"Hey, Annie."

"Hello, Armin. Kvass, your usual?

"Yes, please."

The innkeeper's daughter filled the mug with kvass and turned around to see the wonderboy seated by the bar counter, looking at her with his ocean eyes, the same ones that would explore the wonders of the sea with pure passion and delight. But unlike yesterday, now they were settled on her, full of the same wonder. Annie struggled to keep her lips from curling into a silly smile. Not because of the silver thaler resting on the counter but of the boy itself - he was like sunray, a little unexpected friend in life that she needed in these problematic times. Her lifelong friends - the bartenders - were alright but Armin had something more than them - knowledge and a charm of a good listener. He was the only person who didn't expect much from her - only a mug of kvass for silver and a little conversation, even when it sometimes turned out to be one sided.

"Annie," Armin took the mug into his arms and swirled it, watching a few raisins floating on the top. He noticed that by calling her name he got her attention, so he quickly added, "I wanted to thank you for yesterday. In such a big world of ours, it was a pleasure to meet someone with a similar mindset."

Annie felt her heart skipping a beat when he mentioned the date in a public place. She quickly looked around, but seeing that Father wasn't there, she looked back at the wonderboy with less burden in her chest. The bartenders were still by her side, so was the charming siren and some regular customers who could hear them talking but Reiner had already spilled the beans about her secret date. So even if they learned that Armin was the one who asked her out, it wouldn't make much difference. Only Father had to be kept away from these gossips.

"It was nice hanging out with you too." Her expression softened as she pretended like she wasn't seeing her peeping coworkers through her peripheral vision. "Lived there for years and yet I never had a glimpse of that beach. You're an explorer from the far lands, but you navigate around like you live here for years."

"What can I say? You may call me a beach expert, if that even makes sense," Armin grinned and suppressed the laugh that really wanted to leave his lips. He then took the mug and took a big gulp of kvass.

The situation in town was horrendous, but Armin was the only one who didn't seem to genuinely be scared of that mysterious cause of serial deaths. This was strange at some point - any man with some brains in his head would feel paranoid to talk right now, yet Armin wasn't a naive type of guy at all. So, seeing him being all calm and collected about the situation made the innkeeper's daughter feel safer. Midnattmorder will be caught in no time, and Father's tavern won't be closed down for the awful curfew.

"It felt like yesterday's hours went too fast, maybe the day was shorter than usual. So, Miss, I have a very clever plan. What if we continue the meeting from yesterday to spend some hours we lost before midnight? Then we could finally call it a full day."

"Smooth talk." Annie crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head, watching the wonderboy's face lightening up even more. He didn't even look interested in the kvass anymore.

"Yeah. So… what do you think?"

"Oh, I see where this is going. You sneaky one, little spy," Reiner scooted over and nudged the petite blonde with his elbow, prompting her to do the same to him. She couldn't help but smile when she saw his reaction. Reiner could be annoying at times, but he's been a good ally, including the time he was dealing with Annie's hidden affairs with a mysterious traveller. Or perhaps he was like this because of their guest's generosity when it came to money. "Find a foreigner who wasn't lured by Charming siren's voice? What a catch."

Annie ignored the retort but she noticed how the wonderboy's hands gripped on the bar's counter and then squeezed it as soon as he heard Reiner's last words. Did he have something in mind about Pieck that made him act this way?

"Yes. I would like to continue our unfinished meeting whenever we can." Despite the inner questions, Annie decided to pretend that she didn't spot the change in his body language. Instead, she took the silver thaler and fidgeted with it between thumb and a pointing finger, looking at its both sides she flipped around. After a short pause, she added, with her voice dropped flat. "But probably not too soon."

"Eh? Why though?"

"Midnattmorder. If the issue with him continues, I'll need to help Father to deal with the consequences of the damn curfew."

"Oh… yeah, I heard about a curfew from people but I didn't know that all of this is just about that guy… hey, whatever happens to you or your Father, do you need help with anything? If you're worried about your father's business, I can lend you some money or help in some other way."

Annie was genuinely surprised about the generosity of a gentleman she'd met a few days ago, but she couldn't accept it. She or Father couldn't pay it all off later. So she shook her head in decline and looked up from the thaler to meet his wide eyes.

"It's nice of you but we'll be fine on our own. Do you even have a stay for yourself, in case we're locked up inside for the nighttime?"

"Of course I do."

"Where?"

"Oh, just in an inn beside the city hall."

"I see." Annie put the thaler into her pocket and stepped away. Armin's grip on the cup tensed up and his look focused on the drink. He was hiding something, that's for sure. The question is - what, and why? She glanced at him one more time over her shoulder. "Armin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For everything."

The quarter-hour flew by as if no conversation had occurred before - two tall bartenders went about their duties, Mr Leonhart returned to the taproom with paperwork, and Pieck resumed luring the guests in, this time without strumming her guitar - she had already drawn them in with her presence. The innkeeper's daughter was preparing soup for the afternoon before the night arrived and kept checking on the barrels, to make sure they didn't get emptied out before the long night. As she worked around the place and walked around the taproom, she noticed Father's eyesight was weakening, judging by the way he was squinting so much, so she had to walk over from time to time and assist him in reading. It was heartbreaking to witness how age was finally eroding his strength and her inability to do anything about it. It was an unstoppable time, a fate she couldn't avoid no matter how hard she tried to be the good daughter she swore to be.

"Annie," the wonderboy said as the girl was about to walk back to her father to replace the ink in his quill pen (the amount of times he was calling her name made her wonder if he just liked saying it). "I'll go grab some doughnuts, and I'll get you a few as well. "Carry to save me this spot while I'm gone?" he said, tapping the chair beneath him and smiling meekly.

Annie nodded and watched him place his cape on top of the chair to reserve it before turning on his heels to head towards the main exit, but before he could open the doors, they were opened from the opposite side. Armin had to take a step back as he saw a man in a fancy suit, fedora, and knee-length cloak walk in, followed by three other men. He seemed to have heterochromia at first, though one of his eyes, which had a red pupil, appeared to be made of glass. It just made a man look creepier. He had a cigar in his teeth. Armin looked down at his feet and attempted to move through the gathering, but a large hand in front of him shoved him back into the taproom.

"Where are you going, little cub? Go back and sit down, no one's leaving until we'll make sure there's no evidence hidden in there. Unless you're hiding something." The man with a glassy red eye spoke up in a lowered tone when he took out the cigar from his mouth, eyeing the wonderboy who just gulped and returned to his seat without even trying to argue further. Now, all the guests who didn't leave on time, were stuck in the tavern, waiting for the search to be over. Annie looked at him over her shoulder but even then, he managed to crack a sheepish smile, to assure the innkeeper's daughter that everything will be okay. She smiled back at him before bringing back a gloom on her face, seeing the investigator glancing between them two.

The men were inspecting everything in sight, carelessly pulling chairs and other objects which were in their way to get to the lockers and other potential hiding places. The only things they'd come across were various handwritten notes, coins, scraps, and small pieces of broken glass. But the men didn't quit looking around, which was getting on Mr Leonhart's nerves. He was already standing and watching, tapping his right foot on the wooden floor as he watched Richter's men move things around, mucking up the tavern's stuff. Annie stood next to him, arms folded across her chest but her face neutral, in contrast to Father's wrinkles from frowning the entire time. To her, it was so hard to watch him in such a state, all distressed and tired. And it was especially hard as she knew she couldn't do much about it.

"Looks pretty clean to me, crime wise. You should've cleaned these drawers for real. That's pretty nasty." The investigator put on some white gloves before inspecting under the counter himself, definitely checking for the secret spots.

"Your job is to find the killer, not to assess the cleanliness of this." Mr Leonhart replied with a grain of salt in his voice, the wrinkles on his forehead and near the eyes deepening with each second passing by. He was a patient man but Annie could see how he was slowly losing his self-restraint. "Are you done already? We need to go back to work."

Richter eyed the shorter man before his look trailed up to his men who were searching the tavern. Spotting the look in their boss' face, the fellows quickly resembled their positions - two men went to stand in line in front of Wald, while the third one took out a gun and stood by the entrance, not leaving a single chance for any guest to leave without getting their brains blown out.

"Please be patient," he replied calmly but his face was cold. He seemed to be trying his best to keep his own stoic appearance on board. "The majority of the victims were found hanging out in this area before their disappearance. Give us an hour or a half to work and we will leave your tavern in peace."

"What are you planning to do now?" the innkeeper's owner asked, his voice eventually losing its strength in stubbornness.

"This last thing is the second part of our investigation, still doing research and not wanting any harm. Just that and we will be done for now."

"Fine, go ahead."

Both accomplices in line had now split off and approached the guests from opposing sides. Ignoring the cursing and complaints, they began checking their pockets, taking out their possessions and placing them on top of the tables - it was primarily spare change, pennies, and whatever equipment they used for their business. They even checked Pieck, but they didn't dare to search more than her dress pockets and the inside of her guitar - afterall, she was the fiancee of a highly-ranked and fairly aggressive navy soldier, and they knew he would beat them up if they harmed her dignity.

Then Richter's men did the next thing: while checking the pockets, they started checking the guests' mouths. That brought over more murmuring in the tavern and mad looks shot towards Mr Leonhart who allowed for it all to happen. While many would be confused about the investigation methods, Annie knew why this was happening. 'As maintained in physiological research, the victim was torn to pieces using claws and teeth'... Just as Reiner read in the pamphlet. They were looking for sharp teeth. But why the hell would they expect a human to have sharp teeth and enough strength to bite off a victim's throat by just using their jaw?

"Sir, this man has three cigars, which seem to have been bought from Prussian smugglers." The drunkard's collar was pulled by one of the accomplices, who forced him to get up. "He has no fangs though."

"Take him out and hand him over to Peter." We'll bring him along." Wald gave the command and waited for them to leave. He then turned to face the counter. His glassy eye quickly froze on Armin, who got the same anxious expression he had before. "Lou, have a look at this young man. His shoes, too."

The second accomplice, Lou, stepped over and began searching the wonderboy's clothes, muttering things like 'better give me a raise for this shit' and 'get up before I blow your brains out.' Armin raised his hands and remained motionless, his wide eyes fixed on a single spot on the wall.

" Empty shoes. A pocket watch and silver, nothing much else on this kid. But he's damn rich for his age," Lou grumbled and smirked. Annie's sharp eyes quickly caught the motion - while he was about to drop the coins back to Armin's wallet, he slid one thaler under his own sleeve. The wonderboy, on the other hand, couldn't help but wince when Lou used the knife to forcefully open his mouth. "Let's see… has all teeth but none of them are fangs. That was just worthless to check on him." Lou pushed the blond back to the chair and spit to the side. "Let's get a beer now, I'm dying of thirst." He shoved Armin from his way and approached the bar but Wald was the first one to speak.

"Not yet. The staff needs to be checked as well, including the girl."

Annie felt how all people like one turned to look at her, including Lou. That damn smirk of his… of course, he would start searching, starting from her.

"She works all night there, Wald, in no way she can't be involved in crimes. She's behind the counter at all times." Mr Leonhart protested and stepped forward with his cane thumping on the wooden floor.

"I'll need to disagree. We had a few reports about your daughter wandering outside in the dark alone. Also about knocking people out in your tavern, one intoxicated man getting his wrist broken and another losing tooth. And you are crippled, wasn't she the one who permanently scotched you? I suggest you not to protest, otherwise you'll bring yourself into more problems."

Another hit, another defeat for the tavern's owner. Right when he was trying to protect his daughter, the man with a red iris would find a way to stick the words like knives. His daughter couldn't let him make a mistake and bring them into more trouble.

"Father, it's okay," she said in a formal tone as they were outside of their domestic household, then went forward and removed the cap off her hair to demonstrate her transparency. "If they have time to squander, I don't mind standing there," she said, looking at the investigator, then at his companion, whose devilish grin tensed. There was no male who could stand up to her frigid glare and sarcastic tone, which she had learnt from Father. Except for Wald, that is.

"I'm glad we got a deal," the tall man said as he pulled a new cigar from a brown box he kept in his suit. "Lou, check her exactly how you did with the others."

Lou kept staring at the petite woman with an uneasy look until he got a grasp of himself, tck'ed under his breath and did as his boss ordered, starting from the teeth. Annie really had to conceal her urge to shove him away - Wald's accomplice was an alcoholic himself and he stunk like rotten meat and stomach acid mixed. Only a few minutes, just a few minutes and she can return to assisting Father… just a week or so and everything will return to its previous places.

However, the minutes she had to be willing to stand still for went by faster than the board. When it came to checking her clothes, Lou was clearly not following his boss' orders. He tapped her arms one by one going up, then moved from her shoulders down her bust with both hands. He squeezed her rib cage and chest for an unhealthily long time before sliding down to her empty pockets and kneading her hips. At this point, Annie was on the edge of simply punching him.

"I think you know well enough I'm empty-handed. Carry to let me continue doing my business?"

"What did Wald tell you? No protesting!" Lou shouted at her face and slowly moved his hands down her dress, having to bend down himself to reach her short legs. The same demeanor of a dirty man remained the same until he stopped on Annie's calves and started to try grabbing something through the layers of fabric.

Shit.

"Annie, be kind and lift your dress up." Wald put down his cigar in the ashtray and walked over to those two, watching how his bratty accomplice's face was burdened in a surprise.

The innkeeper tried to step in again, "Richter, you understand that you shouldn't d-"

"It is part of the investigation. Any denial will be seen as an assumption that you are guilty of a crime."

Annie gritted her teeth and lifted her dress, exposing her calves. Over her white socks, just below the knee, she wore a knife handler with a knife in it, which was fastened to her leg by a leather belt. If that didn't make the woman's heart drop to her heels, the reactions of those around her certainly did.

"That's a high-technology automated knife..." Wald spoke up when the dirty man snatched the knife and gave it to him. He pressed the button, and the razor-sharp blade swung open in an instant. He then touched the tip of the weapon with his sharp finger and continued to flip it around.

"This is for self defense when I work there at night." Annie mumbled and released the dress from her hands. That didn't seem to sound believable to the investigator. She was bad at lies but, the truth is, there was no lie this time.

"Pointy front can make similar thin marks like the ones on the evidence. You know a woman cannot wander with a weapon like this, and hiding it in an unsearchable spot like this is very suspicious."

"If I get hurt or murdered, you'll be burdened with more work to do. I only keep it for special occasions and have never used it in my life."

"And you're a violent woman. You hurt a few customers, and several murder victims were there at some point, at the time you were working or spotted around this area. So I'm not buying this." Wald said, ignoring the words he heard and walked to the petite woman.

His tall posture roared over her, and two remaining accomplices walked over to stand in line behind the boss.

"Annie Leonhart, you are a suspect of being Midnattmorder and being responsible for all the murders."

A/n I wrote it sober, I wrote it drunk, I wrote it in the train, I wrote it while having a mental chaos, I wrote it while realising I'm digging a bigger hole for myself by pushing the pllot this way. Didn't proof read but fuck it. Let's say I struggle writing dialogues lol.

I just wanted to update it and I know I'll need to fix the knife thing in previous chapters (where Annie kept it in her pocket instead). Anyways, here you go, I hope you enjoyed the chapter a tiny bit at least. When I'll have my life more together, I'll be a strong boi and fix the chapter.