August 31

Detention Center

2:45 PM

Lily Shield

My mouth was left wide open at his words. "You know who Oracle is?" I asked in shock. I had expected this case to be involved with Oracle, but this was a whole other beast entirely! They could give us answers here and now if they really knew this much!

N was silent for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I'm afraid not... The situation didn't exactly go as we had planned. Y came to us roughly a week and a half ago to say that she had figured out who our perpetrator was. She said that she had figured out which of our agents was a traitor working for Oracle. However, she later revealed that our supposed traitor was actually Oracle themselves," he explained. "We weren't exactly sure what to do with that information, so we had her keep quiet about it for the time being. She was never able to tell us the truth though... I suspect that the papers on her desk that went missing had to do with Oracle's real identity."

"Everybody inside and out of Interpol is clamoring to learn who Oracle really is behind the mask. I can't think of any other motive for why somebody would want her dead," M went on. "In fact, there's another possibility being proposed, which makes me even more of a suspect, unfortunately..."

"I have a bad feeling about this," frowned Yuri. "What could dig this hole even deeper for us? Whatever it is, it can't be good."

"The police seem to think that I'm Oracle," frowned M. "Like I said before, the previous head of Interpol was removed from his position after he was exposed for corruption. I was set to take his place. The police suspected that there was some sort of foul play going on with my sudden promotion from regular detective to head of Interpol. I hadn't even worked with Interpol before when I was sent to work there, which makes it even more peculiar."

"They think that he got rid of the previous head of Interpol so that he could take the position for himself," N went on. "That means that, in a way, they could suspect him of being Oracle or somebody involved with them."

"It must be the latter since Oracle is female, right?" Yuri asked, placing one hand on her chin.

"Yes, you're right," nodded M. "Oracle has a motive for committing this crime. If they were in Interpol and they heard of their potential future exposure, they could have lashed out and killed Y to keep her quiet. That would also explain why the papers went missing. They had to cover their tracks."

"I thought Oracle had never committed any crimes," I remarked. "I don't know why they'd suddenly start to kill people."

"It's a matter of life and death in this situation. If Y revealed who they really were, then they'd undoubtedly be assassinated within a matter of days, if not hours. To keep from being killed, they could have easily murdered Y," M explained.

"It sounds like this is our chance to learn about Oracle like we thought," Deirdre whispered softly. "Do you know who Y was suspecting at the time? Is there anybody who you think could be Oracle and thus a potential suspect in this case?"

"Not really. We left the case to Y and O, even if it wasn't making much progress," N told us. "They worked together rather well, but it seemed that they would hit a roadblock whenever they came close to finding out the truth. It was almost like there was some sort of outside force stopping them."

"I heard that O was investigating the case on the lake for that very same reason. She thought that Oracle had something to do with it, and once again, the case's motive had to do with the exact spy," I recalled. "I didn't see that coming, let me tell you... We didn't talk for very long, but I got the feeling she was pretty passionate about her work. I bet she would be a strong candidate for a witness knowing a lot about the case. Do you know if she was aware of who Y thought was Oracle?"

"I don't think Y told her. Y told us that she was only telling us that she thought she figured out who Oracle was," N told us. "She was prepared to tell us exactly who it was, but we told her not to."

"What? Why not?" I asked. "This was your chance to figure out exactly who this spy that invaded your privacy was."

"We didn't want to stir up a fuss yet. She made it sound like a huge deal, like it was one of our top agents," M frowned. "Interpol has been in a bit of a chaotic state as of late because of Oracle. A few other agents, those working in our technology branch, have run into trouble because of Oracle. They sent us a letter about how a few of them were selling out secrets to other companies. We had to take care of that issue at the time. We couldn't exactly take the time to get rid of Oracle when we had to get rid of those who were more immediate threats to company security. We were planning on talking to Y later on in the week to ask for the truth. Things have been winding down since that incident, so we're finally ready to take care of it."

"The people who were exposing company secrets... Do you have any idea what happened to them? Were they arrested?" I questioned.

N nodded. "They were, yes. Oracle sent in a list of names that had been discovered to have ties with criminal groups, so we had them all arrested. Confessions were gathered as well, making things a lot easier. In a way, they helped us out a great deal with all that's happened recently," he said.

"That was another reason why we held back for a little while. We didn't want Oracle to be taken out of the equation if they were able to help us find anybody who was hiding secrets from us. That could result in a collapse of the company if they weren't taken care of. Their help was necessary at that time, so we couldn't interfere with them yet," M continued. "Y seemed to understand, but she still seemed a little bit nervous."

"Come to think of it, she's been acting rather strange this past week and a half," N remarked. "I heard that she and O have stopped talking. They haven't been seen together in ages, not since Y came to talk to us about what she had found. I never knew what was going on, but I figured they had just gotten into a little argument and would resolve it in a few days. That happens sometimes when the intensity gets to you. This job isn't exactly easy for the employees because of all the pressure."

"We should definitely go and talk to O when we head to the crime scene. If she knows something, it's critical that we hear about it so we can figure out more about Oracle. If that spy really is the culprit in this case, everything we can learn will be helpful," Yuri suggested. "This is our best chance at learning the truth behind all that's happened recently. We can't let it just slip away."

"I agree," nodded Deirdre. "Any wastes of time won't do us any favors..."

"We should probably head on down there soon," I said to M. "Thank you to both of you for telling us so much about what's been going on recently. I really do appreciate all that you've done. I didn't expect you all to be so kind on the matter given your jobs. You have to keep secrets all the time, so I wasn't sure if you'd be ready to open up so easily."

"It's not like I have a choice. The evidence they have against me is incriminating as can be. I don't really want to go to jail when I didn't commit this crime. Interpol has been struggling enough with all of this recent Oracle business. I can't just let the company fall to pieces now," M told us. "In order to get into Interpol, you're going to need a letter from me. The place has tight security as I'm sure you would imagine. Not everybody is allowed inside. You need to have a guard as an escort. You also need a signed paper to say that you're permitted to enter the area."

M looked around the room for a moment before finding a pad of paper under the table he was sitting in front of. He leaned down and picked it up alongside a pen attached to the top of it. He clicked the pen open and began to write on it quickly. Once he was finished, M read over the note a few times and slid it through the small slit at the bottom of the glass. "This should allow you to get inside without any issues. Most of the officers should be alright if you say you're my lawyers, but this will help if they need extra convincing," he told us. "Try not to lose it. It'll be a bit of a pain to write another one with me stuck in here. It's quite the drive from here to Interpol, so making a second note would severely cut back on your investigation time."

"Thank you for your help," Deirdre nodded, a small and serene smile on her face. She turned to N next. "Will you be coming with us?"

N shook his head frantically. "I-I'm afraid not... I don't want to leave M here alone, if that's okay. I know that the detention center can be a bit miserable from what I've heard of it, so I can't really bring myself to walk away while he's stuck in here," he told us. He began to fidget nervously with the hem of his jacket. He gulped nervously and looked up with an awkward smile. "I'm wishing you luck. Could you come back and tell us how the investigation is going after you've finished looking around over there? I'm sure M will want to know if any evidence regarding his innocence has been found before the trial starts tomorrow. Going into it without that knowledge can be terrifying."

"Of course, we can do that," I smiled. "Once we've wrapped up our investigation, we'll come back here and tell you all about it. I hope that can ease your worries a little bit. From what I've heard in the past, it really does help to know a little about the trial ahead of time."

"We'll be waiting for you," M told us. "If you have any other questions, feel free to ask us. If you talk to some of the agents there, they should be willing to open up to you if you say that we sent you. A majority of them are loyal enough to us to explain anything you want to know about."

"I get the feeling this note you gave us will be very handy," I grinned. "Now, it's time for us to head out. Thank you for everything. I promise that we'll prove your innocence."

M nodded. "I'll be counting on it," he said simply as we walked from the room. Once we were gone, I heard him strike up a conversation with N, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying as we got further and further away.

We stopped walking once we were outside of the detention center. Yuri stretched her arms upwards. "This case is going to be interesting, that's for sure. We're going to one of the most important places in the country to defend an international agent from murder charges. This is going to be great!" she exclaimed.

"It's also going to be difficult. There's a potential motive in play, the murder weapon can be used against us, and he doesn't have an alibi. Plus, he had exclusive information regarding Oracle from the victim about knowing who it is. That only solidifies his potential motive," Deirdre pointed out. "In other words, we're going to have to be careful. Any slip-ups could result in a loss for us because of all that's working against us here."

"Let's go on and see the crime scene then. The more that we know about the case, the easier it will be to come up with a solid counterattack," I suggested. "I hope the other agents will be willing to help us out like he said. We're going to be in serious trouble if they refuse us while we're down there, so this note is going to be a lifesaver. I can already tell."

"Does anybody here even know where Interpol is?" asked Yuri. "I'm sure that we can look it up, but if what M said is true, it's quite the drive. The sooner we can head out, the better for us, especially if it's a long way away."

"I guess our chances of finishing that paperwork tonight have just gone down the drain," I said with a small smile. "We can do it tomorrow, right?"

"I'm afraid not. We have to go to the trial tomorrow, don't you remember? I don't think either one of you is going to have time to finish it up," Deirdre told us.

I felt my stomach drop. "Dang... I guess we really should get going then. We can't turn that stuff in late if we want to avoid the wrath of Mr. Morix," I told them. "Time to pile into the car..."

"Is there anything else we want to discuss before we leave?" Deirdre questioned as we walked over to her car. She pressed a button on her keys to turn the car on. The doors clicked open not long after. We all clambered in at hearing the sound.

"I don't think so," Yuri said before speaking again a moment later. "Actually, let's address the elephant in the room. It looks like we're going to find out the truth about Oracle during this case. That's not what I saw coming at all. It appears we're going to have to drag the truth out of Mr. Morix sooner than I expected, which isn't exactly ideal, is it?"

"We'll just have to go with it," I shrugged. "With more information from this case, it'll be easier to take care of things with Mr. Morix, so I suppose we should just count our blessings."

Deirdre pulled the car out of its parking spot. "We can keep talking about it on the way, if you all would like."

"The maps app on my phone says it's about half an hour away," Yuri remarked with a sigh. "It looks like we're going to have enough time for that conversation and more."

August 31

Interpol Headquarters

3:45 PM

Lily Shield

The first thing I thought after we arrived at Interpol was that the place was huge.

The building was towering, even more so than I expected. I felt like an ant being compared to a human foot looking up at it. In a way, it made me dizzy with the way the clouds were rolling behind it slowly. I looked over at Yuri and saw that she was about to trip over her feet. I dove forwards and caught her by the arm. "Are you okay?" I asked.

Yuri nodded slowly. "Man, this place is even bigger than I could have expected," she whispered. "I didn't even think buildings went that high up..."

"I suppose we should have seen that coming knowing that this is a government building, and an important one at that," Deirdre remarked. "Let's go on and head inside. I don't think we'll get much done by standing out here and marveling how lovely it looks."

We took a few steps towards the door, but we ended up being stopped by a police officer in rather dark blue clothing. He held out his hands before himself in a stopping motion. "You cannot enter this area! Interpol is currently on lockdown due to a murder that recently took place!" he exclaimed at us.

I reached into my purse and pulled out the note that M had written for us. "We're his lawyers, sir. M hired us to defend him from murder charges," I explained.

The officer hesitantly sighed and let us pass by. I felt a smile appear on my face as we walked past him. I had to admit, I felt powerful like this. Not everybody was allowed to just walk into Interpol without any issues. It really made you feel like you were one of the most important people in the world, a feeling that I was not exactly familiar with as a simple lawyer living in a simple area. Even if it was unfamiliar, it was most certainly welcome.

Deirdre pushed open one of the double doors at the front of the building. They didn't creak at all, as if we didn't already know the place was fancy already.

We were instantly greeted with a lobby fancier than those I had ever seen before. There were a few couches here and there, each one free of stains, looking as if nobody had ever touched them before. A front desk sat nearby, so it was structured in a similar way to what we had back at the agency. I never would have compared the agency to a place as grand as this otherwise. They were on completely separate levels, even if both places were nice in their own little ways.

It didn't take long for us to be greeted by a familiar face as we made our way through the large lobby. In fact, there were two of them, making it even better.

I clapped my hands together as we dashed up to Detective Wattson and Detective Erikson. "Hey!" I cheered. "I didn't expect to see you two around here! Are you the detectives working on this case?"

Detective Wattson began to smile. She looked at Detective Erikson with a smile that was so clearly lovestruck. "Yes, we are," she grinned. In truth, Detective Wattson looked more like an excited schoolgirl than an adult doing her job. "Toby and I were asked to come in and help out with the investigation."

"I would have expected them to ask for Interpol agents to act as detectives," Deirdre admitted. "They know the building much better than anybody from the precinct does."

"It was a matter of suspicion," Detective Erikson explained. "There are very few agents with alibis from the time of the crime, so a lot of people can be considered suspects. The police don't want agents who could have committed the crime to be on the job since they could tamper with evidence."

"So, they're open to the possibility of other culprits?" Yuri asked hopefully.

Detective Wattson shrugged. "I suppose so, in a strange way. They've been focused on the head of the branch for the time being, but I could certainly see them finding others to be suspicious. It's hard to narrow everything down when only two people have alibis for the time of the crime. Most other agents ended up being alone in the dark because of a power outage that took place."

"Who had alibis?" I questioned.

"N and O, two of the agents at Interpol. N said that he was going to find lawyers for the defendant, and judging by the fact that you're here, I suspect that he's succeeded," Detective Erikson told us. "As for O, she was the partner of the victim where investigation was concerned."

"We heard about that, yeah," I nodded. "N told us that he wanted us on the case because O and Y were looking into Oracle and this case might have something to do with them. I guess they're pretty convinced Oracle is involved if they dragged common people into it..."

"This case is a doozy, that's for sure," Detective Wattson commented. "With so many potential suspects, it'll be hard to narrow down who did it if the defendant isn't our culprit. The power outage could leave so many people with time to commit the crime."

"That's unfortunate, but I suppose it's just a reason for us to get started," I suggested. "Do you have the autopsy report for us? We haven't gotten a copy of it yet, so it would be great if we could have one."

Detective Erikson nodded and produced a file in a manila folder. I accepted it with a grateful smile and nod. He responded with something similar when I took it. Deirdre and Yuri both moved closer to me so they could easily peer over my shoulder as I opened it and read it to myself:

Name: Braylee Stern

Age: 33

Gender: Female

Cause of Death: Blunt force trauma to right temple. Death was instantaneous

Time of Death: 11:05 AM

Other: Victim's head smashed a glass vase when the two made contact, the glass vase being the murder weapon. Vase was found broken near the body. A few cuts were found surrounding the wound due to the shattering of the glass.

"That sounds like what we've heard so far," I commented as I shut the folder. "I heard it was impossible to lift prints from the vase because of how badly it was splintered on impact."

Detective Wattson nodded. "I'm afraid you heard correctly. At this point, the vase is nothing more than a pile of rubble. We wouldn't have even known what it was if not for N identifying it as a vase that had been in her office for about six months. That's how bad the shattering was," she told us.

"That sounds pretty serious," I frowned. "But I guess there isn't much of anything we can do about it now... Is there anything else you can tell us about the case?"

"What motive is the police force using against the defendant? We heard what he thought it was, but some confirmation would be really helpful," Yuri said.

"We can tell you that, sure," Detective Erikson told us. "It all has to do with Oracle and a few struggles with Interpol. A few weeks ago, a number of people in the technology area, more commonly known as the Q Branch, a group run by an agent by the name of Q, were found to be selling information to those who paid them highly enough. Oracle exposed this to M and N through an anonymous note, though there weren't any prints on it. With some investigation, they learned that it was true."

"All of those agents were arrested. Shortly after, the victim told M and N that she had figured out who Oracle was and was ready to tell them," Detective Wattson continued. "We theorize that M might have killed her because he could have been involved with Oracle. He was one of the only people who knew Y had knowledge of Oracle's identity. If he was involved with Oracle, then Y would have been a serious thorn in his side if she came forward with the truth. Those involved with Oracle could be arrested or assassinated for their involvement, which we've seen quite a bit recently."

"I see... That was what he told us as well when we visited him down at the detention center earlier," Deirdre commented. "I find that to be a bit of a difficult motive to work around... On one hand, it's all hypothetical, so it's hard to prove it true... On the other hand, since it's all hypothetical, it's hard to prove it isn't true either. With the way you're talking, you don't have any evidence he's involved with Oracle. Is this all just a theory at the moment?"

"Pretty much," Detective Wattson admitted. "Even if Oracle is involved with this case quite a bit, we don't have much evidence, if any, regarding their involvement with the case. We'll be sure to give you any information we find as it appears. For the time being, there isn't anything though, so stay in the area if you want to get your hands on that stuff."

"Thank you for all that you've done for us. It means a lot," I smiled. "Do you think you'd be able to take us to the scene of the crime now? We don't exactly know our way around here since we've never been to Interpol. I suppose that isn't exactly surprising because we're pretty normal people, but we still need to get around here."

Detective Wattson began to shift through her papers for a moment, muttering a few things under her breath as she flicked over them. When she found what she was looking for, Detective Wattson smiled. "Ah, okay, here it is," she declared. She extended a paper out towards me. "This is a map of Interpol. I hope it'll be helpful with getting around. I understand the building is a bit intimidating wit how large it is."

I took the paper and smiled thankfully her way. "This is much appreciated. Thank you," I said. I turned the map around and looked at it. There were multiple pages, now that I looked closer. I didn't even want to know how many floors this place had...

"If you want to find the case's witness, she'll probably be up in her office on the fourth floor," Detective Erikson told us. "It's the O agent we mentioned earlier. She said she'd be staying there so we could find her easily if we ever needed to talk to her again."

"That's nice and convenient. I'm glad we won't have to go on a grand witness hunt to find her now," Yuri smiled. "That map you gave us has her office marked, right? The fourth floor isn't exactly much to go on with how huge this building is."

"All the offices of the agents are put on the map so you can find them easily," Detective Wattson smiled. "It's pretty easy to get lost in here, so I'm sure you'll be able to put it to use quickly. If you need to talk to any agents, their offices will be marked on there. If you're going to find them, that will be the best place to start with, regardless of if they're in their offices or not."

"I can't even begin to say how thankful we are to you for all that you have done," Deirdre said, bowing her head forwards. "This means a lot to us."

"It's no problem," Detective Erikson assured her. "We should probably get back to questioning witnesses, if that's alright with you. Should you need us, we'll be around here for the next few hours. We're always happy to help you out, so don't hesitate to ask."

"If it's alright with you, we're going to head on up to talk to O. She might have something helpful to tell us about the crime," I said. "We're sort of on a time crunch here because of the long drive and other obligations."

"That's okay. We have other stuff to do as well," Detective Wattson smiled. She took Detective Erikson's hand as he waved and walked away. I was sure that I saw her face flush pink as they disappeared from sight.

"She definitely likes him, and he's definitely clueless," Yuri declared proudly once they were gone.

"I agree. The blushing says everything," I agreed. "I don't think that's really going to help us out in the grand scheme of things, but I don't think it matters. It's nice information to have, I suppose."

"We should go on and find O now. We're still in a rush, so talks of romance can wait until the car ride home, if that's okay with you two," Deirdre cut in.

"Okay, you have a point," I admitted. "Let's go on and investigate like Deirdre said."

Yuri and I headed for the elevator, Deirdre following us. I pulled out the map once again and flipped it to the first page. It said at the top that it was for the first and second floors. I turned it over, going to the next part of the packet, and found what I was searching for. This paper was for the third and fourth floors.

Deirdre pressed the button for the elevator and watched the doors shut before peering over my shoulder. "Do you know where we'll be going after we get out of the elevator?" she asked.

"It looks like we'll be turning right," I told her. "Her office is at the far end of the hall, so it's a bit isolated from the rest of the floor."

"I guess that makes sense for somebody investigating a secretive spy," Yuri shrugged. The doors slowly opened, prompting us to step out. An automated voice told us that we were on the fourth floor as Yuri continued to speak. "Maybe she'll know who Oracle is. She was the partner of the victim, so I can't imagine why she wouldn't have that information."

"But M said that Y didn't even tell O about it," I frowned. "Did they have some sort of falling out?"

"I recall M and N mentioning that they weren't even talking as of late, so that's certainly possible," Deirdre pointed out. "Regardless, we should stay focused. She's bound to have something for us."

After a few more moments of walking, we finally came to the door. I knocked at it and waited for an answer, putting the map away while I was watching for the door to open.

I had folded up the map and placed it into my purse when it finally opened to show a sleepy white-haired Interpol agent. She rubbed at her eyes and spoke softly. "Hi."

I also finished this update like two weeks ago. Neat.

I just finished a big cross-post spam over on Wattpad, so I'm generally dumping on both sites. I felt like it had to be done, so we're doing it now.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed!

-Digital