Chapter 35 - I Don't Take No for An Answer: Part II
8:20pm - Bo and Tamsin's Apartment
When Tamsin came home after work, she found Bo reading something on the couch. She walked to her, and the brunette closed the file folder in her hand. Bo pulled her down for a kiss, then she resumed reading.
"What are you reading?" Tamsin asked, as she took her gun out from the holster. Then, she took off her badge and laid it on the side table next to her gun.
"Oh, a case from Dyson," Bo answered. She knew with them living together there was no way she could hide the case from Tamsin. She figured that if she acted like she was just helping Dyson on a case, the blonde wouldn't notice anything unusual.
"What case?" Tamsin asked, throwing her jacket on the couch.
"Some jewelry theft stuff," Bo said. "Four jewelry stores were robbed, but there was no evidence left behind."
"Oh," Tamsin said, "that unsolvable case."
"You know about it?" Bo asked, feeling a little nervous since she wasn't sure how much Tamsin knew about the case.
"Yeah, a case from an old friend of his or something. Jewelry stolen from different stores. No evidence left behind at all," Tamsin replied. "I went to check the crime scenes with him too, but found nothing." She paused for a second or two, and continued, "I didn't know he was still working on it. That old friend of his must be pushing hard," Tamsin said.
"Yeah, he must be," Bo said. Because I am pushing this old friend of his so I can get the ring back to propose to you, she thought.
"Why can't Dyson just tell him to let it go?" Tamsin murmured as she snuggled into Bo's side. "This case is unsolvable. Period."
"Well, a lot of cases are considered unsolvable, until they are solved," Bo said as she laid a kiss on the Valkyrie's cheek, her voice half taunting.
"What, you think you can solve this case?" Tamsin asked, her eyebrows raised. "When two real detectives have already failed?"
"Hey, I may not have a badge, but I have many skills," Bo replied.
"I don't think skills to get my pants off in bed count, sweetheart," Tamsin teased.
"Hey, just in case you have forgotten, I work for a living as a private investigator, and I've solved many, many weird cases."
"Yeah, cases which police don't even want to work on," Tamsin replied, chuckling.
"You really don't think I can solve this case?" Bo asked.
"I'll tell you what, if you solve this case, I'll do dishes for a week," Tamsin proposed, "but...if you don't, I'm gonna punish you for a week."
"What's my punishment gonna be, detective?" Bo asked in a seductive voice as she leaned towards the blonde.
"You'll find out when you lose," Tamsin said, winking. "Or, you can find out right now if you admit that you can't do it."
Bo chuckled. "Oh, game on, Valkyrie," she said, before she kissed the other woman on her lips. "I think I am gonna take Kenzi with me on this case, and you, my detective, be ready for the dishes."
10:20am - Jewelry Store 1
"You were the one who called the police about the robbery?" Bo asked the shop owner.
"Yeah, when I arrived the cabinets glass on all the cabinets were broken," the guy replied. "and a bunch of my collections were missing."
"And, according to the reports, you said there were no signs of forced entry?" Kenzi asked.
"No, the door was locked, and the windows were locked from inside."
"So, who has access to the key?"
"Just me," the man replied, "and I keep it with me all the time."
"No one could have possibly...maybe stolen the key from you to open the door?"
"No, unless this thief was able to get passed eight Homunculus guards in my house and steal the key without me noticing."
"Could it be possible that one of your employees made a copy of the key when you weren't paying attention?"
"No, darling. That's not possible. They are all Homunculus. I created them, and they are bound to me. They don't even know what money is. Why would they steal?"
11:55am - Jewelry Store 2
"Still haven't caught this guy yet? I'm at a huge loss here" was the first thing the store owner said to Bo when Kenzi and she entered the small antique jewelry shop.
"We are certainly doing everything we can, ma'am," Bo replied. "Could you tell us what you saw after the robbery?"
"How many times do I have to tell that story?" the lady complained. She downed her tea and that seemed to calm her a little, so she continued. "I came to the store, and I saw that all my valuable collections were gone. I called the police, and provided a list of suspects. Why haven't you caught him yet?"
"I'm afraid that we've ruled out each and everyone on that list," Bo said. "They all have alibis."
"Someone must be lying," the woman grunted. "You must press harder, young lady."
"What else can you remember?" Kenzi asked.
"Oh, I don't know...the smell I guess."
"You mean the smell-" Bo murmured as she checked the case files, "-like a sewage kinda smell?"
"Yeah, like sewage, yikes."
12:20pm - Outside Jewelry Store 2
"Maybe the sewage smell is in fact an important clue?" Kenzi asked as she got into the car. "Like...the thief traveled through the sewage tunnels?"
"Dyson thought so too because the store is right next to a sewage manhole, but he didn't find anything useful down there."
"Well, the robbery happened like a month before he took over the case. I guess what ever was down there back then, was probably gone by the time he got a chance to sniff it out."
"Yeah, and even if the thief did travel through the underground tunnel, how the hell did he enter the stores without leaving any traces behind?"
2:00pm - Jewelry Store 3
The owner seemed very angry that his store had been robbed a few months ago and that the police still had made no progress on the case. He told Bo and Kenzi to read his statement before he left to attend other customers.
5:00pm - Jewelry Store 4
"Hey look, they have a surveillance camera!" Kenzi exclaimed, pointing at the camera.
"Yeah, but according to the report, it didn't catch shit," Bo grunted. "We can watch the video when we get home."
6:20pm - Bo and Tamsin's Apartment
When Tamsin got home, she was a little surprised to find Kenzi alone sitting on the couch with a bag of potato chips in her hand and a laptop on her lap. They looked at each other in complete silence for a second or two, before Kenzi said, "Bo needed to stop by the Dal. She'll be home soon."
"Great, just me and you then," Tamsin grunted, throwing herself on the other end of the couch. Just when she grabbed the remote control, the Russian girl said, "she wants you to cook that casserole thingy for dinner."
Tamsin rolled her eyes and got up. "Fine," she said before she went into the kitchen.
"So..." Kenzi murmured, looking at the blonde who was busying cooking. "How's this whole living together thing so far?"
"I'm perfectly okay if we don't make any attempt at small talks," Tamsin replied. "And, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to pretend I don't have a short human in my living room chewing on my snacks."
"You think maybe you'd want to move forward a little with her...like in the future?" Kenzi asked. Knowing that Bo was gonna propose to the Valkyrie soon, she couldn't help but wonder if Tamsin was on the same page with Bo.
"Did you not hear what I just said about no attempts at small talk?" Tamsin frowned.
"Asking you where a relationship is going ain't small talk, Tammers."
"A. Don't call me that, and B...why the hell would I even discuss my relationship with you?" Tamsin retorted.
"Cuz Bo-bolicious is my best friend, and I'm super bored right now?"
"Why don't you just watch some dumb show on Netflix so you can just-" Tamsin said as she did an air zip along her lips.
Kenzi watched the busy Valkyrie for a while, before she asked, "are you really, madly, in love with her?"
Tamsin rolled her eyes at the Russian girl. "No," she replied. "I live with her because I need free labor, and I cook for her because if she dies, I'll no longer have free labor."
"I think people would actually like you more if you didn't always talk like that," Kenzi grunted.
"Sue me," Tamsin taunted. "Like I want a million stupid, annoying asshats to like me."
"You know, one day she might leave because she's had too much of that bitchiness."
"Wow, then I'll open a bottle of champagne and celebrate the freedom to fuck other hot chicks again."
"No you won't," Kenzi huffed. "You'll drown yourself in Vodka. Then you'll look like shit, and act like shit, for weeks. Then, when the pain becomes unbearable, you'll crawl all the way to the clubhouse begging her to come back."
"Seriously. Netflix. Go go go..." Tamsin shot Kenzi a cold stare.
- Meanwhile In the Dal -
When Bo entered Trick's den she saw her grandfather taking several different types of weapons out of a leather sack. The elder Fae put them on the coffee table before he greeted her. "I hope you can find something you like today," he said.
"Oh, I certainly hope so too," Bo replied. "I never realized that finding the right weapon to propose to a Valkyrie with is even harder than finding a ring."
"It's always hard to find the perfect one," Trick said.
"Well, let me see these babes, gramps," Bo said as she glanced at the weapons.
"I've got an ancient blade made by the Jotunns here," Trick said as he picked up a sword and handed it to Bo.
The moment Bo unsheathed the sword, she felt a breeze of icy cold air. "A sword from the Frost Giants huh?" she murmured, shivering. "May be the right size for a portable weapon for the Giants, but too large for her."
"What about this bronze sword. 2000 years old, still sharp as hell," Trick said as he pointed at another sword. A double blade, decorated with turquoise and blue glass.
"Still a bit too large," Bo glanced at the weapon. "Is there a smaller one? Like the size of my dagger?"
"You want to go with a small dagger huh?" Trick murmured. He paused there for a second or two before he grabbed a small dagger and handed it to Bo.
"It looks kinda lame," Bo grunted when she first laid her eyes on it. Unlike the other carefully decorated swords with beautiful scabbards, this dagger was carelessly wrapped in a crude leather sheath. There was writings on the leather, but too vague to read. Bo frowned at the wooden handle, which looked like it had been bored through by worms because there were small holes in it. After hesitating for a second, she decided to pull it out. The moment she did, she felt a vibe, like the weapon had been awakened by her, and was now responding to her heartbeats and her breath. "Whoa!" she exclaimed as she examined the blade. "What's the story on this one?"
"Made by the dwarves whose ancestors forged Odin's spear," Trick said. "The handle is made from the wood of the Yggdrasill tree, so some people consider it's alive."
"Alive huh?" Bo murmured as she raised the dagger in her hand. "Why haven't you introduce this to me before?"
"It's not pretty," Trick said.
"No, it's not, but it feels...right," Bo murmured. "I think I've found the right one, Trick."
Surprised and excited, Trick paused for a while before he nodded with a big smile on his face. "Have you decided when to propose yet?"
Bo sighed. She played with that dagger for a while, before she grunted, "I was gonna do it on our anniversary, which is two days before the Yuletide night-"
"That's only two weeks away," Trick interrupted Bo.
"Yeah, I know," Bo replied. "All I need now, is to find grandma's ring."
When Trick saw how upset Bo was, he almost told her the truth, but bound by the blood oath, he couldn't. "Well...good luck...on that." he murmured guiltily.
Bo sighed again. She tucked the dagger into the side of her left boot, and said, "well, I still have time."
"What if you-" Trick hesitantly asked. "I mean, maybe you should find a back up ring just in case?"
Bo immediately shook her head, like she wouldn't consider that idea at all, but after a few seconds she bit her bottom lip and said,"won't hurt if I keep one handy, I guess?"
8:10pm - Bo and Tamsin's Apartment
When Bo opened the door, she sniffed in excitement and exclaimed, "hey you made chicken casserole? Why didn't you tell me? I would have come home earlier."
"You are the one who asked for it," Tamsin frowned.
"Huh? When? When I was half asleep in the morning?" Bo replied, confused.
Tamsin turned to Kenzi and growled, her teeth clenched. "You sneaky little brat," she grunted.
Kenzi muttered something around a mouthful of food and a fork in her mouth. Then she scooped herself some more, despite the Valkyrie's cold stare. She moved her chair towards Bo and asked, "Done with Trickster?"
"Uh hum," Bo hummed, nodding. She didn't want get any deeper into that topic, so she asked Kenzi, "you watch the surveillance video yet?"
"Yeah, like you said, nothing's on there," Kenzi said. "The night the store got robbed, the camera was working perfectly, facing the doors and the windows. No one came in. No one went suddenly the camera went black."
"Yeah, I read that in the files. Apparently, someone cut the power cord to that camera," Bo replied.
"But, in order to cut the cord, you have to first... get into the store. No one got in through the door or the windows, according to the video. Where exactly did this person come in?" Kenzi frowned. "Through the walls?"
"That...is certainly possible," Bo replied. "Let's watch it again."
9:20pm - Bo and Tamsin's Apartment
The resolution of the video was quite high but there was no audio. Kenzi fast forwarded through the busy daytime business hours, and hit play when the last person had left the store. The camera was facing the door and two windows the entire time, but no one had entered the store. Then, all of a sudden, the camera went black. They replayed that part multiple times, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Okay. So, the camera didn't catch who did it at all," Bo said. "In order to do that, this thief must either be invisible, or out of the field of view."
"If he was invisible there would be no need to cut off the camera," Kenzi said. "So, he must be out of view."
"If that's the case, he has to be either under it, or behind it," Bo said. "And, that leads back to the same question. How did he get in in the first place?"
"Through the walls?" Kenzi proposed her idea again.
"If the thief can go through the walls without leaving any trace, why didn't he just rob every jewelry store, or maybe even a bank in town? Why only these four?" Bo frowned. "Like...look at this one owned by that annoying lady...there is another jewelry store only two blocks away from it. Why hasn't he robbed that one too?" She finished her food and added, "I mean...he must have chosen these four for a reason."
"Right. The connections, like...they must have something in common," Kenzi said.
"Oh, it's just so fun to watch you two solving this case," Tamsin said teasingly. She sat down beside Bo with a bowl of ice cream in her hand. "To save you two amateurs some trouble, these four stores do have something in common."
Bo raised her eyebrows, waiting for the blonde to continue, but Tamsin grinned at her and started to eat her ice cream.
"Mind continuing?" Kenzi said.
Tamsin sighed. "Fine, I'll give you a hint. What do a lost pet alligator, four little annoying turtles and a singing phantom have in common?"
Kenzi frowned, but just for a split second. She reached for her laptop, did a search then exclaimed, "the old sewage system! They are all on top of the city's old sewage system!"
Bo paused when she heard that, because something occurred to her. Then, she looked through the crime scene and said, "yeah, and guess what...they all have a manhole right next to the store."
"Okay, but what does this have to do with the case?" Bo murmured. "We've already speculated that the thief might have traveled through the underground tunnels, but that still doesn't explain how he entered the store. There is no direct access from the sewage system into the store."
"Hey, you wanted the connection, that's the only connection we found," Tamsin said. "Dyson even went to check out two other stores that fit this profile, but they weren't robbed. He warned the owners that they might be potential targets, but I don't think either of them has been robbed so far."
"Maybe...the thief is waiting for the right time?" Kenzi asked.
"Then, if that's the case, he must have been following a certain pattern," Bo said. She wrote down the four dates each store was robbed, but couldn't figure out the pattern. "These are like a month apart, but not on the same say, nor do these dates have anything in particular…."
"...good luck with that theory," Tamsin scoffed, interrupting Bo, as she finished her ice cream. "Dyson spent like days on that, trying to figure out a pattern but he-"
"Hey, I think I might know why the thief chose these dates!" Kenzi exclaimed, interrupting Tamsin, as she took her cell phone out and checked her calendar. "Yep, this is totally it. All four stores were robbed on the dates which are considered the best time to perform black magic. Cursing, undead summoning, corpse reviving and-"
"Okay, let's stop right there," Tamsin cut the Russian girl off. "Black magic? Really? And, you know that how?"
"I borrowed some black magic books from Trickster and did some reading."
"Why?" Bo asked, frowning.
"Because we deal with criminals and weird shit everyday?" Kenzi replied. "I figure it's kinda useful to know shit like that."
"Okay, let's say you are right about this black magic performance dates," Tamsin said. "When is the next one?"
Kenzi scrolled down and murmured, "The next date that is best to perform black magic is...today."
Bo and Tamsin looked at each other for a second, before they both jumped up from the couch to grab their weapons.
10:30pm - Potential Target Store A
"Still think this case is unsolvable?" Bo whispered to Tamsin after they hid behind the counter in store.
"We'll see if the thief shows up tonight," Tamsin replied in a low voice.
"Maybe he'll rob the other one, the one that Dyson and Kenzi are at right now."
Tamsin scoffed. "Sweetheart, it's us. Of course we are gonna get the weird monster. We just always fucking do."
Bo chuckled in a whisper. She wanted to say something, but was shushed by the Valkyrie.
"You hear that?" Tamsin asked in a barely audible voice.
Bo nodded. She knew Tamsin was talking about that screw turning noise they were hearing right now. She looked around until she realized that it was coming from the vent right next to the camera.
"Hey, it's the vent," Bo whispered. "We forgot about the vent."
"No, you forgot about the vent," Tamsin corrected her. "We did suspect that, but that's way too small for anyone to go through!"
"Well, maybe it's a-" Bo mumbled. She didn't finish her sentence because she held her breath the moment the vent cover was pushed open and fell on the floor.
Bo gasped when she glanced at the thing that crawled out. "Chucky?!" She exclaimed and couldn't help her voice from raising when she realized that the thing resembled a human baby.
'Chucky' turned his head in their direction, listening. He was wearing a pair of goggles and a tiny head light. However, he looked very much dead. Postmortem signs were showing on his skin, and his movements seemed a little rigid.
Tamsin immediately pulled Bo back and moved further behind the counter. They waited till the baby-like creature seemed to think that he didn't have any company. After cutting off the power cord of the camera without being caught on tape, he started to smash open the glass on the counters and began putting the jewelry into the mini backpack he was carrying.
"Chucky is the thief?" Bo whispered to Tamsin in shock.
"That's not Chucky," Tamsin whispered back. "That is a Toyol and...it has a master. His master is who we are looking for."
TO BE CONTINUED...