The spring sun made the office look like a half-forgotten basement, full of unwanted things and dust-gathering trinkets. Its golden days had long passed into history, and what remained was a matter of many disputes.

  "We need this," Kallis growled as he dragged the old whiteboard across the room, pulling with it an entire collection of spiderwebs from the corner.

  It refused to move smoothly, making a terrible screeching sound as it scraped the floor.

  "You are killing me," Ronns returned, pulling on his sock with a pencil. "It's not like we have anything to write on that old thing anyway. When was the last time we had a decent case?”

  “That’s not something to complain about. I’d rather we died of boredom than… well, you know what I mean.” Before Kallis could shake off the dust from his jacket, Myra slid past him like a ghost. She dropped into her seat tightly grappling the armrests with her fingernails. She sat there a whole minute before responding to anything or anyone.

  "Where did you wander off to?" said Ronns waving his hand over her face. “Hello?”

  The cramped office never allowed for much privacy and like a small unhappy family the Borderline unit pledged their lives together, even if it meant torturing one another along the way.

  "What?" Myra yelled electrocuting the air. "I didn't forget about it Ronns. I'll give you the money later." She pushed her coat off her back and let it hang from the chair as she began to shuffle through the drawers of her desk.

  "Can't a college be concerned?" Ronns mumbled and returned to watching funny cat videos on his phone.

  "Have you seen my badge? I swear it was somewhere…" She kicked the drawers back in place one after the other. "Why can't I find a damn thing in this place?"

  "Are you going to yell at me again?" Ronns poked back, pointing his pencil at her. “I’ll tell you where it is if you play nice.”

  "No, Ronns, I'm sorry for being mean to you. Could you please tell me where it is?"

  "You promise?"

  "Gods. Yes!" she exclaimed, ready to yank the phone out of his hands.

  “Say it like you mean it.”

  “I promise.”

  Hearing the gently spoken words, Ronns carefully distanced himself from the table, got up, circled to the other side, and got behind Kallis’s empty chair, holding it tightly like a shield.

  Myra squinted her eyes at him, already expecting a troubling end.

  "I have no idea," Ronns returned with a devilish smile.

  Unable to control her temper, she grabbed the keyboard from her desk and lounged at him from afar. With tightly clenched teeth she was ready to bestow a gift of pain, and let his face play a game of scrabble with the buttons.

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  "Tamon!" A voice echoed from across the hall, canceling her attack. "My office. No delays."

  "Coming sir." Myra returned sourly. For a few more seconds she stood like a statue, gleaming at the enemy, but once she realized there was no way of avoiding the Captain that day she dropped her weapon and dragged herself to his office.

  ***

  "I know I'm late," she said closing the door. "I still have a couple of reports to finish so there's not much to… report, sir."

  "I heard you're to be cleared for active duty soon. How're you feeling?"

  "Yes sir. Good sir. As of next week, I'll be back in the field." She smiled holding her hands behind her back as she always did when the nervous ticking came around.

  "It may have to be sooner. I’ve spoken to your doctor. She agreed."

  "Sir?"

  "You haven't heard anything yet, have you?" the Captain said leaving his chair. He stopped by the window and yanked on his tie until it was fully off his neck. He held it in his hand like it was a key piece of evidence or a weapon capable of great destruction, before throwing it at the clothes hanger, where it remained.

  "Like what? Did you finally decide to give me my own office?" Myra said lightly, though a funny feeling came zapping down her spine. Resorting to jokes or violence had always been her way out of things but she knew the chief too well not to expect something dark hiding behind his words.

  "Listen Myra. There's a fair chance the next few days will turn into a real… kerfuffle to put it gently." He pulled down the blinds before peeking through the window one last time. The office suddenly lost all warmth and became a cold dark box. "Remember, there is only so much I can do, so please be smart about this."

  "You're going to have to be more precise, Captain. What has happened?" Myra's eyes widened and her right temple began to pulsate with the blood gathering in her face. She could not tell if such excitement was a consequence of boredom or her body trying to protect her from another dance with trauma.

  "There's been a murder." The Captain's voice sank and he made sure his eyes were not on hers when he spoke.

  "And?"

  "Do you remember your very first case?"

  "First case? Do you mean way back in the Glamstone Division? That would be the Arbiger Park murder. Why?"

  "It happened again it seems." He paused and then slowly lowered himself back into the chair. "They found the body just this morning."

  "Wait... are you saying the killer is back?" Myra shifted closer to the table, just enough to see the outline of the old case file, sitting among a few others, each labeled as ‘Homicide’.

  "The victim was found at the same location, and the manner of death matches the first one as well. The press has been told not to print anything yet but that won't hold them for long."

  "Why are you telling me this then? Arbinger Park is not in our jurisdiction anymore. Not since..."

  "There's just one more thing," the Captain added with a grim look on his face.

  "What?" She leaned even closer like gravity itself was pulling her to the old case file. It’s been years since then, and though carrying heavy regrets for not catching the killer, she was aware there was little that would make her eligible to take it over once again.

  "Same victim," he said slowly as if every letter was as heavy as a mountain.

  "Huh?" Myra's voice thinned out, and her thoughts spiraled in a different direction. "What is that supposed to mean?"

  "Exactly what it sounds like, more trouble at a bad time. I can tell you this - the bad news is the case has been re-opened, regardless of the victim's identity. The similarity is too great to ignore at this point. The other bad news is that it is also likely to be re-classified."

  "To what?" she shrieked as the very idea made her skin crawl with grim possibilities.

  "M-1."

  She paused. It was not what she'd expected to happen. Her stomach cramped and turned until a liberating thought came to mind.

  "But then it is not our concern, right? If the victim turns out to be the same somehow, then the case is… it's… theirs."

  "Thought you'd be more interested in this Tamon, but I guess even you've had your fill. In any case, it would have been their concern and theirs alone… had the laws not changed. It was our investigation in the first place so they want us to carry it on again, for the sake of... consistency. It's just that," he stopped to scratch his nose, "the Bureau decided to send a specialist over. To oversee."

  "Which Bureau? What kind of specialist?"

  "You know what kind."