12:27 p.m.

"Ready?" Copper said.

Booker nodded. They lifted the body off the bed and gently placed it in the open body bag on the bedroom floor. Booker zipped it up while Copper stood and surveyed the bed, the blood-stained pillow and the curious coarse, white hairs littered liberally all over. Definately not human hairs, not Mink's anyway. Mink couldn't been a day over thirty.

"Alright," he sighed, "You take care of that, I'll get started here."

Booker nodded and slid the bag onto the collapsed stretcher. He pulled it to its full height and began wheeling it slowly out of the room.

He passed Pinky on the stairs, and he turned to call up a warning to Copper, but she'd already disappeared into the bedroom. Oh well, he thought, turning his attention back to his descent, he can handle her.

"I came as soon as I heard," Pinky said, "I thought you two could use a little help."

Copper shook his head and said stiffly, "No, we're good. I'm just going to collect some articles here from the scene and when Booker gets back we're going to dust the place. We've got the Calistan CSI on their way, but they've got a triple-homicide they're busy with at the moment. It could be awhile." He didn't meet her eyes, didn't even glance in her direction, as he spoke. She watched, silently, as he methodically placed the pillow in a clear plastic bag marked 'Evidence'.

She gave a very audible sigh and said, "Alright, Copper. What do you want to know?"

"Can this wait? I'm very busy at the moment. Mayor Tortimer wants this finished before his press conference tonight."

"Did you talk to him?"

"He called me. Tom Nook found the body, and he went straight to the mayor."

Pinky sat down on a hard, wooden chair by the door, "Copper, I need to talk to you. Now."

He finished dating the bag and placed it beside the dresser before finally looking up at her, "Make this quick, ok?"

"You want to know how I got here yesterday? I came from the island. I knew I was getting here too early but I needed to find out myself if it were true. If Sven was really dead."

"You heard it on the radio, didn't you?"

"Yes, but I was on Jasmine Island and-"

"Jasmine Island? I've never heard it called that before."

"It was never officially recognized by the state, so various different groups have claimed it as their own over the years and have given it many names. Jasmine Island is just what the villiagers there call it."

"Go on."

"I don't know if you're aware of it, but there is a very dangerous price-gouging ring that's made that island their headquarters."

"I'm vaguely aware of it, yes. We were warned to be cautious of anyone or anything coming from the island. There is a ship that comes every Wednesday that Booker meets out there, just to be sure no funny business is going on. It's just coffee and cheap clothing, though."

"I've been working undercover on the island for a couple of months, and have gotten pretty buddy-buddy with some of the higher-ranking officials within the organization, which is run by an ex-pirate known only as Gulliver, although we suspect that is an alias."

"So what does any of this have to do with Sven's murder?"

"My sources indicate that a rival operation is being run right here in Lemon, and Sven was a part of it. We believe it was someone from the island that murdered Sven and now Mink."

Copper shook his head, "What? I don't think so. I don't know exactly who these sources are but I suspect they're-"

"She's a very reliable source, and she lives right here in town. Apparently someone involved in the operation gave her a videotape in case anything ever happened to her, as a sort of blackmail device. The tape seems to imply that the mayor himself is a part of the organization."

"Bullshit!" Copper exploded, slamming his fist on his thigh, "That's a crock of stinking shit! Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but I've been an officer here for over fifteen years, all of them served under Mayor Tortimer. He is the most honest, straightfoward and moral man I've ever met in my entire life. Your source is either mistaken or a bald-faced liar."

"We have the tape!"

"Then why were no arrests ever made, and why were Booker and I never informed?"

"Because we didn't know if you were in cahoots with Tortimer. No arrests were ever made because the person on the tape never identifies herself and the image and sound are grainy. It'd never hold up. We know that it's the one called Nosegay, though."

"Nosegay, Tortimer, Sven and what, Mink too?"

"Yes, most likely. We've also had our eye on Joan-"

"Joan!" he spat contemptuously, "Are you serious? She's gotta be like a hundred years old. Joan wouldn't hurt a fly."

Pinky pulled a thick packet out of her briefcase and flipped through it for a second before finally pulling out a single photograph. She handed it over to Copper, who studied it, biting his lip intently.

"That's a picture I took of Mayor Tortimer and Gulliver having a private meeting a few weeks ago. I believe he was trying to arrange the return of his granddaughter, who was kidnapped a while back and is being held in an unknown location off the island. The deal must've fallen through, however, because he hasn't been back. I was in another building using a high-powered lense and was forced to try to decipher the movements of their lips."

"This doesn't prove anything. His granddaughter was kidnapped, true, but the general belief is that it was someone involved with the camp."

"A man from the island named Bob Berger worked there as a safety coordinator that summer. Two days after she vanished he quit."

Copper glared stonily down at the photograph, "How do I even know this is Gulliver? We never recieved any headshots or photos."

"Look on his arm, he's got a tattoo of his name."

Copper closed his eyes.

"Copper, I know how you must feel. It is the opinion of my directors that Mayor Tortimer and Gulliver are running competeing organizations, and things have finally started to boil over."

"Where is Nosegay?"

"I don't know. No one's seen her since the day before Sven's death. We don't even know if she's still alive, although I'm sure her video would have been leaked if she wasn't."

Copper looked at her for the first time. His eyes were red, "So what do we do?"

"I'm going to talk to Tom Nook. He's got a wife and kids, and his business, so he knows he's got a lot to lose in this. He's got to be scared, and I'm going to try to break him. If I can get a statement, we can arrest Tortimer and then I'm pretty sure Gulliver will back off from Lemon."

"But who do you think is committing the actual murders? We've gotten no reports of any strange crafts down at the dock, or any mysterious strangers prowling about at nighttime."

Pinky shook her head, "That I don't know. There's so much that we just don't know."

At that moment Booker walked into the room, and they fell silent. Copper gave Pinky another curious look, and then he and Booker resumed their careful combing of the crime scene.