Deputy Chief Payne sat at her desk, watching as her niece ran in, carrying her partner. Detective Payne put Jones down and then leaned on the door frame.
"Nicola. I know you like to run, but... What was that?" he asked, looking perplexed.
"Jones wanted to... Take the bloody stairs... Too slow, so I... I carried him..."
The older woman sighed as Jones passed his partner some water from the dispenser.
A few moments later, and she could breathe normally again, "Cheers, Jones..."
"To be honest, I'm surprised that you could carry him. He isn't much lighter than you, and all I've seen him eat are cookies, doughnuts, hot dogs, burgers... Inspector Jones, do you eat anything with nutritional value?" the Deputy Chief asked before shaking her head, "Anyway. How is this case going? Do you know who killed Ned Dillard? Is there anything on Marconi? Chief King is asking personally."
"No, and no. But we found out that the killer's got a missing tooth, is wearing a bandage, and is a man or trans woman. XY chromosomes. We're getting Alex to help with that bit," the youngest of the three reported. Though she was only the youngest by a few months.
"That's a start, Nicola, though it's a shame about Marconi. Very well. Do you know what you're going to do next?" he asked, testing them both.
"Uh-" Jones was drawing a blank, but got saved by his partner.
"Return to the crime scene with a fresh look on the case, find more clues, and push the investigation onwards. I'm rather certain that you, mum, and Uncle Rob taught to me, the twins, and..." she coughed awkwardly, as her aunt had a pained expression, "Well, we'd best get going."
The older woman nodded at her. The pair left the office and returned to the squad car, returning to the junkyard garden.
"Ugh, I forgot how bad this place stinks," he grimaced, "But I bet it's worse in the bathroom, Payne! So, do you see anything out here that's different?"
"An oddly neat pile of leaves in this mess of a garden. Though there could be something back in the bathroom, too," she bent down and put on a pair of gloves, not knowing what would be in the pile.
"Yeah, that seems suspicious," Jones said, standing beside her.
"Jones."
"Yeah?"
"Check the bathroom," she ordered. Jones looked horrified.
"Wait, what?"
"We'll be away from this place sooner. Unless you don't think you can find anything in there?" she said, trying to goad him into searching.
"Fine! I'll find something in that disgusting bathroom. But if I find something, you owe me doughnuts! Here's a hint: Sweet Treats!" he yelled, running into the house.
Laughing to herself, the Brit searched through the leaf pile, wondering what 'Sweet Treats' was and dug out a business card belonging to Ned.
"Hm, and on the back it says 'Call Maria'... Good name. The number's smudged, but the Scan-dentify should help," she nodded to herself, popping it into an evidence bag. A moment later, Jones, looking victorious, emerged from the house, a small evidence bag in his own hands.
"You owe me doughnuts, Payne! You definitely owe me!" he grinned infectiously.
"Good work, Jones. What did you get?" she asked with a smile.
"A tie clip! It's completely clean, which I thought was weird. I don't know how we even missed it!"
"Perhaps we focused too hard on the corpse and nearby items," Payne shrugged, "I found a phone number that the victim had. Well, it's smudged, but we'll fix that in our mini-lab, won't we?"
YOU ARE READING
A Bloody Grim Payne
Fanfiction[Discontinued, sorry.] Nicola Payne has been a homicide detective for years, finding bodies, finding killers, looking for her own answers to decade-long questions. The trail has led her to a city called Grimsborough, which is nothing like her previo...
