Case File No. 103
Location: Port Detective Agency, Investigation Area
Time: 3:59 PM, Pasific Time

"A ring? Seriously?" Eli questions looking at all the items on the table. "Can you be anymore useless, number four?"

"Ugh! Don't you ever shut up!" Alia claimed as she had just walked into the room. "All you ever do is complain, and hook up with girls, can't you find anything else better to do with your life?"

Eli snapped his head to where Alia was at. His once cocky and teasing smirk washed off immediately the moment the reddish-brown haired woman walked in. He couldn't help but feel the most annoyance when Alia walks into the room. She always berates him when he just wants some fun. Meanwhile, Alia felt that Eli was always disrespectful to others, her, and other women, and it annoyed her to no end.

    "Like you're one to talk," Eli snapped back at Alia. "You're always complaining on how something is sooo dirty, how it needs to be cleaned. If you're going to be like that, you might as well become a professional cleaner or something instead of being a detective."

    Alia glared heavily at Eli, "I worked hard to be here, unlike you who just flirted your way through!"

    "I did not flirt my way through, and you know this! I worked hard too! You're not special, Rodriguez!"

    "Stop fighting you two!" Kalm shouted, quickly intervening Alia's and Eli's fighting with each other. He was sure that any more of the yelling the other workers would've reported them to the head chief for being too loud. "Can you two just get along for only a few hours then you'll both be on your own way. Look, the case shouldn't take too long as long as you both behave. The sooner we get this case done, the sooner you'll both be out of each other's ways."

    Both Alia and Eli glanced at Kalm who was practically begging for them both to stop. It was almost pathetic to them, but they shook it off knowing that Kalm did have a point. The two detectives glared back at each other before turning away. Kalm couldn't help but sigh silently in relief that he got to them. They were both acting like children, it was starting to get ridiculous.

    "Wow, I've never seen Wells and Rodriguez be quiet while in the same room," Devlin said as he walked in with a cup of coffee. "So much improvement."

    "You are not helping, Fujihara," Kalm deadpanned.

    Devlin could only shrug, "That's the second time I've heard that line today. But I do have to say, you're a great leader, Clover."

    "Oh. Uh... thanks?"

    "Can we just focus on the case we have at hand?" Alia asked as she was already getting impatient.

    "Right," Kalm quickly said as he and Devlin walked up to the table Alia and Eli were at.

    "A gun, ring, some hair, blood, dirt, and a piece of cloth," Devlin examined. "That's it? That's all we have to go off from?"

    "Unfortunately," Eli sighed as he crossed his arms. "The blood has already been checked and it's only the victim's blood. There's nothing that we can do to actually find the murderer with just these clues."

    "If you're saying that then we're in big trouble."

    "How about the hair?" Alia asks. "Fujihara, you were the one who found it."

    "The hair is black," Kalm muttered to himself. "But the victim's hair is also black. Did we do a DNA run with this one?"

    The other three shook their heads, signaling that neither of them had checked on the hair bits. 

    Kalm furrowed his brows, "No one?"

    "We all thought that it could be the victim's hair," Alia pointed out. "Even Chief thought that it was the victim's hair, so none of us bothered to check for ourselves."

    "Chief talked to you about this?"

    Eli nodded, "Of course he did. I think during this time you were checking the blood DNA, so you missed out on what he said to us."

    "I thought that you were there when Chief talked to us," Devlin said out loud.

    "Oh, no," Eli spoke up. "That was my assistant taking notes. They do it just in case I need them."

    "Since when did you have an assistant?" Alia questions.

    "The other day."

    "Very detailed..."

    "Alright, enough of that," Kalm said breaking the side conversation. "Fujihara, can you go run a DNA test really quickly? I'll make sure to fill you in on what we got when you come back."

    "Whatever you say, leader," Devlin lazily saluted as he took the hair that was in the bag with his coffee in his other hand.

    Devlin left the room, leaving the three detectives alone in the room where all of the clues were at. He honestly felt like he should let the others have a chance to solve the case they were assigned to. He knows that a lot of other people know that he is a number one detective. However, if he keeps that title for any longer, he will be targeted for hit lists. So, he'll let the others have a chance at being number one.

    "Anyways," Alia started as she slipped her hair out of her face and leaned over the table, "the clues, what are we going to do with them? How are we going to connect them to the case?"

    Kalm hummed as he couldn't help but gaze at the ring he had found, "There is barely anything here, just like the file information. There are so many holes in everything, there's no way to connect everything together, unless we have more information."

    "The gun," Eli muttered, but the other two heard, making them turn to him.

    "What about it?" Kalm asked.

    Eli picked up the gun as it was wrapped up in a plastic to make sure that no other fingerprints were on it, "Who used it? The victim or the killer?"

    "Isn't it obviously the killer?" Alia scoffed lightly. "That's the murder weapon, it was used by the murderer."

    "Wait, Rodriguez," Kalm whispered to the detective. "Wells might be on something. There was blood on the gun, and there was blood on Reelse's hand. She must have used the gun to protect herself, maybe?"

    "The gun..." Eli trailed off. "It's a police gun."

    "It might have been her father's or husband's?"

    "Huh? But that makes no sense," Alia spoke up. "Have you seen the pearl necklace? No police officer could buy something as real as that."

    "How do you know?" Eli challenged.

    Alia narrowed her eyes at Eli, "My father was a police officer. When my mother wanted something as expensive as a real pearl necklace, he could never afford it. He only bought it when he's been saving up years for it."

    Eli glanced away, "Sure..."

    "Could it be that the murderer was one of ours?"

    Eli and Alia looked at Kalm in shock at what he had just said. Who would think such a thing? Someone that worked for the 'good' murder someone as innocent as a 24 woman? It was almost unthinkable, especially since everyone at the agency is so kind. What Kalm was thinking was impossible to have happened.

    "Are you stupid?" Eli snapped at Kalm.

    Kalm flinched at the sudden tone of voice. He snapped out of his small dazing moment as he quickly turned to the horrified look on Eli's and Alia's faces. It was merely a suggestion, and yet these two detectives acted like he had just kidnapped someone right before them. Eli's hands were clutched into a fist as Alia's shoulders were obviously tense. Just these small body languages, Kalm knew that he said something bad.

    "How could you think that?" Alia asked Kalm in a low voice.

    "That's such a depressing way of thinking," Eli said.

    "Why would you think that?"

    "How did that thought ever get into your head?"

    "It's completely outrageous!"

    "So entitled..."

    "Okay! I'm sorry!" Kalm shouted over the voices of Eli and Alia. "It just... It just makes more sense, you know?"

    "Blaming the people that helped us along the way 'makes sense'?!" Alia questioned, outraged. "They've all helped us since we were at the lowest level!"

    "Are you going to blame us now? Blame Fujihara?" Eli sneered.

    "I'm not saying that! Stop twisting my words!" Kalm claimed, almost stuttering in the process. "I was just saying my thoughts out loud, alright? It's the last conclusion we could end up to. It's just that... all the clues can add up to that."

    Eli crossed his arms across his chest as he leaned back. He tilted his head up in annoyance as he looked down at Kalm who didn't dare to look him in the eyes. Alia leaned over the table, wanting Kalm to talk more. Her burning reddish eyes bore into Kalm's head. Kalm could only keep his head down, scared that what he would say next would only anger the two detectives more.

    "I did some research on Veronica Reelse," Kalm explained. "Her whole family is rich. Rich dad, rich mom, rich siblings, and a rich partner. All of her family to her partner is loaded with money. You may not know this, but Reelse isn't her birth last name. It's Bernadotte."

    "A Bernadotte?" Alia breathed out in slight shock.

    Kalm nodded, "Veronica Bernadotte was her name before she married. As you both know, the Bernadotte family is so rich that they are on almost every mafia hit list. That means that the price on Ms. Veronica's head was at least $100,000 to half a million dollars. Her kidnapping was planned, but her death was not. Everyone wanted to be with her, men and women, even the workers here at the agency."

    "What does this have to do with anything about you trying to blame our staff?" Eli asked, his crossed arms now rested by his sides.

    "When people get desperate..." Kalm looked up at Eli with a worried look in his eyes. "... they will do anything in their power to get what they want. Even if it means to kill. The people at our agency also wanted to get with her. I think you know what I mean..."

    "That explains the gun..." Alia said with a bit of a solum expression. "It's a Glock 22, the same guns that we detectives and the police use."

    Eli furrowed his brows as his jaw tightened. "I guess that brings us down to only a certain few... unfortunately."

    Kalm looked away from Eli and Alia. "I'm sorry for saying it, but it had to be said. It is the only lead we have, and we need to take it no matter how absurd it seems. I'm sorry you two."

    "Whatever," Alia scoffed. "So what if there is a traitor? We'll just catch them, put them to jail, and leave this case alone. This case is already draining enough, I just want to get this over with."

    "I have to agree," Eli muttered. "This case is just a bunch of junk."

    Kalm looked at Eli and Alia again, hearing them finally getting along with each other. They finally agreed on something together. Kalm couldn't help but smile at the two detectives. Of course, he hid his smile, not wanting to seem rude. Even if this case was mentally draining, knowing that two longtime enemies get along was enough for Kalm. 

    "So that's why you took the ring," Eli said to Kalm. "You were doing research on it, huh? Checking the prices, which company it was from, and who bought it last."

    "Yeah," Kalm sighed out. "I just didn't want to 'get in your way'."

    "You should get in his way more often," Alia chuckled. "It'll make the job easier; I'll tell you."

    "I would say that that was rude, if I was lying," Eli said as he playfully rolled his eyes.

    Kalm shook his head with a small smile, "Let's just get this case done and over with. Just like you both said, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home."

    "I don't know about that..." A voice spoke up in a worried tone.

    The three detectives in the room looked up with concern. Their smiles were gone as their eyes looked at Devlin who held a worried look on his face. Next to Devlin was the head Chief who was looking at some paperwork with a frustrated look on his face. Devlin had a paper in his hands as the hair in the plastic bag was in the other. Something was wrong.

    "You all have to come look at this," Devlin said as he held out the paper.