---

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Priya accepted her license back and put it away. Before she could take the keys, Riley had nabbed them. She nodded her thanks to the car rental man and followed Riley outside into the parking lot. She had no qualms either way about what type of car they had so long as it ran, had gas, and was otherwise free of odd odors or stains. So far, her conditions have been met. She got into the passenger seat, reluctantly, and waited to be driven to the Sherrif's office.

She was eager to get back into the swing of things. "Do you know everyone in town? That's pretty handy, I have to say. Seems we keep running into people. Granted, it's a small town so not too surprising, I suppose." It also could be her untrusting nature, but she did not believe in coincidences. And things were starting to fall into coincidence territory.

---

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---

Cecily thought over Roy's suggestion for a moment. It would clear a lot of things up. Natasha saw a chance to get revenge on her bosses by setting the paranoid temporary medical examiner down the wrong path - a path that would lead to Juno. Cecily would then arrest or try to expose the organization, potentially putting some of them away if she was really lucky for a crime that they hadn't committed. Alicia and Lorna's deaths were ideal choices, too - it involved a paranoid ex-Federale. "That would explain it - Natasha probably saw how paranoid I am, too... That I would be willing to just decide it was Juno and not double check," Cecily said softly.

She felt a bit ashamed at how irrational she had been. She had allowed emotions to interfere with her work - a work that was governed purely by logic. "Maybe Natasha's death wasn't natural causes then... Someone in Juno knew she had betrayed them... So they went to eliminate her," Cecily proposed. "Killing her is causing us to look closer into everything she did, even uncovering the fact that she lied... and thus making it so her betrayal of them wouldn't work..."

Cecily wasn't sure if that sounded sane or not. She was basically thinking as she talked now. "But if someone from Juno killed her... Then they had to have been at Alicia's funeral. It had to have been a Gonzalez... or a close friend..."

Road To Grimm: "Well can hardly blame you, Juno is something to be paranoid about," he said as he kept driving. He was hitting the gas pretty hard but thankfully the car was marked and they had a radar that let them know things around them. Tim had a good set up, not the best mind you but good enough. SO Roy would floor it and then slow down a lot, then speed up again. Kept them from getting pulled over but allowed them to cut down on the trip time. Hopefully they would be back in Grimm within the hour.

Thinking about things for a minute, Roy's brows went up as something came to mind. "Or... Okay here me out. You say she was sick right? Pretty sure I saw her popping pills at one point. What if someone had slowly been poisoning her through her meds? Would be a good way to off her and make it harder to connect back to a single source. And if she bit it while in Mexico, who the hell is going to bother to do an autopsy on a Cancer patient?" he suggested as he hit the gas one more time.

Grimaldi Books: Adelaide chuckled a bit. "Yeah, wish I was some days, would be less exciting than this and by exciting I mean a waste of my time," she said before looking over at him and noting his cup. Walking over to the coffee maker she grabbed the pot and refilled both their cups. "We'll get back to that in the minute, oh for fucks sake, what now," she said as she stopped and a truck pulled up outside and parked. She didn't have any appointments today but as she noticed a lankly blonde get out of the car her lips thinned.

You see, it was Miss Crawford and Mali. When they landed, Zoie wanted to stop by the book store. She didn't know Adelaide personally but Mark had told her about the woman and said they were close friends. He was on the phone with her a lot and she was Davids Widow/Ex-wife. Marc's death hadn't made National News and since she was passing through she figured she would let the woman know. For Marc's sake. Once they got the rental car and something to eat, Zoie was going to stop at the book store, inform Adelaide in hopes she could get a hold of Marc's girlfriend. Marc told her that Adelaide and Ash were total BFF's.

"Won't take but a min, come on, stretch yer legs girl," Zoie said to Mali as she climbed out of the big assed Chevy Silverado she had rented. "Mornin' y'all," Zoie said in passing, eying Caesar for a moment before walking into the bookstore.

"Howdy," Claire said with a bit of a chuckle. Claire watched the woman before turning back to Caesar and nodding. "Got's it boss! I'm on it! And damn hell, of course I know where one be. I'm a good Irish Catholic girl! St. Mary's of the Angels isn't far. Father Pearson looks over the flock there. Younger priest, as far as priests go. Just transferred in from Texas a couple of years ago I heard, only just started going since I got settled in. He's a bit rough but think he'd be yer type of priest," she said quickly. "Let me settle shit and I'll get you on yer way and get another vehicle for me in town."

Inside Zoie looked around and spotted the woman standing there with Robert. "Ms Grimaldi? Names Zoie Crawford. I'm a friend of Marc."

Grimm, Indiana - Sheriff's Station: The roads to Grimm were about as busy as one would expect this time of the day. That is to say - there wasn't a lot of traffic. It wasn't long before the girls had been able to drive from the rental location over to the Sheriff's Station. It looked about as one would think any small town office building would look. Plain with a few steps up to the front. Glass doors were the entrance and there was a flag pole out front where the Flag of Indiana hung just below one of Old Glory. Like every other non-descript small town government building.

Inside and older woman sat behind the long counter playing on her phone. "Ha! Sugar Crush!" she said with a laugh before looking up. It was Grace. The woman had been dispatch for the office for over the last thirty years. Rumor had it that she had left Grimm right after high school and was gone for about ten years before she came back. Some say she had a love affair with some mysterious man. She would just laugh it off and change subjects when it was brought up. Looking up from her phone she smiled as she spotted Riley. "Come here sugar and give me a hug!" she said as she placed her phone down and walked out form behind the counter. Grace was like the local mom, everyone got arrested for something in Grimm eventually, even if it was only a night in the drunk tank. Chloe had gotten herself into her fair share of trouble, hadn't she?

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"Its a small town, though I know some of the older people, and kids from the high school that I graduated with who chose to stay in the town. Though I doubt some of the kids here in town remember me other than my music career." Riley answered shrugging slightly, she didn't really like being back, however seeing the people she grew up with was always really nice. Riley continued to drive, it was a rather nice short drive barely any kind of major traffic except for the occasional car here and there. "And here we are." Riley said, as she pulled into the sheriff's department parking lot. "Once we get in we can get back to work then I guess." Riley said.

As she got out of the Ford Focus, once Pyira was out Riley locked the car, and entered through the glass doors. Spotting Grace there playing away at Candy Crush on her phone, she smiled slightly once Grace noticed her. "It's good to see you again Grace." Riley said, as she walked over and gave the woman a friendly hug, she remembered having gotten a little bit to drunk one night during a high school party once and spent the evening chatting with Grace once she had felt better after her hangover. "How have you been?" Riley asked her, and then turned around to look at Pyira. "Also this is my friend Detective Priya Khurana. Pyira this is Grace, she's kind of the second mother of town here for everyone pretty much." Riley said, as she made the introduction to her.

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While this new visitor to Grimaldi Books eyed Mr. Gonzalez, Keystone got an eyeful of her. This was a face that he had seen before, and for the first couple of seconds he couldn't place exactly from here. Much of this came from the astronomically unlikely possibility of seeing her by unweighted chance. Especially in Chicago, in front of this bookstore. But when his brain clicked in recognition, the big man went into full work mode. First, he was quiet. As soon as the mystery woman entered the building, he confided in his employer and local associate.

"Boss, Miss McManus? I know that country-fried tart. Well I ain't knowin' persay, but she was front and bloody center when that incident 'appened at the Justice location, y'see. I saw 'er check in at the front, an' then bugger else afters. All bodies accounted for with statements, an' she ain't one of 'em. She was there, sir. If this's full coincidence, then I've got the Crown Jewels for a dong-ring."

Caesar began this new chapter of epic fuckery debating whether to wonder, one way or another, if this woman giving him the eye was doing so because he stood out in Chicago as an outsider, if she thought he was cute in his own rugged, elder way, or if there was something sinister about it. He couldn't help but feel an odd sort of familiarity with the lady, like the half-faded memory of a dream that was done away with by the drama of waking life, only to be recalled after a specific trigger. Keystone's explanation did give him a sense of pragmatic anger, knowing full well how the incident at the Queensguard R&D facility back in California had done his company a massive disservice. He wasn't present for it as he was attending the funeral of his daughter. Keystone was. If this woman was involved, and according to his partner it was likely in the extreme, then they couldn't just walk away. Still, he could swear he knew this woman from somewhere, the details lost in the ethereal of his mind.

Then again, Caesar had his own brush with more solid familiarity. In the truck just in front, he spotted someone he knew. Or at least, who he'd seen around. Even heard her name once or twice. But like the other woman, it was highly improbable that she would be here. Not unless there was some level of involvement. Being as he tended to live in a haze of confusion and misplaced speculation these days, Caesar decided to take a more direct method of sating his curiosity. He was going to ask, like an actual person might. First though, he gave orders. "Claire, thank you for fixing this thing with Book Lady. Let me know what you can. If you find out anything about the woman, same. Keystone, hang outside here. Car information, general descriptions. If Claire can get you back inside, good. Partner with her until I'm back. Need to be neighborly."

Keystone wasn't fully sure what he meant by that last statement, but responded with his typical, "On it, Boss."

It was a short saunter over to the Silverado. "Mali, right?" He was trying to sound friendly, though it wasn't his strong suit. "Caesar Gonzalez. I live in Boston Heights - we're neighbors. Have you had lunch yet? Probably gruffer than he intended. Making friends wasn't in his goodie bag of interpersonal skills in any official capacity. But he was loaded, and that helped. "If you or your friend know a place near here, I'm buying." It might be a good thing he declined the metric ton of Chinese from earlier.

If there was something really appreciated about the trip so far was how mundane it was. It was far more familiar and comfortable than the past few weeks had been. Well, the excessive sitting was anything but comfortable for her butt and lower back, but these were things she was used to. Being outside of Justice let her think about things other than the Juno conspiracy, or just not think of anything and be bored for a bit. And unlike the past couple of days hanging around Relic and Zoie, there were no excessive displays of wealth and luxury that while quite enjoyable, clashed with her self image. It was almost like she were living a normal life again.

That feeling evaporated when she looked over and saw Caesar's face. She didn't have any overt change in expression, but anyone paying attention would notice an increase of tension across her body language. It'd be hard to forget a face like his, even if she hadn't lived in the same building as him and done research into his past. His presence here indicated that she hadn't actually escaped any of this bullshit at all, and now it had walked up to her and started friendly conversation when she really needed to take a piss. The woman kept herself from sighing and leaned out the window to talk to the elder man.

"Hey, I don't believe we've met officially, funny meeting you out here." Mali extended her hand to Caesar for a handshake. There was no way in Hell that he wasn't suspicious of her appearance here given the situation he was likely in, but he probably was trying to gently approach the matter at hand. At least if word choice was anything to go by. So be it. She'd feign ignorance and see how much he was going to press for before becoming confrontational. Even if it came to that, she'd need to be very careful, he had an entire security company's assets at his disposal, not to mention the staggering depths of violence he was capable of committing. But focusing on the possible negative outcomes would get he nowhere.

"This is actually my first time in the area, but I can ask if there's someplace nearby. We're on our way to a friend's funeral. What brings you up here?" What kind of food was Chicago known for anyway? Mali felt like she could answer if she wasn't pressed for time like right now, but she was only pulling blanks. If Zoie knew a place, it'd probably be a cafe or something, but it still irked her that she'd forgotten something simple like this.

---

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"Oh I beg to differ, young lady." Robert shot back at Adelaide's wish to be working in the insurance business, giving her a chuckle at her ignorance as she went to give him a refill of coffee. "Thanks." The insurance investgator smelled the sweet, sweet smell of coffee flowing through his nose, letting it stir in his cup to cool it while he continued. "If you want to stop wasting your time, the insurance business ain't the right place. You don't know how many hours I just sit at my desk and want to bang my head on the pieces of paper. At least your papers sound..." He stopped, about to say that her papers sounded exciting. Which they didn't, Robert wasn't one for old legends or myths. So he took a sip of his coffee, biting the burning pain to find another word.

"...interesting."

And like in a theatrical production of "The Spanish Fly", with one character leaving the scene at their ending line, another one stepped in to take their place in the spotlight. More specifically it was a truck that pulled up outside the shop, causing Adelaide to utter words Robert would have said himself. "What, more people? Great...were you expecting anyone?" Robert asked Adelaide just as another lady stepped inside the shop. The insurance investigator gave the newcomer an expecting look while drinking more from his coffee cup, as if waiting for her to explain herself. He didn't recognize her name, but clearly she knew of Adelaide. What the actuall fuck was going in that city?

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Priya had almost forgotten Riley was a musician. It made a bit more sense that she would be recognized. However, Priya found it odd that Riley was continued to be praised as a hero for killing someone. In her experience, even if a person killed in self-defense or had a very good reason to do so, there were still people who would look at you like you were evil. Police were often targeted by this. Maybe the guy she killed was truly bad then.

They finally arrived at the Sherrif's Station and Priya followed Riley inside to meet yet another person Riley knew. It was getting a tad annoying now, though Priya would never say as such. She offered the woman a handshake "Nice to meet you." She had apparently been playing something on her phone that required sugar, Priya assumed it was some game. Must be a slow work day then because there was no way that would fly back in New York.

"So where is Tim? I'm anxious to get back to work."

Road To Grimm: Will update when Cecily is updated. (Morose is delayed this week, no biggie, was planned for.)

Grimaldi Books: Adelaide smirked a bit as she looked over towards Robert. "Well if you find it so interesting you want a job? I could use a research assistant," she said. It half sounded like a joke but the look on her face was as serious as any she had given him. Seeing the woman walk in she shook her head. "No, so this can't be good," she said before she took a sip of her coffee. As she heard the introduction and the mention of Marc she felt a stone form in the pit of her stomach. "What happened?" she asked as she lowered her coffee.

"Listen, girl I hate to be the ones to have to tell ya this but Marc mentioned yous a lot and well, I'm heading to Grimm now from the airport and figured I would drop by to tell ya in person. Can't get a hold of his girl Ashley. Um... Marc died the other day in a barn fire..." she said in a remorseful voice.

Adelaide dropped the cup she was holding and it shattered against the hardwood, sending glass and hot coffee all over the floor. Slowly she reached out for something to stabilize her as she felt her knees start to buckle. Adelaide had grown up with Marc, they were as close as two people could be without being a couple. The only other person in the world closer to her was her husband Kai and Marc's girlfriend Ashley. Marc was the godfather to her twins. "Oh god..." she whispered as she started to sink.

Claire turned as she heard something shatter and she looked through the large window of the book store. "Boss, something ain't right," she said as she pointed towards the window. Adelaide was turning green and there was a shattered mug at her feet. The woman was starting to cry and looked like she had just been hit with a hammer. The woman that had just walked into the store was just standing there looking like she didn't know what to do about the situation.

Grimm, Indiana - Sheriff's Station: Grace smiled and returned the hug. "Good to see you girl and until today as slow as always. I swear, every time you come to town something exciting happens. I don't know if I should want you to visit more or less," she said but it was obvious she was just being playful in her words. Looking over at Priya she smiled and held her hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you. Any friend of Riley's is welcome here in Grimm."

Looking around. "He was just here, must be back in his office, you know the way, go on back. Said he was expecting you. You need anything, just give me a holler," she said with a grin. The phone rang and she shrugged a bit. "Wonder what happened now or if it is just Miss Sally bitching about that dog being in her yard again," she said with a chuckle as she went back behind the counter and picked up the phone. "Grimm Sheriff's Department, Grace speaking, what is your emergency?" she asked as she answered.

Tim's office was down the hall a couple of doors and on the right, it was clearly marked. Tim was at his desk looking over papers that were stacked in front of him. There wasn't a lot there, as the town was never really busy with crime. It never had been save for the whole thing that went down at what was sarcastically referred to as Murder High. The intercom went off on his desk. "Tim, you got a call from the coroner transport at Ohara," she said and Tim gawked looking at it.

"Got it," he said before picking up the phone. "Yeah. You're kidding me. Who's bringing it in? Alright, have you contacted, oh right. I will handle that, no it's okay. Yes, someone will be there to sign for the body. No, thank you. Yes, thank you," he said into the phone before hanging up and rubbing his face out of frustration. "Who the fuck next is going to drop dead?" he muttered to himself.

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Cecily nodded, thinking over what Roy had said. It would be an easy way to kill Natasha - to slowly poison her and make it seem like natural causes. The main issue she was running into was why did they want to kill Natasha so far in advance? Had they known that she would attempt to betray them? Or was murdering Natasha just a loose end that Juno was attempting to tidy up? If Natasha had been working for them... Cecily supposed they might have realized with her personality, she was a risk.

"I think you're right," she agreed. "And if Juno killed her slowly through her medicine, then it has to be Amy Chang behind it. She got Natasha this gig in Justice - she's Natasha's connection to Juno and I'm pretty sure was why Wallace ended up dead... She had opportunity and I think motive... They probably wanted to get rid of Natasha, clean house, make sure that she couldn't betray them like she ended up doing."

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"I don't exciting would be a good word to put it." Riley said with a slight laugh, it was certainly not the kind of excitement that Riley ever did like at all really involving some kind of killer, and bodies dropping left and right. She watched as Pyria and Grace shook each other's hands as the phone on Grace's desk went off again. "I don't think Miss Sally ever did like dogs to even begin with." Riley remembered every time she did walk by the house if a friend of hers walked a dog she could have remembered hearing her yelling about and calling the cops as well.

"I'll be sure to let you know if we need anything." Riley said, and waved for Pyira to follow her as she walked through the station until she was just outside of Tim's office and knocked on the door. "Sorry it took awhile Tim." Riley said, as she heard him talking about something over the phone, raising her eyebrow slightly as soon as he hung up the phone she looked at him. "Something happen while we were gone?" Riley asked, she didn't really like the tone in his voice and started to wonder what he meant as well.

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Research assistant? What did she think he was, some kind of good little errand boy who came running with your cup of coffee at a moments notice? Well perhaps he was, since he Adelaide's little servant on this case. Only difference was that he knew squat about her own expertise, and he was the one getting the cofee. But still, it might be better pay, and at least Adeliade wasn't a total bitch compared to some of those he'd worked with.

Nah, he was stuck with insurance for good.

Robert listened intently as the woman explained herself, dramatically coming to the point of no return. Adeliade dropped her cup of coffee, about to fall over from what could only be an immense tsunami of grief and horror washing over her. "Oh fuck..." Robert wasted no time in putting down his own coffee cup and taking a hold of Adelaide, holding her up and helping the collapsing lady into a chair she could sit in. "...and this had been such a great fucking day already..." Robert muttered to himself, looking from the grief-stricken Adelaide over to the shattered cup and spilled coffee, then back at the woman. The bearer of ill news, to which his employer and landlord was Taking It All Too Hard.

"You mind telling me just what the hell is going on? Who's Marc? Why are you here, and what do you mean by a barn fire? Just went up in smoke?"

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"Business. Working a case personally." responded Caesar in his usual gravelly tone. "The woman who owns the bookstore is some kind of researcher." Both statements were factually correct, though spoken without the context that would bring them away from the objectivity that he was implying. Never a fan of coincidence, Caesar was a touch suspicious of the presence of these two women, doubly so if Keystone was correct and the lady who had stared at him just earlier was involved with the incident at his Justice site. "I don't want to hold you two up from a funeral. We can do this some other time."

He had his own business to handle right then, anyway. Coincidence or not, the safety of is family (what remained of them) was more important than catching up or chasing a lead right away. "I'm not sticking around Chicago for very long today, but maybe we can figure something else after. With your permission, who died? Anyone else from our neighborhood?" It was probably a little insensitive to say, but with the rampant deaths taking place in or near Boston Heights it was within the realm of believable possibility. Like a very localized curse that made one wonder why the whole block hadn't moved away years ago.

Meanwhile, Keystone was busying himself doing exactly as his boss instructed him to do. He took down the specifics of the truck that the southern belle had exited, including tag number and any identifying features. It was likely a dead end as a rental, though a basic description of the vehicle could be useful in determining a tie-in if it was involved with anything reported later. And a good habit to keep in the industry. As he was finishing this up, he heard Claire call for Caesar. The big man tilted his head in the direction of the bookstore just next to him and took in the sight that his Chicago associate pointed out. "Yeah um, Boss?" he repeated, backing up Claire's vie for attention.

Caesar looked up from his conversation with Mali. He also saw what was going on inside of the building, but made no move toward it. He was given the solid command to leave the premises by the owner, and unless there was an emergency that brought the Chi-Town equivalent of the Good Samaritan Law into play, he was going to sit this one out. The last thing he needed was to be picked up by local cops over something stupid and avoidable when the situation could, at any moment, become life and death. Getting stuck in "The System", such as it was, led to many a premature demise, be it police custody, hospitals, jail, etc. Even his company site was the scene of a few grisly murders all behind the supposed protection of his people. It's not like it was his doing, either, though it was one hell of a fiasco that caused MSS to tighten down hard.

Something clicked in the older Mexican's features, like a realization coming to the surface. Wentworth. The old man's son was murdered, like his daughter. The company held the account at Queensguard, like his did now. Wentworth took a beating for it in the news, just like his people did. Maybe the two incidents on site weren't related, or were in some way that he hadn't considered yet. Caesar looked to Mali and pointed inside of Grimaldi Books, indicating that she take a look. "Your friend might need you."

"We good, Boss?" This from Keystone in his roguish Cockney accent. He wasn't about to go back in either, not without an okay from his employer or the business owner.

"Si. Good." Short and sweet from Caesar. Maybe it was time that he began playing a different angle with this investigation.

"No, not from Boston Heights. It's for our friend Marc. He died very recently in a barn fire probably trying to save all the animals. I don't know. We weren't there until it was too late." It was really convenient that she actually wasn't in the Chicago area for any investigative reasons (as far as she knew), so she didn't have to have some sort of cover story or set of half truths in this conversation. Yet, she felt a twinge of guilt that even indirectly she felt relief from Marc's death. Remorse compounded by the feeling that if she hadn't been such a coward he might still be alive. But it seemed that the senior Gonzalez had picked up on the same thing she had.

Perhaps it was simply the fact that she couldn't keep herself entirely focused on the conversation with the "call of the wild" constantly nagging in the back of her head, but Mali couldn't help but keep shifting her gaze back and forth between Caesar and Grimaldi Books. During one of these glances, she noticed Claire suddenly react to something going on in there. Chances were that the news Zoie brought wasn't going over well. Hopefully nothing too bad was going on in there. She doubted that Marc's friend would do anything like fly into an irrational rage, but she'd heard of reactions to deaths like that before. But she was probably just overthinking things again. But then again, Caesar probably had a far more refined sense for danger than she.

"Yeah, if you want to catch up later, here's a number you can use. Give me a call when you're done with whatever it is you're doing here." Mali scrabbled around for a stray piece of paper and a writing utensil, upon which she jotted down the number of her current phone. She left the truck and handed the piece of paper over to Caesar. Networking (and a free meal) didn't stop being important because she was traveling. She was fairly certain Caesar was trustworthy, and if she managed to get in the good graces of the heads of two major private security providers, that would put her in a uniquely advantaged position in this game. But it wasn't all that important to her at the moment. Her priorities were Zoie first, bathroom second. So with a casual wave she made her way to the book store.

Well first on her way she noticed the built cockney. As she walked past, she gave him a look over and gave him the nod of approval from a fellow swole folk.

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Priya appreciated the woman's words, but even then that assumed Riley was a good judge of character. For all the woman knew, she was a serial killer in disguise. Regardless if she was a friend of Riley's or not. It had to be her New York City persona being the cynic because she just couldn't wrap her head around Riley being praised as a hero for killing someone. She liked Riley well enough, but the mere fact she is somehow now connected to the one case she is on still concerned her.

She followed Riley inside the Sherrif's office to Tim who quickly answered the phone. Even the tone of his voice suggested he was mere minutes away from frustration. And based on the conversation she heard, it was not good news. "Okay, who's dead now?" The sheer amount of death that seemed to be accumulating in or around Grimm, Indiana was startling. Plane crash, clown serial killer, what next?

Road To Grimm: Roy cracked the window a bit and lit up a cigarette carefully as he was driving. "Wish I could say they wouldn't do something like that but everything I have seen is they'd kill their own mother if it suited their purpose," he said before blowing the smoke out from his nose in a huff.

"Makes me wonder what exactly was Natasha lying about. And why her. I mean why did they bring her in to put her in the morgue? There had to be plenty of doctors that already work in Justice that they could have blackmailed. Why bring a girl in from, shit where was she before she was here?" he asked as he flicked the growing ashes off the tip of his cigarette before taking another puff. "And one that was attached like that. Had to be some single old fucker no one would care about. What do we know about the fiance?"

Grimaldi Books: Adelaide sat down, shaking slightly as she laced her fingers together and shoved her hands between her knees. "I went to high school with Marc. He's basically been one of my best friends since kindergarten," Adelaide said quietly, trying to keep it together. Zoie squatted down to the girls level and sighed a bit.

"Sorry girl, really am," she said before looking over to Richard. "Marc and I worked together a'bit. He was supposed to meet me at my place. When I got there my barn was on fire. I dunno, I guess he was tryin' to get my horses out but gots caught in there," she said before standing back up and rubbing her hands against her jeans. "When I got home the place was on fire, didn't know about him being in there until it was put out and they found a body."

Claire Watched Mali, the girl was built for bear that was for sure. Once she was inside she looked over to Caesar and Keystone. "We gonna stay or you want me to get you to the church and you back to the office so you can take over driving while I gets me bro?" she asked. Zoie looked over as she heard the door open and nodded towards Mali. There was a sign towards the back of the store that said bathroom.

Grimm, Indiana - Sheriff's Station: One could hear Tim slam open his bottom desk draw and there was a look on his face he hadn't had since everything went down with Chris back at the reunion. Pulling out a bottle of dark liquor he slammed it onto his desk and pulled out three glasses as well. "Oh just Marc Tinder apparently," he said in a scathing frustrated voice. Not at Riley or Priya, just at the situation in general, that much was clear. Pouring a glass he downed it really quick and poured one more for himself and one for each of the girls before he stood up.

"That was O'Hara. Apparently they are transporting a body to the morgue here and was making me aware of it. I figured it was for Chloe and they just had a paper mix up since that was already taken care of but no. Oh no. It's Tinder. Marked as an accident. Some barn burning. Accident my ass, ain't no one in this town in the last year died of natural causes or an accident. Fucking shit storm is coming here I tell you and wow is Grimm ever living up to its name," he ranted on before he was about to down the second glass. Tim was NOT a drinker.

He stopped mid glass raise as Grace beeped him. "Tim, you are gonna want to take this call..." she said. Tim lowered the glass and huffed as he picked up the phone and hit line two.

"WHAT?" he snapped into the phone. "A clown? A fucking clown? Seriously? God damn it... YES! I'll send someone right the fuck over!" he said before slamming the phone. Looking down at the glass in his hand, it looked like he was half way between downing the contents or throwing it against the wall.

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Riley moved over and sat down in front of Tim's desk as he brought up Marc, and her heart instantly dropped when Tim gave the news on what had happened to Marc. Riley started to try and fight back some tears, Marc and her had been friends since the reunion they weren't close in their high school years. But since the reunion Riley was good friends with him, as she tried to make sense of it, an accident Riley didn't really believe that what happened to him. But Riley wanted to see the body, and be sure as Riley whipped away her tears a little bit and reached for the glass Tim had filled up.

"Everyone seems to be dying around me." Riley muttered to herself, first it was her classmates during the reunion, then her sister and Ronnie in the driveby shooting. Someone tried to kill her just the day before, and now it was Marc, as Riley tried to calm herself down and looked towards Tim as he picked up the phone again. Something about a clown as Riley remembered seeing two balloons at the funeral home as well as the plane crash site. "Whats going on now?" Riley asked looking up at Tim.

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Cecily thought for a moment, before she could practically hear Natasha's words echoing to her from Caesar's home. Her fiancé was Lincoln Roberts. He worked security at Justice Memorial. She bit her lip slightly - that put him directly in Juno's line of fire. Was Natasha forced to work for them just due to convenience? They had her fiancé in their employ - they could probably kill him or frame him any time they wanted to. However, Roy had a point. It would have been easier to deal with a doctor they already had in Justice - someone they could already mess with.

"Her fiancé works security at Justice Memorial," Cecily said. Two ideas had presented themselves to her. The first idea was that it was again just something convenient. They had Lincoln on payroll, so they could use his presence there to blackmail Natasha. However, the second one was that there had to be something special about Natasha. There had to be some reason why she had to be the one and not any other doctor in Justice.

"She traveled a lot... Ran from everything... Involved with a series of men..." Cecily mumbled, thinking as she talked. "One idea I have is that it has to do with where she traveled. Maybe she had information that they wanted and figured they could kill two birds with one stone... Another is that it has to do with the series of men she dated. Maybe they all were connected to Juno in one way or another, or maybe they helped her get away from them, and she would owe them... Another idea is that it was just easy. Her fiancé was at the hospital, so Chang would be in a good position to kill him at any moment, if Natasha got out of line..."

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This really was a day Robert hadn't enjoyed all that much. Except for the sight of Adelaide forcing defeat onto Caeser and Keystone earlier, the events of today had either brought upon Robert annoyance, or as of now, guilt. As Robert stayed with Adeliade after having helped her to a chair, he watched her visible shaking and trying her best not to fall apart. So this Marc had been much more than her ex-husband, that much was understandable, and Robert couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Robert stood awkwardly beside her for a moment, before hestitantly placing a hand on her shoulder.

He wasn't used to comforting people he cared about. Mostly they were strangers or lying, but Adelaide was different.

"I'm sorry, Adelaide." Was all Robert managed to say at first, silently looking at Zoie continued to explain herself to them, but mostly himself. He was the one asking questions, 'cause he really didn't like being left in the dark. "My condolences to you too. Miss Crawford was it?" He asked, contemplating if digging more into her account of his death was better done now or later. But of course the door opened up once again, revealing another women entering the book store. "Oh for the love of...Sorry, is she with you, Miss Crawford?" There were too many people going in and out of that book store that day, and Robert wasn't qualified to deal with them. He pinched his fingers against the ridge of his nose, closing his eyes shut as he tried to figure out what the hell to do now. "Anything you need?" He asked Adelaide, figuring she needed the attention more than anyone else.

---

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Damn, but Caesar hated coincidence. The maybes of the situation kept piling up and none of them were to his liking. The woman who, according to Keystone, was present at the "Evening of Utter Skullfuckery" at Queensguard. At least the first part of the evening. And now she was going to be attending the funeral of a guy named Marc. It could very well be a coincidence that a highly suspicious person at a site of multiple murders under his company's watch would have a friend who died recently, this friend bearing the name of the person who had killed his daughter - who had also died recently. Supposedly. If the words on the hacked electronics were to be believed, then he most assuredly was not dead.

Their trip into Grimm was supposed to be about building information about this man and locating him, if he was still alive. The "celestial dice" notwithstanding, as Caesar only had the mysterious words to prod him in their direction. Otherwise, they could do this from their living rooms with much less hassle than their sloppy misadventure so far. Didn't even need pants, really. But this sudden and nifty bombshell? If the man was still alive, and they were part of the whole conspiracy, then he'd be an utter moron to pass up this opportunity to attend, or at least observe, the funeral. Hell, he might even catch a glimpse of the guy. This trip could be over quicker than he expected. Caesar looked down to the scrap of paper with Mali's number on it. It was something to start with, he supposed.

Their living family took precedence, however. Keystone looked to Claire responding for Caesar as he appeared lost in thought. Oddly quiet, murderous thought. "Right then. Sounds like a bloody plan, yeah?" No immediate response from the old man prompted a second, "Yeah?", which finally caught his attention. Something definitely seemed to be on his mind. He tried switching topic, if just for a moment, to flip the conversation from a monologue to at least a dialogue. "Your friend there, she's Got Milk, doesn't she then?"

It worked. "Yes. Yes she does." he said flatly. But he did continue, "They are going to the funeral of a man named Marc when they are done here. Yes, Claire. Please get me to the church. Also, please make sure that Associate Director Keystone has a vehicle and surveillance equipment on standby. If at all possible, I would like eyes on that funeral. Handle your family business." This was a bit to flip out the game plan at the last second, but it seemed that they had been doing that a LOT lately. What was one more log on the blaze at that point? So long as he cold get word back to vacate his family from ground zero of a nigh biblical shitstorm while simultaneously coordinating the followup of a lead that just fell in their laps, he and Keystone could attempt a little juggling.

"Well afters you then, Miss." suggested Keystone. It was time that started doing something worthwhile.