Disclaimer: I do not Pokemon or any of the characters

"I don't know what you said to Jim but the first thing he asked was about you. I need my officers' focus on finding a murderer, not some little reporter." Silver said harshly.

"I ordered you some tea." Lyra gestured to the cup before him as Silver slid into the chair across from her.

"I don't like tea." He pushed aside the cup. He saw that Lyra's smile never wavered, in fact, it grew.

"I'm guessing you like your coffee blacker than Satan's soul. You seem like the type of person who likes their coffee black. You and my sister are the same, much too serious and enjoy your black coffee too much. No matter how many times I tell her that it's bad for your health, she drinks it as if there's no tomorrow. It really is bad for you if you drink too much. You should cut back on it."

"Stop with the small talk." Silver said abruptly, "Let's get straight to the problem. How did you know about the murder so quickly? It hasn't been half an hour since the body was discovered and I gave specific instruction to keep this from the media for as long as possible. Not even the news found about this yet. How did you?"

"I'm a reporter. It's either I find ways of finding news or I go a day without food. Everyone needs to needs to. That's life."

"I want to know how and give me the names of anyone involved. I'll protect your names and theirs but I have a job to do. I have a killer to find."

Lyra sighed and set down the tea she was drinking from, "I got an anonymous phone call this morning around one o'clock. The person on the other end sounded frantic but he told me that he heard a gunshot and needed to call someone. I told them to call the police but the person said he couldn't because they were afraid that you would suspect him."

Silver knew for a fact that the cause of death was not by gunshot but by suffocation. He didn't voice that fact though. "You say 'him' so I'm assuming it was a guy on the other end. Was there anything else he said? Could you hear something in the background? Even if it seems insignificant, it could be a great help to the investigation."

"The voice was disguised, as if it was being pushed through gravel, so I couldn't tell if it was a man or woman."

"And that didn't raise a red flag?" Silver snorted, "The fact that this person only called you and not any other news stations tells me a lot. If he really was doing this for fame, he would've tried to contact every news station out there. Either he wants something from the New York Times or from you. Is there anyone you know that would want you to owe them a favour or would want you to become a well known author? No doubt a story like this would be good for your career."

"No," Lyra said shortly after a pause. "Now that I answer you, can you answer some of my questions?"

"Dianne Ballard," Silver said abruptly.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm not surprised you don't know about her. Let me tell you about her. One day she went out on a walk and got a bullet in her back. She was the last victim of Heriberto Seda, the famous copycat killer of The Zodiac Killer." The lines on his face deepened, "I'm sure you know about him. Every newspaper had his name on the front cover. The reason I don't like reporters is because they glorified the killer, the victims are forgotten."

"I don't report to glorify the killer." Lyra snapped, offended that he would say such a thing, "I report to inform readers. I say there's a killer to warn them. So they are more careful and don't become his next victim."

"And a nice bonus at the end of the day helps to." Silver said calmly. Lyra didn't respond, instead she gathered her notes. Silver could see her ire raise by the way her eyes flash and stood to stop her. He still had more questions to ask her.

"I don't need to take this. I have other sources that I can get my information from."

Something clicked in his mind. What other sources could she have? Were they genuine? Were there things she was able to find out that he can't? What if the killer tried to contact her again? Maybe she was in danger? She might be able to help him solve the murder. He would have to put up with her for the time it took to find the murderer.

He told himself that those were the reasons he had to stay with her.

"Don't you want me to help you with your novel?"

Lyra turned at that and looked at him shocked. "Pardon?"

"You told me that you were writing a mystery. I can help you with that. I find that most mysteries aren't as real as they could be. In fact that's one of the thing most critics look for, realism. I can help you make your novel more realistic. In exchange you help me with the investigation."

"What are the rules? I'm there would be some." Lyra said a little annoyed. She was usually a more upbeat person but man thought she was like every other reporter she worked with.

"Smart girl. The first rule and only rule is that you can't write about anything we find. It's policy." Lyra nodded.

"That's reasonable but my rule is that you take me to the station and I get to spend the whole day watching what you do." Silver knew from the way she rested her hands on her hips just like how his sister would.

"Are you free Saturday?"

"I have a gun." Crystal stated.

"I have one too." The man behind her grinned and Crystal rolled her eyes. The obnoxious man had been annoying her for the past ten minutes. The man was a pig and insisted on sniffing at her. Compare to him, Gold was a decent man that she would consider dating. He even used the same lame pickup lines she heard when she was a teen. He stood much too close and reeked of cheap cologne.

The only thing that was stopping her from knocking him on his back was the fact that they were at her favourite café. Curse her and her love for fresh coffee.

"Do you want to see it?"

"No." Crystal tone was cold but he didn't seem to notice.

"What if I-"

"She said no." A deep voice said and she felt a strong arm wrap around her. She recognized the deep drawl and looked up into Gold's eyes. She was saved from an idiot by another idiot. What she do to deserve this, though it did feel right to be in his arms. The laughter she first saw in his eyes was gone when he growled. "You can leave now or leave with a broken jaw later."

The threat seemed work for the man scurried away. Gold watched him leave but didn't take his arm from around her shoulder. "I knew if I came here enough, I'll bump into you again up on finding you again my SuperSerious Gal. I was just about to give. So what are you buying me?"

"Excuse me?" She didn't expect to run into him again so couldn't respond for a moment.

"Isn't it customary to give your hero a reward? If you don't want to pay me in food, you can give me a kiss."

"The same as last time?" Crystal asked a little annoyed. "You can eat a person out of house and home, you know?"

"You sound like my mother." Gold laugh as they moved forward in the line. "We should sit at our table. It's free. I should go steal it before anyone else does."

Crystal looked over her shoulder and saw that the table they sat at was indeed free. She nodded and he walked lazily to the table. When she was finished with the order, she made her way to the table. She slammed the tray in front of him and took the seat across from him. Gold smiled from ear to ear at the sight of the food and ate into it with glee.

"I think your little article actually helped my career. My fans had been sending me mail telling me how great I am."

"Of course they are. They had been sending me mail saying that I wouldn't know art if was killed by it. There was one that said I should leave town but I know it's just talk. It said that they would show me the true extent of your art by forcing me to see it come to life. I'm thinking that I'll get a sculpture of your painting sometime soon."

"Was there a name?"

"Nope. But I'm going to have my sister look at it, just in case it's actually something serious."

"You have a sister? I always I wanted a sibling but I'm an only child. Though I was never alone in my childhood because she owned a daycare and the house was full of kids. I love my mother and she's the reason I'm into art. The moment she put a brush in my hand, I knew that was what I wanted to do. Create art. That was until recently. My agent told me that I needed to make more gothic paintings since they're very popular right now. I wasn't inspired to do any of that but I need to make a living so I started to paint gothic. I wasn't offended when you say they were cold because I agreed with you. I just wasn't inspired."

"Oh," Crystal hands tightened on her cup. Had she been wrong about him the entire time?

"Hey, are you going to eat that?" He asked, eyeing the muffin before her. Before she answered, she reached over and took it. Crystal was in shock and couldn't stop him from eating it. So much for thinking he was deeper than she gave him credit for.

"Yes I was." Crystal slapped at his hand when he reached for her cookie. He acted just like a child and pouted at her.

"Can't you feed a 'down on his luck artist'?"

"You're one of the most famous artists of the modern world. Your last painting sold for over half a million dollars and your net value is over billion dollars." Crystal retorted.

"You got me there. So how did you get into writing when clearly you know your art? I've read your article and thought it was written by a fellow artist."

"My sister is the writer in the family. She's a reporter too but she reports on much more serious things than I do. The ways she gets her information are outrageous. This one time she pretended to be a bar maid and got a gang drunk of their ass for information. The police arrested them for selling drugs the next day. I just write articles for a living. I did my schooling in English because I wanted to be an English teacher but I never felt really passionate for it. My sister offered me a job and I took it since it would a smart decision. It offered good pay and hours. As for the art, I took art while I was in university as an undergrad. I still do some art whenever I'm stress."

"If you're not passionate about your job, why do you do it?"

"I can ask you the same for your paintings. It all comes down to income sometimes."

"True but what are you passionate then? What do you do on your free time?" For a moment, Crystal didn't know how to respond to Gold's question. Then she answered truthfully.

"Not much. Well, I guess I'm passionate about-"

"Wait, I have an idea." Gold leaned forward, mischief filling his eyes, "How about we make a bet? If I can find one thing you're truly passionate about, I get to paint you. We'll spend time together and I'll show you all the fun things in life and if you fall in love with one, I win. If I can't do it within a month, you win."

"What do I get if I win?"

"That's for you to decide."

"Okay. I'll tell you when I win." Crystal threw some bills on the counter and left.

Crystal leaned against the counter as the phone rang. It went onto voice mail again. She sighed and decided she would call her sister one last time before going out to look for her. This time she did pick up and Crystal felt herself relax.

"Where are you? Dinner's getting cold. I ordered pizza with all of your favourite toppings." Crystal said. Lyra didn't respond right away and Crystal was confused about the conversion she heard.

"You didn't say I couldn't pick up my phone. My sister called me four times, if I don't pick up by the fifth, she'll have all of New York looking for me." A muffled voice said something before Lyra spoke again, "Hey Crystal. I'm sorry for not picking up earlier but I did tell you that I'm going to be out late. Invite some of your boyfriend over and watch a movie."

"I told you it was only coffee." Crystal insisted. "And it was just an interview. I have no intention of dating that artist."

"That artist looks a fallen angel with a killer smile and gold eyes. Do you know how rare that is? I said it before and I'll say it again. You need a life besides working. Heck, if you worked as hard on your love life as you did at the newspaper, I would have a thousand nieces and nephews by now."

"If he's so handsome, you can go for him." Crystal said half jokingly.

"I'm perfectly happy with my warrior." Lyra giggled and looked over to Silver. Yes she was perfectly happy.

"You're not even in a relationship with him and you're already talking about happily ever after." Crystal teased.

"At least I'm spending time with him. Much more than you're doing right now. While I'm out, you're staying in. If you really feel that way about Mr. Fallen Angel, I'll set you up with one of my guy friends."

"Thank you, but no." The last thing she wanted was for her sister to set her up. "I thought you were out to write about that story. Though the way you go about your reporting, we might as well say you were investigating it. What are you doing with Mr. Warrior?"

"Well, I told you that he is a police. I ran into him and it was like fate." Lyra's voice went dreamy, "We're investigating the murder together. That reminds me. Can you do me a favour? You wrote that article about Gold's art so can you tell me if he had any models that he painted?"

"Let me check. I have all my notes on him somewhere… here it is! Not that I know of. That's one of the reason he's so famous. He can create art from his imagination without a model to pose him. It's amazing the details he added considering that fact. Why?"

Lyra looked over her shoulder to make sure Silver was distracted. He was currently talking to another officer. She was sure she could tell her sister since he only said she couldn't write about it. There was no harm in telling her sister.

"You see, the murder is based on one of Gold's paintings. It's one of his gothic paintings. Apparently, he's one of Silver's friends so he recognized the scene pretty easily. The time of death was forty six hours ago so the body should've gone limp. So I think that the killer did something to the body. The crime scene is still fresh and it looks recent, sometime last night I think. So the killer killed his victim before he poses them."

A chill ran over her. "Can you describe it?"

"There's a little boy. He looks as if he just came out of a pool of blood. He's on his stomach but his upper body is raised a little and his right arm is extended towards the sky."

"…Corruption." Crystal's voice shook but Lyra went on.

"Is Corruption the first painting in his collection? If it is, then the killer might go in the order of when the paintings were released and we can find the next dump site sooner. If not, that means we'll have to wait for another murder to find a way to catch him. So I really hope that I'm right. There's more, his eyes are opened and his pupils were turned so he's staring at the message on the wall."

"Wait, that wasn't a part of the painting! In Corruption, the boy was looking forward and there were no words on the wall either. What does it say?"

"Let's see, it says 'you will all see Gold's true talent' in blood."

Crystal felt as if the blood had drained from her body. When Lyra's voice finally broke through the haze that held her paralyzed, she raced to her desk. She shuffled through the letters on her desk and pulled out the one written in red pen. She read over the final line of the letter.

You will all see Gold's true talent.

"Go away!" Gold stormed to his door and threw it open. "Whatever it is-"

Gold drew in his breath when Crystal pushed past him and slammed the door close. She leaned against it, breathing deeply. Gold quickly went into the kitchen to get a glass of water for her. He held it out to her but she shook her head. He almost dropped the cup he was holding when he saw the fear in her eyes. He quickly ushered to his couch and forced her to sit, afraid that her shaking legs will collapse under her.

When she finally looked up at him, she spoke, "We have a problem."

Gold listened as she told him of the murder and the letter she received. She pulled it out and placed it in the low table before her. "Is there a letter you received that has the same writing?"

Gold picked up the letter placed in a bag for protection. There was a thick silence as Gold read. She looked around and saw that Gold's house was simpler than she expected. In fact, she didn't expect it to so small. She simply asked Lyra for address and drove to his apartment. No doubt Lyra went through his pockets to find it. She was sure his neighbours thought she was crazy by the she bounded up the steps.

The house was small and warm. The walls were painted over in blue paint with a strange design in rich gold but it caught her attention. She saw that Gold was deep in thought and went to walk around the room. Now that the adrenaline rush was over, she felt tired but she couldn't sit. The room was cozy and welcoming with picture frames lining the shelves on the wall.

There were also paintings covering the walls. There were so much and each of them was beautiful. They were mostly of landscape and animals. She read the signed name at the edge and she realized that they were all by Gold. She didn't know why he didn't put these up for sale. She loved them. She understood that if he put too many paintings up for option, they would lesson in value but she thought they were much more powerful and beautiful than the gothics he put out.

There were little portraits except for the one of a woman surrounded by children. She saw the resemblance in the long black hair and gold eyes. The woman in the picture must've been his mother. The date on it was of ten years ago so he must've painted it when he was fourteen. It surprised her of the amount of talent in the painting even at that young age.

She turned back at the sound of Gold's sigh. He stood and called out, "Ellie, are you still there?"

"Just wait Mr. Dallas." A girl with brown hair and ash eyes in her teens ran out from the back with paint covering her hands and Crystal could only guess she came from a studio in the back. The girl hesitated at the sight of Crystal.

"Ellie, this is Miss. Hale. Crystal, this is Ellie. Sorry to cut it short but I really need to talk to her about an important matter."

"Y-Yes Mr. Dallas." There was something about the stutter in her voice that alerted Crystal.

"I promise to make it up to you later." Gold held the door open for her, "Should I call you a cab?"

"No, I'll be just fine. I live just across the street." She smiled weakly and walked out.

Gold watched her enter the house across the street from the large window facing the street. "She's a good kid. Her parents putted her up for adoption when they discovered she had a learning disability so I'm glad that a good family adopted her. They live across the street from me ever since I first moved here. I give her art lessons whenever I can. She has talents I hope that some man will see her worth since she's a beautiful young woman. Sometimes I see her as my daughter."

"I can't see why a person would give up their child like that. I wouldn't be able to."

"I sent her away so we can talk about this privately," He gestured to the letter on the table. "I have a friend that's a police and he should be able sneak us in to run some prints."

"Us? Shouldn't we let the police handle this?" Crystal asked.

"It's our problem. It's my art and your article. I don't like the feeling of sitting back while I let others fix my problems. Anyway, who knows my art better than me? Between your reporter sister and my police friend, we should be able to get all the information we need."

Crystal was quiet for a moment before asking, "This person is very dangerous. We'll need some help. Can we at least tell your friend and my sister? It seems they're already working on it together."

"I'll tell them first thing in the morning," Gold agreed. "We can help. If anything goes wrong, I'll protect you. I promise."

"Okay. The first thing we need to know is every gothic painting you have out there. We need to know what could be the next potential murder."

"Well, I guess we better get started." Gold rubbed the back of his head, "This way to my art studio."

Here's the second chapter. Little fact: when at first a dead body is stiff but after thirty six hours the body goes limp again. I like to do research on these things to make my story more realistic.

Hope you like and review.