Time Travel Crime Division The Adventure of Alex Granger by Stephanie Clemens First day as a detective, I smiled. It was hard to believe, but I, Alex Granger, passed my detective test on the first try. And this glorious morning I was reporting for the first time ever to the Time Travel Crime Division of the ATM Police Department. If you haven’t heard of the ATM, that’s good—you aren’t supposed to know we exist. But we do, and I really hope you can keep a secret, because I’m going to tell you just exactly who we are. The ATM is All Things Magical. There’s the ATM Authority; underneath them is the Police Department, and then there’s my division, the Time Travel Crime Division or TTCD for short.
slight pinch as the magic was extracted. Our magic was used to power almost everything at the ATM by taking a little bit from us whenever we entered or used specialized equipment. Then the doors to my workplace opened. It was like entering a different world. So many people, so many gadgets, and just a little extra sparkle to help get you through, since police work can be quite a drudgery. Making my way to my desk, I smiled at the congratulatory balloons that had to be from Tommy, my partner at the TTCD, tied to as many places as possible. I was surprised my desk was still on the floor since it looked like the home of an amusement park balloon hawker. I sat down, surrounded by my floating congrats!
Even though it was only 7AM, the sweltering heat of summer in Southern California was not subtle. What had been a nice couple weeks of the normal June gloom had turned into very bright, sunny, and hot, but beautiful mornings. I stopped by my favorite Taiwanese bakery and grabbed a potato cheese pastry. I was tempted to grab something for the others at the TTCD, but decided against it.
“Detective Granger, congrats are in order, but this is a bit extreme.” The Chief Inspector dropped a folder on my desk. “Your first assignment in your new post at the TTCD. We found a photo of a man checking his wristwatch in 1872. We need to find and arrest him for violating Section 11377 of the Anti-Time-Travel Code.”
Walking up to the ATM, you would never guess what happens behind the doors. The ATM looked like a used bookstore from the outside. Not just any used bookstore though, but one that specializes in rare first editions. I made my way to the back, not stopping to look around. The shop really did get in a lot of incredibly cool books. Once in the back, I held my hand up for the biometric scan and magic recognition to happen. I felt a
“On it, sir.” I said. I opened my work laptop, turned it on, and heard the hard drive whirl as the computer recognized my face and the operating system went into full gear. I felt the pinch of magical extraction again as I opened the department’s wizard-run facial recognition software. I began by
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