Chapter 12: Bar Trivia and Stalker's New Threat
[Morning – MacLaren's Pub – January 9, 2014]
The air in MacLaren's was thick with anticipation. It was trivia night, and the 99th Precinct's team was back. Jake Peralta, brimming with confidence, was leading the charge.
"People, this is it," he announced, gesturing to the trivia board. "The rematch. We won last time, and we will win again! I've been studying obscure 80s movie soundtracks all week."
Amy Santiago was less than thrilled. "Jake, this is a distraction from the case."
"It's not a distraction, Amy," Jake countered. "It's intelligence-gathering! Last time, Adam used this trivia to find a cold case. This time, we'll use it to find a hot lead."
Adam, who was calmly analyzing a spilled drop of water on the table, looked up. "He's not wrong. The Shadow Broker uses public events to pass coded messages. This trivia night is a dead drop."
[SYSTEM: New Objective: Decipher Trivia Code.] The System's message was a familiar one. It was a test. A game of wits.
Barney Stinson walked in, looking far from his usual legendary self. He was nervous, jumpy. He checked his phone every few minutes. "Guys," he said, his voice a low whisper, "she's everywhere. I got a text from a burner number. It was just a single question: What is a ghost's favorite dessert?"
"A fudge brownie?" Charles Boyle offered, holding up a plate of his homemade Trivia Truffles. "Because it's a fudged answer?"
Gina Linetti, who was scrolling on her phone, looked up and scoffed. "Charles, the only fudge here is your attempt at humor."
Adam ignored them all, his mind focused. The text was a direct reference to the Ghost Cop case. It was a riddle. A clue.
[Evening – MacLaren's Pub – January 9, 2014]
The trivia night was in full swing, but Adam, Jake, and Rosa were operating on a different level. They weren't answering the questions for points; they were looking for a pattern.
"The first question was about a phantom," Adam whispered, his eyes on the screen. "The next, a ghostly apparition. They're all coded messages, Jake. They're telling us a story."
[SYSTEM: Code Deciphered. Message: The ghost hides where the legends fall.] The message was a direct hit. The legends were a reference to Barney and his constant bragging. The ghost was the stalker. The place was MacLaren's.
Barney, meanwhile, had gotten another note. A small, folded piece of paper, delivered by the trivia host. He unfolded it, his face paling. It was a drawing of a small, cracked, ceramic figurine. He looked at Adam, his fear palpable. "It's my figurine," he whispered. "The one I kept in my office. How… how did she get it?"
"It was never in your office, Barney," Adam said, his voice flat. "It was in the Ghost Cop evidence locker. The one Hitchcock and Scully found. She was the person who took it."
Ted looked at Adam, a sense of awe in his eyes. "You mean… she's not just a stalker. She's a professional stalker?"
"She's an operative," Adam corrected. "And she just confirmed that the Ghost Cop is the Shadow Broker. And he's testing us. He's taunting us. He's telling us that he can get to us anytime, anywhere."
The realization was chilling. The stalker, the trivia night, the evidence locker—it was all one big, interconnected puzzle. The Shadow Broker wasn't a criminal. He was a master of games. And the stakes had just been raised.
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