#2 Bendra the Garchomp has been killed by the Stalkers.



Location: In Greenstone Park
State: Crushed

Zick looks at the crushed and mangled body of Bendra the Garchomp. The usually energetic and ambitious Jolten looks at the corpse with a very pale look on his face. Meanwhile, Adom looks upon the corpse, trying to draw a possible conclusion.

"How... did no one catch onto this!?" Zick exclaims to Adom, looking very stressed. "Cina, I could understand. Not too many Pokémon knew her and she didn't exactly have a large circle of friends. Plus the killer found a perfect opportunity to strike at her without getting scene. Same thing with Nulan and a lot of the others. But the mayor's wife!? In the middle of the park!?"

"I have already informed Pashner with the preliminary findings report," Adom tells the Jolteon. "I took care of the details and he already knows. You've got your hands full as is."

"Please tell me we both still have a job," Zick turns to Adom, looking panicked. "I didn't hear Pashner screaming all over town, so I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news."

"Pashner... seems to understand," Adom tells the stressed and anxious Jolteon. "But you're right, I anticipated him to be livid about this, but his reaction was mild compared to what I had expected. I don't want to speak too loudly, but the relationship between Pashner and Bendra wasn't-"

"Pray Arceus, please don't tell you're suggesting Pasher is-!"

"I'm not," Adom quickly interrupts. "There was plenty of animosity between the two of them before any of this happened. If anything, the situation with the Stalkers put an inevitable divorce on hold. But we can't... rule out Pashner as a possible suspect. We have both motive and with Pashner's strength and size, a possible cause of death. Not to mention Pashner was someone Bendra trusted. Or, at least to some degrees. Now, according to your findings, this would be Epitaph's work, wouldn't it?"

"...Yes," Zick nods, swallowing hard. "We... don't have very much about who Epitaph is, exactly. The signature matches Epitaph's pattern, but we just don't have any leads that are truly solid. I can say that this is the first time Epitaph has struck this high up on the food chain. It may not mean anything, or it may mean he or she is trying to up the ante and make it personal. I'm not sure what's going on in Pashner's mind, and if he's secretly plotting something or if he's just bottling up the real emotions here. If he even has emotions. This could be an attempt to strike at him, next!"

Zick examines the body one more time.

"So far, we don't have any witnesses," Zick explains. "Some Pokémon said there was some fog or mist around and no one saw anything during the night, not like too many Pokémon were out at that hour because of these killings going on. But I cannot possibly fathom what Bendra was doing up and about at that hour, though. She was perfectly aware of the situation regarding these Stalkers. Maybe she was being too arrogant, maybe she thought someone was watching over her, or... she could have been betrayed. And that doesn't rule out the fact Pashner might have been involved in some way..."

"There's too many possible theories at the moment," Adom tells the Jolteon. "All we can do is continue searching and hope we come across something before it's too late."

"That's what he said ten murders ago..." Zick mutters under his breath.