"What have you got so far?" Inspector George asked Ally.

The two were standing just outside of the laboratory in which the forensics team were running tests on the victim's body. Austin had gone home after Ally insisted he get his rest. He got shot, after all, so it would be best for him to avoid any stress. It was stressful enough after the body had been found in the magician's box for everyone. People were panicking and everything had been just chaotic. Ally wouldn't mind getting some sleep, but she settled for sips of her coffee.

"It would help once we know the identity of the victim, but from what I could tell, there was no confrontation. Perhaps it was a surprise attack from behind that knocked out the victim, because I saw no signs of struggle. I doubt the victim consciously went with it willingly either. That would have been painful," Ally winced at the thought have having multiple things go through her body, "it was probably not an accident, so I think it's safe to assume we have a killer on our hands."

The door to the lab swung open and a familiar face appeared. "The tests are done!" The head scientist moved her gaze to Ally. "Oh hey, Ally!"

Ally grinned at her friend. "Hey Trish!"

"We haven't talked in a while," Trish began as they went into the lab where the body was, "do you want to go out for lunch or something sometime? You haven't told me about your newest case yet."

"Sure," Ally agreed.

"Awesome! Back to ol' Patrick here. We did a search on him, turns out he was a guest in the party. He was the CEO of a large business for publishing books. Patrick Cipriano, in addition to being in charge of publishing books, is also an author of a popular teen novel series. Healthy young man, and he had a bright future ahead of him. Beats me why he was murdered." The head scientist shrugged.

George nodded to Trish. "Thank you. So Ally, do you think we're looking at a murder for money?"

"No," Ally said, "something just tells me it wasn't for money. Why bother making a spectacle of it? Does anyone know if he had any family to inherit the money, just in case?"

"Oh, I've got some info. No family, he's a bachelor! Orphaned as a child, and there's no known relatives here-weird," replied Trish, looking at a computer screen.

"He most likely didn't keep in touch with them."

"Bit unusual," commented the inspector.

The detective yawned. "Alright, if that's all, I'll be going home. You should too, George-you've been up all night just like me."

"I'll send you updates if we find anything."

"Bye Ally! I'll text you the details for lunch later."

Ally waved goodbye to them as she walked out the door. She took a taxi back to her apartment, her mind trying to make sense of this new puzzle. However, she was way too tired to function properly. A long nap will hopefully do her some good. She had been up since last night, and it was now five in the morning.

The detective tried to gently and quietly shut the door so she would not wake Austin up. She spotted him laying on the couch, fast asleep. He surprised Ally when he stirred and opened his eyes.

"You're finally back," he said.

"Yeah, it took a while. Were you waiting for me?" Austin should have been sleeping on his own bed, not the couch.

Austin ran a hand through his messy hair. "Yup."

"You shouldn't have," Ally frowned, "Well, now that I'm back, I'm going to sleep. See you later."

"Have fun! I'm going to eat something."

Ally changed into more comfortable clothing once she was in her room. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The detective woke up to the sound of knocking. "Ally, George just called! He's got a list of some people the victim is familiar with, and thought you might have wanted it."

"And you couldn't have just told me later?" Ally groaned.

"It's twelve in the afternoon, Ally. You need to wake up!"

A glance at her clock confirmed it. Damn, was it noon already? "Fine, I'll be out in a minute."

The detective efficiently got dressed and came out of her bedroom feeling much more refreshed. She was more excited for the case now that she was up and going. "Austin," she called, "are you coming with me?"

"Of course!"

Inspector George had sent the list to Ally, and Ally looked through it on her phone. The list had the people's names, along with their contact information, and type of relationship with the late Patrick Cipriano. There were business partners, co-workers, friends, and surprisingly, a therapist. Maybe Patrick had not been so healthy after all.

Her phone vibrated from a text. It was from Trish, and it was about the lunch that they were going to have together.

Trish:
How does dinner at 6:00 sound? Feli's? Sorry, I have a thing going on so I can't do lunch.

Ally:
Sounds great. And no problem, I only just woke up. Cya :)

"Ready to go?" Austin asked Ally.

Ally nodded. "By the way, you're going to be alone tonight. I'm going out for dinner with Trish tonight."

"Aw..."

"You can handle it. Let's go."

"He has always been nice and friendly. I don't see how he would have had any enemies."

The person Austin and Ally were interrogating right now was a co-worker of Patrick's. Noreen, his assistant, showed no signs of being the killer so far. The detective paid close attention to each person they interviewed, as anyone is a suspect. They first asked about Patrick, the last time they were with Patrick, their relationship with him, and anything unusual that happened before he got killed.

Unfortunately, they were both hitting a dead end. Everyone they spoke to said the same thing: Patrick had been normal and kind, and there wasn't anything out of place or different about him before he died. No clues or leads have been found so far, and this was frustrating for Ally.

"Are you sure nothing weird was happening before he, um, passed away?" Austin questioned Noreen.

Noreen shook her head. "Nothing. Shouldn't the police be doing this?"

"We're...part of a special department. When was the last time you saw him?"

"Since I'm his assistant-yesterday. It was like any other day. We'll get off work, and he'll head to his daily appointments."

Now this piqued Ally's interest.

"Appointments?" She said.

"Yes, I arrange them for him," Noreen explained, "Patrick has always had, ah, anxiety problems. He didn't like to talk about it, but the appointments with Doctor Chelson helped."

Ally's mind flashed back to the list. So he's the therapist? "Interesting."

The detective and her friend made eye contact and then they both got up. "Thank you for your time," said Austin, "we really appreciate it."

Noreen wiped at her eye. "No, thank you. I hope you two find the killer who wronged such a good man."

The duo nodded and left the offices of the book publishing company.

"Was she?..." Austin started.

Ally confirmed sadly. "Yes, she was. There was a ring on her, and she took it off. It was likely too painful to bear, but she's worn it for so long the ring is kind of imprinted on her finger. They were engaged for a long time."

"Observant as always, detective."

"It's my job," muttered Ally, looking at her watch, "I have to go meet Trish at Feli's now-it's five o'clock already. Bye!"

"Bye!"

The detective arrived at Feli's Restaurant just in time. She spotted Trish at their usual table by the windows, and made her way to her friend.

"Hey!" She greeted, arms open for a hug.

The scientist hugged back. "Hey, how are you?"

"I've been busy," Ally replied, sitting down at the table, "with my cases and all that. How about you?"

"It's the same as usual. You know, inspecting bodies, and getting the occasional surprise. The one today was brutal. Can you believe someone actually did that?"

Ally opened up the menu despite the fact that she would just order her usual. "Sadly, I'm kind of used to it. It happens when you're out in the field. No offense, though."

"None taken."

Ally and Trish had studied together at university. Although they both took criminology and forensics, they went their separate ways. Trish preferred to work in the safety of a lab, running tests and such. She excelled at it and had risen up as head scientist in a short period of time. Meanwhile, Ally took her knowledge and took it to help the good guys get the bad guys. Those are very different paths, but they both kept in touch and remained best friends.

"So about your latest case with the twins..." Trish started, "I heard a rumor that Alex was...?"

Ally sighed. Of course Trish confronted her right away. "The one who kidnapped the girls, yes."

"Are you okay? I can't imagine, seeing him after all these years-"

"I'm fine." Trish had known Alex too, but wasn't as close to him as Ally was.

"Funny how things just happen," said Trish, "I don't think you've solved your newest case yet?"

"Nope, we're in the progress of talking to some people he knew. We haven't gotten a good lead, but his assistant told us something about how he needed to go to therapy."

"Who would have thought?"

A familiar waiter passed by, took their orders, and left to take another customer's orders. Ally's eyes followed the waiter, and recognized the customer when her eyes landed on him. It was Doctor Chelson, Patrick's therapist. The detective leaned closer to her friend.

She spoke in a whisper. "Speaking of therapy, the doctor himself is right behind us."

"Wow, your work never ends. Are you going to ditch me now to talk to that guy?"

"Um..." Ally felt guilty about leaving her friend already.

Trish rolled her eyes. "Just go, but you owe me."

"Thanks," Ally grinned, "I'll make it up to you I promise!"

Yay for Trish! I cut it off here because if I added the chat with the doctor, it would have been long. This case is going to last longer compared to the first one, because the first one was just a brief intro case. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Who do you think is the murderer?