The Case Of The Criminal

Captain Adalet Sadik-Halvorsen lifted the visor of her helmet as she pulled up into an empty parking space in the employee section of the Pacific Bay Police Department. She pulled the keys out of the ignition and swung her leg off her motorcycle, her two dogs Dean and Hunter jumped out of the custom sidecar and trailed by her sides. She headed to the front glass doors and flashed her new badge at the receptionist as she passed by. She quickly found her new boss's office and knocked twice on the door.

Chief of Police Andrea Marquez opened the door and smiled at her newest recruit. She wore a dark blue suit with badges pinned to her chest and a pencil skirt. She ushered the young woman in and closed the door.

"Hello and welcome to Pacific Bay Captain Adalet," she placed her hands on her hip, "I'm Chief Andrea Marquez Chief of Pacific Bay Police."

"Wonderful to meet you," Adalet smiled adjusting the strap of her tool case.

Andrea scratched her head, "I'm assigning you to two of our Detectives as your partners, one is Senior Detective Frank Knight and well . . . he's on an anger management course right now. Feel free to slap him when you deem necessary."

She laughed, "noted."

"But for now, you'll be partnered with Amy Young, she's new to this job so I'm trusting you to teach her about the job," a knock sounded on her door, "that's her now, come in!"

A young blonde-haired woman dressed in a junior police uniform entered the room. She looked between the two and squealed with delight.

"Nice to meet you Captain Sadik-Halvorsen!" she grinned, "I'm so honoured to be working with you! I've read about all your cases!"

"Just Adalet, it's nice to meet you too," Adalet smiled gently, "these are my dogs, Dean and Hunter."

Amy saluted, "I've never been in the field before . . . but I'll do my best to help! I promise!"

Andrea laughed, "I'm sure you will . . . now Amy, why don't you kick this partnership off by showing Adalet and the dogs around the local landmarks?"

"I'm on it Chief!" she said, "Capt. Adalet, I'll show you the beach first! It's the most beautiful spot in town! You'll love it!"

"Lead the way," Adalet said.

The two walked down the boardwalk towards the beach. The sun was bright and casts warm rays onto the people walking around. The waves crashed in the distance and seagulls squawked in the sky. Children begged their parents and siblings for ice cream from the local vendors while bikers, borders and skaters rushed around the path.

"So, what do you think of the beach Capt. Adalet?" Amy asked as they stepped down onto the sand.

"It's beautiful," Adalet remarks as she looked at the crashing waves.

"EEEE!! SHARK ATTACK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Adalet and Amy sprang into action at the sound of someone screaming, they ordered the people nearby to stay away from the water while they investigated.

"These waters are safe from sharks!" Amy informed pointing to the safety line, "they normally don't come this close to the shoreline!"

"There someone in the water!" Adalet cried. About ten yards from the shoreline a shark was thrashing around, a limp body in its mouth.

"Make way!" A man carrying a spear gun demanded rushing to the water, "I'll take care of that fishy fiend!"

"Oh dear," Amy covered her eyes, "is that man really going to face that shark alone?! I can't watch! Tell me when it's over Capt. Adalet!"

The man waded into the water until he was waist-deep and aimed his spear gun at the shark. He pulled the trigger and the spear priced the sharks' side killing it instantly. He grabbed the shark and pulled it onto the hot sand, the body that was its lunch still hanging from the shark's wide mouth.

Adalet assured Amy that it was safe to look as the man walked towards them, "I'm Captain Adalet and this is Officer Amy, and you are?"

"I'm Trevor Finn, phew . . ." he whipped his forehead looking nervous, "I had no choice but to spear that shark, it's dead now, but . . . I think his last meal is too. You better have a look at it officers."

"Of course, Mr. Finn, please stay close while she investigates," Amy pulled out her notepad, "I'll take notes for you as you investigate Capt. Adalet."

They made their way to the shoreline and found the shark lying in the sand on its backside. The body in its mouth was of an African-American man in his later twenties, he had tattoos on both his shoulders and was dressed in purple and gold clothes in a rapper style.

"Oh my gosh!" Amy gasped, "it's Ice-P!"

"Who?" Adalet asked getting her kit open and pulling on a pair of gloves, Dean and Hunter standing guard of the crime scene.

"He's a rapper and the star of his own reality show! His name's Jimmy "Ice-P" Lewis!" she wrote this all down, "I've watched all the episodes a hundred times!"

"Well looks like it's going to be reruns from now on," she lifted the man's hands, "this wasn't an accident."

"How can you be sure?" Amy asked, she leaned in for a closer look, "you right, his hands are bound with duct tape! And . . . Ewww! His fingers have been cut off!"

"I'm glad you weren't there during "A Deadly Game" . . ." Adalet chuckled looking around. She spotted a large necklace lying in the sand, a broken object near it and a faded flyer pinned to a palm tree. She gathered them all up and bagged and tagged them.

"So that means that Ice-P was murdered!" Amy gasped, "and the killer fed him to the shark! Who could do such a thing?!"

"I don't know . . . but these might help us find them, can you call the coroner to come pick up the body?"

"You already found clues?!" she was shocked, "oh right I'll call her right now, I hope I can be as good as you someday. . ."

While Amy placed the call, Adalet found a picnic table to use for her workspace. Using her tools, she extracted small feathers from the necklace and placed them in a petri dish. Then, with her superglue in hand, she pieced together a bronze watch with a picture of a woman blowing a kiss on the face of it. She would ask Amy if she knew anything about it later. She found her powder kit, making a mental note to restock her supplies later, and dusted the poster to recover the image of their victim on an advertisement for a meet and greet today on the boardwalk.

"Roxie will be here shortly along with other officers to take over the scene," Amy said sitting down, "what did you find?"

"Feathers, you guys have a forensic scientist?"

"Yes, he'll be happy to analyze them, I'll get Roxie to bring them to him when she goes back."

"I also repaired this watch," Adalet slid it across, "do you recognize the woman?"

Amy squinted, "oh my! That's Carly Lewis! I forgot, she's Ice-P's wife! Oh, she'll be heartbroken when she finds about this!"

"We might be able to find her at the meet and greet on the boardwalk," Adalet tapped the flier, "but first I want to talk to that shark enthusiast."

They found Trevor Finn waiting for them by the stairs leaning against the railing.

"Sir, you were very brave to take on that shark," Adalet said, "can you tell me more about yourself?"

"Well . . . I'm just doing what I'm best at, Dr. Finn shark expert at your service!" he showed them his ID tag, "this shark attack is so exciting. No thrilling! No amazing! No wonderful-!"

"You remind me of my best friend."

"Dr. Finn!" Amy scolded, "a man had been killed! That's not something you should be rejoicing about!"

"But it was such as perfect kill!" he persisted, "the blood from the man's wounds would have attracted the shark sensory system like a five-star meal!"

"Seriously," Adalet muttered, "are you related to him?"

"What a pity I had to kill it before it finished its meal!" he shook his head, "there's nothing worse than dying with indigestion."

"It's even worse than being eaten alive by a shark," she rolled her eyes, "thank you, Trevor, that's all for now."

"Have a good day ladies, and please don't blame the shark for its instincts," Trevor scratched his head looking around, "now where did I put my harpoon? I'm always losing that darn thing . . ."

He wandered off to look for his harpoon just as the coroner van pulled up behind a few squad cars. Amy brought the feather samples over to the coroner as Adalet loaded up her supplies and whistled for her dogs to come. Amy came back and they decided to check out the boardwalk and look for the victim's wife.

The boardwalk was crowded with people waiting in line for the meet and greet that would never happen. The area was near the empty ice cream vendor's stall so they looked around to see for clues. Adalet found a torn-up picture on the rim of a garbage can. She identified specks of purple and gold in the pieces of it, she tucked them away into her pocket as Amy walked up with a glamorously dressed woman by her side.

"Carly Lewis, this is Captain Adalet, she is in charge of investigating your husband's death," Amy explained.

"I'm sorry for your loss Carly, may I ask you a few questions about your husband?" Adalet asked softly.

Carly whipped tears from her eyes, "oh, my poor baby boo . . . he, he . . . he was so rich!"

"Erm . . ." Adalet coughed, "yes, I imagine he was, when was the last time you saw your husband? You two must be very busy with the reality show."

"It was on the beach!" Carly said brightly momentarily forgetting her pain, "we were filming the scene where Ice-P surprises me with the most divine crystal bikini!"

"That sounds . . . lovely."

"It was," her face fell, "but now . . . now he'll never be able to buy me things again! I can't believe this is happening to me!"

"Oh, Ms. Lewis we're so sorry!" Amy said, "but you know what they say! Every dark cloud has a silver lining! Maybe this will be a good opportunity to-"

"To have an award-winning season finial!" Carly exclaimed, "it'll be the perfect way to honour my poor baby boo's memory!"

"Well, you best get planning!" Adalet said, "I wish you luck Carly!"

"Thank you!" Carly rushed off to presumably do just that.

Amy looked at her mentor, "aha . . . that was . . . interesting?"

Adalet smiled, "Amy, everyone grieves in their own way. Some just do it in a more . . . unique way, sometimes you just have to work with them not against them."

"Oh! I'll try to remember that," Amy promised, "so. . . what now?"

"I repair this," she pulled out the torn photo. Placing her case on the garbage can she clicked it open and found her roll of tape. She pieced it back together in no time flat and held it up.

"Whoa!" Amy gasped, "you resorted that photo in a flash Capt. Adalet! And look, it's of Ice-P and a fan from the meet and greets!"

"Plus, a very angry woman," she pointed to the surfer behind the two who was glaring daggers at Ice-P.

"Your right! We need to get this to Hannah! She'll ID the surfer for us."

Sometime later . . .

"Capt. Adalet I just got word that all our results are in, where do you want to go first?" Amy asked standing in front of the Turk's desk.

"The picture," she responded.

"Fallow me."

They entered the tech lab and Adalet's eyes almost popped out of her head. It was bigger than Alex's lab with state-of-the-art monitors and computers. The monitors showed security feed from around the station and programs running analysts of data. A young Korean-American woman was waiting for them with her tablet in hand over by the largest monitor, about the size of a whiteboard.

"Hi, Adalet. I'm Hannah Choi, tech genius extraordinaire!" she waved, "that photo you found on the boardwalk was a super clue."

"You managed to ID the surfer?" Adalet asked.

"I wouldn't be a tech expert if I couldn't," she smirked, "you guys managed to find the only woman who hates Ice-P more than I do, her name's Maggie Ryder, a promising surf champion. What's more, she already has a restraining order against Ice-P for throwing seaweed at him and his crew."

"Why would she do that!" Amy wondered, "it doesn't sound very sportswoman."

"I've seen worse," Adalet said, "Amy don't let innocence blind your judgment, we better go talk to this Maggie once we check with the others."

"Right, let's got to forensics first."

The forensics lab was just as beautiful as the tech lab. Up-to-date equipment and computers and the room would have fit Grace's own lab inside it and still have room to spare. A man sat down at a desk peering into a microscope but looked up as he heard them enter.

"Hello, you must be Adalet, I'm Yann Toussaint, I take care of this team's forensics analysis," he stood up and Adalet blinked.

"Woah . . ." she muttered making Amy laugh. Yann was a tall man with salt and pepper dreadlocks and a beard. He had on a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt with a tree design. He looked more like someone who would be teaching Eco preservation rather than a forensic scientist.

Yann chuckled grabbing his mug of coffee, "I get that a lot, but back to the case. I've identified the feathers you found, there the small, soft, fine kind you find on the underside of a parrot's belly."

He took a sip of coffee, "however finding them on one of your victim's possessions is surprising . . . everyone in Pacific Bay knew he had a severe bird phobia!"

"Oh yeah . . ." Amy thought, "I remember that episode where he got attacked by a group of angry pigeons! There were photos of Ice-P crying while covered in feathers all over the internet . . . the poor thing."

"A bird phobia . . ." Adalet shook her head, "I've seen some weird fears but this is a first."

"I'll write down that our killer is in contact with parrots for you Capt. Adalet!" Amy said already doing that.

Yann leaned down, "good luck, Amy can be a little . . . enthusiastic at times."

"I've worked with harder people," she assured.

"Let's go see Roxie," Amy said putting her notepad away.

They entered the large morgue filled with sleek tables and storage areas. The morgue was brightly lit with coloured walls in shades of blue with a large display monitor taking up almost all of the farthest wall. A spunky woman with pink-streaked hair in a lab coat stood near the cabinets putting away her tools.

"Nathan would love this place . . ." Adalet thought.

"Good to meet you Adalet, I'm Roxie Sparks, coroner by day, party girl by night," she smirked, "and I hope to see you at happy hour tonight."

"I don't drink, but I look forward to it," she smiled.

But Amy looks flustered, "uh, Roxie . . . Chief Marquez sent out a memo to avoid drinking on weekdays, remember?"

"Ah Amy . . ." Roxie sighed, "always the teacher's pet. But let's got onto this great corpse you caught, shall we? First, let me confirm that your victim's death wasn't an accident and that the murder weapon is indeed the shark."

"The killer sure is creative," Adalet said.

"Now I notice markings on Ice-P skin, obviously from a struggle with his killer," Roxie laughed, "I examined the markings more toughly and determined that they come from a seashell necklace! You killer has terrible taste in jewelry if you ask me."

"I have a feeling that most of our suspects will be wearing one," Adalet frowned. Her dogs wined in agreement.

"Smart dogs you got there," Roxie said reaching to pet them, "can I?"

"Go ahead."

After Roxie got her fill of dogs, Adalet and Amy headed down to the beach to look for Maggie Ryder. She wasn't hard to find for she was standing near the surf shop wiping her board down before going for a ride.

"What do you want?" Maggie asked once they'd stopped in front of her, "I can't talk long, the waves are great this time of they and I need to surf."

"Pacific Bay PD," Adalet flashed her badge, "Ice-P was murdered this afternoon and we discovered that you two had a tense relationship, to say the least."

"Tense, ha!" she glared, "that's one word for it! Because of him and his stupid show I might not make the surfing competition this year!"

"How could Ice P prevent you from competing?" Amy asked.

Maggie scoffed, "his crew kept blocking my access to the ocean during prime training time! They had no respect for this beach and the people who depend on it . . . like me!"

"I guess your happy that he can no longer stop you from training," Adalet said.

"You bet," she exclaimed, "Sunny Beach is the best spot for surfing in all of Ocean Shore! So yes, I'm glad that idiot got himself eaten, now I can catch up on my surfing!"

"We'll let you get back to that," Adalet said.

They left the surf shop as Maggie headed out to catch some of the waves. Amy wrote down what they had just learned while they headed back to the station.

"Well it's obvious that Ice-P's show disturbed the lives of the locals in Ocean Shore . . ." Amy sighed, "but is that a good reason to kill someone? Do people actually go to such extremes Capt. Adalet?"

"I have seen people kill over less," she replied.

"Well I hate to say this but I really don't know where to turn to next Capt. Adalet," Amy said.

"How about you give me a recap of what we've learned?" Adalet suggested feeding Dean and Hunter a couple of dog biscuits.

"Your right, recapping might help us move forward," she pulled out her notepad, "let's see . . . our victim was fed to a shark by his killer, a killer who wears a shell necklace and is in contact with parrots. We've met the victim's wife with an . . . interesting way of handling her grief and his local enemy Maggie . . ."

Roxie entered the room looking worried, "Hey guys, do you have a minute?"

"Sure Roxie," Adalet said, "what do you need?"

"Well . . . this is kind of embarrassing but, uh I just had a freaky flashback from when I was at the Tiki Shack . . ." she cupped her jaw, "but my point is, I'm pretty sure I saw your victim there."

Amy shrugged, "well it's a popular place in Ocean Shores so Ice-P would have gone there at some-"