Never in a million years did Grace ever think that Basil would be at her workplace. A man like Basil entering a police station, a professional environment, is like a chimpanzee entering human civilization — chaos. But this was regarding a case; surely Basil didn't come to tell everyone that their "official". So, against her better judgment, Grace still brought the idiot she calls her partner to the station, and it wasn't a smooth walk. The amount of looks they got was like swords stabbing into their faces, not even daggers, swords. It was a mix of envious, jealous, and surprised looks from mainly male co-workers, all wondering who on earth this random guy was walking with Grace. But Basil didn't seem to care, for all Grace knew, he probably didn't even notice.

  The tour that Basil gave himself was quite long. He walked the whole building, looking at the dark, gloomy interview rooms. As well as the various sections of the station, which are full of desks, papers, and computers. All things that Basil would call boring. It wasn't until they reached a specific sector of the station, the area where Stella worked, at. Grace was quite confused, shooting Basil a confused look, only to see him talking soundly to a female assistant. Her eyes narrowed, feeling some kind of... unease in her chest. She saw him give the woman a cup of water before pointing at a police officer, whispering something in her ear.

  As soon as the women left, Grace crept behind Basil, pinching him in the arm. "Ow! What was that for?" Basil said dramatically, grabbing onto his arm as if Grace had just stabbed him or something. "I didn't bring you here to act inappropriately with people", Grace said with a serious tone.

  "What? Jealous?"

  Rolling her eyes, Grace stepped in front of him, arm crossed, eyes sharp as ever, "Can you tell them why we're here anyway? What does this have to do with the case?"

  "Oh, it has everything to do with the case..." he replied as he eyed the women giving the officer the water, and he saw itAtat one of the desks, he saw a white haired lady, eyeing the police officer. "Tell me, Grace, does that officer over there look familiar? Do you know him?" he asked while side-eyeing the officer, smug as ever.

  Narrowing her eyes, she got a look at him. Short hair, beefy body, quite tall. "That's the guy who got in between Stella and me today!" She thought, "Hmmmmmm, I'll take that as a yes, and who's the rival person?"

  Grace pointed at Stella, the same white haired lady who was eyeing Officer James. Basil looked at Stella with a satisfying smile and, walking over, passed numerous desks, quickly, but not too fast. Grace followed close behind, of course, still in confusion.

  "You must be Grace's little friend!" Basil said, Pleasure to meet you."

  Stella looked up from her computer at the strange man in front of him, and most importantly, Grace, who was standing close behind, "Ohhh ~ you must be Grace's partner," she said, "how can I help you?"

  "Well, I just want to ask you a few questions, and given your little rivalry with Grace, I thought I would ask you."

  "shoot."

  "Did you kill Tomas Sage?"

  Basil said that with no filler, nice and loud, crystal clear. Grace's mouth nearly dropped to the floor. Stella already sees Basil of low value, this just solidified it. She looked at him with awe, not the good kind, the bad kind. "what on earth are you doing?!" Grace said in an angry but quiet voice, "That is highly inappropriate."

  Stella smirked, seeing everyone's reaction, she leaned against her desk as she eyed Grace, "Well well, isn't that a shocking question hm? Is this really your standard now?"

  But Basil didn't budge, he pressed forward without hesitation, "I'm asking a simple question, did you kill Tomas Sage?"

  "why do you ask?"

  Basil leaned down, his face close to hers, close enough to hear whispers, "You and that officer there are dating" Basil said with a low voice. Stella's cocky attitude instantly vanished, her eyes widened slightly as her lips pressed firm

  "I assume it's a secret; workplace romance isn't exactly ideal. But I can tell that the feeling is one-sided, he loved you but you don't love him back, you only like him because he gives you attention, hence the jealous look on your face early. So, unless you don't want your secret exposed, why don't you chat with us a bit."

  "How did you..."

  "Will you talk or not?"

  "Fine..." she answered reluctantly.

  Moving to a quieter place in the station, Basil filled Grace in on his theory. Of course, Grace was quite shocked hearing it, but didn't question it. They were both now standing in front of Stella who was leaning against a wall, looking impatient. Her feet and arms crossed and she stared intently at the two of them.

  "What is it?" She said, finally breaking the silence. "I don't have all day."

  "Where were you last night?" Grace asked. Her voice steady, no longer treating Stella as a rival colleague but a potential suspect.

  "Home" she said fast.

  "Liar" Basil casually said while he stared curiously at the ceiling. "Your tone is awfully fast for someone who's telling the truth. Try again."

  He looked at her, processing her. Then he pulled out a small bag from his pocket, and inside was a black hair tie. "I found this at the crime scene. It's stretched quite unevenly, and a few fibers are torn, meaning it's been used quite a bit. It's plain, with no brand nor decoration, meaning this is only used as a tool and not for fashion." Basil said in a ridiculously calm voice, as if he were naming food items on a grocery list.

  But he continued, "The owner of this must be a women, someone who has a habit of tying their hair back, someone who's professional... someone who's a detective. And out of the 36 possible candidates I saw in this station, you seem to be the most plausible one."

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Stella's face has both a surprised look and an awesome expression. She has never seen anyone like this before, someone who could see so much from a hair tie. "That could be anyone's." She said as she stood up straighter, "how do you know this is mine? How do you know that I have a habit of using hair ties?"

  "Because one, your wrist have light red marks, meaning you often but something on your wrist, often a hair tie. Two, you care a lot about your looks, meaning that you prefer your hair to be flowing to show beauty, therefore, you only tie your hair if necessary. And a person who only does something when they need to, won't care about cosmetics. In this case, a plain hair tie."

  "But-"

  "Just give up." Grace said with a sigh, "you won't be able to win against him. He could tell if you're lying from a ketchup stain. Just tell us were you were, and you're free to go."

  With a sigh, Stella finally surrendered. "Fine. Listen, I was at Tomas' workshop because I wanted him to make me a gift for a friend."

  "Boyfriend?" Basil asked with curiosity, now sitting on the floor.

  "Ugh.... Yes.... A boyfriend." Stella said as she side-eyed Basil. "It was quite late that day. When I knocked, Tomas came like some kind of, emotionless ghost. His workshop was creepy as hell too. Only one light was opened, and it barely did anything."

  "Ok...." Grace said as she began writing in her notepad, "continue."

  "I told him about what I wanted him to make me, it was just a wooden lion. He told me to come and have a seat on one of those foldable chairs he had. After that, he gave me a few papers to sign and went to his workstation."

  "Did you see anything? The wall blocking the workplace should have a window. What do you see while he was back there?" Grace and Basil both asked, as if the question came to both of them in sync. They stared at her like cats waiting for a treat, in this case, an important clue.

  "I didn't see anything" Stella said, disappointed the two. "It was way too dark."

  "Ok, continue"

  "Uhm, I finished the papers, signed and all. And Tomas came back, taking the papers from me and said 'thank you, I'll have it for you next week'" Stella continued, "but before I was going to leave, he called out to me and asked me to take some kind of bin from the back of the house and bring it to a parking lot near by his house. I didn't think it was too big of a deal and just did it for him."

  "And that's it? Tomas was alive when you saw him?" Basil asked, How completely lying down on the floor.

  "Yes."

  "When was the last time you saw him?"

  Stella paused a moment, rethinking the moment. She thought back, when she signed the papers, when she talked to Tomas about the order, when she was ready to leave, and then..... "Oh right. I remember. When I left, I saw Tomas' shadow through the window. From what I could hear, I seemed like he was hammering something."

  Basil sat back up and put his palms together, thinking. "Was there anything at the parking lot?"

  "Yeah, I remember there was a white van there. Looked kind of old... and cheap."

  Grace glanced at Basil, seeing him concentrating..... and getting weird looks by people walking by. Seeing a grown man sitting on the floor wasn't something people see in a police station. She thought about Stella's story. It was odd, according to Stella, Tomas was still alive when she saw him, and even saw him working when she left. So how did he die? Who killed him? She remembered what Basil said about the cameras, was the reason why he asked was to see if Stella was indeed doing what he said? Going in and coming out with... A Bin?

  But Basil remained still. He thought about what Stella said, particularly focused on the fact that the workshop was dark. Based on what Basil saw, there are 6 lights in the showroom and 2 in the work area, so why was only one turned on? And that Tomas was still alive when Stella saw him, this would mean Tomas died as soon as Stella stepped out, or worse, was still in the garage. Could she be lying? No, his voice was quite steady, she didn't overshare, she maintained eye contact, and her body language was confident. She wasn't lying.

  So Basil thought back. He reimagined the whole scene frozen. He walked through a frozen version of the crime scene, walking past Grace who was still.... Tripping over herself. "How cute." He thought, but that's not priority. He walked through the side and entered the work station a second time, only this time, it was in his head. He looked around, pushing the frozen Basil out of the way to see Tomas's desk, and he saw it. A tiny folded pride flag was tucked gently in one of the drawers, just enough to see it. But most importantly, a melted candle.

  He opened his eyes and stood quickly, "he's gay...." He cried out, "Or at least not completely straight."

  The near by officers turned their heads, looking at Basil with a confused look, as if saying "why the hell is this guy?". Grace covered her face out of embarrassment, and punching Basil on the arm, "What on earth are you saying?!" She said.

  Stella watched them with a smirk; she could practically see the tension between them the moment they got here. Now, they look like two people who are in denial. "Honestly, Grace, I had thought that this...." She stopped slowly as she looked at Basil.

  "Basil, Basil House." He said confidently, like a child introducing himself to a class.

  "Right.... I had thought that this Basil guy was some kind of airhead who caused trouble for you~" she said as she looked at Grace with mischievous eyes, "perhaps he's alright standing next to you."

  "Oh shut up, would you?! All you do all day is flirt with guys! Who would have known you had a boyfriend?" Grace snapped back.

  "Oh yeah? Well all you do is swoon Mr. Virg, with that body of yours to get more cases!"

  Grace gasped in surprise, "I do not! How dare you say such inappropriate things to me!"

  "Uhm...." Basil said awkwardly, "can we focus-"

  "HUSH!" Grace said, shutting Basil up for good.

  Basil looked at her with shock and a bit of wary before stepping back, "wow, rude."

  Seeing the two ladies fight, he concluded that saying anything would result in him getting yelled out. "Honestly, and she called me childish." He thought as he pulled out a small tissue from his coat pocket. Seeing an assistant with a pen in her pocket, he walked past her and skillfully snatched it from her pocket without her knowing.

  Writing a few words on the tissue, he walked back to Grace (who was still arguing with Stella) and slipped it into her pocket before quickly leaving.

  He sighed as he walked out, "honestly, those girls are like children," he mumbled to himself as if he wasn't worse.

  .

  .

  .

  Grace found the note Basil gave her. It was around 10 minutes after Basil left did she and Stella's argument finally calm down. While leave (mostly to find Basil), she felt a piece of tissue paper in her pocket. Unfolding it, she read what Basil wrote.

  Do you have Stella's phone number? If no.... You're a bum. If yes, send this picture to her. You should be getting it any second now.

  P.S. You two should really grow up :3

  Grace read that last part with her eyebrows twitching. Grow up he says? As if he's not worse. "His handwriting looks like that of a preschooler!" She thought. "And he as the nerve to call ME childish?!" But just when she could grip the tissue any harder, she heard a swing coming from her phone. It was from Basil, an image.

  The image is what seemed to be Toma's workshop, specifically, in front of the window. The image was dark, but not dark enough to be black; this was due to the window. The window, in which people to look into Tomas' workshop area was illuminated by a soft glow, a soft golden glow, with a silhouette of a man sitting in front of the window, just the silhouette, nothing more.

  This must be the video Basil wants Stella to see. Grace looked back at Stella's desk and watched her sit down all happy and sucking up her co-workers. She really didn't want to deal with her again, but then again, hearing Basil annoy her about not following his plan was equally, if not more, annoying. With a sigh, she walked over.