The more he spoke, the more Lyam felt despair. He desperately pushed against his thoughts, wanting them to stop. The dialogue of self-blame and shame kept going regardless, overrunning his mind. In the midst of the panic and desperation to calm down, he dragged himself towards his desk, yanking the phone line as he walked. He pulled out a drawer and pushed through the items to find unmarked pills. 

“Hey, that might not be the best idea.” Red suggested, as he poured a few out. “Think of your family, do you want to fall back into that habit when they are waiting for you?”

It took the heron a moment to realize what he was about to do, watching himself move without will, and was on the precipice of doing something he will regret. He stared at the open top of the container slowly putting the lid back onto it. How Red knew without actually being in the same room still scared him, but he gave a second to consider the action. “No. I want to change, not fall back on something that made me feel so weak. I should be strong, for my boys. For my wife.”  

Lyam had then thrown the bottle in the trash can, landing it with a loud thunk. “There I went, about to do something stupid, again.” He chuckled lightly, the mood shifting into a slightly more positive one. “You know, Red, you know the right things that I should’ve been asking myself.”

“You should be proud of yourself. I am sure your wife and kids will be proud of you once things are over.” Red reassured him, hoping to build some motivation to continue his case.

“Right. You’re right, Red.” The bird took in a big deep breath and pushed himself up and off of the seat. “I need to pull myself together. People are counting on me.” He then said, letting out his huge breath. 

Not wanting to waste another second, Lyam had patted himself down to make sure he still had everything before walking straight out the door. Back to the laundromat for answers. 

On his way back, he rehearsed the conversation in his head. With his back straight and neck held high, he readied himself for whatever could be thrown at him. Unexpectedly, a car was found parked in front of the establishment, which was unusual on the main road.

As Lyam got closer, being cautious with every step, the front door burst open with masked birds rushing out. In one swift motion they each entered the car and fled. Without hesitation, almost as if remembering his training, he rushed into the laundromat to investigate. 

The store was empty, with no one in sight, not even clothes within the machines. ‘A robbery?’ He thought, trying to think of why anyone would do such a thing to a seemingly normal store, until it clicked in his head just a moment later. ‘Rival gang?’ With that idea he rushed to the back room where the large owl went when the heron burst in earlier that day.

He was stopped in his tracks as he was greeted by a body on the staircase, dead with bullet holes that littered his torso. Lyam took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worse. Stepping over the corpse, he found his way into the room above, and found exactly what he expected. The lifeless body of Sive Thornia.

The heron walked up and saw the hole in his head knowing that was it. Behind the body was a safe that was forced open, and its contents were not anywhere to be found. Whatever they wanted, they seemingly got it. The bird then picked up the phone on the owl’s desk, and dialed for an operator.

“Hello, can you connect me to emergency services?” After a moment, he heard the familiar emergency operator from his station and took a deep breath. “This is Lyam, Lyam De Laker. I am at the Laundromat on Emu-se Lane.” The detective looked around, almost forgetting the initial reason he was there until his eyes locked on a black book sitting in the drawer below him. “Y-Yes, the one that burnt down a while ago. Some men fled in a hurry, and I found two bodies upon investigating. Yes, I will be here when the police arrive. Thank you.”

Hanging up the phone, he quickly picked up the book and flipped through the pages. It had everything, the earnings for the laundromat with mysterious lump sums of money being noted as revenue. This was it, the perfect puzzle piece he had been looking for the whole time. The Royal Owl’s little black book. The ledger.

Lyam stashed the book into his coat and quickly walked outside, making sure to not touch anything else as he did. When the police got there, he answered their questions and informed them what he saw prior to investigating. It didn’t take long until he found a familiar face at the scene.

Out from one of the police cruisers came out a dark gray bird in a coat and fedora, someone he knew quite well. Wilson Seawright, his old partner.

“Wilson!” Lyam called out, flagging the bird down as he walked closer. “I guess if the Royal Owls are involved, it makes sense you would be on call.”