Sweet Creature- Tim Bradford

33.

**
It was a chaotic day for majority of the Officers at Mid-Wilshire. Angela and Nolan were working an arson case that Gwen desperately wanted to join. Sergeant Grey was informed of the chaos that had happened at the Santa Monica pier and was going to brief the officers working the case about the madness.

Gwen sat down looking at the whiteboard that held a poem with a riddle on it. The officers were being briefed on the scavenger hunt for gold coins.

"This poem was posted on Reddit two days ago, and it's the reason why a young mother is laying in the morgue right now." Grey stated he pointed to the whiteboard easel that had 3 stanzas.

"Uh, people are only gonna get crazier hunting for the treasure." Tim said as he stood on the side of Grey.

"Gold coins?" Harper asked, Grey nodded "2 million to be exact" he said.

"The city's losing its mind. I mean, w-we're getting flooded with calls of people climbing the Hollywood sign, diving into Echo Park Lake." Tim said he was slightly stressed out.

"All right, we need to find this gold and to end the chaos as quickly as possible. Now, Chen, you deciphered the first clue. How'd you do it?" Grey asked Lucy. Lucy stood up and walked over to the white board.

"Well, i-it -- it first clicked when I realized that "angle" could mean "fishhook." The pier is a favorite fishing point, and fisherman are also called anglers." She said with a proud smile on her features. Tim scoffed "Nerd" he said.

Gwen rolled her eyes "don't let him shame you that was a great catch" Gwen said with a small wink. Lucy smiled "Thank you" she said.

"Okay what about the rest of the stanza?" Grey asked.

"Uh, "Next find the lens thru which you'll spy the West Coast's greatest view." I mean, the lens is obviously the viewfinder at the pier." Officer Thorsen stated as he read out the stanza.

Chen nodded "Yes, and, uh, um, this next line, "The fee you pay," refers to the fee of the viewfinder, which is 75 cents, so we just need to change 75 into a-a year." Lucy says.

"What year? That could be anything" Nolan says looking confused. Gwen reads the riddle once more before speaking "It's 1975. It's the Year of the Rabbit" she turns to Tim "Call me a nerd I dare you" she sasses which causes Tim to smirk.

"Well, uh, the poem states, The fee you pay becomes the year of Rabbit minus two, so 1975 minus 2 is 1973." Lucy says.

Grey nods not quite understanding the riddle "Okay so what does that mean?" He asked.

"Uh, it's not gonna make sense until we solve the second stanza. The third stanza says that, once we put those two clues together, we will find the gold." Gwen says.

Grey nods "Harper, Chen, and Rivers I'm putting you in charge of solving the riddle. Thorsen you're riding with me. Everyone be vigilant" he instructs.

Tim walks over to Gwen "You-" Gwen cut him off already knowing what he was going to say.

"Yes I know, I'll remain at the station" she says. Harper looks at Tim with a raised eye brow "What can't she tag along?" She asked.

Tim points to her stomach as if it was quite obvious "She's 8 months pregnant" he says. Harper shrugs "I worked until I went until labor" she says.