Deep in the Bayou Blue forest . . .

"Oh dear, Adalet, I'm afraid I've lost us! And this was just supposed to be a simple patrol in the Bayou!" Amy panicked as she looked around the forest, "my phone's not working . . . How will we ever find our way out again?"

Adalet moved aside some branches, "I have a path over here!"

"You've . . . You've spotted a trail? Oh, thank God! Let's follow it!" she ran over to the older woman, "you know, Adalet, I'm really glad you're with me. I would probably have just walked in circles for days without you!"

At the end of the trail . . .

"Adalet, you did it! We're out of the forest! And . . ." Amy looks around the area, "I know this place! This is the Gator Land amusement park, my parents took me here when I was little! It looks like nobody's come here for ages, though . . . I didn't even know it was still opened, I thought it had closed down years ago!"

"I think getting ahold of the station is our main priority," Adalet says looking around the park entrance.

"Hm, anyway, you're right, Capt. Adalet. The most important thing right now is to let dispatch know we're okay. But my phone's still dead!" she pouts checking the device.

"Well given how old this park is, there must be a phone booth around here . . . Somewheres," she volunteered.

"Oh, good idea! There must be a phone booth somewhere. Let's search the park through!" she says taking off in one direction.

Once Amy was out of sight, Adalet and her dogs walked around their half of the park. This was the entrance area of the park where families and visitors would gather in. but instead of happy people all around, the only person Adalet saw was lying dead on the ground.

"Well, this should be fun," Adalet says pulling out her phone, it still had enough power to send a text.

After sending the text off to Roxie about the murder, she turned back to the body. Dean and Hunter had sniffed around while she wasn't looking and the German dog had found an envelope packed with wads of cash, while the Irish dog was pawing at a claw machine game.

"I found a phone, Adalet!" Amy announced as she ran back, "and you found . . . a body?!"

"The victim's ID badge says she's called "Coleen Truman"," Adalet reports reading the name tag attached to the victim's jacket, "she's a Bay Area Bank representative from Ocean Shore . . ."

"You also found a kraft envelope full of dollar bills?" she questions taking it from Hunter's mouth, "it's written, "Shut up and take the money"! There's more text but it's illegible. Can you decipher it?"

"Sure," she says walking over to the claw machine.

"And you think we might find something important in that claw crane? How fun!" she squeals, "I've always loved this game, don't you, Adalet?"

Before Adalet could answer the rookie, a haggard-looking young woman in torn clothes and covered in dirt, twigs and grass stumbled out of the bushes in a mad dash towards them.

"Go back to where you're from! You're not welcome here, strangers! This place is cursed!" the woman warns.

"Eek, you scared us!" Amy's hands flew to cover her mouth, "are you . . . Are you alright? Is someone chasing you? Do you need help?"

"I'm not the one who needs help, you are! My name's Vanessa Kimmel," Vanessa introduced, "I've lived here all my life and I'm telling you, this place is cursed! Leave while you still can, or you'll end up dead, just like her!"

"Adalet, what should we do?" she whispers.

"Miss, please, calm down," Adalet says softly, "we will need to ask you a few questions."

"Why are you still here?" Vanessa asked angrily, "leave this place while you can! Otherwise, you'll end up dead just like that Coleen Truman!"

"Vanessa, are you sure you do not need any help? You're looking . . . You look like you're in pretty bad shape," Amy said gently.

"You're not listening to me!" she groans, "the woman's dead! What else do you need to realize this place is dangerous, Capt.?!"

"Very well," Adalet nods, "were you in the park when Coleen got killed? Did you see or hear anything that might help us?"

"I didn't see anything, but I heard things. Whispers . . . Screams! And a thud . . . Then I heard a rustle of leaves, the killer must have gone into the woods," Vanessa answered pointing to the direction she was referring to, "I'm sure they went towards the abandoned shack, up north! This is where the devil nests! Death is upon this place!"

Vanessa ran off back into the forest before either Adalet or Amy could stop her. The captain just shrugged meaning 'what can you do?' to her partner.

"Let's go check out the shack Vanessa told us about," Adalet says looking in her wallet for a coin.

"Really, Adalet? You want to go investigate that abandoned shack Vanessa told us about? The one where the devil nests?" Amy gulped nervously, "I mean sure, we're going to the shack! Anything to move our investigation along, right?"

"Yup!" she replied pulling out a coin, "now let's see if I can still play this game . . ."

Adalet inserted the coin into the slot and heard it clinked down to the bottom. The machine surprisingly still worked and the claw came to life with electricity. She grabbed the joystick and moved it around the case looking at the toys inside. There was something stuck to one of the stuffies and Adalet pressed the button to release the claw. It clenched around the stuffed alligator and raised back up to its track. The claw moved over to the slot for the winner to retrieve their toy and dropped the stuffie down into it. Adalet pulled off the document that had gotten stuck

"Hm . . . This document has our victim's bank logo on it. But most of it is faded!" Adalet said looking at the page, "we should try to recover that text."

Amy nodded, "you're right. I know what wonders you can do with some latent powder and a fibreglass brush!"

Adalet placed the document against the claw machine and got out her brush. She dusted the faded areas of the form and recovered the missing parts of the contract.

"Well done, Adalet! So this document you found is a "Buying Offer for Gator Land" . . . And it's got our victim's face on it!" Amy tapes the spot in the lower corner, "it appears Ms. Truman wanted to buy Gator Land for . . . just one dollar? Now that's something else!"

"Apparently the current owner of the park is named Alec Howard," Adalet says seeing the other man on the contract, "we need to have a chat with him right away!"

Before going to find the park owner, Adalet gave the document to Amy and picked up the kraft envelope. She got out a pencil and sticky note and stuck them beside the label. She repaired the code on the label one part at a time until she had the complete string of letters and numbers.

"Shut up and take the money, TNG-2R8-BLE"," Adalet read the completed message.

"TNG-2R8-BLE"? Do you think this is some kind of code?" Amy wonders.

"Numbers are like candies to Hannah!" she laughs, "let's send them to her!"

Adalet and Amy only had to wait ten minutes for Roxie to arrive with backup, and a couple of battery packs to charge their phones. They thanked the coroner for her help and left to find the park owner. Alec lived in a house just of the edge of the park and they knocked on his door loudly enough for it to shakes the adjoining walls.

"Mr. Howard," Amy greeted the man after he'd opened the door, "Capt. Adalet is looking for clues concerning the murder of Coleen Truman, which occurred right here, in your park."

"Tragic, for sure. But honestly, all I can think about is that it's been a long time I haven't met someone as attractive as you, Miss . . ." Alec flirted.

"That's Officer Young to you, Mr. Howard," she narrowed her eyes, "and Capt. Adalet has found the buying offer Coleen made you for Gator Land."

"You're talking about that preposterous one-dollar deal? Nonsense!" he scoffed, "just because the park is in debt, Coleen thought she could take it from me by force! But nobody will take this park from me!"

"So she wanted to take the park from you and now she is dead" Adalet hums, ". . . You've got to admit this is pretty convenient, Mr. Howard."

"Coleen was overconfident," Alec smirks, "thinking she was playing on home ground. But we're like gators here in the Bayou and we follow one rule only: survival of the fittest!"

The cops left Alec's house and headed into the forest to find the shack Vanessa had told them about. It took some searching and a long time walking, but they eventually stumbled upon a decrepit shack on the back of the swamp.

They entered the shack and looked around the dirty space for anything signs of their killer being there. Adalet and Amy checked under the bed and around the small kitchen area but they found a broken bottle on the rug behind a support pole.

"Nice catch with these glass debris, Adalet! Someone was here recently and despite what Vanessa told us, I bet they were not ghosts nor demons!" Amy grinned, "uh . . . You should probably piece that debris back yourself, though. I'm afraid I'm not ready for such delicate work just yet . . ."

Adalet knelled down on the rug beside the bottle and got out some glue, gloves, and tweezers. She slapped on her gloves and held the glue bottle in one hand as she used her free hand with the tweezers to move the glass piece into place. After the glue had dried she picked up the repaired bottle that was covered in dried blood.

"Nice job, Adalet!" Amy praise, "you turned the glass debris back into a bottle! But what's with the blood on it?"

"We've got to send this bottle to Yann," Adalet replied.

Later at the station . . .

"Well, Adalet, it seems someone mistook your victim for an alligator! Her insides have been torn to shreds by a hunting rifle's bullet!" Roxie joked, "a gator might have recovered from such a shot, but Coleen didn't stand a chance. She must have bled out in a matter of seconds."

"But . . . Are you saying her death is an accident then?" Amy asks cocking her head to the side.

"With such a precise shot? Not a chance!" she answers, "she was hit straight in the liver, and it wasn't from up close! Whoever did this is an accomplished rifle shooter, trust me!"

"Duly noted, Roxie. That's one point against our killer, Adalet. Let's keep in mind they practice rifle shooting!" she says writing it down.

Adalet nods, "got it! Yann?"

"The bottle you brought me was covered in the blood of your victim, Adalet!" Yann started, "considering you found this bottle in a shack and not on the murder scene, it's obvious Coleen's killer was the one who drank from it!"

"Makes sense," she agrees.

"The bottle's label was unreadable, so I analyzed the contents, and it turned out to be Jamaican Gator Rum!" he explained, "I remember the time I travelled to Appleton Estate in Jamaica! Frank pestered me to bring him duty-free Gator Rum bottles back!"

"Somehow I'm not surprised . . ." Amy sighed, "anyway, Adalet, I'll write this down for you: our killer drinks Gator Rum!"

"Better not introduce them to Frank!" Adalet laughed, "anyway, Hannah?"

"Adalet, you're not going to believe this! The numbers you found on that envelope match the ID of one of the precinct cops, a certain Harvey Fitchner! A cop, receiving an envelope full of cash with "Shut up, take the money" on it? That sounds an awful lot like a bribe to me!" Hannah commented, "I had a look at his file, and Fitchner used to serve in this precinct before he was transferred to the Bayou. I'm pretty sure he's worked on some cases with Frank."

"Really?" Amy remarks.

"And if Frank worked with this man, maybe he could tell us more about this Mr. Fitchner!" Adalet ponders.

"I'll call him right away!" Amy says dialling the detective up and placing the call on speaker.

"What do you want?" Frank grunts, "I got a killing headache here, so be quick."

"Erm . . . Hi, Frank," she replies, " Adalet would like some info about Harvey Fitchner. We're afraid he might have accepted a bribe an-"

"Ha!" he interrupted, "bribe? Not surprised. Is that all? Headache's getting worse. Bye."

"He hung up on me!" she pouted putting her phone away, ". . . That was weird."

Adalet shrugs, "we'd better go speak to Mr. Fitchner ourselves, Capt. Adalet!"

Adalet and Amy got Harvey's patrol route from the station's database before heading back out into the hot swamp. They drove along the man's route and came across the yellow shirt-wearing cop that matched his ID photo. They parked along the side of the dirt road and called him over to introduce themselves.

"Hello Capt.! Officer Fitchner at your service," Harvey gave a salute. "it's good to see some colleagues, no one ever comes here!"

"Mr. Fitchner," Adalet smiles, "we found this envelope addressed to you . . . You know bribes are completely forbidden by the Police code, right?"

"Of course I do!" he assures, "I didn't take the money, did I? This Coleen kept pestering me for close protection, but I refused! I'm a cop, not a bodyguard!"

"Wait, this envelope was given to you by Coleen Truman? But . . . She's dead!" Amy informed.

"Dead?!" Harvey cried in shock, "I guess she was right to want protection, then. But maybe if she'd shown more respect for the people around here, she'd still be alive!"

Later on, near the swamps . . .

"Well, Adalet," Amy says as they stopped in front of a steamboat, "I'm afraid we still have a lot of work to do before we clear the water on Coleen Truman's murder."

Adalet smirked, "it hasn't even been half a day yet, Amy!"

"Vanessa Kimmel, who looks like a very troubled woman, claims this whole place is cursed, which isn't really helpful. You've also discovered that Coleen had tried to bribe Fitchner, the local cop, apparently unsuccessfully," she added, "this seems to have deeply offended him. And she also offended the owner of Gator Land, Alec Howard, by trying to buy his park for a single dollar . . . Obviously our victim made many enemies in the Ba-"

"Ewwww, what is that?!" Amy gags peeling a slimy banana peel off her shoulder, "what just happened, Adalet? We were going through what we know about Coleen's murder and . . . someone tossed their trash at me?! But why??"

Adalet looked at the trail of compost, "it looks like it came from that steamboat, over there! Let's go search it!"

" If someone intentionally threw rotten fish at me, we're gonna fine them! Right, Adalet?" she asks pulling off a fish skeleton.

Leaving Amy back on the docks to clean off the trash and compost, Adalet and the dogs headed up to the steamboat. They couldn't find anyone on the deck of the boat, but Adalet picked up a torn package, Hunter found a toolbox, and Dean grabbed an old hunting trophy. They took their finds back with them to the docks to check up on Amy.

"I'm sorry for getting so angry earlier on, Adalet," Amy sighed finally clean of the garbage, "I just can't believe someone would throw rotten fish on the Police!"

"I've seen paint, but this is a new one!" Adalet replied looking in her case for some tape.

" Anyway, I couldn't find anyone on the boat. But I can see that even when I make you lose your time on personal vendettas, you manage to further the investigation, Adalet!" her mood grew happier as she took in the clues, "this torn package looks like it was deliberately shredded. We should try to fix it! What about this toolbox? Looks like someone left it here, should we sift through it?"

"Definitely," she agreed.

"More gator goodies, Adalet!" she grinned seeing the trophy, "this trophy plaque is completely faded, but I'm pretty sure some powder should help us read what was on it! Let's do it!"

Adalet found the roll of tape she had been looking for and used it to repair the torn pieces of cardboard. It turned out that they made up a package of diet soup with a sticky note stuck to the front of it with a message from the victim.

"This package you found is a diet soup. And our victim wrote something on it! "You should try it, fatso!" Not very nice," Amy winced, "I wonder who she gave it to . . ."

"Still around my steamboat, you dumb skinny cop? Bad fish not enough to drive you away, eh?" a woman asked from above them, as they looked up her face twisted into an expression of anger, "Hey, why did you fix that stupid "Fat Crusher" weight loss soup package?! Are you here to make fun of me?"

"Wait, you're the one who threw fish bones at me?! Do not move a muscle!" she orders, "Capt. Adalet will have a word with you!"

"Miss . . .?" Adalet inquired.

"Shelly Dulard!" Shelly introduced, "wow, don't get any closer, Officer Young. What's that stench? Smells like bad fish, am I right? You could benefit from a quick shower, just sayin' . . ."

"Laugh all you want, Ms. Dulard!" Amy glared ripping a page from her fine book, "this is a fine for assaulting a Police Officer!"

"Ha, see if I care! At least maybe this will have taught you to stop showing off, you skinny superficial brat! You're just like that Coleen Truman! I welcomed her aboard my ship, and she thanked me with this "Fat Crusher" weight loss soup, making fun of my fat, that filthy vegan!" she spat, "who did she think she was, and who eats diet soup anyway? That's not even food! That neat freak didn't do alcohol either! So I guess I'll drink a whole bottle of "Gator Rum" in her honour! Wooh! Celebrate!"

Shelly walked down the deck of her steamboat and out of sight from the cops.

"This Shelly is so . . . She's so . . . Argh!" Amy made a strangled groan, "I'm glad I fined her, Adalet! You gave me the strength to stand up for myself! How could anyone discriminate against people just because they're skinny, anyway? That's outrageous!"

"The same one people discriminate someone because they're overweight," Adalet augured.

"Well, of course, I guess that's exactly what the victim did to her, mocking Shelly because she's not skinny . . ." she agrees, "alright, Adalet. Maybe a bit more respect from everyone would be welcome. But she's still a solid suspect in Coleen's death!"

"And we might have another one here . . ." Adalet muses as she finished dusting the trophy's plaque.

"Thumbs up, Adalet! You managed to fix this trophy! What does it say?"

"Alec Howard, best Gator Hunter of the Bayou"!"

"Wait a second. Alec Howard is the owner of the "Gator Land" park! But he's also an alligator hunter?" Amy frowned, "isn't he, like, supposed to protect them?"

Adalet shrugged, "in theory, but something doesn't add up. But at least we know he practices rifle shooting, just like our killer! Sounds like a good cue to talk to Mr. Howard again!"

They stayed on the dock for a little longer to look through the toolbox they had found on the steamboat. Adalet rooted through all the tools inside and found a newspaper article torn from the Daily Dawn.

"How do you do this, Adalet? How did you know there would be a picture of the victim inside that toolbox?" Amy asked, "this is from a newspaper article . . . "Coleen Truman Hires Local Worker For Gator Land Remodel."