Elemental Origins I: Return of The Lost Prince

Chapter 5 - Unexpected Outcome

"Sit down, Adam." Adam's boss-the chief of police, Roger Nelson-pointed at one of the available seats in front of his desk.

Adam nodded, sitting down in the pointed seat beside Adrian. He looked different from yesterday. His brown hair was let loose, reaching the back of his neck, while his golden yellow fringe was tucked behind his left ear-although it could sometimes fall off, covering his left eye. His clothing looked very simple yet very fancy; an expensive looking gray sports coat, V-collared dark blue shirt, black cargo pants with leather belt, leather wristwatch on his right hand, and a golden necklace with a strange shaped pendulum-which Adam recognized as the symbol of the kingdom he used to live in. He also had his nails freshly painted black.

"Adam, this is Adrian Hwang, a private detective from the neighbor city. You will be working with him in this case I'm about to assign you to."

"Sir, I'd like to call myself an investigator rather than a detective." Adrian looked at his nails. "It has a nice ring to it."

"Same thing, Mr. Hwang. Anyways, this is Adam Idol, the senior detective I was talking about."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Idol." Adrian looked at Adam with a slight grin on his face. "Looking forward to work with you."

Adam nodded. "Please, call me Adam. And yes, nice to meet you too."

"Alright then. This won't take too much of the time." Roger handed them one yellow folder each. "I assume you both know the main focus already."

Adam opened the folder, carefully reading every single line of information written. "I thought you said you're not going to assign this case to anyone for a few days."

"We received a new report, as a matter of fact. I decided to call Mr. Hwang here just after the caller hung up."

Adrian nodded, letting out a slight grin.

Roger continued. "Just a few minutes ago, a local woman filed in a complain to the headquarters about a bad smell near her house at Diamond Hills District, which turned out to be a rotting corpse inside a sack. The M.O matched the previous discoveries regarding the news about this serial killer we've been looking for."

"Did she touch the body?" Adam asked.

"Nope, not even for a second."

"Alright, we're in the clear." Adam closed the yellow folder, returning it back to Roger. "Mr. Hwang?"

Adrian laughed, closing the yellow folder and placing it back to Roger's desk. "Call me Adrian. And before you ask, I'm ready when you are."

Adam nodded. "Let's go."

Adam and Adrian left the master office, rushing their way to their vehicle.

***

"So, tell me, Xavier." Adrian finally called Adam by his real name. They were inside Adam's car, ready to go. "How are you feeling right now?"

"Tired as hell." Adam responded shortly. "This is earlier than any of my other work days."

Adrian grinned. "I can tell."

"Whatever, Crypt. Whatever. What about you?"

"Me? I'm fine, despite this case being out of my supposed work range, or whatever y'all kids are saying nowadays."

Adam chuckled, starting to drive his car to Diamond Hills District.

Five minutes in the car, they started chatting like best friends.

"Are you always like this, Adrian?" Adam asked.

"Like what?" Adrian turned his head to Adam.

"You seem to care less about everything."