Margret crossed her arms and looked at Mayhew with a serious gaze.
"I feel that we both came to the same conclusion regarding the missing person reports, so let's knock them out of the conversation first."
Saying that, Margret pulled a small notepad from the side of her chair and threw it on the mini wooden table.
Mayhew didn't need to look at them since he had already memorised all the details of each missing person report. Of course, this task was rather easy considering how short the reports were.
Margret, on the other hand, was looking at the notepad with a deep frown.
"The bastards didn't even bother to make the reports at least a page long. All of them can literally fit on the palm of my hand. Why must scum like this live while lovely people like my—"
"Margret."
Hearing his voice, Margret took one more moment to look at the reports before lifting her head to look at her partner.
Mayhew met her gaze with an easy smile.
"Let's focus on the investigation. If we do that, the sooner we can get the people responsible for this mess to face justice."
The blond detective sighed.
"Sure."
...
...
"Well then? Aren't you usually the prick that explains? Go on."
The detective chuckled.
"That is indeed my role."
Picking up the notepad from the table, Mayhew began explaining with an even tone.
"Let's start with the obvious. The park and nearby forest both seem like hot spots for people to go missing and to never be found again. This means that our guy or group of people hunts around that area."
Margret nodded to show that she was following along.
"As I said before, the gangs aren't likely to be the ones that are causing these disappearances, but counting them out completely would be ignorant at best and plain stupid at worst. Yes, I have a lot of faith in my theory, but at the end of the day, it's only a theory, so we need to be ready for anything. A gang, a secret Nazi group, a serial killer, all of them could be the cause of the missing."
Margret spoke her own opinion, her tone firm.
"I agree on that. You think that it is a serial killer that is doing this, I myself have suspicion toward a gang doing this, and both of us seem almost sure that the secret group we left behind at the other city can't be here to cause these disappearances or our stalking experiences. But despite our own judgments, we must be ready to face any one of these threats."
The brown-haired detective pretended to wipe a tear off his eye.
"You have grown up so—"
"We don't have time for jokes, just continue to explain, you bellend."
Chuckling lightly, Mayhew continued with a relaxed voice.
"Even though we don't know exactly what our threat is, we at least know where it likes to catch prey. So our investigation is going to continue inside the park and forest. But at first, we are only going to investigate during the day; going out at night is just too dangerous. Though if we don't find anything during the day, eventually we will be forced to go out at night as well. It's tricky, but if we manage to befriend the locals and they manage to give us enough information on the people who hang out around the park, then maybe our investigation will never even have to make it to nighttime searches."
As soon as he was done speaking, Margret put a hand up to signal Mayhew to stop.
'Huh?'
Putting her hand down, the blond detective explained her own side:
"You yourself said that during the day it would be safe for us to investigate separately, right? Why waste both of us on the same place when we can split and check out different places of interest?"
Before Mayhew could reply, she continued without hesitation.
"Sure, the park and forest do seem like the most important places right now, but we can't just ignore the rest of what is here. Wasn't one of the missing people last seen on our street? We can't just ignore that. There are many places that we need to search, not just the park and forest."
Mayhew took a moment to think about her words before responding.
"That is true, but splitting up would put us at much more risk. It's a hard decision to make, what do you think, Meg?"
The sharp-tongued blondy responded immediately and without hesitation.
"Well, it's pretty simple. We must do our work separately, doing it together would just slow us down. You are a freak that loves to talk to strangers, so it would be best if you stayed around the park and talked to people, maybe get them to reveal something important. I, on the other hand, will do the riskier and harder work of stalking people that may be involved in this string of murders or at least have important information tied to it. You talk, I stalk, you get it?"
Mayhew crossed his arms as a frown formed on his face.
"I talk and you stalk, huh?"
He sighed.
"Look, Meg, I know that you hate when I bring this up, but... you have got to start socializing with people and making some friends. I know you are picky with the people you let in, but you have to at least try."
The blond detective rolled her eyes as she listened to Mayhew speak.
"Just shut up already and tell me if you agree with my plan or not."
The hazel-eyed detective could only shake his head in disappointment.
"We'll go with that plan, I guess. And since you feel so confident on stalking someone, I assume that someone has already raised your danger flag. Was it inside the police station?"
Margret nodded with a serious expression.
"Yes, it was inside the police station. While passing by, I saw this particularly fat cop and..."
She closed her eyes and visualised the man's face up close. And as Margret did that, a deep scowl formed on her face before she opened her eyes again.
"He's hiding something, I just know it. But I'm not going to slack off; I will follow the other police officers as well and see what they're up to."
Putting the notepad back on the table, Mayhew scratched the back of his head.
"Well, since you revealed what you managed to find with your intuition, I guess it's time for me to do the same."
Hearing this, Margret perked up—clearly interested in what Mayhew was about to say.
"The missing woman that was last seen in this street, and the drunk girl that I bumped into this morning, I think they could be the same person."
Before the wide-eyed Margret could throw out a question, the detective decided that he would reveal everything before he took in questions.
"I actually found her wandering the streets just before I got here. She didn't feel well, so I tried to get her to our apartment to chill down for the night. But once we entered the lobby, this man that I mistook for a lady said that the drunk girl was actually a friend of his, so I let them be. Though before I left, I got the name and surname of that feminine-looking man. Do you want to know what his surname was?"
Margret responded instantly:
"Yes."
The detective flipped the notepad on the table so it was facing Margret, and then he pointed a finger at the last missing person report written on the paper.
"Novak—that's his surname. And guess what? I managed to get him to tour me around tomorrow morning. All of this in just one day, maybe the Polish government should have been harsher with our limited investigation time, ay."
Seeing this much progression, even Margret couldn't help but put on a small smile of excitement on her lips.
"So it's set then. Tomorrow I will violate the privacy of the police, and you will go on a date with a man that you thought was a lady at first."
Mayhew nodded with confidence.
"Yeah, that is what we will—"
...
"What was that last part?!"