Unfortunately, that change of events rendered all our efforts, to protect the name of the school, and our investigation, useless.

This time it was a real corpse, that was waiting for us inside the building

Our next crime scene was in the school's greenhouse.

Holly Mother of Health had a great number of partners: one of them was a medical research group. This group had an interest in the study of the medicinal use of the plants from the region.

One of the researchers, a woman, recognized the victim. It was one of the gardeners that took care of the exotic plants, during the winter.

The doctor, I and Voluptia, that had taken control of her body again, were in the passenger seat of the same limousine, that took me to the hospital.

We didn't exchange a single word.

The doctor was very bothered to be in the mood to talk. As of Voluptia, she seemed to be avoiding to talk, being rather evasive.

Besides the fact, that It was very good to see my partner by my side; instead of the sexy driven vixen, that was her other self; I caught myself comparing both of them.

Voluptia changed from the hospital pajamas and was now wearing a heavy purple flowered sweater and jeans. She didn't have time to trance her hair again, so she just tied her hair in a ponytail. To my surprise, the fire inside her purple eyes had gone, and I found myself a little sad about it.

I told myself that the chain of events, happening so fast, started to play some tricks with my mind.

Of course, it was impossible that I could be missing Grotheske.

She looked at me and rested her cute face in my shoulder, I caressed her hair and smiled.

As I looked outside to the car windshield, I saw the beautiful and transparent building, coming out of the horizon. As the car climbed the street I could see more and more details.

In front of the greenhouse, there was a car parked. The car was with the front doors open. The symbol of the school and the word security was painted in both doors and in the hood of that car.

Two men of the security guard were waiting for us in front of the large transparent building.

The greenhouse was another very majestic piece of modern architecture:

Much larger than a simple shed. It was a pentagonal building, that had an enormous metal frame filled with transparent glass panels, on each of the five walls, and roof. Each wall had two enormous rectangular windows and four equally spaced fans, a few inches from the roof. The roof made of five inclined parts that had a few shiny metal chimneys and some dark solar panels. All very symmetrical. I imagined that the building used solar energy as the source of energy to regulate both humidity and temperature inside and to recycle the air of the place.

Since it was winter, the cold air of the mountain could ruin the delicate and exotic plants inside. So, all the windows were closed, and the fans were moving fast.

From the outside, one could see all the variety of plants and some trees inside the greenhouse. The building was very high, I imagined that it would be 120 feet high given or taken. A large double door dominated the entrance. So transparent, that a narrow red line was painted on the surface of the glass, to avoid people bumping their heads in the door, by mistake.

When I looked to that door, I could see only the doorknob, the keyhole below it, and the wide red horizontal stripe, crossing their middle section. It was a really odd picture. If we did not know right, we could swear that all those things were floating in the air, like the door didn't exist.

The guards welcomed us, and after a brief exchange of greeting, they lead us inside the building.

As we entered the glass house, we could feel the sudden change in atmosphere and temperature.

Inside it, it was a lot hotter than outside. There were a lot of water sprinklers turned on. Their continuous work and the impact of the water in the surfaces of the flowerbeds created a soft rain of very tiny droplets of water. So tiny, that they were unable to wet our bodies, and floated in the air moving sideways propelled by the air. The sound of the mechanic fans and the humidifier filled the place. A muffed and rhythmic sound that was all around us. Most of the plants were in flowerbeds; while some smaller ones located in narrow and long tables. The tables and the flowerbeds were parallel to the sides of a small artificial lake.

Since the sun was already reaching the middle sky, when we looked to the walls of the greenhouse, it was like looking to an empty wired frame. There were a lot of plants inside, some small, some very large, a real parade of colors shapes and sizes.

At the center of the artificial lake, another pentagonal flowerbed exposed dozens of bonsai trees. Like a toy forest, those miniature trees, next to each other all very well trimmed, made me feel like a giant. A small bridge crossed above the lake, leading to that flower bed.

Lain in the middle of that bridge, and pointing to the small forest, was the dead body of a middle-aged Japanese male.

He was starting to grow bald and the few sideburns of his hair were almost totally gray. His face had a look of despair and pain, and his mouth was opened as if he was about to scream.

Yet, it would be impossible for him to say a single word. Thorny vines wrapped all around his neck and probably were the reason for his excruciating death. They would muff any attempt of his vocal cords to produce any sound. He must have died gurgling in his own blood, as the vines strangled him and pierced his flesh.

He was wearing a grey apron and the garden shears were on the floor a few inches in front of his hand. By the look of his extended arm, he was trying to reach the tool, when he died.

As soon as I saw the small red flowers, coming out of the thorny vine I recognized the plant:

Christ Thorn.

A very common plant used to decorate walls and sidewalk flowerbeds, in my country.

My mother used to had those plants. I remembered them, covering the fence of our mansion. Their very long and sharp-pointed thorns served as an extra protection to our house in Morumbi.

She always warned me to never drink the milky sap, that poured, when you cut those vines because they were poisonous.

Many filets of blood were coming out of his throat and covering his apron and the floor.

The doctor and I examined the body:

The grip of the vines and the thorns in his neck were so tight that we needed to cut the vines to access some of the wounds.

There was no sign of struggle around the body. Everything suggested that he was attacked from behind. He must have been killed in a matter of minutes fighting for air and feeling the pain, all around his throat.

"Our killer must have used gloves since he strangled him from behind and didn't get wounded by the thorns", said the doctor.

I nodded but added:

"Or the vines did it by themselves".

He looked at me with an expression of disbelief.

I looked back, but I shrugged. By now he should be used to it, I thought to myself.

I got my hand scanner and pointed to the floor and the bridge. This time, I could not see find a summon circle. Then I examined the apron and found nothing out of the ordinary: a ballpoint pen, some gums, and his wallet. Also another smaller scissor.

I opened his wallet. There were some money and documents. I looked at his ID, where a much younger Japanese man stared back at me. Marcos Yamaguchi was the name written below that picture. No other pictures, no sign of family, or wife.

All around the body the scanner didn't find any trace of mana waves. No spell, and definitely no other clue, but the man lying in the floor.

When I examined the lake, I saw carps, dancing in the water as nothing had happened at all.

Those beautiful white and orange fish of many sizes hid in the water plants or pieces of rock at the bottom of the lake when I approached.

I looked at the small trees, and I saw a hole in the ground where one of the bonsai had been. I crossed the small bridge and gave a closer look to the dirt that was revolved around the hole. Inside the hole, there was a small piece of root. I examined it carefully and recognized what kind of tree that it was: the root belonged to an oak tree bonsai.

Voluptia was at the same time marveled by the beauty of the place and curious about the dead man.

Since she was unable to feel anything about death, that usually made people very uncomfortable in her presence. She was closely examining a species of orchid that had the same color of her eyes. I was keeping a close eye to her too. But after my talk with Grotheske, I supposed that I didn't have to worry about any hostile takeover, from my new evil partner.

Also, she behaved well when I said that Voluptia would draw less attention than her. And that was necessary for an institution ruled by the Church.

Voluptia was calm and looked innocent, playing near the flowers.

She was so different from her other self, I thought to myself. So far, I had never noticed how Grotheske was in reality when she was not transformed into a monster. I felt a tight grip in my heart.

I let those thoughts go away, and became all professional again:

"Where is the researcher that found the body?", I asked the doctor.

They took Susan, to the main security building, to debrief. She was very nervous to remain here with the body. They told me, that she was very fond of Mr. Yamaguchi, and they were close friends. The woman was pretty disturbed, as they said."

"Well, I will need to talk to her too. But first I need to visit the girls, that found the homunculus."

"Mother Ana called the police", he said changing the subject.

"The other researchers that arrived after Susan, started to post about it in their social media. That way things escaped control, very fast."

I thought about the implications of that, but what was done, was done. So I said:

"We need to declare a curfew in the school. Interrupt all classes and activities, safe from the ones of the hospital. I am afraid that the recess will need to be anticipated"

"I agree", he replied, "though it will be very hard for mother Ana and the staff; it is the best course of action."

At least I now knew which one of the magic users were playing with my mind:

Could only be the hunted one. The hunter had been very busy during that morning, by the look of things.

Also the hole in the ground, in the middle of the bonsai trees, could be the clue that I needed to understand the previous crime scene.

But from now on, I knew exactly what kind of sorcerer I was dealing in the school grounds and what to expect from them.

I needed to find the source of his mana: that way I would also be able to find his identity.