As soon as Jones said that, Ramirez showed up in front of them and Jones pulled away from Marie quickly. After he did that Marie asked, "What's the news Ramirez?"
"I did some research and it seems that the victim's husband hit the jackpot by poisoning his wife. Apparently, he will receive a million dollars from her life insurance contract," Ramirez explained and the two officers eyes went wide with shock.
Jones then smirked and said, "I knew he was suspiciously unconcerned by Daisy's death! Come on Marie, let's have one last look at their kitchen before that asshole has any time to make anything disappear before we can find it."
"And yet, I get the feeling we're still missing something," Marie said curiously.
Jones then smiled brightly and said, "Well according to my empty stomach, it's telling me we should return to Chez Valentine and maybe we'll get a free lunch when we return." And Marie rolled her eyes and thought, I doubt that.
The first place they decided to look at first was the Thompson's kitchen. When the two officers arrived there, they started searching around the countertop until Marie found a bottle of nail hardener that matches the profile of the killer. She then brushed powder on it so she can get fingerprints from it so they can find out who touched it last. After they dropped the prints off with Alex, Jones and Marie headed to Chez Valentine to check the kitchen one more time.
Once they got there, Marie and Jones started to search around. Suddenly, Marie pulled out a yearbook from one of the drawers and she saw that it showed Valentine's promotion, but it also showed a torn page that Marie can restore. She also found a muffin that's covered in a pink goo. She soon bagged the muffin so she can take a sample for Grace to analyze. Marie also bagged the torn yearbook page and after she collected what she needed, both of them left the restaurant and headed back to the station.
Back at her desk, Marie took a sample off of the muffin and she handed to Grace to be analyzed. After she did that and returned to her desk, Jones said, "I just hope that pink substance is icing cause Valentine did say her kitchen was impeccable."
"Well if you watched Kitchen Nightmares, some kitchens are not impeccable," Marie mentioned as she sat down and started to put the page pieces from the yearbook back together.
Once the page was back together, Marie and Jones both saw that Tobias Sharp was in the same promotion as a Valentine Montgomery. Getting curious, Marie asked, "I wonder why Mr. Sharp didn't open his own restaurant?"
"Let's ask him and then maybe we can find out," Jones suggested and Marie agreed to that idea.
In the interrogation room, Marie showed the yearbook page to the food critic and asked him, "Are these pictures of you and Mrs. Montgomery Mr. Sharp?"
"Yes they are. Me and Valentine did go to cooking school together; even though I had more talent than her, but she had the money. And because of that, she ends up with her own restaurant, but what do I do? I end up as lousy food critic! That's why I wrote that inflammatory review about her place so she gets what she deserves; that woman has zero talent," Tobias explained.
After they heard Mr. Sharp's explanation, Jones and Marie were heading towards the tech lab when Jones said, "For someone who hates Valentine Montgomery's cooking that much, he seems to eat there often. Remember Marie, he ate there yesterday."
"I remember. Plus, he may not have succeeded in opening his own restaurant, but he still went to cooking school. Which means that Tobias Sharp must be a good cook," Marie added in.
Jones then stopped briefly and kissed Marie's cheek and whispered, "But I think you are a better cook."
Soon, the two officers showed up at the tech lab and Alex explained to them, "I analyzed the fingerprints on the nail hardener you found in the Thompson's kitchen and they belong to the victim's husband Gabriel." And after they heard that both Jones and Marie thought that that's weird and left to see what Gabriel had to say about it.
Once they returned to the Thompson's kitchen, Marie asked the man if he uses nail hardener and he said, "Are you making fun of me for using nail hardener officers? This isn't the Middle Ages anymore you know and to answer your question, yes I wear nail hardener and I even dye my hair to cover my gray hair and I also cook. Now are you satisfied? If you'll excuse me, I have a dinner date with my lovely assistant." And after Gabriel said that he grabbed his jacket and left the apartment leaving both Jones and Marie to stand and stare in shock.
Marie then said, "What a jerk! His wife just passed away and he's not even trying to hide his affair with his assistant Ashley Collins."
"Plus, he cooks for his wife and he wears nail hardener. My intuition tells me he's the perfect suspect," Jones said brightly.
After they returned to the station, Grace called Jones and Marie to the forensics lab to tell them the results she got from the pink substance that was found on the muffin. Once they were in front of her, Grace explained, "The pink substance you found on the muffin at Chez Valentine is actually nail hardener."
"Nail hardener on a muffin?! Maybe Mr. Sharp wasn't wrong about Chez Valentine's hygiene. But we need to confirm it is hers," Jones said and after they thanked Grace they headed out to talk to Valentine Montgomery.
At the restaurant, Jones approached the chef and said to her, "Mrs. Montgomery, we found a muffin with nail hardener in your kitchen. We advise that you should perhaps watch your employees more carefully cause hygienically speaking, that's a little bit on the borderline."
"Actually officers, it's mine. My nails get weakened because of the cooking and they keep splitting in two. I have no choice but to use nail hardener. I'm doing my best to satisfy my customers but Tobias puts me under so much pressure that I keep making mistakes that could cost me my restaurant," Mrs. Montgomery told them.
After they returned from the restaurant, Jones and Marie sat at their desks and Jones looked at Marie and said, "I gotta say this Marie, this case is baffling me. First, there's the victim's husband who's cheating on her with his assistant and then we have a cat fight between a food critic and a chef. I can't seem to link the two together."
"On a side note, I think we might've been too lenient with Alfred. I suggest we return to his stall and see what we've been missing since his stall is between the path's of Chez Valentine and the Thompson resisdence," Marie suggested and after hearing her idea Jones got up and kissed her forehead.
When he pulled back, he smiled at her and said, "I don't know how you come up with these ideas partner, but it's one of the reasons I love being around you." And soon they returned to Main Street to look around the stall again.
After searching for a few minutes, Jones found a doggy bag on Alfred's stall and when he mentioned it to the blind vendor, Alfred said, "I'm sorry, I must've forgotten that Daisy left her doggy bag here."
"It's okay Al, everyone makes mistakes," Marie said in a consoling voice.
As soon as they thanked Alfred, Jones and Marie headed back to the station to send the doggy bag to the lab. After they did that, the two of them thought that after much struggling, they finally gave the missing piece to solve the case. Once the doggy bag was dropped off, Jones and Marie went to the break room to have a coffee while they wait. Just as Jones filled his mug, he suddenly dropped it and when he looked at his hand he saw it was shaking uncontrollably.
He then clenched his teeth and said, "I can't seem to control myself because of that damn drug! I can't even have a normal cup of coffee without shaking."
Marie placed a comforting hand in his arm and she said, "It's going to be okay David. We'll find a way to get through this and manage to get out of this."
Jones smiled at her and told her that he's glad that the two of them arm going through this abuse together. Marie then knelt down and started to pick up the mug pieces when she felt Jones' fingers brush against her hand. When she felt them, she started to pull away but Jones then clenched his hand into hers and when she looked into his eyes their faces came closer until their lips brushed in a small kiss.
As he kissed his partner Jones thought, after this I'll make sure that Marie never gets hurt again. After a while, Grace was done analyzing the doggy bag and she called Jones and Marie to the forensics lab to tell them the results. Grace then explained, "I analyzed the contents from the doggy bag you found on Alfred's stall and the food in it contains the same poison than the one Nathan found in Daisy's stomach. But, that's not the only interesting thing I found; there were also three black hairs found in the food. And they certainly did not come from our ginger-haired victim."
Marie smiled and said, "Thanks a lot Grace. Jones and I can now conclude without a mistake that our killer has black hair."
"I'm not even done yet! I also extracted some DNA from the hair and I've been able to isolate the eye color characteristics of the killer and I concluded that the killer has blue eyes," Grace told them.
After they returned to their desks with the files on the people they met, Jones said, "I never knew that one little doggy bag could be so chatty. Arresting this killer should be a piece of cake by now."
Soon, Marie started to look through the suspect's files. The first person she looked through was Gabriel Thompson and she saw he cooks, uses nail hardener and he has blue eyes, but she excluded him when she saw he doesn't use detergent and his hair isn't black. Marie also excluded Alfred cause even though he cooks and uses detergent, he doesn't have black hair or blue eyes and he doesn't use nail hardener. Marie then looked through Ashly Collins' file and she saw that Ashley has black hair and blue eyes, she uses detergent and nail hardener, but she doesn't cook. So she excluded Ashley.
Marie then looked through Tobias Sharp's file and she saw he has black hair, he cooks and he uses detergent, but his eyes are black not blue and he doesn't use nail hardener; so, she excluded him. The final person Marie looked at was Valentine Montgomery and Marie saw that she fit everything their killer has; she cooks, she uses detergent and nail hardener and she has black hair and blue eyes. After Marie showed Jones her findings, the two officers got up and left to go and arrest Valentine Montgomery.
Once they got to the restaurant and entered the kitchen, Jones announced, "Valentine Montgomery, you're under arrest for the murder and poisoning of Daisy Thompson!"
"I didn't intend to poison that woman, I barely even know her! This must be some mistake," Valentine protested.
Getting curious, Marie thought, who did you intend to poison Mrs. Montgomery? Who was Daisy's plate for anyway. Suddenly, a thought sparked in Marie's mind and she said, "You were intending to poison Tobias Sharp weren't you?!" And Jones went wide eyed when he heard his partner say that and he turned to look at the lady chef.
"Yes I did! That man has been ruining my life for far too long! He deserves a taste of his own medicine! If only that stupid waiter hadn't mixed up the orders," Valentine confessed and Jones went behind her, cuffed her and soon the two officers lead her away.
The following day, Judge Hall was about to announce Valentine's sentence, when she protested, "I never meant to kill that woman Your Honor! The stupid waiter just didn't get the plate to the right table!"
"Just because you didn't intend to kill the intended person, doesn't mean you cannot be held responsible for her death Mrs. Montgomery," the judge told her and she then condemned Valentine to ten years in prison with no chance for parole.
After court was adjourned, Marie and Jones walked out of the courthouse proud they put another case under their belts. Jones then winked at Marie and said, "I wish we could go out for dinner to celebrate, but who knows what might end up in our plates." And Marie just blushed after he said that and thought, sometimes you can sound so cheeky David.
Back at the station, Chief King called Jones and Marie to his office and once they were in front of him, he said, "Nice job, but it seems your work with Chez Valentine isn't done yet Marie. Mr. Sharp seems to be causing some trouble over there and I want you to go and check and see what it's all about. You might also want to check on Mr. Thompson cause he might need your help."
The two of them saluted and told Chief King they'll do it. As they exited the chief's office, Jones got an idea and said, "Hey Marie, since Alfred's hotdog stall is on the way to the Thompson's place, let's stop there!" And he then got on his knees and hugged Marie's waist and he started to plead like a little kid.
Marie chuckled and told him, "Okay, okay! We'll go, but you should really exercise once in a while David. You look like you're gaining a few pounds." And Jones pouted while thinking, I have to gain pounds cause I feel like I'm losing pounds.
Since Jones was hungry, they decided to go to Alfred's stall for a quick bite. When they got there, Jones said, "Hey there Al. Two waffles please with extra strawberry jelly." (AN: YUMMY!!!😋)
"I'm sorry Jones, but I seem to have lost my waffle maker. The neighborhood kids are always playing tricks on me; the little rascals, but I'm sure they don't mean any harm," Alfred said to them with a disappointed look.
"I sure hope so, otherwise they'll get a strict talking to from us. In the meantime, we'll search for your waffle maker and see where those kids hid it," Marie said and soon the two officers started to search around Main Street for the missing waffle maker.
As she was looking, Marie hit her toe on something hard and she saw that it was a pile of leaves that she hit and she thought, that doesn't seem to be a safe place for a waffle maker. So, Marie dug through the leaf pile until she saw the waffle maker, but it was broken into pieces. Soon, she took out a bottle of glue and she pieced the waffle maker back together until it was whole. While he was watching her, Jones smiled and thought, that woman sure is prodigious.
After the waffle maker was put back together, Marie and Jones gave it back to Alfred and Jones told him, "Good news Al, Marie found your waffle maker and fixed it."
"Terrific! Thank you so much Marie, you have real talent here. Don't let it be said that I'm ungrateful, but take this lucky charm of mine; you deserve it," Alfred said to the female officer and he handed her a hot dog vendor's cap and apron and she thanked him.
After Marie got her gift, Alfred made them two waffle-wiches with strawberry jelly and they kindly accepted them. As soon as they got them Jones suggested, "Hey, how about we go to the Thompson residence to see what Gabriel wants."
"But Chez Valentine is closer to here and I want to go there next," Marie said and Jones got an idea that they'll shoot for it and Marie liked that plan.
Soon, they held out their fists and shook them three times until Jones held out scissors and Marie held out rock. Jones then slumped in discouragement and said out loud, "Damn it!" And Marie chuckled at his child like behavior and she started to walk in the direction towards Chez Valentine.
As soon as Marie started walking, Alfred chuckled and said to Jones, "You've got some partner there Jones. You must be quite proud to have a girlfriend and lover like her."
Jones smiled and said, "I sure am." And he started to chase after Marie.
As soon as they were gone, a man with brown hair and blue eyes jogged by the hotdog stall. As soon as Alfred heard the man, he peeked his head up and smiled and said, "Hey there Adam! It's been a while. How've you been kid?"
Adam Bentley stopped by the stall and said to the vendor with a smile, "I've been keeping in top shape these days. If I keep up maybe I can steal Howard Johnson's mayoral seat."
Alfred chuckled and told the man before him, "Be careful what you wish young man. Sometimes it can bite you." And Adam told the blind vendor he'll remember that and after he waved goodbye to him he continued with his jog.
At Chez Valentine, Marie and Jones approached Tobias Sharp and Marie asked him, "Hello again Mr. Sharp, we've been called because of disturbance. What has happened?"
"It's about time you got your asses out of a donut shop! And yes I do have a problem and I expect you to make this restaurant pay for their slander! They should be ashamed selling corked wine to a famous food critic like me," Tobias told them while going red in the face.
Jones then pursed his lips in a thin line and asked in a sarcastic tone, "Alright Mr. Famous Food Critic, what did you drink?"
"I was expecting to drink a bottle of Château La Toure 1990, except it was wretched! Doesn't the law say that a client may refuse to pay if they're not satisfied with the product?" Tobias explained to them and Marie nodded telling him that it does state that.
Soon, the two officers headed into the kitchen to find the wine that Tobias was looking for so they can find out the truth. Suddenly, Jones found the bottle they were looking for, but to his disappointment the bottle was empty and he thought, well that's just great! How is it possible if Tobias refused to drink this and how will we get a sample? Suddenly, he saw a big red stain on the napkin that was attached to the bottle and he called Marie over so she can take a sample. As soon as they got a sample, Jones and Marie returned to the station and sent it to Grace to be analyzed.
After they did that, they headed towards the Thompson residence to see what Daisy's husband wanted. When they got there, Marie approached the man and said to him, "Hey there Mr. Thompson, we came to check and see if everything is okay. Be sure to let us know if you need anything."
"Actually, I'm glad your here cause I do need your help. I can't find the key to my safe and I remember entrusting it to my wife, but...As you can see, Daisy's engagement ring is in it and I want her to have it in her coffin before she's laid to rest," Mr. Thompson explained.
Jones smiled brightly and said, "I see, don't trouble yourself Mr. Thompson! I'm sure we'll find your key in no time. We'll just have to look around your kitchen to find it!" And after he said that the two officers started searching around the kitchen for the missing key.
Suddenly, Marie opened one of the kitchen's steel drawers and she started to rummage through it's contents. Soon, she found the key she was looking for and when Jones saw her find it he said, "You know something Marie, you should teach me how you keep your eyes so sharp."
Marie just smiled at him and said, "I don't know David, you kept your eyes pretty sharp during the Trixie Velvet case. I don't need to teach you anything."
Soon, Marie approached Mr. Thompson, handed him the silver key and said, "Here you go, we found your safe key."
"Perfect! However, I just realized that the safe needs a code and only Daisy knew it. I can't seem to remember any code myself," the man said while rubbing the back of his neck.
Jones then looked at him and thought, I know where this is going and he asked where the safe is and Gabriel he told them that it's in the kitchen. When they approached the wall safe, Marie typed in the code and when it was correct Jones unlocked it with the key. When the safe opened, Marie took out an expensive ring and she went back to Gabriel to give it to him. When she handed it to the man, he looked at it carefully and he confirmed that it was his wife's.
Suddenly, Ashley Collins came into the room and kissed Gabriel on the cheek. She asked him if she found the ring and just as she was about to say something about wearing it, she turned her head and saw Jones and Marie standing before them. Gabriel then looked down and said, "Nice of you to come Ashley. If you would please pay your respects. I was just thanking these officer's for finding my dear wife's ring." And the two of them saw the man starting to break out in a sweat.
Jones then mumbled, "Whatever you say, stud muffin."
After they were done with Gabriel Thompson, Jones and Marie headed back to the station to hear the results from the wine sample they found. Once they were in front of Grace, she said to them, "Well, I've analyzed your sample and it turns out to be really good wine. What do you guys want to know exactly?"
"We want to know if it's corked," Jones said and Marie nodded in agreement.
Grace chuckled and she explained to them, "It's not corked at all! The rate of the chlorine is definitively normal; this wine has been kept in excellent condition."
After they heard that, the two officers thanked Grace and headed back to Chez Valentine to tell Tobias the news. As soon as they returned, Marie approached the critic and said to him, "Mr. Sharp, we analyzed your wine and I'm not surprised you drank the whole bottle; the wine was perfectly good actually."
"What the hell are you saying?! It's insane! I refuse to pay for a bottle of corked wine," Tobias said in a shout.
Jones then placed a hand on his shoulder and said to him, "I think you should come to the station with us. There are some really comfortable cells if you ever need one, but I don't think the food isn't all that good." And they lead him out of the restaurant.
After they were done with their jobs, Jones and Marie decided to head back home. When they walked out of the station, Marie stopped and Jones looked at her with worry and asked, "What's wrong Marie?"
She then stared up at her partner and said, "I was thinking, maybe you can stay the night with me just in case."
Jones looked at Marie with kind eyes and knew she was worried that one of the might get another attack from the drug. He then smiled and told her that he will and soon they walked towards Jones' car. Meanwhile in the tech lab, Alex was sitting in front of his computer and he looked at his watch and counted down from three. When he reached one, he looked at his computer and started whooping and dancing knowing he's now the proud owner of a rare limited edition Iron Man helmet.
Soon, he sat back down on his chair and rubbed his eagerly thinking, let's see what .I can get next. Alex then started clicking around the site looking for something interesting, until he saw something that made his eyes go wide in horror. In Chief King's office, King was doing paperwork while thinking about how he's going to tell Marie that she's his granddaughter. He then sat back and tapped his pen on his bottom lip and he said to himself, "Maybe when they're in the next district I can tell her."
Suddenly, he heard knock on his door and he told the person to come in. As he said that, Alex came in carrying his laptop and the chief asked what he can do for him. Alex then explained, "Well, you see sir, I was on DealDash getting a limited edition item..."
"Why were you online shopping at the station Alex?" King asked furrowing his eyebrows and Alex waved his hand and told the chief to hear him out.
Alex then continued, "Anyway, as I was saying, when I went back to the site to see what I could get next, I came across something that I think you might be surprised to see." And when he opened his laptop he showed the Chief what he saw.
King's eyes then went wide with horror and he grabbed the laptop out of Alex's hands. There on the computer screen were names of different people and prices next to them; including Jones and Marie who had the word sold next to their names. King then handed Alex back his laptop and said to him, "Alex did you even know that this site was dealing in human trafficking?!"
Alex then shook his head and said, "No I didn't sir. I also didn't know how Jones and Marie got themselves wound up in this. I remembered last time it was just Marie, but now the two of them; I don't know what to say."
"I don't think that's the only problem," Olivia's voice resounded and the two men saw her standing in the doorway and King told her to come in.
Olivia then walked up to the desk and looked the chief in the eyes and said, "I think whoever bought Jones and Marie also put them on an illegal substance." And after she said that King picked up his phone and started to make some calls.
Meanwhile at Marie's apartment, Jones and Marie were side by side on Marie's bed clutching each other's hands and sleeping soundly while Lucy laid between them purring.
Preview:
Marie POV:
A few days later after the Daisy Thompson case, Jones and I work the night shift when we get called to Cooper Park. There we find the body of a high school boy shot in the head with an arrow. As we begin investigating, we find out that our victim and his friend robbed Alden Greene's mansion. Did this boy get killed because of that or was it something more?
Next Time: In the Dead of Night