Fresh Breath

*** UPDATED VERSION ***

There’s a purple, dried piece of bubblegum on the sole of a man’s sneaker. The man is dead; somewhat decomposed, with insects feeding on his flesh, and, there’s a gun next to him in the dirt. Detective Hugo Carrillo is absolutely certain that it’s strawberry flavored. His partner, Joseph Morris, eventually settles for raspberry.

Both detectives have their fair share of problems gnawing at them, each trying his best to keep them that way—a private rodent infestation, separate from work. Some of them are, inevitably, kept more tightly under wraps than others. But, spending week after week together, come rain or shine, and working homicide on top of that, does very little in facilitating any such endeavors, not to mention alleviating the mental strain. Neither does the fact that it’s not all traditional police work that they do, traditional in the sense that all of their undertakings are lawful…