Leaving her bike in Trixie’s care, Diana caught a cab to Hesperides Financial and found the street swarming with cop cars. A quick flash of her license got her through, and she was soon on the express elevator up to Cash’s office.

     The room was abustle with officers, Argil pushed his way over to meet Diana at the entrance.

     “Diana! Thanks for getting here so… fast?” Argil pulled up short, “I didn’t interrupt a date, did I?”

     “With your keen mind, Argil, you may just pass for a police officer someday.”

     “Oh, look, I’m really sorry. If I had known-”

     “Enough groveling, let’s get on with it.” Diana sighed, “It’ll be nice to work with a fresh crime scene for a change.”

     “Right.” Argil flipped open his notepad and walked Diana through the crime scene. Mr. Cash’s body lay limply in the chair, his torso riddled with bullet holes. A Mauser C96 lay on the ground next to him, “We discovered Cash’s body when we arrived to take him in a half hour ago, body was still warm, we must have just missed the attacker.”

     “Looks like eighteen bullet holes, is that correct?”

     “That was our count as well, nine-millimeter.”

     “Same caliber as the LC9’s the guards are packing.”

     “Think it was an inside job?”

     “It’s not off the table.” Diana scratched her chin, picking up the Broomhandle. It hadn’t been discharged recently, “Assuming it was one of the guards, they certainly went overkill. Assuming a nine-round magazine, they would have needed to empty their rounds into his chest, and then reload, and do it again…”

     “Thinking a crime of passion, then?”

     Diana didn’t answer, instead she paced around the desk, coming to a stop across from Cash. She held out her hand as though aiming a gun at Cash and looked down. Something caught her eye and she stooped into a crouch. Two small spots of water were still on the tiled floor, equidistant from each other.

     “Tear stains…” Diana stood back up and looked around, “Very few people had access to this room, and whoever shot Cash was crying as they did so.”

     “So someone who was hurt by Cash, probably one of the security guards, or someone he trusted, entered the room and shot him dead.” Diana scratched her chin, “He must have perceived a threat, because he got out his Broomhandle, but he never had a chance to use it…”

     Diana’s clouded expression suddenly cleared, a look of fear breaking through the uncertainty, “Argil, get SWAT to Lumin Heights, now!”

     “I need SWAT at Lumin Heights! Move it!” Argil never paused to question the detective, shouting the order to the rest of his subordinates through his radio, “What is it? What have you figured out?”

     “It was Cynthia!”

     “The security guard?”

     “Right! And if I’m not wrong she’ll be after Williams next!”

     “Well, come on then!” Argil rushed towards the elevator, but a call of “Wait!” brought him to a screeching halt, “What? What is it?”

     “The evidence we need to pin Williams is in here, I know it!” Diana spun around and around in a fervor, scanning every inch of the room, a familiar fire in her eyes, “There’s no room in here for a safe, but he had to have one, right?”

     “I dunno, maybe he hid it behind a painting or something?” Argil suggested, lifting the desk to check under it.

     “Not a painting… a clock!” Diana rushed to the all-important grandfather clock, observing the scratched floor, but could find no panel or switch behind the antique, “There’s nothing behind it... he had something done to it, so maybe some secret compartment or… aha!” Twisting the pendulum, she caused a recess in the base to open, withdrawing a manilla folder from within, flipping fervently through it, “This is it! Come on!”

     The duo rushed out of the skyscraper and into Argil’s car, racing across town at top speed, siren blaring.

     “How do you know it was Cynthia?” Argil demanded, cutting across traffic.

     “She could hear me when I said Cash was seeing both her and Williams!” Diana explained, “She commented on our conversation the first day we met, she had motive, she had opportunity and her gun is nine millimeter, it had to be her!”

     “And if she killed Cash…”

     “She’ll be after Williams’ head next.”

     The Lumin Heights resort was lit up beautifully against the night sky, but the image was tarnished somewhat by the swarm of cop cars and SWAT vans in the plaza. Helicopters circled overhead, shining spotlights through the windows.

     “What’s happening?!” Argil demands.

     “It’s Williams, sir.” An officer responds, leading the duo up to the front line, “She’s taken Cynthia hostage, and is refusing to speak to anyone but Diana.”

     “What do you say, Diana? Up for playing negotiator?” Argil asked.

     “Y’know, I was on a lovely date just a few minutes ago.” Diana sighed.

-

     “Williams! I am unarmed, and approaching your office!” Diana called out, stepping towards the double doors. They swung open at her approach, permitting her entry. Williams was stood in front of her desk, the blinds shut, with a short, thin sword held to a tearful Cynthia’s throat, “Let her go, trade me for her.”

     “My dear Diana, that was always the intention.” Williams smiled, kicking Cynthia towards Diana and taking aim with the security guard’s gun, “She leaves, you stay.”

     Diana caught the sobbing security and steadied her, patting her shoulder as tears streaked down her face. She pushed Cynthia to move and within moments, the guard had run off, presumably into polive custody.

     “I’ve got a radio here, you’re gonna use it to-”

     “State my demands, yes, I know.” Williams cut her off, snatching the radio, “Lieutenant Argil, is that your thick skull on the other side?”

     “Yes, it is, ma’am.”

     “Good, now listen carefully. I want a plane prepped for my leave at the Shepsburg Airport, and a helicopter ready to take me there.” Williams ordered, circling around her desk, “You have one hour, at which point I will kill your dear detective, so do hurry up.”

     “Roger.”

     “Tell me, detective.” Williams took a seat behind her desk, and gestured for Diana to do the same, “Do you enjoy poker?”