New Game

Parking Lot

(No Michael yet.)

They took the fastest car available to the club to find the parking lot blocked off with yellow crime-scene tape. The team was already present, combing the scene for clues.

Harold hopped down from the back seat, closely followed by Ida and Lauren. Marley lagged behind them, looking at the ground. They headed towards the edge of the crime scene.

One of the investigators, an older gentleman named Mike Booth, marched up to Harold. He dressed in a navy windbreaker.

"Hey, Quinn." Mike greeted him casually. His voice, like his appearance, was gruff and misleading, but Harold knew better. Mike was sweeter than honey and damned good at his job. He handed each of them a set of plastic crime scene boots and gloves, which they tugged awkwardly over their feet and hands before ducking beneath the tape and joining Mike on the other side of the police-line.

"What have you got for me?" Harold asked the investigator. Mike Booth shook his head.

Mike scuffed his foot, sending a cloud of white footprinting dust up into the air. The agents coughed as they inhaled the powder. "There are about a million foot-prints in that bar." he sighed, "Here, let me take you through what we know." Mike gestured for them to follow him towards the giant burn in the middle of the parking lot.

Near the burn-mark were a set of staggering foot-prints, dusted in a white powder with numbered markers next to them. "It looks like the victim came out here, inebriated, and stumbled around for a little while," Mike explained, walking alongside the prints until they came to an abrupt stop. "Seems like she was waiting for somebody," he said. Ida choked. Harold glanced in her direction, but the woman shook her head and they waited for Mike to continue with his tour of the crime scene.

"Then she must've seen something that spooked her." the man explicated, walking backward and winding his feet through one another in imitation of Aisha's actions. He was careful to leave the actual scene untouched. "She turned to see who it was and... BAM!" Mike screamed, collapsing to the ground dramatically. The four stared at him in shock. Abruptly, the investigator pushed himself off the gravel and dusted off his windbreaker with a quick flutter.

"After that, the perp must have dragged her away. See?" he indicated the outline of drag marks in the gravel, leading away from the burn. Harold frowned, circling the huge mark on the ground. A glimmer of silver caught his eye in the faint light of the sunrise. He bent down to get a closer look.

A small bug was smashed into the gravel. It was round and green with giant, black glazed-over eyes that gazed at nothing. The insect's tiny innards were smeared into the pavement and its wings were shredded. This was not any creature Harold was familiar with, "What is this?" he asked, poking at the minuscule carcass with the tip of his finger. The others gathered around him and leaned down to examine the remains of the bug.

"I have no idea." Mike frowned. "I have never seen this type of bug before."

"What a strange creature," Marley whispered, brushing his covered hand across the tip of its wings, rolling it over to get a closer look.

"Tag it and bag it." Lauren ordered, "Send it back to the lab. I am sure that we can get an entomologist to tell us what it is." she said. "I am going to interview the bartender," she told them, turning her back towards the others and walking towards the club. She stopped and spun on her foot, calling over her shoulder. "Mike, I want you to have one of your boys send that girl's drinks to the lab. See if she was drugged. Call me when you get the tox-screen." Lauren instructed loudly, before rushing towards the bar door.

"Will do!" Mike shouted after her. He returned his attention to the insect on the ground. "Right after I get this Lil' bugger!" the man grinned down his nose at the smashed bug almost maniacally. It still fascinated Harold how excited the crime-scene people could get over something like dirt or hair. It was a little creepy. "Can you get me my bag, Quinn?" Mike asked him. "It's over by foot-print number eight." Harold followed the direction of his hand to a black bag about five feet away.

"Sure." Harold dropped the bag at Mike's side.

Ida grinned at him, "That's some pretty impressive speed." she drawled. Harold swelled with pride. He had always been a sucker for having his ego stroked. Sometimes, Harold wondered if he strived to be the best at everything simply to get the praise that came along with the title.

Mike had unzipped his bag and pulled out his camera. He adjusted the focus on the lens and took a couple of pictures of the unidentified bug before tucking it back into his bag. The investigator gripped a plastic bag and tugged it out, holding it out to Marley. "Hold this open, Mar." he directed through clenched teeth. He took the evidence bag from Mike, holding it open.

The man fished around his bag and extracted a pair of tweezers. He leaned down with the tweezers in his hand and very carefully pinched the edges around one of the wings of the bug. He gently lifted the damaged creature into the air and over to the bag Marley had open. As tenderly as possible, he dropped it in.

Mike returned the tweezers to their rightful place in his bag and turned back to Marley. He took the plastic bag from him and with a swift press of his hand, sealed it. "That's it." he grinned, "Show's over."

"Alright. Let's go see how far Lauren's gotten with the bartender." Harold suggested. He jerked his head towards the bar and Ida nodded.

"Sounds good," Mike agreed. "I'll send somebody in after you to collect the glasses as Lauren wanted." he threw his bag over his shoulders. "In the meantime, I am going to get this little guy back to the lab!" Mike said excitedly. He nodded his goodbyes to them before jogging off in the opposite direction, calling for one of the other investigators.

"I will go to interview the parking attendant." Marley piped up.

"Sounds good, Marley." Harold concurred, giving him a curt nod. The man smiled and walked towards the booth near the edge of the parking lot, where some local police were already grilling a young pimple-faced teen in a red vest and cap.