Abby pushed her glasses further up the ridge of her nose as she waited for the port to open. She straighten her back as she pulled on the straps of her purse. She finally gathered all the papers Claire asked for and instead of simply sending it to her she figured she’ll give it to her herself. A little fresh air never hurt anyone. Her office can survive a few moments without her. Plus, more than anything she wanted to see Claire at her new job. The port hummed as she walked in and punched the appropriate codes into the panel. Before she could blink she was transported from the work floor of the Guild to the sidewalks of New York City.

Abby looked at the building before her up and down. She flipped out a small notebook from her purse and made notes to discuss with the Boss about doing some maintenance on the building. Still scribbling she walked up the steps and stopped as she noticed the cardboard sign nailed to the wall. Reading the long name, she made a quick scribble about petitioning a motion to create a new name. Snapping her notebook close she stepped inside. Within the doors she wasn’t sure what she had expected but the place was certainly underwhelming.

“Do you have to sit there?!”

Claire sat on Raven’s desk with Dr. Crawford’s file opened in her lap not paying a lick of attention to Raven growling at her, “I don’t have a desk.”

Raven graveled as he gestured his hand to the desk beside his, “There’s one right there.”

Claire looked up, “But it’s taken.”

“No it’s not!” Raven threw his hands back in frustration.

“It will be.” Calmly Claire went back to her file but caught a glimpse of Abby from the corner of her eye, “Abby! When did you get here?”

Claire got up and threw the file onto the neighboring desk, running towards Abby hugging her as they laughed, “I just walked in. Who’s your friend?”

“Associate.”

“Partner!” Claire placed her hands on her hips as she turned to glare at Raven who was reclaiming the space on his desk Claire gave up. Claire rolled her eyes and turned back to Abby gesturing an absent hand to Raven, “Detective Raven Black. Our Captain is David Cogswell and we have another detective but he just stepped out.”

Abby walked up to Raven’s desk holding out her hand, “Nice to meet you Detective Black. I’m Abigail Schnauzer, Claire’s Handler.”

Raven looked up and swallowed the retort in his throat as he shook Abby’s hand, “Nice to meet you too. What’s a Handler?”

“Glorified peeping Tom’s.” Abby smiled at Claire’s remark knowing she didn’t mean her. She turned to Claire as they laughed at their inside joke, “What are you doing here anyways?”

“Well I wanted to see you in your new element. Plus I also have the information you wanted.”

“Oh good!” Claire took Abby’s hand and led her into the break room sitting her on the couch, “You want some tea? I brought fresh leaves from my garden.”

Abby’s smile brightened. Claire always made the best tea from her garden, “Yes, please.”

Claire quickly went about finding a kettle and cups as she grinded her tea leaves. While she was doing that Abby looked around and studied the room. Claire may have claimed her partner’s desk as part hers but she surely has made the couch her spot judging from the amount of papers stashed everywhere. Abby’s mouth began to water as the smell of fresh brewed tea filled the room. Claire sat down next to her, handing her her cup of tea as they sipped.

“So…”

“So what?”

Abby hid her smile behind her cup, “So what’s up with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?”

Claire shrugged her shoulders but Abby could tell the forced nature of that casual move, “He’s my partner but stubborn, refuses to acknowledge it. Nothin’ but a bonehead.”

Abby had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing and sipped her tea. Claire turned to her closing the subject, “What did you find?”

“Hmm.” Abby set her tea down and rummaged through her purse. Finally she pulled out a small thin piece of cardstock and handed it to Claire.

Claire took the piece and held it between her hands. With her hands glowing she pulled them apart extending her fingers as the piece expanded into a giant thick file folder stuffed with papers, “Wow Abby. Did you find enough?”

Abby merely ‘Hmph’ as she went back to her tea as Claire flipped through the pages, “Dr. Crawford was the one who created the Brain Wave gun. His file is first and all those who had contact with him are next.”

“Crawford?”

Claire seemed surprise and Abby consented, “Yes. Dr. Henry Crawford, PhD in Brain Wave Anatomy and Magical Engineering.”

Claire’s mouth hung open as she grabbed Abby’s arm, “Claire?”

She ran out the room before Abby could say anymore and Abby followed her to the door. Claire slammed her hands on Raven’s desk causing him to raise his eyebrows, “It’s her! Dr. Crawford! She’s the one who created the Brain Wave gun that killed Bron!”

Raven faced her as he gave her his full attention, “What makes you say that?”

Claire slapped the papers in front of him, “Her father was the one who created the gun in the first place. She’s the only one close enough to him to know how it works.”

Raven picked up the paper and scanned it, “First off, you don’t even know if they’re really father/daughter.”

“Yes they are. I recognized her through the picture in that clipping. They share similar features and Brain Wave magic is closely related to psychiatry.”

Raven threw the sheet back on his desk, “We can get D.N.A. testing done to prove it but it’s still circumstantial and we have no way of tying her to Bron.”

“If it helps there was a Dr. Bron connected to the project as well.”

Both Claire and Raven turn to Abby standing in the doorway, “He was the creator of the project and also the one who shut it down. He’s in the file.”

Abby pointed to the thick file still in Claire’s hand and she quickly flipped through it till she came upon his page. Dr. Shelton James Bron was indeed founder and creator of the Brain Wave project and was also the one to pull the plug when the public reaction became too negative. Claire showed the paper to Raven who quickly pulled up Bron’s file to find a relation. Turns out that Dr. Bron was James Bron’s grandfather. Raven was impressed.

“It still doesn’t explain why she killed him and we need to place the gun in her hands.”

Claire’s eyes brightened, “Exactly! Normally magic like that won't leave a physical reaction but because the gun can concentrate it in order to control it, there’s a possibility that it left a mark on her hands.”

Raven leaned back in his chair as he thought it over, “But we saw her earlier. Her hands were fine.”

Claire stood as she crossed her arms deep in thought. Eventually she snapped her fingers as she tried to think of something, “What was that plant? The one by the window behind her desk.”

Raven raked his fingers through his hair as he remembered, “Looked like a desert plant. Aloe or something.”

“That’s it. Aloe can be used in a simple potion to heal the skin.”

“Ok.” Raven got up as he straighten his desk, “We still don’t have motive.”

“What are you dragging your feet for?! C’mon let’s go get this lady!”

Claire came around the desk and almost tugged at his arm. Raven quickly moved out the way and pointed a finger at her face, “Stop. Calm down. This is our first case and we need to get this right.”

Claire stepped back as she understood what he meant. Finally she sighed and crossed her arms, “Alright. Fine. What do you suppose we do next?”

“We talk to the Captain. We tell him what we found and get a warrant.”

“Fine.” Claire nodded her head as Raven led the way to the Captain’s office.

“I should be going too.”

Claire looked up at Abby and smiled, “No please you can stay.”

“No no,” Abby shook her head holding up her hands, “You’re busy and I can just hear the papers piling up on my desk.”

“Oh well, want me to send you off?”

Abby shook her head and they hugged their goodbyes. Claire walked her to the door and turned back to follow Raven into the office. She crossed her arms as she walked past his desk and stopped. She froze as her head slowly turned to look at Dr. Crawford’s file on James Bron once again. She slowly picked it up as the dots began to connect in her head. She gasped as she figured out the motive and ran to the office with the file in hand.

“I’ve figured it out!”

Both Raven and the Captain turned to stare at her as she stood at the doorway, “Figured what out?”

The Captain coughed as Claire stepped up to his desk waving the file, “She was experimenting on him. James said he was having nightmares of jumping off a cliff. She was testing the limit barriers of Brain Wave magic!”

They both blinked and simultaneously said, “What?”

Claire mentioned to Raven as she explained, “I said before that Brain Wave energy has a limit to how much control is given right? James was dreaming about pushing that limit by jumping off a cliff.”

The Captain cleared his throat as he grabbed an anti-acid from his drawer, “What’s a cliff got to do with all this?”

“Brain Wave energy gives the wielder control of a person’s brain but there’s a limit to how much control. No matter how much they may command it Brain Wave magic will not allow a person to kill themselves while under control. They can’t order someone to kill themselves and James was dreaming of jumping off a cliff, not actually dying from the jump but of obeying the command to jump.”

“Ok, ok,” the Captain gulped down some water as he swallowed the chalky pills, “but I thought the guy was burned.”

“That was the experiment.” Claire leaned on his desk as she tried to explain, “James was under Dr. Crawford’s control for months. She was fine tuning the Brain Wave signature until he would obey the order of killing himself. In order to see the results for herself she probably took him to the warehouse and gave him the artifact ordering him to use it on himself and she got caught in the backlash of the artifact.”

The Captain stared Claire up and down as Raven stood behind her impressed that she solved the case, “Very well. Black, bring in Crawford. Claire find a doctor to run the necessary test to find that magic mark you were telling Black about on Crawford’s hands.” The Captain stood and beamed at them both, “Good job you two. You just solved your first case.”

Later that evening Claire laughed as her friends gave her a toast, “To Claire! For solving her first case!”

Dr. Crawford was booked and in jail. When Raven went to pick her up she broke down and confessed, hysterical that her father was haunting her dreams ashamed of her actions. Claire contacted Tessa to come in and run the test and they all came back positive, hammering the final nail in Crawford’s coffin. Now Claire was in a renky dink pub, surrounded by her friends Abby and Liz, celebrating her first case. All three women laughed as they cheered and swapped stories. Suddenly the cheering stopped as Abby and Liz looked up behind Claire’s back. Claire twisted in her seat to find Raven standing behind her.

“What are you doing here?” Claire’s eyes screwed up, “How’d you find me anyways?”

Raven flashed a deadly grin, “Detective, remember?”

Claire was giddy from the drinks and chuckled into her glass, “Oh yeah. What you want?”

“To give you this.”

Raven flashed out a gold badge and photo licensed. Claire’s eyes widen as she read the license, “Claire Dunsworth, Mage Detective of the MPF.”

Claire gasped and her friends sent out a hoot as she grabbed the badge in Raven’s hands. He smiled and nodded his head, “Welcome to the Magic Police Force…partner.”