Bethany sobbed, her forehead resting on Julian’s shoulder. “Who would do something so... awful! To Kyle! I know Kyle has enemies, but murder?”

Julian’s shirt absorbed a big puddle of tears, by this point, and was expanding.

Detective Chen muttered, “Obviously, this guy had enemies.”

Chen stared down the barrel of his ballpoint pen. Bethany didn’t overhear through her sobs, but Jeff glared at him.

“Sorry about all this,” offered Jeff. He narrowed his eyes at Julian, somewhat jealous of the attention Julian was getting from Bethany.

Nick and Sadie stood to the side. Sadie’s eyes were red, and she cuddled in close to Nick.

“Should I take you home?” asked Nick.

“Yes, please. I need to get out of here. Maybe to Mom’s house - I don’t want to go to my dorm.”

“Officer Chen,” asked Nick. “Do you need us right now?”

“Noooo,” said Chen. “We’ll call you.”

Sadie walked up to Bethany, and gave her a bear-hug. “I’ll see you at home Mom. I love you.”

“Love you too, Sadie.”

Nick led Sadie through the morgue’s hallways, and out onto the pavement. The sun shone brightly. Nick put his forearm up to block it, and tried to remember where they’d parked.

“I can’t believe they let us out of here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we drove here in a stolen car, with the murder weapon sitting in the back seat.”

“Oh, right.” Sadie was too exhausted to make much sense of the big picture.

They got into the Honda. As Nick started up the car, he started putting together his to-do list.

-Take Sadie home
-Make sure Sadie chills
-Decide what to do with the gun
-Return the “borrowed” car to the lot

This is going to be a long day, man.

###

A few hours later, with things wrapped up at the morgue, Detective Chen and Jeff were back out on patrol. Dispatch called in, and Chen picked up.

“Funny smell? Okaaaaaay.” Pause. “Alright, we’re on it.” He hung up.

“What’s up?” asked Jeff.

“Apparently, someone called in a funny smell behind Smash Courts.”

“Funny smell?”

“That’s what I said. But apparently, there’s a funny smell. Lieutenant thought we’d want to check it out, as Smash Court’s connected to our homicide.”

“Of course we do, Chen! The smell’s probably dumpster crap, but it very well could be connected to our case. Pull out your gloves and can of Febreze.”

“I think it comes in a bottle.”

“What? Who cares?”

“Well, you’ll care if you’re ever faced with eliminating a tough odor.”

Ignoring Chen, Jeff wheeled the car around, back toward Smash Courts.

“So Chen, who do you think knocked off Kyle?”

“HMMMMM. That’s a tricky one. Probably Beth. She got an inheritance or something, now that the old man’s dead?”

“You mean Bethany? Naw, it couldn’t have been her. You saw how she reacted.”

A fly came in through the window of their cruiser. Chen eyed it, losing interest in the conversation.

“It couldn’t have been her, Chen.”

“What? Who, then?”

“That’s the thing, isn’t it? I think we could make a case for the kid, the gang-banger, but I’m not sure he’s the guy.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

They rode in silence for a bit, making their way through the marina, towards Smash Courts.

“It could be that guy Julian,” Chen suggested. “The Smash Courts guy.”

“How so?”

“Well, looks like he’s all nicey-nicey with Bethany. Maybe he took out Kyle in a jealous rage or something.”

“Whaddaya mean ‘nicey-nicey’ with her,” asked Jeff, a bit aggressively.

“You know he’s totally tapping that.”

“Shut up, Chen.”

“Dude, did you see the size of that puddle on his shoulder? Case closed.”

“I know, Chen.”

“Search your feeeelings, Jeff. You know it to be true.”

“I KNOW, Chen. Geez.”

Jeff steamed, as they rode towards the courts. The sun glinted off the other cars coming and going on Bay Street. “You know, maybe Julian did do it.”

They pulled into the Smash Courts lot, parked, and got out of the cruiser.

“Where’s the nasty smell supposed to be?”

“Around back.”

The detectives headed towards the back alley, when Chen noticed the bushes by the front door rustling. Someone was standing back there. He walked over to check it out, and could make out someone, partially concealed.

“Hey,” said Chen. “What are you doing back there?”

“Me?” asked a voice.

“Uh, yeah. You.”

“Oh.” Christian emerged, scraping through a small gap between the bush and the concrete wall. His hair was wild, sprouting up above his headband. He was wearing squash clothes, but didn’t look like he’d been playing squash. His eyes were bloodshot and his lips were chapped. Quite a sight. “I was just, uh, trying to find the cat. He, uh, ran out of the courts when I opened the door, and I was trying to get him back inside.”

“Cat isn’t supposed to be inside, Christian. Cheeto’s a stray Sadie and Kim have a soft spot for. Julian hates when he gets inside. He craps in the plants,” said Jeff, eyeing Christian suspiciously. He didn’t buy his cat story for one second.

“Oh. What are you guys doing here? Did you come to check something out or, uh, something?”

Jeff stared at Christian without answering.

Chen piped up. “Apparently there’s a funny smell. It’s around back.” He and Jeff started walking.

Christian followed, saying, “The cat might be back there.”

They made their way around the side of the club towards the dumpster.

“Wow, it DOES smell back here,” volunteered Christian.

Chen sniffed the air. “It smells like....cat pee.”

“Roger that,” said Jeff. “Cat pee.”

“No, no, no,” countered Christian.  “It smells like something died back here. Maybe check the dumpster.”

Jeff swung open the lid, and peered in. “It’s rank, but it’s just a bunch of trash bags.”

Christian’s eyes were as big as saucers. He looked into the dumpster. It was just a bunch of trash bags. The smell of death, so powerful only hours before, was tough to locate now. All he could catch a whiff of was some stinking garbage.

“What about this?” he said, spying a broken squash racket. He pulled it out. It was smashed in multiple places. He stood motionless, holding the racket, his jaw hanging down, slack. WHERE WAS KIM? Her lifeless body had been wedged in the dumpster. Now, it was gone.

Chen and Jeff glanced at each other.

“I guess this concludes our official police business,” grumbled Chen.

Just then, Cheeto the cat rounded the corner of the alley and bounded toward the group.

Jeff laughed. “There’s our suspect, eh Chen?”

“Sir,” said Chen, addressing the orange furball, “we’re going to have to take you down to the station for a few questions about a funny smell.”

As Cheeto neared them, Jeff realized Cheeto was holding something in his mouth. Jeff leaned down to scratch the cat’s chin, and get a better look. It was a necklace, a leather cord with a silver squash racket, dangling from it. Jeff pried it away, and inspected it.

Chen asked, “What’s up?”

“Chen, swab it. I think this trace is human blood.” Possibly, Kim’s blood.