In Elwood City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by Buster Baxter and Fern Walters, detectives of the Junior Case Squad. These are their stories...

*Breakline*

It was the first day of school. The sound of bustling students returning to the hallways filled the air. Emilia Monroe, a new student from England, carefully grabbed books from her locker, eyes flickering around to take in the throngs off students surrounding her. As she made way to close the locker door, it was slammed for her. Gasping in horror, she looked and saw a Bulldog wearing a black leather jacket leaning against the door frame. He wore shades, and a toothpick hung from his mouth.

"C-can I help you?" Emilia asked in fear.

"You the new kid?" The Bulldog asked.

"Yes. My name's Emilia."

"Barnes. I came to give you a proper welcome." He said. Emilia nodded in understanding, a butterfly making its way around her stomach. As she turned to leave, Barnes grabbed her arm pulling her in to whisper, "How about we meet up after class?"

"No! Get away!" She screamed, kicking Barnes away. The bully huffed and pushed her down. As she fell, two students, Robert and Richard, made way to apprehend him.

"Binky leave her alone!" Robert shouted, as Richard tried to pin Binky. The Bulldog broke their grip, dusting himself off and walking to class. Emilia got up slowly, when she was approached by a ginger girl around sixteen.

"Are you okay?" the girl asked.

"I'll be okay." Emilia replied.

"I'm Sue Ellen. What's your name?"

"Emilia." Sue Ellen helped the fallen girl to her feet. Picking up Emilia's books for her, Sue Ellen offered, "I can show you around today, if you'd like."

"Oh, okay." Emilia nodded her agreement as the bell rang.

*Break*

The end of the day came, and Sue Ellen exchanged farewells with Emilia, as the latter put her books back in her locker. As she locked it and walked away, she was surrounded by a group of boys, all averaging seventeen or older. They cornered her into the janitor's closet, tossing her against the mop rack. The group of boys, five in total, piled into the janitor's closet, closing the door.

The youngest one said, "Yeah boss, this was the one with that Armstrong girl."

The tallest one replied, "Ha! Is she looking for a new one? She should know better after what we did to the last one!"

Emilia cried, "I don't know what you're talking about! I just started here! What do you want with me?"

The leader bent down and grabbed her chin. "Aw look! This one doesn't know what's going on! Time to teach her boys."

*Break*

Emilia ran home at an ungodly speed, crying hysterically when she was grabbed from behind. She bucked and kicked when she was placed onto a bench. She opened her eyes to the appearance of a dark blue uniform. The officer asked, "What's wrong?"

Emilia shook her head, but the tears kept falling.

"Did someone hurt you?"

She nodded.

"Who was it?"

She shrugged, still sobbing.

"Did you take a look at them?" The cop took out his notepad and pen. The girl shook her head. The cop sighed and asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Again, she shook her head. The officer said, "Y'know I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened." After he didn't get a response, he said, "Well do you need a ride home, kid?"

She shook her head and took off running. The officer looked after her and sighed. As she ran down the street, a shadowy individual grabbed her. As the cop took off running towards them, the figure looked behind and ran off. When the officer arrived at Emilia's position, he cursed at the realization that he was too late. As he looked down, he noticed a red rainbow in the pool of blood.

*DUN DUN*

Starring:

Buster Baxter

Fern Walters

Alan Neill the Chief

Det. Robert Fisher

and Lauren Slayton

Elwood City: Criminal Intent

Yellow tape littered the scene. Buster stood at the edge of the line, dressed in his PI uniform. Officially a Junior Detective alongside fellow Elwood City High student Fern Walters, it had taken a lot of sucking up to even get near a homicide. The chief, Alan Niell, had decided to bring in the Junior Case Squad for the simple reason that they would better blend in during the investigation.

An Officer nodded at Buster, who then went under the tape and entered the scene. The Crime Scene Unit had finished taking pictures and bagging evidence, and it was just Buster and Charlie Everdeen, Chief of Forensics. Buster did a full 360 of the crime scene, bending down to inspect the cuts on the body. Putting on his gloves, he touched the semi-circular slit across her throat. He cleared his throat, and Charlie looked at him.

"What is it?" He asked. Buster scratched behind his ear and replied, "this was rushed. As if the killer didn't have time to prepare his attack."

"Officer Bryant did see him." Charlie said.

"Yeah but that was simply circumstance. He noticed Officer Bryant after he heard him coming. Look at this," Charlie came closer to Buster. "She's been twisted, as a result of the fall. Now, the cut begins with precision, then all of a sudden, it splits into a slash."

"What're you getting at?"

"Stand up for a second." As Charlie complied, Buster emulated grabbing him from behind, and slashing him. Buster's hand traced across the collar bone, Charlie being six foot three, while Buster was five foot ten. "Okay. Now try me." Charlie followed along, his hand running just under Buster's jawline. Buster nodded then turned to look at Fern, who was questioning Officer Bryant. "Fern," he called. She turned to him and walked his way. "What's up?"

Buster took her by surprise, pretending to slash her accross the neck. "What the heck!"

"Sorry." He said, now turning to Charlie, "Our killer was short."

Charlie shook his head at this first grade detective work. Buster knelt down looking at an impression in the blood. He traced it with his fingers and asked, "Was there something here?"

A CSU tech looked over and said, "Yeah this," he showed Buster and Fern a bag with a rainbow fridge magnet, now reddened by the blood. With clean hand, Buster took the bag. He examined the object as it clicked to him. "This was a gay bash."

"A what?" Charlie asked in shock.

Buster showed them the bag. "See, it's a rainbow. This wasn't just some random act, it was a statement." As he mulled over this, one of the Unies called, "Hey kids, the chief wants you at the station."

*break*

"Hey cheif." Buster and Fern said unanimously.

"Grab a seat kids." The chief said. After the two Juniors sat down, Chief Neill asked, "Do you have anything for me?"

"Um, yeah." Buster fished in his pockets for his notepad. Finding it, he flipped it open, saying, "The victim's name is Emilia Monroe, her family just moved to Elwood City last month. Um, we don't have a lot on her, but evidence seems to suggest that she was a member of the LGBT community."

"And what evidence is that?" The chief raised his eyebrow as he swiveled in his chair.

"A rainbow left at the scene, presumably by the murderer." Buster answered.

"And we figure that this was some sort of statement against the community, not Emilia herself." Fern supplied.

"So why shouldn't we call in Hate Crimes?"

"Well, sir, ECH has a decent sized community of LGBT members, and we think that the killer goes to the school." Buster said.

"And we could potentially be looking at a gang." Fern added. Neill nodded in acceptance of this answer.

"Very well. Tomorrow at school I want you two to canvas, see if you can't dig up anything. Meanwhile, Detectives Slayton and Fisher will question the parents." Buster and Fern nodded, then left for home.

*345 Lakewood Lane, Elwood City. 10:25 am*

A knock sounded at the Monroe Residence. A lady of about forty answered the door, opening it to find two detectives, both around thirty. The male detective had blonde swept back hair, while the female detective had brown hair, which was done up in a ponytail.

"Mrs. Monroe?" The female asked. When the woman nodded, she introduced herself. "Hi, my name's Detective Slayton, this is my partner, Detective Fisher," the blonde nodded.

"Yes, why are you here?" The lady folded her arms.

"We regret to inform you ma'am, that your daughter's been killed." Detective Fisher got straight to the point.

Gasping, the mother asked, "Why wasn't I informed? I wondered why she hadn't come home last night! My God, what happened to my baby?"

"Ma'am, we feel your daughter was the victim of a hate crime," Detective Slayton said. "Do you mind if we come in and ask you some questions?"

The woman beckoned them in and closed the door.

*Elwood City High school. 12:00 pm*

At lunchtime, Buster and Fern walked over to a table that was usually occupied by the school's LGBT community club. As they sat down, Buster said, "Hello folks."

Prunella, the leader of the club, said with a smile, "Welcome! Would you guys mind introducing yourselves, maybe sharing your stories?"

"Terribly sorry, but I'm afraid this isn't a social call." Buster and Fern flashed their badges.

"Oh my, what's happened?" One girl asked.

"Do you guys have an Emilia Monroe in the club. Perhaps you met her over the summer, or maybe she visited your meeting yesterday?" Fern asked.

Sue Ellen raised her hand, and said, "I met her, but I just showed her around, she never came to the club. To be honest, I don't think she would fit."

Buster screwed his eyebrows in confusion, "Why not?"

"She was checking out one of the jocks at lunch, Zach Taylor."

Buster replied, "Oh."

Prunella asked, "I'm sorry but why are you asking this?"

"She was murdered yesterday. We think that the killer thought she was one of you." Fern answered.

Prunella's eye's darkened. "What do you mean one of us?"

Buster replied, "She means, one of the club. But, at any rate, thank you for your time." Buster got up and left, Fern following suit.

As they made their way away from the table, Buster started, "So, the killer must have seen Emilia with Sue Ellen, and figured that Emilia was Sue Ellen's... girlfriend."

"Poor Emilia was a victim of circumstance." Fern said.

Buster stopped in his tracks, and looked behind him at the table they had left.

"Sue Ellen said that Emilia wouldn't have 'fit.'"

Fern turned to him. "Yeah, why?"

Buster rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. "No reason."

As he turned to walk once more, Fern looked at the table, locking eyes with Sue Ellen.

*break*

Sue Ellen walked behind the school, stumbling upon a girl with violet hair and a condescending attitude.

"This spot's already taken, moron." The girl said. Headphones were perched in her ears, death metal blaring loudly.

Sue Ellen walked up and ripped the headphones out, tearing the cords and dragging the girl's Ipod away. Stomping on the device, Sue Ellen looked at girl and said, "By me."

Instead of picking a fight, the goth girl put her hands up and walked away.

"Heh, nice one, Sue." Out of the shadows came Rattles Ciccone, four other boys following him. Sue recognized them as Slink, Billy, Kiefer, and Chester, a new member of Rattle's gang.

"So we did the job, where's our money?" Billy asked. He got a sharp jab in the gut by Slink.

"You do realize that the cops are onto us right?" Sue Ellen asked angrily.

"Ha ha! You mean the Junior Squeaks? They can't do us nuthin'" Rattles replied.

"Unless you make sure that they can't tie me to anything, you won't get paid." Sue offered.

"Hey, how are they gonna find out?" Rattles asked. Suddenly concerned, he added, "She won't squeal will she?"

Sue Ellen just raised an eyebrow.

*break*

Detectives Fisher and Slayton were leaving the Chief's office as Buster and Fern arrived. Chief Neill gestured to the chairs in front of him while he was looking through the updated case folder.

"You told me this was a hate crime." He said, putting down the folder.

"The investigation was preliminary at that time. We now know that Emilia's death was one of circumstance." Buster said.

"Nice way to try and save yourselves, but a girl was still murdered. I don't care if it was mistaken identity, a wrong place wrong time scenario, or simply someone who thought she was a Martian, we can't just jump to conclusions!" The Chief sighed. "CSU has something for you two. Go check it out."

*break*

Charlie brought them a rainbow fridge magnet with the letters "ECH" in silver.

"What's this?" Fern asked.

"That's the magnet we found at the scene. Took a helluva lot of cleaning, but we got it done. Look on the back."

Buster turned over the magnet. "ECH LGBT community. Together we stand tall." He looked at Fern, "How would the killer have this?"

*Elwood City High school. 8:00 am*

"We only hand those out to members." Prunella said, as she put her books in her locker.

"One per member?" Fern asked.

"Mmhmm." Prunella confirmed.

"What happens if a person loses one of these?" Buster asked, caressing the magnet.

"Well, we do hand out updated ones every so often." Prunella turned to Buster, "Can I see that one."

As Buster handed it to her, she nodded and hummed. Buster cocked his head, "Is something wrong?"

"This is an old one. The new magnets have a deep blue color for the school's initials." Prunella handed Buster back the magnet. "Whoever you're looking for, they'll already have a new one. If they are a member at all."

"If." Fern echoed ironically.

Buster scratched his neck and motioned for Fern to follow him. As she ran to catch up with him, she asked, "What's up?"

"Prunella said she only gives those magnets to members. Yet she doubts that a member committed the crime." Buster recapped.

"And we know that Emilia didn't get a chance to join the group." Fern added.

"And she would've never joined the group according to Sue Ellen." Buster considered. "Remember the slogan? 'Together we stand tall.' Prunella's covering for someone."

"Sue Ellen?"

"Let's find out." Buster replied.

*break*

Sue Ellen walked into the cheery smelling Sugar Bowl, sliding into Prunella's booth. A blonde waitress of nineteen came to get her order. Sue Ellen ordered a Blondie, and looked as the waitress walked away. Turning back to Prunella, she said, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Buster and Fern talked to me today."

"What did you tell them?" Sue Ellen asked.

"They just asked about one of our club magnets." Prunella replied, shrugging in confusion. "I told them that we only give them to members."

Sue Ellen sat back as the waitress came back, setting the brownie a la mode down on the table. As Sue Ellen cut in to it and took a bite, Prunella said, "Buster's not in our club. Neither is Fern. And they aren't real chummy with anyone in the club. I don't think they're messing with us Sue. I think someone in the club really did do it!"

Sue Ellen took another bite of her brownie. "Who do you think it could be."

Prunella thought for a minute then looked. Sue Ellen cocked her head slightly. "What?"

Prunella started floundering, and Sue Ellen repeated, "What?"

"I-I have to go!" Prunella got up and left. When she walked out the door, Sue Ellen looked at the waitress, who was standing behind the counter. The waitress smiled, and Sue Ellen smirked back. Just then, Detectives Slayton and Fisher walked in. Fisher did more than capture the waitress's attention, and Slayton noticed. As they sat down, Slayton smiled at her partner.

"The waitress likes you, Rob." She said. Rob looked over his shades and turned to look at said waitress.

"Laur, please. I could be her dad!" He replied.

Lauren could barely repress a giggle as the waitress made her way to the booth. "Here she comes."

Rob cleared his throat, shuffling awkwardly in his seat, as Sue Ellen got up and left. As the waitress went to clean the booth Sue Ellen had just left, she found no signs of a tip. Shrugging, the waitress went about her duty, clearing the booth, then returning to service the detectives.

*349 Lakewood Lane 5:00 pm*

Buster and Fern approached the Armstrong Residence, knocking on the door. Mrs. Armstrong answered, Buster said, "Hi Mrs. Armstrong. Is Sue Ellen home?"

"No, she hasn't come back yet. Is there something wrong?" She replied.

Buster looked down the block and saw the Monroe house. "What do you know about the Monroes?"

"I introduced myself to them soon after they moved in. They're very posh." Mrs. Armstrong replied.

Buster scratched behind his ear in thought. "Have you seen them at any events? Do they socialize a lot?"

Mrs. Armstrong folded her arms with a puzzled look as she thought. "They came to the county fair. And Sue and I have seen them at the Ice Cream Shop."

"Did Sue Ellen ever talk to the Monroes?" Buster asked.

"She did seem very interested in their daughter, Emilia I think. But no, she never formally met them."

Fern's phone rang, and she turned to answer it. Buster nodded, saying, "Thank you ma'am. Have a nice evening."

As Mrs. Armstrong closed the door, Buster asked, "What is it?"

Fern hung up and said, "The Chief wants us. Now."

*break*

Chief Neill brought Buster and Fern into the waiting room, where they were met by Prunella.

"This young lady says she has some tips for our murder investigation. Question her."

Buster made way to sit down, as Fern guarded the door.

"Hey Prunella. What's up?" Buster asked.

"I know how to find out who the rainbow belonged to."

"You do? Then by all means." Buster gestured to her.

"Each one has a serial number that's unique. That corresponds with a member number." Prunella said. "So let me see it."

*break*

Fern and Buster sat at the library, flipping through various books on economics. Buster had a pencil in his ear, still thinking about the case. Two shadows appeared over their table. They looked up and saw Rob, who nodded, and Lauren, who smiled in greeting before sitting down.

Rob picked up a book on business statistics, then tossed it aside. "We have a new development in the case. A janitor saw Rattles Ciccone and four other boys corner Emilia into a janitor's closet. He hesitated before contacting police, but the chief believes him. So he wants us to pick up Rattles and his gang."

*Elwood City High school 8:00 am*

Rattles and his boys were hanging out in front of their lockers, when Buster, Fern, Detectives Fisher and Slayton, along with some Uniforms, approached them.

"Hey what's going on?" Billy asked in irritation.

"Rattles Ciccone, Slink Wilson, Billy Stanton, Keifer Hudson, Chester Munson, you are all under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder." Detective Fisher announced.

"Hey, we didn't commit no murder, man!" Rattles cried.

"Do you really want everyone else to hear the other charge?" Rob asked, and Rattles paled as he was handcuffed and led off along with his crew.

*ECPD Interrogation Room*

"I didn't rape nobody!" Rattles shouted, banging his hands on the steel table in front of him.

"Oh yeah? The Janitor saw you, and your friends dragging Emilia Monroe into a utility closet." Fisher countered. Buster looked up from his pad to stare at Rattles, pen twirling in his fingers.

Rattles tensed, then confessed. "Okay. We took her into that closet, but we just kissed her! That's all!"

Detective Fisher leaned onto the table, and stared into Rattles' eyes. He started in a low voice, "Are ya sure? I mean, I can understand, y'know, teenaged boys and all. It just starts with kissing..."

Rattles was sweating. "No," he shouted.

"And things get outta hand..." Rob continued.

"No. NO! That didn't happen! We just kissed her, and then we roughed her up! That's it!" Rattles said. Detective Fisher slid off of the table, and sat down. "So tell me what happened. Who put you up to it?"

Rattles panted before answering, "Sue Ellen."

Fisher and Buster exchanged a look.

"She approached me during lunch, she told me that she didn't think that Emilia was gonna fit. So she, she gave me the code word." Rattles explained.

"What code word?" Buster asked.

"She told me, 'Rattles, you know I love you.'"

Fisher looked to Buster, who shrugged. As they exited the room, Chief Niell told them, "Bring her in."

*break*

Buster and Fern walked up to Sue Ellen as she was leaving the Sugar Bowl. She turned to look at them, and said, "Hey guys! What's up?"

"Sue Ellen, you need to come with us." Fern said, grabbing her arm and pulling her gently. As Buster grabbed her other arm, Sue Ellen asked them, "Am I under arrest or something?"

Fern snorted, "Or something."

*ECPD Interrogation Room*

Sue Ellen sat down in the chair occupied by Rattles only an hour prior. She looked around the room, as Fern circled the table. Buster just looked uninterestedly at his pad, clicking his pen.

"Um, I'm sorry, is there a reason that I'm here?" Sue Ellen asked.

"Oh yeah. Just give us a minute." Buster replied off-handedly. Sue Ellen huffed in irritation, and Buster began.

"So um, Emilia eh?" He started.

"What about her?" Sue Ellen asked.

Buster looked at her, shocked. "You don't know?"

Sue Ellen looked at Fern. "Know what? I don't understand?"

"When did you meet Emilia?" Buster asked, his gaze reverting to the pad.

"A few days ago, at school." Sue Ellen replied.

"That's when you met her, formally. But you knew who she was." Buster said.

"No. I had never seen her before."

"But of course you had! You saw her at the county fair. She'd go to the Sugar Bowl often! Heck, you lived right down the street from her!" Buster said with a disbelieving smile. Sue Ellen tensed a little, and Buster pressed. "You studied her."

He cocked his head. "What was it that interested you? Was it the blonde hair? The British accent? Maybe you were just amazed by her."

"Are you saying I had a crush on her?" Sue Ellen asked in offense.

"Y-you turned red for a minute there. When you saw her at school, you saw your chance to get close. But everything went south when she noticed, what was his name? Zach Taylor? Did that disappoint you a little?"

"Why would I be disappointed?" Sue Ellen scoffed, but Buster noticed her irritation rising.

"Because you got your hopes up for nothing! I mean, you spent the day showing her around, and she looks at some jock!" Buster sympathized. Sue Ellen smirked a bit at that comment.

"And so you set out to teach the new girl a lesson. Show her how things work in Elwood City. You hired Rattles and his crew to rough her up." When Buster said this, Sue Ellen snapped her head at Buster. "Oh we talked to Rattles. He told us how you gave him the code word. How many times have you used the code word?" Buster grabbed a manilla folder that was sitting by his chair, opening it and pulling out four photos of teenage girls.

"Mabel Johnson, two years ago. Danielle Smith, four years ago. Teresa Williams, three years ago. Stephanie Jones, last year. The police reports on them only say that they all died soon after they came to Elwood City. The last person seen with them? Well you should know." Buster pressed, slouching back into his chair.

"And you know something? You could've gotten away with it. If only pride hadn't gotten in the way." Buster pulled out the rainbow magnet. "Pride. The seventh deadly sin. What made you get careless? I mean really, only members have these," Buster chuckled, turning the magnet over in his hands, "sans me of course. All a person would need to know is who the magnet belongs to. Oh wait!"

"You can't trace that back to me!" Sue Ellen shot out. Buster slid the magnet over to her, and pointed to seven indents in the mold.

"Y'see that? That's a serial number. Better yet, it's a member number." Sue Ellen turned to Buster in horror. "Yeah, we know the procedure. Prunella was kind enough to help us out."

"That little witch." Sue Ellen muttered.

"Where you just tired of people disrespecting you? Disappointing you? So you had to send a message. In case anyone else dared to follow to follow in the footsteps of these four," Buster pointed to the pictures in front of him. Sue Ellen started breathing harder.

"Zach Taylor's a jerk. She would've learned sooner or later." Sue Ellen said.

"So you decided to teach her, sooner, rather than later." Buster gathered his notes together and closed the folder. Fern grabbed Sue Ellen's shoulder, and the cat girl stood.

"Sue Ellen Armstrong," Fern began, pulling Sue Ellen's hands behind her back. "You are under arrest for the murder of Emilia Monroe," The handcuffs clicked shut. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used in the court of law."

Created By:

The Ultimate Combo

A/N: I wrote this because I have been on a Law and Order kick, and wanted to play with detectives' personalities. Therefore, Buster was written in the style of Criminal Intent Detective Robert "Bobby" Goren, while OC Detective Robert Fisher is written in the style of SVU Detective Elliot Stabler.

For political and personal religious reasons, I wish that this work be considered neutral in regards to the LGBT community, as this is used (shamelessly) as a plot element for the sake of story, and in no way looks to deface said community.

For anyone reviewing this story, any questions, PM me. Anyways, just enjoy the story, and leave a nice long review when you're done! If you for some reason want me to turn this into a series, just add that in the review! G'Night everyone.