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The man was known as Gary Freeman. A farmer living just outside Graheel and one of the suspects in the Sorin case that Joe’s unit was asked to look into. Joe had been talking to Gary for a little under an hour already.

Joe: “And, you didn’t notice anything strange with Sorin\'s behavior?”

Gary: “Not at all. Didn’t talk much. Figured he was one of them university folk that don’t like to make conversation. Dealt a ton with those kinds of people in the past.”

Joe: “From the university?”

Gary: “Yup. Got lots of them fancy university wizards coming to me and my brother to buy out produce all the time. My family grows the best blue ginger root on this side of Golgatta,” he said with a hint of pride in his voice.

Joe: “And to clarify, the people that buy your blue ginger are all from the university?”

Gary: “The mages that come to me and my brother are all from the university. We have a lot of regular folk that buy blue ginger to use as a normal spice.”

Joe: “OK, and Sorin never said or hinted at what he was using the blue ginger for?”

Gary: “Nope. I just assumed he was using it for an alchemy experiment, like the rest of them.”

“This guy is probably not involved. Everything he’s told me so far checks out, and the blue ginger that Sorin bought from him is a very common ingredient that both mages and non-mages use. Plus, he willingly came here when I called him to ask if he would come in for questioning. You wouldn’t risk coming here if you were a willing accessory to murder. He just seems like a simple man working on a farm. That, or he\'s an overwhelmingly good liar.” Joe thought to himself.

Joe: “I see. I think that will be everything, Mr Freeman," he said, concluding the conversation.

Freeman rose from his chair and turned to address Joe one final time before heading out.

Gary: “I hope this helps you. What happened with those students was just awful. My heart goes out to the victim\'s family, and I hope they find some peace after this.”

Joe: “Don’t worry. Everyone is on the case.”

Gary nodded to Joe before leaving the office.

Joe glanced down at the file spread open on his desk, its pages filled with notes and records from the ongoing Jixi investigation. His eyes settled on Gary\'s name, listed among the four suspects his unit was tasked to look into.

The detective was pretty confident that Gary had no part in Sorin’s undead experiment. He reached for his pen and crossed out Gary’s name to match the other three crossed-out names on the list. With that, it marked the end of the last suspect Joe’s unit tasks to look into. He had thoroughly checked the backgrounds of all four suspects and concluded that three out of four had no discernible connection with Sorin at all, clearing them of any suspicion. The only exception was Larry.

They had discovered a cache of illegal goods in Larry\'s basement six days ago. Among the contraband, they found several items identical to those in Sorin\'s lab—items the university had been unable to account for or trace back to where they could have come from. Knowing that, Joe guessed that Larry was one of the people supplying Sorin with materials for his experiments.

And, Larry likely knew what Sorin was doing based on the items he was selling him. Making him a willing accessory to murder. Not that it matters. Joe could nail him for the contraband even if he wasn\'t an accessory. But, the obvious connection to Sorin made some of the higher-ups excited. They decided to allocate an additional unit to operate in tandem with Joe’s team, tasked with investigating and capturing Larry for the assistance he had allegedly provided to Sorin.

There was only one problem, Larry was missing. And, it wasn\'t the kind of missing person situation where he fled. It was like he just disappeared. Joe had talked to all kinds of people connected to Larry, friends and family, and not a single one knew where he went, with most of them not even knowing he was missing.

Joe had also checked the banks, and Larry hadn\'t moved any money around. This puzzled Joe; if Larry intended to flee, it seemed logical that he would have tried to take his money with him. But, the accounts remained unchanged, with no evidence of Larry withdrawing any money in preparation for a hasty departure.

“He would have at least tried to take some of his money with him. So, where did he go? That ‘turned into a giant slug’ theory Alan suggested, that couldn’t be…no. That wouldn’t make sense. We would’ve gotten reports of giant slug creatures in the city by now. But, then where in the world did he go? Are the Nighthounds involved in smuggling him out? They\'re good, but I didn’t think they were that good. There is absolutely no trace of Larry leaving the city. Could he have been killed? There was no blood or indications of a scuffle when we were at his home; it was just that slime. And who would even want to kill him? Jixi is probably not in the city anymore and wouldn’t come back just to kill Larry. Unless there is something about their relationship I\'m missing.” Joe thought to himself while he leaned back in his chair.

Joe: “It could also be a third party. Someone that Larry pissed off, and they took him out. Damn it. So many questions, and no clear answers,” he mumbled to himself.

As Joe sat there lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the scattered papers before him.

A little while after Gary left, Mike entered the office. The senior detective navigated through the organized chaos of desks and filing cabinets until he reached Joe’s workstation, pausing for a moment before addressing him.

Mike: “So, got any useful information?”

Joe: “Nah. Gary doesn\'t seem like he’s involved with Jixi at all. Seemed like a pretty stand-up guy and—Pft!!” he half laughed and gasped as he looked up at Mike’s face.

Mike\'s face was comically swollen, resembling a squirrel that had crammed its cheeks full of acorns. Joe hadn\'t noticed his partner\'s odd appearance until he looked up from his paper toward Mike.

Mike: “Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, asshole.”

Stolen story; please report.

Joe: “What happened to your face?” he said while trying to hold back his laughter.

Mike: “You did, you asshole! I got my teeth knocked out because of you, and I had to go get some fake teeth put in! I just came from doing that an hour ago and my face is all swollen because of it.”

Joe took a deep breath and re-composed himself.

Joe: “OK. When you put it like that, I’m sorry for laughing.”

Mike grunted at Joe’s apology, clearly dissatisfied. He was still very mad at Joe for getting them both in that extremely dangerous situation with the Nighthounds. His annoyance was also further compounded by the fact he had gotten beaten slightly more than Joe for some reason, resulting in his teeth getting knocked out. The whole incident hadn’t even been his idea, yet he found himself suffering the brunt of the consequences. The unfairness gnawed at Mike, amplifying his resentment.

Mike: “Right… You said you talked to Gary, right? He was the last person on the list of people we were supposed to look into. Does that mean we’re done?”

Joe: “With what the university asked, yes.”

Mike: “I swear Joe, if you try and jump back into the Rob case now, I’m transferring out of this unit. I’m not doing this anymore.”

Joe: “Calm down. When I said I was putting the Rob case on hold, I meant it. And, we won’t be taking any more big risks like what happened to us on Eld Street anymore either. We need to finish the Jixi case first. All my attention is on that right now.“

Mike: “Good. So, what are we doing now?”

Joe: “The upper brass wants us to find Larry now that we know he was clearly connected to Sorin’s undead incident. They put another unit on this to help look for him.”

Mike: “Did the other unit find anything useful?”

Joe: “No, they just started. So for now, me and the others are just going to go through records and talk to some people that knew Larry. While we’re doing that, I want you to look into if Larry or Jixi have any connection to the Nighthounds.”

When Mike heard that Joe was possibly about to send him to investigate the Nighthounds, he lost it. The mere suggestion of such a task filled him with a surge of frustration and anger. To be forced to engage with the Nighthounds after being beaten by them badly felt like a cruel burden.

Mike: “JOE! You just said we weren\'t going to take any big risks!” he yelled, angered that they were about to involve themselves with such a dangerous group again.

Joe: “Mike, I know you’re angry at me, and you\'re justified to be angry with me. But, calm down. I’m not asking you to talk with the Nighthounds or anything. I want you to go talk to Cindy.”

Mike: “Cindy? Are you talking about the one we helped clear her record along with Jack?”

Joe: “The same one.”

Mike: “Why?”

Joe: “She apparently is an info broker now. Might have some useful information on Jixi or Larry. At least, that’s what Jack suggested.”

Mike: “Hold on. You talked to Jack? And he didn’t try to beat you or throw you out of his bar? Or did he, and you just annoyed the crap out of him till he told you this?” he said while rubbing his eyes.

Joe: “You know, I can talk to people amicably.”

Mike: “Yeah, how well did that work for us on Eld Street?”

Joe let out a long, defeated sigh.

Joe: “Ah, I set myself up for that one,” he said, unable to rebuke Mike’s point. “Anyway, I want you to talk to Cindy to see if you can get any info on Larry or Jixi, and I want you to confirm if the Nighthounds are involved at all in this investigation. I don’t need to know the details of their involvement, only that they are involved.”

Mike: “If the Nighthounds are involved, this whole case is going to go bust. You know that, right?”

The Graheel police force had a deliberate policy of steering clear of the Nighthounds and their territories, at least on the surface. Officially, they made no overt moves against the criminal organization, maintaining a facade of indifference to avoid attracting unnecessary attention or retaliation.

Behind the scenes, however, there existed a highly specialized unit within the force dedicated to dealing with the Nighthounds. Few knew of its existence, and fewer still knew what they were exactly doing. Even Mike and Joe didn’t know much about them. Both officers didn’t even know who was working on that unit. And it had to be like this. When dealing with the Nighthounds a delicate touch was needed. So, secrecy was of the utmost importance to avoid another gang war between the police and the Nighthounds like in the Bloody Days.

As a result, when signs of Nighthound involvement show up in an investigation, they close it down and transfer the investigation over to the special unit to look into. Both Joe and Mike were pretty sure that is what would happen to the Jixi investigation if the Nighthounds were involved.

Joe: “I know. Murdock will probably disband the Sleuth-Hawk when that happens too. Since, the university won’t likely accept transferring this investigation over to the Nighthound unit. If Murdock has to choose between working with the university or investigating the Nighthounds, he’ll give up on working with the university.”

Mike

: “That means…the paperwork…” he said with dread, unable to finish what he was going to say.

Joe’s team was banking on skipping the normal university information request thanks to their involvement with the Sleuth-Hawk. However, if the Sleuth-Hawk got disbanded, they would have to go back to filling out all the university forms like they were doing before.

Joe let out a sigh.

Joe: “Let\'s worry about that when we get there. Find out whatever information you can from Cindy. The rest of us will keep going through Larry’s records until we find anything useful, or we get new orders from the higher-ups.”

Mike: “Fine. I’ll go talk to Cindy now. I guess.”

Joe: “You\'re going to go talk to her with you looking like that?” he said while pointing at Mike’s face.

Mike: “The dentist said the swelling in my face will go down in another hour or two,” he said, before walking away from Joe to go meet Cindy.

Alone at his desk, Joe began to get to work. He pulled another file he had on Larry and started to go through the contents. He scribbled notes in the margins of the documents, underlining key points and highlighting discrepancies. An hour passed as he lost himself in his work.

Eventually, the three enforcers assigned to Joe’s team filed into the office, their presence bringing a sudden shift in the atmosphere. Joe looked up from his desk as they entered, his gaze shifting to an envelope carried in Rell’s hand.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Joe stood outside the entrance to the Arcanium Archive, examining the sheer scale of the structure before him. The building loomed imposingly, and the architectural design was ancient. A structure that predated the city. It was said to house over thousands of years worth of knowledge on the arcane, a vast repository of mystical lore and secrets accumulated through the ages. Countless mages have come and gone from this place since its creation.

This wasn\'t the first time Joe had been here. He had come here many times to take out books that related to some of the investigations he\'d done in the past. Recently, he came here for books about curses when he was looking into Wren’s claims about deadly curses.

The place had long since ceased to leave much of an impression on Joe. He had visited it too many times now. The officer looked to his left and noticed Ren\'s reaction, or rather, the lack thereof. Ren, much like Joe, appeared unfazed, displaying little to no expression in response to their surroundings. It likely indicated that the enforcer had also been to the Archive many times before.

In stark contrast, the other three members of Joe’s group were visibly captivated. Alan, Jafar, and Dan’s eyes widened, and they exchanged glances of awe and fascination. The grand architecture, intricate decor, and sheer significance of the place seemed to have left them enthralled. The place had a long-storied history, and people who came here for the first time could feel it.

Alan: “So this is what the Arcanium Archive looks like up close.”

Jafar: “Yeah, it’s the first time I\'ve seen it up close as well.”

Dan: “You two live here, and you never bother to visit?”

Jafar: “It is not like a normal library. The fees to get access to it are too expensive for regular people. The amount of money it costs for one-year access can pay for most of your tuition at the university.”

Alan: “Yeah, even I might have visited if it wasn\'t so expensive.”

Rell: “Well, as Arcane Eye students, you have full access. You shouldn’t have to worry about those fees anymore.”

Alan: “We do?”

Rell: “You don\'t know? The university has worked out a deal with the archive to allow free access for professors and certain students. Everyone in the Arcane Eye has free access.”

Alan grumbled a little bit. He hated that Rell understood the privileges of Arcane Eye students better than himself.

Hearing this conversation going on between the enforcers of the unit, Dan looked at Joe with a bit of worry.

Dan: “Joe, does that mean you and I have to pay to get inside?”

Joe: “No. Government officials and police also get free access. Anyway, let\'s go see what Sorin was researching,” he said as he headed inside the Arcanium Archive.