Arriving back at the station, we walked in with Milia handcuffed. “Does she always recite poems of Emily Dickinson?” Milia whispered back. Emily, not hearing a word, walked toward the Chief’s office.

“Unfortunately, yes. It’s kind of her thing.” I said, guiding Milia downstairs to the holding cells. “Your lucky that you only had to endure about 10 minutes. I’m about to go on a three-hour car ride. I didn’t even know she wrote that many poems. Don’t even get me started on her personal commentary about each poem’s meaning.”

“Well, depending on my sentence, I might start becoming a fan. It will give me something to do.” Milia said as I put her in the holding cell.

“Well, don’t enjoy them too much or you’ll turn into her.” I said with a wave as I walked back upstairs to the chief’s office.

The door was open, so from this angle I could see the chief sitting at the edge of his desk talking to Emily, sitting in her chair. “So, she just confessed like that? Those stories always give me home that not everyone is a psychotic serial killer.”

“Yeah, I was pretty shocked myself. I thought she was going to put up more of a fight myself.” Emily said. “Oh hey, Tom, you put her with the rest of the crooks.”

“Yup, she is all caged up awaiting processing.” I said, leaning against the doorway. “Alright Chief, it was a pleasure, but we will be on our way.”

“Wow, you two are incredible! I can’t believe Katrina sent me such productive agents.” Chief Nguyen sat back, staring at us in awe. “Your both ready to begin the next case.”

Emily looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and I returned the same gesture. “Uh, what do you mean?” I said, now standing straight in the doorway.

Chief Nguyen returned a raised eyebrow. “Detective Rose didn’t send you the briefing about the serial killer?”

“Ah, she seemed to leave out that minor detail. One moment, please.” I stepped out to the room and went into one to the single bathroom. Pulling out my phone, I called Katarina.

“Hey there Tommy boy! How’s the case going?” She said, there was wind flowing throughout the car. I could hear honking in the background.

“Oh, it’s going swell, we just arrested a girl that poisoned her boyfriend, and dude was a total douche so it was understandable but still a crime non the less. Oh, and you seemed to forget to mention that we are out here to catch a serial killer!”

“You didn’t read my briefing?” Kalina said, confused.

Looking through my email one more time, there was nothing there. I checked my junk mail just in case. “Looks like you never sent it.”

“Hmmm, one moment.” Kalina said. There was a bit of a pause as she searched for the email. “Ah, it’s stuck in my outbox. I’ll try it when I get back to the office. But regardless, go book a hotel buy yourself some close and all your essential. We’ll reimburse you when you get back. Just save your receipts.”

“Darn, I wish you would have told me sooner. I only have my crime scene glasses, toxicology reader and this watch prototype.”

“You’ll be fine rookie, I’ve always solved cases without all that fancy tech. You’ll do fine.”

“Alright, does Chief Nguyen at least have the briefing?”

“Of course, that guy is precise. He’s already got a few leads, but it’s outside of his jurisdiction since the murder happened in a state park. Since that is a federal crime, we now have to step in to make the bust.” There was another pause. “Oh, looks like August is calling. I’ll get the briefing over to you as soon as I can.

Rejoining the group, Emily and Chief Nguyen were still conversing. Emily was the first to notice me. “What did Detective Rose say?” I wonder how she knew I was speaking with Kalina.

“she said that we should get a hotel and everything we need. It would seem we’ll be here for a while.” I said, “Alright Chief, can we get the briefing tomorrow morning? We have to get our lodging sorted out.”