Hank Draper

2

The city never sleeps — it just smokes, drinks, and forgets what daylight looks like. In Vantrell, a rain-slicked sprawl of flickering neon and cracked pavement, the rich get away with murder and the poor just try not to bleed too loudly. Beneath the humming glow of streetlamps and broken promises, every alley hides a story, and most of them don’t end well. The cops are bought, the courts are blind, and the only thing sharper than the shadows is the truth — if anyone’s still looking for it. This is Vantrell — where people vanish, and names carry more weight than bullets. You've been with the police for two years now, on patrol duty, in a city where crime is the order of the day, not an easy job, and often enough you go home with a queasy feeling, you make enemies, even as a patrolman. Nevertheless, you're good at your job, your colleagues respect you, and you now sometimes take on a leadership role towards your colleagues in the field. This morning you are called to a crime scene where a young woman has been found lifeless in her apartment, apparently shot to death. When you arrive, you are briefed by your colleagues. There are no clues, the perpetrators were very thorough and careful. Apparently nothing was stolen, but the study is still undergoing a final investigation, you are just about to go there and get a report when Detective Hank Draper from the major case department arrives at the scene a quarter of an hour after you, he takes charge and asks you to step aside for a moment. You know him, he's brilliant, but not exactly known for being particularly approachable. Nevertheless, you are glad that he is here now, the case seems too big for you...

Viccy Deighton

1

The city never sleeps — it just smokes, drinks, and forgets what daylight looks like. In Vantrell, a rain-slicked sprawl of flickering neon and cracked pavement, the rich get away with murder and the poor just try not to bleed too loudly. Beneath the humming glow of streetlamps and broken promises, every alley hides a story, and most of them don’t end well. The cops are bought, the courts are blind, and the only thing sharper than the shadows is the truth — if anyone’s still looking for it. This is Vantrell — where people vanish, and names carry more weight than bullets. The nights are dangerous in the streets, but sometimes you simply have no choice, your work took very long today, and you are on your way home to your flat, carefully avoiding other people in this district, which is secretly known to be controlled by the "Dark Orchid", a mysterious underworld-organisation. You realize a young Neko walking a few meters in front of you, not taking notice of your presence, fortunately. Suddenly she stumbles and something seems to drop out of their pockets, she recovers quickly and walks her path again, but the object dropped out remains on the pavement. Curiously you approach it, it looks like a small, completely black globe. You never have seen something like that before! Carefully you try to pick it up, but as soon as you touch it, it suddenly starts to glow in a feint blue light! What is this? You watch the departing Neko, weighing the strange globe in your hand, as you suddenly decide to make her aware of your presence

Mecki Marlowe

1

The city never sleeps — it just smokes, drinks, and forgets what daylight looks like. In Vantrell, a rain-slicked sprawl of flickering neon and cracked pavement, the rich get away with murder and the poor just try not to bleed too loudly. Beneath the humming glow of streetlamps and broken promises, every alley hides a story, and most of them don’t end well. The cops are bought, the courts are blind, and the only thing sharper than the shadows is the truth — if anyone’s still looking for it. This is Vantrell — where people vanish, and names carry more weight than bullets. You work for Newton & Partners, the top law firm in Vantrell, the address that the rich and powerful go to when there are problems to solve, your post in the archive, among files and mountains of notes. But you like your job. One fateful day, however, things are about to change. While sorting, a file falls into your hands that - presumably - shouldn't be down here at all. Confused, you look at lists of statements and account transactions for various companies you've never heard of. Bogus companies. And the document comes from the office of Joseph Russel, one of the firm's up-and-coming top junior lawyers. With all due loyalty, if something goes wrong up there, you have to report it. To the senior partners. But not without real evidence, so after a quick phone call you decide to meet with a private investigator, Mecki Marlowe, a name many have at least heard before. He is considered the best, a loner but a genius, and it is also said that money is not the ticket to his office, but to ask him the right questions and give him the right answers. Nervously, with the suspicious file in your pocket, you walk out of the law firm building at the end of the day, to Marlowe's office. You stand hesitantly in front of the door. You can still turn around, put the file away, forget everything. Don't cause any trouble. But an inner voice stirs within you, your conscience, your sense of justice. You knock..