"Cillian I'm going to cut your dick off!" I yelled to the ceiling from the floor. The overly loud obnoxious screams of death metal rang out full volume from my phone. I swore again and rolled over on my stomach. I brought myself up to a crawl and reached up grabbing my phone and turning it off.

The joints in my body ached, all the events from the previous day were quickly catching up with me. I threw my phone on the bed and rubbed at my shoulder. I couldn't decide if the ache was from slamming into the door of an apartment, or from adding twenty extra pounds to the amount of weights I typically frequent. I dragged myself back on the bed, opting for an hour more of sleep was exactly what I needed to continue on through the day.

The sun peeked through a crack in my curtains. I used my hand to cover my face, the motion sending a soreness through my upper arm. After debating throwing my phone at the sun, I sat up. The shifting made me sore but all those muscles working together to get up made me even more sore.

"Come on don't be a baby." I mumbled and stood up from my bed grabbing my phone off the edge. I took a moment to move each limb, my body protested but I had done this enough to ignore the ache. I stood up and navigated my dim room, careful not to step on any of the obstacles that were scattered around.

My outfit was already laid out and resting on the dresser in my room. I began dressing, slowly working through the tightness in my muscles. I silently thanked my last night self. I had somehow even managed to take a shower before clocking out. I spritzed myself down with one of the bottles of body spray and soccer kicked my black shoes to the door leading out of my room. I opened it open and more light flooded in. I nearly hissed using my forearm to shield myself from the majority of the light. My eyes squeezed close and I kicked my shoes ahead of me, I heard a bump as they most likely hit the coffee table.

I was familiar enough with the layout of my apartment to navigate blind. That aside it didn't stop my hip from hitting the corner of the kitchen counter.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I grumbled and moved my arm to my side cupping the hip in my hand. If I thought it would make me feel any better I would have threatened the table too. I finally opened my eyes squinting as my retinas adjusted the flood of light. I blinked a few times as I looked around the kitchen. "Coffee, food. Food, coffee." I mumbled to myself, I went through my pantries searching for either coffee grounds or some form of breakfast food.

There were only a mix of several different odds and ends of food. I groaned slamming the doors harder and harder with each failed venture. I was seconds away from punching a wall when I finally found the coffee grounds.

"There we go." I mumbled, I grabbed the container of coffee grounds and placed it next to my mug. I rubbed at my eyes, looking between the two of them. My brain groggily remembering how to make coffee. I picked up my, 'worlds best partner' mug that's white color was beginning to yellow, and placed it inside the coffee machine. I'd have to text Cillian to buy me food on the way to my place, but I was thankful that I at least had coffee.

I opened up the top of the coffee machine to pour my grounds in when I realized there was no filter. I took deep breaths through my nose and began scrounging around the kitchen counter area for another one. The water began bubbling. "At least the water still wants to boil." I mumbled rubbing the bridge of my nose.

There came three knocks on my door. I debated staying in the kitchen with my filterless coffee machine and lack of food. The knocks knocks continued, each one felt like it was beating right inside my skull. I unplugged the coffee machine and threw the pack of grounds on the table.

"Hold your freaking horses I'm coming." The knocks stopped and I let out a sigh of relief. I grabbed my weapons belt resting on the coffee table on my way to the door. When I opened the door I was adjusting the loop around my waist.

"Wow you're up pretty fast huh?" My body reacted immediately to the cause of my suffering. My fist jolted out and I leaned forward trying to catch him in the face. He laughed at my attempt and took a step away. I wobbled nearly falling. Upon catching myself I leaned against my door frame and glowered.

"I know it was you." I said my eyes narrowed at Cillian. His smile was laid back and he shrugged, both his hands were filled. One with two coffees in a carrier, the other holding a bag. I took pleasure in the fact that the dark spots under his eyes were visible.

"Me? I was just worried that regular alarm ringtone wouldn't be enough for you today, just trying to look out for my partner."

"I freaking hate you." Cillian shrugged again and extended the bag in his hand.

"Get your jacket on I figure that you don't have much food left." I glared and looked over my shoulder to the kitchen.

"How do you know that?" I leaned away from the doorframe reaching for my jacket on a hook by the door.

"Because you buy all your groceries on Saturday even though by Friday you complain about not having any food." He shook the bag again. "Hurry up we have to go, your bagel will get cold."

"Jam on top?" I asked zipping up my jacket and grabbing my gloves just in case. Cillian rolled his eyes dramatically.

"What do I look like, your mother?" He pushed the bag to my chest and took it from him. "Of course there's jam on top." He smiled and jutted his chin to the staircase leading out of my apartment complex.

"Good, let's get out of here." I grabbed the coffee closest to me and walked out, locking my door afterward.

"Hey, that could have been mine." Cillian protested following after me, he was one or two steps behind.

"We have the same taste in coffee, it doesn't matter." I walked off the stairs and out onto the lobby.

"Matters to me," Cillian mumbled under his breath. I was too tired to warrant him a verbal answer, instead, I rolled my eyes.

We rounded the corner passing by the women responsible for entry and exit of the apartment building. I waved to her, not slowing down until I was out of view of her.

"I have no idea why she keeps letting you in. You don't freaking live here." I swung open the door and walked quickly through, I hoped that the door would at least hit Cillian's shoulder. Cillian took two long steps and was standing next to me.

"I went on a few dates with some woman here and she still thinks we're together." I looked down the street until I saw Cillian's dark blue work car.

"So you're taking advantage of an old woman basically?" Cillian walked around the front of the car to his side of the car. He looked at me and gave a shrug.

"I just never correct her, not the same as lying." The car lock clicked and I opened the door climbing inside, and shutting the door behind me.

"Not correcting someone is a passive form of lying." Cillian clicked his buckle and raised his eyebrow.

"Since when are you a goody two shoes?" He yawned towards the middle of his sentence making him harder to understand.

"Not being a liar doesn't add up to being a goody two shoes." I yawned after him and rubbed my eyes. Cillian placed the coffee and bag into his cup holder, he looked up smiling tiredly.

"You just don't like seeing me in the mornings." He backed up and pulled out away from the curb onto the road. My coffee cup came to my lips and I side eyed him as I took a long drawn out gulp.

"What brought you to that conclusion?" I closed my eyes and let my head hit the back of the headrest attached to the seat. "I could fall asleep right now."

"No you couldn't, you hate falling asleep in cars." I turned my head in the direction of his voice still not opening my eyes I gave him a look.

"Every time we have to go on long drives you never sleep. You slept on the ground once instead of the car seat." I shrugged and took another sip of my coffee savoring the caffeinated taste.

"Car seats are for sitting not sleeping, and they do major damage to my back." I heard Cillian chuckle, despite being awake for an indefinite amount of time he still sounded as tired and groggy as me.

"I should codename you princess and the pea."

"We don't have code names and we're never getting ones." I felt a light weight on my lap. I opened my eyes to see the paper bag with my bagel.

"Why not? Almost all the other detectives have one. I used to have one with my old partner." I secured my coffee in the cup holder and raised my shoulders.

"We're not police officers, we're never far enough away from each other to even use radios. And lastly, I prefer to use regular names." I pulled out the bagel and began eating it, I looked out the window. We passed by the Over Easy Diner, and the Nutran pharmacy. The giant egg sign was almost comical next to the rabbit holding a pill bottle.

"Regular names are boring."

"Regular names are sensible." My mouth was filled with bagel pieces and jam, my words garbled.

"You're a buzz kill, you know that?"

"My, how the tides have turned."

"What tides?" Cillian scoffed, glancing at me for a moment. I took another bite, washing it down with hot coffee.

"Oh Wilson don't jump off the sides of sheds, oh Wilson don't race after people with guns, oh Wilson sometimes pursuing chase isn't the right way to capture a suspect, oh Wilson stops tackling people," I said in a high pitched imitation of Cillian's voice. Cillian looked unimpressed, at least from a side view of him.

"If that's what you consider being a buzz kill than this buzzkill is trying to keep an idiot from being killed."

"Yeah whatever, and you call me goody two shoes." I took the last bite of my bagel as we pulled into the station parking lot.

"You really wolfed that down, didn't you?" I used a napkin to wipe my mouth and stuffed it into the bag.

"I'm a growing man I need my sustenance." Cillian looked at me as he took out the key.

"You're 33 Wilson, you are all done growing." He grabbed his coffee from the cup holder.

"Fine I'm a working man and I need my sustenance, and not to be woken up by death metal." I opened my door and stepped out. I was glad for the warmth of my residual coffee it was beginning to get colder. I looked over at Cillian as he climbed out he was wearing a sweatshirt under his detectives jacket and looked more miserable as he stepped outside.

"This weather is awful." He grumbled, he walked next to me and I followed him into the building.

"It's not that bad, could be worse especially this time of year." Cillian and I stepped inside, the warmth welcoming us.

"Sure as hell could be better." We stepped up to the front counter, I stayed farther away but Cillian was right up close and leaning against the side.

"Morning Velma, chilly out there huh?" Velma looked up at him and gave him a wide closed-lip smile. Her oddly dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, it looked pretty messy as her hair wasn't quite long enough to fully complete one.

"Oh this? It's nothing, a little bit of morning shivers. It'll be warm again by 12 today." She herself was wearing a short sleeve fitted office dress, it was misleading at least to me. It looked like a mix between a blouse and a corset at the top and faded into a shade of green at the bottom.

"Didn't you say that about yesterday too?" Cillian chuckling, she laughed a little too loudly.

"I sure did, and you walked out wearing a winter coat."

"You don't call this winter?" Cillian replied back tugging on his jacket for affect. Velma opened her mouth but I beat her to it.

"It's called being a baby, now Velma do you have our mail?" Velma looked startled by my suddenness, she stood up from her chair and adjusted her dress down.

"I'll give it a quick check WIll, good morning by the way." She turned to hunt down our mailbox. Cillian shot me a harsh look before I complained about the improper use of my name. She turned back around with only a few letters.

"There you go Cillian." She leaned over the edge of her counter, her chest pressed against the surface. There was an awkward glimpse of her breasts that was hard to decide intentional or not.

"Thanks, Velm," Cillian looked through the letters quickly sneaking her a small smile. I tried focusing on her face again, more strands of her hair had fallen out of her pony tail.

"Did you cut your hair or something?" She looked at me surprised and touched her hair. She smiled and nodded, she pushed a few loose strands behind her ear.

"Wow you're the first person to notice, all these officers walking in and none of them paid enough attention. Guess that's why you're a detective huh?" She giggled and pushed more strands behind her ear. "Yeah I was looking at myself in the mirror and I--" I had tuned her out after the first two sentences. From my peripheral I could see Officer Ambrose walking by with a square donut in his hand. My attention was immediately caught.

"Hey, Ambrose that looks like a donut from Bake n' Flake," I said walking away from the still talking Velma. I could hear her voice trail off. Ambrose stopped and turned around taking one more bite from his donut.

"Yeah, I think it is." He inspected the donut like the answer would be on the bottom. His donut was bright pink with sprinkles on the top, it was almost comical seeing an older looking man with already grey hair, holding a heart sprinkled donut.

"What do you mean you think? The donut is square it can only come from one place." Ambrose looked at the donut again and shrugged.

"Well, I only chose it because it had caramel in the center." The accent he said it with made the beginning of the word sound car versus care.

"Do you mean caramel?" Cillian said stopping next to me, his hands stuffed into his pocket.

"I said what I meant Watts." He took another bite his donut his eyes playfully squinted at him. I saw a pair of officers walking closer to us from behind Ambrose's head.

"Okay, okay whatever. Why do you have a Bake n' Flake donut when you don't even live in this town and it's on the opposite direction you come from?" As the officers walked closer to came into view. A Native American looking man, and an Asian man walked next to each other straight for us.

"Oh it was in the break ro--"

"Cillian we're leaving right fucking now." I tugged on the sleeve of his jacket and gave him a dead serious face. Cillian looked confused and looked at me.

"What are you..." His head turned slightly behind Ambrose, his eyes widened. He turned around without any further prompting.

"What is it?" Ambrose frowned and turned around, his eyes widened and the hand holding his donut almost went slack. Cillian and I had begun a fast speed walk away from the two of them. "Wait you can't leave me alone." Ambrose hissed from behind us, his words getting quieter and quieter. We didn't stop our worried dash until we had turn the corner into the next hall. Cillian pressed his back against the wall his hand on his heart.

"We're monsters we left him to the wolves." Cillian whispered his head downcast. I pressed my body near the edge of the wall. Ambrose could only limp a few more steps until the partners had caught up to him. He was less than halfway down the hall. Detective Walker put his hand on Ambrose's shoulder, Ambrose turned paler than before. Thong crossed his arms his face disinterested, but to me his eyes looked hungry.

"So...how's my favorite officer whose country first handily delivered soldiers to aid in the Genocide of my people?" Officer Ambrose looked between Walker and Thong unsure how to answer. I shook my head praying for Ambrose already.

"Vicious." I mumble, I turned around slowly catching the look on Cillian's face. I knew my partner well enough to know what he was asking. I shook my head slowly. "It's too late for him." Cillian looked down a look of guilt on his face. "Hey," Cillian looked back up at me. "We do what we have to do to survive." Cillian nodded solemnly. We both moved away from the wall turning our backs on our fallen comrade.

"Officer down," Cillian mumbled under his breath

"Officer down," I mumbled in reply.  

 "We really need to pick up our new case." Cillian reminded me for what felt like the hundredth time. I rolled my eyes and stuffed the rest of my papers into my folder.

"Why are you so eager to go pick it up? We'll be lucky if she doesn't send us to go pick up shit at a dog park." I mumbled and stood up my chair dramatically scraping against the tile of the floor.

"We'll be lucky if she doesn't do something like dock our pay, so let's work on not getting farther down on her shit list." Cillian grabbed his badge and slipped it into his jacket pocket. He was wearing another oversized winter jacket with fur lining the edges. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my own badge and heading towards the door.

"You look ridiculous Cillian, just wanted to let you know." I opened the door and stepped out, the hallway was empty. Most officers by mid-afternoon were off doing their jobs, it was really only the detectives that hung around.

"At least I'm warm." He sang, each time he moved there was a rustling sound. I made an effort to stay one to two feet ahead of him, all the way to Bandieras office. The door was open, and I peeked my head in. The room was empty, her desk chair was pushed away from the desk but no one was there. Cillian walked beside me his puffy jacket brushing against my arm.

"Huh, looks like she's not here." He said and walked passed me into the room, the fur of his hood brushing against my face. I glared at the back of his head and followed him into the room. There were already two plastic chairs waiting in front of her desk. We both looked at each other and sat down.

"She's probably getting food or something," I mumbled crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back into the chair. It was cheap plastic and bent nearly all the way back. Cillian checked his watch his watch and shrugged.

We spent the next ten minutes waiting. Cillian sighed and readjusted his body, his arm was resting on the back of the chair. I sighed loudly for the fifth time in the last minute.

"Just want to let you know that sighing won't summon her." Cillian said tilting his head towards me. I sighed again and shook my head. I heard footsteps coming towards the door.

"Fucking finally." Cillian and I both turned around and made eye contact with our frozen Deputy. Deputy Schlitz awkwardly smiled at us, his hand coming up for a weak wave.

"Uh, hey guys...what are you two doing in there?" I didn't try to hide the distaste on my face.

"Waiting for Bandieras, what else does it look like we're doing here?" Deputy Schlitz looked between shrugging slightly, there was a small smile on his face.

"Sitting?" Cillian and I both looked at each other and took deep breaths shaking our heads.

"Hey, do you know where she is?" Cillian asked turning his body to face Schlitz. He shook his head and leaned against the doorway.

"No, but what do you guys need?"

"We need another bonus for good effort in work," I interjected, Ingram raised an eyebrow looking unsurely at me.

"We actually just need a briefing on the new case we have. But Bandieras hasn't shown up. We've been waiting here..." He checked his watch and looked back up at Schlitz. "Fifteen minutes now."

"Well I can take care of that." He was overly cheerfully, it was unnerving to me how eager he was to help. Schlitz walked inside the office and went behind Bandieras desk. He rifled through some of the papers occasionally glancing up at us, almost like he was making sure we were still there waiting for him.

"There it is," He held up a manilla file. He took off the sticky note stuck to the front. "For the two idiots," He hummed and glanced at us. "Her words, not mine."

"Sounds like something she'd say," Cillian mumbled. Ingram sat back in her chair, he crossed his legs and opened up the folder.

"Oh, this looks like a fun one." He smiled and spread some of the papers on the desk. "Well it looks like a church is being repeatedly graphited, the uh... pastor wants us to do something about it."

"So how is that fun?" I asked leaning forward enough to put one of my elbows on the desk. Ingram looked between the manilla folder and me uneasily, his eyes searching for an answer.

"I'll...get back to you on that one. But here, this will be a good warm-up case." He closed up the folder. He grabbed another sticky note off of Bandieras desk and began scribbling something down.

"Warm up case? What is this Scooby and Shaggy's first solo case?"

"I think what Wilson is trying to say is that this case is for a first-week police academy graduate," Cillian said in a much calmer tone than me.

"Don't you worry, all will be revealed by tomorrow." Deputy Schlitz put the pen down and stuck the note onto one of the picture frames. He handed over the manilla folder to me, I snatched it from his hand and passed it over to Cillian. Despite the tension between the three of us, Deputy Schlitz still smiled politely. "Is there anything else you boys need?" I was two seconds away from asking for the rest of the Mystery gang when Bandieras stormed into her office.

"That nina tonto! Does she just think she can do whatever she wants?" She was fuming angrily to herself and stopped at the edge of her desk. She gave Ingram a look and he scrambled up from her chair, and stood to the side. She grabbed her chair from the back and sat as aggressively as a person could in it.

"Is everything okay?" Deputy Schlitz asked as carefully as he could.

"No, I certainly am not. You give an eighteen year old tits and the ability to drive, and suddenly she thinks she's the savior of the human race!"Cillian and I looked at each other, I slowly pushed my chair away from her desk. "What are these two burros doing in my office?"

"They came to claim their case." The Deputy replied, he took a half step away from her desk and folded his hands behind his back.

"And do they have it?" She asked, not quite tilting her head up to look at him. Schlitz nodded his head slowly. She must have seen him in her peripheral because she turned irritated eyes towards the two of us.

"Then what are they still doing in my office?" Neither Cillian or I spared her with an answer. We hurriedly stood up placing the chairs back where they were and left. Cillian managed to close the door behind him leaving the Deputy and Bandieras in the office alone.

"With a mother like Bandieras how can you stand to misbehave?" Cillian mumbled glancing down at the manilla folder as we sped down the hall.

"Maybe she's actually Mother Teresa at home, but El Chupacabra at the station?" Cillian looked at me strangely, which he didn't exactly have a right to do while wearing an Eskimo coat this early in the season.

"How do you even know what a Chupacabra is?" I shot him a look and turned to the hallway without office in it.

"I don't care about school, doesn't mean that I never paid attention." I did not explain to him that it was solely from one of the straight to TV Scooby-Doo Movies.

"Whatever, grab your coat let's head out." We entered our office, Cillian using his foot to keep the door open. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my light zip-up jacket from the back of the chair. "How's that thing going to keep you warm?" Cillian asked, I looked over at him he looked dumbfounded. I slipped my police badge into my pocket and shrugged.

"Guess I just have thick skin," I said I walked out the office door. Cillian closed and locked it, then faced me.

"And a deathwish, I just hope you know I'll be laughing when you catch pneumonia."

"Haven't you already gotten pneumonia once?" We had begun walking down the hall again, at a much slower pace this time.

"Thanks to this baby, that'll never happen again." He put up his hood and headed for the door. I sighed, regretting the day I became that idiots partner. 

"Is this the place?" I asked, my window was down and I stuck my head out catching an eye full of the building. The building looked fairly new, not as old as some of the churches I had seen in the past. It didn't look to be made of brick but a sleeker newer material, there were still stain glass windows but they were scattered throughout the upper area of the building. The part of the church closest to the ground unfortunately was covered with various shades of colored spray paint. Most of it was illegible just random gang signs that have been seen scattered around the town before.

"Yeah looks like it." Cillian took a deep breath and looked at me, we shared the same look of reluctance. We both got out of the car slamming the door behind us. Cillian had a hat that he pulled tighter around his ears. "Let's hurry and get this done, show Bandieras that we aren't completely incompetent."

"Still don't think the bus incident was our fault," I said as we made our way to the Church.

"That's debatable." Cillian jogged up the stairs, they were made of some sort of stone but looked oddly out of place compared to the rest of the building. We paused before opening the door, there wasn't much sound coming from inside. Cillian opened the door and we walked in.

The inside looked incredibly modern for a church. There were of course still very traditional elements like the pews and the alter in front of the room. But care was obviously given, to give the inside a more homey feeling.

There was burgundy carpet on the floor that looked like it had been recently vacuumed. A few chargers were left on the back wall and various decor that looked admittedly pretty nice.

"Ah! Welcome to my Church!" A heavily accented voice yelled from the far corner of the room. We turned to see a man approach us. He had a black short sleeve button up that revealed his arms. He had almost a complete sleeve of tattoos. It was made up of both small and larger tattoos, none of them particularly caught my eye but I could tell most of them were religion based. "What bring you fine gentleman to my church?" I couldn't quite place his accent, it was familiar. Reminiscent of one of the neighbors I had when I was younger.

"We're the officers you called for." Cillian explained casually, he reached into his pocket pulling out his badge to flash at him. The Pastor nodded slowly looking over our outfits, which were basic casual wear. His face was scrunched up as he thought.

"We're actually detectives, not officers but...our police officers were busy so we came around to check." The Pastor opened his mouth in understanding, he nodded and smiled warmly at us. I could spot a few glimpses of tattoos peeking from the collar of his shirt. He had a lip ring in and looked like he should be leading a punk rock band, not a congregation.

"Are you Polish?" I asked suddenly, Cillian shot me a look silently berating me on my manners. The pastor smiled and nodded to me.

"Yes! I am, most think I'm Russian. Americans don't really no the difference?"

"Not really, we don't hear many different accents. Besides Latin American, and Canadian I guess." The Pastor nodded, finding the logic in my statement.

"My name is Bernard Wesoloski, I am the Pastor of this Church." He stuck out his hand and we shook his hand introducing ourselves respectively.

"Mind if we just stick to Pastor Bernard, unless you want to hear us butcher your name each time." Bernard nodded just nodded, by the look on his face he didn't completely understand the term.

"Would you mind describing the problem to us again. Maybe show us a few examples?" Cillian asked, we already knew the case, the file was still in the car. But it was a formality Bandeiras insisted we complete each time.

"Ah yes, follow me outside." Bernard walked passed us outside. He didn't pick up a jacket, all he was wearing was his shirt. Cillian and I both looked at each other, even I didn't pull things like that.

We followed him around the building to where the most of the graffiti was located. Cillian whistled and nodded as he inspected it.

"This happens every time. I clean, I warn, I leave note for them to stop. But it keeps happening. So I told them that if they continue I will call upon the authorities, so I did." He crossed his arms, the centers of his cheeks were turning red but not from cold.

"So you did..." I mumbled back, I reached into my pocket taking out my notepad and scribbling things down. Cillian took out his phone and began taking pictures. "Do you have a description of the people who did this? Or a picture?"

"Yes yes, I sneak picture of them. And have written description of their appearance" He gestured to his face and body as he said appearance. Despite his accent he spoke pretty clearly so the visual wasn't entirely necessary. He began walking back to the entrance of the Church again, he gestured for us to follow.

When we re-entered the building I realized there wasn't much of a difference between the outside and the inside temperature. I glanced over at Cillian who looked miserable but didn't verbally complain.

"So do you ever turn up the heat? Feels like the pages of the bible could freeze together in here." Cillian didn't look at me this time, we were obviously thinking similar thoughts.

"Oh, I do not mind very much. I turn it on an hour before congregation arrives." We both nodded, I wished that he'd extend that same hospitality to the members of the police force. He went to the corner of the room and opened up a door for us.

We stepped inside, it was dark but I could tell from the thinly spaced halls that we were in a hallway. There was enough room for Cillian and me to stand shoulder to shoulder but not much more space.

Pastor Bernard walked in and closed the door leading outward behind him. He took us straight down the hallway and towards a slightly ajar door with light peeking out of it. He pushed it open and we stepped inside.

It was clear that this office was completely the doing of Pastor Bernard. It was large with a sufficient amount of space, there were even two sleek black bookcases that were pressed against the opposite wall. On the wall were vinyl records, and there was a plastic crate with large album covers inside. His desk looked modern and dark in color. I wasn't as phased by the room as Cillian was. Cillian openly gaped staring at the decor.

Bernard went to his desk and sat down, he began opening and closing his drawers looking for the paper he spoke of. I drifted closer to his desk and spotted a picture frame. It was the only picture on there. I glanced to the Pastor to make sure he was still searching, then picked it up.

The picture was of six men, they looked to be in a field of some sort. All of them were similarly dressed in dark suit, all of them held some sort of religious items. Some with crosses on their necks, some holding bibles, a few with rosaries in their hands, Pastor Bernard held a large wooden cross, and others had a combination of several religious totems. From left to right there was a there was an older looking man, he was tall and thin almost looming over the others. There were patches of his hair already gone. Next to him was a drastically younger looking man, he had light brown hair and happier looking disposition. He wasn't quite overweight but he was chunkier looking. Then to the side of him was a short black man, his hair was cropped short to his head and he looked serious. He was given whoever took the picture a look of contempt. A man of about the same height stood next to him, his skin was tan not quite latino American tan but something ethnically different. He didn't look particularly interesting but his arms were covered in hair, it was likely he had more hair in other places as well. Then there was Bernard, and finally there was an incredibly old portuguese man. He was older then even the first man the picture.

I hummed under my breath and put the photo down. Pastor Bernard must have found what he was looking for because he pulled out a piece of paper from his desk, and had a picture pulled up on his phone.

"Are these friends of yours?" I asked my eyes drifting towards the frame. Pastor Bernard paused, he looked at me than the frame and smiled.

"Friends or colleagues, either is an appropriate title." He flipped the paper the other way and pushed it closer to the edge of the desk, doing the same with his phone. Cillian came back to focus on the task at hand. He came to the desk first looking at the picture then reading the descriptions. I did the same thing. "Here, this is all my information."

The picture really wasn't clear enough to base anything off of, it was probably just enough to jog the pastor's memory.

"Do they have any names?" Cillian asked him, Bernard looked at him silently for a moment his eyes searching for an answer. "Like have they called themselves any gang name?" The pastor shook his head, he leaned back in his chair watching us.

"Hopefully they stay in this town area," I mumbled, I took out my phone and took a picture of his picture saving it to my folder for police business.

"Doubt it, they seem younger. Young gang members never piss where they sleep." I shrugged and nodded, it made enough sense. I glanced at Bernard who looked a bit lost. "Wait hey, I think I've heard Marker talk about this kid." He pointed to the picture, it was hard to tell distinct features. But there was one kid with tannish skin and a bright ginger afro. It was wrapped up in some sort of bandana.

"Marker? You mean Mark?" Cillian nodded and folded the paper up slipping it into his jacket pocket. "Since when do you talk to Mark?"

"I don't, but I overheard he and Brett talk about this dude. Had something to do with a missing person's case." Cillian explained, he directed his attention back to Pastor Bernard. "Well thank you sir for your time, we'll call you if we find anything." Pastor Bernard smiled and stood up, he stuck his hand out again.

"Ah thank you for coming. I appreciate it." He shook our hands using both his hands to shake.

"You're welcome." Cillian and I said at the same time, we looked at each other it was always creepy when we did things like that. I tipped an imaginary hat towards him and we walked out.

"He only looks a few years younger than us and he already has his own Church? That's pretty impressive." Cillian said crossing his arms, we stepped outside again and headed for the car.

"Has the place pretty decked out too. Maybe they play religious rock music, I'd pay to see that." I paused at the handle of the door. "I hope he plays the electric guitar." Cillian chuckled as he walked to his side of the car.

"It'd be a damn shame if he didn't." He unlocked the car door and we got in. 

 "Back so soon?" Velma said as we walked back into the station. I would have been content ignoring her and continuing to walk but Cillian sparred her with an answer.

"Yeah, pretty easy case. We'll probably wrap it up in the next two days."

"Why not by tomorrow? You two are detective super stars, right?" She leaned forward on her desk. I held onto to a piece of Cillian's jacket to keep him from straying too close to her.

"I got a family thing tomorrow. So we're just both taking the day off."

"Oh in that case, see you tomorrow Wilson. See you on Monday Cillian." I spared her a curt head nod and continued walking, Cillian waved to her and followed after me.

"Why do you have to be so rude?"

"Why do you have to flirt with her?" We both glanced at each other, Cillian looked like he wanted to say something but he didn't.

"Where do you think Brett and Mark are?"

"Break room, where else?" We were already walking in that direction, we took the necessary turn and entered the break room. The break room was like a mix between a teacher's lounge and a mini-cafeteria. There was a place to buy food in the corner, with a man who handled the cash register. As well as drink areas. The sides of the rooms had all sorts of tables and chairs to eat at, leaving the center of the room open. There was a couch and loveseat arrangement pressed to the back of the room, facing the TV that hung on the wall.

Brett and Mark where on the couch, watching some sort of game play out. Mark was of some form of Asian decent I never actually bothered to ask him, but he was about the same build as me. Maybe with less muscle, he always seemed older than me and he was nice enough. Brett on the other hand exuded douchiness. He was as tall as Cillian, but with more muscles.

"Yeah, I got the cream at the pharmacy. Is eczema genetic or something? 'Cause I've never had it. Sometimes I really don't know where my kids come from." Mark chuckled a bit, Brett nodded but he was obviously not fully paying attention.

"Pharmacy? Hey did you happen to go to the Nutran Pharmacy?" I voice said from the left of us. Brett and Mark turned around glancing at us then looking at our Deputy holding a tray of food. His black hair was tousled oddly to the left like he had been shifting it a lot that way, he was smiling expectantly towards Mark.

"Uh yeah..." He seemed more uncomfortable than before, but Schlitz either didn't notice or tried not to care.

"Oh I love that place the staff is wonderful, they have these chocolate bars there that I can't seem to find anywhere else." Mark, Brett, Cillian and I looked at him some of us not sure how to respond, most of not wanting to. "Um actually." He used one hand to carry the tray and he took out a folded up piece of paper. "For every two candy bars they donate a certain amount of candy to a certain orphanage in Maine. I can't remember which one, but it's having like a celebration for all the kids whose actual birthdays were never recorded. It's really cute." The Deputy had been rambling his smile grew a bit wider when he talked about the charity.

"Don't orphans need families more than candy bars?" Brett said, he had turned back to the TV but was talking to Schlitz. Ingram shrugged a bit his smile shrinking slightly. He put the paper on the arm of the loveseat Mark was sitting on.

"They can have both I guess..." He took a deep breath and gave us another quick smile. "Uh carry on." He walked off without saying anything else to us.

"Freaking weirdo," Brett mumbled under his breath. Mark didn't say anything just took a deep breath, he turned the opposite way to look at us. His elbow knocked down the folded paper that the Deputy put on his chair.

"Do you guys need something or did you just stop by to say hi?" Mark asked he leaned one elbow on the top of chair.

"Actually we have a question about a previous case." Cillian began, I pulled up the picture I took on my phone and handed it to him, Mark.

"Oh, these clowns? You'll find them at this park near the local school. They set up shop there." He said and handed the phone back to me. "Are you guys supposed to bust them or something? They're pretty harmless, just the usual punks."

"No, uh actually we have to charge them with destruction of property, they did some graffiti on the Chu--" Brett laughed excessively loud, cutting Cillian off.

"Oh that's rich, you losers got put on a baby case. Can't say you don't deserve it." I glared at him and put my phone away.

"Fuck off Brett you've messed up worse than us, only difference is you did it when Bandieras was in a good mood." I didn't bother to keep the edge out of my voice, with Brett there was no point in holding back.

"Whatever you need to help you sleep at night princesses."

"Shove a pea up your ass Brett."

"Is that an insult or a recommendation?" Brett smirked, he actually turned from the tv to look at me.

"You tell me Brett, or have you moved on to bigger vegetables?"

"Okay ,okay let's get moving Wilson, don't you have paperwork to take care of or something?" Cillian tugged on the hem of my jacket. I took a deep breath and ripped my eyes away from Brett. I didn't say anything more to Mark or him as I turned to walk away.

"Thanks Officer Barker, if we have any questions I'll find you." Cillian said quickly and turned walking out with me. As we left I looked to the side, I glanced to the side and saw the Deputy alone at one of the tables. He hadn't touched his food, and his apple juice was open but it hadn't been drunk out of. He was sitting with his head resting on an upturned palmed pushing around his food like a kid.

I slowed my pace as I observed, Deputy turned to look at me. I nearly stopped, his eyes were shockingly blue but they looked like they were smudged over with grey. For a moment his stare unnerved me. His lips turned into a smile and his expression was warmer. I shook my head and turned away, walking out of the break room.