Once night fell on the city of Chrimoria, Holden left his office under the cover of darkness. The long coat he wore had changed colors to black, and Holden wore the face-changing mask to take on the appearance of a generic looking elf once again. He also put on a pair of black leather gloves, a black mask to further conceal his identity, and a black hood so he would blend into the darkness better.


    Holden tried to remain out of sight as he made his way toward the police station. He climbed up to the rooftop of a building across the street where he kept a close eye on the front door. Holden waited patiently as officers came in and out of the station throughout the night. There was still a large number of pedestrians on the streets, too. Chrimoria had a bustling nightlife that usually didn’t calm down until after midnight.


    Holden waited until then to finally make his move. He climbed back down to the streets, and quickly but quietly rushed toward the front door of the police station. Originally, Holden had planned to pose as an inspector once again so he could walk into the station to look through case files. However, getting into the case files wasn’t that easy. The room where they were kept was restricted to inspectors only. Holden knew he wouldn’t be able to bluff his way into a place like that, nor could he pose as an inspector. Too many things could go wrong if he took that approach. For all Holden knew the inspector he was trying to impersonate could already be in the station, or the officers guarding the place might be familiar with the inspector, making it more difficult for Holden to fool them. These guards were always on the lookout for imposters anyways, so sneaking in unnoticed was Holden’s best chance at getting a look at those case files.


    After making it to the front door of the station, Holden quietly opened the door. There was a different officer sitting at the front desk during the night shift, and it looked like that officer was having trouble keeping his eyes open.


    The room was also dimly lit. There hadn’t been very many technological advancements in energy, so fire was still the primary source of light during the night. Some objects could be imbued with magic to provide light, but the magic within them would have to be replenished frequently. Another method was to make objects that would glow in the dark. They didn’t provide as much light, but they lasted much longer. The latter method was what police stations used as light sources at night.


    Small, glowing crystals hung from the ceiling providing a faint blue light which dimly lit the inside of the station. Although these dim lights made it possible for people to see at night, they also had the unusual effect of making people feel sleepy.


    This boded well for Holden, because he was able to sneak past the officer at the front desk, who had shut his eyes for a brief moment, completely unaware that Holden had literally walked right in front of him.


    Holden made his way to the entrance of the evidence room. There were a couple of guards sitting at a desk by the door that Holden would have to find a way to get past without being seen. He took a blowgun and two small white paper balls from his coat pocket, then shot each paper ball in succession, hitting each guard with one ball.


    Poof! The paper balls exploded into a white powder. This powder was a mix of fairy dust, sand, and a few other ingredients which created a sleeping powder. The two guards hit the desk as they fell asleep.


    Holden then swiped the keys from one of the guards and made his way into the evidence room. Before searching through the evidence, Holden checked the entire room to ensure he was alone.


    The room had at least a dozen rows of shelves filled with boxes, files, and all sorts of other things related to investigations going back as far as the past six months.


    Once he confirmed the room was clear, Holden began searching for the case files, starting with the shelves closest to the entrance. It took him a couple minutes to sift through all of the boxes until he finally found the correct one.


    Holden placed the box on the floor, and started digging through it after using his magic eye drops. He found Durik’s warhammer, and immediately noticed fine traces of magic permeating the shaft.


    Any time a spell was used on an object or person, a small amount of magic would linger. It was like how fingerprints were left behind on something a person touched. Furthermore, just like fingerprints, everyone’s magic was unique, and there were methods for identifying these differences.


    The inspector should have been aware of this. Holden looked for a copy of the report the inspector wrote up for the case and found no mention of the magic signature.


    Holden was about to continue searching for any other discrepancies when he suddenly heard the door to the evidence room swing open. He quickly packed everything up, put the box back on the shelf, and hid before whoever had made their way inside was able to find him.


    An elf wearing an inspector’s uniform walked down the aisle Holden had just been looking through. The elf was male, bald, and held a white crystal in his hand that glowed brightly. This was this world’s equivalent of a flashlight. It was a brightly glowing crystal that used magic to generate light. Just like a flashlight, the light could be turned on and off.


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    The bald elf pointed the light at the boxes and stopped right when he saw the box Holden had just been looking through. The elf then grabbed the box, and walked out of the evidence room, quietly shutting the door behind him.


    Holden quickly and quietly went after the elf. Fortunately, there weren’t very many people in the station, so Holden was able to stealthily follow the elf without any trouble.


    The elf made his way out the back door and into the alleyway. Holden continued following him while sticking to the shadows to remain unseen, his footsteps so quiet that the elven inspector remained oblivious to the fact that he was being followed.


    The elven inspector made his way through a series of back alleys until he found himself face-to-face with two figures. One was a massive minotaur standing over eleven feet tall with an ax in one hand. The other was a human in blue mage’s robes.


    The human gestured for the elven inspector to follow him and the minotaur. The three of them then went to an abandoned building a few blocks away. They walked up to the second floor, unaware that Holden was tailing them.


    Holden’s gut was telling him that these guys were part of the fairy trafficking ring, but he hadn’t expected what happened next.


    The building Holden had followed the human, minotaur, and elf into had large rooms with a wide open space. It looked like an abandoned, multi-story warehouse. It was unusual for a building with this much empty space to go unused in the city of merchants, but that wasn’t the most surprising thing that Holden saw. The thing most startling to Holden was that once he arrived on the second floor, he saw Sable tied up to a support beam, while being poked with a dagger by a scrawny-looking human.


    “No. Please. Stop.” Sable cried.


    The human kept poking him with the tip of the dagger. “Come on, kitty. You know what we want. Tell us where all of your friends are, and we won’t have to take drastic measures.”


    The elven inspector groaned. “You’ve been at this for hours and haven’t gotten anything out of the stupid feline?”


    “Don’t you worry,” the blue-robed human said. “You got the evidence already, and brought this cait-sith to us. We’ll take care of the rest from here, Valrin.”


    After hearing that name, Holden was able to put all of the pieces together. The name of the elf inspector was Valrin, who was the inspector assigned to investigate the murder of the tavern owner. That explained why the inspector ignored all the evidence and arrested Durik. Valrin was somehow involved in this fairy trafficking ring, and wanted to cover his tracks. Destroying the evidence was just another way to ensure no one would be able to discover the truth.


    Valrin sneered at the blue-robed human. “Then what are we going to do about that nosy prosecutor? And that PI as well? The two of them know something is amiss. How are we going to deal with them?”


    “We have people who can deal with this. It’ll be easy to make the PI disappear. The prosecutor is a well-known figure. It’ll take some work to get her out of the picture, but our associates will take care of everything. You just do your job, inspector. Keep covering our tracks, and we’ll keep your coffers full of coin.”


    “Fine. I’ll get out of your way then.” Valrin dropped the box on the ground and started walking away.


    If he wanted to break this case wide open, then Holden needed to act now. Otherwise, inspector Valrin might get away scot free.


    Pew! Holden fired a blow dart with a fast-acting poison that would paralyze someone instantly at Valrin’s neck. Valrin fell flat on the ground once the paralysis took effect.


    The minotaur ran over to check on him. Holden quickly ran behind the minotaur, slashed its calves, and then concealed himself in the shadows once more.


    Agh! The minotaur howled. “What was that?”


    The two humans looked around with bright, glowing crystals in hand, but they didn’t see anything.


    Holden took advantage of the confusion. He grabbed a throwing knife from his boot, and tossed it at the head of the man who had been poking Sable with a dagger.


    The knife pierced his skull, causing the man to bleed. It wasn’t enough to kill the man right away, but he collapsed to the ground and was slowly bleeding out.


    The blue-robed man pulled out a wand from beneath his sleeve and started firing spells. A fireball hit the spot where Holden had just been standing when he threw the knife, but to the blue-robed man’s dismay, Holden had already changed positions.


    Holden threw another knife at the blue-robed man, hitting him right in the chest. The blue-robed man shot another fireball, but Holden rolled out of the way.


    With the twin daggers he carried on his hip in hand, Holden was able to sneak behind the blue-robed man and drive both daggers into his back.


    Agghh! The blue-robed man screamed in pain before passing out from shock.


    Right as Holden was about to walk over to Sable, the minotaur charged at Holden from behind. The minotaur swung his ax horizontally. However, both the minotaur’s and Sable’s eyes popped when they saw Holden backflip over the ax. Holden then kicked the minotaur in the head before finishing the backflip. He then grabbed the minotaur by the horn, tugged on it to raise its head off of the ground, and sliced its throat.


    Now that the fight was over, Holden checked the pulses of the minotaur and two humans to ensure they were all dead before cutting the ropes keeping Sable tied to the support beam.


    “Oh, great. The idiot human saved me,” Sable said mockingly. “Why couldn’t it be the pretty elf lawyer lady?”


    “Cats crushing on elves?” Holden jeered. “That’s a new one.”


    “That’s not what I meant, you dolt. I just like her more.”


    “Maybe I should just tie you back up and leave you here.”


    “No. That’s fine. Forgive my constant bantering. I do appreciate you saving me.”


    Holden could tell Sable was being sincere, so he decided not to make fun of him for now. He grabbed the box of evidence Valrin had tossed on the ground, then continued talking to Sable. “So, what exactly happened after Elliandra and I left you with Captain Wynhart?”


    “He left me in an interrogation room with that maniac,” Sable explained, pointing at Valrin. “After this inspector interviewed me for a couple of hours he escorted me out of the station. Little did I know he led me through the back door where the minotaur was waiting to grab me. Can’t say for sure whether or not the captain was complicit in the whole thing, but I don’t trust him one bit.”


    “Well, I know one person we can trust to take care of this.”


    “Relly? Who?”