Sorry for the long wait, everyone. Had a lot of stuff going on, and I needed to come up with future plans for this story, especially with the route that it's going with, you know, the revelation that someone had hired Simon Lynch to nearly kill Lincoln with a gun but had one of their underlings poison Lynch before he could tell the detectives who it was. Now, I'm only saying this in advance that there might be some clues that will point to who the person is, but don't think I'll make it easy for you guys. Some of you might be right, others may be wrong, too early to say at this point. In this chapter, we'll delve into more of the mystery and how the detectives will set out to find the identity of the one who ordered the hit in the first place, until then, feel free to speculate, I'm curious about what your guesses will be, and who knows, you just might be right?

Now, let's get started, shall we?
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Enjoy

Lincoln Loud knew that he'd be getting visitors during his time in the hospital, whether it be friends from his school, or people who've become associates of the Loud family, those such as Ronnie Anne, Clyde, and Bobby are proof of that, he was expecting his maternal grandfather, Albert, to make an appearance, hopefully without them accompanying him this time. But he never expected someone like this one to visit him at the hospital, for starters, he only saw a glimpse of him not too long ago. But nevertheless, detective Abraham Stone was right there in his hospital room, the white haired boy could tell that he was a cop, not from his badge, but if he recalled correctly, he was one of the two cops that escorted his parents here. "Hey there, kid." Stone greeted with a friendly smile. "How you doing?"

"Uh…..fine." Lincoln answered after what seemed like forever. "Sorry, I just didn't expect to see you here, Mr..." he just realized that he never got the cop's name.

"Name's detective Stone, son." he held his hand up for a handshake. "I'm one of the officers handling this whole case. Figured I'd pay you a visit after everything's that happens. Not only that, but I feel I should tell you that we managed to apprehend the so-sicko that shot you kid, it wasn't easy but we got him."

For the first time in weeks, Lincoln actually felt some relief wash over him, truth be told, he never really gave much thought about the shooter. Looking back, he was so sure he was gonna die, but while he was beyond afraid, it almost felt welcoming in a way, so many bad things have happened up to that point, dying would make it so that he would never feel that sort of pain ever again. Jesus, that was messed up in so many ways, it made him wonder if he was starting to go a little insane and he may need to go to that Dr. Lopez therapist Clyde always talks about. Nevertheless, that was one less child shooter to worry about. "I see." Lincoln said, looking down with an indifferent look. "...Thanks. Is there anything else?"

Stone knew he had to be careful about what he says next, the kid may be relieved now, but there's really no telling how he'd take the news about said shooter being poisoned to death, or that apparently, someone had hired Simon Lynch to shoot the kid in the first place and had the bastard killed before he could spill anything. He had no doubt that would only succeed in instilling fear into Lincoln, that there might be someone else sent to finish the job if that was the case, he had already requested that the boy would be under protective detail until they can get to the bottom of this and it might help if Lincoln doesn't suspect a thing. It was still so perplexing, it all started with the kid getting shot, then there's the whole thing with his family and their crazy superstitions, and now it turns out the whole case wasn't a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

All in all, Stone felt he was getting too old for this kind of craziness.

Even so, he had a job to do, which required him to get a good idea of the degenerate who orchestrated. "Listen, I know you probably want to focus on getting better, but tell me, would there be reason for the guy to shoot you in the first place? Can you imagine anyone purposely doing that kind of harm to you, we think there might be something personal about what the guy did to you. His name is Simon Lynch, have you ever encountered him before and did something happen that may have made him want to try an attempt on your life?"

"Hmmm...no, not really." Lincoln answered after thinking hard on his answer. "I never met a Simon Lynch before, and I can't say I can imagine anyone actually wanting to hurt me or someone else from my family. It all just happened, and I couldn't really think about it at the time, obviously. Sorry sir, but I can't really give you a clear answer, at least not now."

Stone rubbed his chin in thought. He had a feeling that checking to see if the kid could fill in some blanks on this case was a longshot, guess he and Brookes will have to work with what they got at the moment. "Alright, thanks for your good time, go ahead and rest up, you definitely need it. One more thing, just know that we spent a lot of manpower on tracking him down, and if necessary, we'd do it again." he told him, with upmost honesty. To Stone, it was a promise to get to the bottom of this mystery, no matter what.

To Lincoln, it proved that there are people out there that actually gave a damn about him, which was all the more comforting. As he watched the detective leave, there was a question aching inside him that he wanted to ask but a part of him considered if he should even care. But even so, those two were until a few weeks ago his parents. "Detective." he called, making the old man stop in his tracks. "What's-What's gonna happen to my pa-to Mr. and Mrs. Loud?"

'Damn, not even calling them his parents? Those two really messed this kid up.' Stone thought, mildly surprised. Of course, this was to be expected, but still, he's more sore about the whole incident than anyone could have imagined. "That's up to the courts to decide. Don't worry about it, just focus on getting better."

With that, the detective left, leaving Lincoln alone again. He told the boy to don't worry about it, but those were still the people who used to be his parents, and it was only natural for him to be curious what fate may come as a result of their careless actions. Logically, he would want nothing more than for them to be rightly punished for what they did, in his mind, they deserve it. But that didn't mean he felt good about it, and thinking about the girls who used to be his sisters, Pop-Pop can't take care of them forever and he'll eventually have to go back to the nursery house. Once that happens, it's anyone's guess what'll become of the girls.

And yet, he feels concern for them. He still holds his former family in contempt for what they did, but at the same time, he remembers a point where he used to believe that they all had a mutual love for each other and they did seem genuinely sorry about the whole bad luck mess, but too much damage has already been done, and simple apologies just aren't good enough to erase all the pain, both physical and emotional. With a heavy sigh, he lied back on his hospital bed, and gazed at the ceiling before closing his eyes and succumbing to sleep.

Detective Brookes was waiting in the car for his partner to come back from visiting the kid, it was suggesting to them by the captain to try and question the kid if he could think of anyone twisted enough to want to try to kill him. It was asked why couldn't they question the parents or the sisters, but considering their questionable actions, they all hardly counted as reliable. The whole squad were pulling their weight, what started out as a simple case of a wrong place wrong time situation quickly evolved into a mystery; someone hired Simon Lynch to shoot Lincoln Loud and before Lynch could give them a name, he was poisoned to death. They tried searching for the fake officer that gave Brookes the drink that had the poison inside, but he was long gone, so suffice to say, this might be their biggest case in years.

His musings were cut off when Stone finally came back to the car. "Any luck?" Brookes asked, already starting the car's engine and driving away from the hospital.

"Nah." Stone shook his head. "Kid couldn't think of anyone who'd want to kill him, even when I didn't tell him about Lynch kicking the bucket or about what he told us about someone hiring him to shoot, he couldn't think of anything."

"So we're back to square one. Great." Brookes dryly said with an eye roll. "Although, the guys at CSI identified the poison that killed Lynch. It's apparently something made from 10 or 20 seeds from some rare exotic plant in South America. Plants like that are very hard to come buy, you gotta be rich enough to even afford a shipment of those."

"Which means whoever's responsible has to have pretty deep pockets." Stone surmised. "That actually makes sense, the son of a bitch must've promised Lynch a pretty big price that was enough to make the bastard accept the job of killing a kid. Never did like those sheltered folks, always spending their money on who knows what." he formed a hardened glare. "And someone thought they had enough to shoot whoever they please, just pisses me off."

Brookes shook his head. "I still can't believe this, Abe. Before now, the worst we ever had to handle were simple burglaries or people who don't pick up their dog's shit. Now we got kids being shot, someone ordering it in the first place, and poisoning loose ends? It's all a whole different ball game, man."

"You saying you want out?" Stone asked, warningly.

"Hell no." Brookes responded, a little insulted his partner would think that. "I want to figure this out just as much as you do, all I'm saying is that I never really saw myself working a case like this. To be honest, this seems like the kind of case that was made for that special unit in New York, from what I heard, they specialize in dealing with crazy cases like this, especially when it comes to abused victims. That or maybe that squad in Chicago, I hear they've had their fill of action."

"Well, this isn't New York or Chicago, Matt. This is Michigan, our neck of the woods, and we didn't put these badges on just to show it off to the ladies, either we solve this mystery, or let the bastard get away with what he did. Hell, I'd even risk my pension to nab him." both remained silent as Brookes continued to drive with a new resolve, they were gonna get justice for Lincoln, or die trying. "Speaking of deep pockets, I asked the hospital who'd pay for the kid's time in the hospital, and it looks like someone's already paying for it."

"Really, now? Huh, wonder who's the good Samaritan."

Getting away from the cops was surprisingly easy to say the least, but then again, he left as a cop who was seemingly finishing up his shift for the day, by the time they had everybody scrambling, he had already called for a taxi. Even so, there was no doubt that the whole department would pursue this new revelation, from the sound of things, it looked like that snitch, Lynch had told them that he was hired to shoot that kid. Though it was fortunate that he died before he could tell more, the cops now know that there was more to the shooting, and that could cause some complications in the long run, and the boss won't be happy about that.

Walking into a warehouse somewhere in the other side of town, he removed his hood to reveal himself to be a man in his early 30s with auburn hair and a light beard. Inside the warehouse were two identical twins brothers in business suits and towered over the third guy, along with being muscular as well. Both stood beside a television in front of a chair. "Chuck, Lazlo, sorry I'm late." the formerly disguised cop apologized.

"The boss wants to speak with you, Aaron." Chuck coldly said. "He doesn't sound too happy."

"Please, take a seat." Lazlo instructed, gesturing to the chair.

Gulping, Aaron complied with the request and for the most part, nothing was said between the three, until Lazlo turned the TV on and the screen showed a silhouetted figure. "Hello, Aaron." he greeted, his voice disguised by a synthesizer to make his identity even more hidden, even to those around him, there's no such thing as being too careful after all. "Tell me, did you do what was asked of you?"

"Y-Yes, of course, boss." Aaron replied, not even using his real name, as that was a rule that his enigmatic superior placed when it came to matters such as these. "I placed the poison in the drink like you asked, they gotta have him at the morgue by now."

"Excellent." the boss said, sounding pleased by the confirmation. "That piece of trash played his part, there was no need for him anymore, you did well." hearing his praise made Aaron breath a sigh of relief. "However, my mole in the police department informed me that the whole place knows that Lynch was hired to shoot that brat, and him being silenced only supported his claims. You couldn't have killed him sooner, let's say before the cops nabbed him, could you?"

Flinching under the disappointed tone, Aaron tried to make an excuse for himself. "Boss, by the time I arrived at the bar, Lynch was running away from the bar and those two cops had already nabbed him when I caught up. I was hoping he didn't say much before slipping in the poison, but it was too late. Besides, I don't we should worry that much, Lynch is dead, and the cops don't know a thing."

"Although you're right, it was my intention that the police had no idea of the truth, now that they are aware of someone hiring Lynch in the first place, they'll use every manpower they have to find me, and lock me up like some animal. I refuse to let that happen, not that I'm not confident about my ability to stay hidden, far from it, I just simply hate it when things don't go according to my plan. It welcomes the possibility for it all to com crumbling down all around me. But, you did do as I asked, and I suppose I can't fault you for being loyal, so you can rest easy."

"Oh, thank god." Aaron whispered, having been worried that his superior would punish him severely for one simple failure, he'd have to make a note to not make another one again.

"However." the boss spoke up, making Aaron sit up straight. "I should warn all that are present that cops can be quite the tenacious bunch, while I doubt they'll get far, we can't out-rule the possibility of a slip-up, which is why I want you to take care of any loose end you can think of, remove any clue that points to me and more importantly, make sure to not arouse suspicion. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." all three obediently replied.

"But boss, what about that kid?" Aaron brought up. "I mean, he's still alive."

"True. It was originally intended for Loud to die, guess next time I should hire someone with more competent aim, but he's served his purpose. Didn't really matter to me if he survived or not, if I'm being honest, and I suppose paying for his hospital bills is less pricey than paying for his funeral, it would be best to leave him alone. After all, he is just a child, I doubt he could do much to threaten my plans, so focus on anything but him. That will be all."

With nothing more to say, the connection was cut off.

Just who was this person and how important was his goal that he had a child shot?

"Shouldn't you be with that goth club of yours?"

….

"Luce?"

….

"Come on, I know you're not deaf, so quit it with the silent treatment, it's almost as creepy as your Houdini act."

"Sigh." barely putting in the effort, Lucy turned to her jock sister as the two of them sat together on the couch, after what happened in their respective schools, the sisters made it home in no time as there was nothing for them there. It was as if everyone suddenly became a clone of the gothic poet of the family, as if the prospect of their parents facing jail time and their brother basically disowning them wasn't enough, but all their friends turned their backs on them, which is understandable. The backlash was just too much, they lost the trust and friendship of people they spent years forming bonds with, they felt the sting of heartbreak from being rejected by their crushes and now, they were left with only each other and no one else. "What about you? Not playing soccer or baseball?"

Lynn turned away with a sour look, the looks of disappointment that all of her coaches and teammates sent her way were still fresh in her mind and she hated it. "I was cut from all my teams."

Her younger sister went silent as she took it in, guess she's not alone in that department. "I see. Well, I guess I should tell you why I'm not with my fellow comrades. But just for the record, we're the Morticians Club, you don't have to be goth to be a member...even though a majority of the club happen to have such tastes, but that's just a coincidence. And to answer your question, I did go, but when I went there, no one said a word, at least not to me." she clarified with a even more depressed tone than usual. "It was like they were ignoring my very presence, like they didn't even know me or acknowledged that there ever was a Lucy Loud in their club." she found her lips quivering.

Ever since the whole incident started, Lynn's done something that was used to be considered impossible, taking note of her siblings' feelings and trying to be sensitive about them. "I'm sorry about that, sis. Guess not too many people are happy with us, I heard from Lana that not even Flip would spare us a look and none of us even tolerate him."

"Truly ironic."

"What's worse is that no one's trying to fix things, even Lori and she's supposed to be the big sister around here to everybody. Why did I have yo be such a sore loser. In fact, I never should've made Lincoln come to my game in the first place, he didn't even want to be there and I still blamed him for me losing." Lynn bitterly reprimanded herself.

"It is not only you who was at fault." Lucy reminded her. "Everyone of us are responsible fate that has befallen our family, even when he admitted the truth, we refused to hear it. Truth be told, a part of me wanted to believe him but the superstitious part was more in control, and now I failed him as his sister, I didn't have his back like when he..." she trailed off from there.

"Like when he what?"

Just like when he took the blame for clogging the toilet with Princess Pony comics, she could never forget him sacrificing something he was exited for to save her from the harsh teasing. It was one of many times where he showed that he was her big brother first and foremost and that outweighed some comic convention he was gearing for. "It doesn't matter now."

Before more could be said between the two roommates/sisters, the door was kicked open and the twins, Lana and Lola, walked in and needless to say, they were not looking as cheerful or proud as their known to be. the latter's mascara was running and the little animal lover actually had her signature hat off and tears were threatening to be unleashed, they silently made their way upstairs as Leni followed suit. "Uh, hey Leni, are those two okay?" Lynn asked.

The fashionable sister sniffled a little. "What? Oh, sorry, just had a bad day at school. And after school, I went to work and not a lot of people asked me what to buy and didn't take my advice. Ms. Charmichael was nice enough to not fire me, but it's hard enjoying a job you like when nobody there asks you for help. Anyway, Lola sorta got kicked out of the pageant committee, I think they banned her and Lana's friends wouldn't let her play with them in some icky mud puddle." she then saw her rocker sister walk down the stairs. "Hey Luna, something wrong?"

"Luan's just sitting around, waiting for her phone to ring for that funny business she runs." the rock and roll enthusiast answered. "Also, I'll be staying home tonight, the band pretty much kicked me. Sam encouraged it." she clenched her fist tight as she was trying to act all cool about it, but inside, she was close to breaking down. "Probably for the best, heart wouldn't be in it, you know?"

"By the way, what about Lori and Lisa?" Lucy asked. "I haven't heard one single phone conversation between her and someone else on the other end through the house's thick walls, and there hasn't been any bright lights coming from Lisa and Lily's rooms."

Leni gained a downcast expression. "I don't anyone will be texting her anytime soon."

"And it may just be me, but I think Lisa will be holding off on the whole nerd work for a while." Lynn voiced her opinion.

And wouldn't you know it, the sports fanatic of the family was actually right for once, the young prodigy that is Lisa Loud was not busy at work on one of her many groundbreaking experiments, the recent state of her kin has left her disheartened and it costed her the drive to continue on her many studies and research, any work she still had were immediately abandoned. Not too long ago, she got a message from various science communities that they denied her presence for their meetings, but that didn't even compare to earlier at school where everyone avoided her, including Darcy, her first real friend since like ever. Normally, she would try to not let such things affect her, but in recent days, the human emotions that she's tried hard to suppress were threatening to come to light and these emotions weren't the happy kind.

Despite being incredibly intelligent for her age, Lisa Marie Loud was still just a little girl of 4 years, and she was afraid where her family would go from where they are right now. Child abuse is a very serious crime, one that many people frown upon, those who are responsible are met with hate from all corners and are faced with a long sentence behind bars. But that was only for those who had every intention in hurting their own kids, Lynn Sr. and Rita were not those kind of people, they loved their kids unconditionally and are ashamed of themselves for what's happened to their boy. Thinking about said boy made her heart clench, seeing those hate filled eyes directed to her and the others was a sight she would never forget, but they did give a drive to make things right.

Lisa took it upon herself to try and fine a loophole, they may not be perfect, but they're still her parents and going to jail over one mistake seemed unfair, and more importantly, she would soon after find a way to mend the rift between the family and their sole male sibling, the thought of him forever hating them was something she wanted to fix.

"Poo-Poo." the sound of her roommate's babbling snapped her out of her work.

"Not now, young infant sister." Lisa told the baby. "I'm busy trying to find a means in preventing our parental units from being found guilty and having to serve an extended sentence in a confined detention center where the most heinous of felons are locked away as penance for their crimes, street name: the big house. Immediately soon after, excluding you, the rest of us should work to try and appease to our brother's forgiveness, which I know is no simple task."

Hearing the name of her big brother made Lily sniffle. "Yinky…."

"I know." the intellectual sighed. "I too long for the days of his presence in our crowded home, things seemed so much simpler in those times, but I promise, we will make things as they were before faulty concepts clouded our common sense, we owe Lincoln that much, perhaps even more. You should be fortunate though, you're the only one that Lincoln still holds love for. It's easy to forgive you, since you are only of infant age, but me, multiple P. and doctorates and I believed in luck of all things. My scientific rivals will never let me hear the end of it."

Seeing that her big sister with doing stuff that makes her use big words, Lily sat in her crib and hugged her blanky close to her figure, that and the stuffed rabbit toy that belonged to Linky, the one called Bun-Bun. Lily missed him so much, she saw him sleeping and tried to wake him up but he wouldn't, then he did and she was finally happy, but was then taken away from him and now she felt like crying again. However, before she could bawl her eyes out, she heard something coming from Lisa's workshop. Some strange noise that no one could make out, let alone a baby, but it still piqued her natural curiosity and babbled to the 4-year-old.

"What is it now, Lily?" Lisa asked in slight irritation, not wanting to be disturbed from her important research, but her interest also became piques once she saw the cause. "Hello, what have we here?" moving away from her laptop, Lisa moved to a trunk where she keeps inventions that she no longer has need for, in fact, she was thinking of selling them off to some of her colleagues, but never got around to it, she picked up a strange hand-held device that was made from parts of microphones and radios. "My old Transmit Resonator, if I recall correctly, this was meant to tune into transmissions through TV and radio waves, this shouldn't be operating unless it..."

That's when it happened...

She hard something...

"...mole in the police department...Lynch was hired to shoot that brat...intended for Loud to die...paying for hospital bills...my plans..."

Lisa wasn't a prodigy for nothing. Not only was she a brilliant inventor and theorist, but she had impeccable powers of deduction and it didn't take a master detective to figure what the message just described, there was someone in the police department reporting to an outside force, the implications there are not okay and someone called Lynch was hired to shoot a kid with Loud in his name. Lincoln was shot not too long ago and it was all planned. "Sweet lord in heaven..." Lisa breathed in both shock and horror and made a dash out of her room. "Siblings! There is a pressing matter that I must share with all of you!"

It was easy getting a search warrant, even more so when you got guys in the streets who know their way around town and as long as they stay out of shady deals, the cops wouldn't bust them for minor inconveniences, at leas that's what they say. "So what do they call this place again?" Stone asked as the detectives drove up by the sidewalk. The plant where the poison came from could be legally imported into North America, as long as the owner removes the poison toxin from within, and tips from some of their contacts tells them that there is one plant shop in Royal Woods that sells exotic plants, the kind that require a lot of money.

"The Jasmine Branch." Brookes answered as they exited from their vehicle. "Some fancy plant shop that opened for business 10 years back, took a lot to convince the city council, including the mayor, to establish it. At least, that's what I hear." he explained as they continued walking through the people, drawing close to the shop.

"And this where the plant where the poison that killed Lynch came from?" Stone questioned. "The Atropa belladonna, or Deadly Nightshade, that's what they called it."

Brookes shrugged. "Well, it's the only place that sells exotic plants and we are looking for one that came all the way from South America, good as place as any to check out."

"It's better than nothing, I suppose."

Stone and Brookes walked inside the plant shop and saw the various forms of flora that was all around the place, each of them coming in an array of colors and shapes, seemed like the perfect place for forest lovers. Walking up to the counter, they addressed who they assumed to be the person in charge of the place. "Excuse me, Ms...Mariah." he said, looking at her nametag.

"Yes, can I help you?"

"I'm detective Brookes." Matt pointed to the elder. "This is my partner, detective Stone. There's been an incident involving a plant that we believe came from this shop." the girl seemed nice enough, but any employee here could be an accessory. "Did you happen to sell any Deadly Nightshade lately?"

Almost on command, Mariah's eyes widened in horror, knowing full well of the damages that particular plant can do. "Oh god...uh, well, we may have sold something like it, but I'm not so sure it's the one you're looking for."

Both detectives shared a look, her nervous demeanor and fidgeting body made it obvious that she was hiding something, and since it pertains to their plant, it looks like they got their first lead. "Even so, I hope you don't mind us looking through your records to verify." Stone held up the papers for her to see. "We got the warrant, in case you were wondering."

Hands trembling and lips darting back and forth, Mariah knew she had to come clean, getting involved in this kind of deal with the likes of him was the worst thing that could've ever happened to her, and maybe the cops could help. "Okay look, let me just say I did not meant for anything I just needed more money to keep this place from closing down, if I tell you who ordered, please, just don't-ugh!"

It happened in a flash, no one heard a peep or noise, expect for the sound of Mariah's body dropping to the floor, a bullet hole shot straight in her chest. "Oh my god!" Brookes ran to her raid. "Go see where the shot came from, I'll call the medics!" Stone pulled out his gun and ran outside.

He tried looking for where the shot came from but there were too many people moving about, this might be too much but there was no other way, he shot the gun up high, getting everyone's attention. Everyone, listen up!" he held up his badge. "There's been a shooting, I need you all to stay where you are!" complying with the policeman's orders, no one moved an inch, but off the corner of his eye, Stone saw someone making a one for it. "Hey you, get back here!" Running through the people, Stone engaged pursuit.

And so, the chase begins.

Hope this is satisfactory.