I want to thank Phazon, AccessBlade, Fenrir of the Shadows, and Wavebreeze for the reviews from last chapter. It's great to see more people dropping by this story now. And great timing too, because the action is starting to pick up. To address a couple of points first, the forum on Lloyd's website is meant to be like a parallel world to the real world, as the fans take on what they feel should happen should Gil's novel exist in real life. So if the posts seem a bit tedious, it's because I want to show what the fans are thinking. As well, due to requests from a couple of people, Cress Albane, the first Tales hero, will make a cameo appearance in this chapter. So get ready for this wild ride!

Namco owns Tales of Symphonia. AccessBlade owns Cameryn Lachance. Fenrir of the Shadows owns Azul Kharlan. Legend of Zelda 4 Life owns Oni Sheikah. I own Cabalina Ashton and Robert Ross.

"Professor Albane, are you there?" Sheena asked, gently knocking on the lab door while waiting patiently outside. It was the next day, when the conference was about to begin. Sheena was hoping to meet with the main speaker one more time before attending the talk, but Albane was nowhere to be found at the auditorium. Why was there a delay?

"The professor's not in. If you don't have something urgent, then I suggest you please leave," a younger voice called in a snarky tone. Sheena craned her neck just in time to see Andy, the graduate student being accused of academic misconduct, stalking up to her. The blond TA glared at her with emotionless eyes and an otherwise unfriendly face. It was a sight that sent a shiver down the Mizuho native's spine.

Despite the chill emanating from the room, Sheena took a deep breath and struck a civil tone. "I'm just looking for the professor, that's all," she insisted, lifting her hands and gesturing for calmness, "I'm sorry if I disturbed you, and I'll be happy if you can tell me where he went."

Instead of taking it easy, Andy unleashed a tirade on Sheena. "I had to slave away all night last night just to finish that proposal for the professor, just so he could have a copy of my record with him when he meets with the committee. But if you think he's there to defend me, then you're sadly mistaken. I doubt he'll do anything more than trying to cover his own butt and hanging me out to dry. So if all you're doing is..."

"What's going on?" Sheena turned around to face the source of the new voice. Luckily, it was Professor Albane, which made Sheena feel a bit more at ease. "I was handing papers into the main department office, after the academic committee gave me a date for Andy's hearing," he explained, "Sheena, are you looking for me because of the lecture?"

"Yes, I was hoping to ask a couple of things before the conference starts," Sheena replied meekly, albeit more confidently than when Andy first confronted her, "I certainly didn't mean to interrupt some people's work, whatever they're doing here," Sheena concluded sharply, giving Andy an unfriendly stare of her own while turning to leave.

"Hey, I'm busy enough as is. And with this type of system working in our department, it's no wonder graduate students here are so disgruntled!" Andy retorted, glaring at the Mizuho native the entire way. Notwithstanding the renovation crew's arrival, the tension was mounting between Andy and Sheena, causing Albane to intervene.

"Raine works just as hard for Dr. Brunel next door, but you don't hear her complain about how the system is being unfair to her," the middle-aged man responded, staring back at him uncompromisingly, "Is that the attitude you use to treat anyone who disturbs you? Then no wonder all the undergrads in your lab section are writing complaints about you."

Before Andy could get another word in, Albane stepped away from his lab. Joining Sheena, he proceeded to discussing the topics of interest with her while heading for the auditorium downstairs, where he was to give his talk. In the lab, Andy could do nothing more than clench his fists and his teeth, grumbling incoherently under his breath. "This is ridiculous," he muttered before storming back to his desk.

The blond TA was silent as he sat on his chair, staring aimlessly at the ceiling and mulling over what happened in the past few days. Not only was he caught with academic dishonesty, all his undergrad students were reporting him to the professor and the department. The sad part was it seemed like nobody was on his side. Just yesterday, Albane was so busy talking about his conference and his son's fencing skills that it felt like Andy was no longer a priority in the man's eyes. What type of supervisor would do that to their only research assistant?

And speaking of the son, Andy was particularly incensed at the junior Albane, who made appearances to the lab recently. Each time he was looking for his father, either talking about his fencing practice or matches. Didn't that boy realize there were more important things to do than to discuss such trivial things? "I'm about five years older than Albane Jr., but yet I know better than that," Andy murmured bitterly, "Albane's got his priorities mixed up, that's for sure."

Yet on the issue of priorities, something flickering from the side of the room caught Andy's attention. It was the fish tank that Albane kept in his lab. Andy could never figure out why the professor was so interested in keeping tropical fish in an archaeology lab, especially in a tank that didn't even work properly. With the light flashing nonstop for weeks, every time Andy stared at that thing he felt like clawing his eyes out. "How expensive is it to fix a darn light bulb anyway?" he grumbled, getting out of his seat and approaching the tank.

The irascible TA showed up, glaring at the animals in irritation. He lifted the lid off the tank, causing the fish to swim uneasily. Other than Albane, he was the only one who usually had access to the fish, and knew how to fix the sputtering light. Andy recalled one day that the tank was flashing again while Albane's son dropped by. Naturally, Junior was asking why it had such problems, and Andy was not pleased by the younger man's attitude. "If he's so concerned about the light, why didn't he do Pops a favour and fixed it himself?" Andy snorted.

Nonetheless, until Albane chose to focus more on the tank, it would always be up to Andy to jiggle the wires. Rolling up a sleeve, the TA slipped a hand into the water, feeling for the wires that connected to the lamp. There were several wires that lined the top of the tank, and Andy knew he had to be extra careful to not come in contact with the water while he jiggled them around. "Where on earth are those lines?"

Just as Andy wrapped his fingers on the wires, a jolting sensation shot through his body. Countless volts of electricity surged through him as he tried jerking his hand away, only to drop his fingers and the wires into the water. By then, the whole tank was filled with electricity, surging through Andy's body and literally cooking the TA alive. Andy was nothing more than a flipping puppet against the wires, completely powerless to stop the current.

"Andy, I'm not here to bother you, but...Holy Cow!" Sheena exclaimed as she entered the room. Originally, she was only here to grab a set of notes that Albane forgot to bring with him. She didn't even want to be here when Albane requested that she fetched the notes, given how aggressive Andy was to her earlier. But now, it seemed like there was a whole new ballgame.

Sheena's eyes shot around the room quickly, hoping there was a long pole that did not conduct electricity around. Despite her frantic nerves, Sheena remembered that grabbing a victim while the electricity was still surging through him would result in being electrocuted herself. Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm herself, she rifled through the room for the object in question. "Isn't there a broom or mop around here?" she ranted frenetically.

But it was too late for her, as Andy fell from the tank and flopped onto the ground. His body convulsed involuntarily and hissed with electricity. Sheena lifted her head just in time to see the blond-haired young man's lifeless expression, nearly making her lose her breakfast on the spot. "I got to get help," she eked out, reaching into her pocket with a shaking hand while racing next door to the Brunel lab, "I hope Raine has a healing spell that can cure one of being electrocuted," Sheena muttered as she dialled 9-1-1, her palms now filling with perspiration.

"When did Captain Noishe say he'll be back from the press conference?" Presea asked Cameryn as they waited for their captain to return. With the lack of leads from current evidence and half their team returning to the campsite, Noishe figured to go public with some of their findings, in hopes that someone involved with the campsite could help them out. With Gil inside his office and Azul, Oni, and Cabalina at the scouts' camp, the unit was strangely silent.

Cameryn smiled. "He should be back by lunchtime, if I recall correctly," the strawberry blond secretary responded, flipping through her day planner, "Presea, don't worry about it. I'm sure if everything comes back from the campsite, we should have a new lead."

"Oh, it's not the new leads I'm worried about. If there were visitors recorded for that camp, then a new lead goes without saying," Presea replied, taking a seat in front of Cameryn's large desk. The corner that Cameryn used to occupy in the office looked much emptier now that some documents had been taken to the Archives Department. It was a sight that Cameryn looked forward to, given it made her area that much easier to organize. "I'm just saying that there seems to be something weird about the way this death happened."

Cameryn stopped her work to stare straight into Presea's eyes. Other than the ventilation system above, not a sound could be heard in the empty unit. "You know I've bought a copy of Gil's book, right?" Presea stated, pulling out Gil's novel from her lap, "Well, I haven't gotten too far into it yet, but I did read enough of it so far to pick up something unusual, at least in terms of application to our case. Do you have a copy, by the way?" she asked.

Cameryn shook her head. "No, I'm afraid I haven't gotten a chance to get to the bookstore recently. But if I do visit the bookstore in the near future, I'll be sure to look for that novel," Cameryn stated, "Anyway, what's so unusual about the book?"

Presea flipped to the page where her bookmark was. "I just finished reading the sequence where the detective found out about the first death," she explained, her eyes lining through the words, "I found out that in terms of details, the first death in the book almost mirrors the death at the campsite. If you don't mind spoilers, let me tell you a bit about it."

Cameryn leaned her body eagerly over the desk, hearing Presea point out each and every detail. "The killer in the book chose a secluded area, an alley of sorts where few people would frequent. In that environment, there were these old signs that hung above the streets, and the killer spotted his target as someone who had a storage room right below that sign. To make the kill, the killer cut the chains holding that sign up and allowed it to fall on the target when the target went to the storage room. The target was instantly killed."

Cameryn froze, the colour flushing in and out of her face. Flipping through the notes she typed up on the campground case, she pointed out each important detail. "The chains holding this sign up were also cut, and they were anchored down in the bushes, meaning they weren't easily accessible. The deceased was at the storage room earlier, which is similar to what was written in the book," she described, "Are you saying someone was mimicking that character?"

Presea shrugged. "It's just a hunch, and until we get more evidence to prove that, I don't think I can make more out of this," she conceded, leaning her back on her chair, "I just find it odd that within a week of this novel's debut, there would be a death so similar to it. It makes me wonder if the campsite killer is a fan of Gil's work."

The strange silence was broken by a cheerful voice greeting them from the unit entrance. "Why is it so quiet in here?" it asked. Presea and Cameryn lifted their heads just in time to see Robert's heavyset frame leaning against the door. "Where did everyone go?" Robert queried.

"Hey Bob," Presea greeted her former teammate, "the rest of the team is on the field, Captain Noishe is at a press conference, and Gil's huddled in his office." Presea gestured at the chair next to hers in front of Cameryn's desk, to which Robert promptly approached and plopped himself down on. "Aren't you busy at Archives today? Don't you have training to do?"

Robert shrugged. "Paperwork isn't anything I can't handle. Plus, the team lead won't be in until the afternoon, so there's not much for me to do there," the large man responded, "I have some free time, and the other guys got everything handled, so I might as well pop in for a visit."

"Won't you get in trouble for that?" Cameryn asked, worry and concern seeping through her glasses, "The police chief created the Archives Department to make us more productive with our working time. What if he finds out that you guys are slacking off in Archives?"

Robert chuckled at Cameryn's comment. "Do you really believe that, Cameryn? I'd be more convinced if you told me Anthony Marshall was upset at me. But this guy, not a chance," Robert scoffed with a careless wave of the hand, "The only reason this guy was made Marshall's replacement was because he was endorsed by the ethics commissioner, and he was endorsed only because he was by-the-book. Marshall knew what he was doing, and had our organizational structure down to a tee. This guy only knows how to refer to the rules, which happens to be set and audited by the ethics commissioner. What type of a chief do you call that then?"

"This is the same ethics commissioner that investigated Major Crimes and SIU after Chief Marshall was thrown off that building, right?" Presea asked, recalling to her days when she was still a Cruxis mole. From what Gil told her, the ethics commissioner cleared both Noishe and Captain Eric Burton of Presea's former unit, but not before humiliating them with all sorts of strange questions and policies. It was something that neither captain was fond of, even though everyone knew each unit was merely doing its assigned job.

Robert nodded. "The ethics commissioner is a career bureaucrat. He doesn't have a single investigative bone in his body," Robert spat with disgust, "He hides in his little office behind his mountain of policies, and attacks anyone he doesn't like with them. He has an answer already set for each party, and just cherry-picks the right policy to make his idea fit. He either likes you or he doesn't, but you're guaranteed to get pummelled if he ever investigates you. He only endorses the most by-the-book person to be chief so he can further exert his policies. It's sad, really."

"I wouldn't say that," a male voice commented. All three heads lifted to see the hallway behind Cameryn's desk to see Gil step out of his office. "I know the ethics commissioner isn't the most popular guy around, but you have to admit that his role is required. Who will check the powers of the upper level staff when things get out of control?" Gil asked rhetorically, leaning the left side of his body against the wall while crossing his arms, "Anyway, let's forget about him. How are things at Archives, Bob? Anything interesting there we should know about?"

"Ah, yes," Robert replied, his goofy grin returning as he listed off the special features in his new department, "I'm happy to say that our database of old cases is up and running. We have the cases sorted by status; either they are completed, incomplete, or cold. We also have a list of those with criminal records available in a centralized storage system. Today, we are supposed to start up on a system that checks people who went through identity changes, such as changing names or other important governmental information. When our team lead comes in this afternoon I will check on that. But overall, the progress seems to be working well."

Just then, the unit telephone rang, making Cameryn excuse herself while Gil brought Presea and Robert to Presea's cubicle. "So all data are online, and any officer wanting to access the database just has to log in? Or will you actually have to retrieve it for us?" Gil asked Robert.

"Well, a few things still have to be fine-tuned, mainly because the databases are still quite new," Robert explained, "Until we can get the IT Department to come do a full quality control run, we aren't too keen on letting the other officers use them from their units yet. But I assure you, if you ever want anything, just give me a call and I'll try to have it done for you within twenty-four hours. Do you have my new extension number, by the way?"

Before Gil could answer Robert, Cameryn's voice sliced through the air. "Sergeant, Presea, we have another strange death. This time it is at the University of Iselia," Cameryn reported, "I got this call from the forensics team, who are at the crime scene right now. The victim was electrocuted when reaching into a fish tank, and they believe the tank was tampered with. They would like you to go take a look immediately."

Gil, Presea, and Robert all froze. Their first mysterious death was barely investigated through, and now there was a second one? What was going on in Iselia the past week?

The university lab was messier than usual as officers scoured the area for evidence. Many artefacts and other research materials had to be moved out of the way for the police, who also had to deal with ongoing renovation to the hallways. As Gil and Presea observed from their end of the hall, they were suddenly relieved that Cabalina, Azul, and Oni chose to revisit the scouts' camp instead. "Think how chaotic it'd be if they also showed up," Gil commented, "With all these bodies moving around, I doubt anything can get done efficiently."

Approaching the doorway to the Albane lab, Gil and Presea observed the crime scene. According to the phone call fielded by Cameryn, the death was caused by electricity leaking from the fish tank. The object in question was placed near the back of the lab, the light now off and the tropical fish all belly-up. The deceased was Professor Albane's graduate student and research assistant Andy, whose body was now covered by a tarp and being lifted onto a stretcher. "No doubt the coroner will be having a good look at that," Presea pointed out.

Before Gil could reply, something from the corner of his eye got his attention. "Presea, why don't you go into the lab and speak with the forensics team first," Gil suggested, "I just saw someone here that perhaps I should have a word with." With that, he turned away from the pink-haired officer and hurried in the opposite direction, towards the lab just next door.

Two familiar figures were outside the adjacent lab, belonging to Gil's good friend Frank Brunel. One figure was female, with silver hair, and standing over a seated figure with black hair. The seated young woman was slouched over, her face slightly pale and her hands shaking even as she held a glass of water. A police officer stood before them, still jotting down answers from the silver-haired half-elf, who was also looking over at her friend.

Sensing things were not well, the staff sergeant decided to intervene. "Do you mind if I take over?" Gil offered, placing a hand on the uniformed officer. As the interviewer ceded to his superior, Gil turned to the two familiar faces. "Raine, Sheena, I assume you know what occurred over there, right? Are you alright? Did you see anything?" Gil asked gently. He was especially concerned with Sheena, who had bad memories of electrocution. In an incident that occurred years back, Sheena's grandfather was involved in an accident with the Summon Spirit of Lightning, Volt. Despite coming from a military family, it was something that still haunted her.

"It was so scary," Sheena murmured, her eyes still pointing at the ground while her head shook slightly, "I thought imagining my grandfather's team being hit by Volt was bad enough, but this time I had to actually watch someone being electrocuted. I went in just to get some notes for Professor Albane, and there he was flopping around like crazy. It was horrible!"

Raine placed a hand on Sheena's shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Sheena came into my lab in complete shock, telling me to help her all the while she was calling on her cellphone," Raine described, "I went over to the other lab and Andy already collapsed onto the ground. He was already convulsing, and by the time I reached him, he was pretty much gone."

Raine's words slammed into Gil like a brick. According to what Raine said, there might not even be enough time to revive Andy. "You did try to use First Aid on him, right? And I assume that didn't work out well?" Gil queried, his tone now sombre.

Raine shook her head gravely. "First Aid is meant to be a temporary healing spell, capable of making a weak body last longer than what is usually expected," Raine explained, "I did try to use that on him, but the problem is that he's close to death. Even if slight healing was done, it only prolonged his lifespan by less than ten minutes. By the time the paramedics arrived, resuscitation was the only thing they could do, and they weren't successful in that."

Gil clacked his tongue. How could a supposedly functioning fish tank suddenly go haywire like that? Most fish tanks were very safe, and leaking of electricity was very rare. Was the forensics team correct when they hypothesized that there was tampering here? "Did you guys notice what the fish tank was like before? Was it malfunctioning even before today?" Gil asked.

Raine and Sheena thought back to yesterday, when they originally approached Albane. "Albane did say that the tank flickered quite a bit before, but he never really called a technician to fix it," Raine replied, "I think he said something along the lines of nobody really observing his fish anyway, so it wasn't a priority for him. The rest of the details, you'll have to ask the professor when he arrives. He's currently at a conference right now and can't be reached."

Gil nodded his head, making a mental note to bring Albane in for questioning whenever he could be reached. "Did you notice anything going on with the deceased prior to today?" Gil continued, "Have you spoken to him? Did anyone go in and out of the lab? That sort of thing?"

Raine took a deep breath, recollecting the details from her last encounter with Andy. "Sheena and I did go to the lab yesterday, and we saw Andy in an argument with Professor Albane. It was something about academic dishonesty and that Andy was being investigated by an academic committee or something," Raine recalled, "I know after Professor Albane told Andy to make a summary on his progress as Albane's assistant, Andy left us alone. Sheena and I then talked to Professor Albane for a while, and after that I went back to my lab. What happened in there with Sheena, Albane, and Andy, I don't know."

Two sets of eyes landed on Sheena, who lifted her head hesitantly. Her eyes were near the point of watery as she unsteadily lifted the glass of water to her mouth. She took a sip with great difficulty before addressing Gil's point. "I was with Albane for a few more minutes, but I didn't notice anything going on," she replied in a hoarse voice, "I didn't even recall Andy speaking to us for the duration of the visit or the rest of the day."

"But have you seen him after yesterday's visit but before his death this morning?" Gil asked again, "I mean, given you said there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the tank during the time you were there, that means there has to be a time when it malfunctioned..."

"Actually, I did see him this morning," Sheena interrupted, her voice a little stronger, "I wanted to talk to Professor Albane just before he presented, but ran into Andy instead. He was pretty unfriendly, and didn't want me around. Professor Albane showed up and we left, but I did not touch the tank at all. By the time I went back, he was already convulsing..."

"Sheena, don't worry. I'm not accusing you of murder, so this won't be a repeat of the Altamira incident," Gil assured the Mizuho native, referring to their last vacation in Altamira when Sheena was accused of attacking her high school classmate with a wine bottle, "I still have to talk to forensics about that fish tank, so a lot still has to be confirmed before I can judge what went on. But either way, that was all you saw? You came back to the lab once more to retrieve some notes Albane left behind, and that's when the event happened?"

Sheena could only nod weakly as she tried sipping from her glass again. From beside her, Raine tilted her head a couple of times at Gil, signalling him to stop asking questions. Sensing how uncomfortable Sheena still was, Gil cut short his interrogation and stepped away from the twosome. The goateed man still had some issues to sort out, but decided to let Sheena calm down before proceeding. "She should still be in town for the rest of the week, right? Maybe I can ask her to come in later on," Gil murmured to himself.

But before Gil could re-enter the Albane lab, the forensics team blocked his way. The plainclothes staff sergeant then saw three forensics members hoisting the fish tank onto a waiting cart, the glass case still filled with water and dead fish. From his angle, he could still see the loose wires hanging loosely from the top of the tank, with the uncovered metallic ends dipping into the water. How could it be possible that these wires, which should usually be tucked neatly away as to avoid the water, hung so nonchalantly down, to the point where it was dangerously touching the water? Was this a result of the tank being tampered with? Did Professor Albane know about this, or did someone else do the dirty work?

"How do we want to reassign the workload right now?" Noishe asked the team, who now gathered in the meeting room again. It was already late afternoon, and facing them was not just one, but two suspicious deaths. It put Cabalina, Azul, and Oni in quite a predicament, having returned to the unit to drop all the documents and information retrieved from the campsite, just to start interrogations with witnesses on a case that they had no idea about.

"Well, we pretty much have to split them down the middle, right?" Gil suggested, waving at two large piles of documents, "I know Cabalina, Azul, and Oni were the ones to revisit the campsite again, so if they want to follow up that case then Presea and I are more than willing to let them. By the way, what did you guys find out from there?"

"Well, we did discover that there is one visitor to the campsite that was unaccounted for," Cabalina reported, nonchalantly flipping through the stack of papers from the scouts' camp, "The log recorded this Frank Warner character visiting the camp for a few days that week, including the day of the death. I'm not sure who he is, because he didn't really write down his business or association. But I think this may be a lead we should investigate."

Noishe nodded. At least Gil was correct when he insisted on investigating the campsite again. "So do we have a lead on this Frank Warner person? Has anyone in the camp made any references to him at all, or does no one recall such a character?"

Azul shook his head. "We did ask a few staff members at that camp if they saw anyone going by that name around the area, and most of them said they did. However, this individual tended to keep to himself and didn't really communicate or intermingle with everyone else, so the amount most staff knew about Frank Warner was minimal at best," Azul described, crossing his arms and glaring at the mountain of pages, "From what we gathered, the only person staff members saw Frank Warner talk to was the deceased, no one else."

Noishe and Gil glanced nervously at each other. While there was a lead, it was tenuous at best. Unless there was more information on an actual relationship between the deceased and this suspect, there was not much they could do. "You did gather some evidence, right?" Gil asked.

Cabalina nodded. "We have several important pieces that came from the deceased's office, which may lead to finding out something on this Frank Warner character," she explained, "I just gave it all to Cameryn for logging in, and we'll look at them another time. We haven't really gotten a chance to start on them since you called us back to look at the fish tank case."

"And we got fairly limited witnesses for that case as well," Gil added, "Presea and I did some interviewing, with me handling Sheena Fujibyashi, who found the deceased, and Raine Sage, who tried unsuccessfully to heal the deceased. I may call them in again tomorrow to get more details, but from what I know, neither was in that lab for a long time. At least, not long enough to do something to that fish tank without being noticed. The forensics report on the fish tank has been released already, is that correct, Presea?"

The pink-haired officer nodded. "The forensics report states that the wires were loosened and the plastic covering was cut off of them. This confirms the idea that someone did tamper with the fish tank. When the deceased reached in to jiggle them around, his hand came in contact with the metallic conducting part," she read aloud, flipping through a file belonging to the other pile of documents on the main table, "I also managed to speak with Professor Albane, who told me other than his family, who may access his keys when he brings them home, and Andy, who had an extra set of keys, no one has any other method of getting in."

"I would assume security may have access to the room, mainly for emergency purposes, yes?" Gil pointed out, flipping through a folder of his own, "Have we spoken with security members on duty last night? And what's the news on the Albane family right now?"

"Security told some of the other officers on scene that while they did have an extra key, none of them entered the lab. They reported that Andy was there even after Albane left already, so they didn't see a need to check further," Presea replied, her eyes calmly scanning the pages, "As for the Albane family, Professor Albane himself said he was home quite early, and was willing to bring his wife in here for an interview as his witness. Apparently they were having a dinner party, and the only one not there was their son, who came home after all the guests left."

But before Gil could inquire further, a young man burst into their conference room, all the while Cameryn tried to hold him back. "Are you guys the ones investigating my dad? And you wanted my mom to come down here as well?" he demanded. From Gil's angle, he could see the young man stood about five feet nine inches and had sandy brown hair with a red bandana tied around his forehead. He wore a white sports jacket and black track pants, but surprisingly only one glove on his right hand. "Well, who's in charge here?" he yelled again.

At this moment, Gil decided to take action. Waving a reassuring hand to the flustered Cameryn Lachance, who was quite embarrassed by her failure to stop the intruder from barging into the conference room, Gil met the newcomer at the doorway. "My name is Sergeant Gil Irving," he greeted the brunette with a smile, "I'm in charge of the case dealing with the fish tank in the lab. Why don't you give me your name and we'll see if we can help you?"

"You're the one who's holding up my father in here, right?" the young man accused, jabbing a gloved right finger into Gil's face while fishing into his pants pocket with his left. Gil's eyes keyed in on a cellphone being pulled out, flipped open, and a text message appearing on the screen. "He wrote me a text telling me that he's at the police station and that my mother has to be brought in. Why are you holding him? What are you accusing him of?"

"Oh, you must be Cress Albane, aren't you? You're the son of Professor Miguel Albane, right?" Gil exclaimed, reaching back to the table for another file, "Yes, we're just keeping your father here until your mother arrives. I assure you that both your parents, Miguel and Maria, are only here to help us with the investigation. At no time are we accusing them of anything, nor will we keep them longer than is required. Your mother is on her way here, correct?"

"This is wrong! You shouldn't be grabbing my parents like this! What justice is this?" Cress ranted, his finger continuing to peck on Gil's face, "You police officers are supposed to be upholding justice by punishing wrongdoers, not hardworking, loving parents like mine!"

Gil wiped his brow while glancing back at his team, all of whom had stunned looks on their faces. It was evident that Cress was a hot-blooded individual with a great sense of justice, but was also fiercely defensive of his family, willing to be very aggressive on anyone who made them suffer. Sensing things were not working well, Gil turned on his quirky side. "Well, of course we're striving for justice," he answered with a stretched grin, similar to the one he used on the creepy hotel manager in Altamira, "I mean, you're a taxpayer, so we don't want to waste your money. Why don't we take this conversation elsewhere and away from these sets of eyes?"

Gil led Cress away from the conference room, leaving Noishe to hesitantly give out the rest of the instructions. "So since Presea is following up on the fish tank case, why don't you wait until Mrs. Albane arrives and do the interrogation with her?" he suggested, "As for the scouts' camp case, we'll let Cameryn finish logging in all the evidence first, and then I want you to get started on combing through Walker's books tomorrow. Everybody got that?"

The meeting broke up with everyone taking the documents back outside, now having to re-sort them for further investigation. Azul and his trainee Oni went through the campsite case while Cabalina helped Presea with the fish tank case. "By the way, where do you live?" Azul asked the blond half-elf, "I mean, I don't believe you have a car, do you?"

Oni smiled. "I don't have a car, but I do drive," he responded, "I actually have a motorcycle license, and I drive a motorbike to work. You never noticed my motorcycle helmet under my desk?" Oni moved to his cubicle where he reached under his desk, yanking out a dark brown helmet that glistened in the light. "Although I'm not heading home yet, as I'll visit a fellow half-elf first. I'm starting my mana control lessons with Genis Sage today."

Azul nodded, recalling the interview he had with Genis at the campsite. Oni was there that night, and after speaking with Genis, the two half-elves exchanged phone numbers. Genis was more than willing to teach Oni some mana manipulation skills, and set up a time with Oni to proceed with the lessons. "I'm glad you guys are getting along then," Azul commented, watching Oni place the helmet back, "But still, you're not showing up wearing those clothes, right?"

Oni took a gander at his clothing. Per Gil's instructions, Oni ditched the uniform and wore clothes that he normally favoured. Today, he had on a black Loni-Kyle shirt that bared his midriffs, coupled with black cargo pants that tucked neatly into his motorcycle boots. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?" Oni asked curiously.

The entire unit snickered as Oni's eyes alternated confusedly between his clothing and his teammates. "Uh, Oni, why do you think Genis Sage is known as the 'belly button fanatic' to everyone around him?" Cabalina asked, "So what on earth do you think Genis will do if he sees you with that part of your body showing?"

Oni looked down, seeing that his deep concave navel was indeed front and centre. Tilting his eyes back and forth, he suddenly didn't feel so comfortable. "I hope he's not going to go too crazy with me, right?" Oni asked hesitantly, looking around helplessly for some reassurance.

"Okay Cress, let's cut to the chase here," Gil stated, flipping through the notes from Professor Albane's testimony from earlier. They were in the same interrogation room Presea was when she interviewed Jacob Horace, the former supplier of the deceased in the campsite death. But this time, Gil only had the desk lamp on, making the room quite dark and cool. "You are aware of Andy Linton's existence, yes? You do know this individual?"

"Of course I know him. He's been the one given my dad all that grief about how much work has to be done or whatever!" Cress exclaimed, waving his arms around. He then described the last year when Andy worked under Professor Albane. "I have no idea how any faculty could accept this type of graduate student, and he's brought my dad nothing but trouble. I got friends in Dad's archaeology class, and they have Andy as a TA. Can you imagine the complaints I hear from them? With the way they pour it on, my friends might as well be criticizing my dad!"

Gil nodded thoughtfully, scribbling down a few side notes. "So in other words, it's quite evident that you don't like Andy very much, correct?" he asked, "I assume you've met him informally, at least? I mean, you do have access to your father's lab, right?"

"You bet. I visit my dad's lab all the time when I don't have class, and I've seen that guy there," Cress responded, recalling details of his many encounters with the deceased, "Each time he saw me he acted like I was trespassing, and was always trying to get me to leave. Excuse me? Now I can't even visit my father in my free time? What law did I break by visiting that lab?" Cress concluded with a flash of anger in his eyes and a slam of his hand on the desk.

Like Presea did before, Gil adjusted the desk lamp a bit, making sure it wasn't damaged by the shot. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm Cress' nerves before continuing. "I know you don't have a good relationship with the deceased, given his unfriendly attitude towards you and the negative impression of your father he created on your friends," Gil stated carefully, "But I'm not going to make you a suspect just because of that, unless you did openly want to harm him..."

"Hold on, when did I say I wanted him dead?" Cress demanded, waving his sword-like finger in Gil's face again, "Why would I want to further ruin my family's reputation after what that moron did to my dad? I got better things to do than waste my time on that loser!"

Before Gil could respond, Presea gently opened the door and waved a file at him. "Are you still interviewing Cress Albane?" she asked, "If you are, then I think this file may be of use to you. It's some details on the Albane family that the professor offered this morning."

Gil reached for the file while nodding to the petite officer in gratitude. "By the way, you're not too busy, right? Can you stick around for a second? Mrs. Albane hasn't shown up yet, and I think the unit can handle whatever they're doing by themselves for a while."

Presea cocked an eyebrow. "Cabalina is helping me sort some files on the case," she replied. Was it right to just ditch her and stayed with Gil while he interviewed Cress?

Yet somehow, Presea was drawn to the table, quietly sitting next to Gil's right. Gil had that strange twinkle in his eye, meaning a weird idea was about to be executed in front of the junior Albane. Presea observed Gil nonchalantly flipping through his notes before turning his eyes back at the young man. "So tell me, Cress," he began, that distinctive mix of sarcasm and cynicism so evident in his tone, "judging from your hands, I'm guessing you're a fencer, right? Fencers only wear one glove, and that's the case right here." Gil waved at Cress' encased right hand, "So were you fencing or something like that last night?"

"Yeah, I'm part of the fencing team at school. And yes, I had practice last night. I stayed until close to eight p.m., before I picked up my girlfriend Mint and met up with my best friend Chester, who's on the archery team," Cress regurgitated each point to Gil, "I have an alibi and witnesses, so there's no way you can accuse me of killing the deceased."

Gil lifted his hands, as if in surrender. "Again, I never said you killed the deceased, or even touched that fish tank. But your father did say other than your family or the deceased, no one has access to the lab. Given the fish tank has a light that doesn't really work, and your father has yet to fix it, maybe he would ask you for help?" Gil suggested, flashing a tilted grin at Cress.

The fencer was not too pleased at Gil's remark. Cress' eyes narrowed to darts, shooting a death glare at the goateed man. "What relevance does that statement possibly have to me?"

"Well, think about this," Gil responded, his gestures getting more and more flamboyant. He leaned his elbow onto the desk, cupping his chin dramatically and matching his goofy grin with a thinking pose. "You claim you were fencing, and didn't go to the lab. But according to reports, Andy was at the lab until quite late. With security not checking the lab after your father left, who knew what happened then? And with that fish tank's light being the killing source..."

"Hold on! Are you implying I sneaked into the lab and tampered with the fish tank?" Cress howled, throwing up his hands in frustration, "You're police officers, and your job is to uphold justice, not make up fairy tales on the fly. If you keep making these preposterous claims against my family, I'll file a complaint against your unit for harassment!" Cress roared, ending with another slam of his fist onto the desk for emphasis.

Barely a second passed before a gentle click could be heard, the lamp suddenly shutting off and throwing the entire interrogation room into darkness. Presea was especially shocked by the act, given what she witnessed when she interrogated in this room before. "That lamp sure took a lot of abuse, and now it gave way, thanks to yet another suspect who doesn't care for our property," she commented, shooting Cress a look darker than the surroundings.

Now it was Cress' turn to be on the defensive. "Officers, I assure you, I didn't mean to damage your lamp. So I got emotional and was too carried away, but I didn't do it on purpose!" he pleaded, his eyes tilting back and forth between the pink-haired officer and the goateed staff sergeant, both of whom shooting back emotionless stares.

Gil purposely prolonged the silence by staring at Presea, casually shrugging at Cress' suggestion. "So even if you won't get charged for murder, we can still have you charged for damaging property," Gil retorted, "You realize your tax dollars pay for our equipment?"

After getting a gentle nudge from Gil, Presea added her two cents as well. "Two sets of eyes just saw you slam that hand on the desk, and within a second that light went out," she chimed in, "I already told you about my last suspect, who slammed his hand on the desk like you did. Since you're the straw that broke the camel's back, maybe we can demand compensation."

Cress' mouth nearly hit the ground in response. Gil and Presea kept gawking suspiciously at him, refusing to back down an inch. "Guys, I didn't know that the lamp took damage before, and I certainly didn't mean to break the lamp. I'm sorry!" he exclaimed, his bare left hand rustling his hair just above the bandana in frustration, "I'll do everything, including repairing the damage, but don't charge me or anything. I'm just a student, so I don't have a lot of money!"

Finally, Gil relented. Turning to Presea, he asked her to grab some new bulbs from the storage room. Cress wasn't sure what brand or details the new bulb would have, but could only wish that he had what it took to fix the lamp. "You know how to repair lamps, right Cress?" Gil asked as Presea stepped out of the room, "If you can repair this lamp, we won't charge you."

After what seemed like an eternity, Presea returned with an unopened cubical box. She handed it to Gil, who slipped his hand in nonchalantly and pulled out a new light bulb. "Take this and screw it into the lamp," Gil instructed, handing the new bulb to Cress.

The fencer gently held it like a baby, careful not to break his only chance to get out scot-free. Turning to the powerless lamp, he proceeded to the delicate task of repairing the bulb. "I have to first take out the old bulb..." he murmured to himself, taking deep breaths while placing the new bulb softly on the desk. Wiggling his fingers, he approached the broken lamp and reached for the old bulb. "Just unscrew it, it's that simple," he kept muttering.

Gil and Presea noted Cress' removal of the old bulb, gently placing it on the other side of the table, away from the lamp. Cress' hands did a small dance of their own, the fencer struggling to remember which bulb was which. Picking up the new bulb, he whispered a prayer into it. "Bulb, please work for me, or else I'm a dead man." With that, he pushed it into the lamp.

Surprisingly, the bulb tumbled back out. Cress creased his eyebrows, wondering what just happened. "I did do it right, I think," he mumbled, picking up the bulb again. This time, he pushed harder into the slot, even rotating it a couple of times. Yet no matter how hard he tried, the same result occurred. "This can't be, this is wrong," he stuttered, his tone getting more and more frantic, "Why doesn't this fit? What's going on here?"

From the other side of the table, Gil could only cock an eyebrow at Presea, who tried to hide a small smile of her own. As Cress continued fretting over the bulb, Gil gestured at Presea to look down. The Ozette native glanced at where Gil was pointing, and noticed that Gil's foot was on the power bar. The main electric switch was located just below the ball of Gil's right shoe, and it was in the off position the entire time.

"Dad!" Lloyd called as Gil stepped into his living room. The spiky-haired teen had been watching the evening news while waiting for his father to come home. It was their usual routine, where Lloyd would wait for Gil before they made dinner by either getting started on schoolwork or watching the news. But today, the news was something Lloyd wanted to discuss with Gil.

"Oh, I see you're aware of the police report then," Gil responded, gesturing at the television. On the screen was the press conference Captain Noishe held at the police station earlier today, asking the public for help on the scouts' camp death. "It went on the afternoon news and throughout the radio stations, so the evening news is only a re-broadcast."

Lloyd's eyes alternated back and forth between the kitchen and the television set, not sure what to think of this mysterious crime occurring right in front of him. "So you found out all that about the deceased?" he asked, "The deceased had an affair behind his wife's back, with the wife of his renovation supplier. The deceased's wife left him, the supplier cut the contract, and then he died after getting crushed by a sign. That's an unbelievable sequence!" Lloyd commented.

Gil shrugged, opening up and reaching into the refrigerator. "I have to agree. This type of thing seems more like it would come from a mystery novel rather than real life," he replied, grabbing some ingredients as Lloyd prepared the stove, "I find it odd that I would be the one saying it, since I wrote a mystery novel myself. But still, this is quite unusual, that's for sure."

Lloyd shook his head. "You're not the only one who commented on that," he replied, pulling out some pans, "I was at the website forum earlier, and I saw some people commenting on the death. I'm guessing they already saw it in the afternoon news or heard about it on the radio. Apparently, a few of them don't sympathize with the deceased, given his sleazy nature. Some even asked if this was an act of justice done on him, given the situation."

Gil paused. Placing down the uncooked food on the counter, he turned his dark brown eyes to his son, hearing Lloyd announce the findings on the website. "It was this person going by the name Death Angel who started the thread, claiming that as a staff sergeant in the police force, your job should be to pursue justice. But in cases like this, the poster wrote that someone in the public should step up to pursue justice on their own," Lloyd recalled with a slight shiver, the words clearly disturbing him, "I didn't really post anything to halt the talk, and later on it got worse and worse. Some people were even insisting that they should use the murder techniques in your novel to go after the unjust."

Gil cocked an eyebrow. "What is this, some avengers group? Since when did my mystery novel become inspiration for vigilantism?" Gil spat, clacking his tongue in disgust, "I have to admit that whoever this Death Angel person is, it's not a healthy act to post such hate on the forum, especially when he knows I'm employed by law enforcement."

"But still, don't you think it's odd that they're making comments that refer to your novel on the way these people died?" Lloyd pointed out, grabbing the container Gil pulled from the fridge. Taking off the lid, he tossed the chopped vegetables into the pan and allowed them to simmer. "I mean, it's almost like they want the death at that campsite to mimic the one in the novel. If I recall correctly, didn't the first death in the book involve someone getting crushed by a sign? What if this Death Angel person is hinting at something?"

"You think so too, huh?" Gil responded to Lloyd's suggestion, "I've been getting a nagging feeling about this too. A while back, I told Captain Noishe that I feel this killer must have a good enough knowledge of both the surroundings and the equipment at the campsite to make that clean of a kill. And now that you mentioned it, it does seem like something that came out of my novel. Whoever this scouts' camp killer is, they're way smarter than any I've faced."

Lloyd remained silent, glumly tossing the vegetables into the pan. "Still, we have no more evidence, so anything we say is merely speculation," Gil stated, starting up the stove to heat up another pan, "But whatever the case, something weird is going on here," Gil concluded with a fume. Father and son remained silent, leaving only the sound of sizzling vegetables in the pan. Despite the fresh food, neither Irving had too much appetite to eat right now.

So that's it for now. I do have more twists coming up in later chapters, so hopefully you can come by and see them. As well, does anyone want to see any other Tales characters from Symphonia or other Tales games show up in this fic? I already have a couple of roles in mind, but I'll only proceed if you want me to include cameos. Tell me what you think in your reviews, thank you!