Grace was tired to say the least. She didn't want to go on a wild goose chase for
murderer's brother's body but life happens.

So here she was with Carmen, sifting through an old and rundown well for a body or any bones. Finally, they got something: a skull with an arrow through one of its eyes.

This has to be Johan's brother.

They took it to Angela and it was confirmed to have his DNA.

"I'm sorry to say but this skull you found is Christophe Schnee's. His dental records confirmed it. But the rest will blow your mind! Johan didn't kill his brother!"
"What?" Grace asks in surprise. "How?"
"The impact wound and the arrow's angle show that Johan's brother was shot by a left-handed archer. Johan is right-handed! You said Hans Vogel was hunting that day, right? So I looked into his records...he was left-handed!"
"What?! You think Hans killed Johan's brother?!" Carmen exclaimed.
"Most definitely! I even found traces of his DNA on the arrow tip. He's the killer!"
"Come on, Grace. We have to tell Johan the news!"

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"Johan, I have good news for you: the autopsy revealed you didn't kill your brother." He looked at Grace, gobsmacked.
"What? B-but how?"
"The autopsy revealed the killer was left-handed. Hans Vogel shot your brother all those years ago. You're innocent of that murder at least." Carmen explained.
"Hans killed my brother and made me think it was me? That utter drecksau!"

A sudden realization dawns on Johan.
"But wait...that means...I'm innocent! The guilt is gone and I didn't kill my brother!"
"Um...but Johan, you killed Hans Vogel. You're not innocent of that one." Johan dismissed Carmen's comment.
"I don't care! Thank you, detectives! Here, have my prison lunch. It's not much, but it's all I have to say thank you!" Johan hands Grace a burger and sends the two on their way.

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There was a loose thread Grace couldn't ignore about the vase she and Carmen found, so they decided to ask Brother Klaus about it.

"The gig is up, Brother Klaus. We found your vase: tell me...what is it you who gave Johan the idea of killing Hans Vogel?"
"We Promethians settle our scores, Detective Grace. Vogel had it coming, he betrayed us! Yes," he admitted, "I suggested Johan impale Vogel on that clock. Hans was a Promethian! He knew the punishment for betrayal."

Grace didn't know what to make of this revelation and stood there, dumbfounded.
"Hans was a Promethian?!" Carmen shouted in surprise.
"Ha! Yes, for twenty years! You didn't think he got famous for his 'acting talent' did you?!"

Klaus got angrier and angrier the more he talked.
"But he turned his back on us! So I warned Johan that Vogel was about to reveal his dark secret. Inspiring him to murder! That pathetic creature was putty in my hands!!!"
"Brother Klaus, it is my pleasure to arrest you for aiding the murder of Hans Vogel!" Carmen says, grabbing some handcuffs from her back pocket and putting them on Klaus Wiessman.

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After the revelation and putting Brother Klaus into custody, both Carmen and Grace agreed to go back to the beer hall.

There, Grace discovers something interesting.

"Ever seen something like this, Carmen?" Grace asks, holding up what looks to be a gold mirror with a lock highlighted in red with a control panel.
"No, I haven't! Do you know what it is?" Carmen asks, mesmerized by the find.

Grace shakes her head.
"I haven't...but I wonder if I can crack it."

She sets it down on a nearby table and gets to work.

"I...think I got it!" She says, holding it up for Carmen to see.
"Yeah, you have. We still don't know what it does though." Carmen murmurs, pulling out her phone.

Carmen decides video chatting Elliot would be the best course of action to figure out what the device could do.

"Hey Elliot, do you know what this is?" Grace holds up the mirror enough so he can see it. Gretta wheels herself into frame and both seem to recognize the device by the shocked looks on their faces.
"That's a Smart Mirror!" Elliot exclaims.
"A what?" Grace questions, never hearing of such a thing.
"Yeah, they're worth millions of dollars!" Gretta adds, completely ignoring the question.

Grace attempts to ignore the way the two teens are looking at it like it's a holy relic and repeats her question,
"That's great, kids. But what does it do?"
"Well, it can do anything you want it to. Change your clothes, check the weather, record video—"
"Wait, Hans might've recorded his speech on this Smart Mirror! We should check for footage." Carmen interrupts Elliot, looking towards Grace. She nods, lowering the mirror.
"Thanks, you two. You've been a big help! Stay out of trouble."
"No promises." Elliot replies with a smirk as Gretta waves goodbye before the call ends.

Carmen places her phone in her back pocket and gestures to the mirror.
"Alright, let's check the footage!"

Grace sets the mirror down, leaning it against a chair, where the two detectives could see it easily. She clicked on the video icon and found a video dated just a few days ago.

Sure enough, there was Hans with sheets of paper in his hand. She pressed play and the two watched the video intently.

"Friends, Germans, Countrymen, this is a very important speech...it is also a confession. Since I was young, I've been a member of the Promethian Cult. I recently discovered a secret about the Promethians. A secret so terrible that I can no longer be a member. The secret is: The Promethians are planning to attack! We are all in danger! Europe as we know it will be destroyed! It will be—"

Grace blinks.
"It's just...stopped." She says.
"The recording's gone dead! So this is why the Promethians wanted Hans Vogel dead—he was going to reveal in his speech that he was planning to attack!" Carmen concludes.
"Right. So...what do we do with this information?" Grace questions.

Carmen smiles confidently and turns to the detective.
"We need to get details out of Brother Klaus! And I know just the woman to help! Let's get Mariana to wheedle the truth out of him!"

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Finally, at nearly 3 in the morning, the case was getting wrapped up.

For an hour now, Martina and Grace had interrogated Klaus about what he knew about the Promethians plan. It wasn't going well...

And then it got worse.

They both came out of the interrogation room attempting to get some fresh air from the gas grenade Klaus had thrown in before disappearing.

Chief Ridley was not pleased, storming up and getting into Grace's face to let her know how she felt.

"What the hell happened, Grace?! Are we the Bureau or The Goddamn Luxembourg Transport Police?! How did Klaus escape?!"
"It was my fault," Mariana says, still attempting to recover from the smoke. "He smuggled in a smoke grenade and escaped through an unguarded exit. I couldn't predict it, he's just so...mad!"

Chief Ripley relaxes just a little.

"We've clearly underestimated the Promethians. We need to act—NOW! Mariana, send out a red code alert to every police department this side of Serbia—'FIND BROTHER KLAUS'."
"I'm on it, Chief. But what are you going to do?" The Chief turns to Grace,
"I'm sending her to Greece."

"What?!" Carmen asks, standing up from a chair she had taken a nap in earlier, "are you kidding! Greece is in chaos! Since the entire country was declared bankrupt the economy has imploded! There's riots, looting—!"
"A county in chaos is a perfect location for the Promethians to strike." Chief Ripley points out.
"Besides," she continues, "Brother Klaus said he was going somewhere where 'money had become worthless'. I bet we'll find him in Greece!"

Carmen doesn't look too happy, but doesn't argue. Grace's shoulder sag from tiredness as she nods.

"I'll be right on it, Chief...but first I need actual rest."
"Of course, Grace. I think we all do after the last few days." Chief Ripley replies with a slight grimace.

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Grace opens the door to the tech room slowly, so to not disturb or alarm anyone.

Her eyebrows furrow as she notices it's awfully quiet. Coming in further she finds the giant computer is open, on and very bright.

The interrogation room's camera was static. It might have been knocked down during the commotion and the volume was low. It would be used by the agency to figure out their next move and unscramble the footage.

Grace, however, was much more interested by the bodies sat in front of it.

Gretta and Elliot sat in their chairs, slumped against one another and fast asleep, unbothered by the blue light.

She didn't want to disturb but she also understood that being slumped in a chair all night was not comfortable.

Grace shook her daughter awake, who slowly blinked opened her eyes.

"Hi honey...ready to go?" Gretta nodded silently, still not fully awake yet.

Elliot woke up with a groan as Gretta yawned and stretched.

"What time is it?" Elliot asked, rubbing his eyes.
"3 am." Grace answers.
"Bloody hell." He murmurs as Gretta groans in annoyance also.

Grace noticed that both were so tired and sleepy that they didn't seem to notice (or care) that they had been curled up against each other—it was cute.

"I'll wait for you by the door, okay?" Grace says to her daughter who nods as the two teens grab their stuff to head out.

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"You'll be alright driving by yourself?" Grace asks Elliot as they are about to go their separate ways in the parking lot.
"What? Oh. Yeah, I'll be fine. I appreciate the concern but I can take of myself. I don't need a babysitter."

Grace lets out a small sigh.

Even sleep deprived, groggy and slurring his speech, Elliot still managed to sound smug.

"Mom, leave him alone! I'm tired and want to go home!" Gretta whined.
"Alright, alright. Fine!" Grace says, moving towards their Bureau sanctioned car.

She would have time to lecture on the statistics of sleep deprivation and driving another day.

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A few hours later, at 9 or 10 in the morning, Grace was woken up by quiet murmurs.

Definitely two people talking, that was for sure.

She got up from the hotel bed and turned a corner, calling out Gretta,
"Gretta, who's at the door?"

Grace froze in surprise upon seeing who it was.

"Oh...hi."

Elliot stood in the doorway to their hotel room fully dressed in his typical attire while Gretta was in her pajamas which consisted of a camouflage crop top and pants. She was also wearing her Grimsborough University hoodie, as she had complained to her mother a few days ago that it was cold here in the mornings.

"My charm snagged onto his bag and none of us noticed til now." Gretta explains at the confused look on her mother's face, jingling a pearl charm she often kept on her wrist.

Grace had gotten it for her daughter when she was baby with the little allowance she had gotten from her parents before moving out.

In tiny engraved letters, it had Gretta's name and birthdate on it.

Maybe it was a "frivolous" purchase with the big check her parents had given but at the time Grace was 17, not entirely sure how money worked and only wishing to be rid of her parent's money—and any "generosity" they had given her—for good.

So yes, maybe it was expensive and ridiculous but Gretta didn't seem to care as she wore it every day.

"We might just have to keep it on a necklace at this point." Grace jokes and it makes Gretta beam at her.

"I uh...guess I'll be going now. See you at the airport?" Elliot says, clearly feeling a little awkward just standing there.
"Yeah, sure. I'll text you when we get there." Gretta replies with a beaming smile. He gives her an incredulous look at her syrupy expression.
"Yeah, whatever. See you there." He mumbles with an eye roll before leaving. Gretta closes the door and laughs to herself at Elliot's expression.

Gretta then notices her mother's mind has already wandered elsewhere as she plopped their suitcase on her bed and went into the bathroom to get ready.
"We'll leave in 20 minutes!" Grace announces, a bit echoey from the bathroom.
"Got it!" Gretta shouts back before getting dressed and getting ready for the day.

Author's Notes

This book got to #2 on the criminal case tag. Thank you :')

I'm feeling pretty miserable due to my period but writing this chapter helped me feel like I was going something productive lol

I meant to finish this chapter a week ago by the way, as I went on a family trip to Italy but I didn't finish it in time to announce that so it's finished today instead.

Hoping a new chapter will be out soon but we'll see <3

BatgirlGeek❤️