The Second Report: Part 2

"In the bakery, selling donuts, giving away food, doing his usual," Levy said, "Not anything out-of-the-ordinary."

"Hmmm," Jevony said, a hand on his chin. "We have to go, detective. We'll leave you gentlemen and lady to deal with this butter business. Perhaps, I'll bring you guys a croissant or something, help pass the time."

The scientist all turned to look at him again, this time angrily.

Jevony left the room.

"He's good," Levy said, "But I don't like him mocking me."

"Not my fault," detective Veracruz said, "He knows something I don't and it doesn't involve butter."

"So you think we should all get croissants, detective?" Levy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Detective Veracruz frowned. "Maybe a bagel for the lady. Good day, detectives."

They walked out the room, Jevony carefully observing a plant by the window. "A spoon is tricky business," Jevony said.

"Now you know what I've been dealing with," Detective Veracruz said.

"You talked to any of this kid's family, his friends?"

"To his mom. She said he was a loner, mostly. No friends."

"So she's in on it, too, eh?" Jevony asked, surprising detective Veracruz with this bit of information.

"Er, in on what?"

"The drugs," Jevony said.

"What drugs?" Detective Veracruz asked.

"The ones they didn't mention they found in the butter."

Just then, officer Levy, still in white suit, walked out behind them and said, "Er, we found traces of PCP in the butter!" he said, excitedly, as if proud of himself.

"You'll have to excuse my stupidity on this one, kid, but how did you know about the drugs?"

"I was looking at the plant," Jevony said, "For a minute and then thought, hey, no bread, no fingerprints, which means drugs."

"No bread?"

"Oh, yeah, why would you need all that butter and no bread?"

Detective Veracruz smiled. "So you're saying he was a drug smuggler."

"No, not him," Jevony said, "He helped. You ever notice that old man doesn't give everyone that comes in free pastries? You ever notice how carefully some grab these pastries, you ever had one of them people before you sitting in a booth, eating that pastry?"

"Er," Detective Veracruz said, baffled.

Paul Bogart came in through a door at the end of the hallway. He was dressed in a gray suit and was about to bite on a donut, when Veracruz stopped him. "Er, leave it be Paul, it's for your own good."

Paul looked at his stomach, which was a bit on the outside but otherwise not all out. He looked fit but he was a bit wide. "Er, It can't be that bad. I just drank some bad coffee."

"No, I mean it might have drugs in it," Veracruz explained.

A cellular phone rang. Veracruz and Paul checked their pockets. Jevony waved it around to make sure they got the message. "Oh," They said, "What's this about drugs in my donut?" Paul asked, quietly.

"Speak to me, I'm not dead," Jevony greeted. "Oh, hi. Yes, I'm with your dad. Er, no, I told you already. Think about it? I'm talking to your dad about dead guys with spoons buried in their chests and you want me to think about it? Look, I've already said it, you're crazy. Fun? Fun? You're sick, you got a twisted perception of what a relationship is based on. Trust, yeah, trust but not that kind of trust. I know you love me, I love you, too but you're out you're mind, my dear. Well, I got to go, your dad is making funny faces at me. What? Oh, you know, like he wants to strangle me with-hello? Good, that did it," Jevony finished, pushing his cellular phone closed with a snap.

"You're a real ladies man," Paul said, smiling.

Jevony frowned in his direction. "You didn't buy that at Lorn's, did you?"

Paul shook his head, "Dunking Donuts, 'cross the street, why, 'ant one?" He asked, biting into the donut, ignoring his partner's warning.

"You'll be okay," Jevony said.

Richard Veracruz laughed. "He's good. I'll explain it to you in the car."

Jevony was staring at a piece of paper. It read:

Description of Crime Scene:

Deceased: Robert Flores

Reason: Spoon in Chest

Description: Six feet tall, bulky, blonde hair, green eyes, one-hundred-fifty pounds.

Scene: Melted butter on the floor, no prints. Spoon seems to be at the tip, all they way into the heart, face down.

"Ugh!" Jevony said, throwing the paper over his shoulder.

Richard caught it with one hand, quickly. "Ah."

"I need to see the body," Jevony said. "Take me to the morgue."

Richard looked at Paul. "What about the drugs?" Paul asked.

"Are you into drugs or murders?" Jevony asked.

"I thought you said this was an accident?" Richard asked, concerned.

"No, the spoon would be too deep for that, too precise. I think someone put it on the floor and tipped a ladder over or something."

"We found a bunch of boxes all over the place, as if they'd fallen, but no ladder."

"Good," Jevony said, "Something I didn't know. We'll skip the dead guy visit."

They arrived at Lorn's in an hour, at which point Jevony got another phone call from the girlfriend, Richard's eighteen-year-old daughter. "Ah, good that you called. It's not like I didn't just say no to you six times. Talk to your dad, then? Okay." Jevony passed the phone over.

Richard gave him a mean eye. "Is this about sex?" He asked, "You scared of the first time, junior detective?"

Jevony felt like laughing at the irony but said nothing, "I'm not about to ruin the edge I have over you, Veracruz."

"We'll see," Richard said, smiling. "Hey, honey. Oh, Oh, Oh, well, I was wanting to ask you something, too. Have you had sex with our hero? Oh, Oh, none of my business, then. I see. What's that you want form me? Convince him to do this thing with you? What thing? Sex? Oh, I see. Just a thing. No need for me to know, then? Right, Right," Richard paused and handed the phone back to Jevony, "She wants to talk to you."

"We'll talk later," Jevony said to him and closed the phone for the moment.

"Won't she be calling you back?" Paul asked.

Richard and Jevony gave each other a stare. "No, not really," They said, in unison.

"So, kid, you've left me in a pretty awkward situation."

"Loyalty to your offspring, I understand," Jevony said, "Not like it makes any difference. It won't work."

"Well, what if I solve this case, instead of you," Veracruz said.

"Won't happen," Jevony said, sure of himself.

"He's dreaming then?" Paul asked.

"With his eyes open and his mouth moving," Jevony agreed.

"But you'll do this thing, if I do," Veracruz said, smiling.

"You ever play chess, detective?" Jevony asked.

"No, not really," Veracruz answered, still smiling.

"Solving a case like this is like a game of chess," Jevony said, "You need to know how to move the pieces and when to trap the King."

"Is that a yes?"

"I'll take your bet," Jevony agreed, "You win, I do what your daughter's been asking me to do for the past year that I've known her and, if I win, you'll promise to never mention it again, right?"

"Sounds good," Detective Veracruz agreed.

They barged inside the donut shop, while Mr. Lorn, a chinese man of stunted growth, the shortest of his lineage, about four feet ten, greeted them with a smile. "Ah, you police, you pay. No freebee's to the Heat!"

"We want to see your butter," Jevony said.

"You nice kid, why you hang around these big men?"

"They hang around me," Jevony said, annoyed, "Can we get to the butter, then?"

Veracruz was gone. He just wasn't behind them anymore.

"No butter, kid, go away. Want a donut?"

Paul looked at the man with a frown. "Where's the butter biscuits, saw about a dozen of them this morning."

"Oh, no good. Bad batch seen servant got killed in accident."

"Let's go," Jevony said. "Your partner's already solved this case."

There was a second report at the station the next day. It read:

Description of Crime Scene:

Victim: Robert Flores

Reason: Lying his ass off.

Description: Same as before, only a little scared and shivering.

Scene: A guy sitting in a bucket with a tattoo of a skull on his shiny forehead was whipping the skinny kid with a whip about once every two seconds for having lost his money and his drugs. Butter had spilled on the biscuits that concealed his counterfeit bills, which was the same butter, Robert had put PCP in, as like a joke to see how the people would react. The reason there was no prints is because dumb-ass number one let the pool of butter wash over the floor, which after a day or so, was full of them. The spoon was a kids' phone antennae pointed upward, crookedly. The drug dealer mocked his death, no one noticed when they took the kid out of the black bag headed toward the mortuary.

"The second report is better, don't you think?" Richard asked him, smiling.

"It has the stench of a cheater," Jevony said.

"But I beat you, no?"

"I'll talk to your daughter, later."

"Now would be fine," Richard assured him, handing him a phone as they sat in a small secluded dinner next to where the old donut shop used to be. Mr. Lorn was so upset that his servant was drug-dealing under his nose, he decided to move back to China, where things were normal, as he claimed.

The diner was small and they were the only ones left inside it. It was getting dark, about seven at night.

"No need," Jevony said, "Here she comes."

"We'll be on our way, then."

"Paul, Detectives, Officer Levy, shall we go?"

"Disturbing our party so soon, detective?" Levy asked.

"We'll take it to a bar, where it belongs," Richard said.

"Good," Paul said, "I was getting tired of all this health food."

"Hey, watch it!" The young and pretty waitress said.

"Except for the burgers, of course," Paul admitted.

The girl gave him a wink.

The six men sitting on the round table slowly vanished. It seemed like they were gone too soon. Jevony found himself staring into the beautiful brown eyes of his long-haired, black, silky, skirt wearing girlfriend. She gave him a long kiss in the mouth. "So, what's this you want to talk to me about?"

The pretty waitress neared them.

"Your dad convinced me to do it."

"He did?" She asked him, stunned. "I don't want you to feel obligated."

"I think I should have listened to you, in the first place, anyway. If you want to do it, then I want to, too."

"Oh, great," She said, "You want to, er, soon?"

"Wait, let's order our food first."

The waitress was in front of him, smiling with her wavy white dress on. "You two need something?"

"Or," his girlfriend said, staring wide-eyed at the other girl, "We could just eat first."

The waitress gave them a deep smile.

"Oh, honey," The girl's mother said, nearing the exit "I'm closing already. Will you let those two out before you leave?"

"Yeah, mom, I got these two," She said.

The girl's mom turned off some of the lights, as she left the place. "Romantic," Jevony said, smiling at his girlfriend.

The waitress was standing there, waiting, moving side to side.

"We'll take whatever's left," Jevony's girlfriend said.

"Well, nothing's left, really," the girl said.

"Oh, good."

The girl blushed.