Chapter 2: Snow White pt. 2

AN: Okay, so real quick, Luminol is a chemical that can be used to find traces of blood that a criminal may have tried to cover up.

Merida bounced excitedly as she rode behind Elsa and Kristoff in one of the vehicles.

"When are we going to get there?" she asked.

"For the last time, rookie, we'll get there when we get there."

"And when is that?"

Kristoff turned and glared at her, "Are you always going to be this way."

"No, she won't, she's just excited," Elsa answered.

"Better be just that," Kristoff grumbled.

Merida sighed. So far Kristoff was being more of an Ice Queen than Elsa.

"I'm just saying, all the other team have already gotten there why haven't we-"

"We're here," Elsa called as she parked the car in front of a well-kept country mansion and exited. Yellow tape criss-crossed in front of it. Hiccup was on the lawn, snapping a picture every now and then.

"Finally!" Merida cheered as she raced out.

"You're telling me?" Kristoff grumbled as he exited after the two women. As they approached the house, Hiccup walked towards them to hold up the yellow tape for them.

"What have we got?" Elsa asked.

"15-year-old girl, Snow White was supposed to come home on the school bus last night while her step mother, Grimhilda White was out of town at a business meeting. Step mom said she called around 8 last night to check in on Snow and everything was fine. Came home this morning and the house had been broken into, there were signs of a struggle, and Snow is nowhere to be seen."

"Where's the step mother?"

"She talking the Eugene on the back porch."

"How'd she appear?"

"Surprisingly calm all things considered."

"Hm," Elsa scowled suspiciously. "Where's she say she was out of town at?"

"L.A."

"Figure out what hotel she was staying at and what her business meeting was for. See if she went into any restaurants or talked to anyone. And I want her phone records from yesterday dawn until now."

"Suspect?" Kristoff asked.

"Does our missing persons have any closer family?"

"Nope," Hiccup answered. "Both biological parents and all grandparents are dead. No siblings. "

"Then, yes, she's a suspect," Elsa took off her sunglasses and tucked them into the collar of her jacket.

"We got anything else?"

"Testimony wise, no, but I picked this up near the front door," Hiccup held up an evidence bag with a crushed coke can in it.

"A soda can?" Merida asked.

"You think a person who lives in a place as nice as this would be leaving cans everywhere?" Hiccup asked.

Merida kicked herself for not thinking of that. You've got to focus! Don't blow this now!

She stepped through the front door behind the three more seasoned agents. Elsa stopped right after entering and sniffed.

"Kristoff, you smell that?"

Kristoff sniffed and Merida followed their lead. "Is that bleach?" she asked.

"Sure is, Agent Dumbroch," Elsa answered. "Hiccup, go back out front to look for more evidence and wait on the lab technicians. As soon as they get here, tell them to spray the area with luminol."

"Will do," Hiccup said as he walked out. Elsa approached Astrid, who was snapping pictures of the trashed living room. "You have anything for me?"

"Everything's been wrecked. Closets, drawers, cabinets, they've all been opened and emptied. Looks to me like this was a burglary," she explained as Merida began to look around. "My guess is our missing person was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Something suddenly caught Merida's eye as she slipped on a glove and picked up and object.

"No, it wasn't a burglary, look," she brought a teapot to where Elsa, Astrid, and Kristoff were standing. "This is a pure silver antique. If someone was burglarizing this place they'd take this with them."

Elsa slipped on her own gloves and examined the pot. "It's got a heel print in it," she mused as she pointed to the indentation. "My guess it's either the victim of perpetrator's. We'll send it to the lab see if the girls can get a size on it." She slipped in into an evidence bag. "Nice find, new girl."

Merida beamed as they continued looking through the crime scene.

"So someone staged a burglary," Elsa mused as she began looking around. "Why? What were they trying to hide?"

"Hey, look at this," Jack pointed to a glass sitting on a coaster, with a light brown liquid and melting ice cubes in it. He put on his gloves, picked it up and sniffed it. "Apples Cider…"

He arched one eyebrow. "How long has the step mother been home?"

"We got the call about thirty minutes ago," Elsa answered as Merida moved over to a tipped over magazine rack.

"So…had the drinker been here before the call was made, these ice cubes would have already been melted. Now who stops for a refreshment after their only child has just vanished? And take time to put it on a coaster? I mean, I'm not a parent, but if I walked into this and my kid was gone, I think I'd just drop the glass."

"Maybe step mom's not as oblivious as she'd like us to think?" Kristoff questioned.

"Is there anyone else who could be a suspect?" Elsa asked.

"The step mother mentioned a boyfriend," Astrid answered. "Said he's the only one who'd want to hurt her step daughter."

"Do we have a name?" Elsa asked.

"No, she didn't give us a name when we first got here, but Eugene might be able to pull it out of her."

"Florian Grim," Merida answered as she held up a high-school newspaper with a picture of a pretty, black-haired cheerleader, and a brunette football player sharing a kiss. "Says that 'Football captain Florian Grim, and cheerleading captain Snow White are officially an item,' blech! High-School romance!"

"Astrid, go see if you can track down Florian Grim," Elsa ordered as she continued to look about.

"Yes, ma'am, Astrid stated as she walked out. Merida followed her example. She found herself in the sun room, and was surprised to find a cheap, bright orange rug lying on the wooden floor. Merida looked around the room. It was all in blue and green.

"Why would someone of this class put such a cheap and ugly rug in their house. Carefully, she lifted a corner, and found a dent in the floor.

"Hey, guys, look at this," Merida called. Kristoff and Jack stepped into the room.

"Help me pick this up," she asked as she grabbed a corner. The two men assisted her, and underneath they found several dents in the floor. The scent of bleach was even stronger now.

"Well, hello, hello, hello, what have we here?" Jack asked as he ran a gloved finger over the dents. As Merida and Kristoff began leaning the rug against wall she notices something. Using the tips of her fingers she pulled out a long, bloody splinter.

"Look at this."

Kristoff frowned. "Hm…"

"The Lab Gals have arrived!" Toothiana cheered as she stepped into the room.

"Girls, spray some luminol on this area," Kristoff ordered.

"You could at least say 'hi' first," Toothiana grumbled as she walked off, and returned again with a bottle of blue liquid. She began spraying the area where the rug had been lying. Within a few minutes, puddles, and puddles of glowing blue substances began appearing.

"Whoa," Merida gasped. "That's a lot of blood!"

Toothiana went back down the hall, spraying the floors and walls with luminol. Anna and Rapunzel were doing the same thing in other areas of the house. When they were done, there was a trail of blood splatters going from the living room, to the kitchen, and down the hall until it reached the giant pile in the sunroom.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Elsa sighed after all the blood had started glowing. "I think we just might have a homicide on out hands."