Few minutes later...

That pizza was amazing. Gino's world famous for a reason.

I just came out of Gino's Pizzeria and made my way to Shirley's salon. I wonder what she's got for me.

I see Shirley outside her salon waiting for me by the door. When I went up to her I asked, "Hey Shirley, what's up?" "Someone left me some mysterious flowers. Will ya help me out, Hon?" "I'm on the case, Shirley." "Wonderful Hon, look at this."

She pointed to some flowers by the door.

"Someone knocked on the door, but when I opened it, I just found these flowers!" "Looks like you have a secret admirer, Shirley." I said. "We gotta find out who it is, Hon! In case you ain't noticed, I usually don't like to do things subtle." "Alright, I'll see what I can find out."

I noticed Poppy walk down this street. She could help us out.

"Hey, Poppy!" "Hiya, Aaron!" I picked up the flowers and said to her, "Do you recognize this bouquet?" "Of course! That's number twenty-seven: The Secret Love Bouquet!"

"Well, who did you sell it to, Hon?" Shirley asked.

"Today? Umm...Gino. And Patrick. And Mayor Skip." "They all bought the Secret Love Bouquet?" I asked. "It's a popular bouquet." She said as she continued her walk. I turned back to Shirley and said, "Alright, looks like I'll need to investigate Gino, Patrick, and Skip." "Eh, I'd be fine with any of 'em." She said as she went back in the salon.

Now for our new mystery: Who's Shirley's secret admirer?

Let's see if I can find any clues.

I put Shirley's flowers back down and looked around the front of the building. There was some kind of letter. It's a handwritten love note to Shirley. Must've blown into the bushes before she could see it.

I'll need to check the handwriting of all the men, and see if they match this note.

What's this? I noticed the bushes by the front window. Looks like someone's been rustling around in them. Was someone hiding in them? Let's find out.

I pulled out my magnifier and followed some footprints. The led off the street then started fading away. I picked them back up at a grassy area. They then went back to fading in the street, then back to another grassy area, then back to the street, but they became clear when I followed them on the ground near the construction site on the end of the street. They went into the site opening and I followed them all the way to, Patrick's trailer?

So these were Patrick's footprints I found outside the salon bushes. Wait, if these are Patrick's footprints, why was Patrick in Shirley's flowerbed?

Said person just came out of his trailer, I went up to him and asked him, "Hey Patrick, were you hiding in Shirley's salon bushes?" "I wasn't hiding, I fell off the roof into those bushes." "Why were you on the salon's roof?" "Fixing the air conditioning. My tool chest should still be up there if you still need proof." "I'll check that out. Another question: Did you buy some flowers?"

"Sure did! I ordered them yesterday." "'ordered them'? For delivery?" "Yup, but they never came! All I got was a form from the City Board of Flower Requisition. Whatever that is!" "What? A flower requisition form? Can I see it?" "Sure, if you can find it. I didn't open it. Just tossed it somewhere in my trailer."

Looks like I have three things to check.

I went inside of Patrick's trailer and looked around. First, I looked on the shelf where Pat usually keeps his tool chest. It's not there.

Next, I looked at the blueprints on the desk. The have his handwriting, and looking at these two side by side, they don't match the note.

Last, let's see if I can find the letter from the City Board of Flower Requisition. It might be connected.

It took me a while but I finally found it. It read,

"Dear, Mr. Rhino. We are writing to inform you that the City Board of Flower Requisition has confiscated your orders of flowers due to hard times. Thank you for understanding."

I'll have to see Mayor Skip about this.

One things for sure, Patrick's not Shirley's secret admirer.

I left the construction site and made my way to the mayor's office at City Hall.

Before I did, I stopped by at Gino's. Before I went in, I checked the menu board on by the front door. Why? It has some of Gino's handwriting. Yes! Aw man, it doesn't match the note. That means Gino didn't write it.

I went inside and talked to Gino. "Hey Gino, you bought any flowers from Poppy lately?" "Yes I did! Roses!"

Like the ones in the Secret Love Bouquet, maybe?

"Oh really? Why did you buy them? Some...romantic interest, perhaps?" "Yes, it was very romantic."

Bingo!

"I used the rose petals to decorate my newest pizza experiment: The Paris Pizza!" "Oh. Okay, nevermind."

I looked at the pizzas in the display cases. Maybe I could find this Paris Pizza, just to be sure.

To make a short story shorter, I found it. Not everyday you see a flower pizza. Guess Gino isn't the admirer either. That leaves Skip.

I left Gino's and made my way to City Hall.

When I went in, I saw the mayor himself sitting at his desk: Skip Rogers.

Skip's a redhead with a beard and a gold tooth and is wearing a grey campaign suit. Something about him makes me question him a lot. I just find him shady. I mean he cheats just to win a popularity vote against Poppy. Now who does that?

"Excuse me, Mr. Mayor? Mind if I ask you some questions?" "Of course, Aaron." "Okay, first one: you know about anything called the City Board of Flower Requisition?" "What? Yes! That's totally a branch of our government."

'Totally'?

"So...you requisitioned Patrick's flowers? For the city?" "I never said any such thing! No, the C.B.F.R. has nothing to do with me." "...Sure."

I'll have to check the office for evidence and see what he did with Patrick's flowers.

"Question number two: Can I see some of your handwriting?" "Why, I keep all of my forms in my safe, but you are not allowed in there."

Looks like I'll have to look for the safe too.

Skip then got up from his desk and left the room. Well there's some of the flowers in a vase. That could be Skip's or Patrick's but I can't be sure. I then looked at his computer. Making sure he was really gone, I went to it, turned it on, and looked for evidence.

Dang it! The files are encrypted! Let's see if I can do a bit of hacking...

Call me what you want. I'm an agent now, and I can do this legally.

Sweet! I'm in! What the- Skip made a fake civic bureau to requisition Patrick's flowers! That's gotta be the most random and gratuitous abuse of power ever.

So Skip covered his tracks by having a bouquet in his office, while also taking Patrick's. He could've left one of them at Shirley's!

Uh oh, the doorknob. Skip's coming back. I shut off the computer and hid behind a couch he had in here. Skip came in with a paper in his hand. Probably a form. He took it to one of the bookcases on the wall. The bookcase suddenly slid upwards, revealing a secret safe! He opened the safe then closed it. He turned the dial to lock it then left the room again. The 'shelf' moved back in place.

Good thing I saw the code. I got up and went to the fake shelf. It moved out of the way and I turned the dial. Let's see, it was 12-34-22. Yes! I'm in! I looked through the papers and saw a handwritten note that read,

"Dear Morcubus, thank you for the donation. I will not close down your evil factory. Love, Skip."

I knew this guy was shady! Skip's in Morcubus' pocket! Not a very good place for a mayor to be.

Okay, back to the case at hand.

Skip's handwriting matches the love note! So Skip's the secret admirer. I better go tell Shirley.

At Shirley's Hair N' Nails...

I met up with Shirley and told her that I solved the case.

"So, what's the deal, Hon? Who's my Loverboy?"

I switched my glasses with my sunglasses and said, "Looks like Mayor Skip's the one who left the flowers!" "Really? Ooh, a man with money and looks. I like it! But how'd you find out it was him?" "Well, he made it tough. Matching his handwriting to a love note was the key." "A love note came too? Can I see it?" "Sure, here. It blew into the bushes."

I handed her the note and she read it.

"He says my eyes are deeper than the Moon! I like this guy's style!" "Well, his style was tough to track down. He certainly didn't want anybody to know it was him." "Aw, he's shy! How cute!" "Well cute's a relative term."

I moved to the side.

"I mean, he formed a puppet department of our government to cover up his flower purchases, and he-" "Thanks Aaron!"

Huh? I turned to look at her.

"I'm gonna go invite that hunk out on a hot date!" She then went out the door.

"But he's also corrupt and he's working with Morcubus-!" You know what? She'll find out. "Oh well. Good luck, Shirley!"

I switched my glasses back on left Shirley's shop. When I did, I was called by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Aaron! Buddy! Over here!" That's Agent Walker!

I went to meet up with him. I saw him and Buddy. "Agent Walker!" We both said. "Very impressive work!" He started, "Who knew that Mayor Rogers was so closely associated with Morcubus? The agency will be keeping an eye on him from now on." "We should also find out why Morcucorp's so interested in the mountains." I said.

"And we will but first," Walker started. He gestured us to follow him to the train station entrance. He continued, "Aaron, you're ready now. I am promoting you to the rank of Special Agent."

No way!

"I'm assigning you to your own headquarters, right here in the city."

"Whoo! Best day ever!" "Our own headquarters!" Buddy said, "Now Gino can actually use both of his tables, Pal!"

"You'll have to take the train to get there. I'll meet you at headquarters later. I have some agency business to take care of first." Walker said before walking off.

Me and Buddy smiled at each other then went up the train station stairs. We then got on the train to our new H.Q..

"I can't believe we're getting our own H.Q.! I can't wait to move in!" Buddy said as we rode on the train, "Assuming the building passes my 24-point inspection. Point Seventeen: Fridge must be big enough to fit thirty-two pounds of bacon."

Never change, Buddy. Never change.