“I am here live off the north end of Biel Street where a body has been located earlier this morning. The identity has been found, but we will not release that information until relatives have been notified. This street will remain closed off until the scene has been completely searched and cleared. Detour signs have been placed for those that need to find an alternate route. We will be updating this case as information becomes available stay tuned.”

Mr. Benson muted his television and called Cheyenne immediately. “I know, I’m late, I’m sorry. First time for everything, I guess. Traffic is backed up horribly this morning and I had to take a detour because my road is closed off.” Cheyenne explained as she answered the phone not allowing Mr. Benson to say anything until she was finished explaining herself. “There was a body found at the end of your street. I’m not calling about you being late, I am calling to check on your wellbeing.
“Oh, wow.”
“Surprised I’m calling in no relation to work or are you surprised about the body found?”
“A little of both.”
“Ok well, I received word this morning about this case and I’m putting you on it.”
“Yes!”
“I take that as agreement to the assignment!”
“Absolutely! I will there soon!”
“Great, I will call Jim.”

Murder cases always brought a certain joy to Cheyenne, the excitement of catching someone that no one else could catch was a high for her. She and Jim arrived at the office at the same time and surprisingly Jim had a look of urgency in his eyes. That look brought a new light to Cheyenne, she had always seen him as a goofball, never serious about anything but for some reason he wasn’t acting like a child this time. “Ok so let’s start from the beginning!” Cheyenne said as she entered Mr. Benson’s office. “Well, a couple of kids were waiting for their bus this morning and found the body.”
“Kids?” Jim asked feeling nauseous. “Yes, about ten or eleven years old. Anyway, the kids said they thought it was some kind of animal, because of the way it was bunched up and it looked like someone tried to burry it without digging a hole, they just dumped some dirt and leaves on top. They said they picked up some sticks and rolled it over to find out what kind of animal it was, but it turned out to be a human.”

Cheyenne sat quietly intrigued with the situation and taking notes as Mr. Benson spoke, while Jim fought the urge to get sick all over the floor. He held the small trash can firmly between his knees preparing himself fully in case he couldn’t hold it back. “Police have identified the man as Andrew Peters. He was a pathologist, but that’s all I know, you are going to have to figure out the rest.”
“I’m on it!” Cheyenne said as she leaped out of the chair and began walking towards the door when she suddenly stopped and looked back at Jim. His skin had turned pale and he was slumped over the trash can with his face buried in it. “Jim maybe you should sit this one out.” Mr. Benson suggested.

No answer, Cheyenne walked back to the desk, grabbed a bottle of water, and dumped some of it on Jim’s head which sent him spiraling backwards in his chair nearly tipping over in it. He threw the trash can and reached for the desk to catch his balance. “Toughen up buttercup we have a lot to do, lets go!” Cheyenne said as Mr. Benson tried desperately to keep from laughing. Jim gathered himself and sluggishly hobbled to the bathroom while Cheyenne went to her office to gather what was needed for the case.

Finally arriving at the scene Cheyenne noticed the body had already been taken in for a biopsy and nothing was left but a few police officers writing reports and searching for anything that could be used as evidence or a clue to lead them to a suspect. “Excuse me sir, I’m Cheyenne the investigator for this case and this is my partner Jim. Could you fill us in or point us in the direction of someone that can?”
“Sure, this is the only lead we have right now.” The officer began and held out Andrew’s cell phone. “The last person he was in contact with was a Miss Brandy Benson.”

Cheyenne’s mind stopped sternly at that name; it is her boss’s niece! ‘There is no way Brandy could have done this.’ She thought. “As of right now she is the main suspect.” The officer continued. Cheyenne knew there was obviously more to the story and talking to Brandy would be a dead end. Besides, Cheyenne has known Brandy since she was five years old, that girl wouldn’t hurt a fly. She decided to skip talking to Brandy or tell Mr. Benson that his niece was a suspect until she could find some other reason why this man was murdered.

Jim made the comment that they should probably begin with his job, maybe it had something to do with that. He was a pathologist after all, and he was well known for finding ways to trace the untraceable. Cheyenne agreed and they made their way to his lab to talk to coworkers and find out a little more about the man and what he had been working on before he was killed.

His coworkers told them that he had been involved in the Roberts case and was on the verge of a huge break through that could solve the case and prove Matthew Roberts guilty of thirteen murders. Everyone believed Roberts was the silent killer, the police had several ways of tying him to twelve of the thirteen cases, along with someone else, but they needed to know how he was doing it to pull the entire case together. “So, this could mean Roberts possibly killed Peters to prevent the truth from coming out.” Jim suggested. “Exactly, but why haven’t any of you continued on with his work to help bring this criminal to justice?” Cheyenne asked. “Andrew always kept his experiments and research private; we wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“Why did he keep it private?”
“Last time he involved everyone, his research was stolen and used for the crimes that led detectives to one of his own, Manny Bennet.”
“I remember that case.” Cheyenne said softly as her mind drifted back.

Five years ago, Manny Bennet was an understudy of Andrew’s. Manny was at the top; his career was taking a great turn and was going to take over when Andrew retired. Cheyenne sat in her office filing paperwork from her newly solved case, an explosion from the bank next door shook her office building sending everyone within ear shoot of the explosion into a frenzy.

People running for their lives screaming, sirens growing louder as they approached. Someone had set a bomb off in the back beside the large vault in the back of the bank. No one was really sure how the intruder got past the guards or how he survived the bombing, but he did, and he got away with millions. He had used a different method of creating the bomb that took experts more than two years to reconstruct and find out exactly how it was done.

Mr. Peters was the one that discovered the ingredients and admitted to the detectives that he was the one who discovered how to use it as a bomb. Cheyenne’s mentor, Steven, was the man that found out Manny had stolen the discovery. Steven had been to late and Manny has yet to be found which drove Steven to retirement giving up his practice as a detective.

He knew Manny was lying during his first interview and had he confiscated the small breath mint tin like he should have, Manny wouldn’t have slipped through the cracks and got away. His instincts told him there were no mints in the small case, it was the powder for the bomb hidden in plain sight. Everyone dismissed it because it was normal for Manny to always have a breath mint tin with him, he was a heavy smoker and couldn’t stand the bad breath that went along with it, that simple mistake drove Steven crazy.
“He is still out there somewhere. Our agency is still searching for him.” Cheyenne explained. “Do you at least know if he figured it out or not?” Jim asked.

“Yes actually, he was going to test his theory this morning and if it proved to be correct, he was going to take his findings to court and bring that monster down.” an older man announced from behind the others. He had been sitting at a table peering through a microscope. “May I ask how you know this?” Cheyenne asked politely. “I have known Andrew for thirty years. We both began working here at this fine facility on the same day. Through the years we went from rivalries trying to be the best and out do one another at everything to being close friends and partners. Although he never told me exactly what the ingredient used on these poor people was, he did however show me how he figured it out.”
“How did he show you without you knowing what the substance was?” Cheyenne asked.
“Oh, it can be done. He said he would reveal it at the court hearing though. With that let me ask you a question.”
“Go right ahead.”
“Did my dear departed friend, bless his soul, have a brief case with him when he was found?”
“I don’t think so, why?”
“That is where he kept the answers to the case. His research and findings for the case against Roberts was in that case. He toted it everywhere.”

Cheyenne and Jim raced back to the police in search of the brief case the old man had mentioned. They believed that was the key to solving Mr. Peters case along with the twelve other cases and putting Matthew Roberts behind bars. The officers claimed there was no brief case anywhere near or around the crime scene which proved he was killed because of his research and he did in fact have the answers, now they needed to find Matthew. Cheyenne convinced police to get a search warrant for Matthew’s home and track him down. Matthew was already a suspect so getting the warrant was easy, finding him however, was another story.

He was not home when police arrived and he had no known job, their next step was talking to friends and family in hopes that one of them knew where he was. They began with family while Cheyenne and Jim began with friends believing that would be a better start.

They brief case was not located at his home which only meant if he had it, he kept it with him. Between interviews, the police and Cheyenne took turns in the stakeout watching his house waiting for his return. Four days into the search Cheyenne made a discovery, she circled the camper that Matthew called home and realized there was a latch beneath it. “Jim call the Sheriff’s Office and ask for someone to come here, I think I found something!”

By the time police arrived Cheyenne and Jim already had the small camper moved and the hidden door leading underground opened. One of the officers went down first and found another door, “Its locked!” he called to the other. *Bang Bang Bang* “Open the door and come out with your hands on your head! Come on Matthew we know you’re in there!”

Matthew sat in his bunker listening to the officer yell, “You come out or we are coming in!” the officer continued. Matthew rolled his eyes and smiled knowing there was no way they could break through his steal door. Everything went completely silent for almost ten minutes and Matthew walked over to the door to glance out of his small peep whole.

*BOOM*

The explosion was so loud and strong it sent Matthew flying backwards with the shattered door pieces and his ears ringing. He tried to roll over and get to his feet to hide but he was so dizzy he couldn’t even get his knees underneath him to sturdy himself.

Police rushed in with Cheyenne and Jim close behind. Matthew was quickly apprehended and taken to a patrol unit. Cheyenne and Jim searched for the brief case and found it firmly clasped in the arms of a man Cheyenne recognized, Manny Bennett.

She was stunned and excited at the same time, she was not expecting Manny to be a part of this but there he was. He was on his side bunched up in the fetal position and blood leaking from his head. The explosion sent him flying backwards onto a glass case. The glass slashed his neck from below his ear to the top of his shoulder and a broken piece of the door had jammed itself into his temple.

She had solved three cases in one, finding Manny (bonus case) which turned out to be the silent killer-check, find out what happened to Andrew Peters, he was murdered the same way the rest were, poisoned- check, help Mr. Peters finish bringing Matthew Roberts to justice for being an accomplice in thirteen murders- check.

Now there was only one thing left for her to do, find out what role (if any) Brandy Benson played in this disaster. “Look Cheyenne I’m sorry but I have already talked to the police.”
“Brandy I’m not here on business, I’m here because I’m curious.”
“I had nothing to do with it I promise. It is a complete coincidence that I was the last one around him.”
“Than tell me why he was here.” Brandy leaned back in her chair taking a minute to herself before revealing the truth. “I see you are a fan of Brandy Bird. It looks like you have every one of her books!”
“I’m Brandy Bird, Mr. Peters was here because I was interviewing him for a murder mystery novel I’m working on, He is my best friend’s dad and I asked him if I could pick his brain about what its like to be a pathologist.”