Chapter 2

Hope you guys are enjoying this story so far.

Oh, and this type of story genre is very taxing on my mind, for it requires a lot of thinking about who you will suspect and who you don't suspect; it's like a game of chess, trying to figure out what the other person is thinking and trying to do the unexpected.

Zero took a long look at Diego. Zero's first impression of Diego was almost correct. He thought that he was just a dumb brute. But looking around his apartment, he could see that Diego is a very intelligent man; for scattered around his entire apartment, were books of the college caliber; more than ten inches in thickness. All of them about construction and the foundations of buildings. Zero also had noticed that Diego's arms are more muscled than most everyone elses, indicating that he did do construction.

Zero also had taken note of his breath; it had the distinct smell of tobacco. Hmmm, one of the name brands. What was it...Oh yeah, Dragon's breath tobacco. It had this sort of pungent air that you could never forget. He'll have to go back to the apartment to see if there was any tobacco at the crime scene.

"So, do you have any idea about what weapons could have been used to kill my girlfriend? My sweet, sweet Reika." Diego asked hopefully. Reika huh? Cool name. Zero thought to himself.

"Well, the shape and size of the stab wounds lead me to believe it was a kitchen knife that is primarily used for slicing and cutting vegetables. But as far as the blunt force trauma, I can say that it was probably something flat, circular, and iron. It left a huge impression on the back of her head. Would you mind if I take a look inside your kitchen?" Zero had given him the brief version of what he thought. To be honest, Zero knew it was a kitchen knife that had left those stab wounds. But the only question remaining unanswered, is what was the motive for the murder. Diego pointed him in the direction of the kitchen; if Diego was the killer, he's either very cocky, or he disposed of the weapons.

"So Diego, do you know anyone that Reika might have been on bad terms with? Anyone at all? Like she said something horrible to someone the last time you saw her. Or what?" Zero asked as he was rifling through the drawers of the kitchen utensils, testing each knife for blood; negative.

"Umm, not really, she didn't talk to me much about her personal life, she instead liked to listen to how my day went." Diego responded, his voice still a little shaky. "But" He continued, "there was this one guy who kept on asking her to go out with him; cornerian male. She kept rejecting him and he finally went away. The last time he was there was a week ago; since Reika rejected him, he doesn't show up anymore."

Zero perked up instantly; finally, a lead.

"So what did this male look like?" Zero asked, now inspecting the frying pans in the cubbies; still negative on blood. Diego pondered a minute before replying "He was an average sized man, about five feet and seven inches tall. He was a sort of Fox looking guy, dark green eyes, and rusty red fur, not big muscle wise, but pretty average."

Hmm, a fox huh. This may end on either a very good note, or it'll end with some shooting. I just hope I won't have to pull out my pistol. Zero thought; it had been almost a year since he had last used his pistol in combat, but he still trains at the shooting range to keep his accuracy up.

"I'm almost done Diego. All I need now is to check your garbage cans and bags." Zero said, patting his gloved hands together. Diego nodded and got out of Zero's way. He silently watched Zero paw his way through garbage.

Zero didn't find anything of note, no weapons or evidence that could put the blame on Diego. But, Diego was still a suspect in Zero's eyes; no matter how clean he seemed.

"So, how long do you think before you can find some evidence that leads to my sweetheart's killer?" Diego asked, still having that same tone from before when he talked about Reika. Zero couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy tug at his conscience.

"To be honest, it could take a few days, maybe even months before I get any solid leads; but I'll let you know as soon as I find anything out." Diego's face relaxed, and he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you for doing this." Diego said before Zero left his building; but Zero had no intention of leaving just yet.

Zero had been on a stakeout for a few hours since he had left the apartments; he occupied one of the other buildings on the other side of the street. He had rented out a room for the night to keep a close watch on Mr. Diego. Zero brought along, some night vision/ thermal glasses for just such an occasion.

But so far, nothing had really caught Zero's eye. If anything, Diego was innocent. It was his girlfriend, and it seems that he loved her. Zero thought. No, he's still a suspect; I can't become soft now just because of some sob story that may be fake. He told himself.

It was around midnight before Diego finally decided to hit the hay. Zero was getting tired as well; so he put in some stereo headphones that he had bought from an antique store and plugged it into his mp53 player, keeping the volume low so he could hear outside the headphones and still enjoy some toe tapping beats.

That was a fault of Zero's, listening to music to help him concentrate was fine when investigating an evacuated crime scene. But in the open, where he was exposed, it was the worst move he could execute.

But, thanks to all the self training he had given himself, Zero was very sensitive to even the smallest of vibrations; he could even discern if the vibrations were human or cornerian. Zero was ready for anything, his hand close to the beretta in his holster.

Well, I'm not going to learn anything else just by watching him, I'm gonna come back when he's not here and do some searching by myself; though for now, I'm going back to the crime scene, see if I can pick up any new clues.

Nothing new had turned up, as expected. But, it wasn't a complete waste, he did discover something new about the vic. According to the to-do list that Zero found, Reika followed a set pattern. First, she went to Diego's place to spend some 'quality time' with him. Second, she visits her brother to see how he's doing at his work. Third, call's her mom everyday to check up on her health. Finally, she spends her afternoons at the gym to keep herself in shape. Interesting.

From the following evidence, Zero had concluded the following: Diego, Reika must have really liked him to be so commited to him; ergo, she commits to anything she sets about doing. Next, her family must be one of the lower priorties on the list, because he checked her cell phone calls and recent visitations, to learn that she hadn't done either very recently.

To recap, the killer must be someone she knows; Zero ruled out Diego because he had been on a trip recently and couldn't have done it within the time period he was gone and the time of death that was stated. The mom or the brother could have done it. Out of all the clues he had gathered, he still didn't deduce what the motive is; to Zero, it could be anything ranging from revenge, to just a random attack.

Zero packed the list in his coat pocket, tucking it away for safe keeping. All the while, he took out his pocket analyzer and started to scan for remnants of the tobacco that Diego chewed. Nothing. Damn. The only lead he had was from Diego, that fox that kept buggin Reika. Zero decided to pay a visit to the market to see if the red fox will be there.

Zero had been searching around the stalls for who knows how long; he constantly checked behind the stands to see if he was hiding there. Even though Zero couldn't see the fox, he just had a feeling that he was going to show up today; he couldn't explain the feeling, but he didn't question it either. He even asked a few people to see if he had been around recently, but they kept pointing him in circles.

So, what do you think?

Do you guys catch the clues about which species Zero is?

One more question, who do you think is the killer?

-Zane Cross