"So Capt. Adalet, are you ready for your first day in Bayou Bleu?" Andrea inquired.

"Humid and ready to go!" Adalet answered.

"As I've told you, it's a really unique place," she recited, "and it's not all about murky swamps and alligators! You'll also find old steamboats, amazing fauna . . ."

Frank shook his head, ". . . and some downright strange people! But at least we'll get a chance to eat some great Cajun food down there, I guess. And let's not forget about their gator rum!"

"Now Frank," Andrea chuckles, "remember the pep talk we had about maintaining a professional attitude? Hmm?"

"Oh alright . . ." he rolled his eyes, "I'll behave. Adalet, ready when you are. I'll get the car and we'll be on our way!"

At Bayou Bleu's swamp pier . . .

"Well, here we are, Adalet! Bayou Bleu, in all its glory! Man, I can't say I've missed the musty smell of the swamps!" Frank wrinkles his nose with disgust, "but there's no better place to get acquainted with life in the Bayou than at the swamp pier. There's all kinds of unusual wildlife here. Alligators, wild boars and . . . uh . . ."

He stops in his tracks as they were passing by the bayou's pier. Adalet stopped just a few feet further when she noticed he was no longer beside her.

". . . Adalet," Frank says, "can you please have a look at that tree over there and tell me you're seeing the same thing I'm seeing?"

"A dead man pinned to a tree by kabob squares?" Adalet replied, sadly, yes I do . . . You call it in, I'll look around . . ."

Frank got out his phone and stepped back onto the roadside. Adalet and the dogs walked down to the dock and looked around for anything the killer could have left behind. Dean and Hunter found a bloody tin of chewing tobacco while Adalet picked up a name badge that had fallen near the victim's feet.

"Darn," frank curses as he joined Adalet, "whoever this guy is, someone sure wanted him to have a painful death! Look at the way they pinned his shoulders with those skewers!"

"He was also hit in the heart!" Adalet pointed to the deep wound in the victim's chest.

"Hey, you're right! There's a third wound, right in that guy's heart! Ouch! Must have been done with a third skewer, but it's missing . . ." he looks around but saw nothing, "well let's hope Roxie can tell us more once she's had a look at the body. What else have you found, Adalet?"

"Tobacco tin and a name badge," she answered picking up the tin first.

"Hm, this tin of chewing tobacco's covered in . . . blood? That'd be a stroke of luck! Care to take a closer look at it?" he inquired, "aha! And I think you might just have picked up our victim's name badge! I'll leave the deciphering to you, though. My head's reeling from this awful stench!"

Adalet took the tobacco tin in one hand and got a dipper in her other hand. She found some spots where the blood was still fresh and sucked up some of it into the cylinder.

"Well, alright, Adalet, that blood sample you collected from the tobacco tin you found in the swamp pier isn't too shabby . . . But that was an easy one," Frank smirked, "anyway! I'll get that blood shipped to the lab straight away, alright?"

He took the slid with the sample of blood from her and Adalet picked up the name badge. She dusted the line on the badge where the name would be along with the faded logo along the top.

"So our victim's name is Lee Dupree, and he worked at the Gumbo Jumbo restaurant!" Adalet calls over to Frank.

"Well aren't you a forensic whizz? You've completely restored the writing on the name badge you found next to the victim!" Frank smirks, "what do you say we go have a look there and see where this new lead takes us, Adalet?"

Gumbo Jumbo restaurant terrace . . .

"Hello?. . Hello? Anyone here?" Franks called, "hmm, that's weird . . ."

"Let's not waste any time and start looking around this place for more clues, Frank!" Adalet says.

She walked along the small dining area of the restaurant and took a look at all of the tables. She picked up a cook's jacket off the back of one of the chairs and also an order pad from one of the tables.

"Why did you pick up that cook's jacket, Adalet? Thinking about switching your police badge for an apron maybe?" Frank teased, "oh come on, I'm just teasing! I guess having a look inside these pockets won't take long anyway."

Adalet placed it on a table, "there's not many pockets."

"And I see you've also picked up an order pad . . . Don't tell me, you want to see what was last written on it, right?" he guessed to which he got a nod, "time to get your powder out, then!"

Adalet did as he had said and got out her dusting kit. She placed the notepad down beside the cook's jacket and dusted the page to see what had been written on the page before it. After blowing away the excess powder the imprints on the page were visible to read.

"The message on the restaurant's order pad was addressed to our victim, Lee Dupree!" Adalet says reading the short note, "Leave me alone or you'll be sorry, Lee!"

"I don't know what Lee did to the note's writer, but they sure weren't happy about it!" Frank remarked.

"Let's send it to Russell!" she replied dropping it into a bag.

"You want to send this over to Russell? Oh come on, that guy's such a fake! I sure could read criminal minds too if I was on his salary!" he complains.

"Frank!"

"Alright, alright," he held up his hands in defence, "let's get this message to him. But I don't trust the guy . . . And I don't like the way he sneers at me with that saccharine smile of his."

After she had put the notepad in her case, Adalet turned to the cook's jacket. She searched through all of the pockets and after finding one too many spoons and whisks for such small pockets, she pulled out an egg timer.

"Okay, surprise me . . . What did you find in the cook's jacket you picked up in the restaurant?" Frank asked.

Adalet shoved the timer into his hand.

"An egg timer? What in the hell are we supposed to do wi-" he started to ask as the timer went off, "ARGG! The darn thing's going off! How do I make it stop, Adalet?!"

"Whu . . . What! I'm awake! I'm awake!" a heavy-eyed man dressed in chef's clothes pops up from behind the counter, "who the heck . . . What are y'all doing with my egg timer! Nobody touches that but me!"

"Sorry for waking you up from your nap, Chef," Adalet apologize checking the man's name tag, "but I'm here on very important business. We've found one of your waiters, Lee Dupree . . ."

"My nephew? Dang," Ignatius cursed, "what trouble has that boy got himself into now! Haven't seen him for days . . . Kinda hoped he'd gone for good, to be honest!"

"Uh, well . . . He's past being in trouble, actually," Frank responded, "your nephew's dead!"

"Eead! Oh, holy jambalaya! What am I goin' to tell his mother? She sent him down here from the big city to work with me, hoped it would keep him out of trouble . . . And that I'd shake a bit of sense into him," he adds, "doesn't look like I did much of a job, does it? Dang, I better go before my next batch of customers arrive . . . Life goes on and there's gumbo to be served!"

Later in the morgue . . .

"Oh my! Well . . . I can tell you've been down to the Bayou! Your victim's clothes have swamp water stains all over them!" Roxie laughed holding up Lee's jacket, "and the grisly wounds inflicted by the skewers you found in your victim were perfect pools of bacteria! I found something extra fishy in them . . ."

"I sense a pun coming on . . ." Adalet rolls her eyes.

"Namely: shrimp juice! It was transferred from the skewers into the flesh wounds at the moment of the murder," she gave the bad punchline, "which means that your killer is in contact with shrimp! Nice job, Adalet. I know you'll have this red herring of a case solved in no time!"

"Got it! Thanks, Roxie!" she calls as they left the morgue.

Adalet and Frank continued to the forensics lab to see what Yann had been able to discover about the dried blood they had sent him.

"I see you're discovering the charms of the Bayou, Adalet . . ." Yann smirks, "make sure Frank takes care of you down there, it's a strange place!"

Adalet giggled, "I think Frank's the one who needs looking after!"

"Anyway, the blood you collected from that tobacco tin belongs to your victim!" he reported, "which is quite strange because the toxicology scan revealed no trace of nicotine in his blood."

"Hm, so if that tobacco tin doesn't belong to the victim . . . That means it belongs to the killer!" Frank reasons, "so our victim's killer chews tobacco! I have to admit, your instincts worked a treat, Adalet! I might have left that stone unturned . . ."

Adalet and Frank left the lab and walked down to the end of the hallway where Russell's office was located to see if he had found anything out about the handwriting.

"How nice of you to send some handwriting to me, Adalet! I hadn't exercised that skill in a while, but the person who wrote this threatening note to your victim had very marked handwriting!" Russell rambles as he picked up the notepad, "I can tell you straight off that this person is a woman . . . and that they are between the ages of 15 and 18!"

Frank scoffs, "how'd you figure that out, Einstein?"

"Oh, I love your surly idiocy at times, Frank! It's so 80's action hero! Only young women in this age gap accentuate the tips of their "L"'s . . ." he explains, "I won't get into the details of why . . . But it has everything to do with the birds and the bees!"

"Okay, so that means we need to get a list of all the people who've been in that restaurant over the la-"

"Ahem, Frank, the note was written on an order pad . . ." he held it up to show the restaurant's logo, "and there's only one waitress working at the Gumbo Jumbo, Shawna Knox . . . Do you see where I'm heading with this?"

"Uh, well . . . Yeah . . . I mean . . ." he stuttered, "I would have thought of that too if you'd given me a minute! OK, Adalet, let's go talk to this waitress!"

Frank and Adalet thanked Russell for his work and left the station. They returned to the Gumbo Jumbo restaurant and saw a young woman dressed in a uniform leaving from the back door.

"Hi Shawna," Frank greets, "we believe you and Lee Dupree knew each other?"

"Knew each other . . . Yeah . . . You could say that . . ." Shawna tisked.

"Well, we'd be interested in hearing why you wrote a note to him saying that he would be "sorry" if he didn't "leave you alone" . . ." Adalet quoted.

"Because the jerk needed a scapegoat and he chose me. Nearly got me fired by blaming me for his mistakes with the cash register!" she fumed, "and if I lose this job I lose everything . . . You know, since my Pop passed away I'm the main breadwinner at home . . . That's a lot of pressure!"

Back at the station . . .

"Well, I'm glad we came back here for a break . . . Even without a rotting corpse under our noses, the Bayou sure stinks!" Frank complains as he dropped into his chair, "now, how close do you think we are to figuring out who killed Lee Dupree by skewering him in the heart, Adalet?"

"Since both that cook and Shawna work at the Gumbo Restaurant, we know they're both in contact with shrimp, just like our killer . . ." Adalet reasoned, "and if we see any of our suspects chewing tobacco, we'll know we're probably getting closer to the culprit, too!"

"Uh guys," Roxie entered the office holding a package in her hands, "someone just stopped me outside the station and handed me this package. I started to open it but then realized it was addressed to Adalet!"

"Who brought it?" Adalet asks taking the box.

"I'm sorry to say I didn't see who brought it because I was wearing my pre-caffeine, hangover sunglasses . . ." she replied apologetically, "but here is the box. Open it up, Adalet!"

"Well, here goes nothing, Adalet! Let's see what's inside that box!" Frank says getting up to join her.

As Roxie left the room, Adalet pulled out the packing peanuts and tossed them into her trash can. Once the top layer had been removed, she reached into the box and drew out the item inside.

"What in the . . . Who would be sending a voodoo doll to you, Adalet?!" Frank exclaimed, "I don't know how we should take this!"

"Frank, check out the pins in it!" Adalet held the doll up to his face.

"What d'you mean, I should take a closer look at the pins? They're in the doll's shoulders and heart, and so . . ." he trailed off as realization hit him, "oh crap! Shoulders and heart, exactly like the skewers on Lee! We've been sent a voodoo doll of our victim!! Adalet, I really don't know what to think about this, but I don't like it. The world of voodoo is pretty dark, whether you believe in it or not!"

"We should try and find out where this doll came from first of all. Maybe it will help us figure out who sent it to me!" she said examining the doll, "there's a shop tag on its side . . . This doll was bought from a shop called "Bill's Voodoo"! Let's go down to the voodoo shop and get this mess straightened out!"

At the Voodoo Shop . . .

"And a very good mojo morning to y'all!" the shopkeeper welcomed them into his store, "I'm Bill, supplier of all things voodoo in the Bayou!"

"Hey Bill, this is Capt. Adalet and they're investigating a possible voodoo related murder," Frank explained producing the doll from his pocket, "a doll that was bought in your shop bears a striking resemblance to our victim . . ."

"Oh dear me, uh . . ." Bill gulps as sweat trickled down his face, "I think that's my telephone ringing in the back room. I'll be back with you in a minute, but have a look around the shop if you want!"

Bill ducked into the back of the shop leaving the cops alone in the front end. Adalet looked around the bookshelves of voodoo manuals and spells and picked up a strange pink vial off of a lower shelf. As she was going back to join Frank, she saw that there was a trash can in front of the counter for customers.

"I see you've definitely made yourself at home Adalet! You've gone straight for the trash can! Ha!" Frank laughed.

Adalet glared.

"I'm just yanking your chain! That's not a bad idea at all, there's always something lurking in the trash! I'll let you do the honours though . . ." he snickered, "and that weird glass bottle looks like one of those mumbo jumbo potions they sell to tourists . . ."

"I want to check it for prints," she says placing her case on the counter.

"You want to dust it for prints? Well, be my guest!" he invited, "and when you're done, can we please go grill Bill about his wares? I'm sure he's hiding something!"

"Sure."

Adalet dusted the pink vial of almost glowing liquid and found some clear prints along the side of the vial and the glass stopper.

"You uncovered perfect prints on that potion bottle you found in the voodoo shop? Well yay for you, I guess," shrugs Frank, "seeing as you're such a whizz with prints, maybe you can see if they match any of those we've already got on file?"

Adalet didn't have to be told twice. She took some pictures with her phone of the prints and sent them to her tablet to look up. She opened the fingerprint database and compared parts of the prints to one's on file and it came back as a match to some that were just updated in the file.

"Alright, you've shut me up, Adalet!" Frank admitted, "I can't believe the fingerprints you found on that potion bottle belong to our victim! How did you know?!"

Adalet shrugged, "gut feeling!"

"What would a city slicker like Lee Dupree be doing with a potion from a voodoo shop?" he wonders.

"I don't know," she replies, "let's send Yann a small sample of the potion and see if he can tell us what it's used for."

After getting the sample ready for Yann to look at, Adalet metaphorically dove into the trash can. With some long rubber gloves on, she fished through the trash can for anything that would help their case. And other than finding a napkin from the Gumbo Jumbo there was nothing of use.

"Alright, so you've found a napkin from the Gumbo Jumbo restaurant in Bill's trash . . . What now?" Frank asks.

Adalet opened the napkin and showed him the shrimp tails inside.

"Oh, right, those shrimp tails mean Bill eats shrimps!" he nodded in understanding, "alright! Let's go back to the restaurant for another look around!"

"Before that, here comes Bill!" she pointed to the shopkeeper that had come back in from the back room.

"Hey Bill," the detective got his attention, "thanks for giving us a minute of your time . . . I'm sure you must be dead busy in your line of trade! Ha!"

"Oh, I wouldn't laugh if I were you: those varmint voodoo spirits don't take so kindly to mocking of the great spiritual arts!" Bill warned.

"Whatever. Do you recognize this doll?" Frank asked showing it to him, "its tag says it was purchased at your shop . . ."

"Oh my, ehhh . . . Uhm . . . Oh my Lord . . . Uh . . . Oh, I know!" his eyes lit up, "there's that swamp dwellin' freak who bought some dolls here a few days ago! Darn it, what's his doggone name again?"

He thought for a minute, "can't remember, but you can't miss him. Guy's got the shaggiest blonde hair and the most crooked mouth I've ever seen!"

"Alright . . . Adalet, do you think that description's enough for you to knock up a quick ID drawing for us to go by?" he inquired, "I can't draw for nuts and I've seen your skills!"

Adalet got out her phone, "I can't draw people, that's one of Nathan's expertise, but I can work an ID program."

Frank didn't ask who Nathan was and Adalet continued with her facial construction. She looked through the suggestions for face structures, hair, eyes, mouth and such for the ones that fit Bill's description the best. Once she had gotten a combination of everything, she sent the face for a name to match it. She got the results back quickly.

"So our voodoo doll enthusiast is named Eugene!" Adalet read showing Frank the picture.

Frank winced, "man, he ain't a pretty one though! Well, nothing to be done about it. Let's go stake him out!"

In the heart of the Bayou . . .

"Hello? Helllllooo?" Adalet calls, "Eugene? Come out, come out, wherever you are! There's no need to worry, we're from the police and we just need your help for a minute!"

"Police?" the man they were looking for stumbled out from the trees, "are you going to arrest me for hunting raccoons? Oh, I swear I won't do it again! Booohoohoo!"

"Uh, no, Eugene, Capt. Adalet just wants to know if you're the one who bought this voodoo doll," Frank replied showing him the doll.

"Oh, sir, I never wanted to touch those devil's toys . . . But there was just no other way . . . They were the only thing that would scare the local kids away!" Eugene cries, "but I never put no needles in them! I just hung the dolls around my hut so the kids would stop coming to throw stones at me . . ."

"So this doll isn't yours . . . Wait there a sec, why are the local kids throwing stones at you?" he asked.