Perhaps in a great hurry, Edwin had not managed to go about covering all his bases. Or the need to check with a college student's parents about their background didn't seem necessary to everyone. But Walus had an idea from earlier from when he was watching the news about the mayoral race. He watched as they zoomed further from the university and through the different divisions of Watts City. He saw that Top Idol was playing a some of the larger T.V. screens near the adds. Those idols from the show yielded as much power in Watts City as the mayor. The citizens loved their stars. Walus bit down on his thumb, the problem was even more grave when the stars went national. Walus hated the whole pop culture domination of thought. It was better to have people educated.

The hover cab soared beyond the normal parts of the city. He watched as it took him over to the skyscrapers toward the finer parts of Watts City. Here the adds fell away and the large T.V. screen did not dot every street. In fact, the Upper Neighbor as it was called enjoyed a rare treat unlike the rest of the city. The large skyscrapers joined together in the upper terraces to create domes of dry areas where artificial sunshine could be enjoyed anytime of the year. All of the terrace gardens made the Upper Neighbor more relaxed with their lack of neon signs and bright colors. Walus had visited around here with friends a few times. He personally still enjoyed Midtown Watts City as it was closer to everything. When people moved over to the Upper Neighbor they were usually out of touch with the world.

Walus turned back to his notes as the hover cab took him higher up toward a terrace. The hover cab landed in a wonderful garden with bright lights overhead. Walus paid and got off from it. The hover cab door closed behind him and head off. Walus stared up from his notes at the mansion sitting in the dome. It was nearly hidden with all the topical plants about and the vines growing on the side of the dome.

The detective rolled his eyes. The whole fad of topical jungle gardens had grown out of style over the last three years. The Hot Sauce King may know about how to market hot sauce, but he knew nothing about how to apply gardening. Walus took off his hand and jacket. He then turned his attention over to the front gate of the garden with a guard siting in her post. Her post was nothing to write home about. It was a simple guard box with all the usual trimmings of lasers and guns. Walus went over to the guard, took out his badge, and smiled at her. He said, "Good day, I am Detective Walus Knight. I am with the Watts City Police Department. Would it be possible for me to speak with the parents of Kid Marshal?"

The guard was a tired looking woman in her mid-thirties. Her uniform was done up in forest greens. Her graying green hair was in a messy braid. She held up a finger to her ear piece and whispered something. The guard peered up at him again. Her nametag read: Melody. Walus waited patiently as Melody straightened up and beckoned Walus over. She huffed, "Sir, we have confirmed that the Mister and Missus have spoked with a Detective Scott. Do you have new business with them about their daughter?"

"I do," Walus confident said. He knew that Detective Scott would be working at making his brother the suspect. It was very clear that Detective Scott had little love for Edwin, especially since they got Scott's best friend behind bars. Walus rocked on his heels for a moment as he waited.

Melody rolled her shoulders and then kept her sharp eyes on Walus. She beckon him to come closer again and pushed a button. The gates to the garden opened up as Melody motioned him in. She turned back to watching the landing as Walus entered onto a gravel path. He saw ahead of him a long winding path of the hidden house among the jungle. He thought to himself, Rich people can be so showy. I bet there is waterfall and a river about here just to make it seem more impressive.

Walus carried himself down the pathway with his head up and chest out. He would not give himself away to sweat in the newly discovered jungle. It would have appeared that the owners not only loved jungles, but they enjoyed the heat of them too. Walus made his way along as the house peaked out from beyond the jungle bit by bit. It was a loudly colored house that screamed of topically pink. It hurt Walus's eyes to even see the ungodly and ugly house of its pinkness. The whole thing looked like a four-year-old took a crayon and melted it down on paper. It was jetting out with bubbles of pink glass windows and weird edges of the roofs. Walus knew it was an understatement to say it was weird. It was then that Walus figured out what it remained him of. It was like chewed up bubble gum that had been spat out recently.

He shook his head again and remembered he had a job to do. He followed the gravel pathway as it twisted to what appeared to the front door of the place. Walus pressed his finger on the doorbell. It did not take much time for someone to more answer the door of the very pink house. Walus tried hard not to get lost in the thought about the poor design choices. The door swung open to a butler wearing a deep forest green suite. He was an older man with a bit of a bit as he watched Walus. He warmly said, "Welcome sir. The Master of the house is waiting for you in the art gallery. Please follow me this way."

"Okay," Walus came though the door.

"Please don't mind the master once you get to him. He is very stressed at the moment," the butler offered.

Walus nodded.

The interior of the house was not much better than the outside. It was like someone got the idea of post-modern art and smashed it all up and had someone randomly throw everything back out. Walus scanned the rooms as the butler lead him out to the deeper parts of the house. He sighed as he knew very well someone was trying way too hard to impress visitors about being cultured. The butler stopped in a room that appeared to be normal much to Walus's relief. It was a tan room with a normal galley of still life paintings. There the butler announced Walus, "Master Marshal, we have Detective Walus Knight."

"Thank you, Watson, you may go," A man in a simple T-shirt and jean said. His pepper hair was tied up in a bun. He walked slowly over to Walus and shook his hand. Walus cold see the old man had not been sleeping well. He had dark circles under his eyes as he grimly smiled at him. He politely motioned for Walus to have a seat. There were two chairs in the gallery. They were plain wooden chairs. The man had a seat as he nervous turned his eyes over to a still life of a forest and a teddy bear.

Walus took a seat as the man remarked, "Welcome Detective Walus. I am Soledad Marshal. I am glad that you have been taken up on in the search of my daughter. We were called by the police already. Is there something more you needed from your information?"

"Thank you for having me in your house. I am sorry about your daughter. We'll try and find your daughter as soon as possible," Walus pulled out his notepad and pen, "But there a few more questions I would like to ask so I may add them to the file. . . Do you have any enemies that might want to hurt your daughter?"

Soledad sighed as he rubbed the back of his head in thought. His eyes stood on the painting as he fought back some tears. He quietly said, "I don't know of any of my competitors who would dare harm a single hair on my daughter's head."

He chocked back some tears and shook his fist, "Whoever did this. . . Whoever did this! I want them to pay!"

"Mister Marshal . . . I am sorry about your daughter-"

"Do you see that painting there? She made it. Kid was a great painter when she was younger. She wanted to be a painter when she was a middle schooler. But I wanted her to do something else. Now she is missing. . . I don't want her to end up like her friend," Soledad covered over his mouth. His eyes were teary and his nose was becoming red.

"Sir. . . I need to you focus. We will catch your daughter's kidnappers and have her returned safely," Walus offered reassuringly.

"You'd better!" Soledad snapped and started to cry. Soledad pulled himself back together, "I am . . . Oh Detective Knight, I am worried sick about my daughter. I haven't spoken with her in ages. We had a terrible fight. And this has happened!"

Walus gingerly coughed as he offered a tissue from his pocket. Soledad took it and sank down into the chair.

"It is alright, sir. We all have very trying times in our lives. We try and make do with what he can," Walus patted his shoulder. His smile was weak as he tried to think of something more comforting to say. There wasn't much he could offer the old man. Walus continued, "What about your wife? Would she have any knowledge on who would wish to harm your daughter?"

"She is currently not in," Soledad shortly answered, "She never is anymore! She is too busy with her political affairs to care about us here!"

". . .Oh," Walus tapped his pen on his notepad. He said, "Do you know of anyone who would attempt to harm your daughter?"

Soledad perked up in his chair with a mixture of hatred and sorrow in his eyes. He bite in lip before even starting, "Well if we are talking about political things. It is no secret that there is a warfare among those who want to become mayor."

"I see."

" But I do not believe that my daughter would be subject to such problems. Our family may be hard on the marketing side for hot sauces. But on political issues we do our best to keep things fair and clean. My wife runs on a honest campaign and she really cares for this city," Soledad waved his finger about with gusto. He knew he would never let his wife sink to such lows of political issues.

"Are you sure? You said that your wife never comes home nowadays," Walus pointed out.

"I defend the honor of my family. We are good people. We see we stick to honorable means of family and respectability," Soledad added, "Not like my wife would make other people to think with her running around like she did years ago! You know she made this house design just because she thought it looked good! It looks horrible!"

"I would have to agree," Walus said under his breath. He coughed, "Do you know when she will be in?"

"I cannot say for sure her campaign has her going all about time. She really wants to be sure we can make new homeless shelters that our city needs. I believe today that she was out at an orphanage today. She will be there until late. She will be at a fundraiser for saving the apes later tonight," Soledad waved his hands about, "Not that she will ever come here. She hasn't even cared about Kid being gone!"

Soledad again choked back his tears to try and get through the questions.

Walus said, "When was the last time you heard from your daughter?

"Several months ago before our fight about what major she should have. She called to talk about her birthday plans. We were to go out and eat at one of her favorite places. We were going to get pizza," Soledad sighed.

"What happened?"

"We had a pretty bad fight about her major. I wanted her to study law. She wanted to continue her work as a journalist. I could not have been more upset with her. I swore I won't talk to her for again until she reconsidered," Soledad covered his face and took a deep breath. He then sat up and turned to the still life painting of the teddy bear.

"And your wife? Does she support your daughter's interest?"

"My wife has been a very supportive mother. She did everything she needed for Kid's life to be comfortable when Kid was a child," Soledad begin, "But the whole situation now . . . My wife, Rivera, has taken to distancing herself to the whole family. She has been busy running for mayor. Rivera has not even said anything about Kid going missing."

Walus paused as he listened about Rivera. He had an idea, but he needed to see where it went. He asked, "Do you find that unusual of Mrs. Rivera?"

Soledad took a deep breath. He seemed to be lost in different realms of thought as he did not response right away. He darkly answered, "I do not wish to comment about my wife's behavior. She will do what she need to do for her own business, even if she forgets about our family for a while. Do you have any more questions for me? Or do you wish now to insult my family?"

"No, sir. I am sorry if I have touched a nerve. I assure you that we are all trying to find your daughter as soon as possible. It will take time with the current search is underway," Walus got up from his chair."

"Yeah. . . Sure. . ." Soledad rolled his hand.

"Thank you, very much for your time today, Mister Marshal," Walus went back to the door of the gallery entry. The man stood in his chair facing the paint of the small teddy bear, never once turning back towards Walus. He started to sob deeply as Walus went back out of the door and away from the bubble gum house.

Detective Walus got a ding from his Palm Planner. He pulled out his cellphone and saw an icon from Edwin. It was of a tiny sheep dancing about with a file in tis hand. Apparently Edwin was able to work his magic on the file faster than expected. The data restoration was halfway done. Other reports from the reporting officers were pouring in as well. Walus nodded his head and went off to the next location he needed to visit.