THE PUZZLE

THE DOTs

"Sir someone is here to see you,"Deputy Wendy said to her boss."Ooooh and here I thought for ones in my goddamn life someone have decided to bring me coffee ,even a donut would be nice. Show them in.And Wendy, please next time come with something i can eat," said Steve the towns twenty years sheriff.Wendy nodded and gasped something under her breath, probably a curse and left the sheriffs office.

"Hello Sir, I am Mark Detective Mark Rogers with the luxville p.d," Mark started.Knowing him for sometime now, Mark was a straight to the point kind of guy always avoiding small talks or anything that would cause a "moment" sharing.He was here on what he termed as argent official business.He wanted answers and for the first time since he reopened the Georges and his minions case, he felt close to a breakthrough.He knew he was onto something huge though he couldn't quit wrap his fingers around it.

Mark explained his business and Sheriff Steve just sat there and nodded to a song on the stereo.Mark stopped a bit to map the room as the Sheriff was busy hunting some files from under his desk in a box.The place wasn't what you would call modern or classy, but it had its own old glow.The wooden coffee colored tiles floor and and ceiling spoke volumes.The desks and chairs weren't classy either but were made of the expensive mahogany wood and they were furnished to the very end.For a moment he wished his tiny office was half as neat as this.

The sheriff sat upright after a few minutes of search and handed Mark a pile of files all about a notorious gunman named Will who was believed to have been in Wagon Wheel for the past few months.No one knew where he had come from.After a few weeks stay, he and his friends robbed a micro finance bank in the town, shot and injured two people one who was still in a wheelchair as of the moment.

Mark went straight to inquire on his whereabouts and the surprise on his face was evident on learning he was dead.He asked to see his cadaver and for the first time since he left Luxville ,Mark was happy about letting Becky tag along as his partner since there was a lot going on back in the P.D and lieutenant Johns wasn't ready to give away his best detectives to go on a wild goose hunt.

Mark agreed with Becky to go to Wagon wheel High as Becky performed an autopsy on the dead guys to determine their cause of death and how it happened .Mark, accompanied by the Sheriff and his deputy then went to the scene of crime.

On the way there the sheriff explained to Mark on the events that took place on the day of the guys death he seemed not impressed by the fact that the goons ruined his sons prom given the fact that he was the prom king and really looked forward to the event.It really shocked mark to realize the sheriff wasn't mad that the goons almost killed innocent people but rather they ruined his sons perfect day, but he knew better than to talk about it.

Steve was a huge fella with the build of a troll or a giant if I may say.He had these huge hands that just looked dangerous his somewhat huge face and red eyes gave the impression of a fierce hulk.He had a dark sense of humor that made him even more vicious looking.Even though deep down he was a huge softie who only wanted coffee and some peace and quiet, people still feared him a lot.And mark was proving to be one of those people.

It was through his narration about the previous weeks occurrences that Mark knew about Aggie and Alex.The name Alex seemed to ring a bell in his mind and it didn't take him long to remember it was the name of one of the previous case's victim.He wanted to know more about these two youngsters and went down to reading their statements as soon as he was told they were in the files he had been flipping through since they left the station.

The drive was a short one since Wagon Wheel is just but a small town in Luxville state.You know, that kind of town where everyone knows everyone, at the school Mark looked around the crime scene in search of missed clues and evidence but just as he had thought there was none the crime scene had been cleared ,sparkly , infact there was no trace of any criminal activity evident.

Mark was however not ready to let go and so he went back to the morgue hopping Becky had something helpful , and sure enough she had. "See this four, they died of blood loss, see the bullet holes this one for example had a bullet go puff! all through the center of his head to the back, bright side, at least you can see what he was thinking, I mean you know with the fact that you can see through his brain, you know what, never mind," Becky tried to explain when she realized Mark wasn't getting it.

The last guy had a cut through his throat not exactly a clean one which kind of brought contradiction from the description on Alex's and Aggie's statements.According to them ,there were seven guys in the room and after what they explained was an argument one of them took the g*n from Wills hands and shot the other five before grabbing a knife from one of the dead guys pocket and slitting the sixth guys throat.

According to Becky's observation, the guy was cut by an uneven large sharp object but the statement said a knife. "If that were the case the cuts would be deep but not wide," Becky would argue. At this point Mark realized Alex and Aggie lied in their statements.It was not much but at least it was a place to start and so together Becky and Mark drove away in search of Alex or Angie or better yet both.

According to Mark, ladies tend to be a little bit more willing to talk to cops than the gents and thus his decision to start at Aggie's place was understandable.It would have been a few minutes drive but Becky wouldn't stop chanting on how hungry she was and so they had to stop briefly at a cafe to grab lunch.

"Hello handsome, long time no see," came a voice from the table behind where mark was sitting.He knew the voice and he soo much hoped it was who he thought it was.He turned back slowly to find Milley sitting there with half fries plate and a glass of mango juice.She looked as beautiful as ever and the red well fitting dress made her even more radiant under the cafe's lighting.

His first thought was to get up and hug her tightly but since there were a lot of people he chose a smile and salute her back.He then invited her to join his table and she joined without hesitation.Becky just winked from the counter where she had gone to order before doing a funny naughty signal to Mark to tell him the night was gonna be fire.

Milley started a conversation by explaining after she left Luxville town she had come down here to collect her college certificate from a friends place she used to live with back then but she found a job and that was the reason she never went back.Mark believed her since he had no reason not to.By now he had trusted her enough to let her in on his police business though just a bit.

After he told her what had brought him to Wagon Wheel, Milley offered to help him on his quest to look for the truth and Becky thought it would be helpful since she knew the place better than either of them.And so after the meal which had turned into a happy union for Mark and Milley, they all embarked on a few minutes drive to Aggie's. few times on ringing the door bell and a lady still in her pjs opened the door looking rather expectant for good news.It almost felt like she had been waiting for.That sort of made the introduction part easier."You must be the detectives from the state I've been hearing about all day, have you found my daughter yet," she asked ushering them into the house.

She explained that her daughter skipped school the previous day but she never came home and they were worried that the people who tried to kill her came back for her.Mark had no idea but he was not willing to show her that and so he promised to do whatever it would take to look for her and make sure she was save.

As they left the place Milley suggested that maybe she was at Alex's place and so again they started off to Alex's place.Milley was as eager to know what happened a week earlier as Mark and even more than Becky.She so much wanted to know why they chose Alex of all the hundred plus students who were in the hall that day and most importantly she wanted to know who killed the guys as she thought that Was her job and why they killed them.

Mark had no idea Milley was so much involved in this case , if something he never thought she was involved in it whatsoever.If it were another person, Mark would have joined the dots and realize the case had revolved around her from the word go but it was Milley the girl he had fallen in love with , the girl he thought about first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening.He was blinded by her beautiful face ,kind words and innocent face.

Becky couldn't either because she just loved that Mark had finally found someone who took his nerdy mind off his busy schedule and obsession from work.She couldn't dare think that this beautiful babe was capable of harming a fly.She was simply An angel according to her.

At Alex's place they found no one ,the two lovebirds had just left after a hot argument on why Aggie returned and they had decided to get over with the situation as soon as possible so that they would go back to their normal lives.They had then took off into a quest of searching for some answers.Marks heart sunk a bit but he found a photo in the trash can that had 18 people posing on what seemed like a meeting photo.Four of Marks previous victims were among them and so was Will .Other stuff were burnt so badly even Becky couldn't recover a thing from them.Mark probably just thought maybe Alex's parents knew them and so till now no one had thought that Alex could be the killer or even speculate as much.

The journey wasn't all that productive but at least it pointed them to the right direction all they had to do was look for one of those guys before whoever was killing them got to them first ,this time round it applied even to Milley.Even though they never found Alex, they had found a way forward and a new task to look for Alex and Aggie and learn what they knew and fulfill their promise to Aggie's parents.

Later that night Mark invited Milley over to his hotel room and there they would catch up while enjoying pizza and cuddles.They would later embrace each other in warmness and love each other through the best part of the night and later fall asleep arm in arm.Becky on the other room was busy watching Lucifer the series on her laptop ."Nothing better than watching your favorite devil work his mojo over a glass of gin on a night where your best friend is having the night of his life,"she said out loud while drawing her dot pattern screen lock."Sh**t I just changed the pattern again without even realizing ," she cursed.