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"In other news, the Phantom of Colors -Elvish Dye- is to appear in less than five minutes! Fans are lining up at the museum and have been camping out since early yesterday morning in hopes of catching a glimpse of the elusive thief! The police, as well, are boarding off exits and-" Scott black screens his phone with a smirk. It was always nice to hear his fans are causing a stir.He glances up and looks down at the museum; helicopters fly overhead with their shining spotlights, police standing by every window and door, and Scott had no doubt the inside is just as guarded.Unlucky for the police that Scott has insider knowledge.His smirk grows into a mischievous grin, and then Scott is unfurling his paraglider and jumping off the roof. His aim is true, letting him land gracefully over a vent on top of the museum.The police are always attentive to the main exits, but always seem to forget one little detail. Sometimes it is the sewers and drains, sometimes it is the emergency ladders, and sometimes -like now- it's the vents.Scott pulls out his tool kit and starts to work away at the vent, popping it off with two minutes to spare on his countdown. The crowd gets louder.He jumps through the vent just as a spotlight flies overhead, slides the vent back over the opening, and crawls through the newly opened hallway.Scott unscrews another vent opening above where his prize should be and stares down at the scene below him. The Inspector -Jimmy- is standing with the owner of the tiara, talking to him in his usual manner of wild arm waves and exaggerated voice levels. His detective buddy -fWhip- stands nearby and nods. The owner looks unnerved.Around the tiara's case is an electric fence and -really- they should know that a silly little fence couldn't stop Scott. Outside, the crowd of his fans have started to scream a countdown, Scott readies himself to act on zero.7…6…5…4…3…2…1…0! Scott presses down on the red button in his hands and the sound of a distant explosion sounds off, startling everyone in the room. Just as suddenly as the noise, the lights go off. The power blew.But with no power means both no light and no electricity in general. The fence is off.Scott drops down and softly lands on the marble floor, making not a sound save for the flutter of his clothes. Apparently that's enough for fWhip, however, as a flashlight is quick to be flashed in Scott's face."Inspector!" fWhip shouts, and then the flashlights of every officer and guard in the room are pointed at Scott. He muffles a quick swear.Jimmy steps forward, meeting his eyes, and yells out in all of his fake bravo and questionable authority, "Stop right there, Elvish! You will not be taking that tiara!""Oh, but I think I will," Scott winks. He taps on his comlink that connects him to his wonderful assistant Lizzie, whispers a code, and then charges at the fence.The power, thankfully, still hasn't returned, which gives Scott ample opportunity to launch himself over it and snatch his prize. The owner of it screams, but no one seems to pay him much mind with their attention on Scott.Lizzie is right on cue, and the lights turn on in a blinding flash. At the same time, dozens of fireworks erupt outside, further startling everyone.With the distractions, Scott pulls out his grappling hook and launches it at the still open vent, allowing it to yank him up into hidden safety. He sighs and tucks the tiara into a bag, taking no risk regarding its safety. He was a thief, yes, but he had standards!Scott expects that to be it. Sure, there's usually a chase scene when they realize Scott got outside, or sometimes he lets them see him on his way out and run them around the building, but none of Jimmy's shouts ordering for his arrest come.Instead of that, there's a panicked yelp and then fWhip calling for an ambulance. Jimmy's voice sounds next, claiming the area a crime scene and calling for a… for a murder investigation. He calls for forensics and the homicide detectives, and Scott frowns deeply.He risks a peak back through the vent and is quite startled to see that, yes, there is a dead body in the museum. Killed during his own heist, as well. This wasn't going to be good.Scott bites his lip and goes over his options, but it doesn't take long for him to make a decision. "Lizzie," he calls, "this might be a little longer than expected.""Wha- Scott, you got the crown, get out of there! I know you like playing with Jimmy, but c'mon!""No, no, that's not it. Just… don't wait up." He hangs up on her before she can start arguing and heads back toward the exit of the vent. Within minutes, Scott is in a police uniform and walking back toward the crime scene with the homicide detectives. He makes sure his mask won't be able to be pulled off, briefly wincing at the amount of glue he had to use to make sure of that, and keeps a neutral face on.Even still, it's obvious Jimmy can tell who he is the second he walks in. The Inspector doesn't say anything, thankfully, but he does raise an eyebrow. He tilts his head toward the body with a curious look, and Scott shakes his head in answer. Jimmy nods and turns back to the museum director. Scott goes up to join him."So, were you and Mr. Smith close?" Jimmy asks the director, arms crossed.The director is a man that Scott quickly recognizes. Pixlriffs is a nice man, and enjoyable to be around until the dad jokes start, but Scott has always been able to tell he was hiding something. Whether it was being a part of the crime syndicate everyone seemed to be tied to or if he secretly worked for the government, Scott wasn't sure. He also wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.Pixl shakes his head with an apologetic smile, "Afraid not. Mr. Smith has only started to be a part of this museum recently, and him being here himself is an even newer change. Normally a secretary or one of his daughters comes to get me if he needs something.""Meaning you have no idea who might have done this?""Not really," Pixl shrugs. "Though, neither of his daughters seem to be very fond of their father."Scott grabs onto that quickly, "What do you mean?" He asks, ignoring Jimmy's warning look.Pixl purses his lips as he answers, "Well his eldest, June, often complains about being treated like Mr. Smith's secretary, Nicholas. And Mr. Smith's other daughter, Maryan, complains about her father's obsession with his rarer items.""Petty things, is what I'm hearing," Scott remarks. He is earned a nod. Scott turns to Jimmy with his hands on his hips, "Seems like lackluster reasons for murder."Jimmy hums in agreement and then turns back to Pixl, "How about his secretary? Nicholas, you said it was?""Oh, Nicholas doesn't talk much. Not about his boss, at least." Pixl shrugs again."Right well, thank you anyways." Jimmy says before ushering Scott away with a scolding look. When they are far enough away from any odd directors and snooping detectives, Jimmy glares at him. "What are you doing here? I would've thought you'd have gotten away during all the chaos."Scott rolls his eyes and scoffs, "Jimmy, there was a murder during one of my heists. Of course I have to help, I have a reputation!""Right." Jimmy smiles. "Why would I have thought anything different?""Yeah, some inspector you are. In any case, do you know what the murder weapon was?"Jimmy's smile melts into a frown as he nods, waving towards where forensics was still dealing with the body, "We're pretty sure it was the bloody knife embedded in his back. But with the dent in his skull it's possible it wasn't.""He screamed though, didn't he? While I was stealing the tiara?" Scott pokes. "He couldn't have made that noise if he got whacked over the head. I'm betting he got stabbed but was slammed over the head to make sure he was dead.""See, the issue with that is people don't scream when stabbed either. And there wasn't enough time to both stab and repeatedly whack while you had the lights off." Jimmy counters. And really, all they were doing was proving this case was a disaster."So, basically, we currently have three maybe suspects with little motive, a questionable death, and my reputation at stake.""Technically, we don't have any suspects." Jimmy sighs. "Neither of the daughters are in the city right now and the secretary isn't even in the country on holiday.""Back to square one," Scott grumbles. He takes a look around the room to see who else it could've been. Everyone who was in the building at the time is in the room, and that's mostly officers who haven't moved from their post in three hours.It couldn't have been Jimmy or fWhip, Scott is certain of that. Pixl, while eternally suspicious, wouldn't have done it if it risked whatever it is he is doing. The officers all had alibis. Which meant all that was left was-"What about him?" Scott leans over to whisper to Jimmy. He tilts his head toward the man sulking in the corner, drawing Jimmy's eyes to him.The man is haggard, to say the least. He has an unlit cigarette held tightly between his fingers and he is glaring at where the chalk outline of the body is. His clothes are fancy but wrinkled, and his shoes are smudged with something dark.Jimmy stares at the man in contemplation as well, eventually saying, "That's Mr. Alkirk. He was found leaving the bathroom when my men searched the building. When asked if he knew Mr. Smith, he answered they used to work together and nothing more.""Possible motive?""Other than the possibility of an old friendship gone sour? Nothing."Scott blew out a breath and knocked their shoulders together, "It's the best bet we got. Come on, let's go."They approached the man, attempting to be as unthreatening as possible. It was better to question someone who didn't think you thought they were guilty, or so Scott's been told. In any case, it was best that Mr. Alkirk does not see Scott and Jimmy as threats."Mr. Alkirk?" Jimmy called out. The other glanced up with a sneer. "May we ask you some questions?"Mr. Alkirk scoffed, his sneer growing. "I don't see how I can stop ya.""Lovely. What was your relationship with Mr. Smith?""I told yer men, didn't I? Me and James used to work together, that's all."Scott leaned forward with his arms crossed, "Yet you're on a first name basis?"Another scoff. "You work with someone for a year and it's nonsense to keep up with all the misters and misses and whatever else. Then again, some of those idiots don't even deserve that much."Scott bristled at that, and his instincts told him to pick apart that sentence to find what was wrong, but Jimmy's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Despite Jimmy looking just as irritated as Scott felt, though probably for a different reason, he was able to talk in a polite voice."I see. Well, did you hold any ill will toward Mr. Smith?"Mr. Alkirk scoffs again and goes to light his cigarette, only stopping thanks to the numerous murderous looks sent his way. With an aggravated sigh, he answers Jimmy's question. "'Course I did. I don't know anyone who didn't hold something toward James. Money owed, stolen goods, stolen wives, whatever. Where James went, anger followed.""Just what we need," Scott mumbles, "a victim with plenty of people who want him dead."Jimmy ignores Scott and nods in thanks to Mr. Alkirk, "Well, thank you for the information. This will be very useful for the investigation."Mr. Alkirk rolls his eyes and mutters, "Whatever." Scott and Jimmy are already walking away by then."Any ideas?" Jimmy questions Scott with a sigh."A few." Scott says brightly. "Can we go check out the bathroom Mr. Alkirk left from when you found him?""Uh… sure, I guess." Scott drops to the edge of the room top and lets his legs dangle from between the bars of the railing. He pulls down his mask and takes a bite of the sandwich fWhip was nice enough to buy him after that hectic case.In the end, the murderer was Mr. Alkirk, to no one's surprise. He was apparently working as a plumber after Mr. Smith climbed the ranks of the company they both used to work at and fired everyone. The reason he was in the bathroom was to hide the pipe he had borrowed to kill Mr. Smith. The knife was a distraction.Petty motives and poor killing skills, bad enough that everyone seemed disappointed when the truth came out. It was almost funny to see everyone's bored looks as Mr. Alkirk explained his motive."What are you thinking about?" Jimmy's soft voice asks, breaking through Scott's thoughts. He comes to sit down next to Scott with two hot coffees, one of which Scott eagerly takes. Being up and about at 4 am after all that excitement was not a fun experience."Thinking about how I never want to do that again," Scott snickers. He takes a sip of the coffee and savors the taste. Just enough sugar. "Thank you for the coffee, Sunflower.""Oh? So I get a thank you for the coffee but not for not turning you in?" Jimmy teases. "Petal, how could you?"Scott laughs some more at that, though he is careful not to drop the coffee or sandwich. He lets his head fall against Jimmy's shoulder and closes his eyes for a moment, "You wouldn't turn me in~""I'm literally the inspector ordered to arrest you, Scott. Remind me why I wouldn't?""Because you love me," Scott teases back, leaning up to press a kiss to Jimmy's cheek. It was now Jimmy's turn to laugh, though his sounds more tired than Scott's."After that night, are you ready to turn in?" Jimmy mumbles. Scott finishes off his sandwich and snatches Jimmy's coffee before he drops it."Yeah, I think that's a good idea. And let's hope there isn't ever another murder at one of these.""Speaking of which, was that tiara what you were looking for?""Nope. You can turn it in tomorrow.""You know, if I keep turning these in, someone is going to suspect something.""Let them," Scott whispers, kissing Jimmy truly this time. "It'll be worth every second."