After he sent the message to Ivy, Charles took a moment to stare at his phone a little while longer than necessary. A strange, undefined emotion tugged at his heartstrings.
Taking a deep breath, he forced his emotions down. This wasn't the time for distractions. As he cleared his head, he sat down at the desk in his bedroom before turning on his laptop. He needed a résumé, one that would be convincing enough to land him an interview at the detective agency.
Hours ticked by as Charles meticulously crafted a somewhat fake history. He did sprinkle it with half-truths. What he had done was to invent a prestigious law enforcement background filled with fabricated accolades and impressive case closures. It wasn't entirely a lie; his years as an omega had honed his skills and his understanding of the criminal underworld was quite high. He simply needed to translate his experience into human terms.
The next morning, armed with his fabricated résumé and a carefully rehearsed cover story, Charles found himself outside the imposing brick building that housed the detective agency. He scanned the entrance to the building, looking for someone he could use to get to the inside.
He soon found his target, a rather young looking detective with black hair and what looked to be gray eyes, probably a few years older than him. He sped up his movement and soon found himself behind the detective.
"Excuse me?"
The man turned around and met Charles' gaze. In response to this he held out his hand and offered a smile.
"The name's Graham. Charles Graham."
With a wary glance, the detective took his hand in a firm handshake. "John Gellert."
"Mr. Gellert, it seems I find myself in need of your help. I seem to possess intel on a case and it is a rather important case, but I cannot go to the police directly."
"Why is that?"
"Well you see… it has something to do with the murder yesterday and even the previous one. Thing is, I want in on the case and I need someone who can show me to the man in charge."
John raised an eyebrow at him. "What makes you think what you have would be any important?"
"Well," Charles said as he leaned in and whispered something into his ear. John went wide-eyed. As Charles pulled away, he handed John a card, and he exited the scene.
John stood there perplexed for a while before he made his way inside. Whatever Charles had said, it definitely had made an impact.
…
Charles had gotten a message the previous day, stating the time for his interview with the agency. He looked sharp in a black suit and carried a briefcase containing his résumé and some documents he assumed would be important in the day's meeting.
The receptionist didn't bother glancing at him as she gave him directions to the office of Detective Evans, the head of the agency.
Charles' presence drew a lot of attention to his person but it was nothing that he couldn't ignore. He was here on business after all.
He took a deep breath as he knocked on the door to the office.
"Come in."
He opened the door to find himself face-to-face with Evans.
The man stood level with him, his mustache and side burns were a clear defining feature on him. They met each other's gaze and held it for a while longer, neither refusing.
"Charles Graham I presume."
Charles gave a nod as the man offered him a seat before pulling out a cigarette. He looked at Charles, his face clearly asking if he was okay with him smoking.
Obviously the wolf didn't mind in the slightest. After watching him take his first puff, Charles presented the résumé to him.
Evans' eyes scanned the paper in front of him, an impressed frown forming in the process. His credentials were good… a little too good. Occasionally, his eyes glanced to Charles' but the expression on his face didn't betray the legitimacy of the document he held.
"Your qualifications are very impressive. Tell me, what is it you want?"
Charles smiled. "I want to offer my services as a detective, especially concerning the murder on the campus grounds."
"Hmm… what would you be able to offer?"
"I'm glad you asked," Charles began, loosening his tie a bit. "Five years ago, I encountered something similar to this, and needless to say, it always goes beyond what the ones investigating are expecting."
"What would that be?"
Charles chuckled slightly. "Surely you understand why I can't reveal that information. It's in my best interest to hold onto that until I get on the team."
Evans smirked at this statement. He had been expecting something like that. "What makes you think you'll be getting on this team?"
Charles leaned in slightly in his chair, his current position displaying a dominant form. "Because boss, you seem impressed with my work and you have already seen the references. You feel inclined to call, and when you do, they're going to confirm everything on that résumé and you're going to tell me, 'you're hired'. It's that simple really, and I believe you are going to assign me to the recent murder case, because that is my specialty."
Evans and Charles held another stare down. "You seem awfully convinced that I won't be dismissing you and even more that you think that I'll be assigning you right off the bat to this murder case."
"That's because, I don't see you as a person who would let go of a potential gem and besides, you have seen my résumé, it speaks for itself."
Evans gave a smile. "You must be a mad man."
"On the contrary… you wouldn't want to see me mad, sir."
The room became quiet as both men held another stare down. Evans decided to break it however, with a light chuckle that increased gradually until it became a full blown hearty chuckle.
"You've got guts and confidence kid. I like that. Those are traits essential to the detective work." As he said this he got up from his chair. "Normally, I'd have passed you but there's one more person who would needs to have a say in this matter."
Charles raised an eyebrow. "Who would that be?"
Evans directed his gaze to the door and at that moment, it burst open. Charles remembered Ivy's description of the woman and her sharp haircut.
"Right on time Riley."
"Good morning boss." As she greeted, her eyes darted to Charles and then back to Evans.
"This is Charles Graham. New recruit… wants to be a detective and he wants to be put on your case."
Riley's expression was one of surprise. The newbie wanted in and wanted to take over her case or work with her on the case.
"So…?"
"So I want you to take him on a test run and his evaluation will be in your hands."
Charles turned to look at Riley who was also staring him.
"Fine. I'll do it. He may not pass my evaluations though."
"I assure you, you would be surprised."
Riley stopped to look at him. He held this aura to him that seemed to captivate her. She merely turned and shook her head. "Follow me."
She took him to her part of the agency and gestured to her desk. Unlike Evans, Riley wasn't interested in holding any stare downs.
"Let's get right to it. What do you know?"
"Right off the bat then. What I know is that this isn't the first murder that has you lot baffled like this."
For a moment, emotion crossed Riley's face. "What do you mean?"
Charles smiled. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. "Couple weeks back, there was a murder, a man drained of blood and left on the sidewalk."
"And you have an idea as to who it was that killed him?"
"Yes, and you're not going to like the answer or understand for that matter. I'd like to see your reports."
"Fine," she said as she ran over a few scenarios in her head. "You'll have to pour over them quickly, we have a case to get to."
"Oh… and what would that be?"
"I'll explain on the road," she said handing him a file and heading out of the office for him to follow.
…
Riley's car came to a stop in front of some buildings.
"What are we doing here?"
"It's a crime scene, or rather a scene I got called to before I went to the office. Since you're here, why don't you do some investigating with me?"
They walked into the building and unto the second floor where Riley opened the door.
Charles stepped in first. The room seemed rather ordinary. There were coffee cups and crumpled pieces of paper on a table and there also lay a half-eaten donut.
"What do you think?" Riley asked.
Charles walked up to the table and looked at it. The chair was knocked over with scattered papers situated near it. He dug into his pocket and took out a glove, placing it on his hand before picking the pieces of paper up. One of the papers had a date circled two days from now.
He felt breeze and realized that the window was half-open. Something caught his senses. The smell of burnt popcorn and donut crumbs on the window sill.
"This is interesting."
Riley walked up to him. "Have you got something?"
"I would like to think so, but it's rather strange or odd."
"What is?"
"This must be your test, am I write detective?"
There it was again, a trace of emotion that flashed across Riley's face.
"Why would you think that?"
Charles laughed this time. "So you're not denying it then. In that case, please assess me correctly. This most likely in itself isn't much of anything, probably just someone leaving in a hurry. We could check the house to see if anything was stolen though and with that, we can run prints on the coffee cup and also, we have the saliva of whoever is responsible." He gestured to the coffee cup once again.
"Then there's the paper showing the date, nothing much to go by that standard. The knocked over chair implied that whoever was leaving may have been in a hurry, indicating that he was never the owner of the place. If the real owner had made an appearance, he would have been forced to leave, dropping the donut, knocking over the chair and leaving the window half-open." He walked over to the window and appeared to brush something off as he looked down. "We're on the second floor so a jump seems rather unprecedented, except the person was extremely athletic or otherwise possessing otherworldly powers, but that is not the case."
He turned to face Riley and he could see through the poker face that she tried to muster. "Which brings me to my final deduction, you set everything up."
"I ask again, why would you think that?"
"You may not be aware but this room has the faintest scent of burnt popcorn."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Very well, you should be aware of this at the very least. Human hair or the head in general can attract odors. Smell your hair."
Riley had already come to the realization that he was right but she had to play her part. She took in the smell of her hair. He was right, burnt popcorn.
"How did you know?" her eyes were firm but they were curious.
"One thing tipped me off. You said you'd come here before going to the office and of course with the way everything was set up, you should have been aware of my interview, if I should even call it that."
Riley chuckled. "You're good."
"It's a gift." Of course there was no reason to tell her that her scent was all over the place, so he settled for the next best thing. "Why popcorn though?"
"Don't ask."