You've chosen Mystery Virgil! If this isn't the decision you wanted, feel free to return to Chapter 7!
__________

The story you are about to read was written by Tana, MT_Reade

__________

Perhaps that case was arriving sooner than the detective had thought. Although, not in exactly the situation he'd hoped it would be.

Inspector Thomas Sanders came into the station house in a state of panic the next morning. The constables had tried to ask him what was wrong, but all he responded with was "Get me Detective Christie!". Thomas came bursting into Logan's office but a few moments later, eyes wide and red with withheld tears.

"Detective!"

Logan looked up from his morning paper, peering over his black glasses with concern. "Sir?"

"I need your help, Christie. My brother is missing!"

Logan took a moment to try to process that. "Missing?"

"Yes. I don't know where he went! I've looked all over the city for him, and I can't find him anywhere!"

Logan stood. He rushed over to the inspector's side, and helped him into the seat on the other side of his desk. "Sir, are you sure he's gone?"

Thomas went silent, before nodding. "I have to find him, Logan. He's my little brother. Mother and Father left me to take care of him after they died. I'm all he has. I don't know if he... he ran away, or... or someone took him."

"Let's not jump to conclusions, sir." Logan said, his mind already whirring. He'd have to investigate further in order to determine if this was, in fact, a kidnapping. Who would want to take Thomas' brother, and why? There would be no way for him to know for sure just yet. Although it wasn't even certain that this was a kidnapping, Logan could feel his heart rate pick up with excitement at the possibility. That made him feel a little guilty, though, as Thomas was clearly distraught, and the solution to his impending boredom wasn't worth the loss of his boss' brother. "I'll need all of the information. Who your brother is, what he looks like, how you found out he was missing..."

"Oh, well..." The inspector reached into his coat pocket, fumbling around in it a bit, before pulling out a worn out, brown leather wallet. Thomas opened it, and removed a small printed black and white photograph from within it. He slid it across the desk to Logan.

The young man in the photograph appeared to be no older than eighteen. His youthful eyes were flat, and the smile seemed a little forced. But, that could be expected when being told to "smile for the camera". The man wore a loose sweater, and a cap over his untrimmed dark hair. The boy shared a striking resemblance to his older brother, with the same facial structure, eyes, and slight dimples in the cheeks when he smiled.

"His name is Virgil. Virgil Sanders?" Thomas said that last part like a sort of question, though Logan wasn't sure why.

"He looks just like you, sir." Logan said with a small smile.

Thomas laughed a little. "Yeah. We're the image of our father." Thomas' eyes glazed over a little as he remembered something, perhaps of his father or his brother. Thomas blinked himself out of his thoughts. He turned to the detective. "You'll find him, won't you?"

Logan nodded. "I'll do my best." He picked up the photograph of Virgil and looked at it thoughtfully. "Do you mind if I hang on to this?"

***

"Constable Kingsley." Logan called out as he walked out into the main part of the station house.

"Yes?" Roman stood from his desk, hesitating to look for his brother, to make sure that he was for sure the one being called.

"I'm working on a case, and I would like your assistance. However, we have to keep this under wraps, for privacy reasons."

"Oh! Of course, sir. What case is this?" Roman did his best to hide his, admittedly obvious, excitement.

Logan looked around cautiously, making sure that no one was eavesdropping. He lowered his voice. "Inspector Sanders' brother has gone missing."

"He's been kidnapped!?"

"Shh!" Logan said. "I said he's missing."

"Sorry." Roman flushed. "I see. So, where do we start?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I don't have many leads. I'm considering questioning people who may have knowledge of the event."

"Hm..." Roman stroked his chin, clearly trying to look as though he was thinking.

"I am considering talking to the inspector again, to try to get more of an understanding of what could've happened."

"Yeah, the brother could make a good suspect."

"Roman, we don't even know if this is a kidnapping." Logan scorned the policeman. "That's what we're trying to figure out."

"Right." Roman said. His eyes lit up. "You know, sir. Perhaps you should consider talking to my brother."

Logan frowned. "Remus? Why?"

"Well, when the inspector came in this morning, he was quite frantic. None of us coppers knew what was wrong, and he wouldn't tell us. But Remus seemed to be kind of smug, like he knew something we didn't. It's... just a feeling, sir. But I think he knows more than he's letting on."

"Are you sure it's not just a vendetta against your brother?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Roman shook his head.

Logan sighed. "Is there anyone else who may have had a connection to the victim?" The detective pulled out the picture of Virgil, and showed it to the constable.

"Oh! I know him!" Roman said, recognition spreading across his face.

"You do?"

"Well, not directly. I've seen him talking to the city coroner multiple times."

"Dr. Hart?" Logan had worked with the doctor before on many occasions, seeing as he was in charge of the post-mortems on any of the bodies in the detective's murder investigations. The doctor was a positive and bubbly man, who Logan had known since university. He'd never heard him mention Virgil.

"I could bring him in for you, sir. If you'd like to talk to him."
.
.
.
Who should Logan ask Roman to bring in for questioning?

Inspector Thomas Sanders - Go to Chapter 88

Dr. Hart, the city coroner - Go to Chapter 90

Constable Remus Kingsley - Go to Chapter 91