Golden Mishap

The drive to the Police Chief's home rattled his nerves. Wolf swore his hands were bleeding from his tight grip on the steering wheel. What Diane said put him on edge. He really hoped that Lillia was in a good mood.

The canine relaxed a bit. Lillia would be more concerned about her wife right now. The jet-black convertible rolled up to the house nestled in the suburbs; it was on the east side with a lovely view of the city. Wolf stepped out, wearing his classic white suit and white dress shirt. He folded his sunglasses away, took a great breath, and strolled up to the house.

It was a one-story white house with an open garage to the side. He knocked on the maroon door, briefly admiring the small rose bush garden out front.

If it weren't for the fact that Lillia was an ex-Special Ops Marine, the whole nature of this house would be pleasant and easing. Wolf wasn't fooled. A short white wooly creature opened the door and looked up at Wolf. She was a head shorter, wearing an apron around her body with a pair of blue overalls underneath. Her one glove suggested she came from gardening. Was she starting to cook or garden? Wolf smiled nervously, "Hey Lillia. How are you doing?"

"Well, if it isn't the fox in the meadows," Lillia smirked. "What are you doing here, Wolf?"

"I brought a gift," The canine promptly gave the small box to the lamb.

Lillia took it but still smirked, "Let me guess, a replacement watch."

"Uhhh I... uhhh."

"You're so fun to tease, you know that," She giggled lightly.

Wolf rubbed the back of his neck with an anxious grin. "So... how is she? I came to pick her up... and make sure she's okay."

Lillia sighed, letting him in. With the living room on the right, the kitchen was in the back walled off by a light gray wall. Wolf found Luggins in a t-shirt and some sweatpants, drinking at a minibar in the house. Wolf glanced at Lillia. "Don't worry, it's safe."

"Why does she have a minibar?"

"She used to be a bartender before being a cop."

"Really? That's... not what I was expecting," Wolf muttered.

"Not everything is as it seems," the lamb winked. "You go and help her. I have some stuff to do in the garage."

"The garage? Wait, weren't you cooking... or... gardening?"

"Yes, and now I'm doing some work on my motorcycle. Why?"

Wolf simply blinked and shook his head. The canine gingerly walked to the minibar. Misty pensively stared into the dark hardwood counter. Her glasses were to the side as she held a cup in her hand. "Is it safe to come aboard, captain?" Wolf asked softly.

"Huh? Oh, Wolf. You're here," The Police Chief sighed. Wolf sat next to her, intently watching her drink. "It's just water. Don't worry. When Lillia heard the news, she hid every liquor and rum bottle I had."

"Where?"

"I don't know," Luggins turned over to the kitchen. "But that black cake she just made faintly smells of my Jack Daniel's, and the garden vaguely smells of my Tito collection."

"Heh, then you might want to check her motorcycle," Wolf chuckled lightly. The Police Chief simply stared into oblivion. "You know why she did it, right?"

"I know," Misty sighed, "I know. I haven't done something like this before. And now I'm a temperamental wreck. It makes me wonder how Lillia went for a girl like me."

"Easily," Wolf smiled, resting a hand on Luggins's shoulder. "And I'm sure she would do it again and again. But that's not the focus right now."

Groaning, Luggins plopped her head onto the bar. "Please tell me I don't have to go back to those stupid crowds."

"No, but you do have to be a part of the investigation. Is Officer Barnes going to be-"

"No, he's moving up north with his folks."

"Wait, that quickly?"

"His brother was just killed in front of him, Wolf. Why wouldn't he?"

"If, heaven and God forbid, Lillia, by some freak of nature, were killed by someone, wouldn't you want to do anything and everything to get revenge or justice for her?"

Luggins stared for a moment and then sighed, "Everyone deals with grief differently." Wolf slowly rubbed his chin. "What's going on in your head?"

"I don't know. I really don't know." He gently slapped the table, sighing, "But doing nothing here isn't going to help. We need to get back to the precinct."

Luggins sighed, "You're right. I'll be honest. I'm a little surprised you came alone."

"Why?"

"Because of Lillia."

"Why does everyone think I'm afraid of Lillia?" Wolf exasperated.

Misty raised a comical eyebrow. "Because everyone is afraid of Lillia. I'm afraid of Lillia."

"Then why did you marry her?"

"Because I'm more afraid of being without Lillia."

"Awwww."

"DAAHH!" Misty and Wolf jumped at the sudden presence of another person in the room. Lillia, having come back from the motorcycle chore in remarkable time, wrapped her arms around the lady officer. "I love you too, you big lug," Lillia said.

Misty smiled, gently placing a kiss on the lamb's head. "I'll be back soon, sweetie."

"Alright, go get them, my shepherd."

"As... unnervingly sweet as this is, the team might have some clues as to what happened. We better get going," Wolf mentioned. Then he sniffed. "Do I smell... Grey Goose?"

Luggins immediately glared at Lillia who kept her innocent-looking smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Your motorcycle, not mine," Misty muttered. "I'll get changed."

The two drove off to the police station where the rest of the gang waited for them. "We have some... bad news," Snake sighed. "Some cops found a rocket launching set up atop a roof."

"The owner of the house?" Luggins asked.

"A real estate agency that's currently in Cozumel on her vacation."

"Is it possible she could've made a remote setup?" Luggins asked.

"No," Webs answered. "The setup was too well-timed for that. She would have to know that this transport was happening in detail to pull that off."

Wolf narrowed his eyes. "Webs, what's the average heat that comes off from a rocket launcher explosion?"

"What? Uhhh 4000 F and up. Actually, that's the weird thing about this. This rocket is on the lower side in terms of power, much lower."

"And have forensics found any traces of gold from the Dolphin?"

Webs and Snake looked at each other. "What are you getting at, Wolf?" Snake asked.

The white-suited canine gave a thoughtful sigh. "Don't you all find it weird that the explosion didn't leave gold all over the place? If the blast is hot enough to melt the metal, where is the gold? And why is the rocket on the lower end of power? Unless it was just enough to burn the van but not enough to cause anyone around harm."

Luggins, Snake, and Webs glanced at each other. "It makes sense," Luggins murmured. "A hot enough blast would just leave the diamond and ruby."

"And we're the only ones that knew about the transport. The only reason why the protestors knew what happened was because of the reporters," Snake added.

"Hmmm. Maybe that weird thing on the cameras wasn't my imagination," Webs mumbled.

"What weird thing?" Wolf asked. The four of them walked into the computer room, and Webs typed up the recording of the explosion.

"Look at this."

They watched as the video started rolling. The Golden Dolphin stood on a secured pedestal under glass. The Dolphin was safely in place right up until the explosion. "I don't get it. What are we supposed to be seeing?" Snake asked.

"It just...looks... too still," Webs said, "Shouldn't something on the road move a bit?"

"Wait a minute," Wolf squinted his eyes. There was a viewer at the driver's end of the truck. "Wasn't there a bridge we had to go underneath?"

"Yeeeahh?" Webs spoke up, pulling the transport route.

"Luggins, can you get the minutes of the truck's GPS?"

"I can get that," Luggins replied. While she rushed over to the computers, Wolf played the tape from the beginning of the clip to the end. They saw the Dolphin being placed in and the truck on the move until a certain part in the video where Tarantula's suspicion was correct. Everything seemed too still. Not paused but weirdly steady for a moving vehicle. Luggins rushed back in. "Got it. 29:30 is where we went under the bridge."

"Yep, that's what I thought."

"What's wrong?" Snake asked.

"Look at the viewer to the driver's seat. It's as bright as day. If you're going under a bridge, it should get dark," Wolf explained.

"We had lights on the dolphin," Snake pointed out.

"Yeah, but the viewer should get dark. Which means-"

"This is a pre-recording," Webs mumbled. She quickly typed around. "Got it! I knew something was off with the computers. There was a planted video on the security cameras. Someone managed to tape over the video and planted a pre-recording. URGH! How did I not see that?!"

"Easy Webs. It's okay," Wolf said. "Can you see if the Dolphin was tampered with when the explosion happened?"

Tarantula typed some more but grumbled, "No, someone physically removed the original video somehow. URGH! How did this happen?! I thought I made sure that I-"

"It's alright Ms. Tarantula," Luggins said. "You did your best." Everyone knew why Webs was so upset. Being one-up by someone while being the best in technology on the coast was an extremely humbling situation. "So someone tampered with the video. I'd say it was you guys, but you wouldn't have killed a police officer over this."

"And we wouldn't have done it this way," Wolf reiterated firmly.

Luggins rose her hands up in defense. "Look, I'm not blaming you. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this."

"Let's not get at each others' throats, okay?" Snake wisely said. "We need more info on this."

"You and Webs do that," Wolf said. "I think Luggins and I will figure out something." The snake nodded and left with the tarantula in tow. The ginger officer placed her hands on her hips, watching Wolf sink into a chair while he rested his head gently against his hand.

"What are you thinking?"

"It's just a hunch. But I have to make sure it's right before I start accusing anyone. Especially with this," Wolf muttered.

"You think it was an inside job?" Luggins asked, sitting next to him.

Wolf rubbed his muzzle. "I don't know, but it's starting to look like that."

"Why did you ask about the gold?"

"There was some info channel talking about melting gold. Too cool, the thing would still be in one piece. Too hot-"

"And we would see specks of gold plastered all around," Luggins finished. Just then her phone went off. "Hello? Yeah, why? What? What do you mean? Okay, I'll be there shortly." She hung up. "You may be right about this being an inside job, but if it is, it's the weirdest one I've seen."

"What do you mean?"

"The body of Hubert Barnes was tampered with."

Wolf rose his eyebrow. "Someone stole it?"

"No... it's not Hubert Barnes' body."

Continued...