Right there, on that bush was the blue fabric that was torn off from Emma's sock, and with her scraped knee, it could only mean that she fell right on that bush where her sock must have been torn. Yao approached the bush as he slipped on his gloves, looking down on the dirt where little droplets of blood were. There was no doubt that she had hurt herself tripping over the bush. Then he followed the blood droplets a few meters to where the large pool of blood was. The Chinese man was completely concentrated, trying to recreate the scene in his head.

"It definitely was here."

Ivan followed his partner around the crime scene and he was putting the puzzle pieces together too. So Yao was right all along when they saw the body for the first time in the basement, he immediately assumed that Emma had been killed in the jungle and her body had been planted, but why? It was so much easier to just leave her in the middle of the woods, why carry her corpse all the way back to her apartment and drop her in the basement? It had to be someone who knew that the cameras were damaged, someone who could have known that the night guard was not going to work that night.

"Yao, something is very off here."

The Chinese man agreed, this entire case was off. It felt like the killer was trying to play a game with them. Purposely planting the body in the basement because he wanted the body to be discovered. Then leaving that strange cut on her shoulder blade, very odd, it was something that definitely had caught the detective's attention. Now they were here, at the real crime snake that hadn't been hard to find. The murderer didn't even take the time to clean up the place, leaving the scene almost intact and transported Emma to the basement without anyone seeing him getting in and without leaving any trace behind.

"I know, he's trying to mess with us, I know it."

The Asian replied, looking around the scene, the purse was not there, nor was the ring. Those two things taken from her were gone, the murder weapons weren't there either. Whoever did it, was trying to make their work harder, It was premeditated for sure, no doubt about that. But who? Antonio would make sense, because he technically had motives according to the Abelsson brothers, and he also would have known that the night guard wouldn't be working that night and that the cameras had stopped working.

"It's not the husband, right?"

The Russian felt like it wasn't the Spaniard. His reaction the first time was over the top and he also lied to them, but then he fully cooperated, telling them details of his personal life with Emma. That night, Antonio had been with Lovino and the lover could reassure that as well. It was so frustrating, all the possible suspects were completely discarded, they were basically chasing after a supposed lover that maybe wasn't even real.

"No way, we have no evidence that can show us otherwise, although it would fit perfectly that Antonio did it. In fact, I think the Spaniard was framed."

Detective Braginski hadn't thought of that before, but it would make sense. Someone who disliked Antonio and that was trying to ruin his life. The murderer wanted to blame Emma's death on the Spaniard, and it was quite obvious since everything seemed to indicate that Antonio was the culprit, but that wasn't the case right? Both the detectives knew that the husband was innocent. The question was, why did the lover, if the lover was the killer, try to frame Antonio for killing his wife? It didn't make sense, why would a lover kill the woman he was seeing and then try to blame the husband? Then there was the mark on her, they were dealing with a psychopath for sure.

"Da, that seems to be the case, but who and why?"

The Chinese man wished he knew the answer to that, but he did not. There was nothing that the killer had left behind. No hairs, no DNA, nothing that could lead them to the criminal. The murderer had carefully planned all of it. He picked up Emma from the pastry shop and then he must have brought her to the jungle or did they go somewhere else first? He didn't know, it was a mystery, and he fucking hated that. So in the case, they came to the jungle straight away, didn't she find it suspicious? Then he proceeded to cut her, but why? That is assuming that the cut was done prior to the murder. So she ran from him, stumbling on the bush where she scraped her knee then crawled to where the blood poodle was. He then strangled her because she died by strangulation, not happy with that he also shot her in the chest. Nothing of it made sense, it was a bizarre way to kill someone.

"I have no clue, and I want this place searched completely. I want to find that purse and the ring at once!"

He commanded the team as he began walking down the scene, passing the crime scene, following the splatters of blood left on the ground until there was no more blood left. That had to be the point where he must have dragged her into a car, because he had a car, right? But for fuck's sake there were tire marks. Yao didn't know what to do anymore, he interrogated everyone he needed to, walked through both scenes, and examined the autopsy. What was missing? Why couldn't they get just a hint of who the murderer was? He sighed, looking up at the sky noticing that it was getting dark. Ivan and he had been running around chasing after this killer but nothing yet.

"Come on Ivan, let's go for dinner."

The Chinese man needed a rest, if he was alone then he would have stayed with the team and searched the entire hill for the purse and ring, but his partner was probably as exhausted as him. They had a very busy day, and the Russian only had a cake and coffee for lunch. He also promised Ivan to take him out for dinner so he would fulfill that promise. He also assumed that detective Braginski was not used to working for incredibly long hours without a break, but that was just Yao's style of working. The Chinese man felt bad for his partner, having to follow a workaholic around that won't even let him eat cake in peace, that's why Ivan deserved a treat.

"Really?"

Ivan's violet eyes glimmered in glee, finally, he would get to eat! That strawberry shortcake didn't fill him at all. He thought that the Chinese man wouldn't really take him to dinner but Yao was going to keep his promise, which was great but also unexpected. The Russian was starving, it was almost 8 PM and he had left his house without breakfast, so you can imagine how hungry he was after just having a dessert and an espresso for lunch. He had never worked for so many hours either in his entire life, the Asian really was making him have a hard time.

"Yes, I promised it, didn't I?"

Detective Wang got into the cop car and his partner followed, he was thinking of where to take the Russian for dinner while starting to drive without a clear direction of where to go. Perhaps he should ask where the man wanted to eat, they hardly knew each other anyway.

"Well, what do you want to eat?"

The Russian thought for a moment, he didn't really mind as long as it was something to fill his insatiable hunger. So he shrugged, trying to figure out where Yao might take him, he didn't know the town really well either so this was a chance to know more restaurants.

"Are burgers alright for you?"

Surprised, Ivan raised an eyebrow. He wouldn't have expected his partner to be the kind that liked fast food, considering that Yao snatched his cigarettes on two occasions and also took his sister's and his sister's assistant. So that's why he thought that the Asian was probably a vegetarian or someone who had a healthy diet, but instead, he was pleasantly surprised.

"Da, that sounds good."

The Chinese man nailed it, he knew that Ivan would like burgers. So now he was driving towards the '50s themed diner that he and his former partner used to frequent. He didn't go back since the incident because he felt pathetic by going to that place by himself. But now that he had a new partner, he would have company and also the food there was amazing. And for Yao who was in his 30s, he was nostalgic about the good old days of his childhood and youth.

"Table for two, please."

Ivan stood right beside his partner as Yao asked a waitress dressed as Marilyn Monroe for a table. Where were they? The Russian felt like they had traveled back in time now that he was in this diner. He had never been around this part of town before so it was all new for him. The place was full, lots of people and the music was loud. He had to admit that he never expected Yao to frequent places like this. Frankly, he was feeling a bit out of place.

"What are you gonna have?"

The Chinese man asked enthusiastically. He really missed this place, after not coming for a couple of years since what happened to his ex-partner. He really liked this place and they had some fun times back then. The diner itself made Yao happy, and he was glad to be back with a companion after so long.

"What do you recommend?"

Ivan asked, opening the menu to check out the menu that was mostly fast food, but still, he wanted to know what was best in the place.

"The cheeseburgers are fabulous, although I'm not sure if they still have those."

The Asian mentioned while peeking through the menu and was glad to find his favorite menu item still on the list.

"Can I take your order?"

The waitress asked and both men nodded.

"I'll have a cheeseburger with a 5 dollar shake please."

The waitress nodded and before looking at Ivan's direction to take the detective's order.

"A steak please, with a vanilla coke. Thank you, Marilyn."

The detectives chuckled foolishly as the waitress walked away wearing the typical white dress that was iconic for Marilyn with a blonde wig.

"Do you always come here?"

The Russian asked while putting the menu away and glancing at his partner sitting in front of him. It seemed like Yao was a regular at this place since he knew the menu and all. Again, very surprising to him since he thought that there was no more to the Asian than being a workaholic with anger management issues.

"I haven't come in a long time, but this place hasn't changed at all."

Detective Braginski wanted to ask more about it, getting curious about Yao's history with the restaurant now that they were here.

"And why is that?"

He dared to ask, he couldn't hide his curiosity any longer, and that waitress Monroe came back holding a tray with the soda and the sake for them, leaving the beverages on the table.

"It's just that I didn't have anyone to come with in some time."

Yao answered, taking a sip from his milkshake. He wasn't going to tell Ivan his tragic story about his former partner and all, so he would just avoid getting into details by giving a vague response. He didn't want to ruin the mood for the night, they were both terribly frustrated about the case so the Chinese man would not add more to it that could make their night worse.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now is the moment you all have been waiting for. It's the world's famous twist contest! So partner up and the best one gets to take the trophy home."

The presenter mentioned and the crowd cheered, the waitress was the one holding the trophy as they waited for couples to come up the stage and compete for the big ol' golden trophy. The Russian glanced, how interesting, he had never seen a live dance competition.

"Wanna dance?"

Yao asked with a grin, he always wanted to get that trophy but his ex-partner was a horrid dancer so they never got the chance to win. The Chinese did consider himself a good dancer since his little sister loved to dance but none of his younger siblings wanted to dance with her, so he had to learn all sorts of dances in order to do them with Mei.

"What? No, no way."

Ivan was once again astonished by his partner, he had no idea that the Asian was the dancer type. This man really was full of surprises. Still, he wasn't going to go up there and dance among a group of strangers to get a plastic trophy for a dance he wasn't even familiar with. He did know a bit of twist since he danced it in Yekaterina's wedding but by then he had chugged down a bottle and a half of vodka and right now he only had a vanilla coke.

"No, no, no, I do believe that I'm the one inviting you for dinner, so I get to do whatever I want."

The Chinese man shook his head, tightening his low ponytail as he began to stand up from the seat and Ivan was starting to panic.

"Yao, please, I'm gonna make you lose."

The Russian had a light pink blush on his cheeks as detective Wang got up and pulled him by the arm and was starting to drag him to the stage.

"I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good, Vanya."