPD!"

The guy seemed to be fumbling for what looked like a pistol. Thinking quickly, I kicked it out of his fingers and tackled him. He fell with a grunt to the floor as I stowed my pistol and grabbed my handcuffs.

"You have the right to remain silent." Jones recited as I cuffed the guy. "Anything you say can and will be used against you….."

Jones finished reading the druggie his rights as I pulled him to his feet. I got a good look at his face and blinked in surprise.

"Jones… It's Ash Bison."

Jones blinked, then looked closer. As he did, Ash spat in Jones' face. I quickly yanked him out of the house and over to the cruiser, shoving him in the back and slamming the door.

"Well that was pleasant." I commented.

Jones angrily wiped his face.

"Damn punk…." He growled.

He leaned against the rickety fence, which almost immediately gave out on him. He fell down in the dirt and I had to hold back a snort.

"Isn't it supposed to be my job to make a fool of myself?"

Jones blushed as I held out my hand to help him up. However, as I looked at the ground, I spotted a flash of blue hidden in the grass.

"Jones… look at that."

He turned to look at the flash of blue, and I could see his eyes widening.

"Kat… I think you just found another clue."

…..

It didn't take long to call in the scene. Once the house was roped off, Grace, a red haired woman wearing a long lab coat over a tasteful dress and heals, came forward.

"This better be good." She remarked. "I was this close to finding a match for the prints on that knife in our database."

"I think we may have found another clue." I replied.

She looked down at the grass and pulled out a large evidence bag. She gently picked up the blue thing, a wad of ripped blue cloth soaked in blood, and put it in the bag.

"I'll run a test to see if the blood on the shirt matches our victim." She decided. "And maybe I'll be able to find some usable prints."

"Once that's done, let me see if I can find out exactly what it is. I've always been good at puzzles."

Grace gave me a small smile.

"Deal."

Grace walked off with the new clue as I hitch a ride back to the station. I make my way to interrogation. Jones was currently in the room talking to Ash while the Chief watched. I went to stand by the Chief.

"We get anything?" I asked.

"Alex ran the serial number on the gun. It wasn't registered, so we have something to told him for, as well as possession of illegal drugs."

"I hear a but coming along."

"But, the prints off the gun didn't match the prints from the knife. He's not our killer."

I turn away and mutter "Damnit" under my breath.

"Then we got nothing?"

"For now… but let's see what Jones and get out of our friend here."

I look back up and focus on Jones and Ash.

"We need info about Rosa Wolf. Got anything to share with us?"

"Never heard of her."

"Don't lie to me, Bison. We've got you for possession of illegal drugs, AND an unregistered weapon. You're facing serious jail time."

Ash sneered.

"This look like a face that cares?"

Jones slammed his hands angrily down on the table. I could tell he was losing his cool, so I made my move. I quickly entered the room.

"Mr. Bison… My apologies for my partner."

Ash looked up at me, and the look he gave me made my skin crawl. He grinned as if he was mentally undressing me. I suppressed a shiver.

"Just tell us what you know about Rosa, and maybe we can work something out."

"Heh, well if you insist officer. She was meeting up with someone by the old sign that night. A buddy of mine, though you could call him more of a 'financial backer' if you will."

"Meaning he was one of your customers." Jones commented.

"Yep."

"What's the guy's name?"

Ash smiled.

"His name is Keith Myass."

Jones stood up, going to tell Alex to run the name, but I stopped him.

"Don't bother." I replied.

"Why? We finally have another possible suspect, Keith My….."

His face went red with embarrassment and anger. He threw the door open and stormed out. Ash snorted and I turned to him.

"I don't see what's so funny. You're going to be sitting in a cell for a very long time."

Ash just gave me this sick smile.

"Not as long as you think, baby doll."

…..

I found Jones in the break room, a bottle of what appeared to be orange juice in his hands.

"You alright?" I asked.

"People like him really piss me off."

I patted him on the back.

"It's alright… Someday, people like him will either be behind bars or pushing up daisies."

"Yeah… I just hope I'm around to see it."

I shrugged.

"Well, while he may have been an asshole, I think he was being honest with the first part."

"What makes you say that?"

I just shivered.

"Call it a hunch."

Jones put a hand on my shoulder, feeling my uneasiness.

"Well, hunch or no, we still have no name, and I've got a hunch that Ash ain't talking."

My tablet, which was sitting on the counter next to me, suddenly lit up. I looked to see Grace was calling. Remembering the blue fabric, I quickly opened the call.

"Grace… Tell me you have good news."

Grace was smiling.

"I do. The blood on the ratty cloth was a perfect match to our victim."

"Awesome." Jones said over my shoulder. "Great job Grace."

"So, Officer Winters… ready to put those puzzling skills to use?"

I was already on my way down to the lab.

"I told you Grace, call me Kat."

…..

I stood over the stainless steel table, staring at the pile of blue cloth. Piece by piece, I began to complete the puzzle. Jones was pacing behind me, anxious for any clue, any possible lead. The sound of his shoes on the tiled floor was like a metronome, giving me something methodical to listen to.

"Anthing yet?"

"For the twenty THIRD time, not yet."

Jones groaned and continued pacing. I slid two pieced together, and as I did, I saw something underneath all the blood. I paused, and took a closer look.

"That's weird…"

The methodical pacing stopped. Jones quickly went over and looked over my shoulder.

"Is that… a number?"

"A number nine… " I replied.

Something clicked in my head and I started piecing the cloth together even faster. Sure enough, I got enough cloth to form a shirt. I split the cloth in half, forming the front. The front had a small nine in the top right corner, and the back had a larger nine, and a name.

"Barry…" I whispered. "That lying son of a-"

I cut myself off, not wanting to go down that road. Jones pulled out his cellphone.

….

"What's this about?" Matt Barry asked as we showed up at his door.

"You lied to us." Jones said.

Matt blinked.

"You told us you hadn't spoken to Rosa since your fight." Jones added.

"I haven't." he replied.

"Well then, how did your football jersey end up at the scene of Rosa's murder?" I asked.

Matt went pale. We had him.

"I..."

"Save the lies. Just tell us what happened." Jones demanded.

Matt looked left, then right, then slammed the door in our face. Jones caught it and Threw it open, but Matt was already going out the window.

"Go after him, I'll go around." I said quickly, my gun already in my hand. Jones leapt through the window and I could hear the sound of footsteps on the fire escape. I hit the stairs, jumping down them like I was a kid again, rounding the corner so fast I was able to clothesline Matt. He landed hard on the ground, where I quickly flipped him over.

"Matt Barry, you're under arrest for the murder of Rosa Wolf." I recited. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

….

Matt was stewing in the interrogation room for an hour before Jones and I entered. He looked up and opened his mouth. I held up a hand.

"Unless you're going to tell us why you killed Rosa, keep your mouth shut." I ordered.

Matt paused, then closed his mouth again. Jones and I sat down.

"We looked into your football career." Jones explained. "It turns out, your coach was thinking of pulling you off the team due to suspicious circumstances."

"That's a load of-"

"What did I just say?" I interrupted.

Matt closed his mouth again and Jones continued.

"Apparently, your girlfriend had seen you and a Mr. Ash Bison talking outside of the campus grounds. She confronted you about it."

"My guess is that she didn't like what you had to say." I replied.

Matt looked down.

"I… I wasn't doing so well… I needed a boost… Something to keep me going during the day."

"And Ash supplied you with this 'boost' I take it." Jones surmised.

Matt nodded.

"I went to the edge of town to talk to Ash about getting some more… I didn't know Rosa had followed me…"

"So what happened?"

Matt was quiet for a moment, then his breath hitched.

"Ash saw her out the window and was gonna shoot her… I stopped him and went to talk to her. She ran to the sign before I got her. She… she wouldn't listen…. She was gonna tell my coach. My life would have been over…."

I stood up and shook my head.

"Matt… I'm afraid your life IS over."

…..

The trial was quick, and by the end of a week, Matt Barry was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Jones and I walked out of the courtroom feeling quite happy.

"That went well." I commented. "Better than I expected for my first case."

"Solved it pretty quickly."

"Sloppy killer. I've got a feeling the next case won't be as easy."

Jones shrugged.

"Well, whatever it is, we'll be ready."

He clapped me on the back.

"Come on, lets go get a drink."