"The kid, Leon," I snapped. "I've been so focused on the details of the murder, I forgot to pay attention to the actual missing kid. It was his plan all along. He distracted me with a blatant murder to keep me distracted from what was really important."

"Which is?" Leon said, frowning. "Are you saying you made a mistake?"

"Not a mistake, I just jumped to conclusion too quickly," I replied, whipping out of my chair, pacing the floor. "The kid, Leon! I just assumed it was a boy, but it wasn't. It's a girl."

"Okay... so we have a missing girl on our hands?" He frowned, confused. "What does it matter if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Everything," I drawled impatiently. "Good God, I'm surrounded by incompetence."

"Watch it, Russ. Just get to the point."

I sighed exasperatedly, trying to prevent myself from exploding. This was good. Really, really good. Of course I hated the fact that I had been so blind, but it was nice to finally have a real challenge.

"In the video Vahlov talked about gardening; roses in particular," I begun, looking at Leon's nonplussed face. "He spoke the sentence; 'Roses must wilt, but only after the seed has planted. Only then can it ensure its legacy on this beautiful earth, only then will its roots continue to grow.'" I recited. "Do you get it now?"

"Humor me and elaborate."

I rolled my eyes. "For God's sake, he's talking about the kid! The 'seed'? That's the girl! The rose, that's her mom, our victim. Vahlov learns of her pregnancy and takes the kid from her. I only assumed he did that because he wanted an heir, and based on the how backwards things work in the mafia business, I just assumed it was a boy," I explained. "A man like him is most likely to choose a son take over his business once he's dead, not a girl. But not this time."

"Slow down, how did you even discover it was a girl and not a boy?" Leon questioned, still desperately trying to keep up. For Christ's sake, it wasn't that hard. I wondered how dull the world had to be in his eyes.

"By what he said in the end," I impatiently continued. "This rose is mine, Russell Crane, and I fully intend to keep it while it's still blooming," I recited again. "He talked about the kid's mother as a rose in the first part, and here he used the same feminine approach to refer to his kid. He wants to keep her while she's still blooming," I slowly said, as if Leon was retarded. "So that he can spread its roots—he wants to keep her so he can one day eventually use her as a bargaining chip for a marriage between two cartels; Spread its roots; Their roots."

Leon just stared. "You got all of that just from one metaphor?"

"Vahlov is smart," I smiled to myself. "He's really smart, in fact. And, he's a 'skilled botanist.' He knows how to nurture a fragile rose into becoming a very beautiful, pliant one."

"So to summarize," Leon said, furrowing his brows. "The kid is a girl. Vahlov intends to keep her until she's grown up, at which point he wants to marry her off to another drug lord to expand his cartel?"

"Congratulations, you followed. They should put a medal on you, too," I sarcastically drawled.

"Quit it, Russ," Leon growled. "We aren't all arrogant, knowledgable pricks."

"I'm not asking you to be arrogant, just knowledgeable, which after more than 12 years of schooling shouldn't be too much to ask for, but apparently, I am mistaken."

"Alright, that's enough," Leon barked, standing up as well. "Did Vahlov give any hint as to where the kid might be?"

"Not other than the obvious he already mentioned, which was probably the easiest understandable piece of information he gave us," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Russ, for Christ sake—"

"He has the girl! 'This rose is mine and I intend to keep it'. Find Vahlov, you find the girl. That's about as fucking clear as it gets!" I yelled, furiously running my hands through my hair. "Go call your supervisors, tell them to check out all of Vahlov's known cartel locations. Be useful for once in this investigation."

"I should punch you to the ground," Leon growled, taking a threatening step closer to me.

"That would be a considerable waste of time, considering there's a little girl currently in the claws of Miami's biggest crime lord. Go find her before he fucks her up and she ends up in a mental hospital for the rest of her life."

Leon gnashed his teeth, but as a father of two girls and one son, his priority switched to finding the little missing girl. He turned away from me and picked up the phone on his desk.

"One last thing," I said.

Leon glared over his shoulder, pressing the phone to his ear. "What?"

"The girl's name is probably Rose."

~~~

I was back in my apartment, going through all the case files one more time, this time broadening my focus. I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed any more vital clues, because if I did, Vahlov got one step ahead. And I really hated falling behind.

I had spread all the files out on my floor and my coffee table in the living room, save for a few which I had hung on the wall. I started to connect the pattern, trying to see the bigger picture.

A fix would've been good right about now, my inner voice desperately reminded me. That rush of energy, the clarity it brought to your mind...

"Fuck off," I growled, closing my eyes.

"I can come back later, then?"

I whipped around and within second had Amy's innocent persona pinned beneath me on the couch, my hand clutching around her neck. Once my mind snapped out of its fluke, I realized I was choking her.

"Christ, what the hell are doing here?" I snapped, quickly letting go of her. Amy gasped for her breath with a mortified expression, heaving in air. She coughed and placed a hand over her throat.

"Jesus!" She squeaked. "Are you insane?!"

"You snuck up behind me and I've put away serial killers with a good memory and delicate taste for vengeance," I flatly replied. "I've learned to be on alert."

"Maybe you should begin locking your door then," She coughed a little again and sat up. "I just came to check up on you. You've been locked up in your apartment for two days."

Had it been that long? I didn't take notice of that kind of thing. When I was working, I was working.

"Are you okay?" She asked and looked at all of the files spread on my floor, coffe table and pasted on my wall. "Is this just one case?"

"You know I can't discuss that with you," I said, getting up from the couch. "I'm hungry, I'm going to order takeout. You want some?" When she didn't reply, I turned around and found her smiling. "What?"

She looked at me and then shrugged. "It's just, one minute you're tackling me on the couch while talking about murder cases, the next moment you're doing something as ordinary as ordering takeout. I find that a little amusing. Is your life always so wildly swinging back and forth between normal and catching a killer?"

"I try to keep it on the catching-the-killer part, but every now and then I'm forced to entertain myself with normal things like food," I dryly replied. "It's so very tedious having to attend to basic needs when there's a world of mysteries waiting to get solved. Unfortunately, the world can't keep up with me, so I end up getting bored and doing—"

"—me," Amy finished for me. She smirked. "I think I'd like that takeout now, and afterwards, let's see if I can you get bored."

~~~

"Yo, Russ, wake up."

Opening my eyes, blinking in the harsh morning light, I focused on Leon who was standing in my bedroom. "What the fuck?"

An amused grin stretched on his face as he glanced towards Amy who was naked and sleeping on top of my chest, backside uncovered. I angrily cursed under my breath before yanking up the covers to shield her body. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment?"

"I came to check why the hell you weren't picking up your phone." Leon replied while Amy slowly started to stir, her sleep getting disturbed by our conversation. "Didn't know you had company."

Rolling my eyes, I rubbed my face, trying to rid it from all signs of insomnia. "Get the fuck out of my apartment, Leon."

"I will, I just figured you'd be interested in this." Suddenly he pulled a manila file out from under his jacket.

Amy finally woke up and snapped her eyes up to Leon who in his leather coat looked somewhat like a thug. The damn idiot.

I ignored her timid stare and sighed. "Is that a new case? Otherwise I'm not getting up."

"It's an old case that never got solved. I think you're going to love this one," Leon chuckled, sending Amy a smile. "But just for the record, you're still on the Russian case. This is just to keep your head busy while we do our job."

"Who is that, Russell?" Amy asked, wrapping my covers closer around her body.

"Colleague," I answered, finally sitting up after she retracted to her side of the bed. "Who's leaving the room so I can get dressed."

"I'll be waiting in the kitchen. You got coffee?"

"Knock yourself out."

I threw my covers off and stood up, pulling on my briefs from last night once Leon was out. I hoped whatever case he brought me was good. Otherwise he was going to be the one getting punched to the ground. I could tell by the amused grin on his face, he thought I had found a new girl. How majorly disappointed he would be when he learned the truth.

"You're going back to work?" Amy said behind me, spreading out on my bed while I got dressed. She lifted her legs seductively at me while lying on her stomach.

"You heard Leon," I replied, pulling on my pants. "They got a case for me."

"Do they turn you on? The mysteries?"

I paused, midway through picking up my shirt from the floor. Instead I stood back up, facing her. "I make my living off solving puzzles that no one else knows how to solve. You see a new male neighbor and you think target. What does that tell you?"

She rose a brow at me, yet at the same time pursed her lips. "It tells me that we both chase what's wild and new, and in the end, we both get our climax. And yet... you still let me into your bedroom after solving a case. What does that tell you, Detective?"

I glared down at her, picking up my shirt. "Everyone's gotta do something to fill the boredom."

"So I'm just your plaything?"

"Aren't I yours?" When all she did was glare at me with her mouth half open, I lost my patience. "I gotta go. I trust you can find your way back to your own apartment."

I left my bedroom, closing the door behind me. Distracting my brain from what just went down in there, I focused on Leon who was sitting in my barstool, reading my old news papers I hadn't even opened.

"Damn stupid politicians," He grunted, turning a page. "Trump needs a reality check."

"You said you had a case," I flatly interrupted, pulling on my shirt. My chest was scratched down by Amy's claws, mildly bleeding as I stretched, opening some of the wounds. "Either present it or be presented to my hallway."

Leon closed the newspaper and dug out the file. He threw it down on the counter in front of me. "Let's see how fast you can solve that one."

I picked up the file, opened it and begun reading. In my peripheral vision I could see Leon studying me, obviously wanting to say something about the woman in my bedroom whom I could hear was making her way to my bathroom. After another two minutes of reading the file, I finally snapped. "What?"

Leon looked amused and sipped his mug of coffee. "Isn't she that waitress from the diner?"

"Sharp deduction, Detective."

"She's not what I pictured as your type. Especially after Janelle."

"She's not my type," I said, giving him a hostile glare. "I don't have types."

"Alright, so what are you doing sleeping with her? Is she your girlfriend?"

Closing the file with a wham, I threw it back on the counter. "She's my neighbor and she's a nymphomaniac. I sleep with her because I get bored, and this," I said tapping the file, "Is bullshit. If you can't solve this one by yourself, then I pity you and the entire police force."

Gnashing his teeth, Leon growled. "We aren't all geniuses, Russ. Solve this one and we pay nicely. Now spit it up."

I scoffed, running a hand through my hair. "You've got to be kidding me. Read it again if you've even read it at all."

"Watch it," Leon glared, picking up the file. "You're on thin ice."

"Read it."

"What am I looking for?" He replied, scanning the page. "We've been over it a hundred times."

I needed a drink. A strong one. "How delightful it must be having your brain, tell me; is it fun being completely incompetent?"

"Russell!" Leon angrily snapped, standing up.

"A duke with a precious gem that's been hidden in a secret vault behind a painting gets stolen without setting off the alarms," I barked, punching a fist into my table counter. "He has three daughters, all of which are the prime suspects because they all knew where the gem was hidden and what the combination for the safe was. All three daughters were questioned, but none of them charged since their stories were inconclusive."

"Exactly, so what's the answer to the puzzle?" Leon snapped. "No one else knew it was there, his wife is deceased and nobody else lives in the manor. It has to be one of the girls."

"It is." I said, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. "The gem was reported missing last summer. It says in the file that this duke lives in northern England, yes?"

"Yeah, so?"

"My God." I sighed, leaning my head back, glaring at my ceiling. "Did you read the three daughters testimony?"

"Yeah, the daughters got questioned and all three said they had been in the study that day when the gem was stolen," Leon said, looking down at the file with a frown. "The first said she went to borrow a book, the second said she needed to fetch her fur-coat, the third said she had been watering the plants for the maid who had been sick that week."

I pinched my nose bridge, closing my eyes. "The answer is right in front of you, Leon. It should be even clearer now than back then, six months ago."

"Just give up the answer, Russ," He snapped, sticking out his jaw. "Stop prolonging it and spill."

"This case is from six months ago," I said, gritting my teeth. "Florida might have humid sunny weather all year 'round, but England is covered in snow right now because it's January."

"What does the weather have to do with anything?"

"Everything!" I shouted at his incompetence. He seriously hadn't figured it out yet. Nobody had. Humanity was lost. "Six months ago, England wasn't covered in snow," I said, walking over to my door, sliding my feet into my shoes. "They had sunny weather like we do right now, even if England isn't know for its warmth. They. Had. Summer."

"For Christ's sake, just say it!" Leon roared, slamming his fist on my counter, too. "What's so important about it being summer in England six months ago?"

I grabbed my car keys, fixing my eyes on Leon, as I opened my door. "Who needs a fur coat in the summer?"

• • •

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