Circus Of Mystery

Chapter 1: Job Offer

*Alex’s p.o.v* 

"Ashley are you up yet," I asked as I knocked on my twin sister's door. I knew she'd be sleeping in again but did I stop her; no. “Ashley we meet with our employer in two hours!” I yelled finally hearing movement on the other side of the door. The doorknob giggle, for a moment then opened revealing a really pissed off Ashley.

“I’m awake, happy now?” Ashley asked, making me flinch a bit. I could hear the venomous tone and wasn’t exactly thrilled with it.

“Yes, now can you please get ready,” I asked irritated at this point. “Our new employer called and said they'd be here in two hours.” 

Ashley yawned then shrugged, “Sure.” She closed her door to get ready. As usual, she clicked on her music and made sure to blast it as loud as possible. The song that was currently playing was Asking Alexandria’s Killing You. I didn’t mind the song nor genre but once you hear it every day of your life, for eighteen years to be exact. You tend to get a bit annoyed and catch yourself singing along certain parts.

I went to my room where I looked at my mirror (a full body length mirror) and made sure I was properly dressed. I was dressed in black jeans, black gothic combat boots that went up half of my shins, a black leather belt, a gray long sleeve button up dress shirt, and a black overcoat that went down to my thighs. My hair was long in a way but nice and kept, unlike my bangs that hung around my green eyes. My skin was pale but that was only because I didn’t step outside often. Just as I walked out of my room I could just barely hear a faint knock on our apartment door. 

“s**t,” I grumbled. “Ashley you better hurry up they’re here!” I yelled then quickly walked to the door. I cleared my throat then opened it and found our employer Ann Young. She was dressed in an expensive white dress and heels. Slung across her shoulder was a purse that matched in color but in gold said Micheal Corps. Her long blonde hair was straightened and left to cascade down her back, her skin looked flawless but then again what rich woman wasn’t. Her eyes were a bright blue, she wore no makeup except for white lipstick which interested me. The only other thing that stood out was her perfume, which smelt of honeysuckles. “Ms. Young please come in,” I said as I stepped aside and held the door open for her.

“Thank you, Mr. Raven,” Ann smiled then stepped in as Ashley did so herself. However, she did not heed my warning and dressed like she always did. She wore black ripped jeans, my old combat boots that had gotten small on me, a white crop top that showed her pale midsection, and a black leather jacket that came down to the top of her waist. Her short black hair was layered so she seemed more punk than gothic, she didn’t wear any makeup. Her green eyes were the only thing that stood out from her entire look.

"So, you're the one who wants to higher us," Ashley asked after we were all seated in the living room. Ann nodded which gave Ashley the incentive to keep on questioning the poor woman. "So why now do you want our help? You have the "fine" officers of our city working on the case meaning… "

"Meaning they'll just push it aside like every other case that has come their way, Ms. Raven." Ann interrupted. "I came to you two because I know of your work," Ann explained. "I'd rather have you working on this case then the cops. Now, will you accept this case or has your reputation as genius detectives been overly spoken?" 

I looked back and forth from the two then cleared my throat. "We accept Ms. Young." Ashley nodded in agreement causing Ann to smile.

"Thank you both so much," Ann reached into her purse and produced an envelope and sat it on the table before us. "This is all the information that the cops have, I had an acquaintance copy everything to the very last detail." She then reached into her purse and pulled out a pen and her checkbook. "I believe it's nine thousand that I offered for taking this case correctly?" 

"Twelve thousand Ms. Young," Ashley corrected. Ann nodded then scribbled down the information that was needed. 

She tore the piece of paper out and sat it on top of the folder then said, "I wish you good luck and hope you find the one responsible for these murders." We nodded then stood as we escorted Ann to the door, wished her a good day then shut it. 

"Alright let's see what we have," I quickly said as both me and Ashley went back to the living room to grab both the folder and check. Once we had both we walked down the hallway to the locked door that sat at the end. Only Ashley and I had a key to it and only Ashley or I was allowed into the room. Once inside we were greeted by the familiar comfort of the low lights, Ashley's laptop, her servers, and our weapons. I sat the folder on the small table and opened it and began to read every report that was submitted on the crime. I sat on the love seat as I worked while Ashley took the check and stored it for later. I would love to finish but my dear sister would like to finish this off.

*Ashley's p.o.v*

"Look at this," I said as I shoved a photo in front of Alex's face. The photo was of the most recent victim, Benjamin Moore. He was found murdered in a parking garage that was next to a fancy club called, "Saint's". 

"What about it," Alex asked as he pushed the picture away. I sighed and rolled my eyes at how slow he was currently thinking. 

"Well dear brother," I said mimicking his voice. "It seems that Mr. Moore was murdered in Saint's parking garage. Therefore being a new and very valuable source of information, because you and I both know the cops don't check the most camera's in those places." 

Alex rolled his eyes. "Good point but I'd like you to stop mimicking my voice." I shrugged, getting a loud sigh from Alex. "While you use the little hacking skills I'd like to explain to you the victim's connection with one another." 

I rolled my chair over to my laptop and booted it up. "Alright hit me," I said as I began to work my magic/wonderful talent.

Alex cleared his throat then began. "The first victim was an accountant Greg Freeman, he had ties to many clients, many being bad people," Alex explained as he did his usual pacing thing.

"Yeah, I remember him. He was almost sent to prison for helping professional criminals set up offshore accounts." I said remembering the articles the papers wrote about him. "Didn't his lawyer save his ass?" I asked as I continued to type and stare at my screen.

"Indeed, Sarah Franklin is one of the best criminal lawyers in Lucet. She was the second victim and was found dead in her own home." Alex explained. "Now we have Benjamin Moore, a very well known informant to the Lucet police department. Sarah had represented both Greg and Benjamin before for different cases, Greg had helped Benjamin with his "financial" issues, as he did so with Sarah."

"So whoever's killing these people obviously got screwed over or double-crossed?" I asked as I finally broke through Saint's firewall. 

"That's one way to put it, another way of looking at it could be because of vengeance. Greg screwed all his clients in order to save his own skin when it came to the offshore accounts. Sarah, being the amazing lawyer she is actually lost quite the amount of cases. As for Benjamin, there's quite the list of people who'd want him dead since he’s a snitch." 

"Yeah like a knife-wielding assassin," I said as the video footage from two days ago finally came up. Alex quickly walked over to my laptop and joined my gaze at the screen. We saw Benjamin walk to his car, a figure in black crawled out from under a truck, and the one-sided fight between the two. I zoomed in on the figure but couldn't get a good look due to his mask or whatever the hell he was wearing.

"Hang on a second," Alex said, making me jump. "Rewind to when he stabbed Benjamin in the head." I did as told then paused the video. "Zoom in right on the center of the knife, right in the middle where the blade and hilt meet." I did this and found what Alex's freaky eyesight caught; a crescent moon that had smoke blowing behind it.

"Hey doesn't that look like the symbol to that one circus," I asked as I tilted my head back looking at Alex? 

"Yeah, Circus of Mystery," Alex confirmed. "I think one of their " performer's" is behind this, I'm not going to say anything to Ms. Young but we need to investigate this ourselves," Alex said, making me nod in agreement.

"Oh, I got just the plan," I said as I exited the camera footage from Saint's. I opened a previous window and showed it to Alex. "It's perfect for doing what we need to do plus we can have a little bit of fun." I smiled. Alex looked at the screen as he read the lines over and over before letting out a loud sigh. 

"Fine but I fear as if we're stepping into a very large spider's web." I shrugged, only time would tell what would happen to us or what we would find at Circus of Mystery. I just wish that things could have been different and I know Alex wishes the same thing only for a whole other reason.