Chapter 4 - Intriguing, but No

8:30 pm - The Dal Riata

" Dyson, please. I'm just so bored!" Bo sat at the bar beside Dyson, with her hands shaking Dyson's arm and her begging eyes.

Dyson wanted to say something, but Tamsin spoke before him. " As much as we appreciated your interrogation skills, you are not a cop. You can't just go through our case files every time you feel bored." Said the Valkyrie.

" Well, what else am I gonna do here?"
" You are a succubus in a bar. Go figure it out yourself."

" Tamsin, I think it's fine. We are stuck on this case anyway." Dyson laughed and gave Bo the case file in his hand.

Tamsin rolled her eyes at Dyson, and turned her head back to look at the files in her hand.

" So what do we have here?" Bo opened the folder.

" We, excludes you, sweetheart." Tamsin smirked to her.

" Oh wow, I didn't know we are on sweetheart basis now, babe." Bo smirked back.

Dyson finished his beer and stood up. " I'm gonna go shoot some pool, you girls have fun." He said.

" Seriously, what do we have here?" Bo asked Tamsin.

" Two babies were missing from their cribs. No signs of forced entry, no evidence, no nothing." Tamsin downed a drink.

" From the same family?"

" No, different families. Read before you ask questions, ok?" Tamsin said.

Few minutes later, Tamsin stood up. Bo looked at her. The Valkyries took Bo's beer and took a sip from the bottle. Then she leaned closed and whispered into her ears:" Be back in five."

Bo saw her walked into the lady's room. She turned her head back with her eyes wide open. She just couldn't figure out what the Valkyrie was up to. One minute she was pushing her away, the next she was pulling her closer. Bo finished her beer and stoop up.

8:35 pm - Lady's Room of the Dal Riata

" Can I talk to you?" Bo leaned against the sink with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Tamsin turned around and looked at her with her hands in the running water. She looked around and said:" In here?"

" Why not?"

" Well." Tamsin wiped her hands and threw the paper towel in the trash can. " I don't know about you, but I'm going back out to drink."

Tamsin opened the door, but Bo pushed it close. She grabbed Tamsin's waist and pinned her against the door.

" What the -" Tamsin didn't finish her sentence, because Bo kissed her.

The Valkyrie tried to struggle , but, it didn't took long for her to give up. She laid her hands on Bo's waist and spun her around. She pinned Bo against the door so they could have a deeper kiss. After a while, their lips parted. Both of them were gasping for air. Bo laid her forehead on Tamsin's with her eyes closed. She licked her own lips, as if she wanted more. Subconsciously, she had her fingers slowly caressing Tamsin's face.

The Valkyrie still had her hands on Bo's waist. She didn't pull away, neither did she get closer.

" Let's just - " Bo murmured, but a loud banging on the bathroom door interrupted her.

" Occupied!" Bo yelled.

" Bo?" Dyson's voice came from the other side of the door, confused.

" It's the lady's room, Dyson!"

" I just got a call from the precinct, another baby is missing. Is Tamsin in there?"

" No! Of course not!" Bo said and looked at the Valkyrie, "Don't talk to people when there are in the restroom please!"

" Do you know where she went? We need to go to the station right now."

" No idea! Can you please leave?"

They both heard the wolf walking away, and both sighed with relief.

" I got to go to the precinct right now." Tamsin opened the door and peeked out. She walked out after she made sure Dyson was not out there.

" Can I tag along?" Bo followed her.

" Sure, I guess. We could use a succubus for this."

9:20 pm - Crime Scene

It took a long time for Bo to calm the parents down, while the cops were processing the crime scene. Finally the parents were sitting on the couch sobbing, instead of crying out loud.

" Same MO?"

" Afraid so." Dyson pointed at the window with his pen, " No sign of forced entry. The window was locked from the inside. The parents were watching TV in the living room when it happened. They had the baby monitor on, so if it was a breaking in, they would have at least heard something."

" Maybe one of them did it." Tamsin frowned.

" No, I don't think they know anything." Bo said, " It's got to be someone else."

" There is this smell..." Dyson sniffed in the air, " I smelled in the other two crime scene too."

" What smell?" Both girls asked. Neither of them could smell anything.

" I don't know. Like a public toilet or a trash can." Dyson said, " Maybe our suspect had really bad hygiene."

" Why would someone take new born babies anyway? Human trafficking, well, also fae trafficking?"

" We don't know yet. But there must be a connection between these three families." Dyson said, " Since they've calmed down, I'm gonna go talk to them, see if I can find out anything."

Bo walked around in the nursery. She could tell the parents had spent a lot of time and effort on decorating the room. The empty crib just sat in the middle of the room.

Bo looked into the crib. Then she noticed something. There was a twig in the middle of the crib, a very small one, about the same length as Bo's pinky finger, but only one third of the girth.

" What is this?" Bo pointed the twig to Tamsin.

" Emmm... a twig?" Tamsin frowned.

" Why would there be a twig in a newborn's crib?"

" Must have fallen off from the parents or something. Why?"

" Wouldn't you check the crib before you put your baby down in it?"

" Do I look like I've ever put any babies in a crib before?" Tamsin asked.

Bo rolled her eyes again. They checked every corner of the nursery, but found nothing more.

" Looks like everything is processed. Time for us to go home now." Said Dyson when he came back in the room.

10:15 pm - Tamsin's Apartment

" Why did you come home with me again?" Tamsin opened the door to her apartment.

" I thought we could discuss the case for a little." Bo said.

Tamsin sat on the couch, with the case files in her hand. She put the file folders down and said," Discuss the case huh?"

" Well, since you asked, how about some late night snack then?"

" Intriguing," Tamsin scrunched her nose. She leaned over to Bo but stopped right before their lips met." But, no. Just in case you hadn't noticed, I have a case to solve." said the Valkyrie.

" Fine, let's solve the case then." Bo grabbed the case files.

They stayed quiet for a long time. Both of them were just looking at the documents and crime scene photos.

" I am just so not made for missing baby cases!" Tamsin finally gave up and lied down on the couch. She rested her head on Bo's lap and closed her eyes.

Bo put the stuff in her hand aside, and stared at the Valkyrie.

" How is it fair that you can lie on my lap, but, I can't get late night snack?"

" Well, first of all, this is my apartment." Tamsin opened her eyes and stared back. " And second, who said anything about fair?"

Bo sighed, and laid her eyes back on the case files. The heat from the Valkyrie on her knees was really distracting. She couldn't really focus, turning pages subconsciously.

Suddenly something had occurred to her. " Hey, check this out," She shook Tamsin on her shoulder lightly.

" What?" Tamsin sat up and leaned close to her to look at the files in Bo's hand.

" Look at the crime scene photos. In all three cases, there was a little twig found on the crib." Bo pointed at the photos, " They looks very similar to me."

" Hmmm...could be something that fell from the suspect then." Tamsin said, " I guess I'll call the tech people and see if anyone can identify what and where they came from."

" What are you gonna do without me?" Bo leaned back to the couch, looking at Tamsin.

" Don't you think it's time for you to leave now?" Tamsin said.

Bo sighed. She stood up and said," Ok."

Tamsin raised herself a little from the couch, just enough to wave to Bo. Bo opened the door and left. Heard the door close, Tamsin lied back to the couch. She felt that all her strength had just vanished, all the strength that she had just used to fight the urge of asking the succubus to stay.

9:20 am - Trick's Den

" Hey, gramps, do you have the stuff that I asked for couple days ago?" Bo walked into Trick's den. She saw Trick was busy cleaning his cabinets.

" All on the side table next to the couch."

" Cool." Bo went to pick it up.

" Are you working on the missing baby case with Dyson?"

" Not really, no. I asked him for the case files because I was too bored last night."

" Anything interesting?"

" I don't know." Bo said, " Although... they found small twigs in each of the baby cribs. That's kinda weird huh?"

" Twigs?" Trick straightened up and looked at Bo, " In the baby crib?"

" Yeah, thin, short twigs. Why? Do you know something?"

" Dyson didn't tell me about the twigs."

" I just found out about them last night at...emm...my place."

" Oh. That's interesting..." Trick frowned.

" Why? Do you know something?" Bo raised her eyebrows. She could tell something had occurred to Trick.

" Missing babies...twigs in the crib... and I think Dyson said there were no signs of forced entry of any kind..." Trick took a few books out from the bookshelf and read through them. Then he stopped and pointed to one page. " Ah ha!" He said, " Babies vanished from their beds, left small twigs..."

" What do you by left? The babies left them there? We thought it was left by the suspect."

" No, it's more like...the babies changed to twigs."

" That doesn't even make sense!"

" I think what you are dealing with here are changelings. Some faes steal the real baby and switch it with some enchanted twig. Days later, the magic wears off, the fake baby changes back to a twig."

" Wait, why would they steal babies?"

" Multiple theories. Some steal babies from other species to avoid inbreeding among their own, others just like babies that are from other families. Some fairies will exchange their baby with one human baby, so their kid would grow up among the human. It's hard to tell."

" But there are no signs of forced entry, nor any other signs. How could they switch the babies like that?"

" My guess? Those babies were switched before they went home."

" Then that leaves one place, the hospital!" Bo said, " I got to call Tamsin."

" Tamsin?"

" I mean, Dyson." Bo nearly bit her tongue.

10:00 am - The Hospital

" We confirmed that all three babies were delivered here, and they disappeared exactly seven days after they were brought back home." Tamsin said.

Bo and she stood outside the nursery in the hospital. Lots of babies were inside, sleeping. Some of them were awake, looking at Bo and Tamsin curiously.

" Where's Dyson?" Bo asked.

" Talking to the nurses I guess." Tamsin replied.

" So... if the babies were switched in the hospital, it's got be someone who has access to the nursery right?"

" Not exactly. Sometimes you have an opened door, or lost ID card, and some people are just so kind that they would open any door, for anyone, who forgets to bring the ID."

" So what are we going to do here?"

" We are going to the security monitor room to watch the camera feeds."

" Ok."

4:00 pm - The Hospital

" Wow, this is a really interesting and exciting job!" Bo said in frustration. They had been sitting in front of all the monitors for hours now, but, nothing special had popped out.

" It's not always chasing, shooting and kicking ass, you know." Tamsin smirked, " For most of the time it's like this."

" I think I'm gonna go get some snack from the vending machine. Do you want some?" Bo asked.

" No need." Tamsin waved her hand.

Minutes later, Bo came back with a candy bar in her hand. She opened the wrapper and sat down beside Tamsin.

" Actually, I change my mind." Tamsin said.

" Huh?" Bo turned to her, confused, with the candy bar in her mouth and her eyebrows raised. Tamsin leaned over and took a bite on her candy bar. Her lips brushed across Bo's. Bo felt her heart had just skipped a beat. She stared at the Valkyrie, who was chewing and looking at the monitors instead of her.

Bo took a deep breath and said:" You know, this hospital really needs some work."

" What?"

" Where they put the vending machine, smells like toilet."

" And you fucking feed me the food from there?"

" Technically, you took a bite all by yourself. You can't blame me." Bo said.

" Fuck! Wait...smells like toilet. Dyson said at all crime scenes, he smelled something." Tamsin suddenly remembered.

" Yeah. He said like public toilet or trash can...which was exactly what I smelled!" Bo said.

" Let's go!"

4:30 pm - The Hospital

Followed the disgusting scent, Tamsin and Bo came to a closed area in the basement of the hospital. They called Dyson on the way, but he didn't pick up. They had to leave him a message.

" Well it's locked." Bo said in front of one locked room. They could smell the strong scent coming from inside.

" Hmmm... I think I heard someone calling for help from inside..." Tamsin kicked on the lock hard and the door just opened.

" Oh, shit, the smell...I think it's a troll..." Tamsin said.

" You can tell by the smell?"

" With smell this nasty, it's got to be the trolls." Tamsin said. She pulled out her tranquilize gun in her hand.

" Do I get a gun too?"

" Not unless you can shoot."

" Well maybe you should train me." Bo said when they were slowly walking inside the room.

" Are you serious?" Tamsin turned around and looked at her.

" I-" Bo stopped. They both heard some noises coming from the back of the room.

" Stay behind me." Tamsin whispered to her and walked in.

" Fine." Bo whispered back.

There was an old, broken folding screen in the big, empty room. They quietly walked behind it and peeked. A very strong woman was standing there. She looked like a nurse. There was a baby lying on the bed beside her. It looked like the baby was sleeping. The woman was holding a twig in her hand, similar to what they found in the crime scene. She was chanting something. A few seconds later, the twig flashed and changed to a baby in her arms.

" Ok, I think we've seen enough." Tamsin jumped out, with her gun pointing at the woman. " Freeze!" She yelled.

The woman growled. That was the most horrifying growling Bo ever heard of, but, she knew it was not the time to be scared. She ran out from the other side of the folding screen and grabbed the real baby in her arms.

The troll saw her. She roared in rage and started to chase Bo.

" Shit!" Tamsin followed them. She fired twice, but the troll was running too fast. She missed both times.

" Well, apparently you can't shoot either." Bo said, running in front of the troll with the newborn in her arms.

" Now is not the time!" Tamsin shouted. She only had one shot left. She tried to aim several times, but, she was afraid that she would hit Bo, or the baby.

Bo was too busy dodging the troll, but, the troll was big and fast. Bo eventually got cornered. The troll's fists were coming down. Bo couldn't run away, she just instinctively lowered her body, shielding the baby. She heard the gunshot from the gun firing. The troll growled, and then with a loud pounding she fell on the floor. Bo sat on the floor and let out a deep breath.

Tamsin cuffed the troll to the radiator on the wall. She pulled Bo up and said, " Let's get the baby back to the nursery."

9:00 pm - Bo's front door

" Well, happy ending again. They found all the missing babies at the troll women's place and sent them back to their parents already. The troll was arrested." Tamsin said when she was parking her truck in front of Bo's place.

" I'm glad." Bo said. She knew she should get off the truck now, but she just didn't want to leave.

" Now it's time for you to go home, so I can go home." Tamsin smirked to her.

" Ok." Bo nodded. She opened the door to her side. But before she got out, Tamsin leaned over and pinched her chin lightly between her fingers. She pulled Bo closer and pressed her lips on Bo's.

The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, yet it was one of the sweetest Bo had ever had.

" Your late night snack." The Valkyrie tilted her head and smiled. " You can go now." She then added.

Bo was a little bit startled, but she got out of the truck and watched Tamsin drove away.

The night breeze of the late fall had made her cold, but the warmth left by the Valkyrie on her lips almost burnt her.