Chief Mamako sipped some coffee from her VPD mug as she slid a manila envelope across her desk to Detectives Green and Feldman. "Got a real clusterfuck for you guys. Truth is, we've been sitting on this one for a while, and we can't afford to do that anymore." The plump chief took another sip of her coffee, black as midnight. "You two are rising stars here. Great detective work. Great clearance rate. We need to get this shit sorted, and quick."
Mary slipped the paper out of the envelope. There was a lot of it. "Can you sum this up for us, ma'am?"
The chief leaned back in her chair. "Couple weeks back this girl Regina Petan gets reported missing. Only 20 years old, has a 9 month old daughter. Works nights dancing at this club, The Viper. You've probably heard of it."
Ben pipes up. "I have. Been there, in fact. Awful spot."
Mamako glares at him. "Well hopefully your familiarity may help this case, then. Regardless, she's last seen at the grocery store on East 65th. Doesn't show up for work a couple days. Baby's alright, thankfully, but girl's nowhere to be found. No evidence, no leads, no suspects, no fuckin' anything. Case fizzles out, of course, nobody seems to know nothing. About a week and a half later, we get another missing person report. Mariko Hisamatsu, 25 years old. Japanese immigrant, been in the country for about 8 years now so not a new arrival by any means. Her boyfriend says she went out drinking with some friends, but she's seen at... The Viper."
"Oooh." Ben leans back and crosses his arms, clearly picking up what the chief is putting down. Mary gives him a look.
Mamako clears her throat and takes another sip from her mug. "Don't know why this girl's at such a spot, but none of her friends say that they were with her and we've got plenty of eyewitnesses of a tall Asian girl being there that night. Gotta be her, right? Anyway, same as with Ms. Petan, case goes nowhere. Fizzles out, poof. We've got two more uncleared missing persons on our record to answer for. Now, yesterday. ANOTHER missing person. Julia Lane, 23. Bet you can't guess the last place she's seen."
Mary, unsure if that's an actual question, speaks up. "The Viper, yeah?"
"Yeah. She's a bartender. Just started pretty recently, too. You know, detectives, there's a saying. Something happens once, it's an accident. Something happens twice, it's a coincidence. It happens three times, it's a pattern. If there's a pattern, there's something behind these. And you two need to figure out what it is."
---
The detectives sat at their desks, still processing the case and perusing the files. Mary perked up. "Ben, I think I've got something. There's another link between these missing girls. They're...
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