It's a dog eat dog world.
As Gloria, Jones, and the player discuss the rise of the Demon Fish and the meteorite DreamLife is hiding under their dome, a murder is reported at the Maple Heights Happy Paws dog shelter. When the player and Gloria arrive, they find the body of Penny Farrell, the assistant of Mayor Martha Price, strangled to death.
Tropes:
- Admiring the Abomination: Just like Jones did in the previous case, Gloria can't help but stare in awe at the waterfalls that have flooded Maple Heights, this time at the dog park.
- Alliterative Name: Carlos Cachorro
- Animal Lover: Both Penny Farrell and Carlos Cachorro are this, particularly towards dogs. Carlos even tells you he's vegan for this very reason.
- Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: While discussing whether Grimsborough should be worried about the Demon Fish invading its flood waters, this happens.Gloria: Although I'm not sure what we can do! Martine says the Demon Fish specimen she examined wasn't dangerous, but-
Benjamin: <Player's Name>! There's an emergency! It's about that fish! - The Atoner: During the Additional Investigation, Carlos says he's willing to make up for his mistake about failing to vaccinate the dogs at his shelter.
- Bad Date: Martine tells you another one of these has happened to Rita recently, and it's the reason why the latter decides to give up on dating altogether and instead adopts a dog.
- Beleaguered Boss: Martha should really start looking for better assistants, as Penny was The Slacker who severely cost Grimsborough a hefty sum of earthquake relief aid.
- The Bus Came Back: Martha Price, now Mayor of Grimsborough, appears since we last saw her in Case 51 of Season 1. Celine Dernier, who made a single appearance in Case 28 of Season 2, also makes a return after having moved to Grimsborough.
- Call-Back: Zoe Kusama reappears, becoming a Guest-Star Party Member during the Additional Investigation.
- Caring Gardener: One of the killer's traits is that they're one of these. Too bad their love for plants didn't prevent them from committing murder, though.
- Cassandra Truth: During the investigation, Celine claims that there is a dognapper going about in Maple Heights, but both the victim and Gloria dismissed her claiming she was being paranoid. Come the arrest, turns out the killer was the dognapper, and Penny finding out is the reason why Kitty murdered her.
- Continuity Nod:
- Ivywood is mentioned due to Celine returning from Pacific Bay.
- Rita decides to call her new puppy Hector, named after a certain Latin American crime lord.
- Plopsie, Guadalupe del Prado's dog, reappears after being adopted by Celine. She even mentions how her previous owner turned out to be a murderess.
- The Diaper Change: Mid-investigation, Cathy leaves Sammy with Rita for her to momentarily babysit, which turns into a problem for Rita when Sammy starts crying for this reason. Fortunately, Martine manages to help her.
- Differing Priorities Breakup: Penny and her boyfriend broke up after Penny adopted a dog despite both of them living in a small apartment on a 5th floor, which Benjamin opposed and tried to replace with a pet rat, which got him kicked out of the house.
- I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: Kitty says this word for word during her arrest, claiming she only killed Penny in a fit of rage after she threatened to turn her in for kidnapping dogs. Nevertheless, Judge Powell still gives her a pretty lengthy sentence of 15 years.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: While not directly stated, it's clear that Martha became the mayor of Grimsborough after her opponent, Howard Johnson, got arrested for being part of The Crimson Order.
- Engineered Heroics: The main reason for the murder turns to be this: Kitty had been kidnapping dogs around Maple Heights to turn them back to their owners after they offered a reward, which Penny eventually discovered and led Kitty to murder her to protect her secret.
- Evil Pays Better: Kitty claims she became a dognapper because dogwalking doesn't pay that much, and since most people in Maple Heights are rich anyway, she's not really doing any harm scamming them out of their money.
- Find the Cure!: At the end of the case, Martine mentions she and Rupert have started looking for a cure for the Demon Fish neurotoxin.
- Forced from Their Home: Penny broke up and kicked out her boyfriend Benjamin after he gifted her a pet rat in an attempt to convince her get rid of their dog.
- Forgotten First Meeting: While Celine says the player's face is familiar to her, she's ultimately unable to remember them.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: The killer first punched Penny in the face to knock her out before proceeding to strangle her.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Carlos speaks in lots of Spanglish.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Zoe joins you during the Additional Investigation to help Rita adopt a dog at Carlos' shelter.
- Harmful to Touch: The Demon Fish is hinted to be dangerous when Benjamin informs you that a man fell sick and was unable to breath after he touched one of them, and further analysis leads to Martine discovering that the female Demon Fish are venomous.
- Hidden Villain: You discover the Demon Fish were released from the Xerdan caves the same day a man-made explosion occurred in the sewers of Grimsborough, which means an unknown person released the extremely dangerous creatures to the flood waters who are now wreaking havoc.
- Improvised Weapon: The murder weapon is a dog leash.
- Ironic Name: "Kitty" Young is a dogwalker.
- It's All My Fault: During his first interrogation, Benjamin blames himself for Penny's death due to being distracted dealing with the Demon Fish and not having time for her all week, believing she wouldn't have died had he been by her side.
- I Just Want to Be Special: During her arrest, Kitty says she just wanted to be as rich as the inhabitants of Maple Heights, hence why she started doing Engineered Heroics involving kidnapping their dogs before turning them in for a reward.
- Latino Is Brown: Carlos Cachorro.
- The Lost Lenore: Even if they had already broken up by the time of her murder, Benjamin still takes Penny's death hard nonetheless, leaving clear he was still in love with her.
- More Deadly Than the Male: The female Demon Fish are revealed to be very dangerous in comparison to their mostly harmless male counterparts, as they produce a powerful and potentially lethal neurotoxin to protect their eggs and, since they're practically a complete new species in the modern world, there's no cure for it.
- New Job Episode: During the Additional Investigation, Zoe tells Jones she's got a job volunteering at Carlos' animal shelter as part of her treatment.
- No Animals Allowed: Benjamin tried in invoke this with dogs, since he and Penny lived in a small apartment on a 5th floor and thus couldn't really afford to have one. This led to Penny breaking up with him and kicking out of the house after he tried to replace their dog with a pet rat.
- Oh, Crap!: The police department (particularly Gloria and Martine) have this reaction when it's revealed the female Demon Fish are extremely venomous and said poison has no cure.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: When Penny discovered Carlos had neglected to vaccinate the dogs at his shelter, she attempted to shut it down despite Carlos claiming it was an accident and promising to not do it again, giving him a strong motive for the murder.
- Precious Puppy: After getting another Bad Date, Rita decides to get a dog instead during the Additional Investigation, and she settles on a Doberman she names Hector.
- Punny Name: Doubling as Bilingual Bonus, Carlos Cachorro's surname means "Puppy" in Spanish and "Dog" in Portuguese.
- The Reveal: The female Demon Fish are extremely venomous and their poison has no cure for the moment. What's more, it's also revealed someone deliberately freed the fish from an underground cistern into the Grimsborough waters, meaning there's a potential mass murderer on the loose.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Demon Fish were contained in an underground Xerdan cistern for centuries before someone blew up the sewers that connected with the caves, freeing them into the flood waters to wreak havoc.
- She Knows Too Much: Kitty killed Penny because she found out Kitty was the dognapper stealing dogs to get rewards from their owners.
- Skewed Priorities: Martha regarding Penny's death.Martha: This is the worst possible time for me to lose my assistant! I can't afford any more disruption while Grimsborough's battling this flood, and those fish!
Of course, it's a tragedy for Penny's family too. - The Slacker: Penny liked dogs a bit too much, to the point she watched dog videos instead of doing her work as the mayor's assistant. This landed her in serious trouble with Mayor Price when Penny forgot to fill a form that would've granted Grimsborough a hefty sum of relief aid for the earthquake from the government.Gloria: Are you saying the Mayor's assistant was slacking off TrendVid while at work? Well, as a taxpayer, I'm not best pleased with that...
- Took a Level in Kindness: In contrast with her previous appearances, Mayor Price seems to have mellowed out and become much less abrasive than she was five years ago. She also lacks the aggressive Moral Guardians approach of her political campaign.
- Tropey, Come Home: Celine's dog Plopsie gets lost during the main investigation, though you manage to find him at the dog walking park without much trouble.
- Universal Poison: Unfortunately Averted regarding the neurotoxin produced by the female Demon Fish, as there's no cure for it due to the species being hidden away for centuries. Martine and Rupert start working on one at the end of the case, though.
- When I Was Your Age...: Rupert says this during one of his usual banters with Amir.Rupert: Amir, I finally figured out why the fume extractor was making that weird noise. Your gym membership card was stuck in the fan.
Amir: Are you insinuating I'm unfit, Rupert? I'm hurt.
Rupert: Well, not to be smug, but when I was your age, my mates and I would run all the way from the Horse's Head to-
Gloria: Sorry to interrupt, but can you guys brief us about this blood sample?
