You've been left with no choice! If this isn't the decision you wanted, feel free to return to Chapter 97!
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The story you are about to read was written by Tana, MT_Reade

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"May I have your attention, men?"

Logan looked up from the desk in his office. He could see through the interior windows that the constables had done the same. He saw Chief Inspector Thomas Sanders standing at the front of the station house, hand waving in the air to call the attention of everyone he could. Standing beside him, was a man that Logan didn't recognize. Logan stood. He wasn't sure if this required him or not, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He briskly exited his office, coming out to stand at the back of the quickly assembling crowd around Thomas.

Thomas wore a hat on his head, pulled down to hide his face as best as possible, but it didn't do much good. He looked even worse than yesterday. His skin was sunken and pale, yet puffy around his eyes. He must have spent the majority of last night in tears. The thought pained Logan. Obviously he was upset over the loss of his brother, a loss that was arguably Logan's fault.

"I have an announcement."

Everyone held their breath.

"I have decided to take a leave of absence." Thomas said.

The men in the crowd shuffled a little, looking around at the others before downcasting their faces. This wasn't much of a surprise. They'd all been recommending the inspector to take a break, as he quite clearly wasn't well.

"I doubt I need to explain myself to you." Thomas said. "Because I can see on all of your faces that you've been expecting this, and it's no mystery what has caused me to need to take time for my personal recovery."

Logan felt a twinge of guilt. This was all his fault. If only he'd been faster, thought more thoroughly, put together the clues fast enough...

As if reading his thoughts, Thomas spoke up again. "So, none of you need to go taking this personally, or blaming yourselves. It has nothing to do with any of you, you're all incredible people. It's entirely about me and what will be the safest for my wellbeing moving forward."

There were murmurs of agreement and solemn nods passed throughout the group.

Roman looked up, raising his hand a little. Thomas nodded at him. "Um... sir, how long will you be gone?"

Thomas shrugged. "Until further notice. I will definitely be gone for the duration of Detective Christie's investigation into my brother's m-mu..." He took a hesitant breath, clenching and unclenching his hands. "...death."

Logan felt attention shift to him. It's not like they all turned to look at him, but he could feel their minds become alert to his presence, and could see their quick glances over their shoulders at him. He pulled his hat further down his face.

"But, for the meantime, I have brought in a replacement. A good friend of mine from our school days, and who used to be the detective over at Station Three before pursuing his dreams as an artist. He paints incredible portraits. But, he's agreed to come back to be the stand-in inspector while I'm away."

Thomas wrapped his arm around a man who stood beside him. The man wore a striking deep purple suit jacket with tailcoats, unlike anything Logan had ever seen. It must have been privately tailored, as the jacket fit him perfectly. He wore black suit pants and a matching tie, and round sunglasses that were just as dark. He had a very fine silver pocket watch poking out of his chest pocket, the chain shining as bright as the blindingly white teeth held within his smile.

"This is Remy Louis." Thomas said. "You will treat him with the same respect you do me or your other superiors. Yeah?"

Noises of agreement rose from the small crowd.

Thomas nodded. "Good. I wish you the best in the days to come. I'll see you soon." He smiled tightly, and tipped his hat to the men in the station house. He then walked out, waving to a couple constables as he passed.

***

"How goes it, sir?" Roman said, stepping into his office.

Logan, who'd been pouring over the written up version of Remus' testimony, jumped. He looked up, and let out a sigh. "Constable, how many times have I told you to knock?"

Roman took off his police helmet, and set it on the table in the center of his office. "Sorry, sir."

"It's alright, you just startled me." Logan said, looking back down at the testimony.

"How is the investigation going?" Roman repeated his question.

Logan ran a hand through his hair, flipping through the rest of the evidence in defeat. "Well, all of the evidence seems to be pointing toward a singular suspect. We even had an eye witness confirm."

"Oh, sir, that's terrific!" Roman said excitedly.

Logan pursed his lips. "I suppose."

Roman frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Logan dropped the papers he was holding, letting them flutter back into position inside the file. "Well... All of it points to Patton."

"Dr. Hart?" Roman asked.

"Right." Logan said, shaking his head a little. He shouldn't be calling Patton by his first name. Especially considering what Remus had accused him of yesterday. He couldn't have people thinking that he was... you know. Because he wasn't.

"But... Dr. Hart seems so, well, goodhearted. I can't believe he'd, you know, kill someone."

"I don't believe it."

Roman paused. "What do you mean, sir?"

"I mean I don't think that it's him." Logan admitted.

"What makes you say that? You just said that all of the evidence--"

"I know what I said, Roman. I just don't think that it was him who did it. It doesn't sit right with me. I..." Logan looked around, making sure that no one else was within earshot of his office. Then, he beckoned Roman closer. Roman pulled up a chair, sitting on the other side of Logan's desk, facing him.

"I've been receiving notes from the murderer." Logan said in a hushed voice. "As I'm sure you know."

"Like the one I found at the crime scene?" Roman responded, just as quietly.

Logan nodded. "The words and tone don't sound anything like Pa--Dr. Hart's. And the penmanship isn't anything like his. Here, look." Logan reached into his coat pocket, that was sitting over the back of his chair, and pulled out the folded note from the field by Marian Bridge. He unfolded it, and handed it to the constable.

Roman looked over it. "Good lord, sir. This talks about the murder... being because of you. Why would the killer--?"

Logan looked away.

"Oh, s-sir... I didn't mean that as in... a-as in this was your fault, you can only blame the murderer for that I just meant--"

"It's fine, Kingsley."

Roman looked down at the letter, avoiding the detective's gaze. "Right. Sorry." He paused as he looked over the note again. "To be quite honest, sir, I agree. It doesn't seem like the coroner at all. But, are you sure this isn't his writing?"

"I've read enough of his post-mortems in my lifetime to recognize his lettering."

"And didn't you say you had an eye witness?" Roman looked up at Logan, handing him back the note.

"Yes. But the witness was your brother." Logan said, folding up the paper and returning it to his pocket.

"Oh." Roman said, not needing any further explanation. "The killer calls himself Cain?"

Logan nodded. "But I'm not entirely convinced that that is his real name."

Roman pondered this. "What could that mean? If you figure it out, you might be able to figure out who the real murderer is!"

Logan adjusted his glasses. "Maybe. But right now I need to focus on finding some concrete evidence that either eliminates Dr. Hart, or convicts someone else. Because unfortunately, the courts are not going to find a couple of letters sufficient enough proof."

Roman nodded. "Of course. Is there anything that I can do?"

Logan drummed his fingers on the desk in thought. "You could into any literary characters named Cain, in texts that are common or easy to find. Where the alias came from may give us a clue as to who chose it."

Roman nodded. "Right away, sir."

***

"Detective Christie!" Remy Louis stuck out his hand to shake, his words elongated and sassy, as though Logan was a friend from class that Louis hadn't seen all summer.

"Ah, Inspector Louis." Logan said, taking his hand with a polite smile. "How can I help you?"

"I came to check in on the Virgil Sanders case, actually." Remy said, adjusting his sunglasses. Logan didn't understand why he was still wearing them. Especially inside Logan's office, with the curtains drawn. But, he didn't ask. Remy strode past Logan, and lifted the file that sat open on his desk, and began flipping through it.

"Alright, sir." Logan said, clasping his hands behind his back. "I am currently having Roman Kingsley look into a lead, hopefully to help identify the culprit."

"Hm... that may not be necessary, detective."

"It's not?"

Remy shook his head. "Based on this file, you seem to have been very thorough. Well done."

"I.. Thank you, sir."

"Quite honestly, you seem to already have found enough to make it very obvious who was behind this." Remy said, pushing back his bangs. "This Patton Hart character... I'd say you have enough to convict him right now!"

"I'm..." Logan scuffed his foot on the ground. "I'm not so sure."

Remy looked up. "No? Why not?"

"Well.." Logan bit his lip. "I have notes from the killer, sir. And they aren't in Dr. Hart's handwriting."

"He could have practiced a different hand." Remy said dismissively. "You still have quite the case here. Possession of the murder weapon, fingerprints on the murder weapon, connection to the victim, medical knowledge, even an eye witness! I can call and let Thomas know, he'll be so relieved to know that you've found him."

"Really, sir, I think that might be premature." Logan countered. "I just don't think that the doctor is responsible, it doesn't fit his character."

"Anyone can kill if they get pushed enough." Remy shrugged, setting the file back down on Logan's desk.

"But, sir, I really don't think--"

Remy's playful eyes darkened, and his lively expression turned serious. "Detective Christie... you aren't letting personal matters cloud your view of this case, are you?"

Logan froze, his hands tightening their hold on each other behind his back, his eyes went wide. The words "homosexual detective" rung through his mind in Remus' voice like a bell tolling noon.

"Sir... what are you insinuating?" Logan felt his gaze harden, and his glare pierced the air.

"Woah there, Christie. No need to get all defensive." Remy laughed a little. "I was just making sure you weren't letting your friendship with Dr. Hart make you reluctant to charge him."

Logan blinked. Oh, he didn't mean--of course he didn't! He wasn't a scoundrel like Remus. Logan was letting that constable get to him.

"I assure you, I'm not." Logan said.

Remus smiled, and patted him on the shoulder. "Good. Then you won't have any problem arresting him. I can send Constable Remus Kingsley in here and you two can go down to the morgue." Remy said, heading toward the door.

"Uh, actually... I'd prefer to wait for Constable Kingsley to return." Logan said. "The other one." He added upon seeing Remy's confused expression. He didn't really want anything to do with Remus after yesterday. He would normally be okay with having another constable go, but Roman was like his right hand man. He didn't want to make an arrest without him.

If he was to make an arrest at all. He still wasn't entirely sure that Patton was the culprit. Something was holding him back. Waiting for Roman would give him a chance to sort out his thoughts.

"Alright." Remy agreed reluctantly. "But don't wait too long. I want to be able to tell Thomas that we caught the man who killed his brother. It's been so hard on him, and I'd rather eliminate any pain I can as quickly as possible. He's so anxious over it... I don't want to keep him waiting."

Logan felt bad. He hadn't really considered how the length of the case itself might be affecting Thomas. Just another way that this whole thing was his fault.

"I'll head down as soon as Roman returns."

"Okay." Remy said. "I'm heading home for the night, I need my beauty sleep. I'll check in tomorrow. Good evening, Christie."

"Good evening, sir."

After Remy left, Logan let out a long sigh. He pulled off his glasses and massaged between his eyes. What was he going to do?
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Charge Dr. Hart with Murder - Go to Chapter 99

Continue to Investigate Against Orders - Go to Chapter 100