Chapter 2: The investigation begins

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present." – Sir Francis Bacon

As Silvex and Chase walked into the police station, they were greeted by a tall man wearing a suit. He seemed to be in his early 40's. He had short brown hair and a scar shaped like a crescent encircling the bottom part of his left eye. He seemed to be in the middle of leaving the captain's office. Something about him seemed familiar to Chase, but he just couldn't place it.

"Ah, you must be Chase." the man said as he bend down and held out his hand. Chase shook it.

"I'm Captain Xavier, and I'm in charge here." the police captain said. "Welcome to the 9th precinct."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir!" Chase replied.

"Silvex, can I have a word with you?" Xavier asked, his focus now lying on Silvex.

"Sure, but first, I'll show Chase to our desks." Silvex said. He had no love for his captain, and he wasn't hiding it. Xavier returned those feelings, but he was a lot better at hiding it.

"Just be quick about it." Xavier said as he walked off.

"Did you just disobey a direct order from your superior?!" Chase whispered to Silvex.

"Remember what we talked about in the car? Well, I think he's one of those cops" Silvex whispered back as he started walking. "But let's drop it, for now, we have work to do."

"So, where are we sitting?" Chase asked as he snuck a peek back at the angry captain Xavier.

I know that I've seen him before, but where?

"Right here." Silvex said as he stopped at two desks specifically made for dogs. They were two oak wooden desks, each with a high-tech computer and any other office stuff they might need. Both desks seemed unused, except for one where a newspaper article was hanging. Chase walked past the desk with the article and took a seat at the second desk. As he passed it he managed to read the title, which read: "Blackstreet's fire shocked Coastal City". Chase guessed the article was about the death of Silvex's family, and he thought it wouldn't be smart to ask him about it.

"Let's review the evidence first, see if we get any leads." Chase said.

"Alright then, all the evidence the officers found at the scene was a key, a credit card and a pack of cigarettes." Silvex said, summing up what they found.

"Do we have any fingerprints or DNA?" Chase asked. "Or did we hear back from the M.E. yet?"

"The physical evidence is on it's way to the lab, and the body hasn't even arrived at the morgue yet." Silvex said "Our job is now to find out as much as we can about the victim, and to figure out who would want him dead" As Silvex said this, he booted up his computer and started a program called 'PeopleSearch'.

"What was the name of our vic?" Silvex asked Chase, who quickly looked through his notes.

"Jeremy Griffin." Chase said as Silvex typed it in. Together they watched as the page was loading until it showed a match.

"He has no priors, not even a parking ticket. He lives alone, outside gang territory, and the only blood relative that he has is a younger sister" Silvex sums up "Hold on, there is something on his credit card bill. Apparently, he spent his limit of 10k this week, all at once."

"Could it be drug-related, or maybe he hired someone for a hit?" Chase wondered out loud "Let's see where he spent it." Chase said as Silvex clicked on the expense. Another loading window popped up. Then it showed the result. "It says here that he spent it in a place called 'The Pearl Royale', whatever that is"

Sergeant Brooks had just returned from the crime scene and was walking by right as Chase said this. "You haven't heard of The Pearl Royale?! It the best jewellery shop in town! It is the perfect place for buying jewellery, either for yourself or your partner." Brooks said as he stopped at their desks.

"And how would you know this, Brooks? I don't believe you're in a relationship." Silvex asked the sergeant.

"Uh… Well… You see… Never mind, guys. See ya." Brooks then continued his route towards the cantina, albeit a little faster than usual.

"That was weird, but it may have helped us." Chase said. "Let's see if we can't find an address online"

As Silvex parked the car, Chase looked out the window at the shop they were about to visit. It was a white building, with a bar on it's left and a restaurant on it's right. It was standing in the middle of the street, overlooking the market square. 'The Pearl Royale' was written in gold letters on top. On both sides of the door were windows with display cases behind them. On the windows, itself were iron bars, with a coating of gold paint on them.

"So this is the Pearl Royale?" Silvex thought out loud

"Yeah." Chase said. "Do you think they'll tell us anything without a warrant?"

"I doubt it, but it depends on the person behind the counter. If we're lucky, we'll talk to someone who has been helped by the police in the past and would, therefore, trust us and tell us what we need to know. If we're not so lucky, we'll be asking a former convict or something. Then we'll have no choice but to come back with a warrant, and still get incomplete information" Silvex replied as they started walking towards the store. Chase looked at the people that were sitting at the café and restaurant next to the jewellery shop, and he noticed there was something off about them. There were four men in total that stood out, two on each side and they were all sitting on the sides of the terrace closest to the Pearl Royale. They were all wearing suits with what seemed like Kevlar vests underneath. There were also some weird pointy things underneath their coats, which Chase believed to be guns.

"Uhm, Silvex?" Chase started asking

"So you noticed the four armed men sitting around the shop?" Silvex asked as he continued walking.

"Yeah, you saw them too?" Chase asked

"For the trained eye, they are hard to miss" Silvex replied as he stopped in front of the door. The door opened automatically for the canines, revealing the massive shop inside. The room was a lot bigger than it eyed from the outside, and it was loaded with jewellery. The walls were filled with treasures, and there were displays everywhere. As they entered, the counter was on their right, with a beautiful woman standing behind it.

"Hello there, can I help you?" the woman asked

"Yes, I am Detective Knyght, this is Detective Trigger, we are investigating the death of Jeremy Griffin and we would like to ask you some questions about a purchase he made here." Silvex said

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, but the name doesn't sound familiar. As for your questions, you'll have to take that up with my supervisor" the woman said as she pressed a button next to her microphone. "Ma'am, there are two detectives here to see you" She then released the button. "She'll be right over"

"So, what is your supervisor like, do you think she'll help us?" Chase asked

"Well, I don't think so, she's always so by the books and- Oh hey, Linda." She said as she saw her supervisor approaching them. "These are the detectives I told you about" the woman's face had slightly paled upon seeing her boss approaching.

"So, Detectives, what can I do for-" Linda started before she was interrupted by Silvex.

"Linda?! Is that you?!" Silvex asked. "You really moved up in the world!"

"Silvex?! What are you doing here?!" Linda asked as she recognized him. "Please don't tell me that one of my employees has been murdered"

"No, don't worry, your employees are fine, I think. But you're right, someone has been murdered. Tell me, does the name Jeremy Griffin mean anything to you?" Silvex asked.

"I do remember him, he was looking for something special for his sister's birthday." Linda said

"And did he buy something?" Chase asked

"Yes, he bought a golden Royale bracelet for ten grand." Linda said. "Did you find it on him?"

"No, we didn't. So maybe he managed to give it to her, or the killer might have taken it. Either way, we're going to talk to his sister" Silvex said as he walked to the door "See you around, Linda"

"Not if I see you first." Linda said

"Do we know where his sister lives?" Chase asked Silvex as they headed for the door.

"No, but the database does. We'll just search her like we searched her brother" Silvex said

"So this is where his sister, what was her name lives?" Chase asked Silvex as he looked up at the dark grey building. "It's like living in the gutter."

"Her name is Jessie Griffin, and yeah, this is a dump." Silvex said as he too got out of the car. "She's in apartment 829, on the eight floor."

As they entered the building, they saw a sign on the elevator with the words 'no longer deffect' on it, so decided to use the stairs. It was a long climb, but they eventually reached the 8th floor.

"Let's see…" Chase said as he walked through the corridor. "821, 823, 825, 827-"

"What's the matter, Chase? Did you forget what comes after 827?" Silvex joked. He then saw what Chase was looking at, and immediately pulled his gun out. Chase did the same as they walked towards the door that wasn't locked but instead, half-opened. To make it even worse, there was a bloody handprint on the side of the door. Silvex slowly opened it, both him and Chase aiming their guns inside.

"Ugh, what is that smell?" Chase asked Silvex as he pressed a paw against his nose.

"That's the stench of death." Silvex said as he walked inside. "We have to clear this place room by room"

They both walked in, Silvex went right, Chase went left, and they slowly cleared the entire apartment. As Chase entered the last room on his side, the kitchen, his eyes lingered for a little on something that was lying on the kitchen floor, before he cleared the rest of said room.

"Clear" Silvex yelled as he had checked his side of the apartment.

"Clear, but Silvex, you need to see this…" Chase yelled back

"What is it, Chase?" Silvex asked as he walked towards the kitchen. Chase didn't need to answer, for Silvex already saw the corpse lying on the floor.

"H-he seems to have been shot through the head instantly, so the struggle that happened in the rest of the room wasn't because of him. My guess is that whoever shot him also took Jessie" Chase said

"We have to call this in." Silvex said before calling dispatch "We have a murder and a possible kidnapping"