Yeah, I know I've been more or less dead for a while. I honestly have no excuse other than "I've been busy with other projects and real life stuff".

Anyway, here's an extra extra extra long chapter to make up for my absence. This chapter is part one of three, and it's all of the letters that Josh sent back to his sister during his time in Grimsborough, minus the ones that were already included in the earlier chapter 'Letters To Home'.

DaleJr.88 - Thanks! Hopefully you're still around and you like this one too.

Grimsborough, 17th November 2012:

Ari,

No sooner had we finished our last case than a man named Dave Simmons called, alerting us to a human hand found in the garden of a house he was trying to sell. Of course, where there are body parts there's a body… The victim turned out to be a mortgage broker named Ned Dillard. I won't go into details, but it was gruesome.

I met the rest of the forensic team today! Alex, our text expert, seems like a nice enough guy. Loves technology, loves video games and music, very good at his job. And our forensics expert, Grace, is friendly. Very good at her job as well, which is critical when you're working a job revolving around catching criminals. Hopefully, I'll be here long enough to be able to learn more about them, but I think it's safe to say you'd like all of them.

Jones introduced me to the leader of the local Italian mafia, Tony Marconi. We had to question him about our case, several times. From what Jones and Chief Samuel King say, the GCPD has been trying to put him behind bars for years, but haven't been able to do so due to a lack of any real, solid, evidence against him.

I miss you, sis. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me, and give them my love too.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 19th November 2012:

Ari,

These cases just keep getting increasingly brutal. A local butcher found a body on a meat hook in the back of his shop. Turns out that the victim had been sleeping with his daughter's boyfriend, and when the daughter found out… I guess that it's fair to say that she butchered our poor victim. Why are people so horrible to each other, Ari? I just… I don't get it. I guess that it's just human nature, but… I like to believe there's something good out there, you know? Why can't people just be excellent to each other?

Anyway. Haven't learned anything new about Grace and Alex yet. I'm not sure if Jones has fully warmed up to me yet either, especially since this is only our third case working together, but I did meet the last of our team members. Eduardo Ramirez, the GCPD Field Officer. He seems like a good police officer if a little clumsy. Not sure why he's still a field officer and hasn't been promoted to any higher ranks yet, but I'm guessing Chief King has his reasons.

I miss you, sis. I miss Mom and Dad too. Love you all so much.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 21st November 2012:

Ari,

Today's case was… honestly, not as bad as I was expecting. It was mild compared to the last two. We found a junkie named Dan Broke stabbed in the stomach in a shipping container at the Grimsborough Docks. Poor Dan was murdered by his drug dealer, ironically because he was too poor and couldn't pay for his drugs. I hope his girlfriend Sally will be okay… She said that she was planning to go home to her parents to get away from Grimsborough for a while, but I can't help worrying. She seemed like a nice girl; I hope she gets the help she needed to be able to move past what happened.

Speaking of drug dealers… Jones introduced me to the Grimsborough Police Department's local snitch, a man named Bart Williams. I can tell Jones doesn't like him at all. Frankly, I'm sure I agree with him. Bart is... a very overconfident individual. Annoyingly so, honestly. However, he did manage to give us some useful information about the new leader of one of the two street gangs in the area, so I suppose I can't be too mad at him.

I miss you and our parents, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 24th November 2012:

Ari,

Anton Levin, the head of the Russian Mafia here in Grimsborough, was found dead in his restaurant yesterday. Turns out he was having a secret affair with his son's girlfriend, a nurse named Eva Coleman, and Eva was pregnant with his child. They were in love, and then when Mikhail Levin, the son, found out… he killed his father with a meat tenderizer in a jealous rage. I think I'm spotting a theme here.

Bart Williams was surprisingly helpful in solving this case. He was the one who told us that Mikhail knew about Eva's affair with Anton, and from there we were able to prove that Mikhail killed his father. He's still annoyingly overconfident, but he's not a bad kid. He also warned us that there's something big going on with the gang members in the area. We'll be keeping an eye out.

Anton's most loyal employee, a man named Dimitri Balanchine, took over his restaurant after his death. Despite Jones's rudeness to him, he was kind enough to treat us to a meal after we proved that the claims of food poisoning coming from the restaurant were false. I'll give credit where credit is due, the food is legitimately amazing there.

I miss you all, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 27th November 2012:

Ari,

Detective Ed Dunkin, one of my colleagues at the Grimsborough Police Department, was found dead at the local subway station yesterday. He'd been shot execution-style. During our investigation, we discovered that Ed was heavily corrupt (associating with a dogfight organizer, a pimp, and a bookmaker, as well as several other criminal types) and that his partner shot him in self-defense after they fought about Ed's corruption.

I read some of Ed's older case files, the ones that weren't just tossed aside because of his association with them. From what I've read, before he got into dogfighting and other shady activities, he seemed like a good police officer, with solid intuition. Detective Harry Landry, his partner, pled guilty to Ed's murder in court this afternoon and was sentenced to 4 years in prison, with a chance of parole in two thanks to the fact that he only killed Ed in self-defense.

Both men are (or were, in Ed's case) married. Harry Landry has a wife and at least one child and Ed had a wife and son. God… I have no idea how I'm going to tell Ed's family about this. I mean, I'm having trouble rationalizing it with myself, and I was investigating the freaking murder case in the first place.

In lighter news, we found an adorable puppy in the subway station shortly after solving the case. After learning that the puppy belonged to the dogfight organizer who Ed had been associating with, we decided there was no way he was going to be able to keep the small animal, and Grace has officially adopted the puppy. She gave him the name Newton, and honestly, I can already tell that he's going to be very much loved.

So overall, it has been a very, very sobering couple of days. Give my love to Mom and Dad, and I'll write again soon.

I miss you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 1st December 2012:

Ari,

We've been investigating the murder of a young woman. A stripper named Trixie Velvet, real name Patricia Mills. She worked at a nightclub called The Blue Flamingo, which was owned by Tony Marconi. She was murdered by a woman named Alice August, who was in love with her, just after rejecting said girl. I've often heard it said that there's a thin line between love and hate, and after solving this case, I think I can see what they mean.

After we solved the case, The Blue Flamingo's bouncer asked us to help find a dropped lighter belonging to the new leader of the Vipers street gang. We were able to find and return the lighter before Tony Marconi became aware of it, though not before we pulled the new leader's fingerprints from it and added them to our database. Just in case he ever comes up again. Which of course, knowing Grimsborough, he most definitely will.

I love you, sis. Stay safe, and please pass my love along to Mom and Dad as well.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 7th December 2012:

Ari,

The gang war in this district of the city reared its ugly head during our last case. We found the body of a Vipers gang member, a man named Chad Whickman, burnt to a crisp in an abandoned parking lot. There were rumors that the Vipers themselves, or their rivals The Skulls, were responsible for his death to provoke a gang war, especially once we discovered that our victim was dating the sister of the Skulls gang leader, but in the end, we were able to prove that Chad's killer was the owner of the local mini-mart. As it turned out, he was sick and tired of his store always being vandalized by gang members, and when Chad dared to enter and ask about a job, the owner just… snapped.

Chad Whickman was trying to turn his life around and leave the gangs behind so he and his girlfriend could do something worthwhile with their lives, and this is the reward he got… It is a tragedy. Like a modern Romeo & Juliet, I suppose, but in this case, Juliet doesn't die and is left to mourn Romeo. I hope she'll be okay; I really do.

We finally came face to face with the new Vipers leader, Salvador Cordero, today as well. We caught him trying to break into the local mini-mart in an attempt to steal footage of him having a conversation with Italian mobster Tony Marconi. There's a palpable tension between the Italian mafia and the Vipers here, Ari, and I'm not sure I like it.

I don't think I'll be frequenting any BBQ restaurants any time soon either. The smell of burnt flesh… it's not a nice smell at all.

Take care, sis. I miss you all.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 14th December 2012:

Ari,

We found a local plastic surgeon dead in an alleyway this week. It turned out that despite being married, he was having an affair with a local singer named Samantha Warner, who was also sleeping with two other men. One of those men, a writer named Paul Oaster, murdered him in the church next to Ms. Warner's house before dumping his body in an alleyway.

Killing someone in a church? What kind of monster would do that? Not only is that desecrating a holy site, but it's also just incredibly disrespectful.

The other man Ms. Warner is seeing (that we know about at least, though from the way she talked I got the feeling that there were more of them) is a CEO named Curtis Newman. He seems nice enough, but I can't shake the feeling that he's going to be incredibly annoying at some point soon.

I miss you all, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 17th December 2012:

Ari,

Tensions between the Vipers and the other gangs in the district came to a head this week. Unfortunately, I mean that in the most literal way possible. Jones and I found the leader of the Vipers gang, Salvador Cordero, lifeless in a garage belonging to his gang. He'd been smashed over the head with a bottle. Due to the risk of gang war breaking out, the mayor and Chief King declared the case high-priority, making solving it the most important thing we'd be doing.

After several hours of investigation and very thorough police work, we arrested Tony Marconi for Salvador's murder. It turned out that Tony had argued with Salvador after seeing the latter harassing Ginger, a hooker (and friend of Jones') we met while working the Ed Dunkin case. When Salvador refused to leave Ginger alone, Tony lost his temper and killed the gang leader.

I'm glad that Tony Marconi's finally off the streets, but at the same time, I know that Jones is disappointed that he's going to prison for protecting a woman and not for one of his many other crimes. But then again, Jones hated Marconi, so I suppose that shouldn't surprise me.

Also, sometimes I hate when I'm right about people. Remember in my last letter when I said I couldn't shake the feeling that Curtis Newman was going to be incredibly annoying soon? He popped up again after we solved Salvador's murder. He'd stolen documents signed by Tony that named Ginger as the new owner of the nightclub 'The Blue Flamingo' (the same one Trixie Velvet worked at before her death). Luckily, we were able to help Ginger recover the documents.

Jones and I have been promoted for our hard work, to an area known as the Financial Centre. I'm looking forward to seeing sights other than all of these warehouses for once, honestly.

I miss you, sis. I miss our parents too.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 10th January 2013:

Ari,

Today was… not my favorite case ever. Jones and I were having lunch in Cooper Park, a public park in the Financial Centre, when a bomb went off on the other side of the park. Thankfully, the explosion was small enough that any damage done was easy to clean up. Unfortunately, the explosion killed Henry Crosby, a Vietnam War veteran-turned market stall owner who had been in the park at the same time.

Though we discovered that both our victim and his son had had problems dealing with Greene Banking, the banking branch of major Financial Centre company Greene Holdings, we later discovered that the person responsible for the murder was a retired explosives expert and an old colleague of our victim by the name of Donald Byrd. We were never able to prove why Donald wanted Henry Crosby dead, as he committed suicide via explosives in the park when we went to arrest him, but according to what Rachel Priest, a reporter who was assisting us in the case, was able to find… he was admitted to an insane asylum after he was charged with war crimes. He and Henry were in the same unit, and Henry testified against him at the trial that got him sent to the asylum.

On reflection, the more I hear about this Greene Holdings company, the less I like them. Everything I'm learning suggests they're wrapped up in something shady, I just can't prove it yet. But one way or the other, the truth will be revealed…

I love you and miss you and our parents every day, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 11th January 2013:

Ari,

Every time I think we've hit a new low for human behavior here, a new murder comes along just to prove me wrong. We found a shop owner called Lucy Campbell strangled to death in her shop window today. She'd also been impaled on a mannequin stand post-mortem and posed. The murderer, a mall cleaner by the name of Odell Toole, (ironically the same person who called in the body in the first place) killed her because of a desire to be remembered for doing something unspeakably evil. Well, he'll be immortalized in my case notes forever, so I guess in a way he got his wish. Although I suppose I should be grateful to him at the same time for helping us clean up crime…

Our victim's girlfriend, a young fashion designer by the name of Kim Aoki, asked us for our help after we arrested Odell. From what she told us, Lucy was an aspiring fashion designer as well, and before her death, she'd been working on a sketch for a new design. After we found the sketch in Lucy's store and gave it to Kim, she revealed that she was going to use the sketch to create a new fashion line called 'Lucy's Dream' as a tribute to her late girlfriend. From what we heard during this case, the two of them were very much in love, so I think Lucy would be happy with the tribute.

I haven't had a chance to look any further into Greene Holdings yet, but I get the feeling that something's going to happen any day now.

I miss you, sis. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 24th January 2013:

Ari,

I was right when I said something was going to happen involving Greene Holdings and their activity in the district. The daughter-in-law of their CEO was found tied up and beaten to death next to her infant son's crib. After many hours of very careful investigation, during which we discovered that she was a horrible mother, being abusive to both her biological son and her stepson, and was secretly stealing money from her own family to help her ex-husband, we were able to prove that the murderer was the victim's stepson, Scott Greene.

It honestly disgusts me that rich people think they can get away with anything, especially murder. Luckily, we managed to find enough evidence to ensure that no matter how good Scott's lawyers are, he'll never be able to get out of prison. I'm still suspicious about Alden Greene, the company's CEO, but as I can't prove he's up to anything diabolical yet I'm going to have to let it go.

Hell of a way to spend a birthday, that's for sure. I got the card you sent me, and thank you so much for the new set of pens. My old ones were just starting to dry up, so I'm grateful that your gift arrived when it did.

Love you, sis. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 31st January 2013:

Ari,

Jones and I just closed the case of a young woman who was pushed out of the window of a tower building. It turns out our victim, whose name was Emma Ternon, was working undercover as a high-class escort to help reporter Rachel Priest (Emma's real job being as Rachel's informant) infiltrate Greene Holdings. However, her killer's motive for the crime was in reality simply avoiding a malpractice suit for a botched plastic surgery operation.

Rachel is still determined to investigate Greene Holdings, despite Jones' multiple attempts to steer her away from doing so. I'm worried that one of these days something horrible is going to happen to her. She says she's going to be fine, but I still can't help but be concerned.

We later had to arrest the killer's business partner and fellow plastic surgeon for taking drugs while performing plastic surgery. He was an absolute ass though, so I don't feel sorry for him at all.

Stay safe out there, sis. Love you all.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 28th February 2013:

Ari,

We found the body of a young woman encased in solid concrete at a building site funded by Greene Holdings today. Even more suspiciously, the victim, whose name we discovered to be Gail Harding (well that's an ironically fitting name), was interning for Rachel Priest, and was writing an article on Greene Holdings.

However, the woman that killed her was trying to cover up what she believed to be an accidental overdose to protect the career of her business partner, venture capitalist Derek Molina. Unfortunately, Gail was only unconscious when she was covered in concrete, and it ended up being the cause of her death after all…

My suspicions about Greene Holdings being involved in something dark and mysterious keep increasing. At this point, most of the cases Jones and I have solved in the district can be linked back to them in one way or another, even if it wasn't necessarily always the reason for the deaths in the first place.

Stay safe, sis. Love you, and give my love to our parents too.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 8th March 2013:

Our victim this week was brutally tortured to death by a twisted individual with delusions of grandeur and Hannibal Lecter fantasies. I don't think any of the nineteen cases Jones and I worked on before this one brought me anywhere near as close to throwing up as this one did, so I'm just going to try and put it out of my mind.

My research into Greene Holdings continues to deepen. The company itself seems to have a large amount of power in the district, which is hardly surprising given the circumstances, and many complaints and allegations are being made against the different branches, especially Greene Banking, but most of the employees we've talked to seem down-to-earth.

On a lighter note, one of the suspects we met during our most recent case was a dominatrix who has a history with Jones. He interrupted her before I could learn more, but apparently, he used to be a regular customer of hers. I don't think I'm ever going to be able to get that mental image out of my head now…

Stay safe, sis. Miss you.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 29th March 2013:

Ari,

Our first case in the Historical Center district was certainly dramatic. Jones and I were called to the theatre to collect the body of an actor by the name of Jacob Dawks, who was crushed by a falling sandbag that had been filled with more weight than it could hold.

It turned out that Jacob was a man with a lot of enemies. He was also apparently something of a primadonna and had a bad attitude to everyone he worked with in general. His killer was the stage director himself. I feel like I should have seen that twist coming if I'm being entirely honest.

One of the other suspects was a very sweet older woman by the name of Margaret Littlewood. During a slow moment in the case, while we were recapping what we'd learned from our first couple of lab tests, she came by to welcome us to the district with freshly baked cookies. Which was sweet of her, as well as serving as an excellent reminder that we're working for the good of the people in the city, no matter what happens.

One of our other suspects was an antique dealer named Desmond Galloway. He seems like a nice enough person. Jones and I stopped by his antique store after solving the case since Jones wanted decorating tips for his bedroom (which he is renovating) and my partner ended up paying most of his salary for a clock that turned out to have been owned by the father of the Romantic poetry movement himself. Though to be fair it was a particularly gorgeous clock.

Oh, and maybe stay away from theatres for a few days? Just for the sake of my sanity? I know that's quite an ask since we both know theatres are where your future career lies (well, that and there isn't much chance of something like this happening again), but I would feel a lot better if you did.

Love you, sis. Say hi to Mom and Dad, and please give them big hugs from me.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 13th April 2013:

Ari,

When I took the job here in Grimsborough, I never thought that 'poisonous flowers' were a murder weapon I'd have to add to my list. I suppose I should have known better. Life always finds a way to prove me wrong, after all.

This week's victim was a young man named Daniel Taylor. He shared a house with his aunt, had a loving girlfriend, and had a decent job in a local teashop. By all accounts, he was a good, genuinely-nice, guy whose only real crime was wanting to go out and see the world outside of Grimsborough. Unfortunately, his so-called soulmate, a girl called Lily Robinson, wasn't too happy about being forced to choose between leaving Grimsborough for good with him and staying here without him, so in her anger, she gave him something laced with a deadly flower known as 'Last Journey,' or Ultimum Viaticum.

I guess in a way he did get to go on one final journey… Pity the destination wasn't quite what he had in mind.

Definitely a good idea to be more careful around flowers of any kind in the future, I think.

Love you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 26th April 2013:

Ari,

It seems to be a recurring theme among leading artists to struggle with mental issues. Vincent Van Gogh, for example, as well as Edvard Munch and the legendary Michelangelo, the man who painted the Sistine Chapel. What doesn't seem to be quite as recurring, though, is for said madness to have roots in the supernatural.

I know that's an odd way for me to start a letter, but given our latest case, I can't help but think. Our most recent investigation was into the murder of a painter by the name of Wilhelm Moss. He'd been commissioned by a wealthy art collector by the name of Patrick Rufio to paint a picture of a man known simply as the Mad Pilgrim, who was a very cruel man who ruled over Grimsborough in the 17th century, sending many people to the gallows for the most trivial reasons. According to the author who gave us the information on the Mad Pilgrim, due to the gruesome manner in which the noble died there is a curse that results in the death of anyone who tries to paint the Pilgrim's picture.

However, every death has a cause. And in this case, the cause was an ampoule filled with a deadly but quickly-degrading neurotoxin that had been thrown into the victim's workshop through the window. The killer turned out to be Patrick Rufio, the collector who had commissioned the victim in the first place. He'd been getting poorer and poorer day by day and had killed the victim to sell the painting (a reproduction of one that already existed) as an original. With Moss's death, his painting would suddenly have become a lot more valuable.

I've heard of the phrase 'dying for your art,' but frankly this is ridiculous.

On a lighter note, we got to meet Grace's fiancé Luke after solving the case. Jones wanted to check in on Desmond's store (he's still redecorating his bedroom) and see what the newest items were, and we met up with Grace while we were there. Luke, her fiancé, is a professor of movie history at the nearby Grimsborough University. He seems to be a nice, likable, guy. If first impressions are anything to go by, anyway. It turns out that he's a frequent visitor to the shop and Grace has often been joining him in doing so since they got together. He'd accidentally knocked over an antique lamp and was worried that Desmond was going to ban him from the shop, but I was able to find and repair the lamp easily so everything's gonna work out just fine.

Love you, sis. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 2nd May 2013:

Ari,

Jones and I had the night shift again this week, much to our annoyance. We were both sure that my impeccable record (100% of all investigated cases closed) would have spared us, but Chief King refused to let us change his mind and so we didn't have a choice. And of course, what's the creepiest possible place to be at night, aside from abandoned buildings? Graveyards. Of course, that's exactly why there was a murder in a crypt at the local cemetery less than an hour into our shift.

Our victim was Simon Armstrong, a local high-schooler. He and some friends had been trying to conduct a ritual of some kind, and unfortunately one of his friends suffers from mental issues that give her blackouts. She had a blackout when the two of them were alone in the crypt, and during the said blackout, she accidentally killed him.

I feel bad for her, but she still committed murder, and Jones and I had to arrest her. Thankfully, due to her condition and the fact that she didn't willingly commit murder, she was only sentenced to three years in the local psychiatric hospital… It's still not the most ideal sentence, but it's better than a lot of alternatives. The important thing is that she's getting the help and the care she needs, I guess.

I miss you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 10th May 2013:

Ari,

We found the body of a woman in the trunk of a car that got pulled from the water today. She'd been knocked unconscious by her lover in a delusional state, and then… well, you get the idea. It's terrifying to think about. God only knows what was going through her mind in those last few minutes.

Her killer got 30 years in jail and will be accompanied by a psychiatrist the whole time. Given the circumstances, it's the best thing for him. He disguised himself as a local mythological lake monster using a homemade costume when he committed the murder. For the 'romance of it all,' or so he claimed after we arrested him. No wonder he got so much prison time.

After solving the case, we helped a local hunter (who was also a suspect in this case as well as the museum case a few weeks ago) rescue and heal a weakened young fox. Poor thing had a nasty mite infection that gave it scabies, making it too uncomfortable to eat and meaning that it was getting weaker and weaker by the day. Grace gave it some medicine and we took it back to James Savage, the hunter, who agreed to look after it until it's strong enough to be released into the wild again.

He's a good guy. Just not a lot of people like him, if I'm being honest. He's not the best at socializing and he's a loner, so that puts a lot of people off from getting to know him. But he loves animals, and he knows the forest well. He has a dog too, a husky that he's planning to enter in the dog pageant. Beautiful animal.

Things are getting tenser and tenser around here in the lead-up to the dog pageant. We haven't found any more poison-laced bowls of dog food, thank god, but there's a distinct feeling in the air. I wouldn't be surprised if something happens soon.

I miss you and our parents, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 31st May 2013:

Ari,

Someone tried to frame James Savage for the murder of a scout leader today. They knew he'd had arguments with the victim previously about the victim littering or trying to start fires in areas marked with 'No Fires' signs, as well as that James and the victim had almost got into a fight over said actions.

The Eagle Scout, who was the killer in this case, stole James's knife and killed the scout leader (who by all accounts was a drunkard, abuser, and thief, so it's hard to feel bad for him) and then planted the knife in James's hut. In all honesty, if James wasn't allergic to chocolate (we found chocolate stains on the knife handle) we might have believed he was guilty and arrested him instead. I'm just glad we didn't make that mistake.

Tensions are rising here. The owner of the tea shop that Daniel Taylor, the victim in the Lily Robinson case last month, worked in found an odd smell in her shop this afternoon. She asked Officer Ramirez and me to investigate, and we found a bag of suspicious-looking dog food that had been left there. We asked the ever-reliable Grace (who is also entering her dog Newton in the Dog Pageant) to investigate and she revealed to us that they were expired.

The tea shop owner is convinced that she bought them and forgot, despite them not being the brand she usually buys, but Ramirez and I are convinced that there's more to the story. We're letting it go for now though since there's no obvious proof of any wrongdoings.

On a lighter note, Jones and I were able to help the group of scouts who found the body earn their Crime Prevention badge by staging a mock murder investigation with them. In all honesty, they're good kids, and we had a really fun time. They even named us honorary scouts and gave us uniforms as well! We'll have to go back and show them more of the techniques we use while doing police work some other time.

I miss you, sis. Give mom and dad all my love as well.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 7th June 2013:

Ari,

Remember when I said that the case with the killer who had the Hannibal Lecter fantasies was the worst one that Jones and I had worked on? I think we might have just hit a new low. After the Historical Center was hit by a huge blackout that knocked out power to the entire district, we were led to a creepy-looking house at the address 301 Shelley Street.

Investigating the garage of the house, we found the body of a young woman, who we later discovered to be an activist called Claire Godwin, strapped to an experimental machine, and electrocuted to death. Her death due to the machine was what caused the power outage.

As it turns out, the owners of the house, a family of wealthy immigrants from Germany called the Wollcrafts, had a pet dog that they were training for the upcoming dog pageant. The family matriarch was devastated when it died, and her husband had been researching and designing machines in an attempt to reanimate it. The victim had found out and threatened to report the family to the police, and her boyfriend, the son of the scientist who designed the machine, had used the very same machine to kill her.

What a tragedy. Honestly, it's insane how people can become twisted by grief, especially with the dog pageant coming up just next week.

There's something I've never said in my letters to you before, sis, and it happens every single time I have to work the murder of a young woman. Some part of my mind will always be thinking about you and being grateful that you're in Missouri, safe from all the craziness in this city.

I love you and our family so much, little sis, and I have no idea what I'd do if I lost any of you. Stay safe, and give my love to Mom and Dad too.

Josh.

P.S. Everyone in Grimsborough is obsessed with burgers. It's weird. Delicious, though, and I will admit that there are worse things that people here could be obsessed with.

Grimsborough, 28th June 2013:

Ari,

Jones and I were promoted to patrol the University district after solving Molly Robinson's murder two weeks ago. Things have mostly been quiet since then, except for calls every couple of days to rescue cats that get stuck in trees, and we've been enjoying the downtime and taking the opportunity to get used to the new district to which we've been assigned. However, the students returned from break this week and we already have a death on our hands.

A first-year student, Rani Goshwalla, was found this morning tied up in her bikini and left to asphyxiate by what turned out to be an anthill. Not exactly a pleasant way to go. After careful examination of the clues we found, and thanks to interrogating our suspects thoroughly and properly, we arrested her sister Misha, who swiftly confessed to the crime.

According to her confession, she was jealous of her younger sister due to thinking that the victim was prettier and more popular than her. One night Misha confronted Rani and… well, the rest of the story kind of tells itself. She swears that it was unintentional, but even if it was manslaughter that still doesn't excuse it. She was sentenced to 12 years in prison with mandatory regular visits to the prison psychiatrist, though will still be allowed to continue her education.

Among the random items littering the quad where we found the body, there was a Rorschach inkblot test pinned to a tree. You don't see those much anymore, at least outside of a psychiatrist's or hypnotist's office. It's interesting.

I thought of you again while working on this case, Ari. With the things I see in this line of work, it's refreshing to know that I can always count on the thought of my little sister to cheer me up. I love you, sis.

There's a performance at the local concert hall next week, so that'll give me something to take my mind off the brutality of people in this city. For a while at least.

Give my love to Mom and Dad as well.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 5th July 2013:

Ari,

It seems we can't do anything around this city without a murder or death of some kind being involved somehow. Jones and I went to the Lone Roses concert, which was the one I mentioned in my last letter, as we had planned. Unfortunately, after the concert, we found the poisoned body of the band's lead singer stuffed inside the band's drum kit, his face frozen in a horrible smile.

I wish I could wipe his face from my memories, little sis. I don't have the words to express how horrible it was. The rest of the case was no less pleasant either, as we discovered that the drummer had intentionally gotten himself high on drugs after finding the body of his friend inside his drum kit, in an attempt to forget that he'd done exactly that. Amongst other disturbing details, anyway (such as the local diner owner being mad at the victim since the victim got the health department called with a particularly nasty prank).

In the end, and with the help of a mysterious hacker who introduced themself to us as 'The rtist' (who we communicated with over video calls) the killer turned out to be the band's groupie. She admitted that she had initially approached Olly, our victim, as his secret admirer. She's kept her identity secret of course, and Olly had eventually promised her that he would leave the Lone Roses and that the two of them would start their own two-person group. She'd even written music for the two of them. But then when she finally revealed her identity and confessed that she was his secret admirer, Olly laughed at her and stole her songs, performing them live on stage with the rest of his band.

Such a senseless waste of life…

On a lighter note, Irma, the diner owner I mentioned earlier (who shares her name with the waiter at the diner in the Garfield comic strip) treated Jones and me to burgers made with her 'special sauce' as a thank you for closing the case. Her special sauce uses some incredibly strange ingredients, but there's no denying that the burgers were delicious.

Jones got us tickets for a football game next week. Contact sports like football aren't usually my thing, but he says it's his treat, so there's no sense arguing with him. Although to be honest, I'm getting a bad feeling about this…

Grimsborough, 11th July 2013:

Ari,

I hate when I'm right. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Remember in my last letter when I said I had a bad feeling about the football game that Jones got us tickets to? I was right. Troy Takiguchi, the star quarterback of the Grimsborough Quails football team, collapsed midgame which caused the game to be canceled, and the medics confirmed that he'd been killed by poison.

It turns out that Troy was diabetic, having to take regular doses of insulin to keep himself healthy, and his murderer had mixed doping hormones (specifically, EPO) with Troy's insulin. And then they tried to frame the school nurse for the murder because she had previously been arrested for providing university students with doping hormones (though she was never charged due to the Dean wanting to give her a second chance, she was still fined $7,000 and the charge went on her criminal record).

After much investigation and arduous work, we were able to arrest Franklin Caldwell, the coach of the Grimsborough Quails, for Troy's murder. He confessed to the crime, admitting that it had been an accident. He'd heard that there were talent scouts in the audience for the game, and had wanted to improve Troy's chances of getting noticed so had mixed EPO with Troy's insulin. He hadn't realized that the hormones would mix with Troy's medicine to give the quarterback a fatal heart attack during the game.

Due to his intentions, he was only sentenced to four years imprisonment as well as an indefinite cessation of his teaching license. I guess it could have been worse…

Stay safe, Ari. Give my love to Mom and Dad as well.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 18th July 2013:

Ari,

Chief King sent me and Jones to the campus library today. A student reportedly committed suicide by hanging and he wanted us to make sure that it wasn't part of a series. Our victim's name was Lisa Edwards. She was a first-year student at the university. Quiet and withdrawn apart from a couple of friends, spent most of her time outside of class in the library.

Of course, nothing is ever as simple as it seems to be, especially here in Grimsborough. It turned out that Lisa's apparent suicide had instead been murder, the killer inspired by a classic movie called The Hangman Murders, which Professor Luke Harris (yes, Grace's fiancé) had shown in his Movie History class. Professor Harris was the one that suggested we look at it as more than just a suicide.

Needless to say that Grace was not very happy with Jones for making Luke one of our suspects in the case… At least I learned that Jones's middle name is Jeremiah.

We learned more about the hacker The rtist during this case as well. During a conversation with us where she revealed the victim had confided in her after receiving anonymous bullying messages, she confirmed her gender and pointed us to an old hideout of hers, where we were able to find proof of what she was saying.

Anyway, with the help of The rtist,' who we met in person for the first time during this case after she ended up coming by the station to give us some useful information, we were able to discover that the killer was our victim's best friend, a girl named Penelope Rivera. Penelope wanted to get even closer to Lisa, so began leaving her bullying messages anonymously on social media in the hopes that Lisa would confide in her about the messages, and she (Penelope) could comfort her best friend.

Unfortunately for Penelope, Lisa did not come to her about the messages, instead choosing to spend all of her time either in the library by herself or with another student (a psychology student named Tess Goodwin, who we also met when investigating Rani's murder last month). Penelope eventually met with Lisa in the library at Lisa's request, and Lisa revealed that she knew her best friend was the one who had been leaving her the bullying messages (The rtist had told her). They got into a massive argument about it and Penelope… well, all that needs to be said is that she took inspiration from the movie Luke Harris had shown them and murdered her best friend.

Also, Chief King ordered Alex and me to find out more about The rtist, so Alex suggested we challenge her to a game. Like an intellectual contest. She accepted our challenge, and after flirting with Alex, challenged us to go to her old hideout and uncover a memory card with personal information that she'd hidden there. Alex and I headed straight to the hideout and were able to find the memory card in question, discovering after Alex analyzed it that the only thing on it was a file containing the initials C.K. Alex isn't sure what it means, but I have a gut feeling that I know exactly what it is. I think she's just given us her initials.

I'm glad you're safe in Missouri, Ari. I really don't know how I'd manage things if you were here amid all these horrific murders going on. I love you, sis.

Say hi to Mom and Dad for me, and give them my love. I miss you all so much.

Josh.

P.S. There was another Rorschach inkblot test at the scene of the crime in the library. It's probably just a coincidence that this is the second time we've found one of these tests at a murder scene here, but something's bugging me about it.

Grimsborough, 1st August 2013:

I didn't think it was possible, but there were absolutely no murders in the city after my last letter. Well, up until today, anyway.

Chief King sent us to Grimsborough's Amish community to collect the body of Grimsborough University student Tom Blackwater. He'd been tied to a pole and stabbed with a pitchfork. Distressingly, the murder was witnessed by a young Amish boy named Isaac. Unable to cope with the trauma of what he saw, he completely shut down. Thank god Grace is so good with children…

Grace went to the Amish community to look after Isaac and to try and get him to talk about what he'd seen while Jones and I tried to solve the case. It was a challenge, even for someone as amazing as Grace, but eventually, she was able to get through to him in a different way. She got Isaac to express himself through drawing until he felt ready to draw what he remembered of the murder.

The poor kid watched his father chase Tom down on horseback and stab Tom to death with a pitchfork, and the only way he could mentally manage what he saw was by imagining his father as a monster.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Hannah Herzberger (Isaac's older sister and Tom's girlfriend) tried to commit suicide by drinking poison during the case. Luckily, we were able to get a sample of the poison to Nathan, who was able to identify it and notify the hospital in time to save her, but I can't help telling myself that if we'd been delayed much longer, she would never have made it.

Isaac's father will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the savage nature of the crime he committed, but he showed great dignity in court and the judge agreed to his request that he be allowed to continue wearing his Amish clothes in prison.

On a lighter note… the annual sci-fi/fantasy and comic convention is coming up next week. I haven't been to one of those since that one we went to with Dad ten years ago, so I'm looking forward to it.

I miss you, sis. I miss Mom and Dad too.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 8th August 2013:

Ari,

I suppose I should know by now that every time I say I'm looking forward to something, it is never going to end well. There was another murder today, this time at the sci-fi and comic convention I mentioned in my last letter.

Cosplayer and convention attendee Joe Turner was found impaled on a statue in the center of the hall. The cause of death was the impalement, naturally, but the action that led to his death was being pushed from a balcony on the floor above.

None of our suspects had a kind word to say about Joe following his death. Tess Goodwin, the psychology student I mentioned a couple of letters ago, called him a 'patronizing, misogynistic $$hole' (yes, I'm censoring a direct quote). Peri Foreman, the festival organizer, admitted being grateful for his death and said that Joe Turner had been trying to take over the management of the convention for several years, adding that his death might provide the boost in visitors that the event needed. Kevin Parker, the owner of a local comic book store (who we met during the investigation into the Lone Roses' lead singer's death) and a good friend of Alex's, admitted being relieved about Joe's death and said that the two of them had been rivals ever since kindergarten.

And as for Irma and her brother Bruce Anderson (yes, the famous B-movie actor)… Well, Irma admitted to being relieved by the news of Joe's death, saying that he'd been previously banned from her diner for starting arguments and fights with other customers. And Bruce was just glad that Joe couldn't extort him with photographic proof of the actor's prosthetic chin (I can't believe that's a sentence I just wrote).

In the end, we were able to find enough proof to arrest Peri for the murder. She confessed at once, admitting that Joe's murder was caused by her pushing Joe in self-defense after they got into a fight, and said that she had been planning to turn herself in after the convention ended, just to make sure that it turned out to be the success they needed. The murder was accidental, and due to that, as well as the crimes of lying to the police, allowing his body to be put on display, and opening the convention while his body was there (thus quite possibly meaning that children would see his dead body), she was given a sentence of 10 years in prison.

Alex ended up being assigned by Chief King to replace Jones as my partner for most of the case since he's far more knowledgeable when it comes to comics, superheroes, and other subjects that might be considered 'geeky.' He proved himself to be an extremely capable partner and we worked well together, but having to arrest someone he knew was not exactly easy on him.

Once we closed the case, Chief King assigned us to supervise the closing hours of the event to make sure nothing else went wrong. He would have given us the rest of the day off to enjoy the event while we still could, but of course, Jones spoke too quickly and ended up getting us assigned as security. We still got to look around the event and I ended up finding some neat things to buy, so it wasn't all bad though.

I love you, sis. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me as well.

Josh.

P.S. I've enclosed something special for you with this letter. Bruce Anderson was a nice guy, and he was gracious enough to give me an autograph, as well as sign an extra photo for you once I told him about you, after Jones and I helped him find his lost script and practiced a critical scene with him. Enjoy!

Grimsborough, 21st August 2013:

Ari,

There was another murder at the lake where the killer pretended to be a lake monster. The cause of death wasn't drowning this time though. It was fish. Specifically, piranhas. Of course, Ramirez got worked up convincing himself that the lake monster was back for revenge, but we were able to prove otherwise. And as usual, I couldn't help thinking of you when I was trying to solve the case.

Our victim's name was Aaliyah Banks. She was found floating in the lake with her lower body half-eaten. Our killer had knocked her out, cut her leg to draw blood, and then filled the lake with piranhas that had been stolen from the University's Biology labs. After a lot of work, we were able to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that the murderer was an activist and eco-warrior by the name of Taylor Kirby.

Taylor admitted to the killing. She confessed that she had been trying to raise awareness of how polluted the lake was getting, as well as being furious with our victim once Aaliyah realized that organizing protests weren't going to get her elected Prom Queen, no matter how many of them she helped Taylor to organize. Judge Hall sentenced her to 15 years in prison.

After we helped to remove the piranhas from the lake, we found a third Rorschach test on the crime scene, one we'd missed when we were first investigating. The words 'Some people just need a little push to do the right thing' were hidden in it. Now that I think about it, Taylor said something about Aaliyah's murder being the 'right thing to do' in her confession, as did Penelope Rivera and Rani's sister Misha from my first University case. I think we're dealing with a serial killer, one that gets others to do their dirty work for them instead of committing crimes directly. Alex thinks the same thing.

We'll have to step up security around the University, but there is no way we're going to let this serial killer get away with what they've done.

Love you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 29th August 2013:

Ari,

No progress on the supposed serial killer yet, but Mikhail Levin escaped from prison a couple of days ago. And the head of security for the University reported finding a body in the Dean's office, so naturally, Chief King sent Jones and me to investigate, as well as to find and re-capture Mikhail at any cost.

Our victim's name was Tyler Wright, heir to a company called Wright Corp. He'd been stabbed multiple times and the word 'Cheat' had been written on his forehead in permanent marker. So if this is Mikhail's work, then apparently, he developed a hatred for people who cheat during his time in prison.

We met with the campus chief of security who found the body; a man named Brian Vigman. He told us that he found the body while conducting a routine check-up on the Dean's office and then immediately called 911 before declaring curfew.

After we told the Chief about a lead that we'd received from the Dean on Mikhail Levin's location (she'd seen someone matching Mikhail's description entering the student dorms), he told us that his granddaughter was currently attending Grimsborough University, adding that he feared for her safety every time that there was a murder on campus…

Jones and I later discovered the victim's cellphone, which had been broken and thrown away. After repairing it we looked through the text messages and discovered a text message from an ex-girlfriend of his named Cathy, which revealed that she was The artist and that Tyler had cheated on her. We confronted her about it over video chat and she denied killing him, telling us that even though he had cheated on her, she didn't care enough about him to kill him.

Jones told her to remove the mask and show us who she was since we already knew her first name, but she refused, saying that she couldn't do that just yet, but reassuring us that she would come to us unmasked very soon and that she promised we would understand why she had to hide when we saw who she was.

Only minutes after we had finished talking to her and she had hung up on us, Chief King called us into his office and congratulated us on catching Mikhail, saying that it was only a matter of time before we proved he was the killer (spoiler alert: he wasn't). He also added that since the University district was safe again, he could stop worrying about his granddaughter, who had conveniently stopped by for a visit.

He called his granddaughter over, and she introduced herself as Cathy King. And that's when it hit me. The initials C.K. Cathy King. My boss's granddaughter was the mysterious hacker who'd been helping us throughout the district. I think that's the first thing that's surprised me so far in this district, to be honest, Ari.

Anyway, after subjecting Mikhail to several hours' worth of questions using a lie detector, and re-questioning most of our suspects, we were able to prove that the murderer was Brian Vigman, the person who had called us about the body in the first place. He confessed, admitting that he'd taken Tyler to the Dean's office for punishment after hearing that the latter was going to share the answers to an upcoming test on social media and that the Dean hadn't been there. Tyler had started taunting him, saying that his parents were going to get Brian fired, and Brian had stabbed Tyler to death in a rage.

Alex and The rtist… Cathy… have a date tonight. She stopped by his lab shortly after Chief King introduced her to us and told Alex to pick her up at eight. I'm happy for them and I hope it works out, especially since it seems that Chief King is extremely opposed to the idea of anyone from our team dating his granddaughter.

Anyway, that's enough rambling for me. I'll let you know when I know more about their relationship, sis. Hopefully in my next letter.

Love you, and give my love to Mom and Dad as well. I miss you all so much, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 4th September 2013:

Ari,

Alex's date with Cathy most definitely did not go well. According to what he told us, not only did he spill wine all over her lap while they were having dinner, but he almost drove over her cat when he took her home. Poor guy.

And of course, there was yet another murder. Jones and I were told to go to Grimsborough Elementary School, on the campus grounds, by Ramirez, who told us that a teacher named Jenny Honeycomb had called about a dead body in her classroom.

Our victim was identified as Irina Nemovska, a young Russian immigrant who worked as an au pair for a local rich family, Dennis and Janice Mills (as well as their daughter Sarah). Her death was a gruesome one so I'm not going into details about it, especially since I know how much you hate when I do that.

After much investigation, during which we discovered that the Mills are a very messed up family (Dennis Mills was hiding the fact that they were going broke from Janice, while Janice bought Irina a one-way plane ticket back to Russia because she thought that she and Dennis were having an affair, while both were neglectful of Sarah), we arrested Ms. Honeycomb for the murder.

She confessed, admitting that she and Irina had been in a relationship for some time. Irina had wanted to come clean and publicly reveal their relationship, but Ms. Honeycomb, who came from a social circle that forbade people from revealing LGBT relationships of any form, refused, being scared of the repercussions that doing so would bring. She had brought a gun to school on the day of the murder, planning to scare the victim into ending their relationship, but it had ended up jamming. Irina, who was understandably scared that her girlfriend was trying to kill her, fought back in self-defense. They struggled, and Jenny grabbed the nearest sharp object and stabbed Irina to death.

Despite Jenny's intention not being to kill her girlfriend, the judge gave her a life sentence for first-degree murder. God… If only Ms. Honeycomb hadn't been so damn dead-set on keeping up appearances, Irina might still be alive, and the two of them might still be happy.

Something that will always bug me… why do people who commit the murders in the first place call 9-1-1 and report the bodies in the first place? Surely by now, they know from my reputation that Jones and I will catch them no matter how hard they try to hide their crimes from us.

Anyway… we've talked to both Dennis and Janice Mills and they're both eager to work things out and they've promised to be better parents to Sarah in the future. And Grace and I worked together to synthesize some asthma medication for Sarah after she left her inhaler (which was empty, by the way) on the school bus. Again, we are exceptionally lucky that Grace (unlike some other members of the team, such as Nathan) is good with kids. Grace also taught her how to make a baking soda volcano, which I think she enjoyed.

Unfortunately, the press has caught on to the serial killer rumors. And they've given the killer a name. The Rorschach Reaper.

Anyway… this letter was supposed to be a short one and I ended up rambling again, so I'm going to wrap things up here.

I love you, and our parents, so much. I'm so glad I have all three of you in my life, and I hope you never forget that.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 19th September 2013:

Ari,

The Rorschach Reaper struck at the Grimsborough University prom earlier tonight. They rigged the Prom Queen tiara with explosives and when it was placed on the head of the winner, a cheerleader called Madison Springer who we'd met during several of our cases in the University district… it exploded, killing her instantly.

I'd rather not go into the details, sis. Finding a dead body is bad enough, but when you see them die right in front of you, see the life drain from their eyes… there are no words for how traumatizing that is. I hope you never experience what that's like, sis. I don't know if I'll ever be able to get that sight out of my mind.

Anyway, for the sake of having a shorter letter today than the last few have been… Tess Goodwin, the psychology student who'd been helpful to us during several earlier cases, turned out to be both the killer of Madison Springer and the serial killer known as the Rorschach Reaper. She used Rorschach tests and hypnotism to manipulate Misha Goshwalla, Taylor Kirby, and Penelope Rivera into committing murder, all for her thesis. She almost managed to hypnotize Jones into killing me too. Thank god for Officer Ramirez and his trusty frying pan.

Judge Hall sentenced Tess Goodwin to life in prison for the first-degree murder of Madison Springer, the second-degree murders of Rani Goshwalla, Lisa Edwards, and Aaliyah Banks. She'll never get a chance at parole, ever.

Chief King and Cathy had a huge disagreement after solving the case. The chief wanted her to stop being the rtist, saying that involving herself in our investigations was too risky. To be fair, I can kind of see his point…

We weren't able to 100% solve the problem, unfortunately, but we did help find Cathy after she ran away. She'd gone back to the empty hall where the prom had been held. Alex, Jones, and I followed her there, and after Cathy admitted that all she wanted was to dance with a nice guy at her prom, she and Alex shared a dance (though Alex was reluctant at first since there was no music or lights, Jones quickly talked him into it).

I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad that Cathy and Alex are still together. I think you'd like them, Ari. They're so damn cute together…

Anyway, Jones and I have been promoted again. As of next week, we'll be working in the Maple Heights district. The next mayoral elections start soon, and Mayor Johnson wants his city's best cops in the area in case something goes wrong.

I love you and our parents more than you will ever know, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 26th September 2013:

Ari,

Maple Heights is beautiful, but the killers here are just as vile and psychotic as in any of the other districts. The Mayor invited Jones, Chief King, and me to a garden party to celebrate the launch of his re-election campaign and introduce us to some of the other members of the so-called elite.

Unfortunately, just as Mayor Johnson was wrapping up his speech to start the party, one of the attendees was killed. Our victim's name was Jerry Bigwall. He was the owner of an exclusive, members-only, club called the Livingstone Club, and a personal friend of Mayor Johnson's. He was killed by… well, it's probably better you don't know. I know, and quite frankly I wish I didn't.

The killer was Mitchell Westville, the heir to the Westville family fortune. Jerry had gotten him drunk one night at the Livingstone Club, and Mitchell had drunkenly revealed that his family was broke. A recording that our victim had recorded. Mitchell gave Jerry truth serum to reveal where the safe the recording had been kept in was found and used a mask of Jerry's face to open the safe and retrieve the recording, which he later destroyed. As Jerry could have still told people about Mitchell's secret, Mitchell killed him to preserve his family name.

It's such a shame that his family name will forever be associated with murder because of what he did… And that he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars. But I guess that's justice.

There's one attendee of the garden party that still bugs me though. Adam Bentley, a socialite. He hasn't done anything wrong (not overly, at least), but Jones and I discovered he was copying the victim's signature. When we asked him about it, he claimed he was an amateur calligraphist and admired the victim's handwriting, so was practicing it for himself. There's something that creeps me out about him, but I'm just not sure what it is yet.

Anyway, Jones and I have been invited to a yacht party by Martha Price, Mayor Johnson's political rival. I guess being invited to fancy events is going to be a recurring thing in this district.

Love you and miss you every day, sis. Say hi to Mom and Dad for me.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 10th October 2013:

Ari,

After we joined Martha Price on board the yacht where her party was being hosted, we were introduced to a lady called Isabelle Fairchild, the heir to the Fairchild fortune. Jones, being who he is, at once fell in love with her just like he did with Rachel Priest and Alice August.

Of course, we can't go more than a few hours without a murder once a celebration of any kind starts… Jones fished up a body that Martha Price recognized as that of Andrew Ashworth, a good-for-nothing millionaire. Of course, we had to cut the party short so that we could investigate…

In the end, Isabelle Fairchild turned out to be the murderer, much to Jones' shock. She confessed that she and our victim had met multiple times at charity events. Andrew had flirted with her relentlessly, and eventually, she gave in. Both were regulars at a club called 'Jezebel's Dungeon,' the club owned by the dominatrix I mentioned that had a history with Jones. Once Andrew started trying to control aspects of Isabelle's life outside of their relationship, such as what she could eat and drink, though… She eventually decided she couldn't take it anymore.

Quite frankly, I can honestly say I don't blame her.

Credit where credit is due, though, she certainly didn't run from her problems… The judge gave her a sentence of 12 years, with parole eligibility in 6 years.

Anyway, I guess that's another case solved.

I miss you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 17th October 2013:

Ari,

Another week, another murder. Chief King graciously gave us the morning off to visit some of the famous buildings in the district. Jones suggested we visit the famous rooftop garden of the company 'Brixton's Britches.' They're the company behind the… well, you know as well as I do what famous item of clothing their CEO was the genius behind. Those damn adverts were everywhere, I swear…

Unfortunately, once we got to the rooftop garden, we found the CEO, Hank Buxton, dead in a plant pot with a corpse flower shoved in his mouth. He'd been strangled before being dragged into the pot, thank god, but still… After several hours of investigation, we were able to prove that his mother, Peggy Buxton, was the killer.

She admitted to it, confessing that she and her son hated each other, but her hatred for Kerry Ann Buxton, Hank's wife, was even greater. Peggy gave Hank the condition that he could only have her money after her death if Kerry Ann were disinherited, as well as letting her (Peggy) stay in their mansion until her death. Hank was planning to give his entire inheritance to Kerry Ann and put his mother in an institute for senile people, and Peggy decided that she had to make him pay for all the times he had disrespected or mocked her. And she was sure that we were going to think her daughter-in-law committed the murder!

Naturally, due to both her confession and the fact that she refused to take the stand until the very last moments of her trial while her lawyers tried to get our case thrown out, Judge Hall sentenced her to life in prison.

Rich people are weird, Ari. Hank Buxton was having an affair with a singer and local celebrity by the name of Lola Vallez, and extorting her with old erotic photos that she sent him, while at the same time giving his wife extra-strong sedatives so that he would be able to control her.

I have solved forty-four murder cases since coming to Grimsborough, and I'm still no closer to understanding why people do the things they do. Sometimes, I wonder if I ever will.

I miss you so much, sis. Love you to the moon and back.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 24th October 2013:

Ari,

Kerry Ann Buxton is dead. I feel bad saying this, but I'm honestly not surprised at all. She was found in the Buxton mansion swimming pool, murdered by her boyfriend, famous wrestler Tom Norris.

When we confronted him with the evidence, Tom admitted to the crime almost at once, confessing that he'd been too cowardly to turn himself in. It turns out he'd heard rumors that Kerry Ann was posing naked for a photographer by the name of Dwayne Vermont in a luxury cab depot. He went to the cab depot in question to confront Dwayne but all he found was the flash drive holding the pictures.

Suffice it to say that he did not like the pictures he saw… He confessed that he went to the Buxton Mansion to confront Kerry Ann but found her in a more delusional state than ever, bragging about how sexy she was and how the mayor's campaign strategy was motivated thanks to her. He got angry with her, picked up a loose syringe filled with collagen, and… well, the rest of the story tells itself.

Needless to say, Judge Hall sentenced him to 20 years in prison for the murder.

Poor Kerry Ann… All she wanted was to be remembered by everyone, even if she didn't necessarily know them. I guess in a way she got her wish, but I can't help thinking it didn't have to end this way.

To make matters worse, CEO Alden Greene, who we arrested back in March for the murder of Rachel Priest, has been released from jail, apparently due to a procedural violation that allowed him to post a $5000 bail and walk free.

Posting bail this long after he was imprisoned? I know the law like I know the back of my hand, Ari, and I know that bail has never worked like that. No, something fishy is most definitely going on. I don't know what yet, but I will figure it out, and I will put Alden back behind bars where he belongs.

Love you, sis. Stay safe, okay? Give my love to Mom and Dad as well.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 31st October 2013:

Ari,

Remember when I said that Jones and I can't go anywhere or do anything without a murder of some kind coming up? Well, I stand by that. Jones and I were playing golf (expensive as heck, but I swear everyone plays it here and it's important that we blend in), and we found golfing legend Tony Webb dead on the fifth hole of the course. His arms and legs had been bound and he'd been buried in the ground of the fifth hole… and then choked by a golf ball.

A golfing champ was killed by being choked with a golf ball on the fifth hole of a golf course. I guess there's a certain irony there. Especially when his killer turned out to be his rival, and fellow golfer, Harold Knight.

Harold Knight confessed to the murder. According to him, he was sick of Tony always being better than him. Tony was about to be exposed for his multiple affairs and his womanizing ways, but Harold was sure that Tony would eventually make a comeback just to steal the trophy from him again. He killed Tony in an attempt to avoid exactly that.

Judge Hall sentenced him to 25 years in jail, with a chance of parole in 15 years. I can't say I'm all that surprised.

Anyway, we've been invited to the wedding of Lola Vallez (the singer I mentioned in my letter on the 17th). I have a feeling that something is going to go wrong yet again, but Jones is excited, and it's all the news stations are talking about recently so there will be a lot of celebrities there…

Should be fun! Hopefully.

Love you, sis.

Josh.

P.S. Happy Halloween!

Grimsborough, 14th November 2013:

Ari,

I knew it, sis. I knew something was going to go wrong. Walter Fairbanks, the famous pilot who was engaged to marry Lola Vallez, crashed his plane into the ground as he was on his way to the wedding. We found him dead in the wreckage.

Although Jones initially believed it to just be a freak accident, he agreed that we would investigate it as murder after Ms. Vallez insisted that Walter was too skilled a pilot and that he'd been practicing the stunt that supposedly killed him for weeks. I'm glad we did since we discovered that the killer had poured fake de-icing fluid into the plane, filling it with chemicals that caused it to freeze even faster than if there hadn't been any fluid at all.

Lola Vallez's brother, Esteban Vallez, confessed to the murder. According to his confession, he'd been profiting off of his sister's diva fame for years, using her money to keep himself afloat. Walter had opened Lola's eyes to what Esteban was doing, and had convinced her to stop giving her brother money, which Lola had agreed to. Furious that his sister had been convinced by her fiancé to cut him off, Esteban decided that Walter had to die.

Judge Hall gave him 20 years in jail for Walter's murder. I honestly don't think it was long enough, but I know Judge Hall has her reasons for every sentence she gives.

Adam Bentley came up as a suspect in our investigation again today. It turns out that he was a friend of the victim, who had introduced him into Maple Heights society in the first place, as well as giving him lessons on how to fly planes and how to maintain them. He also confessed that he and the victim had an argument, which led to him giving Walter a photo album filled with pictures of plane crashes as a taunt.

It's times like this that I worry about the state of humanity, sis.

Anyway, give my love to Mom and Dad as well, and tell them I miss you all.

Love you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 21st November 2013:

Ari,

I got to work with Grace on a case for once today. Jones was assigned filing duty thanks to multiple complaints made to Chief King about his 'tactless manner', and Grace called with an emergency in one of the treatment rooms at the beauty parlor where she was spending her day off. Once I got there and had kicked the door open (something I don't get to do often enough, really. It made me feel like an action hero), we found the dead body of Abigail Price, the daughter of mayoral candidate Martha Price. She'd been shot to death with a hair removal laser.

I didn't even know it was possible to kill with one of those things. I guess you learn something new every day.

After Grace and I carefully navigated our way through the politics of having a mayoral candidate's daughter as our victim, as well as both said mayoral candidate and the mother of our current mayor as suspects, we discovered the killer to be Sabrina Kingston, Abigail's best friend. After we told her that the drugs she believed she'd taken, which had been sold to her by Mayor Johnson's niece, were nothing but duds (nothing but a mixture of caffeine and talc), she confessed.

She had asked Abigail to supply a urine sample for her since all the best colleges enforce drug tests, and she was sure that hers would come up positive. When Abigail refused, Sabrina took it as a huge betrayal. She crept into the beauty parlor's treatment room when the beautician left Abigail alone during the latter's facial and she tried to threaten her friend with a hair removal laser.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite end up working the way she had hoped, and now she'll have to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that she killed her friend.

Judge Hall gave her 20 years in jail, with a chance for parole in 10.

Such a senseless tragedy… An innocent young girl is dead and another in prison all because of some stupid fake drugs. It's times like this that I miss you more than ever, sis. But until I make things safe around here… just know that I'm hugging you extremely hard in my thoughts as I write this, okay?

I love you so very much.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 28th November 2013:

Ari,

King Souleyman of Sultanistan was murdered today by his son's babysitter, in an attempt to take control of Sultanistan. She was bitter about how little the king trusted her with his son, the crown prince, and believed that by killing the father she could effectively take full control over the country itself. She's been detained by international authorities for her crime and will stand trial for regicide in the international court.

Sorry, sis. It's just… this whole thing is so messed up that I feel like the only way I can properly process it is by making it sound like an official police statement. I feel so bad for the crown prince… the new king. He's been forced to take on so many responsibilities, including making trade deals and announcements, at the age of 7.

He did sign some oil contracts and promised to be a responsible head of state before returning to his home country though, so we'll see how things go.

God, rich people are so exhausting. I miss dealing with the Vipers and Skulls in the Industrial Area. At least with the gangs, you know where you stand.

Love you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 5th December 2013:

Ari,

What was supposed to be an evening off to take in an opera, an attempt at getting a little bit of culture, turned into Jones and I investigating yet another murder. The opera director, a man named Roland Vane, was crushed and half-eaten by a giant snake (specifically, a green anaconda).

Despite Adam Bentley, who was revealed to be the victim's foster brother (Adam kept their relationship a secret because he didn't want the rich people of Maple Heights to know since they already looked down on him for not being from a rich background), being a suspect for the third time, we soon gathered enough evidence to arrest understudy Anabel Stewart for the murder.

She confessed, admitting that she thought that Roland gave Beatrice Vane (his wife) the lead role for "Madama Serpent" in an act of nepotism. As Annabel thought she had the role once she learned the play would have a new director, but once Roland took over the position, he fired Gerald Riverton (who was previously the star of the opera) and gave the role to Beatrice instead. Unaware that Roland had changed his mind at the last minute and was going to give her the role, after all, Annabel thought the only solution to Roland's suspected nepotism was to kill him and have a new director for "Madama Serpent", one who would give her the role she wanted.

Judge Hall sentenced her to 20 years in jail, with a chance for parole in 17 years.

Love you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 2nd January 2014:

Ari,

You probably noticed that this envelope is bulkier and heavier compared to the previous 51. I'm sending all five of my next letters in the same envelope and doing the same with your birthday present since I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to get to a post office between now and whenever this arrives. Jones and I have a possible lead into a notorious secret society that did dark and evil things in the 1600s, but we're not sure how they're related to modern-day Grimsborough.

And unfortunately, we've discovered that the (late) Chief King may not have been as squeaky clean as we always believed him to be. Several years ago, long before Jones or I joined the force, information on the murder case of a man named Gerald Walker was removed from the police files. The only person with the ability to remove that information was my late boss. It's not definitive proof, naturally, but it's enough to make me wonder.

Stay safe, sis. Love you.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 16th January 2014:

Ari,

8 days until my birthday. I'm almost 27 years old and I've spent the last 14 months and one day chasing various murderers around this damn city. Honestly, the best birthday present ever would be a day where no murders happen at all. A day where I can do something for myself, like go to the zoo or the museum, without having to worry about stumbling across a dead body or the people around me getting killed. Maybe one day, huh?

Jones and I were alerted by Ramirez to the death of social worker Sandy Grimmes, whose body had been found at the local Native American settlement. It turns out she was related to the leader of a group of pilgrims who had come to America in search of a new life 400 years ago and had been rescued by the Aloki Indians of the area after almost dying of starvation in the harsh winter.

In the end, we arrested an Aloki woman by the name of Shanaya Peota for the crime. She confessed, admitting that she hated Sandy with a passion. Shanaya had been married to an Aloki man named Delsin, but after the two of them divorced, Delsin started a relationship with Sandy. Sandy also put Shanaya's children into foster care, and the latter swore revenge.

Judge Hall sentenced her to life imprisonment for the murder. I honestly don't blame her; this was a particularly horrible crime.

Also discovered more about Chief King's dark history today. 10 years ago, there was a fire at the Aloki settlement that destroyed a lot of important papers, papers that proved they were entitled to more land. The arson involved gasoline that had been stolen from a nearby gas station, and any attempts by the Aloki Indians to report it went nowhere. One of the only remaining pieces of evidence that survived the fire was a Grimsborough P.D utility knife, similar to the ones that both Jones and I have. The serial number traces back to Chief King, and he never reported it stolen…

What the hell was my boss into?

Anyway, this lead isn't going to follow itself, so I guess I had better get back to work.

Love you, sis.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 23rd January 2014:

Ari,

Famous history novelist Rosie Gatewood was murdered today, hit with a poisoned blow dart to the neck as she was about to give Jones and me information that would help our investigation into the notorious secret society we've been investigating. And the day before my birthday, too.

After much hard work and crime-solving, we discovered that Rosie's murder was linked to the mysterious and unsolved murder of her ancestor, a Pilgrim woman and prostitute named Harriet Gatewood, in 1645. We also arrested Ashton Cooper, the Cooper family heir (and descendant of William Cooper, Grimsborough's founder) for the murder.

Ashton Cooper confessed to the murder. He told us that Rosie had been about to reveal information that would expose Grimsborough's dark history once and for all, and would most likely ruin his family's legacy and that of the city. Ashton had killed Rosie with a poisoned dart to stop that from happening. He also confirmed that he was linked to the secret society we're investigating, as was the murder.

Judge Hall sentenced him to life in prison. I can't say I'm surprised.

Love you, sis. Say hi to mom and dad for me.

Josh.

Grimsborough, 6th February 2014:

Ari,

Tess Goodwin, the serial killer known as the Rorschach Reaper, escaped from prison a couple of days ago. With the help of Jones's dog Astrid, we were able to track her to the Grimsborough Nautical Museum, where we found her body tied to a stake and set on fire.

After several hours, we were able to find enough evidence to arrest Luna Hecate, a local practitioner of witchcraft, as Tess's killer. It turns out that during her time in prison, Tess was looking into the Pilgrim history of Grimsborough, trying to find out why her ancestor, a young woman by the name of Mary Goodwin, died. She was about to learn some nasty secrets that would expose the secret society that Jones and I have been investigating, and as a member of the said secret society, Luna knew she couldn't let that happen.

Luna mailed a pendulum to Tess's holding cell so that the latter could use it to escape, and then cornered her in the Nautical Museum. Once Tess was trapped, Luna tied her up like Mary Goodwin had been tied up, killing her in the same way.

Luna truly believed she'd done the city a favor by getting rid of a serial killer in the way she did, especially once it was revealed that Mary Goodwin's murder was linked to the same secret organization once again. However, Judge Hall did not agree with her and sentenced her to 25 years in prison.

I'm slightly shocked that it wasn't another life sentence, but Judge Hall has her reasons I'm sure.

We've also managed to answer the overarching question of why Chief King committed suicide back in December. Chief King was a member of the organization we've been investigating. He had been for years. He knew we would arrest him after he murdered Adam Bentley and that, if we did so, the organization would kill Cathy and then kill him in prison to stop him from spilling any more information.

He knew they would do this because they did the same thing to his wife Donna after he tried to leave them back in 2004. And since he would do anything to protect Cathy from them, he knew he had no choice but to kill himself before we could take him into custody.

I think we're getting close to a breakthrough here, sis. It shouldn't be too much longer before the truth behind this nefarious group is finally revealed. I can't tell you everything yet in case this letter is found before I can send it, but I promise I will soon.

Love you, sis. Stay safe. Say hi to mom and dad for me as well and give them my love, okay?

Josh.