I pulled into the station parking lot. “Oh man, we’re here already. I was about to recite my favorite poem, Success is Counted Sweetest. Do you want to hear it before we go in?” Emily said. There was a wide smile across her face and almost twinkle in her eye. It was as if she didn’t just recite poems for 3 hours straight.

“No.” I said, turning off the engine and getting out of the car. I started to make my way to the front door of the police station.

“Your so mean, Tom!” Emily pouted as she ran after me. “You mean to tell me you didn’t like any of those poems?”

“Honestly, I was more shocked Emily Dickinson had that big of a catalog.” I said, opening the door for her.

“Yeah, she had a massive catalog, but it was never officially published. It was her sister Lavinia discovered the collection of nearly 1800 poems, then later published them. It’s unfortunate that they were edited and altered from their manuscript version,” Emily said.

I followed behind her as we searched for the chief of the police’s office. The office was mostly empty. There were a few officers staring at their computer screens, but the empty desk outnumbered them. It was the most quiet police station I had been in so far. “That’s the most interesting thing you have said this entire trip. Why didn’t you just tell me more facts?” Emily turned around. She frowned and stared daggers at me. “Hey, look, I think that is his office.” I snickered, pointing to the big office in front of me.

I knocked on the door of his office and I heard a loud “Come in” from the other side of the door.” The chief of police was sitting behind his desk with the monitor shining on the side of his face. He was looking down, writing something on the piece of paper in front of me. “Whatever it is it better be good. I said no disturbances today.”

“Quick, to the chase. I like it. Just give us the briefing and we can get started.” I said, walking up to his desk.

The chief looked up, confused, then when he saw us approaching his desk, his eyes grew wide. “Oh my god, Special agent Morningstar and Dickinson! I am so sorry I thought you were one of my staff.” The Chief stood up and outstretched his hand and shook both of ours. “We have been short on staff, so I have been having to do the majority of the paperwork and even had to go on a few cases myself to pick up the slack.”

The chief slapped his forehead and kept it there. “Forgive me. Where are my manners? My name is Lingyun Nguyen. I’ve been the chief of police here for the past 20 years.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Chief Nguyen. You can call me Tom and her Emily,” I said, pointing to myself and Emily.

“Well then, please call me Lin.” He said with an open hand, pointing to the chairs in front of him. “Please have a seat. We can discuss the case further.”

On his desk, his phone came to life. Lin sighed and then picked up the phone. “Chief Nguyen, this better be good. I have the FBI in front of me right now… Another one!? This is the 2 second one this week. This place has literally gone to shit!” Lin said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, I will find someone to cover the case. Have all the witnesses stay there and no one can leave until a detective is there.” Hanging up the phone the Lin ran his fingers through his hair.

“If you are short on staff, we can assist you.” I said. There was a shock on Emily’s face, but I nudged her with an elbow.

“Would you really? I would appreciate that so much! I’ll be honest, we have had so much trouble with this ongoing case that all our detectives have been out researching the case.” Lin said, sitting back in his chair. “Man, Kalina said she was sending her best and so far you have been living up to her praise.”

“Detective Rose really said that about me.” Emily said, her face flushed red and put her hands on her the side of her face and looked away. Kalina must be too hard on her.

“Not a problem Lin. We’ll take care of it and then get back to the case we came for.” I said, standing up, shaking his hand one more time before walking to the door. Emily skipped behind me, humming some songs.