Chapter 23

"We have a 187 on State and Road Avenue. The victim was reported deceased on the lawn of a local residence. Send an ambulance immediately," an officer reported through the radio.

"10-4 over," another came through, then the call went dead. Ryder, Chase, Zuma, and Sebastian had all been searching the radio for anything out of the ordinary, that is until they all heard that there was a murder. With one signal from the leader, they all rushed to the area where the murder took place. Once there, they hopped out of their cars and proceeded forward to the body, all taking note that the ambulance hadn't arrived yet. Sebastian took out some newly made crime scene markers, courtesy of Chase, and set them down all along the pieces of evidence. Around the body there was; thrown shoes, a bloody handkerchief, a couple bullets and shell casings, and blood splatters. While he did that, Zuma was taking pictures of the body and pieces of evidence by a new self-taking camera in his pup pack. Chase observed the entire scene, trying to figure out how he was killed exactly. Ryder was going around the near houses and asking the owners if they saw anything.

"His name is Pedro Gonzalez and was twenty-five years old," Chase spoke for the first time since their arrival. Without moving from their individual jobs, they turned to him.

"How do you know that?" Sebastian asked.

"I read it off his wallet which means that he wasn't killed for robbery because his money is still here, including his phone," Chase explained while moving his paw to the direction of the wallet and phone on the floor. The other two came over and inspected the body while the pup kept explaining. "He has around eight bullet wounds around his torso, leg and head. He also seemed to be shot a couple of feet away, since the blood started near where we parked, and collapsed here."

"Wow. How can you tell?" Zuma questioned, impressed by the pup's analysis and eye for detail.

"I'm a police pup, after all, I can tell," Chase boasted with a shrug. The other two shook their heads amusingly. At that time, the ambulance finally arrived and pulled out a stretcher and sheet. They carefully moved the corpse to the stretcher, laid the sheet on it, then rolled the body away.

The tension in the air was calm yet uncomfortable all at the same time.

Ryder had been searching all along the block and asking door after door if they witnessed something. Though he never got anything useful...until one building.

He had arrived at a small convenience store that was two houses away from where the murder took place. The boy walked inside and immediately went up to the front counter where, coincidently, was the store's manager posted. The kind elderly man smiled and greeted him. "Hello, welcome."

"Hello, I'm here to ask you some questions." Ryder showed him a card that mayor Humdinger gave him to use as a 'police badge'. The store manager dropped his smile instantly.

"What could I do you for?"

"There was a murder that happened two houses down yesterday night. I need you to answer me truthfully: did you see or hear anything?" The man nodded.

"My store stays open for twenty-four hours and it was my shift during the night. I was stocking the aisles when I heard gunshots from the outside. I quickly ran out of the store to see a car speeding by."

"Did you see what the car looked like and what direction they went?"

"It was a blue SUV and they went left on Road Avenue."

"Do you, by any chance, have any cameras that pointed in that direction?" The manager nodded once more. He led the boy to the break room in the back of the store and sat down on a chair that faced a computer. He rewinds the footage to the night before and pressed play around eleven at night. The computer had no sound but based on what the man said, the story lined up. It was seen that a man was walking and out of the blue he fell down to the ground, picked himself up, and limped off-screen. Another figure was seen running to the said black SUV and drive down the street and took a left down State Avenue. But then Ryder noticed something while the car was driving past. "Rewind it…" The manager did what he was told.

"Pause it there," Ryder commanded. Once the video was paused, the SUV's license plate was seen on the footage. The boy quickly asked for a paper and pen, then wrote down the number. He thanked the manager then left the store. Quickly and silently, he made his way to his car and hopped in, ignoring the look he got from his friends. He pressed a button causing a computer monitor to appear. He typed in the written down license plate on the keyboard and received information a few seconds later. He read that the car belonged to Michael Duke, that lived around fifteen minutes from the crime scene. It also read that Michael owned a sedan as well. 'Bingo' he thought. He may have found a suspect. Ryder turned his head and saw that everyone was watching him curiously, waiting for him to announce what he found. "I found where a possible suspect could be. A store manager showed me security footage that the suspect escaped by a black SUV. I found out that the owner of the car doesn't live too far from here."

"Well then let's go," Chase insisted but the boy shook his head.

"No. I need you three to track down any other witnesses or suspects. If someone were to commit murder, then they need a reason as well as accomplices, especially if they had an option of using a smaller car rather than a big one," he explained.

"What?! We awe not just going to let you go somewhewe whewe a muwdewew could be," Zuma declined, the other two nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. We don't know if he is the murderer or not but like I said, don't worry. I have my means of protection," the boy smiled. When he received confused looks, he pressed a button on the glove compartment and it triggered a hidden chamber that held a gun. The same gun he used to take out Bologo. The others stared wide-eyed at the weapon while a certain police pup growled under his breath. The boy heard it but decided not to comment.

"Well what if he shoots you first?" Sebastian asked.

"I'm wearing an advanced bulletproof vest that makes it look like I'm wearing nothing. He won't suspect a thing." They nodded. "Look, I have to go. Wouldn't want to getaway. Chase, you use your nose to smell anything suspicious. Sebastian and Zuma, search around for anything else and see if any other security videos that may have caught that murder, I saw some home have some home-security cameras pointed toward that direction but they didn't give me a chance to see it. You two may have a better chance."

"Okay," the aqua pup and Latino agreed. They turned to the silent german shepherd, who reluctantly nodded his head. He then walked up to his owner and stood on his hind legs, firmly placing his two front paws on the boy's knees.

"If you get hurt I'll never forgive myself," he spoke seriously.

"I won't, trust me," the boy smiled. Chase sighed that said 'I do trust you but this is a stupid idea' then hopped off his knees. Ryder got out of the car and pulled out a small remote. He smirked when he saw the confused looks of the others. "Sebastian, do you remember I told you that this car had a special surprise?"

"Yeah. You wouldn't tell me what it was."

"Well, now you all will see." He pressed one of the buttons on the remote. On queue, the car started stretching out and then split in half. The two pieces started reforming with retracting the roof, rounding out the sides, removing the two back seats, and replacing the steering wheel and glove compartment to handlebars. The once classic yet advanced car converted to two separate black motorcycles. "Now we can both drive somewhere when we're separated."

"That's so cool homie!" Sebastian exclaimed. He walked up to one of them and caressed its black coating paint. They all hopped on their vehicles and sped off, all going to their individual jobs.

CHASE:

The pup was sniffing the air, searching for anything unusual. He had parked along the driveway, near the crime scene, and had smelled the entire area, even the evidence. He remembered that Ryder said that on the security footage that he saw, the figure was running to a black sports utility vehicle then it drove away. He looked around the driveway and ran over to where he saw something on the street.

"Hm...burnt tire marks," he noticed out loud. The pup sniffed the air and observed that there were multiple scents that he could not recognize but one of them was the same scent as the one near the crime scene. 'So there were accomplices! Now assuming that they wouldn't risk getting caught all at once, they would have split up' Chase thought. Then he remembered that he had packed his super-spy gear in his SWAT vehicle. Running to it, he hopped in, changed, then sat proud in his seat.

"Super-Spy Chase is on the case!" He exclaimed, then turned to his pup pack. "Arf Arf! Goggles!" The said item extended to the pup's head. Although they were meant for the dark, Ryder made some adjustments for it to be used during the day as well. A dark green film was everywhere he looked except the footprints. He saw neon green tracks lead to a stop and where the burnt tire marks start. He started his engine and drove off, following the tire marks. Chase noticed that the car had driven a couple of yards from its original point but eventually it lead to a stop. The pup pulled up to an empty parking lot that was near a run-down store, looking more secluded to the town that it was intended. Chase used his goggles and took note that there were two separate trails of footsteps and then the car tracks start again.

He concluded that there were three people involved.

"Hm…" he didn't know who to start looking for. Looking at the prints, he figured by the distance between the two suspects, they were going separate ways. He knew that whoever was the one driving the SUV, Ryder was taking care of them. He looked at the prints more closely and noticed one was going directly toward a house that wasn't too far away. Chase decided that if he needed help then he'd call, but currently he didn't think he needed help. The pup started to drive to the one-story home. Once he pulled up, he hopped out of his vehicle and barked out his tranquilizer dart cannon then walked up the front porch and knocked on it.

No answer.

"Police! Open up!" He shouted. According to Mayor Humdinger, they had the approval to be technically classified as policemen - only for the time being of course.

No answer.

"If you don't come out now I'll allow myself!" When he didn't hear anything, he barked out his tennis ball launcher, set the setting to ten, and shot the doorknob off. Replacing his launcher with the cannon, he pushed the door open. Chase took note that the house was a dark mess, but that didn't concern him. Since he still had the night vision goggles, he could see easily. From what he could tell from clothes laying around the living room, it was a middle-aged man. The pup stealthily maneuvered through the home, checking every room for the possible suspect but found nothing so far. All was left was the main bedroom. The pup tried opening the door but noticed it was locked, so like he did earlier he shot off the doorknob. Carefully, he opened the door and was horrified by what he saw.

There was the suspect hanging in the middle of the room, lifeless eyes staring at whoever found him that walked through the door. Chase was so petrified and disgusted that he threw up on the floor next to him. After he was done, he wiped his mouth and took a deep breath. He needed to search the room for any suicide note, murder weapon, or a motive. As he scrutinized the room, he did find a note that read that he was "sorry, for I had sinned" and that was it. He found a wallet. Apparently his name was Moe Kee, a thirty-four-year-old and had no occupation. Chase saw some powder in a small bag that was leaning off a cabinet and spilled to the floor. Curious, he walked over and took multiple large sniffs to the unknown substance. Once he was done and could not make out what it was, he walked out of the room.

That's where it went bad.

Chase started getting dizzy, like nothing he'd ever experience before, and began getting a funny feeling inside him. He didn't know why but all of the stress for the past weeks all went out the window and he started laughing. He wanted to walk out he door but he started tripping on his feet, causing him to fall and laugh even more. His pup tag beeped it's blue color, causing the pup to cease laughing, curious to what the little device had to say.

"Chase? Where are you? You hadn't been back in hours!" It was Ryder.

"Oh hey Ryder," the pup giggled. "Whacha doin'?"

"Uh, looking for you."

"Well I'm at a house...Hey Ryder, can I tell you something?" The pup stifled a laugh.

"What?"

"Hi!" He then started laughing hysterically causing him to roll around the ground and trying very hard not to pee himself. The boy on the other end was VERY confused.

"...Are you okay Chase?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well a murder did happen a couple of hours ago."

"Oh yeah! That was great wasn't it? Who knew someone could have that many wholes in their body?" He grinned.

"Chase, seriously, what's wrong with you? And where are you?!"

"Oh Ryder. Nothing's wrong, just a great day! And I told you that I'm at a house," he responded. "I was looking for the two other people that were in that car that you said drove away and I found one of them here. And guess what I found! Guess!"

"What did you find?"

"That guy I was looking for…" he paused for dramatic effect and bit his lower lip to keep himself from laughing again. "HE'S DEAD!"

"..." All was heard throughout the house was Chase's insane howls of laughter.

"I found him hanging in his room just dangling there all motionless and empty," Chase continued, lowering his voice when he described how the man was hanged. "I also found some white powdery stuff that didn't smell like anything-"

"Chase, listen to me. After you smelled that white powder, did you start getting dizzy and super happy?" Ryder questioned slowly.

"Yup! Isn't it great?" The pup responded cheerfully.

"Oh no. Chase, I'm going to track your pup tag so stay there."

"Okay. Once you get here, you should try some of that powder stuff, it works wonders!"

"Yeah sure. Don't worry Chase, were coming. I'll stay on the line for the meantime."

"Hey Ryder, did you know I LOVE Skye so much. One night we even slept in the same bed, if you know what I mean. It was so goo-"

"You know what Chase, I'll hang up now...and we're going have to talk about that once this is over." The boy did what he said and hung up. The pup just shrugged and layed down, dreaming about the good times he had with the cockapoo.

To be continued...