What Might Have Occured

"A total of two shells of 9 mm each, a crossbar, and some handy farm tools. Most probably from his barn... Bloodstain on stairs... O mark on the wife's neck most probably choked... The man on the first floor was Christopher, an active member of the Central Legislative Front. And... also the stepson of the party manager... And unfortunately... His brother has just landed in the country."

"So thats why it is an emergency...So it going to be a whole political game now?"

"um... Yeah... And that guy, who was murdered, has been rumoured of dating the girl. It is quite a shock for everyone... Soon media would get their hands on it too."

"Ah... Great... So any other evidence? Any fingerprints or anything which would seem artificial?" Jenna wore her gloves and closely examined the objects retrieved from the scene.

"Sadly... None... Not a single fingerprint except from some of their relatives and some of their close party friends..."

"Oh... What did you tell about the background of that guy, Jonathan right?"

"Yeah... He is a member of the opposing party... Public Congress... He was very impressed in his work so he barely knew about her daughter's dating life..."

"It's like a massive jigsaw puzzle which has all of its pieces painted white... We still have to come up with some conclusion right..."

"Uh... ma'am you just transferred here right?"

"Yeah, today is my first day at work." Jenna pointed to an empty chair and offered the assistant to have a seat, as she seated herself in her comfy office chair.

"Thanks..... Ma'am, I wanted to tell you about the last two years' cases... They have quite some similarity..."

"Similarity...? What is similar in this blank canvas...? Or am I missing something? She began inspecting the bullet shells.

"Uh... The canvas is the similairty...."

"Pardon?" Jenna raised her brow.

"Yes ma'am... As I said there was no single fingerprint... Nothing extra, not even a strand of hair was obtained... In any of such political cases for past two years..."

"Huh?? How, the heck?!" Jenna was awestruck by the new revelation, it's not as if she hadn't heard of political cases before, but such a white case was uncommon, and the fact that this place has seen not just one but many of these cases past two years.

"Yes... Six months ago, Sister of Cristopher was also killed in a club... And the case was white."

"My head is spinning... So what happened to those cases? Who solved them?" Jenna exhaled a long and tiring gush of air.

"No one, they were pushed in the file of 'Shadow'."

"Shadow? What or who is that?"

"As I said... No one knows... But someone from two years ago reported that he saw 'That' in all black, almost six, he only managed to get a glimpse."

"Maybe he will have some info on him? Like the way he walked or ran?" Jenna knew for sure she found an opening.

"Sadly... We cant... The day he reported he was killed... And that was the last eyewitness ever... From then till day there have been five such cases, including today's six, and still no vitness."

"So you guys decided to name him Shadow because of how he disappears without a clue?"

"Correct"

*Phone Rings*

"Excuse me..." The assistant went ahead and picked up his phone.

"Yes sir... Yes, I am done talking to Mrs. Jenna... oh? Should I bring her along? Alright, will be on way."

"Ralph?"

"Yup, Sir has called us to the site... He has weird thinking... That the night is the perfect time to prey for clues..."

"Weird... So he wants us to investigate the site right now?"

"Yup... Personally, if I ever had an option I would not investigate with him at night... Dont get me wrong but he has an obsession with spooky stuff."

"IF we consider the cases and people he has to deal with daily I would be more surprised if he would not be obsessed or attracted to such stuff."

"Agreed... The past head of here was a lazy ass, he barely made any progress... If not for Andrew and James, your headquarters might have removed this location from their radar."

"Woah, so those two impatient brats are useful?"

"Haha... They sure are very impatient, but they know their stuff, they have solved a ton of cases on their own, and they still keep on searching for 'Shadow', those kids dont know when to stop."

"I still haven't seen their faces... I would trust your words once I meet them personally."

"As you wish... For now, let's get going, Ralph would be waiting for us."

"Haha, so you dont have respect for your seniors?"

"Well... He and I are like best friends so we always call each other by name, it's just on calls or in front of anyone higher we behave professionally."

"Understandable... So you will drive?" Jenna pulled out her overcoat and stuffed herself in it.

"I came here on my bike...-"

"Oh, it's alright." Jenna walked out and stretched herself gazing at the moon peeking out the dusky clouds.

"I am still a little dizzy, maybe riding a Neiman Marcus would help me sober up."

Jenna grabbed her biking helmet and her leather gloves and hopped on her bike.

"Holy... You detective guys have a ton of money..."

"Haha... it took ninety per cent of my savings... Come on let's get going, Ralph will be waiting for us."

"Uh... Y... yeah, coming."

They both began biking down the alleys of a mid-eastern city racing past the streets.

"How long have you been working as an assistant officer?"

"WHAT?? I CAN'T HEAR YOU."

Their engines roared like hungry lions as they accelerated through the whole city in barely a few seconds.

"HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING."

"23 YEARS."

"WOAH! 23, AND STILL BELOWE RALPH?"

"HAHA, HE IS A WILD DOG, MA'AM, HE CAN SNIFF OUT FELONS, AND I COULD HAVE EASILY BEEN AN OFFICER IN ANOTHER CITY, BUT OUR PRODUCTIVITY GETS CUT DOWN, REGARDLESS OF OUR POST WE HAVE AN EQUIVALENT PAY."

"I SEE, I BET YOU BOTH ARE VERY CLOSE."

Rest of the route they raced each other covering more than twenty miles in a matter of minutes.

They were greeted by Ralph who was sitting beside a haystack waiting for their arrival.

"Woah Jenna, I knew Zeno had a craze for bikes, but even you? It's quite a surprise." Ralph was waiting for them scrolling through his gram.

"I was a little dizzy, So thought of sobering myself by treating myself with a short ride."

"20 miles short? Haha, the way your engines roared no doubt it was short." Ralph slid his phone back into his pocket and moved towards Zeno.

"Hey, bud." Ralph and Zeno fist-bumped and hugged each other, kicking in their bro code.

"Sup, ready to investigate the scene?"

"Yeah, you sent the body to hospital for postmortem?" Jenna pulled the door sand stuck her head inside and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, and... They would give us the report by tomorrow evening." Ralph and Zeno walked behind her with a torch in their hands.

"Tomorrow? How come soo quickly?"

"Cristopher... That fucker is personally overlooking this whole case now..."

"Oh, so crazy big brother is out for revenge... Well, why are we taking pressure though?"

"First things first... He is not big, but a small brother, and secondly he is crazy... He has warned us if we dont finish all the necessary investigations in a month we will become the next headline of the daily newspaper."

"A month... well we can surely finish it by then... the only lengthy work is the postmortem report... and if it is done by tomorrow it is very possible." Jenna went ahead and sat on the chair in the corner of the room.

"Hmm... What are you doing?" Ralph stood beside her leaning on the wall.

"Imagining how things might have turned out... Farm tools... and two shells, of 9mm... and a gun stuck in Mr. Smith's belt... A throat slit daughter lying in the hands of his opponent party one of the biggest assets... And a wife who was eager for male touch for a long time..."

"Well... If you put it like that... it's quite simple then..." Zeno pulled out a bottle drank some water and left the bottle on the table.

"Yeah... so according to current information we have... let's assume how the fight went... You have given any thought Ralph?"

Ralph closed his eyes and carefully analysed all the information they currently had.

"I do actually... I have been trying to come up with one after you went... Let's say Mr. Smith got offered a hefty price for forming a connection with his opponents, slowly diluting his current party, and messing up their public image. But he did not know about his daughter's relationship with the manager's adopted son... So he might have felt furious and decided to confront his wife... And maybe found out even she was being offered a young person as her boyfriend after disposing him of, as Mr. Smith is also an active brain of oppossion... So he decided to host a dinner for his family, and Lance(The name of his daughter's boyfriend), and confronted them... or maybe tried to kill them... and then in the process his wife ended up killing him, taking him down with everyone else."

"Interesting... But still, how did she kill him" Jenna raised her brow processing the Ralphs hypothesis.

"Yeah, I had the same thought." Zeno added his comment and continued, "Maybe... Even these three had planned to kill him, as they might have also discovered he is spying on them... so maybe they poisoned him?"

"Thats a very certain possibility... But we can't guarantee it without post-mortem reports." Jenna pulled out her click pen and notebook and began speaking, "So from your both views and comments... My hypothesis is... Maybe Mr Smith already knew Lance would be dating, or is dating his daughter, and he found it a really good opportunity to take out their opponents' assets. So he told his higher-ups and was ready to take him down. But maybe Lance manipulated his wife with some juicy offer, maybe even some new boyfriend like Ralph mentioned, and so she might have agreed to assist Lance in killing her husband... and then they might have met each other at dinner, and introduced each other. Before Mr. Smith could give any signal to his men which he might have stationed outside, Lance and Mrs. Smith engaged him in a fight... Since curtains were down, they were only able to see shadows, and maybe they took a blind shot alerting Lance... Then his daughter might have tried to assault her father since he was going to kill her potential husband... But he might have killed his wife since she was also after him, and then his men might have found an opening and rushed inside, shooting the first person they saw, which most probably should have been his daughter... And then he would kill Lance which would also lead to his death in the process. And seeing the mess his men might have fled and reported to their higher-ups... It's a little bit too complex..."

"Uh... Yeah... but it is very possible considering their family situation-"

*THUD*

"Who the hell are you brats???"