The Phantom Files (Prologue)

The blue and red lights lit up the night in a wretched and ominous symphony of flashes. There were no less than 4 police cars surrounding the jewelry store, and 7 different police officers talking to witnesses, victims, and the manager of the store. Only a few minor items had been stolen…but the worst crime of all was the woman behind the counter, where blood dripped like a trickling stream. She was about 30 years old, blonde hair and pale brown eyes. Her eyes were still wide open and her mouth slightly agape. She lay upon a pool of blood, her hands stained red with it, and a bullet wound in the front of her skull. Her lovely yellow cardigan was all but ruined, but fashion was the least of this girls worries.
A 5th car rolled up behind the other police cars. This one was a brown Sudan, with police lights inside the windshield. It was a detective car…and the police took a look inside and a few smirked. The cavalry had arrived.
The first to step out was the man driving the Sudan. He was tall, fit, and ruggedly handsome with a small stubble of a beard growing on his face. He wore a brown trench coat and his dark brown hair, as usual, was kept uncombed and a little wild. His piercing blue eyes reminded most people of a dogs eyes…mysterious and icy, but friendly and inviting. His name was Detective Oliver Newman…but everyone in the force called him Ollie. He was one of the best in the business of solving crimes.
The second to step out was a young woman with long black hair and blue eyes of her own, but more deep like an ocean. Her skin was naturally tan and she was at least a head shorter than her partner. She wore a tan rain coat and loafers that looked a bit to masculine for such a petite woman. She closed the door behind her and hurried around to meet Ollie.
“If you’d let me drive, we would’ve gotten here 30 minutes ago.” The woman hissed.
“If I’d let you drive, we wouldn’t have gotten here at all. You’d have wrecked us in a heartbeat.”
“You really think that, Newman?”
“Think it? LeeAnne, I KNOW it.” At the mention of her name, LeeAnne flushed and looked away angrily.
“I told you not to call me by that name, Ollie.”
“Sorry, slip of the tongue LeeAnne.” He smirked. The two made their way into the store and Ollie looked to the nearby police officer. “Were you the first on the scene?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then what’ve we got, officer?” Ollie asked professionally.

“Looks pretty standard. About an hour ago, the perp walks in and pulls a gun, demanding the jewels in the display cabnet. Lady gives it to him but not fast enough for his liking and he puts one round in her skull. She drops, he takes what he can carry, and he makes a run for it.” The officer explains.
“Who’s the victim?” LeeAnne asked.
“Autumn Shelly. 32 years old. She’s been employeed here for a good 2 years now.”
“Any suspects?” Ollie asked.
“When he came in, the perp ordered all the customers to get on the ground and cover their heads, so no one other than the cashier and the manager who was with her behind the counter got a good look at her.” The officer said.
“Manager?” LeeAnne asked. “He saw the perp?”
“Not exactly. He claims the perp had on a mask…all he could confirm was that the perp had green eyes and he shot Mrs. Shelly when she didn’t get him the jewels he wanted fast enough.” The officer answered. LeeAnne looked to Ollie and he nodded.
“Take a look at the body, I’ll have a chat with the manager and see if we can’t jog his memory.”
“Just like old times.” Ollie muttered. “Try to use some of your feminine wilds on him.”
“Oh shut up.” LeeAnne snapped. Ollie laughed and walked to the victim and began inspecting her body for any other clues or evidence. But his mind wasn’t completely on her, it was also on LeeAnne.
“She still haven’t fully come to terms with everything…” Ollie thought, rubbing his forehead. It’d been three whole months now since it’d happened, and he could tell she was still out of sorts. “I’ll talk with her later about it…wait a minute…” Ollie suddenly looked carefully at the bullet wound, noticing minor burns around the hole… “Now that’s interesting…if that’s the case…then where’s the…” Ollie’s eyes fell on the bloody pool on the counter and his eyes narrowed. Things weren’t adding up. Not at all.

LeeAnne walked over to Ollie who was kneeling over the woman’s body, checking her carefully.
“Find something interesting, partner?” She asked.
“That bullet wound…notice anything funny about it?” He asked. LeeAnne glanced at it and stared for a moment before nodding.
“Burn marks. The gunshot was at seriously close range.”
“If that bullet hit her at such high velocity, where’s the blood splatter?” Ollie asked. LeeAnne’s eyes lit up and she smiled.
“You’re right…there isn’t any. Just a pool of blood from a slow bleedout.” She stood up and turned to the officers taking statements. “YOU TWO! Turn the body over.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.” She growled. Ollie stood up and gave the two officers a glare that could freeze a tiger in its tracks.
“The lady said roll the body over…get it done.”
“RIGHT AWAY!” As they hurried to turn it over, LeeAnne shoved her hands in her coat pockets and pouted angrily.
“Three months ago, they would’ve JUMPED if I’d given them an order.” She snarled.
“Easy, partner. Don’t blow a fuse.” Ollie whispered. Once the officers rolled her over, Ollie glanced down and pointed to the bloody cardigan where there was a small slit in the bottom of it, where the majority of the blood had gathered.
“A knife wound.” He pointed out. “She was stabbed and then shot afterwards…but now who would do that?”

“I think I’ve had enough of this!” LeeAnne and Ollie both glanced at the manager, Jason Barnes, who was now quite red in the face and angry. He looked clean enough, other than the blood on his right hand and his jacket.
“Where’d you get that blood on you, sir?” Ollie asked.
“I tried to save Mrs. Shelly when she was attacked!” He snapped. “CPR, that kind of thing. Now I’d like to go home now.”
“Sorry, but you’re staying put.” Ollie growled.
“WHY YOU….JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU’RE TALKING TO!?”
“The murderer, probably.” LeeAnne remarked. “What idiot performs CPR on a body that’s been shot through the head?” The Mr. Barnes suddenly looked even redder and he tried to pull himself together.
“I…I didn’t…WHY WOULD I KILL MY OWN EMPLOYEE!? YOU SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR THE ROBBER! HE’S THE ONE THAT-”
“The robber only you could identify?” Ollie asked. “Very convenient that. Tell me, how tall was this robber?”
“He must’ve been six feet tall or so!” Mr. Barnes claimed.
“And how tall are you, sir? 5 foot 4?”
“GOT SOMETHING AGAINST SHORT MEN!?”
“Not at all, but the angle at which the knife went in seems awfully low for someone standing 6 feet tall.” Ollie pointed. “The attacker must’ve been rather short.”
“I….YOU CAN’T….YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD…WHY WOULD I KILL HER!? WHAT’S MY MOTIVE!?”
“Now that’s a good question.” LeeAnne smiled. She reached into one of the display cases and pulled out an emerald necklace, holding it up near her so she could look at it. “Ya know, most jewelry stores put out flashy fake jewelry to impress customers, but this looks like the real deal. What would you say Detective Newman?” Ollie took the necklace and stared at it carefully in the light of the room and a small smirk grew across his face.
“Well firstly I’d say it wouldn’t go well with your eyes, dear. A sapphire would do better.”
“I’ll ignore that comment…”
“And secondly…these look familiar. I served two tours in Afganistan. If I recall this particular emerald looks like something stolen from one of the museums raided during the bombings of the city…I wonder how such a rare and VALUABLE jewel ended up in here.” LeeAnne grinned wickedly, seeing the squirming Mr. Barnes as his face began to pour with sweat. “It’s just a theory, Mr. Barnes…but I’m willing to bet our poor Mrs. Shelly found out you were a fence for illegally obtained jewelry.”
“She threatened to go to the police and you decided she had to be taken care of. You staged a robbery and killed her in the confusion.” LeeAnne finished. “You probably hired one of your clients to do the deed to lead us to them so that we wouldn’t ever suspect you. That’s why only a few jewels were taken. You then had them shoot Mrs. Shelly in the head after you stabbed her to make the scared customers and us think she was a victim of the robbery. A bit sloppy, really.”
“You…you’re both nuts!” Mr. Barnes laughed. The entire room was not in such a humorous mood as all the officers had eyes on the manager, Mr. Barnes. Feeling their cold glares, he quickly tried to puff himself up like a bull frog. “PROVE IT! If I really did something this outlandish, why don’t you prove it?!”
“No problem.” Ollie smiled. “This emerald, as well as any of the other jewels coated in Mrs. Shelly’s blood, are all considered evidence. I’ll gladly send a picture of this to my contacts in Afghanistan, and I’ll bet they’ll tell me if it’s the real deal or not. What’dya say old man? Wanna place your bets on what they’ll tell me?” Mr. Barnes began fumbling around with his tie and with his words before finally he hung his head in defeat and muttered several obscenities.
“I think we can count that as a confession.” LeeAnne smirked.
“If only they were all this easy.” Ollie snickered.
“If only all the perps were this stupid.” LeeAnne laughed. “Get that murderer to the station and get his statement. We’ll be down in a little bit. We need to run a quick errand before we get back.” The two ace detectives got back into the Sudan and Ollie fired up the engine. He shot a smile at LeeAnne which quickly faded when he saw the look on her face. It wasn’t one of victory or joy…but rather disappointment.

“Richard?” He asked.
“Calling me by my old name again?” She asked.
“Don’t give me that…I know you, man. This is usually the part where we go out and get a few rounds of shots to celebrate.”
“It’s been 3 months, Ollie. 3 months since those bastards turned me into this…what is there to celebrate?”
“How about the fact that we just caught a killer AND an illegal smuggler?” Ollie asked.
“For all the good it did me…” She sighed. Ollie groaned and leaned back in the car seat, staring at his partner in defeat.
“C’mon…a drink’ll cheer you up, Richard.” Ollie pulled the car back and drove it towards a nearby bar. He knew why Richard was depressed…he knew, but there was no way he could make things better for his former partner.

Three months ago, Richard Wallace, Ollies former partner, and a damn good detective, had gone missing chasing a lead on an organization connected with at least a dozen murders. He’d been missing for three days, until a mysterious woman showed up on Ollie’s doorstep claiming to be Richard. Somehow, someway, Richard was changed into a woman