My apologies for the delay with this chapter. School has been holding me back these last few days. With Christmas holiday starting, I hope my updates can be more consistent.


Fresh air filled in Caitlyn's lungs as she walked down the street, with her faithful rifle her only companion. It felt so good to be back in action, after she had spent the last two days stuck inside her apartment, basically doing nothing productive except sleeping. Refreshed now, she walked towards the Cetral Police Department of Piltover, ready to dedicate herself fully on her work.

Being the sherrif, she always made sure to arrive earlier than everyone else, so the building was practically empty, except of a couple of officers whose night shift hadn't been over yet, despite the fact that the sun had already risen up in the blue sky of Piltover.

First things first, Caitlyn served herself some tea before locking herself up in her office. There was so many things that she needed to catch up on in just two days of her absence. Reports and memo's were awaiting for her to read them, and she didn't loose any more precious times.

Two reports were the most interesting of all; those of Raynolds' and Platzman's. Their reports didn't seem to have any common data, as she had probably expected, but what was more interesting was the fact that both mentioned that eye witnesses had seen Jayce picking up his phone before everything turned into chaos. She only needed to confirm that with the CCTV files and then she would be able to get to a conclusion. But for the time being, there was nothing she could really do. She filed the reports for further investigation in the future and grabbed some other reports of less importance, but since she was the sherrif she needed to be aware of anything that had happened during the weekend.

She was so absorbed in her work that she hadn't realized how quickly the time lasped and she was almost surprised when Vi busted in their office.

"Morning Cupcake!" she greeted as loudly as she possibly could, and Caitlyn found herself not minding her partner's obnoxious greeting as much as she normally would, much to her surprise. It was probably the fact that she hadn't heard her voice in two days. Who knew? Caitlyn raised her eyes off the report she was studying to look over at Vi's smiling face and she couldn't help but smile back. The flashback of their meeting back at the hospital hit her like a track and she felt her cheeks worming up just a little bit. Thankfully for her, she had learned how to control her feelings over the years so she didn't look so embarrassed with such a thought.

"Good morning, Vi" Caitlyn said

"Hope you got some good rest Cait" Vi spoke "Cause this one is going to need a load shit of concentration"

And with those words, she threw a black notebook over Caitlyn's desk, startling her.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't throw it like that" she murmured "What did you find?"

"A lot of interesting stuff" Vi responded, making her way around Caitlyn's desk "Your father seems to be a professional liar"

"He's a politician, it's his job to be good with lies" Caitlyn rolled her eyes. She wasn't surprised, not at all. She was aware of what sort of man her father was; a persuasive storyteller, that is.

"That's true" Vi chuckled softly "The thing is, he's very good at it. He literally left the city under everyone's nose"

"And where exactly did he go, then? "

"I assume that he went to a seminar about flowers in Ionia"

"Flowers?" Caitlyn furrowed her brows "Why on earth would he go in such a seminar? He never particularly liked flowers"

Vi shrugged her shoulders "I have no idea. Either way, he never appeared again at the port. He left last Friday early in the morning and was supposed to return on Sunday. His ceauffer told me he never came"

"Hmm..." Caitlyn said sceptically, tapping her chin "Until we investigate more, we can't make any rush assumptions"

"But what do you think, Cupcake?" Vi asked, lowering her voice "Cause I'm confused as fuck with everything's going on. Nothing makes sense to me"

"Trust me Vi, I'm as confused as you" Caitlyn let out a sigh "There are a lot of scenarios. He could have been abducted back in Ionia or maybe while he was on board"

"So, you believe that the Ionians could be mixed?"

"They could but I don't see why they would in the first place. I mean, I'm pretty sure they're not interested in having a war or whatever. Ionia is a peaceful country" Caitlyn explained "That leaves us with Piltover and Zaun"

"I definitely see why Zaun would kidnap your father" Vi nodded, her eyes darkening.

"Let's not rush. There's still a long way to go" Caitlyn said "What else did you get?"

"Damn, I almost forgot" Vi hit her face with her palm, careful not to put too much strength "Your father's ceauffer asked me to transfer a message"

Caitlyn raised her left brow questioningly "Interesting..."

Before she had an opportunity to finish her sentence, Caitlyn's phone rang, interrupting their conversation. Caitlyn withdrew it from her pocket and was surprised once again when she noticed that her mother was the one calling her. She looked over at Vi, who nodded affirmatively and answered the call.

"Yes?"

"Good morning dear. I hope I'm not finding you in the middle of something"

"Good morning, mother" Caitlyn spoke "What's the matter"

"I don't want to bother you for long. Just a quick question"

"Sure, I'm all ears"

"Did you send your partner over? She came the other day and told me so"

Caitlyn looked over at Vi suspiciously. The enforcer nodded firmly, gesturing at her to reply with a «yes». She looked slightly worried, but that was something to find out later.

"Yes, I did" Caitlyn finally said after a small pause, but not long enough to make her mother suspicious "Why? Is there a problem?"

A sigh came off the phone "Listen here Caitlyn. This is your father we're talking about, not a stranger. I'd feel more comfortable if only you would concern over this case and not someone else"

Irritation surged in Caitlyn. Didn't she think that Vi was as capable as herself or was it that she didn't trust her? Probably both.

"I trust Vi with my life" Caitlyn stated clearly "Thus, I trust her enough to involve her in more personal cases. I'm not going to tolerate with any of your discriminational attitudes against her. Did I make myself clear?"

Vi was caught off guard by Caitlyn's tone. She didn't expect to address her mother like this, especially because of her. She watched in amusement as Caitlyn finished the call and dropped her hexetech phone on the table, clearly annoyed.

"I... Can explain" Vi murmured but the sherrif raised a gloved hand to stop her.

"You just wanted to help" she said and her voice didn't betray any sort of annoyance towards her "For that, I'm thankful"

"But..."

"Do you honestly believe that I give a damn of what my mother thinks of you?" the brunette cut her off again "You've proven yourself a lot of times and that's enough for me. This little... Incident, let's call it, boosted up your trustworthy label"

Vi rubbed her upper arm, both pleased and a little bit embarrassed. It wasn't every day that Caitlyn would declare her as a very reliable partner, and a friend even, in front of her mother's face (technically not in her face), who particularly despised her.

She gave a grateful look at the sherrif and proceeded on with their current task. She pressed a button on her phone and the recorded message starting playing out of the speaker.

"Once more it shall bloom

Feel the air and bring doom

When the right time comes

It's where the demon hides"

Remember Caitlyn, the world is very different for those who cannot see beyond what is placed before their very eyes.

Jacob Marino's paused, leaving the two police officers looking at each other buffled. Caitlyn asked Vi to play the recording again, and the enforcer did as she was told. While the message was being replayed, the brunette was jotting it down in a piece of paper.

"I... The hell is this?" Vi asked once Caitlyn finished writing.

"Honestly, I got no idea" Caitlyn repsonded, running a hand through her hair "The first part is a verse out of A.C. Goodwin poem. My father studied a lot of his work. The second part is obviously a warning..."

"As if we needed him to tell us that..." Vi murmured

"Once more it shall bloom..." Caitlyn repeated "What is going to bloom? It's not clearly stated..."

A knock on the wooden door of their office made them jump. Vi collected her phone while Caitlyn placed the note in one of her drawers. After clearing her throat, she called in whoever was asking to see them.

It was no other than officer Raynolds. He seemed a little bit tired himself, and his dark eyes showed a sort of emotion that could be identified as exhaustion and impatience.

"Good morning sherrif, officer Vi" he acknowledged both women "The CCTV files you requested have been collected. Would you like to have a look at them?"

"Sure" Caitlyn nodded "Meet us in the projection room in ten minutes"

Officer Raynolds nodded and left them alone, shutting the door behind him.

"Seems like this has to wait" Caitlyn noted "Let's get going Vi. There's a lot of things we need to do"

"Tell me more about it" Vi agreed and followed her boss closely as they entered the main office room to head over their destination. The skein of this mystery was slowly neing unwraped in front their eyes, yet this was the very beginning of everything.