Colt knocked lightly on the chief's door before making his way inside. Barnes had been on the phone most of the morning and did not look pleased, not that he ever did with the scrawl permanently etched on his face. He gestured for the two to take a seat while he finished up his call.
G City was by no means a small city. All the residents described it as a city that functioned like the countryside, despite being as modernised as other cities life here was actually quite slow paced and there was almost no crime, resulting in a small crime division, including the two detectives that were just added in a few years ago sitting across chief Barnes now.
"We came to run the case by you before we get started", Colt got straight to the point, his slightly excited tone exposing a little of his past self, causing a smile to tug at the corner of his friend's mouth and a frown on the face of his superior. "Since Kai already got us the file and I've paged through it we're ready to go straight to the scene. The victim is male again so there's definitely signs of a pattern here. While I do the questioning Kai will view the body so..." Colt trailed off, noticing the deepening frown on the chief's face. He looked from the chief to his partner in confusion.
"That's just it mate, there is no body, the man was found alive" Kai leaned against his shoulder whispering.
"Barely alive, according to the club staff", Barnes cut in unhappily. "This is a golden opportunity for the both of you; although our side barely sees any crimes worth investigating, three unsolved murders hinting to one perpetrator do not look good, especially since your division is still on probation."
This was a truth they often forgot. It was deemed unnecessary for such a small town to have detectives and although they were mostly for show, failing to solve the first two crimes assigned to them did not look good. Soon after the second crime was committed the higher ups had immediately declared the division under probation without mentioning a time-frame, despite the oddity of the situation their unspoken message was also clear: "no more screw ups". Things had been relatively quiet the past two years after that, with two young and attractive men on the force joining in on patrols and general peacekeeping, both the faction and the residents had happily embraced them whatever their titles, giving the higher ups no more reason to follow up on the probation or interfere, until now.
"I've just gotten off the phone with the big boss, needless to say he's not happy but I've managed to deter him by assuring him this was just a case of assault taken a bit too far, the same thing we'll be telling all the locals", Barnes paused with a sigh to rub a large hand over his greying stubble. "It's not too far from the truth anyhow, we've had too many scares and the folks have finally calmed down, I'd like to keep it that way".
Barnes looked over at the young men sitting across him and once again could not believe he had accepted these two pretty boys into their faction just a few years ago. The one had shown up the morning of the first murder, late and driving up the wrong side of a one way, emerging from the car dressed like a rich college kid complete with an umbrella with a fancy looking logo that matched his shoes. The other had shown up three months later with clothes in all colours of the rainbow and a continuously flirting tongue he had threatened to cut off on many occasions.
But anyone could tell they were smart, too smart in fact to be wasting their lives here. But Barnes was not the type to ask questions, even when he knew there was a story behind the two's appearance. Fact is they worked hard and with more efficiency than most of his men put together, plus they were a hit with all the women who called out smiling whenever the golden curls or bright coloured clothes were seen in the distance, even his wife had shown her rare smiles when they were around. He focused his gaze on the two young men again and sighed.
"The information in the updated file is from the previous cases plus the basic bio of the victim, Marley's been in charge of the IFB bank branch here for a couple of years, quite the rich fellow. His family moved out here to join him soon after he transferred; his daughter Abi is the one with the band that serenaded you soon after you moved here, the one with the mole on her cheek and the squeaky voice". He paused at the familiar silence, although he had only been involved in briefing them once before this he was reminded of the other reason he didn't like these two, they made him feel incompetent. Two pairs of intense gazes focused completely on him, making Barnes feel like he was under the scrutiny of the sun. He covered his discomfort with a cough.
"The situation is the same as the others. The man met a lady at some golf club and after one thing led to another they ended up in a private suite, unfortunately for him such places will never disturb guests, especially rich ones with young pretty girls, so it's no wonder they only found him so late in the day" the chief spoke almost mechanically.
"Anyway the Marley's been hauled to hospital, he should be getting treatment still so you can take your time gettin' there. That's all I got from the call, the rest is up to you boys"
The two abruptly stood up at the end of the sentence, almost startling their boss.
"We'll be on our way then" Colt offered.
Feeling uncomfortable Barnes also stood, standing at 183cm he barely managed to look the boys eye to eye, even so his bear-like build ensured he didn't look small standing next to them. One pair of brown eyes remained cold and thoughtful while the other the colour of the sky sparkled with what he could only describe as anticipation. It wasn't until they turned that Barnes realised he had been staring.
"One other thing boys. The higher ups seemed to have caught on to this case a little too quickly, I'm not sure what's going on but I should be more careful if I were you, I gotta hunch someone's keeping their eye on you both."
The two shared a knowing look and after thanking the chief took their leave. Colt stopped just before the door was closed and turned back to the chief, "by the way sir I assume you'll be leaving early so we'll have our brief in early tomorrow, and I'm sure we can handle any hiccups so we won't be bothering you with any calls. Wish your wife a happy birthday for us, we've sent flowers her way"
As the door closed the grim expression turned into one of panic as Barnes prepared for another couple of weeks of grovelling.