It's been 6 months since Erin was back on duty. Her rehabilitation process helped her full recovery. Thanks to her friends' moral support, she was able to get back on her feet and return to her usual, hard-boiled self. The fear she felt during that ordeal with Varna still lingers to her this day. Just like Jules, she also wanted to get back at him, though in a legal way.
She went to her desk and received paperwork to fill in. She was advised by her superiors not to be on the field for the moment. As she scoured through, she noticed one file detailing the massacre of the Benzies syndicate. That name rang a bell to her
It was the same syndicate who abducted her and hired Varna to torture her to near death. Erin read through the documents and made notes. After all, hunting Varna was a priority for her.
According to a survivor, the assailant was a man with a skull mask and a cap who took down the syndicate. That statement of his gave Erin a puzzled look. The man was a true mystery. He could have killed her, but he didn't. He wanted to hurt Jules, but he hadn't killed her yet… And now he was eliminating his old employers?
None of this made any sense to the Detective, but she would be sure to ask him once he was under arrest!
She then recalled that time when Emma was hospitalized. According to her, she was already kidnapped before Varna butted in and took out her previous captor. Pulling out her case file, she discovered that the former captor was a remnant of a human trafficking group that was brought down in a sting operation.
Jules arrived into the office, her eyes were dead serious.
"Erin, do you have any whereabouts of Varna?" she asked.
"Not yet. I'll inform you when I get something."
Erin stopped Jules from leaving for a while, intending on asking a question.
"Jules, when Rebecca was saved, did she tell you anything about the kidnapper? Did she strike up a conversation with him?"
Jules nodded "She did. She seems rather fond of this Varna, believing he might not be entirely irredeemable... I don't believe that."
Erin nodded "And neither do I..."
She then pulled out another case file. This time it was from two years ago when she, Jules, and Ophelia worked together to solve a crime ring.
According to the file, a detective named Percival Malloy was killed while working undercover in that ring. They never got caught for another year until the brutal death of the mastermind made headline news.
"Say, what do we know about Percival Malloy?"
"We now know that he was working alongside Varna. They were close… very close to what we could gather."
Both Erin and Jules had put the pieces together. Varna was on a killing spree to avenge the death of his close friend.
Trying to piece everything together, Erin searched for records of Detective Malloy. From there, they found the missing piece that connects everything together.
It all started with the Benzies syndicate, the one who captured both Jules and Erin on separate occasions. Turns out that they were brought down during a bust when an unknown citizen gave a tip to their hideout location, significantly weakening their group.
Then, the Benzies would come in contact with the Los Bandidos drug cartel who, at the time, captured Ophelia. The cartel likely lost a lot of money following the Benzies sting, but was able to recuperate their losses thanks to that crime ring
After Ophelia was sent to the hospital, he likely met with the Benzies and proceeded to dismantle the syndicate by himself in a brutal fashion.
Then there was Emma's case. The human trafficking syndicate the previous captor was involved in was taken down by none other than Malloy himself. It was the same trick with the Benzies: an unknown tip and a standoff ensues.
"Now I get how they work with each other" Erin was hit with the realization.
"The unknown caller would be Varna, then Malloy would swoop in and take the credit. That tactic would work well given enough time and preparation" Jules added
It all made sense, the separate dots were connected, there was a red thread through all of it… Erin and Jules had to admit it was all very elaborate.
"If we could get this Varna into custody… We'd get to know all the details." Erin mused.
"That means finding him first." Jules replied.