Under a new article which has recently been added to the country's constitution, an individual who has turned eighteen and met specific criteria can get a PI license.

The news came as a blessing to two 18-year-olds and they have decided to take a year off before starting college. They've been nagging Hector Benzer, the commissioner of Azimuth city police for several days now. But unfortunately, all of their meetings earlier ended up being a letdown. Fortunately, they're persistent. So they're, once again, in the commissioner's office, trying to persuade him to approve their applications for the license.

"Please, you have to!" Red insists, his voice firm, but inside, he's desperately praying for the adamant commissioner to budge from his decision.

"Enough!" Benzer waves him to stop. "Investigating crimes is our job," he adds. "Inexperienced amateurs who..."

"Your job, huh?" snaps the short-tempered hothead Jin, standing up and cutting Benzer off. "We wouldn't be bothering with YOUR job IF you were doing it RIGHT!!"

Benzer furrows his brows, which contribute greatly to elucidating his frown and forehead lines.

"Jin..." Red mutters his cousin's name just in case the situation gets out of hand. He's grateful that the commissioner isn't erupting lava at them. Maybe his busy schedule for which he has more than average graying hair for his age is keeping him from doing so. Or maybe it's something you call 'professionalism.' But for how long is he going to hold back?

Jin, however, isn't in the mood to listen. He never cared. The only goal he has is to fulfill his vow. "IT'S BEEN THIRTEEN YEARS, BENZER!" He shouts as he slams on the desk, making a pen roll and fall on the floor in the process.

Red breathes in through clenched teeth and rolls his widened eyes from Jin to Benzer. Benzer seems dumbstruck enough and he's struggling to keep his hackles in check. If it wasn't for the fact that Uncle John had been Benzer's friend, he might have thrown them behind bars long ago.

"Listen," Benzer says in a forced calm voice. "We're working on John's case and…"

"You're lying!" Jin cuts him off again.

"What!" Benzer's face flinches.

Uh-oh is the only word Red's brain can suggest.

"Admit it! Y'all FAILED to find the killer!!" Jin screams on. "Just admit it and let us take it from here!"

"Let you?" Benzer stands up and slams on his desk, kinda returning Jin's favor. "What do you think solving a case in real life is like? It's far more complicated than what you see in movies!"

Jin's not a guy who backs down. "You're afraid, right?" He yells, pointing a finger at the commissioner. "That we'd find the killer and prove you wrong?"

Benzer's boiling. "Get out of my office! NOW!"

Jin glares dagger at him while letting the desk have another of his fists to display his rage. He then grits his teeth and clenches his fists before spinning around and striding out, kicking a chair that stands on the way.

Red looks at the door getting slammed behind him and turns his head to Benzer, who's now wearing a grim expression. No good in sitting here any longer. So he gets up. "Have a good day," he wishes before walking out, though not sure how appropriate the last sentence sounded.

Benzer slumps into his chair and sighs the rage out. He leans and shuts his eyes. He doesn't blame himself for getting angry, nor does he blame those kids. As the victim's family, they have the right to know the truth.

.........

Red catches up with Jin outside of the police station. "Jin! Wait!"

"Leave me alone," Jin stops walking and mutters without turning back.

"We'll..."

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Jin turns, now facing Red. "I'm sick of all this! I don't need any stupid license to find who killed Dad!"

Officer John Foster was killed thirteen years ago. His body was found in the Darkwood forest, kilometers away from the trail. The case is still enveloped in total darkness and the police failed to shed any light on it. So Red and Jin want to dig for the truth themselves. But they neither have enough data nor the legal authority needed to work on the case professionally. Hence, a PI license is indispensable and Commissioner Benzer is the only one who can help them with it. Although, he's yet to be convinced.

Red nods, doesn't say a word. He knows there's no use in talking to Jin now.

"Are you a police officer?" At a time like this, a childish voice rings from behind Red. Red peeks over his shoulder to see a little girl standing behind him. He turns.

"Somebody forgot this on the playground," the girl motions at a dollhouse she's carrying in a toy shopping cart. "Mom says if I find something, I should give it to the police."

"Sorry," Red says shrugging. "I'm not from the police."

"But I saw you come out from there." The girl points to the police station, eyes welling up.

Uh-oh! Red turns to Jin but to his surprise, he's gone. "Perfect!"

"Waaa~," the girl's already in tears.

It's not even been five minutes since he's out of the station and it'd be beyond embarrassing to go ask the police to find the toy's owner. So Red sighs and says reluctantly, "Ok…give me that."

The girl's face lights up. She hands the dollhouse to him and grins.

"Where'd you say you found it?"

"Behind the bush, in the playground." She pulls her shopping cart and waves her free hand at Red, still grinning. She's missing both of her central incisors from the upper jaw. "Goodbye, police uncle!"

"I'm no police uncle," Red murmurs and waves his hand robotically.

The girl leaves and Red sighs again. The park's not too far from the station, not too close either. He has to traipse along for about ten minutes to get there. But it's a lot better than proving himself a wuss.

When Red gets to the park, he doesn't find a single soul. Makes sense as it's twelve noon and the sun's burning everything down. Still, he feels a pang of disappointment.

Great! How come no one's even looking for it? Don't kids care about their toys anymore? He thinks, looking around.

His vision gets stuck at the park water tap and he feels a little itch in the back of his throat. All arguments at the station and a walk under the sun, enough to trigger the tongue's xerotes. "Man! I'm dying of thirst!"

He approaches the welcoming tap, quenches his thirst with the apparently ambrosial water, and decides to leave for now and come back later in the afternoon.

"Tsk tsk… how the hell I got myself into this!" While walking, he keeps cursing his luck and as though his luck curses him back, he trips over a toy sand shovel and the dollhouse falls to the ground. To make it worse, its roof splits open.

"Dang!" He immediately picks it up, wide-eyed, mouth hanging open. He stares at the split roof holding his breath when his brain sprints to find a way to fix it.

"Fittings!" He discovers and a sigh of relief makes its way out.

As he tries to fit the roof where it belongs, he discovers something else— a drawstring pouch.

What the! Red brings the pouch out. "A pouch?" He stares at it, his conscience debating his curiosity about whether he should check it out. Within an instant, curiosity gets the upper hand and he pulls it open.

There are some tiny-little transparent polythene packets inside, containing some powdery stuff. Red swallows. He's not an experienced crime investigator but he is indeed an experienced audience of fiction and movies. It doesn't take long for him to guess what's inside.

Drugs? He gasps.

He hurriedly pulls the strings, puts the pouch back, and fits the roof with shaky hands. He looks around as though afraid of being watched before shoving his hand into his pocket and bringing out his phone.

Got to tell Benzer! He taps on his phone to find Benzer's name. Sun is burning his skin and he's bathed in sweat.

Riiinnnggg...

No answer. No surprise.

He tucks his lips in. Why'd someone hide these behind bushes?

"Hey, you!"

The sudden call startles him. Red looks ahead to see a man in a blue shirt and jogger pants approaching him. "Me?" He asks, voice as nonchalant as possible.

"Where did you find that?" Asks the man, stopping just a foot away from Red.

"This?" Red lifts up the dollhouse a bit as he tries to read the man's face. He fakes a smile and says, "My... niece found it and took it home." He pauses for a sec to organize his thoughts. "I'm trying to find its owner," he adds. "Is it yours?"

The man snatches the dollhouse from him. "Tell your niece not to pick up anything she finds."

"Will do that," Red says, trying not to look nervous.

"And this… isn't mine," says the man with a grin. "My daughter forgot it here."

"Yeah...? My niece does that too."

The man laughs. So does Red. This is sooo awkward!

"I gotta go," the man says. "My girl's waiting." He jogs out of the park, not waiting for Red's response.

Red narrows his eyes at the man. Something's not right here…

A rush of excitement fills his mind and before he knows it, he's trailing behind the blue-shirt guy.