ROSES HAVE THORNS-Chapter 37 - Secret Ninja

"And that’s how I got away."

Kurt and Dominik stood in front of the chief’s desk as Kurt finished giving his report. Coincidentally he noticed the metal name display that stood on his desk.

’So his name is Hudson. Chief Hudson, huh? Has a nice ring to it.’

"Going off of what you’re saying, you’re telling me that the whole neighborhood in that area has had dealings with the zealots?" Hudson tapped his finger on the desk as he listened to Kurt.

"I don’t know about the rest of the people there, since we’ve only ever checked four houses, but chances of that being the case is very high."

"I see. What about those kids’ parents? Tristan told me his side of the story and it’s been recorded and filed. I assume you’ve brought evidence that could back up his claims."

"...Yes, I did." Kurt took out his phone and opened the gallery app to show Hudson the pictures he took.

"What is this?"

"Yeah Kurt, what’s that? I’ve never seen something like this before." Dominik looked at it curiously as well.

"I didn’t want to tell you this but it seems I have to. I need you both to promise me that you’ll not tell anyone about what I’m about to say."

"Why? Are you being threatened?" Hudson narrowed his eyes.

"No. But if they find out that my secret’s been revealed, I might as well be."

"They?"

"Yes. Incidentally Dominik has already figured out who I am."

"I did?" He confusingly pointed at himself.

"Yeah. The thing is, Chief Hudson, I’m actually from a hidden ninja village located on a secret island in Riverton. For obvious reasons I cannot tell you exactly where."

"You’re... what?"

"Wait! I was right?! Holy shit!" Dominik grew excited after hearing his theories were true.

"Yeah, you were right. I didn’t want to confirm it since you could’ve been in danger."

"Are we not in danger now then, since you revealed your secret?" Hudson turned serious.

"No. I’ve already made sure that we’re safe before coming here."

"I...see. So tell me, what is this?"

"This is a special recording device that is able to capture a still moment in time and save it in its memory chip. We call it: Taking a picture." Kurt tried making it seem like no big deal.

"Capture a moment in time? Can you demonstrate?"

"I can’t." Kurt shook his head. "Do you see how that says ’8%’ on the top corner? I can only take a picture once it’s 15% and above."

"Is there a way it can be filled?" Dominik asked.

"Yes. But for that we need electricity and a special charging port. Unfortunately I haven’t seen anything like that here in Eldoria so I can only show you what I’ve taken. Although we have to be quick since it’s going to die soon."

"I do not know of this special ’charging port’, but I am a lightning magic user. Will I be able to fill its charge?" Hudson lifted a finger and made a small spark appear.

"I... I don’t know. I mean, you can try but you’ll need to be extremely gentle with it. Don’t use too much spark or you might blow the whole thing up." Kurt flipped the phone over so that the battery side faced up.

"Don’t worry. I’ll barely use any power."

Hudson put his finger on the phone and made a very small and quick zap.

bzzt

"Well?" He asked. "Was that enough?"

Kurt checked the phone to see if it was dead.

"You know in retrospect I should’ve shown you the pictures first before trying this, but I guess curiosity got the best of me."

"Too late now~" Dominik waited in anticipation.

When Kurt flipped the phone over he felt relieved that it was still alive. But more than that...

"It went up to 20%" He smiled. "I was seriously worried for a second there ha ha..."

"So can you demonstrate it now?"

"Actually while you are here. Do you mind doing that again but fill it all the way to 100%"

"Ha! The chief can be like your own charging port!" Dominik laughed at the thought.

"No, I will not. I’m only doing this now since it’s an emergency. Find your own means of charging this thing once we’re done." Hudson said as he began to zap the phone again.

’Dammit Dominik! You ruined it!’ Kurt looked at him with a death glare.

"What? Why don’t you take a picture of me? That way you don’t have to stare at me like that." He said as he flicked his hair back.

’Urgh...’

"There, it’s fully charged." He gave the phone to Kurt who then proceeded to take a picture of Dominik in his goofy pose.

snap-click

"Ah! My eyes!"

"Oops..."

"Dominik! Are you ok?!" Hudson rushed in to check on him. "What did you do to him?!"

"I forgot to turn off the flashing option. Dominik’s fine. He’s just overreacting."

"I-I am?" Dominik squinted and opened his eyes. "Oh. I am, ha ha..."

"You idiot!"

Smack!

"Ow! Ok I admit that I overplayed that. But it was kinda funny."

"By the way, this is how it came out." Kurt showed a picture of Dominik mid pose with his tongue sticking out while his one eye was bigger than the other.

"Wow. Talk about realistic." Hudson was impressed with the result.

"I’m not that ugly! I want a do-over!"

"No." He moved Dominik aside. "Now show me the pictures you took that will serve as evidence."

"Sure."

Kurt then scrolled through the evidence he took of the house. From the abandoned kitchen, into the living room with the scuff marks at the door, and up the stairs where there was the bathroom, kids room and the parents room with the broken glass.

"As you can see it’s been pretty much abandoned. The scuff marks at the door indicate that something was recently dragged out. If I was a betting man I’d say it was a body. And based on what Tristan said, I would’ve guessed that they took the mom into the parents room but the room was too clean. " Kurt explained as he showed Hudson.

"Hmm, yes. It does look suspicious. And this is the window you mentioned that male prostitute shot?"

"Yes. Although, since the room has now been halfway destroyed, I doubt we’d find anything in there. Which reminds me, do you prefects have a magic fingerprint scanner? We might find a lead if we scan the front door."

"A magic fingerprint scanner?" Hudson looked at Kurt as if he said the most ridiculous thing. "No we don’t have those. But we do have a Forensics Expert Team that’s specialised in these sorts of situations. I’ll have them comb over the whole house."

"Great! Does that mean I’m free of any suspicions?"

Hudson looked at the pictures and then at Kurt. He then let out a breath that he’d been seemingly holding in for a long time.

"Although this doesn’t prove that you didn’t kill that priest in the park–"

SLAM!

""Mister!!"" Tristan and Rupee barged through the door.

"Mister! The kitty puked out a man!" Rupee tugged at Kurt’s shirt.

"H-He’s bleeding and he smells gross." Tristan closed his nose.

"He did what?!" Kurt ran out the door with Dominik and Hudson following right after.

In the lobby lying unconscious on the ground was the same man in which whom Kurt brutally beat as well as who the cat swallowed.

"Oh shoot! It really is him!" Kurt turned the unconscious man’s head over to double check. "Chief Hudson, this is the guy I told you about!"

"So this a member of the zealots? Dominik! Take him to a cell and call a medic. We’ve finally found ourselves a solid lead."

"Me?! But look at him! All disgusting and shit!"

"Shit?" Rupee repeated after him.

"Oops. Sorry Rupee. Pretend you didn’t hear that..." Dominik rubbed the back of his head.

"But it sounds so funny, ha ha! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

Kurt, Hudson and Tristan looked at him in disappointment. Ashamed at him for somehow letting that word slip with kids around.

"... I’ll take him away, sir." Dominik reluctantly dragged him away.

"So, you were saying before?" Kurt turned to Hudson with a smirk.

"Haaa. What I was going to say is that you’ve brought in sufficient evidence which we could use to start a proper investigation, even though it doesn’t prove you didn’t kill that priest in the park, and that you were free to go. Although there would still be a sliver of doubt at the back of my mind."

"However..." Kurt led on.

"However, now that we have an actual member of the zealots. We can extract proper information from him and cross reference the information you told us versus what he knows. Even though you don’t work for us, Kurt, I must say you’ve done a fine job and any doubt that was in my mind has been erased."

"Sweet. By the way..." Kurt went up and whispered in his ears.

"What are you gonna do about the kids? They’re practically homeless and going back to that neighbourhood is too dangerous."

"Ah yes. About that..."