When Macy finally emerged from the Chief's office, Jackson stood up and grabbed his keys, gun, and badge. He waited for her to make her way across the room. She chitter-chattered with everyone she passed along the way. Finally she reached their desks and continued to babble incessantly as she started to lower her round butt into her chair. She squeaked in shock when she was pulled back into a standing position by her elbow.

"Get your things. We're going somewhere," he growled.

"Oh! Whe-" she began, but he cut her off.

"Just let’s go. I'll fill you in along the way."

She looked excited as she grabbed her purse. Her blue eyes sparkled.

"Ooh! Are we going to chase vigilantes? Are we going to investigate crime scenes? Where are we going, darling? Are we going to check out the scene of that suicide?" she babbled in her high-pitched, girly voice which climbed an octave or two whenever she got excited.

Jackson gave her a side-long glance as he guided her out of the station.

"Actually, the latter," he told her hoping it would satisfy her enough to stop her talking.

It didn't. She continued to chatter the entire way to the truck. When they got there he opened the passenger door and watched her comical attempts to climb in as she continued talking. She kept falling back to the ground with a squeak before reaching up and trying again.

He stood back for a while, shaking his head. His shoulders trembled with suppressed laughter. Finally on her fourth attempt he reached up and placed a hand on her bottom. He gave her a little shove that sent her sprawling across the seat onto her tummy.

She quickly righted herself and, without missing a beat, said, "Thank you, darling!"

Then she continued chattering, pausing only long enough for him to walk around and climb into the driver's seat.

"I was thinking, you know. What if someone was there to make the man kill himself? Maybe they deactivated the alarm system then activated it again when they left. You know? Maybe someone came in and they forced him to write that note. Then made him kill himself. I bet it was Father Time! From what I hear, he could make someone do that! He's very scary. Not like the other vigilantes. And he hasn't done much, you know, superhero stuff really. Like saving people from bad guys and such. You know? He's been seen around but mostly just asking questions and he's not very nice about it, either... and maybe somehow he found out what the bad politician was up to, right? And so he went to him to punish him and kill him, but then he thought, you know, he should make him commit suicide so his wife won't be a suspected. You know how much money she got because he died, right? Well, maybe he decided to make him kill himself after writing that note so she could stay out of trouble cuz she's nice and...."

"Macy." Jackson tried to stop her.

"...because she really is a good woman, I think! And I bet Father Time could find something horrible enough..."

"Macy!"

"...that would be worse than shooting yourself. Maybe he threatened to..."

"MACY!" Jackson roared.

He was entering freeway traffic now, with his eyes glued to the road. His sudden roar caused her to jump and her eyes flew to him, wide and startled.

"...to... to... make him..." It took a moment for her run-away mouth to put the brakes on. "Yes, my love?" she asked, looking up at him innocently.

"Can you just put a lid on it til we get there? I'm trying to drive without getting us killed and you're giving me a headache."

"Of course sweetheart! Why didn't you just say so?"

He chanced an exasperated glance in her direction. She pulled out her nail file and began filing her already pristine nails while humming her little tuneless tune.

Some of what she had been saying slowly crept its way into his thoughts. It sounded like rambling and most of it sounded far-fetched, but the idea of folks with super-powers was pretty far-fetched in the first place. Macy talked about unimportant stuff a lot but when she started actually talking about work, she was usually pretty accurate. Her theories, no matter how ridiculous they sounded, had an eerily high accuracy rating.

They arrived at the huge house in which the suicide had taken place and he turned into the drive. He pulled his truck up behind a cop car that was parked there along with several other vehicles. The forensics team had finished early that morning and their results were already available. The homicide team was back at the station already doing whatever it was they did. Jackson figured the vehicles must belong to family or friends, but why the cop car?

He went around and opened the passenger door. Placing his hands around Macy's waist, he lifted her gently from the truck and set her on the ground. She was only 5'2" and about as sturdy as a feather, so it was difficult not to handle her like a child. Especially factoring in her voice and personality.

The two detectives entered the house through the front door. At this point only the bedroom where the guy had died was taped off. Walking into the front room, they came upon an angry looking woman with long, dark hair. Her perfect body was crammed into a dress that was so tight it made her completely fat-free rear-end bulge seductively. She was beautiful if you were into the icy, evil type that might kill you in your sleep.

She was glowering down at an apologetic looking little man in a business suit. He was sweating and his hands trembled while doing their best not to drop the papers he was holding. The woman was flanked by two men wearing suits as well, except that theirs were more like tuxedos. Everyone looked as if they had been arguing about something for quite a while. There was a cop standing off to the side looking uncomfortable. Considering the palpable tension in the room, Jackson imagined he had been called there in order to keep the peace.

The woman stopped growling at the poor little shaky guy and straightened to her full height. She turned toward Jackson and Macy. Her eyes narrowed.

"I-I'm really sorry, Miss..." the shaky guy was in the middle of sputtering.

"Shut up, you worthless rodent!" she snarled at him before turning her icy glare back toward the newcomers. "Who in the hell are you and what do you want?"  

Jackson's eyebrow shot up. He met her gaze with one equally derisive. Slowly a lopsided grin began to form on his face as he realized who she must be. She had to be the mistress. She was probably pissed off at being left with nothing except the allegations of conspiracy to commit murder and a corpse for a lover. She had probably put in a lot of time with the guy and planned to rise to the top right along-side him. Now he was dead and she had found out that she was to get nothing.

Jackson's eyes roamed over her face and then blatantly down her body. He brought them slowly back up to her eyes. "I'm Detective Jackson Wolfe. This here's my partner, Macy Grey. And you must be... hold on... let me guess... Elvira? Mistress of the Dark?"

Everyone in the room suppressed chuckles including the two meatballs that were obviously there as her bodyguards.

.............

Macy stared at the woman with wide, curious blue eyes. She didn't see anything about the horrid woman that could be considered even remotely attractive. Macy thought she was hideous. Her sense of style was appalling. Her makeup gaudy and... Gasp! Those nails! They looked more like claws and were painted a metallic green. Worse, they had some sort of fake-looking sparkly rhinestones glued onto them! She stared at them unable to look away. Similar to how one would find their attention glued to a horrific car accident. She smiled absent-mindedly when the others chuckled, but she remained distracted by the woman's horrific taste. Or lack thereof. It was impossible for her to concentrate on anything the woman was saying while she waved around those ridiculous claws.

............

"I am the late, would-have-been-governor's fiancé. The love of his life, you disrespectful oaf!" the angry woman spat at Jackson. She cast a threatening glare around the room at the chuckling men, who all sobered up instantly. "What is your business here?"

Jackson strolled across the vast living room and approached the livid woman, keeping his eyes on the floor. He didn't stop until he was standing toe to toe with her. Her height was a bit astonishing, but she seemed to shrink as he approached. When his face was inches away from hers he brought his eyes up and met her gaze. A look of surprise had crossed her features and she took a small step backward with her mouth agape.

"G-get away from me, how da-"

Jackson shot out a hand and grabbed her by her throat, causing her to gasp and her eyes to bulge. Macy pulled her compact out and was busy primping and applying lip gloss as her partner went about clearing things up. The two men standing next to the woman had frozen in what appeared to be shock. The young officer and the small lawyer just watched the scene with interest. They both looked fascinated.

Jackson tightened his grip ever so slightly around the tall brunette's throat and raised her up off of the floor enough so that she was barely supported by her own feet. She desperately tried to claw his hand away from her neck, but it was like a vice. She gasped and sputtered. She was unable to speak with her esophagus almost completely closed off.

"Now you have no choice but to shut your trap and listen closely to what I have to say," he purred, his voice quiet and even. "You are nothing more than a whore who is lucky she hasn't been arrested for conspiracy to commit murder. Based on the suicide letter you really should be. Not only are you in no position to be giving orders, but you have no business even standing in this house. Now, I'm going to let go of you and you are going to take these two useless brutes of yours and leave. Immediately. You will not bother these people again. You will keep your ass away from the widow and out of her sight. Your... lover's... wishes were clear. The will has been overturned. You aren't going to get anything. If you do not do exactly what I tell you, I will cuff you right here and take you in for trespassing, harassment, and conspiracy to commit murder."

With that, Jackson released her and allowed her to drop to the floor. She gasped and held her throat as she glared up at him with hatred.

Once she had composed herself enough to be able to speak, she rasped to the two men, "Let’s go, boys." She turned and headed toward the front door with fury oozing from every pore of her body.

"Oh, honey!" Macy chirped. Her eyes were still pinned to the woman's nails. "Sweetie, you must give my manicurist a call. She can fix those for you! Here. Let me just give you her card!"

She trotted across the room toward the woman. She was holding out a small, square business card. When she reached her she pressed it into the shocked woman's hand, smiling. She glanced again with obvious horror at the offensive nails. They must have been even more horrifying up close, because she let out another gasp and an 'eww!’ "You give her a call, honey. She'll fix you right up with a nice manicure. You just might feel a little better about yourself after that. I can help you with..." She paused to wave her hand in a back and forth motion, indicating the woman's clothing. "...all of this, too, if you..."

"Macy!" Jackson growled, stopping her in mid-tirade. "Get your ass back over here."

Macy paused and turned back around to click-clack her way back over to his side. "Darling, I was just trying to help. The poor girl clearly needs fashion guidance!"

The obviously outraged "girl" to whom she was referring let out an angry screech and whipped around. She flew out the front door after her two goons and slammed it behind her.

"Hmm. I guess she'll continue to be appalling, then." Macy stared at the front door looking puzzled. "Suits me!" She shrugged and withdrew her nail file.

The lawyer was staring at Jackson as though he were a god. The cop behind him looked rather impressed as well and appeared to be having difficulty not falling to the floor in laughter at the scene that had just taken place in front of his eyes. 

"Detective Wolfe,” the cop said, shaking his head. "That was nothing short of completely awesome. I wish I'd done that an hour ago! Trust me. I had considered it."

Jackson looked at him and recognized him as one of the newer officers in the district.

He shrugged and said, "That woman is an abomination." Then he turned to the lawyer who had finally stopped shaking and was mopping the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. He had a look of relief covering his face.

"Sir, I take it you are the guy in charge of the will and estate?" Jackson asked him gently. When the nervous man nodded he continued, "You should be able to proceed without further interruption from her. She doesn't have a legal leg to stand on and she knows it."

The small man bobbed his head up and down in agreement. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and rifled through the papers he was holding.

"I was trying to get that point across to her, b-but she wouldn't let me talk. And the guys with her were looking at me as though they would kill me. I had to step out for a moment and call Officer Jameson to come over and make sure they didn't get violent. He's the only reason I'm still breathing, I honestly believe!"

The poor guy had obviously been put through the ringer.

"You shouldn’t need to worry about her anymore," Jackson reassured him again.

Then he motioned to Macy and they excused themselves as they headed up to the bedroom where it had happened. Crossing over the tape, Jackson stepped into the plush room and looked around. He had never been there. He was positive of that, but he was shaking off a feeling of Deja-vu.

He walked over to the balcony and opened the sliding door. He looked up and down the frame, searching for anything unusual and then he stepped outside. He took in the view of the valley as he contemplated. He walked over to the railing and placed his hands on the smooth wood. He looked up, trying to get a peek at the roof from his position, but couldn't quite lean out in a way that gave him a decent view.

With one smooth motion he swung his legs up and perched on the railing, crouched down while holding onto the overhang. He stood up and pulled himself up to land gently on his feet on top of the roof.

"Jackson!" he heard Macy's horrified voice call from below. "Jackson Wolfe, you get down from there! You'll fall!"

He ignored her and continued looking around the roof top. There was a chimney not far from where he stood and he walked over and studied the structure of it before continuing across the roof to the other side. He leaned outward and looked down. It was a two story building and not an easy climb from the ground unless you were quite the acrobat.

He looked out over the lawn with his eyes narrowed, deep in thought. He could still hear Macy's chirruping voice. She was yipping at him to come down. He scanned the scenery once more hoping something would jump out at him. There didn't seem to be anything out of place and no signs that anyone had made any attempt to climb up.

When he swung back down onto the balcony, he looked over the railing down to the pool. It was almost flush against the wall below. If someone wanted to climb up from that direction they would have to go for a swim first. The pool was built perfectly for jumping into it from the balcony. Jackson almost felt tempted, but Macy was pawing at him and worrying over him as if he had nearly met his death while up on the roof.

Finally he waved her away annoyed, and headed toward the bathroom. There was nothing out of place there and he came back into the bedroom and stared at the bed. Everything had been taken in as evidence. All that was left was the blood-stained mattress and the nightstands. He opened the drawer nearest the blood. It was probably where the politician stowed the weapon when he wasn't blowing his own head off with it. Nothing was amiss. Nothing leaped out at him.

With another look around, his eyes lingering on the balcony for a moment, Jackson motioned to Macy and headed out of the bedroom back toward the stairs. He had some thinking to do. Some of the things she had mentioned on the way there were itching the back of his brain.

She was a smart little creature and she had a lot more information locked away in her cute little head than one would imagine by looking at her or talking to her. It always came out in spurts and seemingly at random.

They left the house and headed back to the station with Macy chattering on about unimportant things. Jackson tuned her out as he pondered over everything they had experienced that day. He had lots of work to do. He needed to get more information about this Father Time guy.

(Author's note: Hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Please take a moment to vote, if you are, and feedback is welcome, too, of course!)