A New Case! The Mystery of Mask-Or-Raid! Part 1

September 16 3:45 PM

Holmes Detective Dept.

Office

It's been 3 years since the Senior Trials and I just turned 21 years old. I haven't been able to even get a beginner trial as an attorney nor a prosecutor, nor have I been able to even been able to do any Detective work. I just sit in my office tossing a ball up and down in the air, bored. I sighed and caught the ball I was tossing up and down then...

"Detective Holmes!" A young girl burst in my office.

"WHAAA!!" I fell backwards on my chair and groaned a bit.

"D-Detective! Are you okay?!" The girl ran towards me. "Detective!"

"Ugh..." I opened my eyes and looked at the girl. "Mari...Heavens just kill me now..."

"I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to scare you!" Mari whined.

This is Marianne Holmes. She's a 10 year old girl who has brown hair and emerald eyes and she's more than what meets the eye. She's very intelligent at what she does and she's my niece. About the part when I said she's more than what meets the eye, yeah she's a Psychic in training. She can not control her powers however, she still kinda sucks at her talent.

"Hey I do not suck at my talent!" Marianne pouted.

Other than that, she's extremely helpful and one of my partners in the Holmes Detective Dept. There's a third person working with me, but...she's a bit lazy and she's an attorney. She hasn't been getting any work either. We've been doing tests left and right and I legally can be an attorney as well as a prosecutor, but all that is wasted when we have no business.

"Detective! About the urgent news! Look at this!" Mari showed me a report in a newspaper clipping.

A dangerous criminal by the name of Mask-Or-Raid has struck again for the fourth time! This time he's stolen a priceless treasure called The Urn of Kazai! No one knows who this masked figure is nor understands their motives! Anyone please help us figure out this mystery!

"FINALLY SOMETHING!" I stood up quickly. "Mari! Wake Sophia up! We are heading into town!"

"Okay!" Mari smiled happily and stood up then left the room quickly.

Now, we are getting some action! I wonder how the others have been doing. It's been three years since we've last seen one another.

A woman in a white trench coat walked down the street and she stopped then took her hand out of her pocket and caught a flyer then looked at it. She gripped the paper out of annoyance. She read the head title. "Mask-Or-Raid strikes again!"

"How can they get away with it again..?" The woman scowled at the paper.

"Hm? Detective Ray?" A woman stopped and looked back. "Detective! Erika!"

"What?!" Erika looked up from the paper.

"Please keep up..we have to hurry to Officer Yomi's office. She has very valuable information regarding our current case." The woman said.

"Yeah yeah...I know Maria." Erika threw the paper away and placed her hand in her coat pocket again. She began following Maria to Officer Yomi's office once more.

Meanwhile back at Holmes Detective Dept., Mari barged into my other partner's room and hurried to the bed and smiled.

"Hellooooo!" Mari giggled.

"Mmm...Go away...I'm...trying to sleep.." The woman groaned.

"Sophiaaaa! We got a new case and an interesting one also!" Mari said.

"Case..?" Sophia opened her eyes.

"The Mask-Or-Raid Case!" Mari smiled.

Sophia sat up quickly and looked at Mari. Mari showed her the newspaper clipping and Sophie took it then Sophia's eyes shined with glee.

"Finally! Something interesting in the world for us to do!" Sophia stood up and celebrated.

This is Sophia Freya, a 19 year old girl with white hair and amber colored eyes. She's one of the best partners I have who, like I said, is an attorney. She joined me in my work to help me with the detective work, but since we didn't have anything to do she just stayed here. From what I heard about her, she's a well trained attorney, able to catch even the tiniest flaws in a flawless testimony. She's a perfect bluffer and will press until the person cracks and says something that doesn't match what they say. They call her the Willful Attorney. She has a niche for finding even the tiniest lie in a flawless truth that's how good she is.

"Let's get ready! I'm ready to crack the case!" Mari said.

"Well you know, it will be harder than it sounds. We gotta find evidence and then we have to have a trial when we find a suspect or the suspected then we submit the evidence and then we will have only five days to find the truth." Sophia said. "And in court it's guilty until proven innocent. Our system is flawed but I always find little holes in their corrupted system."

"I know you do and I wanna help find evidence! Let's do our best!" Mari smiled happily.

We all got ready to head into town to gather some clues and evidence to find a suspect or suspects or find someone or people who were suspected. I put on my brown trench coat and looked at a picture of my father, my elder sister, and I. I smiled then put my hat on the left the room. Sophia and Mari looked at me then we left the Department Building.

September 16 4:15 PM

Caelfall Main Street

We walked down the main street of Caelfall and saw police cars at the scene of the crime, Caelfall Museum. We ran towards the building and saw an officer standing outside. The officer looked at us.

"Ahh, Detective Holmes. You've come to investigate the matter as well?" The officer asked.

"Yeah, this is the first I've heard of the situation actually. I want to try and see if I could help with the case." I said.

"Yeah! We need to know dates and times, places he struck, and more clues that'll help support our case!" Mari said and looked at the officer determined.

"Well we have the dates and times, and places. Anything beyond that we are investigating also." The officer said and handed us a copy of the case with the dates and times of the incident plus the places he struck.

I took it and read over the information. I put it down so Mari and Sophia could see it as well.

Dates and Times/Locations Mask-Or-Raid Struck:

Monday, September 13 1:00 AM

Location: Etcrita Museum

Tuesday, September 14 1:00 AM

Location: Newham Shrine

Wednesday, September 15 1:00 AM

Location: Goldcrest Museum

Thursday, September 16 1:00 AM

Location: Caelfall Museum

"Whoa..no wonder no one has found this person, they strike when security is at its most vulnerable!" Mari said.

"Yeah. They only strike at 1 AM." I said and flipped through the pages. "No clues viable at this moment. Are you guys planning to update the report?"

"Yes. We need the most accurate details for court." The officer said. "You can keep the current report. There are more information regarding minor clues laying around such as their appearance and a card."

"Card?" Sophia stroke her own chin thinking.

"A card with their symbol it all has the same message, "Don't blink or your might just miss me"." The officer said.

"We shall use this as a starting block." I said and handed the report to Sophia and she put it in the evidence folder.

"Do you mind if we step in to investigate?" I asked.

"Go right ahead. Just be warned, this Mask-Or-Raid person leaves no traces behind from what we know." The officer said.

We nodded and stepped into the museum. We looked around the area and saw police officers standing at different places investigating the area. Sophia sniffed the air.

"Smells like a clue nearby." Sophia said.

"The Godly Senses of Sophia strikes again!" Mari said.

Sophia walked off and we followed her then she stopped at a wall and crouched down then stared at the corner of the wall. I looked at her then rose an eyebrow. Mari tilted her head and looked at Sophia.

"What are you doing?" A woman asked and crossed her arm.

Mari and I looked back and my eyes widened.

"Erika!" I smiled happily.

"What is she doing..?" Erika pointed at Sophia. "Has she lost her sanity..?"

"She says there's a clue here but I don't see anything." I said.

"There is no clue there. I don't know what these police are investigating in this room as there is nothing in here. Mask-Or-Raid is a perfect criminal. They don't leave any traces behind." Erika sighed. "This is why I hate this case so much. They've struck four times already, this one being his fourth time. We can't find a phantom thief if that thief is stealthy."

"Ah-ha. You said Mask-Or-Raid is perfect, but I found a clue!" Sophia said and put her glove on and took a piece of tape off the wall and showed it to us. "Clear tape!"

"Urk! What?! How the hell did you find that?! We turned this room upside down!" Erika said.

"My senses never lie. You must've never heard of me. I am Sophia Freya, The Willful Attorney." Sophia stood up and put the tape in the evidence folder.

"Willful Attorney..? Ahh! I've heard of you! You're said to be able to find even the tiniest lie in any perfect testimony and you're a professional bluffer." Erika said and looked at Sophia.

"That's me! You must be Detective Ray, one of the five Top Junior Detectives." Sophia looked at Erika.

"Yes. I've been but in the case by Prosecutor Maria. I'm just ready to finally get this case over so I can solve a case I need an answer for." Erika said.

"A case?" I asked.

"It's...personal." Erika looked away and looked a bit sad.

"Erika.." I looked at her.

Erika has changed since the 3 years we've been apart. Her long hair was shorter and she was a bit more pale than before. I could tell she suffered a life changing event. She looked at me and held my shoulder. I looked at her.

"Don't worry about me. Focus on the task at hand. Mask-Or-Raid must be stopped. You have the best chances at finding enough evidence to bring justice. Your father is Sherlock Holmes himself and you have Sophia. I'll do all I can to help you, friend to friend." Erika said then smiled.

"I- Alright." I nodded and smiled back. Erika let go of my shoulder then walked off.

Mari and Sophia watched us. They could sense the bond Erika and I shared. I turned to look at them then smiled. They smiled back and nodded.

"Let's gather more clues in other rooms of the museum." I said.

"Right!" Mari hopped up and down excitedly.