The sun was setting low over Salty City and many places began to close for the day including the Salty City Museum of History and Science. Its curator, Professor Gaff, was making his rounds, ensuring there was no one left in his museum. Unfortunately, he didn’t look quite hard enough before his head rolled clear across the room and his body fell limp. The unknown perpetrator made quick work of covering up his tracks and left the scene. The next day, an hour before the museum was due to open its doors, several staff members wondered why the professor wasn’t already there and preparing to open. No one thought much of it, though, and the time rolled by as the museum opened and people began to tour through. Around mid morning, a scream was heard through the exhibits and some staff members rushed over to see a horrific sight. Professor Gaff’s bloody body and severed head were on display for all to see. The staff cordoned off that section of the museum and promptly called the only people they knew that would be up to the task of solving the mystery.

“Hello? M-my name is Cindy. I work at the Salty City Museum. Um, s-someone killed Professor Gaff. Please come quickly!” Said one of the staff members.

“Alright. Thank you ma’am, my detectives will be down there shortly.” Rhys said over the phone.

After hanging up, he pushed aside the pile of cold cases that sat front and center on his desk. He then paged to the detectives and had them come to his office

“Sir, what can we do for you?” Roswell asked as Higgins walked in right behind him.

“I just got off the phone with one of the staff members at the Salty City Museum and apparently the museum curator. I need you boys to get down there and figure out what’s going on. Also, where are my other two detectives?” Rhys said.

“They’re currently wrapping up another case as we speak but we’ll fill them in once they’re finished.” Roswell said.

“Good. Now get going.” Rhys said before Roswell and Higgins scurried to the garage station and grabbed a vehicle.

“Slinky, do you come in?” Higgins asked over a walkie.

Some static was heard before they heard Slinky say “I’m here. What’s up?”

“Meet us at the Salty City Museum of Science. We’ve got another mystery with a dead guy.” Higgins said.

“I see. We’re just about finished over here dealing with our cruise ship culprit so we’ll be there soon.”  Slinky replied.

When they arrived at the museum, another member of the staff met Roswell and Higgins and led them inside.

“The name’s Ben. Follow me.” Said the staff member.

They walked through several exhibits until they stopped at the entrance of one of the museum's rooms.

“It’s in there. I’m not going any further. O’l Ben here’s gonna have nightmares after just seeing it once.” Said Ben.

They walked in and saw the body that was on display and looked at each other.

“Wow. That’s a new one for me.” Roswell said.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.” Higgins said.

Higgins examined the body while Roswell looked around for clues. Not long after, Slinky and Matter arrived and walked into the room and saw the body for themselves.

“Sweet Jemima!” Slinky exclaimed.

“We know.” Roswell and Higgins said in unison.

“I guess anything can pass as art these days.” Matter said.

Slinky back handed him and they went to help the other two to look for clues.

“It seems like our killer didn’t clean the carpet well enough.” Roswell said as he pointed at the ground.

“Huh, you're right. There’s a faint blood trail going into the next room.” Said Slinky.

“Hey guys, the way that the head was cut seems like a sword or similar type of weapon.” Said Higgins.

“Well the asian arts and culture exhibit is in the next room over.” Said Matter.

Roswell put a hand on his shoulder and said “Matter, you’re not as dumb as everybody takes you for.”

Matter smiled and gave him a salute. The four of them walked into the next room and Roswell kept an eye on the faint blood trail.

“Look, the trail stops here. Interesting.” Said Roswell in thought.

They looked around and Slinky noticed some mannequins on display. He walked over to one of them and noticed it was a samurai and it had a sword in a sheath on it's belt that looked like it wasn't meant to fit inside.

“Either this guy is alive or someone tried to jam this sword in the sheath.” Slinky said as he inspected the sword.

Higgins walked over and pulled it out and noticed a small spot of dried blood on the end of the blade and said “Well I think we can safely assume that this is the murder weapon. Now we just have to figure out who and why.”

“Why don’t you talk to all the staff people?” Matter said.

“Huh, good thinking.” Said Roswell, turning to Matter.

The four of them went into the staff only break room and noticed several people there drinking coffee and talking amongst themselves. Slinky cleared his throat and asked for everyone’s attention before they were all looking at him.

“I am detective Slinky of the SCPD. My partners and I are trying to figure out the murder of the curator. Does anyone have any useful information?” He asked.

One guy spoke up and said “There weren't many of us here last night during closing time.”

A woman chimed in and said “Yeah the only ones that were here were Cindy, Dan and Larry.”

Slinky made a note of the names and then said “Thanks guys. We’ll leave you to your coffee.”

“Let’s talk to Cindy since she was the one who made the phone call to the chief.” Roswell said.

They nodded and scouted the museum until they found Cindy at a kiosk taking people’s tickets for a limited time exhibit. Matter ran his fingers through his hair and adjusted his pants.

“Allow me gentlemen.” Matter said as he approached Cindy.

“Hello, madam.” He said.

“Oh, hi there. Have you been able to figure out who’s behind the you-know-what situation?” She replied in a lower voice so none of the museum guests could hear.

“We’ve got some leads but we wanted to talk to you and ask you a few questions to help us have a better understanding.” Matter said.

Higgins leaned over to Slinky and Roswell and said “Wow he really puts on his serious game when the case involves a woman.”

“Don’t even get me started.” Slinky said as he shook his head.

A little while later, Matter rejoined the guys and said “Miss Cindy over there says she left early the other day for an interview so it could’ve only been Dan or Larry. I think she’s going to quit soon. Budget cuts or something.”

“Nice work ‘ol chum!” Roswell said as he patted him on the shoulder.

“Alright let’s go find this Dan guy.” Slinky said.

They once again searched around to see if they could locate Dan until they found him in one of the offices in the back of the museum. They walked in and Dan looked up surprised.

“Can I help you guys?” Dan asked.

“I am Roswell of the SCPD and my partners and I are investigating the murder of Mr. Gaff. We’ve been told that you and another man named Larry were the only ones here the other night before the curator was killed.” Roswell said.

“Well, yeah but I wasn’t around Gaff at all last night. I believe Larry was hovering around him all evening for some reason.” Said Dan.

“I see.” Slinky said as took notes.

“I swear I didn't have anything to do with this. I didn’t have any beef with the guy or anything. In fact we were good friends since we both shared interest in old artifacts and we’d even get together to look at new discoveries that we’d each find.” Dan said.

“Well thanks for the information Dan. We’ll leave you be.” Roswell said before they turned around and started to walk out of the office.

Slinky abruptly stopped for a moment and heard a sound from outside the office. He noticed that Matter kept walking towards the door so at the last second he stretched his arms and stopped Matter from walking out just as a sword swung down in front of him.

“Woah! Talk about being on the cutting edge!” Matter exclaimed.

Higgins rushed forward and knocked the assailant to the ground and disarmed him as the sword slid across the floor. Slinky followed behind him and quickly put cuffs on him and they all stood up.

As the assailant came into view, Dan stood up from his desk and said “Larry?!”

“Well, that didn't take long to find ‘em.” Roswell said.

Larry gritted his teeth and said “I was so close.”

“But, why? Mr. Gaff was a good guy.” Dan asked.

“A good guy?! The man acted like I was scum and wouldn’t even give me a stupid raise! I can’t work in these conditions!” Larry said.

“Allow me to clear up any confusion.” Said Higgins.

“By all means.” Slinky said as he gave him the floor.

“The museum isn’t doing good financially as of recently and people like Cindy are looking at other jobs. However, Larry was good at his job here. Real good. He wasn’t gonna leave after all the work he’s done. He wanted to continue to be here at the museum but the current pay rate wasn’t going to cut it anymore. He felt that a raise was the only option that Gaff had besides firing him which he knew he would do since Larry was his hardest worker. But when Gaff wouldn’t give Larry the raise he wanted, Larry wasn’t going to sit by. He was done being pushed around and not getting what he wanted which just sounds very childish. But in any case, his solution was to get rid of the obstacle that was blocking his way and what better way to do it than to make his enemy be a part of the thing he loved so much.” Higgins explained.

Larry’s brow furrowed and he yelled “Screw you Dan! While you were like the son that he never had, the rest of us were practically garbage.”

“Alright let’s go crazy pants.” Matter said as he and Slinky ushered him out of the building into their car.

The four of them drove down to the station with Larry and put him in jail before reporting to Rhys.

The TV in Rhys’ office was turned on and a reporter for BS News said “...And the detectives of the SCPD have arrested the man Larry was found to be behind the murder of Professor Gaff who was the curator of the museum. I have with me Mr. Dan who says he is working on a funeral for Mr. Gaff and he tells me that he is honored to be appointed the curator in Mr. Gaff's place.” 

Rhys spun around in his chair and said “Nice work boys. Now, I have something important for each of you.”

He handed each of them a few files before saying “These are cold cases that we’ve been holding onto for awhile. I’d like for you all to take them one at a time and see if you can dig up anything new.”

They all took the cases back to their desks as they began to delve into each one and began discussing which one to tackle first.

“I think it’s time we turn up the heat on these cases, what do you say?” Slinky said.

“You said it!” Matter said.

Roswell nodded and Higgins said “Let’s get to work.”