Disclaimer: I don`t own any canon character of the Sonic series. Alexis, Oxen and Hood are mine.

Let the investigation begin! And if you have an idea of who did it... keep it to yourself, for you might be wrong.

Chapter 2

"Wow… that really breaks the party," Captain Oxen commented. "You`re sure it wasn`t part of the song? All the heavy metal singers out there who scream at every two words in their awful songs… why isn`t country music cool anymore?"

Alexis snickered. "Because country music sucks, boss," he answered. "And it wasn`t heavy metal. It was salsa. You know, that kind of music that comes from the southern Zones of Mobius?"

"Yeah, I know." Oxen scratched his head. "That case is freaking weird."

"I agree," Hood said. He was in Oxen`s office with his friend Alexis. The body had just been brought to him and was waiting in the lab. "I mean, it`s already crazy enough that someone has been killed in an overcrowded place, but it makes no sense that the one who`s framed is Sonic."

"How could you even think about that, Oxen? That`s stupid!" Alexis yelled.

"Listen, witnesses say they saw Sonic climb the stairs to the first floor just minutes before the scream was heard. After we found the body, we investigated a bit, and we found a few clues in the room. You`ll find them in that same room, you`ll go in just a few minutes.."

"And will Sonic be tried?" Hood asked.

"Sadly, yes," Oxen said. "But there`s worse."

"What?"

"If we keep King Sonic captive despite his rank, the international tensions will arise."

"So?" Alexis asked.

"Well, Sonic has a few lawyers. But in an international trouble, with a possible war happening if things worsen, we call the JAG attorneys. Those will help us here."

"JAG?" Hood asked.

"Army attorneys, kinda," Alexis explained. "Don`t you ever watch TV?"

"Anyway…" Oxen said with his awful accent, "the attorney will be here tomorrow for the case. I still don`t know who will be prosecuting this case however."

"Whatever. We should go investigate now, huh?" Alexis said.

"You go investigate. I`ll go check the body. I`ll see what has happened. Oh, Shadow is waiting at the front door of the Police Department. You should go with him."

"What? He`s here? Tabarnak! You could have told me!" Alexis hurried outside. He immediately saw the Station Square detective he knew most, Shadow the hedgehog. He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, and wearing the usual never-happy face.

"You took your time, Alex," he lectured him. "We got a huge case."

"You look like you are ready to help your forever rival," Alexis said.

"You gotta be kidding me, Alexis. I still think Sonic is a faker, I still believe he`s slower than I am. He`s still less awesome than I am."

"Well, I guess he`s at least humbler than your are," Alexis joked.

"Hmpf. Anyway, I don`t like it, but for once I got to save the blue hedgehog from trouble. Twice in two years, decidedly I'm not used to that."

"Well, let`s go then…" Alexis said. Both got in Shadow`s car, and drove to the Showtel. "Hey, do you at least know what the rooms` numbers are?"

"Yeah, I got all that this morning," Shadow said, carefully driving. "McKaz told me I had to stay in Four-Lakes as long as this damn case isn`t solved. I better get to find the real killer and fast."

Alexis scratched the back of his head with his right hand. "I`m sure Sonic is innocent, we just need to find some clues that haven`t been found yet. Even the most mundane stuff can prove that Sonic has never killed a single person."

"…you forgot Eggman," Shadow pointed out.

"Doesn`t count," Alexis replied. "He was a villain, and he sure deserved it. Besides, I`m sure it was an accident. Sonic is a hero, he would never kill on purpose."

"So you say," Shadow said as he parked near the Showtel. "We better hurry to the victim`s room."

Alexis got out of the car and locked the door behind, then entered the Showtel. Shadow followed him. They both got to the first floor and reached a room where many policemen of all species were looking around.

"Get away guys, let the detectives work," Alexis said. He entered the room and began checking around. He saw the body`s silhouette on the floor, drawn with a chalk, like it is done in any case. The silhouette had the head toward the door. A lot of blood was splattered in the confines of the silhouette and at some points around it. "Okay, Shadow. So, this means one thing, the girl was trying to escape… right?"

"Yes. Look, the silhouette is very close to the door, and the victim fell toward it. She was then in a motion to go out, as if she was running from something, or someone."

"It means the killer was in the center of the room, somewhere near the bed." Alexis took out a sheet and drew a fast picture of a plan of the room.

The room was rectangular, and the side with the door was the low part of the picture. Just beside the main door of the room was a desk with drawers. A lamp and many objects were resting on it. The opposite wall had a window. The bed was leaning against the wall with the window and was facing the left wall when one entered. The left wall had a closet to it. There was a TV resting in front of the bed, so that the person could watch TV while in bed. Aside from that, nothing was extremely important.

Shadow checked the room and the plan. "Alex, you really suck at drawing."

"Quit the comical comments and help me find clues, okay?" He called in one of the cops. "What do you know about the victim?"

"Well, it was a squirrel. We suppose she was somewhere between 20 and 30 years old. Some witnesses who saw the body said they had seen that same squirrel girl follow Sonic around when he was walking in the ballroom to chat with the people of Four-Lakes."

"Anything else?" Shadow asked.

"Not really. Coroner Hood is investigating further in case the victim had suffered any kind of physical harm."

"That will be all, guys," Alexis said. "Now, leave and let the detectives detect, let the investigators investigate."

As the policemen left, Alexis looked around. "It`s a good thing lower-graded cops can`t search for tons of clues like we do," Shadow said. "They would have found everything."

"Or worse, they would have found nothing," Alexis said. "Okay, let`s look around."

Alexis removed the bed sheets that touched the floor and looked under the bed. "I think I just found something." He reached for the items hidden under the bed and presented them to Shadow. The first one was a long, golden sceptre. Many jewels were placed on one end of it and it ended with a ruby. The second item was an old-styled crown with rich stones around it. It would be extremely expensive. Both had an emerald as main stone. "Don`t those belong to King Sonic?" the coyote asked in English.

"Well, I`m pretty sure they do," Shadow admitted. "But I also think his possessions have already been taken by the FLPD as evidence. Might be possible that his crown and his sceptre have already been taken. In any case, if they didn`t find them in his room, well, we just got them here. …and it would prove Sonic is guilty."

"Osti…" Alexis said.

"Watch your foul mouth Alex," Shadow told his friend. Shadow looked around. "Go check in that closet…"

"Why would I have to do all the damn work?" Alexis asked. "Why don`t YOU go?"

Shadow "Hmpf"`ed. "Yeah, right. I had forgotten I was speaking to Number One lazy cop in Four-Lakes." Shadow opened the closet. Many clothes belonging to the victim were placed on hangers. Some shirts wore an idealized picture of Sonic. The deepest of the closet had a collection of figurines built with Sonic as a model. Beside them there was a figurine of Sally Acorn and another of Amy Rose; both toys had had their heads cut off. "Creepy fangirl," Shadow said on a tone that meant he was glad not to have anyone that crazy about him.

"Anything else?" Alexis asked.

"Just a can of paint. Nothing else aside from all that Sonic merchandise that makes me almost barf."

Alexis looked on the desk. "Clearly, that chick was thinking she could try and steal Sonic away from Sally. I could just nickname her "Amy2", and we`d have a perfect description of her mental state…"

"Goddamn crazy girl," Shadow said. Both snickered.

Alexis resumed checking the many items on the desk. Among them, mascara, makeup, combs, bottles of gel, and many other objects Alexis had not even a clue what it was, because Annie was never that much of a woman who liked to have all those kinds of tools to ameliorate her face, which wasn`t ugly without anyway. But that was one past step in Alexis` life, he was trying to flip the page… and maybe find someone else to be with. Alexis did notice however two lentils that had a green color. Alexis wondered if the victim was trying those to change her eye color to match Sally`s? It was ridiculous. Sally`s eyes were blue. He had seen her quite often in the People magazines his wife was buying. ...Damn, he was thinking about Annie again! He really had to get her out of his mind. "Nope, nothing interesting here."

"Wait, all we could find was Sonic`s crown and sceptre? That`s now, officially, the worst case ever."

"Funny, I thought our problem with crazy hulo fan was worse," Alexis pointed out. "But I think all the clues have been found already. If the cops searched Sonic, they must have found his cell phone and more of his prized possessions. If we didn`t find anything in here, then we can just go back to the Police Department. Unless…" Alexis opened all of the desk`s drawers and searched through them. The only interesting thing he found was a letter supposedly handwritten by the defendant.

Dear Q

I am sorry, but our relationship cannot last. I tried to keep it as secret as possible to the eyes of my friends and, of course, to my wife, but it had become too difficult. You should have guessed that it would end somehow like this. The medias would soon have discovered our little affair and I would have to leave the throne and my powers. I am terribly sorry. Also, I should tell you to get away from me tonight, when I will walk through the crowd of people, you should show no interest in me; our secret could be discovered. If it does, I will ask for an injunction against you.

Love,

Sonic.

"Wow, Sonic really had a lot of trouble," Shadow commented. "I can`t say it`s his writing, `cause I have never seen him write, but it really looks like he had an affair."

"Then that`s evidence against Sonic," Alexis said. "We`re gonna hand it to the JAG attorney when he`ll show up at the court."

"Okay… now, do you think we found everything here?"

"Well, I suppose so. Didn`t find anything suspicious in the closet?" Alexis asked.

"Aside from lots of Sonic collectibles and headless Sally and Amy toys, nothing. Or at least, nothing to help the king. You know what? Sonic`s possessions have been taken from him, they`re at the Police Department, maybe we should go check `em out and also go see what Hood found at the same time."

Alex knocked at the door leading to the lab. Hood opened the door for his friends to enter. They looked at the body, which was covered with a cloth up to the chin; the vision of a naked corpse would be really disgusting. No one wants to see this kind of thing but those who work on investigating said corpses for clues. And that`s exactly what Hood does; his large knowledge of biology is useful to the cops and detectives of Four-Lakes. The only problem is that, due to lack of funds, the FLPD has no way to afford another lab and another coroner, and thus Hood is the only person who can check the victims for clues; this results in an evident lack of social life for the fast-speaking bee, who can still once in a while find a way to go out with his girlfriend Belle.

Hood welcomed them in the creepy room. He was still wearing his lab coat and plastic gloves. He presented them to the corpse.

"Okay. Question number one, who it is," Hood began before the cops even asked a thing. He was still sped up in his speech. "I called the hospital, they got DNA from everyone. So yeah, the victim is Quadrina. She`s a squirrel as you could guess, 26 years old, no teeth missing, no health problem… until the night that killed her at the Showtel."

The cops nodded.

"Next question, what caused her death? Well, there are two special things about her body." He lowered the cloth a little to present the victim`s neck. Many red marks could be seen circling it. "Looks like the killer first tried to strangle the lady here. What did they do it with, I have no clue. But one thing is sure, the culprit didn`t use his hands. More like some sort of tool. Anyway, it had to hurt. Question number three, was it what killed her? Actually, the marks aren't deep enough to show a slice at the neck or anything like that. In fact, the victim probably escaped from the killer. Which leads me to the next clue…" He removed the cloth further, revealing more the body. Alexis and Shadow couldn`t watch more. However, they could see a great bullet hole to the chest. It wasn`t an ordinary bullet hole; it had burns all around it. "So, I found this injury, which was really… bizarre. I haven`t heard of any weapon that could be so damageable to a body. In any case, the bullet passed through the victim, as a smaller hole can be found on Quadrina`s back. But I`m guessing that weapon must be really dangerous, as – but that`s just a supposition – it burns the victim on contact and burns the organs as it goes through. I don`t think any weapon we know of can do this kind of terrible thing. He who has invented that thing must be really sadistic." He had said all that in five minutes. "Got questions?"

"No, that will be all," Shadow replied. And he left right after the last word. Alexis stayed in the lab.

"I really wonder how you can even live with searching through dead bodies. I feel like vomiting just by seeing those."

"Watch tons of gory movies, don`t be afraid of getting dirty with blood, and don`t be scared of seeing naked guys and gals."

Alexis left, disgusted, without another word than "bye man". He was wondering how Hood could have gotten a girlfriend with her knowing about his job. He just supposed she didn`t care about it.

Shadow checked the evidence room for a series of plastic bags labelled "Sonic". The said bags contained objects found on Sonic. One held his wallet, and two had different cell phones, although those two were labelled "Sonic" as well. Sonic had a private cell phone for his personal calls. As an example, is he had to call his wife Sally to ask her how her day was, or something along those lines, he would use that one. The second cell phone was used for affairs; it was extremely important, as Sonic had the phone numbers of a lot of influent characters. Anyone holding this information could use it for a dark goal. Both cell phones had a program thanks to which past dialled numbers and spoken conversations were recorded. For the case here, the numbers that were dialled during that day before the murder were to be investigated. Nothing else could be found. Shadow knew the clues found in the hotel room were going to help them. He needed to go get them in the car. The sceptre, the crown and the letter would definitely play against Sonic in this case. But for as long as they can`t think of another place to look at, they have only that.

Alexis arrived in the evidence room and stared at the three objects. "Two cell phones? Sonic must be rich."

"He`s a king, idiot. He got more precious stones than a jewelry store." Shadow replaced the items back in the drawer, and left the room with Alexis. "So, how`s Hood doing?" he asked, while faking some interest.

"Well, he seems to think his job is the bee`s knees," Alexis joked. "But I think it`s yucky anyway. It`s not because you constantly live with murders and crimes of all kinds that you like seeing dead people."

"I guess we should report our discoveries to your boss, Alex," Shadow pointed out. "I`ll go get the three clues. You go to his office. I`ll follow soon."

Alexis and Shadow separated following that plan. Shadow disappeared through the front door of the Police Department. Alexis reached Oxen`s office and knocked to the door. He could hear his boss speaking to someone, but the voices were muffled by the door. Oxen came to the door and opened it for his best detective.

"What are the news, boss?" Alexis asked.

"Well, the JAG attorney just arrived. I was talking about the case and it looks like a plan is building up to save Sonic."

"And who is it?" Alexis asked, looking at the green hedgehog. He could only see the hedgehog`s clothed back. The attorney turned to stare at Alexis. It was a woman… ad a gorgeous woman at that.

To be continued in next chapter!