First case: Robbery of the magical aphotecary part 3

Looking into the dumpster right onto of the trash bags there was a dead Ent. One wound on the head and one was on his chest witch leaked the green liquid. The one on his chest probably killed him since it went straight through his "Core" (Core=Ent's Heart). Ent's ,simplified, are living trees. Even if you destroy the body, if The Core remains untouched, they can "Regrow". By the looks of it he is wearing the same clothes like the store manager Lilly. He seems to be a employee. There was nothing else of interest in the dumpster. On the right side on his chest was a nametag "Fret".

"Are you thinking what I am thinking Theo?"

"Yea.... Did you find the backup Rune?"

"No. It's missing."

"Well seems we need to talk with the manager about this Fret guy and mess with Lars a bit."

Sarwan was already excited when he heard the last part of my sentence. We left the body alone because we did not want to loose even a tiny bit of evidence and went inside.

"Hey! Lars?"

"What is it now Det. Theo? I am busy!"

"Say. You focused only on the inside. Did you check the perimeter for any other clues?"

"Humph! Do not teach me how to do my job. I checked there was nothing! Most of the damage is focused inside the store. If you want your evidence faster you need to move to the side and stop bothering me!"

"Yes yes of course! But I just could not help to notice one tinie tiny dead body in the dumpster behind there and I just wanted to ask you if that is some kind of "evidence" for you or is it irellevant?"

I tried to sound sarcastically as much as I can. As soon my words left my mouth Lars face went pale. He hurried outside and looked into the dumpster. His face changed colors like a stroke victim. Thinking about it it was actualy easy to miss. Ent's blood is allot thicker so it would need some time to flow out of the dumpster and if the dumpster not have a hole i would have never spoted it. Lars gritt his teath and shouted.

"Karsie! Ballo! Get over here and expand the crime scene perimeter! I want the whole backstreet closed! I dont want a speck of dust that is out of the ordinary left unchecked! And someone call the corroner RIGHT NOW!!!"

Lars was fuming like a wild boar with anger and embarrassment clearly showing on his face and Sarwan was enjoying every second of it.

"Ho ho ho! I love it!"

"Come on. Let's talk to the manager. Although we have a rough idea what happened here, we need more information. And give a call to the station so that they know that this case just got promoted. Also run a background check on Fret see if he has any criminal history."

Sarwan just nodded took out his cellphone and called the station directly. Slowly I pieced the information together. Fret probably got the rune somehow. He opened the warehouse for his accomplice's to rob it. Now we need answers to some other questions. How did he get the rune? Why was he killed if they were working together? And what was the motive for his murder?

''Done. The chief is really mad at he guys who arrived first and did not notice the body.''

''I can imagine but we will need to put in a good word for them i mean its easy to miss when you are focused on the mess inside''

''True.''

''Anything on Fret?''

''Well he has a criminal record. Some small stuff robbery, battering, shoplifting. but there is something really interesting…..Drugs.''

''Interesting. Any details on that?''

''He was a small time Dealer. Five times caught for possession and each time he got a bailout.''

''Who got him out?''

''Anonymous.''

''Hmmm. So we got a small time dealer with allot of arrests for possession who got bailed out each and every time by a noble soul suddenly going clean and working in a Drugstore. Now if that isn't fishy I don't know what is.''

''I agree.''

Lilly was still in her office talking to someone on the phone. Seeing us enter she hurriedly finished the conversation and turned her attention to us.

"Yes madam ill call you as soon they find something out.... So? Did you find something new out? Do you have any idea who might have done this?"

''Tell us miss Lilly did you find the missing rune?''

''No....It was not in the safe. I have no idea where it is. And I know what you are going to ask but I am sure that all our employees are good people."

From the looks of it she does not seem to be lying. I just looked at Sarwan just to get confirmation.

Maeby I can get some more information out of her then ill tell her about the death of her coworker. Its a dirty tactic but it works. We need to make sure she is not lying.

''Can you tell us about the employees that are working here.''

''Well i have Dana, Pari, and Lola the Pixies that you have seen, I am the manager and Fret who is working at the warehouse.''

''And where is Mr. Fret? We did not see him.''

''Fret got a personal day off from me. He said he had a death in the family. Although he is only working here for four month's he is a grat employee and a good friend.''

As soon she said that she blushed a bit. Seems lke there was something going on betveen the two of them.

"Did he say when he is going to be back?"

"I gave him two days off."

"Is Fret a Ent?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

Sarwan steped a bit closer and put his hand on her shoulder

''Im sorry to tell you, but we found Mr. Fret's body behind the shop.''

In that moment I could see the light in her eyes fade, the blush disappeared and replacing it was a pale face without any blood. The panic was real, she was not faking it.

''W-W-What are you talking about! Fret is dead?!? You are lying.''

She tried to get to the door but Sarwan stepped in front of her not letting her pass.

''I'm sorry for your loss Miss Lilly but I cannot let you go into an active crime scene. I need you to calm down and let us do our job.''

''HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT! I need to see him you are lying! He can't be dead…..He's…''

She started to sway a bit Sarwan noticed it and put her into the chair.

''Sarwan get her a glass of water.''

''Sure.''

Lilly was hyperventilating she was definitely not faking it. Seams' like she had a relationship with Fret and developed quite a crush.

''Miss Lilly I know you have a hard time but I really need you to answer some other questions so that we can find whoever did this.''

I tried to sound as soothing as possible. It's not easy to talk to someone about the death of a loved one but it's also not my first time doing it. It was obvious that they had a romantic relationship from the looks of her reaction. Without a sound Sarwan was beside me and put a glass of water in Lilly's trebling hands. She chugged the whole glass down in a second.

''Can I have another one please….with sugar….''

Sarwan just nodded with a pitiable expression and went away.

''Tell me about your relationship with Fret.''

''Sigh��� We were in love…I really loved him.''

''When did the relationship start?''

''About a month after he started working here. We just started to fool around a bit and after that… well you know it just happened.''

''Did you two live together?''

''No not jet, we were planning to. But we almost lived together. We were always in my apartment. After we started dating three months ago he was always at my place.''

Sarwan returned and handed Lilly the sweetened water. After drinking half of it she started to quietly sob. I spoke quietly to Sarwan.

''Go and see if Lars has found something about the body. I'll finish here and meet you after.''

Lilly dried her tears and slowly took another sip from the glass.

''I know this is hard on you miss Lilly but I need you to answer these questions to that we can do a better job. Tell me when did you install the new security system?''

''About a month ago. Me and Fret were the ones that supervised the whole installation.''

''So you and Fret knew how the system worked and knew where the runes are?''

''Yes but…wait…. you don't think that Fret had anything to do with this are you?''

I could see the frown appear on her face.

"You have to understand that we need to investigate all possibility's miss. Lilly"

She opened her mouth but stopped in the middle.

"Miss Lilly?"

"Fret knew everything…. He knew where the rune was….. The combination of the safe….How to activate it…..Everything…."

Her eyes swelled up and she was on the brink of crying.

"But I know…. I know he wouldn't do this."

She hung her head low. From the looks of it would be hard to gather any more information from her.

"Miss Lilly could you give us the address where Fret lives?"

"Ok…"

After she barely wrote the address onto a piece of paper I went out of the store and called the station. The next thing was to check the apartment where Fret lived.

"Castle this is det. Theo. Can you call the state attorney and inform him that we need a search warrant for a apartment that the murder victim is using."

After giving all the information I sat in the car to wait for Sarwan. Something was bugging me in this case. It does not seem that its just a normal robbery. The safe was untouched. The cash registry was not opened the didn't even try to. The whole store was a mess but still the some of the most expensive alchemy ingredients were not stolen.

When we first entered I remember seeing some Hydra scales and even Lich ashes in containers on the floor that stuff has an insane price tag. So why were the not taken? It can't be that the did not know what it was they were labeled and if money was not the motive they must have known what to take.

Sarwan finished and got into the car.

"Ok finished for now. Lars was in a really bad mood ho ho ho."

"Did he find anything interesting on the body?"

"The bullet is still in the body so we will know more after the autopsy. The shell was not found they checked the whole street either it was taken by the murderer or it was a Revolver. Lars was so stubborn that he did not let me touch and search the body so the report will come later. And the most interesting part is that he invited us to a drink later."

"Really?"

"Really! Even I was stunned!"

"Well he will probably ask us to overlook the fact that he missed the dead body in the dumpster."

"No way in hell! I'm going to gloat as much as I can."

"Nah we will be good to him."

Sarwan looked at me with shock.

"But why???"

"I know he is an asshole but if we became friendly he could make our job much easier."

Sarwan contemplated it. Lars is a bit stuck up but didn't strike me as such a bad guy. He must be really proud at what he is doing so I can understand some of his behavior. A long sigh escaped from Sarwan.

"Fine…ill play along…. So are we going to Fret's apartment?"

"Yea that is our next stop. I already called castle to get a warrant. The patrol should bring it in 30 minutes then we will search the place. Maybe we will find something interesting."

Driving through the streets of Wonder City was always a challenge. The traffic is simply nuts all the time. Thank god they made the roads so wide. God knows how the special cars made for Orks and Giants would fit if they did not. I didn't really pay attention when we were driving to the scene but Sarwan is a reckless driver. I was on the edge of my seat all the time.

"Sarwan can you drive a bit slower the apartment will not diss...WATCH OUT! That was a close call!"

"Relax!"

How the hell should I relax with a maniac on the wheel. I'm starting to understand why they did not give him the never models. The streets were full of other cars but Sarwan was driving zig-zag like we were in pursuit. Luckily we were almost there.

Finally after about 25 minutes of horror we were in front of the apartment building where the Ent lived. It was a bit run down but overall not bad. I climbed out of the car my legs still shaking.

"Is this another office joke for the new guy?"

"What are you talking about I drive wonderfully."

"Wonderfully my ass. Let's go in and ask the neighbors some questions until the warrant arrives.