The static sounding of an alarm went off. The sound of rushing footsteps were heard, and a hand carefully pressed a button, and the alarm shut off.

"Darn alarm never wakes me up." Ronin Jaspert mentioned. He quickly turned back around to approach his bathroom mirror, and finished fixing his tie.

He strapped his gun holster on before he picked up his dark blazer, and dressing himself in it. He walked back into the kitchen, and he picked up his mug, and brought it to his lips, taking a sip of his tea.

Suddenly, there was a ringing, and he set his mug down, reaching over for his phone, and he saw the name, "Patrick Rayston CPD". Ronin hit the green answer button, "Jaspert here."

"Detective Jaspert, nice to hear your voice so early in the morning." came the familiar voice of his partner.

"You know that I'm up way before you," he took another sip, "Out with it."

"Right. You need to come on down, there's been an... Incident."

"What is it?"

"Murder. I'll text you the details."

"Dang, this is the third one this week alone. I'm on my way." Ronin hung up before Patrick could reply, and he shoved his phone into his pocket, and picked up his mug, quickly swallowing the rest of his tea, and grabbed his car keys, and he rushed out of his house, and he began to drive to the station to meet Rayston, when he received a text. He pulled out his phone, and it was from Rayston. 'Sorry I forgot to tell you the address. I'll send it to you in a sec', and shortly after, there was another text with the address, and Ronin thought it was familiar. He then put the link into the GPS, and he drove over to the crime scene.

Ronin stepped out of his car, and he headed over to the front door. He was greeted by a uniform. "Detective." she greeted.

"Tell me what we got." he pulled off his sunglasses and shoved them in an inside pocket, and he pulled out a small notebook.

"Yes sir," she replied, and she too pulled out a small sheet of paper, "Victim was 43 year old Lindsey Squire," Ronin looked back at her as she continued, "She has a single stab wound to the lower abdomen. Estimated time of death was up to four hours ago. Murder weapon hasn't been found yet, but forensics speculate that a knife made the wound." Ronin took notes as the uniform continued to explain, "House was ransacked, but we don't know for sure what was taken yet."

"Any next of kin?" he asked, his eyes kept on the body.

"Detective Rayston has already contacted the next of kin. Her brother is on his way."

"Thanks, that'll be all." the uniform nodded, and Ronin walked inside the house.

Ronin immediately noted that the house was a mess, papers everywhere, people walking around, and the body on the ground.

The forensics team were doing their job, as Ronin noted the familiar flashing of cameras, and a few of them greeted Ronin a nice "Hello." before going back to work.

He was shocked to find that it was Lindsey, her hazel eyes open, her face frozen in a look of shock. Her dark brown hair was tied in a messy bun, and she still wore her pajamas. "Luke's going to be hecka pissed..." Ronin whispered.

There was a set of light footsteps, and He heard his partner's voice. "Morning partner. I got you a coffee."

"No thanks, I don't do coffee." Ronin refused after he glanced back at hi,.

"Just take it."

"No thanks."

"Please?"

Ronin paused for a moment. "Fine," he then grabbed the coffee cup, it was warm to his touch, "Rayston, what do you suppose happened here?"

"Not sure," Rayston shuffled through his own notebook, "As far as we're concerned, nothing was stolen."

"So the ransacking is a diversion."

"We are exploring the possibility."

"Do we know anything about the victim?" Ronin felt that it was wrong to ask all these questions, so he proceeded to write all of what he knew down.

"Not too much comes to mind," the same uniform that gave Ronin the down low then passed Rayston a stack of files, and he quickly scanned them, "But Miss Squire here has a ton of files with the 'Classified' stamp on them."

"So we're working with a government worker of sorts," Ronin feigned sarcasm, "Great, now we have to worry about the feds. I really don't want to, speaking as this is the third scientist this week alone."

"Like I said, we're exploring all of the possibilities."

"I guess we've got to tell Mr. Squire of the bad news."

"Alright."

"And Rayston?"

"Yes sir?"

"Never get me a coffee again, I'm more of a tea person."

The car ride was silent, as Ronin liked it, and it took about ten minutes before they had reached the station.

They walked inside, and a young man in a nice suit was standing there, his dirty blond hair brushed neatly, and he was staring farther into the precinct.

"Luke Squire?" Rayston greeted as they approached closer.

The man turned around, "Ah, you must be Detectives Rayston and Jaspert." he lisped.

"Yes we are." Ronin spoke up before Rayston could say anything. "Follow us please, and we can talk about your sister."

"Alright." Luke replied, and the trio began to walk into a conference room, where Ronin closed the door, and Rayston shut the blinds.

Luke sat in a chair, and Ronin took a seat opposite of him, and Rayston patted his back. "We are very sorry for your loss." Rayston consoled the man.

"As far as I'm concerned," Luke began, his lisp not failing to turn up in his voice, "It was just some burglar, am I correct?"

"We're not too sure yet. We're assuming that this was more than some burglary gone wrong. Any enemies that she may have had?" Ronin offered, resting his arms on his knees.

"Well, Lindsey was a scientist of sorts, so if I were to guess, possibly coworkers." he replied.

"I see. And," Ronin said as Luke stood up to leave, "Where were you this morning. Just to be sure."

Luke froze for a moment, almost as if he was in shock. "Of course, I was asleep, my wife can confirm that."

    "Thanks. Rayston, dig up and see if our three victims are connected, and have Reina check up on where Miss Squire worked, see if she missed anything on the initial canvass."

"On it sir," Rayston began to walk out, but then stopped, "Wait a second, why does she get to be called by her first name?"

    "Because I actually respect her, and just don't mess it up."

    Rayston seemed confused, but he replied, "Relax Jaspert, I got this."

    And with that Rayston took his leave, leaving Ronin with Luke by himself. Luke waited for Rayston to leave completely before he slammed a hand on the table, anger filling his voice, "You can't be serious about me being the killer Ronin."

    "I told you Luke that I had to make sure."

    "Yeah yeah, 'just to be sure'," he made air quotes, "This is my sister we're talking about."

    "You mean our sister."

    "Yeah, like you ever considered yourself a part of our family."

    "Look Luke," Ronin seethed his name, "This is the third murder this week, and since Lindsey was involved in some classified work, we have to worry about the feds now. And we know how much you love the feds."

    Luke sighed angrily, "Just remember who you're talking to," Luke fixed his suit in a threatening manner, "Just because your family doesn't warrant you-"

    "Take your threats elsewhere Luke, remember who's turf you're on." Ronin stood up and pointed at him.

    Luke huffed, turning harshly as he began to walk to the door. "Oh yeah and Luke?"

    Luke paused, "Yes Ronin?"

    "Tell Ellie and Joel that I'll be late tonight, and don't think about telling them without me."

    Luke sighed. "Fine, Mom and Dad will understand... Like always." he mumbled the last bit as he left.

    Ronin looked down at his table, and suddenly the door was opened. Ronon looked over, and saw a uniform standing there, "Chief wants to see you." she said, and Ronin nodded and stood up to walk over to Chief Barnes' office.

    He knocked on the door, and he heard her. "Come in." she called out, and Ronin obliged.

    "What's up chief?" he asked as she closed the door. She gestured him to have a seat, and he sat down.

    "You know that you're going to have to lead this." she replied.

    "Are you sure?" Ronin asked, "Because there are others who-"

    "The others are busy leading the cases involving the Heinrich Cartel. You and your partners are the only ones that I have left."

"Yes chief."

"Good, now there is something else."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Coroner Michaels wants to see you, something about Patrick and explaining something to the two of you."

"Alright, I'll see what's up with that."

Chief Barnes handed Ronin a small file, and Ronin headed out to the office, and he walked to the lab. Where he approached it and knocked on the door.