Chapter 3

The staff at PC World didn't seem to have noticed Tukson's disappearance. None of the employees Yang talked to seemed to know anything about his death or his personal life. They kept saying they didn't know much and to ask the manager. But the manager was out at lunch at the time Yang and Blake walked into the dingy store. Blake disappeared off into the heaps of dusty computer junk, leaving Yang to question the workers.

A couple of hours later, Blake emerged from the back room and stood next to Yang as she talked to the last employee. Yang scribbled a few things down, thanked the man, and then turned to Blake.

"I hope you had more luck than I did."

Blake shrugged and handed the detective her notes. Yang traded hers for Blake's and the two of them took a moment to scan each others notes.

"Not much then, I see."

They swapped their notes back and tucked them away to prepare to leave. Yang thanked the employees and the two women were walking towards the entrance. The door opened and a short, graying man in a gray button down shirt walked in. He stared at Yang.

"You're a cop."

"Um, yes?"

"You're the one parked outside?"

"Yes. Are you the manager of this store?"

The man nodded and gestured the two women towards the back. He unlocked his office next to the storeroom. The three of them filed in and the manager took a seat behind his desk.

"What can I help you with?"

"Well sir, a few days ago, one of your employees- Tukson Kovach- was found dead in his home. We're here to ask you questions about anything you may know about him."

"Oh, that poor man. I'll answer any of your questions to the best of my ability."

"Alright then." Yang and Blake simultaneously pulled their notebooks out. "How long has Mr. Kovach been working here?"

"I hired him a few years ago. Two or three."

"What did he do?"

"He was a programmer. He reprogrammed the old computers we got and cleared out their hard drives and such."

"Did he seem to act strangely in the past week?"

"Well actually... he asked for the week off. I haven't seen him since the Friday before last."

Blake shot Yang a sharp look. Yang nodded slightly without looking away from the manager.

"When you last saw him, did he seem different? Did he do or say anything out of character?"

"He left early that last day, which was unusual. He used to stay late to help me lock up. He's asked for weeks off before but this time, he seemed anxious when he asked. See, I keep an open policy; my employees don't need to tell me why they need the break. I figured that Tukson was anxious over some family issue. So I gave him the week off."

"And then he turns up dead," Blake muttered while writing something in her notepad.

Yang looked at Blake for a moment before turning her attention back to the manager.

"Did Mr. Kovach have any enemies that you may know of?"

"Of course not! He was my best employee and the others always asked him for help in the more technical areas of their jobs. He didn't talk about himself much but we all respected and liked him."

"I see. Thank you for your time sir."

"Of course officer. I hope you catch his killer."

Yang ignored his last comment and stood to shake his hand. Blake followed Yang's lead and the two of them left the building. Yang unlocked her cruiser and the two of them got in.

"So Ruby, my sister, the one you met the other day?"

Blake nodded.

"Well she's getting out of class early today and I offered to pick her up. So I could either drop you off at the precinct and I'll meet you there later or you could come with me and we'll head over to the precinct after we all have lunch."

"Either," Blake said with a shrug.

"But I'm asking you to choose."

"Fine. Ruby can pick where we eat though."

Yang grinned at the P.I. and started the engine.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to the curb where Ruby was bouncing. She threw her stuff into the car before jumping in herself.

"Blake! Ohmygod I haven't seen you in forever! Yang has talked nonstop about you at home!"

"Hey! No I haven't!" Yang turned to Blake. "I haven't, I promise," Yang reassured the P.I.

"Buuuut I heard we're all going out to lunch?"

"Yes Ruby," Yang sighed. "Where do you wanna go?"

"You mean I can pick?"

"Yup."

"Then... Castle Diner!"

"Alright," Yang put the car in gear. "Lunch is on me guys."

Yang pulled out of the college parking lot and made a right while Ruby was babbling to Blake about something.

Yang and Blake had dropped Ruby off a few hours ago and were sitting at Yang's precinct desk going over the case notes from their most recent investigation. The clock read six thirty pm the last time Yang checked and she was getting hungry. She rolled her chair back from her cluttered desk.

"Hey Blake?"

"Hm?" Blake glanced up from one of her notepads.

"It's getting sorta late and we might be here for a while longer. Wanna just order a pizza and call it dinner?"

"Sure," Blake chuckled and smiled softly. "But only as long as it has anchovies."

"I don't really trust anchovies." Yang pulled herself back to her computer and pulled up her usual pizzeria website to start the order. She clicked the "make your own" option and started building her usual. "They always seemed...fishy to me."

Yang grinned at Blake but was met by a totally unamused face. She shrugged and turned back to her computer.

"At least Ruby has the decency to complain about my jokes."

Blake rolled her eyes and went back to reading her notes. Yang watched her for a moment before finishing her pizza. She hit order, put in all her information, then jumped up from her desk. Blake looked up and looked at Yang questioningly.

"Bathroom. The pizza should be down stairs by the time I'm done. The store isn't too far from here so if they get here before im done, they'll call up. IF that happens, could you pick the pizza up for me?"

Blake shrugged before nodding.

"Thanks. You rock!"

The detective waved at Ren who was just packing up before nearly skipping out of the room. Ren sighed and shook his head. He left and Blake sat in the empty office in silence. She moved her notepads to the side and just sat there for a few minutes. Her eyes were just closing when the phone rang. Blake reached over to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Is this Miss Belladonna? Yang –sorry- Miss Xiao Long said that if she wasn't down here, I was supposed to call her number and you'd pick up?"

"Oh uh yeah. I'll be down in a minute."

Blake hung up the phone and walked over to the elevator. She rode it down to the first floor, picked up the pizza, thanked the delivery man, and then took the elevator back up. As she was waiting in the elevator, she cracked open the box a bit to better smell the pizza. She was surprised to find anchovies topping one half of the pizza. The doors opened with a ding and Blake immediately spotted Yang standing by her desk talking to someone on the phone. Blake walked up behind her and placed the pizza on top of some of Yang's junk.

"Alright thanks. I'll let her know now."

Yang hung up the phone and stared at the receiver.

"That was Kovach's medical examiner." She looked up at Blake who had a slice of pizza in her hand. "She just finished the autopsy and found something. Tukson Kovach had poison in his blood."

"So…" Blake lowered her pizza from her mouth. "This means this is a murder case now."

"Yeah." Yang slumped into her chair. "This is a murder case now."