Case 06 - The Last Special Stream

--- Precinct 13 - Conference Room 3 ---

Eireann was checking up on the known cases and the place they were going to today. She was taking extensive notes on paper, it was faster than typing it out and later printing out copies. Also, it would cause her notes to get logged in the case files forever, which was a pain when writing something spanning multiple cases.

She was also preparing a censored version of the information from the cases for publishing and the briefing with the 'Cops Live' team.

It was all a pain in the ass.

The worst part?

She had 'levelled up', she wasn't just a rat whisperer any more, she was now the rodent whisperer. Bats were not rodents, something she had spent half the day explaining after looking it up. Something about Cécile being called a rodent had annoyed her.

The animal whisperer was still on hold, since nobody knew what animals she was able to talk to. Thankfully nobody had seen her speak to Scotty. It made her wonder, however, how cats were going to treat her, or foxes. However, that was something for later. At least her day stream was going to be mostly normal. She had just doomed herself; she was going to have Zaria on the phone, no way it was going to be normal.

She finished preparing the materials, now she had to present them on stream and answer additional questions while on the way there. She wondered why the format of meeting at the place had changed. It just meant more wasted time and spending longer with the stream team.

Until they arrived she was briefing the forensics, technicians, and policemen on the area and cases. It was really an odd place.

Soon, the door opened and the stream team entered.

Julia Roberts the reporter and host, the two cameraman, a video technician, the manager, a make up artist, two technicians, and a man dressed flambently in pure white came in, checked the lights, did a line-check, and equipped Eireann with a microphone; the transmission and battery unit was hung on her belt, and the lavalier microphone (generally known as a lav mic) was attached to the collar.

Everything felt far more professional this time.

The detective suspected that it was since the last stream was a huge success, and they wanted a running commentary this time. She knew she had talked a lot last time, now they wanted her to talk even more. She really hoped that the streams were over and she was back to normal duty.

Finally, it was time to start the stream.

Considering it was 11, it meant that they were going to work and stream through lunch at least, and probably dinner. Since she hadn't considered it before and nobody had shared a timetable with her aside from the stream start, she was going to ask while live.

First, she was suffering through the care of the make-up artist.

--- Conference Room 3 - Stream Start ---

"Welcome to Cops Live. I am Julia Porter, your host and reporter, live from Precinct 13. With us is Detective Eireann Mc Glytch, who showed us such an interesting use of animals during our last stream." Julia announced grandly, the last stream had received a lot of views, especially once the thing with bats had started.

The camera panned from Julia to Eireann who nodded at the camera. "Hello and welcome, I am Detective Eireann Mc Glytch, today I will offer a briefing as we explore more cold cases. Unlike the last time where the building counted at one case due to the gruesome findings in the warehouse, this time we have an area that is the place of several cases."

Julia took over again with a short explanation. "A cold case is a case that does not have enough information to find a solution. This is where our last stream helped out, to find new evidence. Today, we have another special guest joining us. Mr. Jeremy Derks, better known as Mr. Xynix."

The camera panned over to a short, middle-aged man, with brown hair and a brown beard. He was wearing a white suit, white shirt, white hat, white shoes, white gloves, and white tie. He looked average aside from all the white. There was literally nothing special about him aside from everything being white aside from beard or hair.

"Welcome dear viewers, I am Xynix the Seer. I have come to help our finest in their hour of need. Together, we will find new clues, and warm the case up."

Eireann honestly liked the last one more than this one. This one was really flamboyant.

"Now, Detective Mc Glytch, what awaits us today?" Julia asked, looking around the conference room.

"Today, we are exploring the case of the Abandoned Atlantis Amusement Park. I managed to print copies of the old flyer with the map of the area. So you don't get distracted by other deaths. This one had an interesting history leading up to its closure." The detective started handing out the copied flyers. There were a lot of attractions.

"Now, where to start," Eireann looked through the notes. "Two people got run over by a car in the parking lot. On the bus parking lot, two buses squished a group of five between them. In the hotel, you had deaths in rooms 42, 404, 502, and 1337. No, I am not making that up. The next is the ticket hall and entrance, where someone ran amok, causing ten deaths. Food court mass food poisoning with two dead due to allergic reactions. Coral reef had someone slip and break their neck."

"Wait," Julia interrupted, "is there a place that did not have any deaths?"

"Let me check, uhm, toilet two, toilet four, the Kids Park, and the Palace," Eireann listed. "However, we found body parts from a lot of body dumps, which in our case, is pretty much everywhere in the area."

Xynix looked paler, something that was obvious thanks to the white clothing he was wearing, "This will be a difficult place to see the victims with all that death around."

"I thought we were doing a day stream so we don't have to deal with so many dead?" Eireann inquired towards Julia.

"Exactly, Seer Xynix is a known day active psychic," Julia spoke eagerly. Actually, internally, she was hoping for the detective to figure out something interesting. "Do you have an alternate plan?"

"Actually I do," Eireann admitted, "I managed to convince a diviner to help out, we can call her in case we need help."

"Why doesn't she come herself?" Julia asked directly.

"She doesn't want the publicity. After all, only anonymity protects you from getting attacked for knowing things you shouldn't know," Eireann paraphrased what Zaria had told her.

"That makes public psychics heroes for putting their lives in danger, what is your opinion on this danger?" Julia turned towards Seer Xynix.

The man was worried but did his best not to show it, "Someone has to, also it helps raise awareness to our services and the possibilities that those like me have to offer. The danger is negligible for us, after all."

"Quick question, considering the timetable since I did not receive a copy; are lunch and coffee planned?" Eireann interrupted.

"Yes, we have lunch boxes and drinks, including coffee, prepared," Julia replied. "We can't have our best tired and hungry, after all."

Eireann's phone rang, she checked, and found 'My Lewd Cat' to be the caller. She looked toward Julia and excused herself, with a "One moment," as she accepted the call. "I am on stream, so make it quick."

The clip-on microphone managed to record the response that came from the phone, "Are you really going to drink someone else's mass produced coffee?"

The detective needed a moment to figure out what the older shadow cat wanted, "Just because I am drinking some random coffee, does not mean that I am cheating, actually since when does drinking the coffee of someone else count as cheating?"

"It counts since your girlfriend is the owner of a café~" Dorea shot back.

It made sense in an odd way, yet it did not, "fine, if you manage to bring a coffee over in the next half hour, I won't drink a stranger's coffee."

"And a lunch box!" Dorea insisted.

"And a lunch box," Eireann confirmed with a suffering sigh.

Meanwhile, Julia was listening in on the conversation through her earbuds, it made her smirk, she had something to do small talk with now. The detective had a girlfriend.

"I will be there soon, love you!" Dorea cheered.

"Love you too, drive safely," Eireann steeled herself for what was to come, her perverted mate was rather hard to predict. Hopefully, she was going to keep the affection down. Eireann felt a bit doomed. "Back to the briefing, do you wish to know the other accidents and deaths?"

"Yes please!" Julia was eager, the TLDR from the stream was that their audience was very interested, and the hot redhead calmly talking about death was getting them a lot of fans. "What are some of the weirdest ones?"

"Weird? Hmm," Eireann checked her notes. "There was a duo of deaths on the Vortex Carousel, a chain snapped, took off the head of someone who was waiting in line, then his friend, spooked by the head smacking into him, slipped, fell down the three steps and shattered his skull. It was a really unlucky fall. More odd are the five cases of drug overdose in toilet 5; how that many did it in the same toilet and same stall even, is something that had the statistics people go insane. Then, near the mist area, someone was told to move away from the area where they dug up the pipes due to some blockage, the person wanted to see a manager, didn't look, ran into the old pipe while it was dangling from the crane, fell into the hole, and the unbalanced pipe slipped from the slings and impaled the idiot." That one was a Darwin Award winner if she had ever seen one.

"That was really weird, and gruesome. How did that place not close?" Julia was frowning, after all, places had closed down for far less.

"There were inquiries into corruption, mismanagement, and bribery. However, nothing was ever found. Even when the owners sent orders to close the place down, either the documents got lost, the messenger died, or the one ordering it had a non-fatal accident. Now, I will explain the remaining deaths."

---

"And that is it for the former accidents, according to the unproven rumours, the only reason the Atlantis Amusement Park stayed open is bribes, however like I said before, there was never any proof found. Over time, child visitors went down, while adrenaline junkies, death hobbyists, and occult mystery fan visitors went up. Curse breakers were hired as well, since the park always passed all inspections, and even the after reports never found logical reasons for the accidents. They were just illogical. Well, aside from the tunnel of love, that one was arson as I explained, even if the arsonist failed to kill her target, she did kill the others."

"This park has a really morbid history, one that did not stop with the closure. Aside from the cold case, were there other things that happened?" Julia could feel it, there was more to it.

"Yes, a satanic cult did a suicide ritual in the basement of the palace. A group of teens doing a courage test managed to drown inside the lake, aside from the one they forced to explore the empty aquarium. A security guard managed to get mauled by a flock of ducks. A group of looters locked themselves in one of the hotel rooms and tried to rappel down from the 9th floor. It did not end well for them," she left the splats they had made unspoken. However, everyone could imagine what had happened.

There was a knock on the door of the conference room.

"Yes?" Eireann called out.

Dorea strutted in, she was wearing a white gothic lolita dress with a lot of ribbons, and she was armed with a large delivery bag. "Eri~"

"Dorea," Eireann greeted her perverted lover. "Is it fine if I introduce her? Or does that count as free advertisement, or whatever that is called?"

"Let me ask," Julia turned to her manager who pulled her phone out and called the director.

Dorea had been tracking the stream. "Are you sure you want to go to that place? It sounds a lot like a cursed place," she asked her lover.

Xynix cut in, "indeed, the amount of death there is incredible. I suspect it is indeed a deeply cursed place. We will have to be careful there to not get cursed by evil energies. I see us surviving this, however." Xynix wanted to show off to the pretty white goth. She matched his clothes far better than the detective did.

Julia meanwhile smirked, that recorded chat with her girlfriend had boosted the detective's popularity instantly, especially since the white goth was a real looker, now that they got a look at the pretty girlfriend the chat was running wild. Now that they had a chance to learn more, they wanted to see and hear more. She received confirmation from the manager, "I have asked and management agrees to a proper introduction. So, what kind of person is dating one of our finest protectors?"

Dorea was not human, human logic did not apply to her. However, she was a shadow cat, and that meant when she wanted to flaunt it, she did it really well. She did a purrfect curtsy while raising her skirt a little, "I am Dorea van Howlers, owner of the Black Cat Café. It is a small café not far from here, which is how I met my dear Eireann." The cat rose and leaned against the slightly taller human, tilting her head, she rubbed her cheek against her mate's cheek and placed a kiss on it, leaving a perfect lip print in deep red. The training to leave lip marks had finally paid off.

"Now, Eri, I brought you two cans of coffee, the white one is the one you like more, but it loses taste over time. The black thermos is for later, it is a mix that tastes well even when not drunk soon and it has cooled down. The three large brown ones are for the crew, with wishes for a successful stream. As for lunch, I made you sesame chicken breast with rice and vegetables. Something that does not need to be heated up. Ari is proposing salmon and potatoes for dinner in case you need to stay longer," the cat proposed the menu made by the mermaid. "Should you require dinner in the field, I volunteered to deliver it."

"Do you even know where we are going?" Eireann asked Dorea.

"I have no idea what the address is, but I am sure I can get there quickly. In case you are interested, a few volunteers offered to hold a barbecue, you might remember some of them. For example: black hair, almost black eyes, pale skin, and a crazy laugh," Dorea offered.

Eireann felt a flash of memory, a fallen angel laughing and cutting through a gang member with a sword burning with holy fire. Slashing blood onto her white dress. "Was she wearing a white dress that she managed to splash?" She left the 'with blood' part unspoken.

"Yes, that is her. She is a certified 'Grill Master'," Dorea announced.

"Actually, that would work," Julia quickly had a hushed chat with her manager, in case the stream expanded over the planned 18:00 end, a free meal would take care of the nourishment, and in return, the café would get some free advertisement. The chat seemed to approve as well, the viewers seemed to approve of the possessive girlfriend marking her detective. It added a human side to the stream. "The planned end is at 18:00, however, there is a chance that we will have to extend, in case we gather new evidence."

Dorea nodded in understanding, she looked at her mate, "So, whom did you contact for help?"

Dorea almost said Zaria, but that was probably a bad idea, so she did the next best thing. "White."

"Oh," Dorea froze, "she agreed?" Her voice was higher pitched as she asked to make sure.

"Yes?"

"I will start preparing." Dorea was a businesswoman, this stream was going to be a huge advertisement for her small café. "The Black Cat Café is a goth café, however, we have lunch and dinner menus as well. With the addition of an open air barbecue and grill, our regular menu will change, so can I borrow your laptop? I need to think up a workable menu."

"Why don't you go and ask Fio for help?" Eireann wanted to move Dorea out before she did more than mark her. "I need my laptop for the presentation. Additionally, I have work software installed that I am not supposed to let anyone without clearance see."

"Right, can you get an officer to escort me? I am pretty sure I shouldn’t walk around when not doing deliveries," the cat seemed oddly sensible, for once.

"I will do that, we need to talk about the coffee deal anyway," The Chief announced as he pushed past the film crew, happy to get away from the insanity.

"Really‽" Eireann couldn't believe it. "Are we getting real coffee instead of the cheap coffee machines or the overpriced capsule machines?"

The Chief smirked, "Indeed, which is why I am escorting Ms. van Howlers. Your sister decided to negotiate for a coffee deal with the Black Cat Café."

"I thought that was something that came from Dorea herself," Eireann gave her innocently smiling kitty a surprised look.

"Your sister may have analyzed the coffees we use and the slop from the coffee machine. The results were not pretty. Your girlfriend has contacts with a bakery that makes very good donuts. I know that place, they make my favourite ones there."

"Ahh," that explained everything to Eireann, the Chief was one that really held up to the 'cops and donuts' stereotype. "Very well, I will leave my girlfriend in your care. We should be pretty much finished here, and will move out soon."

The Chief nodded and turned to the camera, "Thank you all for joining us, this kind of thing is not as fascinating as fresh field work, but it is a very important part of solving cases. Most of it is usually done by the forensics and technology team. Having Detective Mc Glytch along is unusual, but she helps explain and organize the crime scene. I hope you all have an enjoyable live stream."

Seer Xynix had not foreseen this, he was sidelined. However, there was still time for recovery. He would just have to make a majestic showing at the Amusement Park.

--- Chief's Office ---

"So, are you from that side?" The Chief asked warily. Anything that had to do with that side was a headache thanks to that secrecy statute that surrounded it.

"Yes, I am," Dorea had no problems with admitting it. "My coffee and food are 100% natural however, no magic is used in their growing or preparation."

That was good news, if they were regular and traceable, that meant it was no trouble for him. He had never been there, but he heard how good it tasted. With both his Irish employees mentioning the café after getting cleared for Code Purple and Code White, it had seemed suspicious, "What about Code White?"

"Code what?" Dorea asked, wondering what was going on. "What does Code White mean?"

"You, as someone from the Otherside, are a Code Purple, Code White is the crazy and powerful white one." Watching the white dressed goth hiss and look around warily was oddly satisfying.

"Don't mention her, she hears things, and then she comes and chaos happens," Dorea looked around worried. "I may thank her for saving my Eri, but spending so much time around her is really disquieting. I have no idea how Eri, Fio, and Izzy do it."

"Might be an Irish thing." It felt so good to have someone share his worries, even if she was from the Otherside.

"Actually, that makes sense, they are known to tangle with fey," Dorea made a thoughtful noise. "Now, let's talk about less worrisome things, like coffee."

"Very well, we have coffee machines, heating plates, and most people bring their own cups and mugs."

"I am willing to get large thermoses that get refilled regularly. I can supply a set of Black Cat Café mugs as well. We can start with coffee deliveries in the morning, after lunch, during the afternoon, one for the evening shift beginning, midnight, and the last one at 2 past midnight when we close."

"You are open until 2 in the morning?" That was oddly late.

"We are a goth café that has more than half of its clientele on the Otherside. If it weren't for the incompatibility with the café license, I'd be open at night and closed during daytime, which would match my race much better. Also, donuts can be delivered on a similar schedule." Dorea came to the selling point.

The Chief decided against asking what her race is. "Doesn't the bakery close at 19:00?"

"It closes on this side, they have an Otherside branch that is open 42/7. Benefits of having the ability to have a pure clientele, I prefer it mixed."

He decided not to ask why 42. "Would you be willing to supply lunches on demand? The canteen is not always the best."

"If we can do a preorder system, sure. Ordering the same day would be hard as we are not a large professional restaurant or diner. Catering will be a new experience. Well, I guess it is fine, I am doing this for fun and Eri will benefit," Dorea was a shameless cat, in more ways than one.

"I think that should be doable," He was getting the urge to shoo her out of the office. She was only doing the café for fun? "Now, I can't let you work on my computer, but you can borrow the one of Dr. Mc Glytch."

"No, I think I will go back, and then send Eri a menu once I create it. I will write a proposal, and have it checked by my cook. Then Eri can forward it to you." Maybe she could add a food delivery option, proper food instead of mass produced canteen slop.

That would get her out of the station. He missed normal cases and people. Shoving them all off onto Mc Glytch sounded like the perfect solution.

Additionally his favourite bakery was connected to that side!

He decided that he had not heard that part, and the day deliveries were all from the normal bakery.

--- Car Ride to the Abandoned Atlantis Amusement Park ---

Eireann had ended up in the van with the main stream team. To pass the car ride, she was explaining some more things about the cases.

"Aside from the body dumps, there were many accidents with explorers; it is suspected that there were at least five different body dumpings by three killers. Additionally, we have at least eight deaths by accident, it is difficult since it seems to take an average of a week to find a body. Last winter, there was a corpse of someone who froze to death, and it was buried under a metre of snow. To the best of our research it had been there for almost three weeks, he probably slipped, knocked himself out, and froze to death." Eireann recounted one of the longer missing person cases.

It was morbid, it was insane, it was the stuff you saw in those mystic ghost and demon hunter stories.

"Actually, this place sounds less like a case for a psychic, and more like an exorcist issue," Eireann mumbled, the more she thought about it, the less sure she was about the location.

Xynix felt offended, "I am a Seer, not something as mundane as a psychic or an exorcist. I find things forgotten and lost beyond the veil of the normal world."

"Do you have access to an exorcist?" Julia was far more curious on the exorcist issue, Eireann was pretty, surprisingly friendly despite being serious, and she sold well. 'The Detective of the Cursed Cases' or 'Explaining Cursed Places with Detective Mc Glytch', sounded like a good series. She would have to propose it to her boss.

The Detective had a bad feeling, oddly reminiscent of the one she had before when the boss sicked the stream onto her. She needed a distraction, "I know a shrine maiden, if she can't do it, she probably knows someone who can do it. Actually, how did the deal with the bats go?"

"We made one-hour summaries of the stream, ‘best of’ clips, and put the full lightly edited but not cut stream online too. Just things like replacing the camera angle, panning to other places, and such. The bat skit short already has one and a half million views and had so many calls that it is AI that we added the view from the second camera and the people doing the 'behind the scenes' phone recordings."

"Wait, how many views? It has only been one day."

"Yes, they are incredibly popular. Time for numbers, dear viewers, last episode was the most watched stream we had since the first season and the episode where my colleague was shot. And that is just in one and a half days. The separate ‘bat stabbing’ skit already broke all records, and we have license requests for this by various artists, content creators, and even animal shows. Despite the time and nothing going on, even now thirty thousand viewers are listening to this, which is about double of the normal episodes."

Eireann gave the camera a look, "this sounds like a lot, I remember the stadium over there is for 15 000, so over two stadiums are watching."

Julia smirked, "let's put your knowledge to the test." It was small actions like this that made the stream interesting and added flavour. Moments later, she looked up. "You are correct, a little over 15k, how did you know?"

"There was a death during a half full match, figuring out how over seven thousand people managed to see nothing and who they were was a pain. In the end, we cheated, and gave out rewards for streams and videos showing the area we needed. I learned more about pixel interpretation than I ever wanted. That is something I want to leave to digital experts."

"Not good with technology?" Julia needled.

"I am decent, but it takes a specialist to figure out what a group of ten pixels moving this way or that way means. I remember that we used lab assistants to replay possible scenes and then did comparisons. It was like specks of dust moving on some of the worst resolutions."

Julia giggled, "I guess that having a clean recorded crime scene must be a nice rarity."

"People with their habit of recording everywhere at any time, especially when something looks interesting, is a benefit. As is the fact that a lot of content platforms tend to forward suspicious videos and images to us. A lot of the time, modern fakes and CG are hard to separate from real images."

"As a detective, what are you expecting from the Atlantis Amusement Park?"

Eireann thought for a moment, "I am hoping for a weapon, a trace of DNA, maybe some more body parts."

"I shall do my best to untangle the missed clues and see what happened in the past," Xynix promised.

--- Abandoned Atlantis Amusement Park ---

They parked at the regular parking lot. The group filtered out, and blinked at the sunny day. The large hotel and facilities looked rather clean and well for an object that was abandoned for five years.

A group of security guards was approaching. "Thomas Breaker, Team Leader for Lockdown Object Security Services, I am the one responsible for the Atlantis Amusement Park."

"Julia Porter, lead reporter for 'Cops Live'," Julia introduced herself eagerly.

"Seer Xynix, I am here to help with the issues of this park."

"Should have gotten a priest or exorcist instead," One of the security team mumbled.

"That is what Detective Mc Glytch said," Julia eagerly picked up on that and introduced Eireann. "She mentioned that an exorcist might be better. Actually, Detective, you never told us if you knew any exorcists."

Eireann pondered for a moment, she knew worse things or beings, but an actual exorcist she did not know. Luckily, when in doubt she could blame Zaria, she wondered if there was something that the floof could not do. At the very least, she lived at a shrine, "I know a shrine maiden, but I am not sure if she does exorcisms. You can ask her later, as she is the diviner I have on call." Throwing Zaria under the bus seemed sensible, and it was revenge for all the teasing.

"Oh, I will," Julia wondered if a more supernatural 'Cops Live' episode was a good idea.

The different teams were introduced to each other. Security, forensics, tech team, camera team, police security, and the main cast of Eireann, Julia, and Xynix.

--- Abandoned Atlantis Amusement Park Personal Parking ---

"I see something in the Hotel, in a sunny room," Xynix announced.

Everyone turned towards the hotel, two sides of it were in the sun; additionally there were the ground floor, a utility floor, 18 floors of rooms, a restaurant floor, and the penthouse.

"Any way to narrow it down?" Eireann asked while evaluating the building. "A building of this size would take a team like ours at least a week to comb through. More if you want to go into every crook and cranny."

Xynix closed his eyes, and held out his arms dramatically towards the high building. "It is a room that regularly held people."

That did not reduce the search radius much.

"Call your specialist," Julia egged Eireann on.

"Already?" Then she decided why not, if she was going to suffer, then others were allowed to suffer as well. She dialled the number.

The call connected.

"Hello Eri~ Calling already?~" A childish voice that Eireann barely recognized as Zaria called out. "I prepared a mirror, a pool, runes, tea, cards, marbles, and my tablet is still charging."

Eireann heard suspicious noises in the background, "Are you cooking?"

"Yes, Black wanted steak," the young voice responded.

"Want me to call later?" Eireann suspected that Zaria meant Yuki, unless someone else was visiting again.

"Do you mind if I eat while I divine whatever you need?"

"Sure, our Seer here says that there is something in a sunny room that held people regularly," Eireann explained.

"I guess I will use steak divination," the sizzling changed. "Wait, are you at a deeply cursed place?"

"I think so? Considering the history of the place."

"Tell the woman in the blue shirt near you to take two steps in any direction."

There were several looks all around, then several people, including Julia, took steps aside.

Splat.

The camera focussed on the place where a bird would have hit Julia.

"Thank you, my dear Diviner, may we have your name?"

"No, I am not interested in fame," Zaria declined.

"Why not?"

"Because people wanting to silence you is a pain, not being known helps keep the annoyance down, why clean up after splatter when we can just avoid the situation? Additionally, one side wants us to keep quiet, the other side wants us to talk. One side pays badly, the other side thinks killing is cheaper than paying for silence. So, I myself, and most others, prefer to stay out of the limelight." The sizzling stopped. "The steak is done, also is there a kitchen that is sunny? One high up, high enough for things falling to go very splat."

Eireann waved at a technician to check the floor plans.

The technician and one of the security poured over the plans. "The restaurant kitchen, the penthouse, and one of the suites should count, unless you count the small kitchenettes in the larger rooms."

"No, those don't count. And whose bright idea was it to go to such a cursed area?" The young voice sounded both chipper and curious.

"I picked it, it sounded interesting, and I thought I was safe enough," Eireann admitted, sheepishly.

"Well, you are safe, the others not so much," Zaria informed with a giggle.

"Can you exorcize this area?" The detective asked, curious.

"No, this isn't a possession case, just a cursed area, disenchanting or blessing would be enough. Exorcisms are only needed when entities are present that shouldn't be. Those that are there are not the cause, but the effect." There was a chewing sound. "Where was I? Remove the curse, and everyone lingering will go away."

"Any idea how large the kitchen we are looking for is?" The detective requested.

"Hmm, the steak says you are looking for natural materials, so I guess wood?" the young voice announced after a bite.

"That will be the penthouse," Thomas informed them. "Unfortunately, there is no power in the hotel. So that is 20 floors up without an elevator."

"Actually, in the basement of a low building, there is a large red lever that will take care of the power," Zaria chirped, "Also whoever uses it should wear nonconductive gloves, industrial grade."

The group looked at the hotel, then at the ticket hall, entrance, and souvenir store buildings.

"I think I know where that is," Thomas said carefully, "we were told not to touch anything there. But I guess it is fine to try it." The guard was not interested in climbing stairs, either.

"Remember to use the largest elevator," the far too happy voice pointed out.

"The freight elevator is in the back," the guard mentioned.

"Let's go," Eireann already had the feeling that Zaria was going to troll them.

"Call me later, I am going to finish my steak, and prepare for proper divination."

"That wasn't proper?" Julia asked.

"You can only get so much out of a steak before it is eaten." The line disconnected.

"Your diviner is weird," Julia observed.

"Yes she is," Eireann allowed herself a wry smile. "She is a tease and a troll, amusing though."

"How does one meet someone like her?"

"On the job."

--- Atlantis Amusement Park Souvenir Store ---

Passing through a small sidegate they stepped into the park to activate the power for the area. They approached the souvenir store, several keys later they managed to enter. It still had park themed merchandise on some shelves, the lights were out though.

They found the access to the private sections between two shelves, and entered into darkness, a lot of flashlights were pulled out. Both stream team technicians and the police technicians left to fetch floodlights, extensions, and to prepare for the darkness.

One of the doors they opened led to the hotel that the Souvenir store was built against. A security guard went and opened the parking lot entrance to the hotel, to let the techies back in faster.

Soon they were equipped with lanterns, and markers, one of them, who had an electricians license, had changed into heavy duty isolating clothing, just in case.

The stairs down were behind yet another door.

It was oddly dry down there, despite a mouldy smell.

Once again, there were many doors, this time however the nameplates were still present. Maintenance had another door that read 'Main Power' and 'Authorized Personal Only'.

Inside, they really found a set of main breakers.

They pulled them all, the last one caused sparks, arcs, and a yelp from the electrician.

The lights flickered to life, most of them anyway.

"That would have gotten me killed or heavily shocked probably. Good thing your Diviner mentioned it. Those things are normally safe."

"I'll have someone check it," one of the security personnel reported, it was worth mentioning that power still worked too. Which meant that with power their patrols were going to be much easier.

--- Atlantis Hotel Penthouse ---

They had found a bunch of red levers, they had activated the main switch, then the one for the hotel. Nothing shot sparks at them, and nobody died.

After sending the elevator up and down a few times, one time with random weights and a camera, the group filtered inside warily. It made some weird noises, some probably only needed grease, but they weren't prepared for random maintenance of elevators.

The group safely arrived at the penthouse.

Up top, the door didn't want to cooperate and needed enough strength to make the elevator shake, once in the penthouse everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The kitchen was near the elevator. It contained wood, as expected, the forensics swarmed the room while Eireann looked around with a critical eye.

"This is a terrible room, I see suspicious things happening here," Xynix announced.

Eireann pulled out her folder and looked through the information she had collected. "There were a lot of drug traces during the case."

Xynix beamed.

"Any idea where to look?" One of the forensics asked.

Xynix made thoughtful noises while everyone else turned towards Eireann, who sighed and made a call.

Zaria's younger voice instantly asked, "did you remember to place 'out of order' signs on the normal elevators? Because if you do not, the left one will get stuck, the middle one will crash, and the right one will open the door even if the elevator is not there."

A security guard quickly grabbed his radio, "to all teams, the normal elevators are not to be entered. Someone call the right one but do not enter."

Everyone waited with bated breath.

"Team 3 reporting, no elevator arrived, but the door still opened," came the response. "Fuck, I think I see something at the bottom."

Julia smirked, satisfied.

"Told you so," Eireann's phone chirped, "you can enter the shaft after the elevators are secured properly or we will have a squish."

"I never said you didn't, but where do we need to look?" The Detective asked to return to the main topic. She decided not to comment on the squish.

"The walk-in fridge."

Everyone looked around.

"There is no walk-in fridge," a security guard pointed out.

"Let me check the runes," they heard something clatter. "Oh hell, get masks, and a mop. It is a hermetically sealed fridge, that hasn't cooled in years, and has enough parts to make three bodies."

"Fuck," a forensic cursed. "Decomp soup in a sealed environment. Get the suits and the mops!"

"Hmm," Eireann walked around and compared the layout with the goal of finding hidden rooms. "I think behind this cupboard. Unless there is a hidden utility room, we have a suspected place for it. While you check things out, we will look for the next spot." No way she was going to stay for this, the stench was going to be horrid.

"We have to remove this carefully, I guess we should call an elevator company to check the elevators," one of the technicians mentioned.

"I think I have a number somewhere, let me call the property owners, we need to figure out who is going to pay for the repairs." Thomas sighed, he had known this was going to be a pain, and it was getting worse. They had only checked the hotel and already things were turning into a mess.

As forensics swarmed the walls and cupboards, Eireann quickly gestured for the stream team to escape with her.

--- Parking Lot ---

"Does it really smell that badly?" Julia asked Eireann, who was pouring herself a coffee from the white thermos.

"You know rotting meat?"

"Yes."

"Then imagine the meat rotting for weeks in a warm environment still in the packaging, until it is liquid, and no insects eat it."

"That sounds disgusting," Julia cringed.

"It is normal for people to vomit, and that is probably a sealed room with three bodies worth. Think of a meat soup you put in a jar and forgot to put in a fridge for a week, then you open it. Now multiply that by years." Eireann made another explanation with a dead look on her face and a disgusted shudder.

Everyone looked sick as they imagined it.

"I am so glad I don't have to go anywhere near that," Zaria chirped over the phone, reminding everyone that she was still connected.

"Where are we supposed to go next?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Walk over to parking spot 144 and dig down a few metres," came the reply from the phone.

"Do we have ground sonar?" Eireann asked one of the forensics.

"Yes, we brought it along, along with more equipment than last time," a technician confirmed, and went to work.

Julia looked at the phone, "Why am I getting smug vibes from your phone?"

"Naturally, I am smug about being right," Zaria announced. You could hear the smug in her voice.

The Detective just gave a suffering sigh.

"I see something in the food court," Mr. Xynix announced.

As nobody offered a different opinion, the group finished their refreshments, and it was nearby, they entered through a side gate. The food court was partially roofed, had two restaurants, many smaller booths and stands. Looking around, nothing was unusual aside from one small fact.

"Oddly enough, there are no broken windows, and there is no visible graffiti," Eireann observed.

"It is an oddity, we never figured out why," a security guard announced, "The places where graffiti can be found are rather particular."

"Most have accidents on the way," the little girl voice of Zaria added. "Now have fun finding the tallest chimney, and looking inside. Call me afterwards, or I will call you."

"For some reason, it feels like this will be a pain."

Julia looked around, then she pointed at the coral reef, "We should get a good view from the reef."

"And you can take a nice wide view of the area," Eireann pointed out.

"That thought did not cross my mind at all," Julia smirked.

Going up the steps, the group took in the park from the platform atop the reef.

Then the phone interrupted the peaceful moment.

"Yes?"

"Behind the cameraman, climb down a metre, and stick your hand into the small hole, wear a strong glove, or be sure you had your shots."

"Thank you, I am pretty sure I had all my shots, but have you?"

"Not at all, why should I?" Zaria showed no regard for mundane medicine.

"I can see it! That chimney over there. We will find something inside it."

Nobody commented on it, since the Diviner had already said as much. They left the climbing to a forensic, and the camera caught a good look at a rusted saw blade.

This little episode over with, they turned their attention back to the food court.

A long ladder later, everyone was walking across the roof and peering at the chimney in question. It had a small screw-on cap. Getting a screwdriver meant a technician had to go to the cars and pick up a kit.

Naturally, the screws did not cooperate and required some WD40 before removal.

Finally, it was off, and inside they found a wire tied to a screw, when they pulled it up a knife was found tied to the end of the wire.

"This is oddly simple," Eireann admitted. "Compared to last time, this is far more relaxing." She watched as a forensic bagged the knife, and took pictures of the chimney. "Where do you want to go next?"

Julia peered at the brochure, then at Xynix, "Mr. Xynix, where do you see us go next?"

"I see us cross the misting area, walking towards the kids park."

They walked, and Eireann stopped, "actually, this area looks suspicious. There are plenty of places to hide something. She pulled her phone out again. "So, which one has something hidden for us?"

"B14, A09, C07, B03," Zaria responded. "I am not totally sure what those mean, but I am sure you can figure it out yourself."

The Detective groaned in annoyance, "can someone go organize the blueprints?"

"Excuse me, Miss Diviner?" Julia interrupted, "is there a place with an easier find?"

"There is, but I don't recommend it."

"Why not?"

"You will piss off the ducks."

"Nasty ones, ever since a guard lost a finger, we stay away from the pond," Thomas explained.

"Bribery works," Zaria snickered.

"That seems to be a recurring theme, any recommendations on what they like?" Eireann asked, hoping for a simple answer.

"I eat ducks, not feed them," Zaria chirped, "but I suspect that the nearby mall has what you need."

The Detective groaned.

Julia announced, "And once again, we face our animal friends on the way to the truth. Last time they were helpers, this time they are obstacles. Ferocious guardians of their pond, dear viewers, remember the ‘mauled by ducks’ incident from the introduction? Now we know the details, and we will take you to the place later."

"Where to next?" Eireann cut the call and looked towards the white clad Seer.

"Let me see and unravel the threads." The man spun in place, looking over the attractions, comparing them to the brochure in his hands. "The mermaid tunnel, but the water is in the way."

"Aren't these things meant to get drained?" Julia and the cameraman peered into the tunnel with murky and stale water.

"The owners tried to drain the various attractions, but pipes burst, rain torrents refill them, and the drainage systems get clogged. Finally, a worker trying to fix it drowned." A helpful security guard supplied additional information.

"Oh, the accident in the tunnel incident you spoke about during the briefing, it was definitely one of the weirder ones." Julia remembered that case, someone drowning in what amounted to a deep puddle because the jacket got caught on a grate was really weird. "I can see the issue, it would be easy for something to be hidden in that muck. Do we have any more hints?"

Everyone looked to the Seer.

"Not even I can see through this incredibly disgusting mess." Xynix waved at the green and brimming with algae smelly water. It was less a mermaid ride now and more a swamp monster canal.

"Call your Diviner?" Julia prodded eagerly.

The phone rang.

"Yes?" Eireann picked up.

"Skip this one, there is no easy way to get the skull and bones hampering the water flow and causing the blockage," Zaria announced. "It is a good place to return to once the whole area has its curse lifted. If I were you, I'd also skip the pirate zombie ride and the toilet near it, those are purple areas."

Eireann understood, whatever was there was Code Purple and not meant for public viewing. "Okay, we will get to those with a specialist team later."

"Purple area? Can you explain what a Purple Area is?" Julia asked eagerly.

Eireann disconnected the call and turned towards the camera. "A Purple Area is technically a classified area. There are things there that need specialists to clean it up. That can possibly be dangerous animals, substances, or items. The worst case of this kind I saw was a cult massacre aftermath."

"The Demon Cult Massacre a few months ago?" Julia had done her homework and research. She had done even more after the last interesting stream.

"Exactly, if it is a similar situation, I really don't want to go there without a full hazmat suit, a swat team, and a specialized team." Eireann decided to stay away from there until she could get the right equipment, or bully Zaria to come over and deal with it. "Cordon the toilet and the ship off. Also, someone tell the Chief we got a situation here."

"You are the detective, that is your job," one of the forensics complained at Eireann. "You have the pay grade, you get to make the call."

"Fine," she turned to the camera and her phone beeped, she unlocked it and looked at the screen. "Alright, the Chief seems to be watching. Guess it is my problem now." She dialled Zaria.

"Yes?"

"How urgent is it?"

"If you mean the danger? It is very local, stay away at the right times, and nothing happens." Zaria calmed the situation. "Why don't we talk after the stream? Aside from that, any other places are safeish."

"Safeish? I am pretty sure that is not a real word," Eireann pointed out.

"Well, there is the risk of accidents naturally, also the area is cursed, after all."

"Don't cursed areas fall into superstition?" Julia piped in.

"Like Seers, Diviners, Psychics, Mediums, and such?" Zaria pointed out.

Julia laughed, "Point taken!"

"Where do we go next?" Eireann wondered what was going to be the next weirdness.

"I see more issues in that complex over there," Xynix pointed at the trinity of Water Ride, Aquarium, and Pirate Island. Maybe quartet since there was a public toilet as well.

"Oh, that is a fun area, I will wait until you look around." Zaria chirped. "Also, don't use the bridges near the Vortex Carousel over the Water Ride to cross over."

"You are having too much fun with this," Eireann accused.

"Oh, you have no idea, just wait until dinner. I have a feeling that it will be fun."

"Did you divine this? We are still on time," Julia asked curiously.

"I know the guest list, and I know what is awaiting you here," Zaria pointed out.

"Wait, how do you know it before I do?" Eireann demanded.

"Considering the place you are at, and who wants to come, I may have decided to tell them about the cursed place, and a few other things, So a lot of people, including several watching the stream, decided to join. Dorea is coordinating, and watching the stream," Zaria's childish voice pointed out.

The group arrived at the place, and once again found a ride still filled with murky and smelly water.

"This is actually disgusting," Julia remarked to the camera. "Whoever falls into this will have a terrible time."

"In these murky waters, there is another clue," Xynix announced grandly while waving his hand at the brackish, foul waterway.

"Draining and cleaning this will be difficult. Any idea where to look?" Eireann spoke to the phone.

"Drainage pipe again, and there is a bag weighed down by a brick in the S-bend at the pirate island," there was thoughtful noise, "better wait with this one, whoever tries to fish it out is doomed to fall inside."

Everyone gave the murky, foul, stagnant, and brimming with algae water another look.

"That actually helps, I feel for the poor technician who gets to fish that out. Actually, let's wait until it is drained. Any easier finds?"

"Fake corals in the aquarium, in one of the smaller fish tanks, and one of the fake reefs in the large shark pool were replaced. A murder weapon in one of the ventilation ducts of the pirate island." The chipper voice announced. "Also, a head in one of the larger ducts, whoever gets to climb inside there needs to watch out and be slim and light. The thing is rusted and not really stable. Also look in the pumping room, there are screwdrivers and a large wrench behind one of the large pumps, the wrench and one of the screwdrivers are suspicious."

Julia perked up, "not going to tell us which one?" It was fun engaging with a witty guest, it lived up the show.

"It is going to be very obvious for some reason?" The young voice sounded confused.

"This I have to see for myself." Eireann admitted.

"I'll call once you are back up, there is no reception down there," The call disconnected.

The Detective waved to one of the techs and made them connect her phone to a power bank. The long calls and many times she checked the notes on the phone were draining the battery, and she had the feeling she was going to stay here for a longer than planned time.

Now if only that white and shiny object that called itself a Seer would go away, or change into something less white. The light reflecting was annoying.

The group progressed slowly, as the stream team added repeaters so they could continue the live stream.

"That is a lot of small aquariums," Julia announced and made her cameraman pan wide.

Eireann felt tired of this already. "I guess we have to check each one. Or maybe the shark pool, it can't be that big."

"That sounds like a great idea," Julia confirmed.

Unfortunately, the shark pool was large, and there were many reefs. Additionally, there was graffiti on a lot of the viewing windows. Naturally, it could not be accessed from the visitor section.

"How do we get in there?" Eireann peered into the pool through some ugly tag.

"Back down the hall there is an access door to the maintenance area and feeding bridge," The Security Leader informed her.

They went back, had to find the right key, walk up some stairs, set up repeaters for the stream, and passed through several tunnels.

From the top, the pool looked even larger. They were standing on a grate above the empty pool.

"I don't see anything that looks added. Whoever did that was really good at modelling." Julia looked around. "Seer Xynix, do you have any insight?"

The dressed in white man mumbled something, made some theatrical gestures, and finally pointed at a small reef in the middle. "I see this as suspicious."

"I miss my phone," Eireann complained. "I could look up old images of the shark pool." The detective waved at the tech team members. "I need a volunteer to go up and download all images of the shark pool and bring them on a tablet, while we find a way to climb down."

"We have never gone down there," The security team leader informed them.

"We need ladders, and ropes, I don't trust the ground. It is either uneven or covered with sand."

The forensics started taking pictures of spots that looked fine to place a ladder on.

"Is this normal? Needing additional equipment to access evidence?" Julia decided to pass the time with some small talk.

"Actually it is, it is not that extreme most of the time. Things like those welded shut machines are not that common. However, needing to dig, or search through pipes, happens a lot." Eireann explained slowly. She waved at the pool decorations. "Searching for things inside statues and sculptures happens as well, I had cases like that before. It is not common, luckily most criminals lack an artistic flair to this extreme."

"What was the weirdest place you personally found evidence at?" Julia asked, wanting to bridge the waiting time.

"Inside a computer was weird. Vending machines make no sense, since people come to check them regularly, but it happens. Inside foundations is always a pain since that can impact the structural ability of buildings. Oh, I probably shouldn't mention my weirdest case." The redhead cringed at the memory. "I think that case is still ongoing, actually. I can tell you one of my creepiest, however. In the catacombs of a church, in a satanic ritual circle, lay a perfectly unharmed body. With folded hands and dressed in pure white. It looked so peaceful and wrong."

"I think I remember that. The cathedral murder case, it was called a very disturbing experience," Julia was naturally well-informed on weird murders due to her job.

"Yes, the peaceful expression was in total contrast to the situation, and place," Eireann confirmed.

They passed the time looking at one reef after the other, and trying to figure out which one was their target while doing small talk.

---

It took a while, but they were down in the shark pool, which was clearly not meant to be walked on.

"I am glad I picked boots today." Eireann told Julia. "The sand and all the walking would be harsh otherwise. This is something that does not get mentioned a lot, but we detectives are supposed to look professional, but nice shoes and a lot of the places we go to simply don't match."

Julia looked down at her flats, "next time I am taking boots as well."

"Ahh!"

Everyone looked over to the scream, Xynix the Seer had slipped, and his white suit was covered in sand now.

"Are you alright?" Eireann called out, and she decided to let the stream team take care of helping him. "If you are not used to walking on rough surfaces, you can wait upside."

"I shall do that," Xynix was not happy. He had watched the last episode in preparation, but that detective was not working with animals this time. Instead, she had called a Diviner. The diviner knew too much. Was this a setup against him? Could that Diviner actually be the killer, just using a voice changer? Was this a test to check if he was real and a danger?

Eireann was looking from one reef part to the other. "That over there looks suspicious, the colour is more uniform compared to the others."

A forensic scampered over happily, getting so much evidence with Otherside help was simply fun. He was a geek, and had stumbled onto something he shouldn't by accident, but this was fun and fascinating. Finally at the place, he looked over the cleaner looking fake coral reef. "Good eyes Detective, this part seems too clean compared to the others, I suspect it was added later." Taking out the camera, he started taking pictures for comparison.

Two more of the forensic team joined, "I agree, it is lacking the marks from organic growth that the rest of the reef has."

Xynix had thought that the fake corals in the middle of the pool had looked out of place, now it was a different place. He decided to get out of here, and clean up the dust and smears from the sand on his white suit. It felt like defeat, but he could still recoup, in a place this messy there had to be more. He was going to take a look at the roller coaster, the Diviner had said that only certain places did not have anything. He would make a comeback with the roller coaster.

"There he goes," Eireann rubbed her eyes. "I could never work in white."

"I imagine that white is a terrible colour for your work."

"My girlfriend told me off for leaving the coffee stain on one of the white blouses for too long. Over time, I switched over to mostly darker colours, and luckily, she seems to like black."

"That sounds very fitting for the owner of the Black Cat Café, but why was she wearing white when she visited in that case?" Julia agreed, this was nice, she was getting some more people moments that would make a nice break during this long searching. She should have done that the last time, but luckily they had quickly hired the bats.

"I don't know, possibly because he was wearing white? She can be quite odd at times." Eireann liked the cat, but that did not mean that she completely understood her. "I think that was the first time I have seen her wear white, actually."

What the reporter really wanted was to engage the Diviner, but the reception down here was lacking.

"Julia, what do you want to do for the stream break? One of the repeaters is malfunctioning, and we are going to lose connection soon. Another two somehow have low batteries and need them replaced despite testing them yesterday. So cutting the stream for about half an hour would help us set up properly," A stream technician apprised the reporter.

Julia thought for a moment, "Detective Mc Glytch, how long until the forensic team will be ready to show what we find here?"

Eireann looked around, "Do you want to take a break? If so, we can probably delay things a bit."

"If you want a break, we can have things narrowed down and ready for explanation in an hour, even with a nice break," The forensic team leader announced. "That will give us time to check for differences between the parts and should give us time to prepare a small presentation of first findings."

Julia nodded, "You heard it viewers, due to technical difficulties, we will be taking a break, during this time, the studio will do a recap of the most interesting parts of today and the last stream with Detective Eireann Mc Glytch. This is Julia Porter taking a lunch break at the Abandoned Atlantis Amusement Park, we will be back in an hour with more 'Cops Live'. Remember to stay hydrated and don't forget to eat."

The moment the stream stopped, everyone relaxed.

Julia waved at Eireann, "Detective, let's get some of that coffee your girlfriend delivered. And eat that delayed lunch."

"Sure, I am really curious how it tastes, she is a good cook, but her coffee is simply heavenly." It had been hours since breakfast, a break sounded wonderful.

There was a surprise, however. When they were passing one of the repeaters, Eireann quickly pulled Julia closer and to the side as the repeater went up in flames.

Calls for fire extinguishers were met with a distinct lack of them. Several forensics were quickly grabbing anything nearby to push the burning piece of equipment out of the way, while others were looking for something to douse the fire that was clearly caused by the battery.

"Thank you, detective," Julia took a calming breath.

"No problem. I suspect that we will get a call very soon, and that she will make fun of us again," the redhead sighed.

Julia snorted, "do you really think so? I actually have so much to ask her."

"Be careful what you ask," asking a fae too much was never a good idea. Eireann knew enough Irish myths to know that. Though in her case, she knew that the floof meant well so she wasn't worried, even if she woke with a tail one day, she suspected that her family wouldn't care, or even be ecstatic. However, the overeager reporter had no such protections.

The group wandered past the pond, with the ducks watching them warily, and found their way blocked by the entrance gates, which did not want to let them out. There was already a crowd waiting, one that included a rather frantic Xynix.

The Detective sighed, this was going to be a pain. She decided to risk it, she placed her hand on the gate and promised, "Let us out for now, we have to come back after we eat and rest."

The gates unlocked.

The ‘clued into the Otherside’ forensics and technicians, which was everyone, nodded in approval. The security team added it to their handbook. The stream team regretted not recording.

Just as they arrived at the cars and vans, the expected phone call came.

"Get it out of your system," Eireann said as she answered the call.

"Hmm? Actually, I am not calling due to that, great reflexes though, that could have been third degree burns and a slip onto the repeater if you had failed. No, I am calling to explain what you promised."

"Yes, I promised we would all come back, I never promised that we would stay or not leave again. In case there are issues, I think I know whom to call to break the curse," Eireann hinted at the floof.

"This is Julia Porter, may I ask a few questions, off stream," Julia asked.

"Sure, but switch the handheld cam and the microphones recording off, or I might let a few things slip that others should not know."

"Like what?" Julia challenged.

Eireann cringed.

Everyone else perked their ears.

"You sure had fun at the hotel three days ago. Also, that gold necklace? Really? It is absolutely ugly, the stone is cut badly, and it doesn't suit any of the dresses you own since it is too large. Actually, Miss Perfect is living a perfect life, her new hubby is really sweet on her."

Eireann stepped away from the phone, while she did not know what all of it meant, she had suspicions.

Julia was turning paler by the moment, "Wait, that is not what I meant."

"It is not? Remember to check behind your bed. The harpy is getting suspicious. Now would be a good time to pick the nice guy."

Julia blinked, looked around as everyone was watching and creating their own stories from what she was told. "Really, the nice guy?"

"Yes, you won't though, but it seemed right to tell you, even if only to call you in two years with an 'I told you so'."

Eireann was doing the sensible thing, plausible deniability, since she was busy with her sesame chicken breast with rice and vegetables. It was obvious that the cook was a cat, there was more chicken breast than rice and vegetables. Despite not being hot and fresh, it tasted delicious, and Eireann ate with satisfaction. She would have to praise Dorea later. The coffee returned some of her energy and motivation.

"We aren't going to be done in time, right?" The Detective rescued the increasingly nervous Julia from Zaria.

"No way in hell."

"In that case, I need to call Dorea, and tell her that we accept that grilling party."

"Sure, I will call before you go down again," The floof disconnected.

Calling her mate was simple, stopping her mate from inviting all the people she wanted to brag about Eireann was harder. She had asked who was coming, and the way the cat had deflected had made the Detective suspicious.

In the end, they agreed that it was twenty people tops. Just a 'tiny' gathering.

It reminded Eireann that she had not talked to Dorea about the van Howlers family. However, it was not the right time to ask her mates about the family situation. Cécile had kin, but it was probably a good idea to ask what that actually meant. Dorea and Yvonna, however, did not speak much about their family, aside from the title or family that an ancestor won.

It was probably a good idea to ask soon. First was accepting the offer of a grill.

---

After the well reserved break, and Zaria trolling Julia with high school stories, the group returned in high spirits to the shark pool.

The stench of burnt plastic from the self incinerated repeater filled the hall to the shark pool. It was still smoldering outside in a steel bucket buried in sand that had been taken from various aquariums. Lithium batteries on fire were a pain, luckily the repeater would probably burn out soon.

"Detective, we found the head in the Pirate Island air ducts. It was packed in multiple layers of heavy duty plastic sheets and locked in a box," A forensic technician announced.

"More soup?" Eireann asked while Julia listened in.

"Yes, the walk-in fridge in the penthouse is as bad as we expected. A mix of liquified and mummified. The stench is abhorrent, the top two floors have been evacuated by anyone not wearing full protection," The forensic continued.

"That sounds awful, decomp is disgusting. Do we have a team ready for whatever the large coral reef will show us? Also, did we manage to take pictures and make comparisons with old images for the small aquariums?"

"Comparison software is still working on it at the station. We have two suspicious places identified already," The reply was promising.

"Mark them, we will check them and the comparison images after the large pool," the Detective ordered as they arrived at the utility door leading to the top access.

The group arrived at the huge shark pool, currently empty of water. They carefully climbed the ladders down. Some of the sand had been swept aside, and a few planks were placed to make walking easier and not disturb possible evidence more than they already did.

"What do you have for me?" Eireann asked the site lead.

"That coral over there is made from a different cement mix, the other ones are all hardened concrete that does not degrade by being in water for a long time. This seems like a normal one. Samples have been sent to the laboratory. If you want," the lead looked at the camera, "we can talk about classifications. But I think we can skip that part for the viewers, it will be in the report."

Eireann frowned at the implication, "Did this turn into an active case for me? I guess I will have to talk to the last detective and the FBI about this," She could already feel the time wasted; people wanting the results, but not doing the work. Maybe she could find someone to dump all this onto.

They had used a wire saw to cut through an extended fake coral, and cut through a bone that they had not seen in the sonar scan.

"Stop, this is bad, we need to look into taking the whole block if we can." Eireann ordered. "Any idea how big it is?"

The site lead corrected her, "the size is not the issue, the weight is, I am not sure if the floor will hold up. There are access tunnels that lead to the outside that are large enough, but we will need cranes, and other heavy machinery for this."

"Write up a report that explains the pros and cons, and we will have someone in charge decide if the budget permits for full transport." Eireann reached for her phone, and realized that she had left it outside with the forensics to chat with Zaria. Naturally, she had locked it, so nobody could use it aside from accepting calls.

"That will be a problem," The security guard’s team leader interrupted. "For some reason, we have never received the keys to the loading dock doors and the tunnels leading there."

"I guess we need to make more calls to the owners." This was getting stupid, extensive, and expensive. "We still have the duck pond to drain, skulls in pipes, tunnels to drain, and we haven't even been everywhere. Never mind two Code Purple Areas."

"Lots of work left to do." Julia announced. "This is shaping up to become a far bigger operation than originally expected. Is this normal Detective Mc Glytch?"

"No, especially not for a cold case. I blame her. This is shaping up to be a major headache."

"Look on the bright side," Julia chirped, "there is a nice evening ahead of us."

"There is that. I have the full weekend off too," even if it was family time and girlfriends time, it was not work.

"What does a detective do on their weekends off?"

"I am spending time with my family, we have a shopping trip planned," Eireann responded automatically while making notes about the large fake coral block.

"Girlfriend included?"

"And my sister and niece." Eireann did not add that it was girlfriends. "Some friends, too."

As they left the Aquarium, Xynix approached them, and the phone was brought over.

"I have felt more evidence from the large roller coaster. It is, however, in a dangerous place," The Seer lamented.

"Not that dangerous, I just hope that you are not afraid of heights, and remember your safety equipment," Zaria added over the phone.

Everyone turned and looked at the large roller coaster.

"I see stairs, and a handrail for most of it, but the loops don't have them. Let me guess, it is in the loops?" The Detective asked sarcastically.

"Yes exactly, the one who hid it in there really went all out, coming at night, climbing up, cutting a hole, adding hooks on the inside of the pipe structures, hanging the sacks onto the hooks, and then sealing it back up and painting it over."

"We don't have the equipment for that," the leader of the forensic team denied instantly. Simple securing sure, however climbing and securing yourself at such heights was a no.

"You could ask Dorea to climb up and take a picture when she arrives. She has an extreme climbers license. And she is on the way, she will arrive soon since she wants to find a nice spot to park."

"I will ask her, when she arrives," Eireann confirmed. "Now tell me an easier place."

"Sure, turn right," Zaria started dictating, "to the redhead in the canine cuddlepile, tell everyone not to prepare dinner, there will be plenty to deliver later." Zaria's childish voice announced.

"A message for our viewers?" Julia asked curiously.

"Yes, I thought I'd warn them since the mother is listening in, a snack wouldn't hurt, it is going to be late, and my masterplan needs continuation." Then Zaria cackled, which sounded really odd with the young voice.

"Also, you really need to get used to it," Zaria added, "I see a lot of canine cuddle piles in your future."

The show continued, with them hearing about places and finding a few suspicious items.

---

"Detective? We have a goth hissing at the ducks," One of the park security guards approached the group after receiving a surreal message by radio.

Eireann sighed, "I will go ahead and stop her from starting a battle with the ducks."

The red-head hurried through the amusement park, and found Dorea as expected, she was threatening the ducks, and the flock was pulling back. "If you annoy the ducks, the team that has to search for the evidence at the bottom of the pond will have a worse time."

"I am just putting them in their place," The shadow cat in disguise proclaimed. "It looked like a nice place, but it actually smells bad."

Eireann looked around, only forensics were nearby, and those were in the know by design. "Are the ducks normal?"

"Yes, geese and ducks are hardy and vindictive by nature, geese are the worst," Dorea confirmed as she ignored the glaring ducks and hugged her mate tightly. "You found a nice place."

"Nice?"

"I am a shadow cat, shadow magic has a lot of curses." Dorea rubbed cheeks with Eireann. "Actually, I am not really buffed, just if I use magic here, I regenerate it faster."

"Say, you are a good climber?"

"I am a cat," Dorea reminded her mate.

"Can you check the top of the roller coaster loops for me? And possibly take pictures of suspicious spots? Only if there is no risk for you."

Dorea snorted amused, "I would just land on my feet, or teleport out. I guess it is good I am not wearing a dress now." And she wasn't, it was a black and purple punk goth outfit. It suited the perverted cat really well.

"I expected Yvonna to come as well," Eireann wondered.

"She is in the van, with the ingredients, I rushed ahead to find a good spot. I think either the food court or the park are the best spots," Dorea tugged Eireann along.

"That is just a justifi-cat-ion," Eireann made a bad pun, and she was not regretting it.

"Are you complaining about your girlfriend coming to see you early?" Dorea purred as rubbed against her mate.

The two women looked around, while the park was nicer, the food court had some permanent benches and tables. It did not have a lot of flammable leaves and debris. However, there were fewer tables in the park than the food court.

"Are we using gas or coal?" Eireann asked after thinking about the setup.

"We have a wood and a coal one. The taste of the smoke adds flavour, after all," Dorea explained. "Gas is nice, but it is not the real deal."

"Doesn't that take much longer? I remember hearing that wood and coal smoke is carcinogenic or unhealthy," Eireann did not mention that it was supposedly far less safe, too. Considering the amount of gas tanks exploding she had seen the aftermath of, she was not sure about that part.

"You are going to see during our shopping trip, but there are plenty of cleansing potions available for cheap. The first time is nasty, I heard, healers can do that as well."

"Cleansing, is that like detoxification?" Eireann asked.

"Yes, you know all that microplastic, heavy metals, carcinogens, and general pollution? You can clear it all out. I read up on it when looking for things we should get you." Dorea was clearly a cat on a mission. "There are potions that can fix all the issues with your body. Remove scars, clear up long term issues, old wounds, boost immune system, the mentioned purification, and much more."

"That sounds expensive," Eireann wondered how much this was going to cost her.

"Actually, health insurance on our side is much cheaper than on your side. I mean, a cold is one simple spell or potion to remove it, and a second to recover stamina. Sure, there are complex spells that use rare ingredients, spell components, ritual circles, or nothing if you are insane, powerful and experienced."

"Like Zaria?"

"No, she is a Goddess, that means if she wants something to happen, it happens," Dorea waved her hand in exasperation, then she pointed at her mate directly. "Do you think that normal healers can stitch a soul back together? Or fix that mortal leading a Wild Hunt beyond her strength? No, you should have died. I am really glad you have not, but you shouldn't have survived that, you were leading Ancients, Greaters, and Powerful ones. You were really hot while leading us."

Eireann allowed herself a smile. Her lewd cat had started so seriously, and then clearly returned to her true nature. It was funny and sweet. "Now, how much space do we need?"

"Right, two tables, two grilling spaces, and a portable bar. That place over there looks good, it is close to the tables and benches. We have enough space for the extras we are bringing. And enough space for everyone."

"Who is coming?" Eireann wondered why this sounded like a big deal.

"Yvonna naturally, Cécile, Ari, Irene, Iruel, Mayet, -" Dorea started rattling off.

"Dori!" Eireann poked her cat in the back, that sensitive spot above the tail.

"Nyah?!"

"I have no idea who Iruel and Mayet are, for example," Eireann pointed out. "Ari and Irene work for you, I think. I remember their names from when I interviewed everyone at your café for the case I had nearby you."

Dorea nodded in understanding, "People you know from the hunt, or cases. Then friends of mine who want to meet you, three are mated to members of the forensics team, and finally people from the wild hunt who felt that it would be a good time to do a belated after party. All in all, on short notice, around 25 people are coming."

"Almost as many are coming as we already are?" Eireann guessed.

Dorea started listing:
"Stream team: 1 reporter, 2 cameraman, 2 technicians, 1 video technician, 1 makeup artist, 1 coordinator/manager.
"Police: 1 detective, 6 officers, 5 forensics, 7 technicians.
"Park security team: 1 leader, 3 security
"Fakes: 1 white something."
"From the ones coming, that is more complicated. For example, five of us cook. Three are waitresses. And everyone either dates someone here or knows someone who dates someone. When we get into races, things get even more complicated. Shadowcats, mermaids, vampires, sphinxes, a fallen angel, a lich, a mummy, shadows, actually most guests are from the 'dark side'." Dorea even made the finger quotes.

"I guess there is a story behind that, dark and light are not as fiction portrays them?"

"Zaria is neutral," Dorea reminded her. "Chaotic neutral but neutral."

"She is?" Eireann pondered for a moment. "I understand the chaotic part, but for the most part she seems to be good? Though, with how much she seems to overlook things, I'd expect her to be on the side of order since it is a position that has rules."

Dorea snorted, "Showing random people magic? I understand that she likes you, not romantically, but I think she likes watching you. She is just as likely to kill someone good as she is someone evil. It is just that evil tends to impact someone that interests her more often." Dorea made her shadow wiggle. "Which is why 'Dark' and 'Light' make no sense. I am dark, but am I evil? No."

Eireann pointed towards the path, "The others from the stream are coming, any idea when your side will arrive?"

"My Jaguar is a fast kitty~" Dorea bragged, which meant that she had rushed ahead, and the others should arrive soon.

"We will be setting up here, the rest of the party should arrive soon," Eireann announced.

Right on cue, the security radios announced the arrival of several cars and vans.

The Black Cat Café crew and associates had arrived.

"Let's go and fetch them," Eireann decided, and dragged the cat attached to her arm along.

Behind them, Julia was commenting highly amused, "Here we see the serious Detective being all sweet and cozy with her girlfriend, who is sponsoring a barbeque, the two faces of Detective Mc Glytch. Sweet and affectionate with her girlfriend, yet forceful and focused when working."

--- Chief's Office ---

It was the end of shift, in theory he was supposed to be on the way home. However, he was writing a report with flourish. It was on the use of 'Special Talents' in investigative work. As much as it hurt him, he had to admit that real Code Purple 'Special Talents' were useful. But he had a suspicion who exactly was on the phone with his Detective.

"Why did she have to take a liking to someone in my station, of all places?"

It had benefits, but the headaches it was causing were terrible. Reporting to multiple places, making sure that the right people knew what they were supposed to.

He labelled the first report and forwarded it, it basically boiled down to: The test with the two 'Special Talents' don't seem to be effective. They were clearly not ready for fieldwork.

The second report he did not want to send, but he did anyway: Code Purple 'Special Talents' were effective, but clearly had no intention of showing themselves and becoming known as dangers. Getting help from then was unlikely, since they were not willing to risk their lives or the lives of friends and family. It was a sensible and perfectly sensible approach. There was a reason why their job had a high single or unmarried rate.

He looked to his right at the box of donuts, knowing that even his favourites were in contact with the Otherside was painful.

--- Abandoned Atlantis Amusement Park - Parking Lot ---

The black and red haired women arrived at the parking lot, and saw two vans, an SUV, a sports car, two family cars, two minivans, a small truck, and what looked like a beat up old Cadillac.

Soon, everyone started piling out onto the parking lot and stretching.

"You should have let me drive," Cécile told another woman. "Then we wouldn't have gotten lost."

Yvonna walked over to Eireann and went for a hug, "I don't like driving. Cars are terrible."

"Yes, yes," Eireann smiled wryly as she petted the younger shadow cat.

"You are too short to reach the pedals," The tall blonde woman countered the vampire.

"My Lady," the waitress bowed to Eireann.

"Welcome to this cursed place!" The Detective greeted the newcomers. "We have found a place to set up already. The food court should be safe, or safeish, considering what I heard of this place."

"Several of us are familiar with places like this," The tall blonde announced. "I am Iruel, a Fallen."

Eireann inspected the fallen angel, she looked familiar. "Large flaming sword?"

"You remember me, Leader," The woman smiled, and looked absolutely stunning. "I am here today as a licensed grill master, even if the license is called something else."

"I came to cook," a blue haired goth announced, she was the cook sister of the waitress.

"Ari, right? Your food is always delicious. I know my sister likes it as well," she turned to address the waitress. "She seems to find you sensible, unlike the bunny. You were Irene, if I remember the name correctly."

That clearly cheered the two mermaids up.

"Mayet? You came?" One of the forensics called out.

"I heard about the barbeque when I was watching the stream, hoping to see you." The Egyptian looking woman waved at her mate. "So I went to the Black Cat Café, and offered to help. Several others decided to join because it looked fun. Then someone popped in and dumped a pile of meat on us. We actually had to borrow a cooling truck to transport everything fresh."

The forensic hugged her shorter mate. "Pity you are wearing a dress today, no matter how good you look in them."

Eireann looked at her cats. Yvonna was wearing a goth dress. "I guess we will leave the climbing to specialists. I am pretty sure that it will be a liability issue if I let any of you climb despite no risk."

Dorea seemed confused.

"Yvonna wearing a skirt reminded me that there are legal issues. Like certifications, there is a reason why not everybody is a forensic," Eireann pointed out, and then she asked Yvonna carefully, "you remembered to wear underwear?"

"Of course not, underwear and tails are a pain," the schoolgirl confirmed the detective's suspicions.

"Why am I not surprised, sometimes it is so obvious you two are sisters," the detective sighed.

Mayet giggled, the forensic woman corrected the sphinx, "Not like you wear any either."

"Change of topic, they are approaching. Was the meat drop off made by white and fluffy?"

Dorea gave the redhead a hug. Yvonna shook her head in disbelief, "You are the only one who is crazy enough to call her white and fluffy."

"She likes her tail, or tails," Eireann pointed out.

"Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you again," a familiar man approached.

"Welcome, Mr. Aedys, you have left your museum?" Eireann greeted the Lich.

The Lich nodded with a smile. "Greetings Detective, yes, let me introduce Hannan, my wife of many centuries," He presented a short Egyptian woman.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," the beautiful darker skinned woman greeted the paler redhead, and held out a hand. "It is a pity that we couldn't meet last time, but it was a work situation. I had to look pretty in the Egyptian exhibit."

Eireann accepted the handshake with a smile. The hand was slightly cool, and the Detective could see some bandage under her sleeve. "The pleasure is all mine. Last time couldn't be helped since it was a break in, after all, even if it ended up solved pretty easily, aside from the yellow nuisance." The Detective waved at Julia, who walked over, followed by the cameraman.

"I would like to introduce Mr. and Mrs Aedys, curator of the History Museum, we met on the job during the museum robbery case not long ago," Eireann introduced the pair.

"Julia Porter, from 'Cops Live', it is a pleasure. Would you mind speaking a few words about that later during the barbeque segment?" The reporter saw a great way to get some additional content. The Irish detective was proving herself to be a goldmine, even if she seemed a little unconventional compared to others. Who else would present her girlfriend and organize a barbeque during a stream.

"I don't mind, if you want a walkthrough through the exhibit in question we can do that as well for a small aftermath. Detective Mc Glytch and her niece already saw it, might be interesting to see how they react a second time."

Yvonna shuddered, and Eireann had the feeling that if the shadow cat had been in her cat form, she'd have two bottle brush tails to deal with. "Count me out, I am not going there again willingly."

The phone rang.

Eireann sighed and accepted the call with the loudspeaker on.

"I advise against going there, I see a broken camera in the future and shattered worldviews," Zaria advised seriously.

Julia stared at the phone suspiciously.

"No, I am not reading minds."

"Not like it stops you from predicting what everyone is thinking."

"I am just that good," the voice sounded childish yet so self-assured that it made the contrast funny enough that everyone listening snorted, laughed, or smiled.

---

"This is Julia Porter for 'Cops Live'. After a lot of work and uncovered evidence, we are back. As you can see, an after stream party is being prepared by the 'Black Cat Café' and the friends or better halves of the forensic team. Now while they set up, we are going to the 'Underwater Palace Exploration'. Supposedly a fun palace pretending to be underwater and themed like corals and mermaids." Julia announced as the group in the background chatted, set up tables and benches, lit the wood and charcoal in the grills, or carried various items.

The chat loved Cecilé carrying a huge barrel of carbonated water through the frame in the background. Dorea, Yvonna, Ari, and Irene set up a coffee and tea stand. The museum affiliated group set up the juice bar, the tray, tableware, and found exotic looking tablecloths that did not fit an abandoned amusement park at all.

"During the break, we have gotten more results," Julia turned towards Eireann, " What can you tell us detective Mc Glytch?"

"According to a preliminary list that the forensics compiled for me, we have two heads, four left hands, one right hand, two left legs, one torso, and five possible weapons," Eireann read off the list.

"That is a lot, we were there for most of it, but listed like that, is a surprising amount," Julia was impressed.

"And according to my obnoxious diviner, the palace has a human sacrifice altar and corpses in the cellar," Eireann frowned, "probably we shouldn't enter there due to the stench."

"You mentioned two purple zones as well?" Julia prodded.

"We marked them and taped them off," the Detective confirmed, "a special team will take care of those later."

"Then why don't we recap what has happened until now, while we walk to our last target," Julia announced grandly.

Eireann looked around, "Where is Mr. Xynix?"

"He cited prior engagements for the evening, and considering that it is already past seven in the evening it is understandable, it was originally planned for a few hours, until six the latest," Julia was smirking into the camera.

The group walked across the abandoned amusement park, chatting about the finds here and there, and what were expected finds once everything was drained.

When the group arrived at the palace, the evening lights were already on.

"It looks like one of those cringy mermaid doll houses," Eireann observed the blue and pink monstrosity, "This is honestly a place that any cult should be ashamed to use. If it were anyone else that gave the information, I'd say that they were utterly delusional."

"Somehow pink corals and human sacrifices don't seem to be a great fit," Julia looked doubtful as well.

The Security Chief snorted, "it gets worse, to get to the maintenance access of the cellar that we have the keys for, you need to go through about half of it."

The two women turned to him, then back to the palace. It was already shaping up to be a pain.

The inside was oddly undamaged, and filled with cliche themed furniture.

The guard led them to a pink door covered in pink plastic fish, "This is it, once again we don't have the keys to the maintenance access, but this time because they got misplaced, and the replacements seem to get lost in delivery. Last one was delivered to an oasis in the Sahara desert."

"That is odd," Eireann agreed, "but not the weirdest I heard."

"Really?"

"A package to the moon somehow made it to the crew capsule one time, one of the astronauts flagged it as suspicious."

"What was inside?" Julia asked curiously.

"Human ashes and note telling them to spread them on the moon," Eireann wondered for a moment if there was anything from the Otherside on the moon, and quickly decided not to ask.

"I am not sure if that is impressive, or creepy," Julia was trying to decide, "how did it manage to arrive in the capsule anyway?"

"Nobody knows, they lost track of it after it arrived at the NASA facility, somehow it made it aboard the capsule, and nobody knows how."

The cringy door opened, and the stench of rotten meat blasted the group.

Eireann sighed, "I'll go check it out," she gave Julia and the cameraman a look, "you two better stay here, you look like you will vomit any moment."

Julia nodded, retching a little, "how can you stand this?"

"I have smelled worse, this isn't too bad, it is old but it feels colder down there, so the decomposition is slower."

One of the forensics raised his hand, "I am lucky that my sense of smell is totally dead."

Julia moved a bit further away from the door, "in cases like this, I agree, but you miss good smells too."

"I live in an industrial area, the house got condemned, I will have my sense of smell restored once it is worth it," the forensic explained with a shrug.

Eireann nodded, all forensics and technicians this time were Code Purple certified, since the healing on the Otherside was far easier, it explained why the forensic wasn't in a hurry.

She put on gloves, picked up her flashlight and borrowed a camera, then she walked down the stairs.

Why the maintenance area was just as cringy blue and pink she did not know, even the plaques were pink fish.

She stopped before one and read the paper slip that had been affixed with transparent tape, "Sacrifice Holding Cage". The detective took a picture then inspected the other descriptions. "Human Sacrifice Altar", "Sacrifice Food Storage", "Spare Robes Storage", "Nap Room", and many more.

The stench was clearly coming from "Body Storage" which was where dried up blood tracks led. Though the sacrificial storage and altar room smelled terrible as well, just less so.

Pictures taken, the detective returned upstairs, handed over the camera and explained the weird naming scheme.

"While helpful, that might make things harder since such pedantic people often like to clean up crime scenes," Eireann took a few deep breaths, "Let's go, I think I will smoke myself at the grill to get the smell out."

"Mind if we film the start of the party?" Julia asked directly.

"Feel free, just expect to be used for free advertising."

---

When the streaming group approached the entrance area, they heard hisses, and quacking of ducks.

Eireann had a feeling she knew what was going on, but she checked anyway.

Dorea was pacing the edge of the pond, hissing, and the ducks were all fretting nervously in the centre of it.

"What did they do?" Eireann asked genuinely curious.

"Tried to steal food, sit on the tables, and snapped at everyone after approaching them," the glaring cat hissed.

"I think I will eat some duck, do we have some?" Eireann asked her lover.

"Yes, plenty of them, ribs, salmon, tuna, trout, skewers, deer, chicken, pork and beef." Dorea rattled off quickly, then took her mate's hand, "done with work?

"Pretty much, now we just film a bit of the afterparty, then we are free. Seems odd to have a party in a cursed place like this," the redhead admitted.

"Exactly because it is a place like this, we can make a proper feast."

"Let's eat!"

Eireann let the eager cat lead her to the spontaneous party venue with an amused smile.

The fallen angel was clearly in her element and tending to the heat and turning the meat. Ari was at a separate table and preparing the next batch.

Eireann was no cook, but she was impressed by the skill the mermaid was showing in food preparation in a not professional setting. Spice jars were used, the three yellow powders applied looked almost the same aside from the shades of yellow. There was a batch of steaks or cuts, Eireann failed to remember the difference, ready to be laid onto the hot cooking area.

"Skewers ready, potatoes need another ten minutes probably."

A tall man called out, "tomato salad is ready."

It looked fun, the streaming group started to mingle.

While there was a distinct lack of alcoholic drinks, after all, most were working or had to drive back, it was merry despite it.

"Honey glaze steak done," Iruel announced, "the salmon will be ready in a few minutes."

"Give me a skewer, and a nice steak afterwards," Eireann remembered her niece praising the steaks that Zaria kept on pushing onto her.

It was a merry, spontaneous, and odd party.

---

Much later, after the stream team left after a small recap and goodbye, the atmosphere changed, weapons were pulled out, many shed their human disguises, and readied themselves for battle.

"So? What are we looking at?" Eireann asked, checking her pistol just in case.

"Zombies, I suspect victims or complete bodies dumped here."

The Detective frowned and pulled out her notes. "Zombies in a toilet?"

The fallen angel shrugged, "probably were dumped in there, and couldn't figure out how to get out."

"I can easily take control of them," Mr Aedys announced, "then Iruel or several others can destroy the magic on them."

One of the forensics nodded, "we get barely damaged corpses in return, we just need to mark them as zombies, that way they ignore any human remains in the stomachs, since those were usually eaten after they rose as undead."

Zombies smelled like corpses, Eireann confirmed a little later. That was not surprising, however, it was very unpleasant.

One of the forensics smirked, "it is so nice to have them lay themselves into the bodybags."

The lich was making them crawl into the bags.

Finally, Zaria arrived.

"Eri~"

"Zaria, here to dispel this mess?" The Detective asked.

"I am going to dispel it once you are all gone, it will be a bit flashy," the albino floof grew into an adult shape.

"The forensics can't really leave until they secure all known evidence," Eireann pointed out.

"I guess quick and brutal is out then, ceremonial dance time."

Dorea announced, "We will be packing then, we left enough food for the teams staying."

Eireann stretched, "Finally over, I hope I will never have to do a live stream again."

"It seemed easy though?" Yvonna remarked.

"But my regular work isn't getting done, and now I need to check every new result and try to see if it matches any known cases. These two days probably created enough work to last weeks."

"At least it will keep you safe," Yvonna made no secret that she disapproved of the risky parts of the detective job.

"I wouldn't have met you," Eireann gave the younger cat a hug, "besides you can always equip me this weekend with things to make sure I stay safer than ever before."

"Redheads," the girl complained.

"Cats," the redhead needled back.

"I agree with them, you need to stay safer," Cécile poked the taller woman in the ribs.

"Yes, yes, let's ride home," she knew when to give up.

"To my Jaguar!" Dorea announced.

"Why a cat wants to go fast, I do not understand," the small Smart car owner complained.

"It is a Jaguar, going fast is in its nature."