"Goodbye, Papa." She waves furiously using her whole arm making it look like a poleman one would find at a car dealership or a social event. Her mother sitting at the dining table gave a small look and then turned away.

"Goodbye, Piper." Sylis waved to his peanut wearing his favorite teal suit and holding his briefcase. That morning they talked a lot about the contract. Lilin agreed that he should go back to the office for today and that they would be fine with him for one day. Plus, he would be returning home after his work hours ended and not staying over time. Piper also told him using telepathy that she would only call him Peanut Papa when they were alone.

Sylis walked down the stairs and got inside of his sleek, black Aston Martin, placing his briefcase on the passenger's seat. It was what he did a thousand times before, but now it just felt different. He tried to dismiss the feeling after all he was going to work, so one had to be impassive and play the part.

***

Sylis parked his car in the usual spot and entered the underground parking lot's elevator. He was about to push the ground floor button, but someone stopped him.

"Wait!"

Sylis looked up and watched as the intern rushed towards him. Sylis held the door open and pressed the button. When Das finally entered the elevator, he leaned on the cool steel walls. The doors closed and they began to go up. Das had his eyes closed as he caught his breath and somehow didn't realize who was the man standing next to him.

"Good morning, Das," Sylis greeted the seldom greeted. It was rare in itself for Sylis Penn Youngblood to greet his coworkers nevertheless someone as lowly as an intern barely out of education.

The simple words had quite the effect on the Indian. He opened his eyes and used the pair to stare. "Did you—did you just say 'good morning' to me?" Sylis just looked over at the intern with his briefcase in his right hand.

"Yes." A small ding announced its presence and the doors opened. "Follow me." Sylis exited the elevator with style while Das left the machine scrambling mentally.

Sylis walked through the hall of cubicles that lead to his own personal office with solid walls. On the way, he waved to people counseling everyone who passed. Meanwhile, Das was blubbering, "But you never—why me?"

Sylis finally made it to his office and motioned to Das to sit. The Indian did while playing with his fingers. Sylis sat down at his desk and placed his black case on his desk, but not without noticing a piece of paper laid on his desk. That would be read later. "Das, it's simple." Sylos popped open the metal clasp, slowly opening the case. "You are an intern..." The top of the case has his Walther PPK and the bottom contained his computer amongst other important items. "...thus you must stay in the building and be on top of everything." Das opened his mouth, but Sylis raised a finger. The man shut his mouth and sunk into the seat. Sylis took out his computer and closed his briefcase, sliding it under his desk. "I want you to bring me up to date on Top Case."

"Top Case, the one about the late bride or the one about the hotel room?"

"Neither." Sylis looked up at Das. "I want the case about the shadow."

Top Case was what the detectives in the department called the trickest case or cases at the time. The case is always unsolved for months at a time and has been passed around by multiple detectives and agencies. Sylis had solved some of them in the past if he had no other options, but this time Top Case had barely any information. With the shifting of many hands, things had gotten mixed up so no one knew what was true and what was fudged. The case had been given to another agency, but Sylis had been keen on solving it before Lilin Cozbi walked into his office.

The case of the shadow was about a supposed serial killer whose victims have died in all different ways. Some have been simply ruled as suicide while others have been unexplainably gory with the victim being drowned in their own blood postmortem. The only way that some are sure that it is the same person is that witnesses say that they saw someone dressed in all black near the murder, but the eyewitnesses were rare and the person that they described what different every time. They couldn't even agree if it was a woman or a man. Some say the murderer had long blonde, short wavey, or completely bald. Each witness from the separate supposedly connected murders had different descriptions, but the face was always covered up in some way or another. Some detectives speculated that it was a group, but Sylis thought it was only one person because of how spaced out the murders were. If it was multiple murders, they would have a lot more evidence to work with.

Das stood up. "Of c-course," he sputtered, standing up straight while sort of saluting. "I will get to it right away." He exited the room taking his nervousness with him.

Sylis closed his laptop and moved it to the side, rotating it to give him more room. His office had not been used in a while and potential cases had been stacked on the side of his desk. Sylis simply thought that the note was a friendly reminder from his boss. It was not unusual for the cigar-loving man to enter the office, he did own the building after all. But what the letter said would surprise Sylis and Sylis Penn Youngblood.

Dear Sylis Penn Youngblood,

I know so little of you and yet so much, but I have something to tell that I know you don't know. The woman you know as Lilin Cozbi is not all that she seems. She is keeping a secret from you (and a pretty big one at that). She would risk her own life if you ever found out, because it is a life and death secret, and we all know what those kinds are. Take your occupation for example. I just want to tell you that everyone has secrets, even if you think you know them all, you don't.

PS: Congratulations on getting engaged, SPY.

With Love,
Shadow

Sylis placed the letter down. It had been typed by what seemed to be a typewriter, but that wasn't of importance right now. Sylis had to decipher many things. First of whom was who was Shadow? The first thought that pooped into his head, was the case he had just sent Das to collect the information they still had on the case. But why would Shadow take interest in Lilin and what secret was she hiding that was worth risking her life? Was it her daughter, Piper? If gone into the wrong hands, Piper could be used to secretly transport messages and start wars or she could be tested on for the rest of her life to find out how she was a telepath and how telepathy worked. Surely that was what the writer was talking about. Right? Shadow must have been close to him after he got the wedding rings. When did they start spying on him? Had he only been snooping around Lilin and just sent him a warning because he got in the way? Did he also plan to kill Lilin? Then there was one last thing. What he had called Sylis, SPY. That was the acronym of his name and yet also something that he did, but did Shadow know that? How much did the person truly know about him? It was all too confusing and mind-boggling that when the door opened unexpectedly Sylis grabbed his gun and pulled the trigger.