Chapter 1

"Pens...Check...Notebook...Check...ID Card...WHERE'S MY ID-" A firm smack met the back of Troyi's head which made him tumble upon his steps.

"Hey! I was focused there!" Troyi's older sister, Fern, narrowed her eyes on him, one hand on her hips and the other holding a mug of hot coffee. She didn't bother hiding her dissatisfaction with Troyi being a mess. Especially at this hour when she just woke up only to be greeted by his anxious mumbles. Staring right at those piercing eyes, Troyi predicted what she was about to lecture him, and boy was he right.

If looks could kill, Fern's gaze would have stabbed him straight to his brain nerves.

As an experienced and professional Private Detective, he should be able to at least keep track of his own belongings as how he kept track of the evidence from the various cases he took upon, but here they are...well in a huge mess scattered all over his room with the papers. That left his sister to be the person-

"-to find your stuff for you over and over! And it's only 8 am... Troyi please just dump them in your bag so even if you lose them, you lose them in there.`` Fern sighed as she smacked the ID onto Troyi's palm. "It was lying on the kitchen counter. You're one lucky detective that I didn't accidentally throw it with the trash on the counter."

"Thanks sis! See you later. I need to rush now that Corporal called again for the same case but who knows we can get more from it this time."

Troyi looked up to his Fern whose eyebrows furrowed towards him at the mention of the same case that caused a severe incident to Troyi. His lips forced a small smile as he reached for the doorknob. "Don't worry Fern, I'll be careful this time. I think I'll get a new partner too so don't worry." Troyi reassured her, or so he tried.

Fern was reluctant to let Troyi go again, but she didn't have the right to despite being his older sister. He had to do his share of work for their little family but she didn't expect it could go terribly wrong. The last thing she needed was the loss of her only living family member. Since Troyi promised he would take care of himself better this time, she could only approve of him.

Once Troyi saw the nod of approval from her, a bright grin plastered on his face, he opened the door and made his move to the garage where his car awaited.

As a Private Detective, he only had to wait for a call from either the police department or any other companies who are willing to pay for his services and assistance. That way, he didn't have to worry about having any strings attached that'll restrict his movements. His partners often switched and he barely kept in contact with the majority of them once the case was over. Although there were a few exceptions of whom he does contact till now.

Driving through the bustling city never felt more chaotic than figuring out a murder case. From the lights to the car honks, life goes on as if crimes were extinct...as if the world was in harmony.

What a beautiful facade humans have that's amazingly creepy.

When Troyi reached the Police Force Headquarters, he slung his ID card around his neck and grabbed his satchel before going into the building. He immediately made his way to the Corporal's office, wondering who would be his case partner this time.

"Man, I hope it's someone work friendly. The last guy barely spared a glance at me and we took about a whole month to finish the case. Not only that he kept blaming me for slowing things down when he was the one who charged without a plan and made me into bait. That jerk made that case hell even though it was fun seeing him pissed." Troyi whined.

Letting out a sigh, Troyi mentally stabilized himself as he straightened his shirt. before gently knocking twice on the door.

He waited for a second till the permission to enter was given.

"Good Morning Corporal Swanson! I hope I'm not late at all." Troyi greeted with a bright smile. Well it wasn't the first time he received a case from Corporal Swanson anyways he didn't have to be that formal or stiff with the old man.

"Good Morning to you too, Detective Lavode. Please take a seat." Swanson gestured to the chair, returning the smile to Troyi. It always made the office lively whenever Troyi came in with his happy-go-lucky self.

As Troyi took a seat, he noticed the lady beside him who was busy flipping through the files. Her eyes were focused as her back was pressed gently against the chair, her elbow rested on the arm of the chair and she was leaning her cheeks on her fist.

Well this is my first time working with a lady. I hope she won't mind me as much. She doesn't seem to be too scary.

Swanson cleared his throat. The lady beside Troyi placed the file back onto the table and crossed her arms, giving her full attention to Troyi and Coparal Swanson.

"Detective Canmore, this is Private Detective Troyi Lavode. He will be assisting you in the current homicide case." When Troyi was introduced, he gave a small peace sign to her.

Hey one of them had to be the child at heart right? Just in case.

She stood up,Troyi following after her. Detective Canmore adjusted her jacket and reached out her hand towards Troyi, giving him a warm and beaming smile.

"Pleasure to work with you Detective Lavode. My name is Eliora Canmore."

Troyi accepted her hand and firmly shook it.

"Likewise. Let's get on with the case shall we, Miss Canmore?"

Once they were seated, Swanson gave Troyi a file while Canmore retrieved hers that she placed on the table earlier. As Troyi opened the file, his foot gently tapped the floor repeatedly.

We meet again the mysterious homicide mastermind. Aren't you tired of thinking about how to commit these without getting caught because you will be behind bars sooner or later. But well you did provide me with extra wonderful items.

As soon as Troyi opened the file, he exhaled with a whine. Swanson noticed and didn't bother to hold back a chuckle when he heard it. It indeed became the recent and most draggy homicide that even Troyi could neither figure out who is the mastermind nor the intention behind it.

"Detective Canmore, this will be your first case on the Alphano Homicide. Tell me what you know of it currently. Troyi will fill in any gaps for you but I'm sure you won't need him to do that.

Troyi's face formed a fake childish pout when turned to face Eliora but replaced it quickly with a smile as he waved his arms for her to start her debrief of the case. Anticipation rose as he wondered how much information she received or learnt. To Troyi, the case was easy yet nearly impossible to understand within a grasp.

On the bright side, he always enjoyed these kinds of cases, not that he supported murder, it just has some benefits that Troyi could gain without taking out anymore cash from his wallet. Of course it was risky but that was the fun of it.

Eliora firmly nodded, placing the file back onto the table before her hands intertwined with each other as she looked at the two gentlemen.

"14 deaths per week, it has been 3 weeks. That calculated to a total of 42 deaths caused by a single person. How do I know it's a single person? After every 2 murders, a letter was left in an envelope and each envelope was on the right hand of the victim. The very letter that was meant to be mistaken as a suicide letter."

Not bad. She caught the letter part that I kept trying to inform that amature detective.

Troyi couldn't help but be impressed. He didn't doubt her skills of course, but over the course of working with other detectives, all of them barely caught onto the minimal clues such as the letter and assumed it was a forced suicide or intentional suicide. Partly it wasn't incorrect, at a glance at least...

Maybe we should get more ladies to lead. Most of them are sharper...like my sister…

…Did I just insult myself?

"The letters were not suicidal letters. " Eliora continued as she took out a few photographs of the letters.

"If you observe them carefully, the handwriting and writing in each letter is exactly the same. From the shape of the letter to the structure of the words that were used, it's clear that these were done by a single person unless they had a machine do it for them. Which I doubt so."

Eliora paused for a moment, looking at both Toryi and Swanson whose eyes were focused on her.

"That's where it's called Alpha for the first half of the cases' name." Eliora explained.

"Secondly, all of these murders happened swiftly. A sharp clean stab to the victim's heart. There were no other injuries on the victims. No bruises, no minor cuts, nothing.There were no other traces of fingerprints other than the victim's fingerprints on the knife. That is where Uno came from. Every single death from this case was done by one person...or attempted to show that it was a solo choice of death. And there we have it, the Alphano Homicide. Though I'm wondering who named it. The case I mean."

Toryi couldnt help a small clap towards Eliora. "You're amazing. But true, who named this case?" His words came out bluntly, earning a chuckle from Eliora who seemed amused at his playfulness.

"I'm flattered Detective Lavode. I am merely doing my job. This is only the surface of the homicide. Am I right?" Eliora asked as she crossed her arms. Her smile and presence kept Troyi at ease.

"Of course." Troyi answered, but he wasn't prepared for what Eliora mentioned next.

"Initially I assumed that it might be the work of...the vampires. I'm sure we are all aware that they reside within our society, but for years there were no traces of them attacking a human, be it for food or sport. It's still a thought to ponder but we shouldn't point fingers till we receive more clues." Eliora finished explaining and placed the file back on the desk.

Troyi wouldn't deny being stunned. He sat there, looking at Eliora before turning to the table. Well at least the vampires weren't immediately blamed for this homicide and he was glas that Eliora wasn't the type to point fingers at certain…species differences. Before his mind could drift further in his thoughts, Troyi brought back his smile to listen attentively to Eliora once again.

"We've yet to find out the relations of these murders and what is the actual intention of it. There are no patterns among the victims so for now there aren't any obvious connections, isn't there Corporal?" Troyi turned to Swanson with a shrug.

Before this very meeting, Troyi tried to dig every bit and piece of information he could get his hands on. From the background of the victims to their habits and even their love affairs.

He tried to find out if the victims had an issue with one common person. Nope.

He tried to find out if they had a similar habit that possibly annoyed anyone. Nope.

He tried to find out if they had a similar affair but not all of them were dating or married.

So that left another nope.

Troyi ended up binge eating ten tubs of ice-cream while trying to connect the red strings, naturally earning a scolding from his dear sister.

"This is the reason I hope both of you can work together. With Detective Canmore's skills and Private Detective Lavode's experience in this case, we should be able to retrieve more information. So, I'll leave that up to you two." Swanson grabbed a few folders from the drawers of his desk and handed it over to both Eliora and Troyi.

"This is new information about the 43rd death. Read them and head over to the site while it's still under observation."

Troyi and Eliora both took the file before getting up from the chair. Troyi was the first to thank the Corporal.

"We will contact you as soon as possible when we get bigger findings. Till we meet Corporal Swanson." Troyi gathered the files neatly, or as neatly as he can before he headed to the door, opening it for Eliora first.

Once they were both out of Swanson's office, Troyi faced Eliora.

"So, shall we make our way to the place of crime? I have a car to drive there. Do you?" Troyi asked, but he wasn't sure about offering her in case she had her own transportation.

"I do have my own, but I think it'll be better if the both of us share one since we are working on this case together. Why don't I ride with you? That way you can drive and I can read through the information further." Eliora suggested. "Will you be alright with that Detective Lavode?"

Troyi beamed at her suggestion as he waved his hands. If anything he'd prefer that otherwise he had to end up trying to meet on time without losing the other somehow. That happened a few times with his previous partners and it ended in quite an argument…simply about transportation, but Troyi couldn't fully blame them since he did mix the coordination sometimes so he takes full responsibility for that. He was deeply thankful that Eliora suggested a shared ride.

"Please, just call me Troyi. I don't like formalities outside of the office. Plus it makes me feel old. Come on then, my car is right outside the building."

Eliora followed behind Troyi.

"Well then Troyi, call me Eliora then. One again, it's a pleasure to be your acquaintance.I hope we get along."