Penumbra

Case 1

Azure eyes stared unflinchingly at the Inspector before them. What the hell is this crazy woman thinking? Pierce mentally yelled, utterly confused by this mind-boggling change of events.

"You want me to do what now?" The owner of the eyes asked, incredulously. Staring at the case file in his hand, then at the woman who had her legs propped up on her desk.

"You heard me, Evans, we're putting you on the task force. I personally know how much you enjoy puzzles, and don't even pretend that you don't have a stack of Sudoku books hidden at your desk, I've seen them, and I bet that everyone in division one has also seen them." The inspector sighed, waving her spoon around at him, he was mildly surprised that the yoghurt on it didn't go flying.

"But, this is in Division two, theft. You know I only work Homicide." He argued, glaring down at the woman who flippantly ignored him, his hand clenching in his left pocket.

"Watch it, Evans, you might come across as disrespecting a superior~" She singsonged, giving him a brief flash of a smile, letting him know she was just joking. He let out a huff of breath before mentally counting to ten.

"So what you're telling me, is that I'm being moved to theft from homicide?" Pierce growled.

"No, what I'm telling you, is that you're being put on my task-force, but you're still going to be working in Homicide. The only time you'll be working with the task force, is when a heist notice turns up." Pierce pulled up at what she had said, blinking at her.

"So, I'm not being put into division two?" He asked, still blinking at her, his mouth slightly agape.

"Nope!" She gave him one of those little smiles that he just wanted to make disappear. She was having way too much fun teasing him. Pierce visibly relaxed, well, that was better than what he had thought.

"Sorry for the misunderstanding then, afternoon Inspector Greymoore." Pierce nodded to his superior, dismissing himself. She waved him off before throwing the yoghurt container in the bin near the door.

"Ten points!" He could hear her crow as he crossed the room. A few of the other officers, who had obviously been typically nosey detectives, gave him sympathetic looks that Pierce didn't have the heart to ignore. He just reasoned that he was lucky that he didn't have to deal with her every day of the week.
Pierce had barely made it out of the Division Two workroom when Inspector Greymoore started bellowing.

"THAT STUPID BLOODY THIEF!" Her voice thundered throughout the precinct, many of her co-workers ducking for cover while holding their ears. Pierce winced, covering his own, and cursing his curiosity as he turned around. He almost tripped over his own feet as he took in the sight before him. In her hand was a piece of black card, white text covering it, but that wasn't what had him gawking. Her black hair was dyed neon pink, pants suit changed for a dress, and smoke billowing out around her desk. He bit his lip to cover a snicker as she attempted to storm over to who knows where only to trip over the length of her dress.

Feeling like he should help the poor woman, Pierce approached her cautiously. As he pulled on his gloves, just to make sure he wouldn't leave fingerprints on the evidence, Greymoore struggled to a stand huffing angrily. As he approached, her head whipped around to glare at him, and for a second he almost faltered, but he pushed through it, gingerly taking the card from her hand with his right. It opened and closed like a crab's pincers as if wondering where its item went, while Pierce dropped the card into a sealed evidence bag.

Now that the evidence had been safely acquired, he examined the card. On the black side, there was a faint shimmering outline on it. The thief's top hat and mask, or at least the shadow of one. Well, that said something about how much the thief wanted everyone to know it was him who sent the notice. He flipped it over so that the writing was facing him, his face contorting as he eyed the riddle. When they had said they wanted him for the task-force, he hadn't thought that they meant that they wanted him to solve the heist notices. Who gave heist notices anyway? Pierce shook his head before eyeing the card speculatively. Reading the text, it wasn't overly difficult, if you knew your stuff that is.