The Paradis Police Academy hall burst into wild applause as famous detective Erwin Smith climbed up the stage to address the attendees. The blond man wasn't even part of the programme but out of respect for the police force's spokesperson, the organizers of the open house had requested him to give a short message for his young fans. Erwin gladly obliged and flashed his signature smile for the entire audience to swoon over. His colleagues at Precinct 139 knew that this was only for the cameras since the famous detective was actually a very serious person and if he ever did smile, he rarely showed his perfect white teeth. Levi would have rolled his eyes had he been paying attention to the activities near the stage but he was too distracted by the presence of Nicholas Lovof, director of admissions at the Orvud University. The junior detective clenched his fists as he glared at the man sitting next to Hange. The first speaker from 139, Darius Baer-Walbrunn of the Patrol Division was called to the stage to kick off the career talk yet Levi had no interest in listening to any of them. His mind was wandering elsewhere. Lovof might have forgotten who he was or perhaps had chosen to ignore him when they made eye contact earlier. He, however, could clearly remember how much he had wanted to destroy that son of a b*tch.
Two months ago...
"How long should we stay here?" Levi tightened his grip on the steering wheel of his car. He was itching to leave the squalid area where they had parked. From across the street, they could see the looming neon pink sign of the "Underground City", a popular nightclub in the red light district of Stohess.
"Soon, we just need to catch a glimpse of our pimp." His partner detective, Furlan Church peered through his binoculars. He could see the bouncer stationed at the entrance inspecting the ID's of a group of giddy young fellows. They were probably thrill-seeking university freshmen who had just discovered the perks of being independent for the first time.
"Do you really think he would go through the main entrance?" Levi wrinkled his nose. He could smell the stench coming from a street gutter overflowing with blackwater. He suspected that the city's Public Works department had been deliberately ignoring the blockages due to the high crime rate in the area.
"Of course not. That's why we tapped an asset to check the backdoor for us." Furlan lowered his binoculars to look at his partner. "If you did not refuse to go undercover, then we could have spied on them from the inside."
"It's filthy and noisy there."
"Yeah, it's a nightclub. What do you expect? You just didn't want to see women in skimpy clothes dancing over loud party music." Furlan teased him. "You're such an old man."
"I have a niece. Seeing provocative underage girls chills me to the bone."
"Allegedly underage girls." His partner corrected him. "Our job is to find out if that's true." They had put the nightclub under surveillance after their precinct had received anonymous tips about a child prostitution ring that was operating in that area.
Levi scoffed. "It's most likely true by the looks of this place."
"Well, we can't file a case on someone just because he looks like a criminal. Everybody knows the Reiss family is mafia and controls the entire city's economy but nobody has enough proof to put them behind bars. Underground City is just like the Reiss family."
"Who's mafia?" A voice from a young girl startled Furlan who dropped his binoculars on the car floor as a result.
"Isabel! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
The fourteen year old girl with reddish-brown pigtails rested her arms on the lowered car window by the passenger's side. She gave them a wide grin. Isabel Magnolia was a homeless kid they had encountered two years ago when they were just starting out their careers. She was a pickpocket and had numerous run-ins with law enforcement including Furlan and Levi. After she had served time in juvenile detention, the young detectives made peace with her and tapped her as an asset because of her familiarity with the gnarly streets of Stohess and its shady occupants.
"So... did you see anything?" Levi asked.
"Nothing on that end but I will continue to monitor."
"Thank you Isabel. Pay her, Furlan."
His partner responded to him with an incredulous look. "I'm the one who paid her last time. It's your turn now."
"I did not withdraw any cash before we left." It's true. Levi was in a hurry to drop Mikasa off to the Arlerts so he could extend his work hours tonight.
"Big brother Levi's wallet is empty. I should know. I stole it the first time we met." Isabel sniggered.
"Tsk. I'm gonna add this to the list of things that you owe me." Furlan grumbled as he took out his wallet and counted some bills. "You know that I have been keeping track since we were eleven, right?"
"I warded off your bullies since we were kids. My security and protection services are expensive so we are even."
"What?! How about all the years I have sided and remained friends with you even though Zeke told your secret to everyone in school?" They were originally a trio back then. However, the pressures of junior high had compelled their blond friend to switch to the side of popular jocks who had a beef with Levi. Zeke had been accelerated by two grade levels and because of his intelligence and frailness, he was a constant target of bullying and became heavily dependent on his friends' protection. Driven by his resolve to improve his social status in school, Zeke betrayed Levi by revealing his relations to the Reaper thereby earning his place among the jocks but permanently severing his ties with the two neighborhood boys he had grown up with.
"I'm charging you companionship fees for all those times." Furlan squinted his eyes at his partner as he handed the cash over to Isabel.
"Eh? Did you hear what you've just said? You sounded like an escort service guy."
"Sh*t! I did sound like one." Furlan started laughing. "Will you feed me, Daddy Levi, pretty please?" He clasped his hands together and playfully laid his head on his friend's shoulder.
"Shut the f*ck up. If you stop calling me that then I'll treat you to dinner as soon as I find an ATM."
"Sweet! Do you want to join us Isabel? It's our chance to burn a hole into this scrooge's wallet."
"No, I'm good. I will just stay here and keep watch."
Levi thought for a moment but decided that it might be best that way. Picking up a young girl in the middle of the red light district might give bystanders the wrong impression about Isabel.
"We will come back with take out. Don't do anything dangerous."
The girl nodded and waved her hands at them as they drove off. Isabel had always looked up to the two men as her big brothers. After serving detention, she realized that she wanted to become a police detective just like them. However, her lack of education and resources would not qualify her so she had to settle on just relaying information through a phone they had issued. During the day when she was not washing cars or shining shoes, she would pore over the used workbooks that Levi gave her after every school year when his niece had just finished a grade level. Sometimes, Furlan would visit her on weekends and would teach her reading, grammar, and arithmetic along with the other street kids. She wanted to give back for their kindness. That's why when an opportunity came to prove to them that she was useful, she immediately grabbed it without thinking twice.
"Sh*t! The girl backed out. Who's going to serve our special guest?" A man in his mid twenties wearing a waiter's uniform cried out in frustration. He and his co-worker, a middle-aged bald man were standing by the staff entrance of the Underground City. The back alley was a favorite hang out area by club employees when they go on smoking or gossip breaks. For the past few days, this was where Isabel would usually spend her time hiding among the garbage bins to gather useful intel for the police.
"Find one. You know what our boss says, Whatever Lovof wants, Lovof gets." The other man puffed out his last smoke and dropped the cigarette butt on the wet pavement.
Isabel stood up from where she was crouching and approached the two men after listening to their conversation. "Hello! I'm actually looking for an extra racket. I heard you need someone to serve tables tonight?
The frustrated waiter looked at her from head to foot. "How old are you?"
"18." She lied. She obviously did not appear old enough but this was the impoverished part of Stohess where malnourished kids often falsify their age to get hired.
The bald man took a quick glimpse at her and nodded at his co-worker. "She will do. Let her in."
"Hey, I received a text from Isabel." Furlan took a sip from his glass of iced coffee as he checked his phone's inbox.
"They hired me to wait tables for a guy called Lovof. I'm going undercover to check out what's inside." He read aloud.
"What?! Text her not to do something stupid!" Levi grabbed his phone and started dialing her number. She was not answering.
Furlan's phone vibrated as another text came through.
"I'm already inside. I heard them talking about some referrals. Gotta go. The manager's angry at me for using my phone while working."
And that was the last message they had received from her.
Two weeks later...
Levi and Furlan began to suspect that something bad had happened to their asset. They had not seen or heard from Isabel for the past two weeks so the young detectives had temporarily set aside their surveillance work to investigate. They had searched and questioned all Lovofs within the radius of Stohess but wasn't able to find anyone who had been to the Underground City on the evening that Isabel disappeared. They couldn't just possibly barge into the nightclub to ask around because that would compromise their real detective work. That morning, they had decided that the person they were looking for might not be from Stohess after all so they searched for any Lovofs in the neighboring district of Orvud. The most prominent one that came up was Nicholas Lovof, the director of admissions at the Orvud University. Levi had a strong feeling that he was the culprit. Isabel did mention that her guest was talking about referrals with someone. That word made perfect sense on an academic context because part of his responsibility was to create referrals for student scholarship applications to private companies.
Levi immediately jumped out of his car as soon as he spotted Nicholas Lovof at the university staff parking lot.
"Dude, wait up!" Furlan ran after his partner. "Hey, remember that we are here to question Lovof, not attack him. Do you understand? If you let your anger get in the way, you will get in trouble with the chief again."
Levi ignored him and marched towards the unsuspecting school official. "Oi, old man!"
Lovof stopped in his tracks and for a fleeting second Levi thought he saw a glint of fear in his eyes.
"There's a girl with pigtails who served you two weeks ago at the Underground City. She's missing right now. What the f*ck did you do to her?" Levi did not mince his words.
Dissatisfied with his partner's approach, Furlan clicked his tongue and positioned himself in between the two. "Sir, I think what my partner was trying to ask from you is that if you would please come with us for questioning at the precinct." He showed him his police badge.
Lovof glared at them. "Do you not know me? I am a very busy person. I do not have the time nor the stomach to frequent that filthy place. If that girl works there then she's probably a whore."
"Sir, that is not a fair assumption to make." Furlan tried to control himself. The bastard was rude and arrogant but he would not let his emotions get the better of him especially now that his partner was silently fuming with rage.
"If she's missing, she would probably have eloped with one of her clients. Perhaps she was knocked off by him. That's the only way girls of her status could escape the pathetic lives they live. Or she could be hiding because she had murdered someone. We all know what the scums of Paradis turn out to be. Just look at the Reaper. Despite being in the police force, he couldn't control his urges to kill. It's in his nature because he grew up in the slum areas. I heard his sister was a junkie, too. I didn't mind that he had murdered her at all. The city had one less trash to clean up."
Levi instantly grabbed him by the collar. "What did you say, you little piece of sh*t?!" He finally lost his temper after hearing this stranger badmouth his mother as if he personally knew her. He pushed Lovof down on the ground and started punching him repeatedly on the face. Blood flowed from the old man's broken nose and split lip.
"Sh*t! Levi stop it!" Furlan tried to pry him off the school official but his partner showed no intention of stopping. He recognized that burning fury in his eyes. It was the same look that Levi had when Zeke betrayed him. This meant that his friend would beat the old man to death if he did not intervene. Furlan immediately went down on his knees and blocked an incoming punch with his hand. He pushed him back little by little until Levi lowered his fist and loosened his grip on Lovof.
"Come on, let's just go. He's not worth it."
After staring at the bloodied face of the helpless old man, Levi finally came to his senses. He's going to be in trouble again and maybe this time, he would be sacked for good. Orvud University was one of the academy's school partners and a major sponsor of the police force's charitable events. During that moment of silence in which Levi was contemplating on his recent actions, Lovof suddenly snatched the gun from Furlan's holster and pulled the trigger at the man hovering on top of him. In a split second, a body dropped to the ground.